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1What follows is an account of how I came to pass, and the origin of some talents I possess. For those uninterested, you may skip on.
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3Dying is a horrible experience, and dying slowly is worse. I was neither young nor old when it came, and it was no surprise. I had an inoperable brain tumor, a slow but inevitable death sentence hanging over my head from a fairly young age. I didn't accept it, of course. It was my dream, my ambition to live forever; not out of fear of death, but love of life.
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5Life is just so interesting. There is so much to experience. And people are always creating new and interesting things to continue experiencing. Whenever I would read of immortals (all too often those damned vampires common in pulp teen novels) who lamented their ability to live forever, to keep experiencing new and interesting things, I would always think then you have never truly lived in the first place.
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7I had a fairly excellent life: a loving family, with two siblings and dogs, enough money for whatever luxuries or hobbies we really wanted, well traveled, and the winner of a genetic lottery that left me both physically fit and with an intelligence great enough to pursue whatever I wanted. And from a young age, that pursuit was magic.
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9Lacking magic on Earth though, I settled for martial arts, science, and stories.
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11I suppose part of my thoughts on immortality may be because of my interests: technology and stories and martial arts at the forefront, followed by a general love of information, the human condition, history and what shaped it. All of these things I adore. And all of these things are in constant flux, constant development. As a child of the new millennium, I knew these things would always be there for me; I could, and wanted to, search for perfection for a thousand years, and a thousand more in these things, and still there would be more to learn and improve. I had no need for a heaven, as I saw its potential on Earth.
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13My love of technology led me to authors like Kurzweil, who gave me the idea that an immortal life is not just possible at some distant point in the future, but potentially possible for those of my generation. I did all the right things. I slept right, ate an organic diet high in vegetables and low in red meat (generally unhealthy) and fish (some is ok, but many have heavy metals), took the perfect balance of vitamins and minerals and supplements, didn't drink or smoke. I meditated and practiced martial arts, partially out of preference and partially for health. I practiced a low-risk lifestyle as well; over an eternity, small risks add up, and I wanted to go into things with the right habits.
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15So, for me who loved life, for me who made a temple of my body, for me who loved above all else my mind, a slow progressive brain death was horrifying. I had several bouts of active tumor growth before it would slow or stop, losing mental ability and physical control each time. Each time, I clawed my way back, practicing meditation to regain focus, kata to regain strength, basic math and word games with family and friends to regain cognitive function; my efforts paid off, and I kept falling into an extremely rare number of people capable of recovering from such incidences.
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17And, though this crucible damaged my body, there were benefits for my soul. Before any of this, I had always been a bit aloof. Not because I disdained others, but because it was very difficult to empathize on anything other than an academic fashion. I didn't understand why someone might need a calculator to give the square root of any number less than a thousand (well, at least to three sig figs), or why others would miss things that were perfectly obvious if they just looked at the problem correctly. I knew I was physically capable in most scenarios, and mentally capable in any where I understood the underlying concepts. Further, I was somewhat divorced from my emotions. I had them, cherished them, but also refused to allow them any control. And so, I came off as somewhat arrogant, and at times condescending.
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19The illness changed that, to a greater extent. My mind and physical control shot to hell, my emotions highly variable, my feelings intense in a way they had not been before, I went through all the stages of childhood development all over again on my way to improve myself to what I considered an acceptable standard. I understood others far better. And, most important, my meditation yielded some very interesting results.
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21I had been interested in hypnosis and meditation from a young age. Here was a type of magic that did not use magic. I meditated, of course, for martial arts. Hypnosis, NLP, and other such topic I found somewhat fascinating, and I would pour over the works of people like Derren Brown, reading and watching the analysis posts of others online, going so far as to practice some basic tricks on other students at school. I myself practiced a combination of meditation and self-hypnosis following some training-related spine injuries as a pain reduction technique as I abhorred the concept of pain killers unless absolutely necessary.
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23The levels of meditation needed to deal with something like brain damage though, that forced me onto a different level.
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25I spent several hours, every day, meditating to keep control of my body and mind. When my reaction to crowds decreased sufficiently for me to be out in public, I used walking-meditation techniques to deal with the influx of new information. It was during the onset of this whole mess, several months in, that I first experienced Kensho, a fleeting momentary glimpse of self, the very first step towards enlightenment. It was, to be honest, somewhat addicting, terrifying, humbling, and exalting.
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27I was hooked, and tried for months to recreate the feeling; it would not come. The very act of trying to achieve it, having in mind as a possibility while meditating, made it impossible; I would not find it again until years later. Irritated, I turned to other, similar pursuits, mostly focused on the intersection of meditation and self-hypnosis.
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29Hypnotists in the past could have ordinary people stiffen their muscles so hard that they could be suspended across two chairs, feet on one, hands on the other, and walked across. This is not some lost secret either; merely, it turns out that after being brought out of the hypnotic state, the subject tends to have muscle damage, ranging from mild to severe, and possible joint and tendon damage as well. Houdini was supposed to use a similar technique on his own stomach muscles to resist the blows of even heavyweight boxers.
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31Interested, and having made my own initial forays into sustained meditation, self-hypnosis for pain reduction, and ki type manipulation (a combination of meditation and self-hypnosis, I believed), I began to practice. Eventually, I was able to surpass my own limitations. At first, I was able to focus, and punch fast enough that the speed was slightly painful to my body, even with my well-conditioned and flexible muscles and joints. Eventually, while working out with a friend of mine who was on leave from the US Marine Corps (and who had a perfect 100% on his physical fitness test), I used these techniques to keep up at least somewhat with my own much nerdier physique; I ended up with so many micro-tears in my arms, I was unable to move them for nearly a month. I was lucky I didn't injure myself more severely.
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33Somewhat less focused on these techniques after my brush with causing lasting physical damage to myself, I continued practice on and off, more maintaining my potential than increasing my talents, focused on my job as a researcher. At one point, I decided to try a deep meditation again; I fasted three days, meditating all the while. On the third day, once again, I achieved a brief moment of Kensho. This time, that was enough, and I went back to my work and life revitalized. Eventually though, all good things came to an end; I had a vicious resurgence of my illness.
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35This time, the damned thing would not stop. I was given a month to live. I quit work, moved home, spent some time with my family, came up with a perfect diet with Mom, and began to meditate like never before. At first, I would spend eight hours a day in meditation, another four on martial arts. As time progressed, and that first month came to a close, I was cleaner in mind and body than I had ever been before, and meditating close to 16 hours a day. The new MRI showed a much slower progression than feared, but that I was still getting worse.
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37A second month passed. I had achieved Kensho another two times. I was conscious enough of my body to know I was still getting worse, as was verified by the doctors. Near the beginning of the third month, I achieved Kensho once more, and in that moment of clarity I knew, this body of mine was doomed.
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39But, in that moment of clarity, I had a thought; I saw a possibility. Normally, the mind, the body, the spirit, are linked but somewhat separate. I saw the possibility though of changing that. While I may not be able to live forever, I was maintaining my mind, my self, through sheer focus and will at this point. With some more focus, some more will, I might be able to change things, to link mind so that it depends solely on spirit. And so, achieve a kind of immortality in reincarnation.
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41This was a gamble; I was wise enough even then to know I may be practicing self delusion, that this may all be a product of self-hypnosis rather than an actual, spiritual enlightenment. Further, I was gambling on reincarnation, and that my own enlightenment would be enough.
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43Though, let me make clear: I was not interested in Buddha-hood. I had no desire to transcend humanity entirely until I was finished experiencing what it had to offer. Nor was I arrogant enough to think I could achieve it, certainly not in the moments I had left to me. I had no desire for the final enlightenment of Daigo, but needed the persistent insight I thought of as Satori rather than a mere moment from Kensho. And so I prepared. In a symbolic step-back from the flesh, I went entirely vegan.
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45By the end of the third month, I was close. Close to the unison-of-mind-and-spirit. Closer to death. There was no point in an MRI, not for me, though I agreed that the doctors could have my body once the heart stopped beating. I made my goodbyes. I went into my meditation room, an empty, white walled space with wood floor attached to a restroom, bringing fourteen pitchers of water and a glass.
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47I sat, and meditated, and drank water when I felt it necessary. The moments of Kensho became somewhat less impactful, but more and more common, the distance between me and Satori vanishingly thin. I lost track of time, was only drinking now what I perspired, my body devoid of toxins, my mind and spirit the same.
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49I felt that I could abandon self, that I could become one with the world. But that was not my goal. Instead, drawing on everything I knew and had practiced, I reinforced it. My Mind, My Spirit, My Self. This was my mantra. I experienced the world, but I was not the world. Not yet. One day, perhaps. But for that moment, my mind was my spirit, and my spirit my mind. To be honest, I am not sure if this revelation, this Satori of insight on how to maintain identity through death, came while I was alive, or dying, or only just dead.
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51I vaguely remember the experience of something trying to take that-which-was-dark, and when I held on to my darkness, to take me, but I refused. I was not dark, though I possessed darkness, and thus that-which-consumes-the-dark may not consume me. Something tried to take that-which-was-light; again, I refused to surrender my light, and was not light myself.
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53There was the potential to become-that-which-you-may-be, but my self was that of a human, which I already was; I had no need to become what I already was. And, lastly, there was the call-to-be-at-peace-with-all.
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55This, I remember most. Perhaps, it was the strongest call, especially for me, who had struggled so long. Perhaps, it was the weakest call, especially for me, who had spent so many hours of meditation, fighting this peace to make my mind part of the identity of my spirit.
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57Then, for an age, there was merely nothing, the rare sensation of movement, perhaps a faintly heard noise. After, I believe this to have been the womb, with my spirit entered into my new body. At the time, especially at first, I was somewhat freaked out, worried that I had resisted the possible avenues of death and thus been consigned to the void. But my illness had not broken me, and death had not broken me, so neither, I resolved, would this new void. I continued my meditations, continued reviewing my memories of my past and making dreams for the future.
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59The experiences of the dead, and the spirits, and the different-from-human, are not part of the human experience, and thus are lost to one that holds onto humanity. I remember those poorly, though there are some fleeting concepts I still held onto, as I have related. Their validity, how they might be psychic constructs to make sense of a greater experience, or merely the last gasp of a dying mind, all these are things I did not and do not know. Nor are human minds and spirits, which I had focused so dearly on maintaining, meant to function well without a body to provide the processing of thoughts. I can only report on fragmented memories, and how I have reconstructed them.
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61All I know, is that my efforts worked.
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63I maintained my mind and self as part of my spirit.
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65I avoided the Paths of the Dead.
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67As I lived, I would live again.
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69And so it was.
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71Being conscious as a fetus, and especially during birth, was not an experience I am fond of remembering. I do not advise it, and will speak not much more of it than to say that it was months of tedium, through which I struggled mightily to maintain my mind. As one may imagine, I spent much of this time in meditation, going over my previous life. I was not fully conscious of the fact that I was alive again until after the birthing process, an explosion of noise and light and sensation and pain.
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73Being a baby was itself confusing. To begin, babies are functionally blind. Their brains do not yet know which nerves control which motions. Their muscles are further too weak to do anything but turn their head.
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75It took me days, perhaps weeks to realize what was going on, weeks more to have any sort of controlled motion, months to build the muscles necessary to crawl, further weeks to have the balance to stand and walk. As a baby, emotions and body are unstable; think puberty but a hundred times more intense, and then remember that the baby brain is forming and developing too. It was far too similar to my illness for my tastes, and I wanted it over with as soon as possible.
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77Luckily, I was male. I wouldn't want to deal with gender confusion on top of everything else. Soon enough I learned my name: Daichi, or great wisdom. My parents picked well.
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79During this time, I had four other focuses beyond existing and experiencing infant-hood. The first was learning the language, which sounded similar to Japanese; though as I did not speak Japanese, I could not tell how linguistically similar they were. I would by carried about by 'Kaa-san much of the time, and whenever I wasn't obsessed with playing with her red hair (surprisingly distracting for a child), I would point and squawk at objects as we passed, getting her to name them. I endeavored to learn the language as quickly as possible. Eventually, I learned my parents' names: Kohaku was Tou-san's name, Kohaku Uzumaki. He was named after amber for his hair color, which apparently as a kid was more orange than red. Kaa-san's name was Tomomi.
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81The second focus was on my mind. A developing brain is a very interesting thing. Depending on how you focus your time and effort, combined with natural inclination, neural-plasticity leads to the formation of specialized thought capacity. Having babies, and even young children, do a lot of math, for example, will make them more likely to be good at it, especially faster at it, so long as they associate the math with good things. I was, of course, focused on making my brain as sharp as it could be; my identity, the essence of my mind and self, may have been linked to the soul, but the processing speed and power was definitely at least partially physical.
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83The third focus was on my spirit. I wanted to make sure that I did the necessary maintenance keeping mind and spirit linked. Infant mortality, especially in this relatively low-tech world I seemed to have found myself in, was definitely a thing, and I want to ensure that if the worst happened, I would once again be reborn in my full capacity. During this, and the associated meditations on my body, I found something interesting.
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85And this interesting thing leads into the fourth focus; my internal energy. I discovered that my ki there in that new land was much more real than in my previous life. On Earth, it was, at least as I thought, a way of envisioning and having a semi-conscious control over normal biological processes. On Chakyu, my new planet, it was the same, except there was this greater energy to it, and it was far easier to move and use.
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87After some months of focus, I realized this energy had its own circulatory system, and seemed to have a color to it too: a dark blue in the pool near my navel, the traditional seat of physical energies (ki), a pale silver in the well near my forehead, presumably my mental/spiritual energies (chi), and a rather nice sky blue near my heart where they mixed (chakra).
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89This gave me ideas. Back before, I had read a number of stories with chakra-based magic systems, including Naruto. I hypothesized that in such a system, there would be five important attributes to someone's chakra: how much chakra you have (volume), how potent your chakra is (density), how quickly you can release the chakra (flow), how finely you can manipulate the chakra (control), and how quickly it recharged (vitality). While all of these are somewhat inherent, all can also be trained like muscles, especially if the chakra system has a circulatory system attached. And so, I began my chakra control exercises.
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91The main exercises I focused on were internal techniques effective in increasing volume, density, control, internal flow, and vitality. The small points on my skin where chakra could escape kind of freaked me out, and I decided not to experiment with those without a bit of advice and more knowledge. What I could do, was the following.
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93First, I spent days meditating solely on my own chakra flows. Once I had a decent understanding, the next step was the first of the exercises. I would compress my internal chakra, making it denser, then form it into little balls that were slightly larger than the channels, increasing volume a bit, as well as control, and significantly increasing flow. I would then focus on moving these balls through my chakra system as quickly as possible while maintaining coherency, further improving flow and control. Vitality would come into it as my body would have to replace the low-density areas left behind by increasing my chakra density. As a second exercise, I would focus on making the chakra in my ki-pool and chi-well denser, then shaping it against the sides of the pool or well, and making it slightly larger. This was most effective in increasing density and volume.
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95My third chakra related exercise was to try and track my own chakra as some naturally flowed outside of my body, and do minor control exercises, like keeping it close. This led me to noticing other sources of chakra nearby, and my fourth chakra exercises. At first, I could only notice them if enough of my own chakra came into contact and was absorbed by the chakra of the object or person I was sensing, which made me lose control of the chakra that used to be mine; eventually, I noticed familiar chakra sources like my parents, then even later, unfamiliar chakra sources within range, whether they had any of my chakra in them or not. I would meditate on this daily, training to expand my range and refine my focus, while also trying to multitask on whatever it was I was doing normally.
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97This in turn led to my fourth exercise, where I would try to re-absorb my own chakra, and the chakra of others. I found that my own could be reabsorbed safely, but that others had to be mixed with my own chakra, at which point it would be infected by my chakra's essence, for lack of a better term, and made available to my control. When alone, I would purposefully leak chakra out, keep it close, wait till my system was full again, then re-absorb it, increasing my volume and density, and improving my external chakra control.
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99As a baby, with little to do other than focus on learning 'Kaa-san and Tou-san's language, doing memory and math game in my head to improve my mind, and a bit of meditation on my spirit, I had plenty of time when I was “sleeping” to muck about with these exercises. Though I didn't know it at the time, they would provide an excellent base to build the type of skills I'd need to survive.
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101I was about one year old when I discovered that I was living in a Naruto-verse, and more importantly in Uzushiogakure as an Uzumaki. I nearly wept I was so happy I had started my training early enough. It turns out, 'Kaa-san and Tou-san's red hair? The weird spiral symbol I'd sometimes see? All of these were signs that didn't really click until I was better with the language.
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103I wasn't sure how to feel about this.
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105I wasn't particularly familiar with Naruto, more's the pity. I had read a good number of fanfics, but the original was far too annoying to get into. I didn't know much, and had no guarantee that we were in fact in a canon Naruto-verse, nor whether a canon verse is reflective of the majority of possible Naruto-verses.
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107In other words, the multi-versal identity was certainly uncertain.
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109Less philosophically, I had no idea where the canon of Naruto fell in relation to reality. Was it truly historical, or at least a semi-child friendly depiction of true events? Was it fiction from the same setting, similar to Jiraiya’s Tale of the Utter Gutsy Shinobi? Or was it even less relevant? In other words, I didn’t know whether I had a cheat sheet, a loose guide, or whether I was about to do something as stupid as thinking that reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth qualified me as an expert on the War of the Roses.
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111I decided to work off of the assumption that I was in canon, or at least something closely related, until I knew better.
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113That aside, I was in Uzushio, which I knew fell in canon, but I didn't know when, my best guess being “sometime after Mito requests a replacement to hold the nine-tails”, nor could I locate myself in time. Further, I was well familiar with the butterfly effect, so assuming I was not in a static time-stream, in which case [everything I do] is something [I will have done in the canonical future] so I may as well [do as I would and hope for the best] – and yes, I did study modern philosophy in school – then the butterfly effect meant that this far out, nothing was certain of the absolute shit-storm that may be coming. On the other hand, considering it was the result of a centuries old conspiracy, and I was basically living in a death-world, I decided I should definitely prepare as well as I could.
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115Still, if there was a clan to be part of, the Uzumaki's were among the top choices. Maybe without the cheating eyes of the Uchiha or all-seeing Hyuga (both of whose capabilities I resolved to copy or duplicate at some point), but we didn't have the whole Hatred or Servitude fetishes either. Plus canonically, until it got destroyed, Uzushio was as far as I could recall a pretty good place to be. Bonuses included high levels of prosperity and technology, a virtual monopoly on high-level sealing, defensible and somewhat removed from the concerns of the mainland other than our, somewhat unfortunate, military alliance with Konoha. And, most critical for me, access to the sealing libraries of Uzushio, peerless repositories of a discipline which was interpreted back on Earth as a mix of magic, science and art.
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117As soon as I found this out, I forced my parents to start teaching me how to draw. I sucked. I was a baby, so it was expected. But, I brought a level of focus to it that impressed my parents. Turns out, Kaa-san was a fairly decently ranked sealer, and was ecstatic to start teaching me, calling me “her little genius” at the speed I learned the meaning of symbols and making Tou-san extremely jealous. Honestly, Kaa-san was pretty amazing.
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119I always thought of her as this huge (compared to me), but svelte and reasonably fit and just the right height (compared to Tou-san, who was kind of a beast, and always has 5-o'clock shadow), always dressed well, and gentle person who spent a lot of time writing in the office, but always with time to change or feed or play with me whenever I fussed, and infinite patience to point out and explain things in simple terms that I would hopefully understand. I took a while before I realized exactly what she was writing while in her office, to learn that she was this world's equivalent to, I'm not sure: a journeyman enchanter? A math-mancer or Pythagorean mage? A scientist? And at such a young age too. My eyes were full of admiration for Kaa-san.
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121Tou-san, who was part of the clan-guard (which was somewhere between ninja and national-guard), seemed to have focused a bit more on kenjutsu and physical combat, which I guessed from his rather manly appearance, sword, and callouses; I was just hoping he could teach jutsu too. Being a bit competitive with Kaa-san, he started me off on a proper physical training regime, getting me ready for martial arts and swordplay with a series of exercises, stretches and games which I took to amazingly well.
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123It was a wet, muddy, cold, painful, and exhausting process. I loved it. It had been literally a lifetime since my body was fit enough to do so, and I had seriously missed being able to feel that burn and the sweet exhaustion of an honest work-out. Tou-san pushed just the right amount, and always made sure to explain how this game or exercise wasn't only great in its own way, but would make me an awesome man in the future. It wasn’t hard to convince me. Being able to do what really amounted to martial-arts magic, and protect those we loved like Kaa-san and Uzushiogakure meant I was living the dream.
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125I theorized that chakra, which I had been improving at a rapid rate for over a year by that point, improved muscular and mental development too, because there was no way a one year old should be able to survive all that otherwise. And so my days passed, eating with Tou-san and Kaa-san, increasing my vocabulary, being taught to read and write by memorizing the meanings and usage of seals with Kaa-san in her office during the day, running and playing hide-and-seek, and doing basic exercises and pre-martial arts foundational work with Tou-san either early or late depending on his shift.
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127As I grew, and gained mobility, basic speech, the ability to eat solid foods, was finally a bit more sturdy, and had passed the all important first-year, where child mortality was so brutal, I was finally exposed to more of the village. It was a beautiful place. Relatively large, with a population in the tens of thousands, about a tenth of whom would fall under the broad umbrella of “ninja” (in reality often samurai or simply chakra-active with potential combat-applicable skills), Uzushio was also a trading hub, and made a fortune on selling seals and sealing services.
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129The buildings, mostly Japanese in style but with much more stone and solid materials than usual, tended to be bright and colorful. Clothes were made of fine fabrics and vibrant colors. The market had large supplies of local and foreign foodstuffs and goods. The people were pleasant, and my family well respected. We were not the very elite expected to inherit clan leadership, but were Uzumaki clan members, both of my parents being approximately Jonin within their specialties and thus of similar social position as a great-clan special Jonin in another village.
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131I loved life, as always, and I loved my new life too. I decide that I refused to allow it to be ruined by anyone. I would put forth my full effort, the understanding of science and technology of a highly-educated, 21st century engineer, and every ounce of cunning and viciousness. I resolved to protect this life, and the lives of those I value.
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133For that task, few measures were too far. I would become a monster so fearful that we were left without enemies, lest my gaze have reason to turn on them. I would advocate a policy of isolationism and neutrality to avoid conflict. But if anyone attempted to topple Uzushiogakure, the last thing they would find in their lives was me, waiting, and I would visit ruin unto their village.
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135Again, I had a goal. And I, who had transcended Death, refused to fail.
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137Time passed, and I as I turned 3 I grew mentally, physically, and in my budding ninja skills. I should point out, Uzushio didn't really have many “ninja”. We had clan-guard who were primarily responsible for home and territorial defense (think ninja mixed with samurai), seal-masters and sealers who were responsible for all sealing work and frequently paid missions to perform sealing for others, retinue-guard who protected sealers on missions and were probably the closest to other village's ninja, and the Shadows who were somewhat similar to Konoha's ANBU.
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139Still, I called them “ninja” skills, since to the rest of the world, that is what those skills were. Though samurai, monks, and even some peasant families were chakra active, the ninja were the flashiest. Samurai tended to focus on refining a few less flashy techniques for killing; beyond that, their talents were typically only seen on the battlefield, or by other samurai or their own servants when practicing. The general population had little chance to see samurai using techniques because of that. Similarly, monks generally disdained flashy use of chakra as a religious matter, and the most impressive monks were typically semi-isolated in their monasteries.
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141Ninja, on the other hand, could be and often were hired for even relatively low-level tasks such as repairing flood-damaged fields, dealing with chakra-enhanced beasts and bandits, escorts, and the like. Unlike samurai and monks who avoided showy displays in front of the peasants and merchants, ninja loved to show off. It was a great advertisement, after all. And so, over time, chakra-skills became more colloquially known as “ninja” skills.
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143Tou-san moved me onto both general physical training as well as proper martial arts training in the Whirling Fist, Uzushio's general military combat style. The style was a pretty interesting one, and fit my own previous experiences well. It emphasized out-fighting (fighting at relatively longer range) for both striking and grappling or Aikido style techniques; this made perfect sense considering most enemies, especially enemy ninja, had hidden weapons or crippling-strike close combat techniques. A Muay-Thai style clench could lead to a half dozen stabs to the gut; such an outcome was not exactly the best way of surviving a fight, let alone winning it.
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145Whirling Fist strikes focused on soft targets for knuckle strikes, especially at the lower levels. Seal-masters needed good manual dexterity, Uzumaki tended to live for a long time, and knuckle conditioning tends to make people highly arthritic by their forties. That combination meant knuckle conditioning, and thus hard knuckle striking, was contraindicated. Instead, harder targets were struck with hammer strikes, and there was a lot of conditioning for the arms to use a hard-blocking style.
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147Kicks tended to be low and practical, with a lot of training on how to change target from a kick already in motion, presumably to help prevent enemy knife-wielders from managing to slice the leg up. The grappling was more similar to Aikido and longer-distance jujitsu techniques. The style further frequently used circular motions and force-redirection to present a good target or opening for comrades when fighting in formation. It tended not to result in long grapples, but more positioning a joint to be struck, or moving the body to open up a target by unbalancing the enemy.
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149Overall, I’d describe the style as somewhat conservative, defensively prioritizing minimizing the practitioner’s openings and danger rather than focusing on offensively breaking the opponent. Attacks tended to be fairly opportunistic, counter-attacking and exploiting openings brought out by the defensive maneuvers.
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151We had not yet moved on to weapons, though the physical training for the sword had become somewhat more intense. Tou-san was so impressed by my progress that he was actually a little worried; I heard him talking to Kaa-san that I was learning things amazingly quickly, and my pain resistance was intense, so much so that he had to be careful not to push hard, like he might with a normal kid. Knowing I had high pain resistance came from blocking training.
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153There are several different types of blocking in martial arts, but most can be boiled down to five philosophies. And this wasn’t just on Earth, or Chakyu – this is a more universally applicable analysis. Any good combat style will use all of them, given the right circumstances, but will emphasize some, and personal preference plays a part in how effective these methods are as well as which sub-styles a practitioner focuses on. These are:
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1551) Tank, or being so physically tough you can take the hit and move through it. There is actually a lot of timing involved with such an approach; if you move into a hit at the right time, you can easily rob it of 60-80% of the total impact, and damage the balance of your opponent. Typically, you are then at an in-fighting distance, and by striking first, can begin a real beat-down. Once inside the enemy’s engagement range, a tank tends to stick, keeping distances totally minimal, hitting hard and grappling viciously while preventing the enemy from building distance and recovering. This style is much riskier when weapons are involved.
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1572) Dodge, or, don't get hit in the first place. A lot of the time, this means being an out-fighter, staying at the edge of where they can and can't hit you, dodging the strike, and countering. Done properly, you can inflict damage at no cost to yourself, and frequently combined with parry-blocks which put enemies minimally off-line. Highly effective if you are fast and have a light build, this was my own favored strategy, and it worked well when your enemy may have some instant-death-touch jutsu.
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1593) Hard Blocks are the idea that a block is also an attack. It relies on conditioning the bones that you use to block, and making the blocking motions both fast and heavy. It tends to mesh most easily with Tanking, but can be combined with dodging without too much difficulty. You could see it in Earth martial arts like Goju-Ryu. One such block, to block a punch, involved at a basic level trying to break through their wrist using your own wrist in a block. At an even higher level, you might move forward and block at a joint like the elbow, breaking that.
160
161The conditioning though was brutal; I'd forgotten how learning it on earth, the first time when I was 13, my arms were a constant bruise for six months until the holidays. The first day, when doing the conditioning sucked; I (like anyone) developed bruises over the practice, but just kept going. A week later though, everything started off sensitive and just got so much worse. Bruises on bruises on bruises over totally raw nerves until eventually those nerves start to die off and the practitioner starts to lose pain sensitivity in those conditioned areas.
162
163If you haven't guessed yet, Whirling Fist loved techniques like that, spinning around an attack, building momentum, and counterattack-blocking before the enemy could withdraw; suffice to say, Dad was super-impressed at my resilience and willingness to continue practice.
164
1654) Soft Blocks are just what they sound like. Think Tai-chi or Aikido. These are good for redirection, but a sufficiently stronger enemy with enough skill and experience against your style tended to break through as they learned to anticipate the pattern of force application they needed to use to deflect much of the parrying force. Parry-blocks fall under this category too, but I have yet to come across a hand-to-hand combat style which didn’t include parry blocks, so they are not stylistically definitive. Although I liked the concept of soft blocks, and combined with chakra they could be effective, they were generally not used within Whirling-Fist unless part of a dodge.
166
1675) Trapping Blocks are designed for grapplers, though are very effective for a striker when used against kicks. A trapping block tries to gain control of a limb after a strike, often leading into grappling. While Whirling-Fist had some grappling, it is not emphasized. Sando, an Earth Chinese military martial art, had some great kick-traps though, that were otherwise similar to the types of blocks in hard/tank styles such as some karate variants and Muay-Thai. I was including those blocks into my own style, mostly because it was really satisfying to catch a kick on the rebound and then literally toss my suddenly off-balance and helpless opponent.
168
169So, like I said, Whirling-Fist was mostly a combination of striking with dodging and hard-blocks, and a bit of longer-distance redirection joint techniques. It involved brutal conditioning, though not of the precious hands (which could become single-touch death when at a sufficient sealing level). At my urging, and continued adherence to the training schedule, Tou-san had me doing the conditioning at the best rate for a kid my age and with my recovery rate.
170
171The problem with this kind of conditioning was that if taken just a little too far, it could damage the body faster than I could recover, resulting in problems like spongy and fragile bones (a nasty issue that those who did a lot of running back on Earth could get in their shins). Kaa-san wasn't super happy, but gave in when she realized that it was at my own demand.
172
173When they asked me why, I told them: “Kaa-san, Tou-san, this world is dangerous. I will be powerful, and have to fight, like both of you. The more I sweat and bleed now, the less likely I am to fail later. I will have no regrets.” They were pretty speechless at this, and then both hugged me really, and I do mean really, overly, obnoxiously, tight. Kaa-san was, I think, a little teary, and mumbling something I didn't catch. But still, family love for the win. Suffice to say, my training continued, and was speckled with all the tips and tricks to improve my efficiency, both in training and combat, that Tou-san could give.
174
175I think that’s something important to recognize and emphasize. I wasn’t training to go on the US karate competition circuit, or to stay fit, or against the tiny risk that I might one day be mugged. No, I was training for the eventual surety that I would be serving in our military, fighting for my life against other super-human warriors. I knew it. Tou-san and Kaa-san knew it. And that knowledge, well, it was a pretty good motivator.
176
177After that conversation, Tou-san also started me on external chakra control and internal chakra reinforcement. I could do bark-sticking (Uzumaki's had more chakra, so leaf-sticking was actually kind of hard), and when focusing could tree-walk. We were working on leaves and unconscious tree-walking, and after I could water-walk Tou-san said he'd start me on some water-jutsus and water-elemental manipulation (his affinity).
178
179Tou-san also began the basics of chakra reinforcement. At it's most basic, you could flood an area with chakra, making it stronger. Although I was a chakra beast even for an Uzumaki due to my exercises, even a Jinchuriki would get tired using that to maximize power. At a slightly higher level, you could enhance specific tissues such as bones, making them tougher, or muscles to make them stronger or faster, and by using beams or columns of chakra rather than pools, enhance them in a certain direction further increasing efficiency. Intention was important with Chakra, and as I trained my chakra to react to my intention, I would be able to control whether the enhancement was more for speed, or power, or toughness.
180
181It turned out that the rapid-chakra internal flow technique (something that I luckily practiced so much that it had become automatic) actually gave a bit of a bonus to everything, but meant that maximum exertion drained energy a bit faster since I was technically able to go at a higher level. My chakra volume, density and vitality were sufficient for it to be worth it though, as the only real way to use techniques like this in combat with other buffing techniques was to make it automatic.
182
183Plus, it meant that if I fought at a level equivalent to what would be (without internal-flow) 100%, I only drained energy like I was fighting at 90% of the flow-less levels. In other words, it allowed me to go all out at a boosted level for a relatively minor cost, but also made me efforts in general more efficient. Apparently it also made it harder to put me under a genjutsu, as the genjutsu would have to match that high circulation speed or it would jar against my chakra system. For the purpose of making my non-circulatory chakra enhancement combat-effective, Tou-san had me practicing enhanced punches, blocks, kicks, and movements with the chakra reinforcement to make the reinforcement faster, more efficient, and most important an unthinking instinct when I need to use it.
184
185That involved a lot of work.
186
187There’s a saying that it takes ten thousand repetitions to make something instinctive. For example, ten thousand jab-cross combinations will make a jab-cross fast and automatic. To build up a full personal combat style back on Earth typically required something on the order of ten different kicks and about forty punches, blocks and counters, another twenty pieces of footwork, dodges and rolls, and a dozen throws, grapples, and escapes. Overall, with transitions, a practitioner typically required on the order of a million technique repetitions. And that was after they could do all of those hundred or so motions semi-perfectly and had picked out the techniques that worked for them.
188
189I needed that same number of repetitions, but every one required different chakra enhancements. Different balances of which muscle was getting how much energy in which pattern. How that meshed with the movement, combined into an ass-kicking technique. It was involved, and even with hours of practice every day I knew it would be years before I was at a skill level that I was happy with. I loved it though, the complexity and difficulty of turning my body into a fine-tuned machine. But best of all was the beauty when everything came together.
190
191Kaa-san too was starting to train me at an enhanced level. By the age of three, I could read about as well as a 12 year old, and could read basic seals (my handwriting wasn't quite good enough, according to Kaa-san, to write them yet). Part of this was that I already knew concepts, all I had to do was learn the word itself and the symbol (I truly loathed having a logographic rather than phonetic writing system). Part of this was my own genius, and the crazily flexible mind of a child.
192
193And part of this was the unflagging efforts of Kaa-san. I knew about different inks, and brushes, and most of the technical aspects behind at least the most basic seals. And all of those inks, brushes and the like were crucial, as they effected the conductivity and charge of chakra in the seal. Kaa-san even started me on the small, fine-scale chakra control needed to be able to chakra-etch seals at a touch (and eventually even a distance with a variant of chakra-strings), doing so without using ink or brush at all.
194
195Seals had three important aspects. The first was territory: seals could be used to define a space wherein a certain effect would occur, or a point at which it started. This could be the blast zone for an explosive seal, maximum object size of a space-sealing one, or persistent effect zone for a ward. The next was condition identification. A lot of the time, this was as simple as “chakra has been pulsed into the seal” for an explosion seal's countdown, but could be more complex like “object generating chakra smaller than 10cm by 5cm by 5cm is within the defined territory” for an anti-vermin ward (a huge seller on ships and for warehouses, by the way).
196
197The last aspect was the effect, which was normally some combination of converting, modifying and directing energy. The effect was one of the things about seals that was just so damned awesome, since it could be basically anything. Teleportation or very fast travel? Sure, though difficult and generally pretty expensive chakra-wise. Sealing? Trapping Bijuu was actually, relatively easy in a lot of ways given that they are just sentient chakra. The trick was keeping them trapped. Explosions? Healing chakra converters (totally necessary for Uzumaki medics with their large reserves)? Genjutsu jammers? All of these were possible. And all had dozens of different, already discovered seal formulations in the clan and village libraries.
198
199The hard part about seals was that they don't really fit into a conventional wisdom. Part invocation of oriental divine and abstract entities, part analogue to chakra's version of electrical-engineering, part computer-program, part absurdly advanced and obscure physics (especially for dimensional effects) and part art, there was a reason few villages had more than one or two seal masters. You had to have some sort of natural talent for it, an intuition that allowed the sealer to go beyond what could be calculated or even inferred. Thankfully, the Uzumaki bloodline seemed to have some natural predilection for seals that in any other place would result in being protected as a national strategic interest. Even among my fellows though, I was (somewhat unsurprisingly) a genius.
200
201I'm not sure if it was Kaa-san's exposing me to seals so early, or my own natural intelligence and knowledge boosting my biological tendencies, or the fact that I had passed beyond the veil of our limited understanding of reality, or my exposure to hundreds of different magical systems, many geometrical, in fiction I had read in the past, but I just got seals. And I did so faster than anyone Kaa-san had heard of.
202
203There was a set of sealing dictionaries, some of the greatest protected secrets of Uzushio. Seriously, I think the security seals checked my soul, and I was sure that there were some checking the body and even mind for any spying devices, based on conceptual understandings of observation. If you think about it, that means the sealers used quantum mechanics just in the security seals. I also knew that the dictionaries checked sealing understanding, and wouldn’t allow access to levels that weren't already understood. Seal masters could get super squirrelly when they got paranoid, and the protection of these was the province of the most paranoid of the seal-masters, past and present.
204
205These dictionaries were linked to the master dictionary, and were kind of like an advanced Wikipedia about the seals you had access to. It describes general usage of characters and sub-seals, some seals they were incorporated into, deep information (like celestial and elemental alignment, dimensional polarization, and chakra orientation) and known interactions with other sealing components.
206
207Suffice to say, Kaa-san had access to her own, personal, version, with the standard protections. Her dictionary contained all level one and level two sealing elements, as well as level three and four sealing elements concerning detection and abjuration warding, Kaa-san's specialty. As a note, the dictionaries had nine levels. For perspective, Minato's Hiraishin, as a super-efficient distance-ignorant teleportation technique, might rank as a level six seal in its entirety. Most components would rank as level four or below.
208
209Level eight was for things like summoning greater gods; in other words, with access to a level eight sealing dictionary, you could build a custom divine summoning seal. No one even talked about what level nine seals can accomplish, and I didn't want to know; it seemed like the kind of knowledge that might be capable of noticing you for knowing it. So, Kaa-san's level two/four dictionary was pretty damned respectable, especially given her age. She was expected to become at least a candidate to make sealing master in the future.
210
211What was cooler though, was she'd officially made me her apprentice. I passed the basic exam (thankfully not public, really didn't need that attention), and was written into her book as her apprentice, giving me access to seals which she thought appropriate (sadly, still somewhat lacking – I wouldn’t be breaking reality anytime soon). Still, they were so much fun to play with. I was basically on the sealing equivalent of writing “hello world” programs, but learning very quickly. I mean, hell, I was three. By age eight, I expected to be able to write my own original strategically useful seals at that rate.
212
213So, more time passed, and I turned 4 years old. I'd continued my training, could water-walk, knew the basic hand-signs, and could do the body-replacement technique (kawarimi) and visual-transformation (henge). It really wasn’t that ridiculous; Kakashi managed the same at age five, even graduated top of academy class, and I had the benefit of having been an adult and having started my training basically the moment I was born.
214
215Tou-san said that as a special birthday present, we'd be finding out my chakra affinity, and he would begin training on elemental techniques, starting with an elemental clone if I have Water or Earth at a high enough level (Uzumaki's tended to have a hard time making illusionary Bushin). Kaa-san, not be outdone, gave me a calligraphy set, and told me that I was finally ready to draw my first real seal.
216
217Dad handed me the affinity seal. Turns out, Uzumaki's don't use chakra paper to check affinities since it is “crude, inelegant, and imprecise. We have sealing masters for a reason.” Instead, we use a seal that will give a numerical value for your affinity, one-ten. The scale is somewhat non-linear; the gap between an eight and seven is far more than that between a seven and a six. A nine would be a perfect, trained affinity. Think Senju Tobirama with his water. A ten would be even more than that; almost a deity of the element, capable of using it with a thought and minimal chakra expenditure. The only reason a ten existed on the scale was to make sure that no one went beyond it.
218
219As someone who is untrained, unless there was something odd, I'd be in the one to five range. A five was considered amazing, especially for someone without training, and meant you could likely become one of the strongest users of that element in all the nations if trained. A four was considered a strong affinity for the element, to the point you might specialize in using the element. A three was considered worth training, but not particularly special. With a two, you'd struggle to ever really use the element. A one, you may was well not try and a zero meant it is impossible for you to generate this type of chakra, ever; a zero for the five elements would actually be a sign of a serious medical condition in humans.
220
221Uzumaki’s tended to have high water and/or air affinities. Dad was a fairly strong water-type, and it was likely I inherited at least part of that. I myself frequently did a meditation where I tried to become one with the wind, so I expected a relatively high wind affinity as well.
222
223As Uzumaki's, we were always adding functionality into things, seals especially. So, at some point, someone decided since we were testing affinity, the seal may as well test density and yin/yang balance too. Apparently, testing volume was somewhat dangerous (involving either an invasive scan, which some are allergic to, or draining large volumes of chakra, which could overload the seal and cause an “uncontrolled seal rupture” - aka explosion). Instead, volume was tested via jutsu or filling chakra battery seals rather than using expensive scanning seals; ditto with refill speeds.
224
225Yin-Yang balance was a number between one and a hundred, and represented the percentage of the chakra which was Yang or physically attributed. Uzumakis tended to be Yang-heavy, as did kids, but as a genius (and reincarnation) I expected my Yin to be relatively high. Typically, high Yin levels as an Uzumaki kid meant that as our bloodline develops and we aged, even more Yang chakra would be produced as our bodies “prefer” to be Yang heavy. Generally, even those with high Yin concentrations had at least 60% Yang going into their sixties (Yin increased with age, in normal people, while Yang was highest when young). This was a good thing, as it would turn me into even more of a chakra monster, but bad in that it would mean I had to constantly maintain my levels of chakra control lest I backslide.
226
227Density, similar to the elements, was one to ten with 10 being almost solid when still and edging into the “has transcended mortal flesh and become a biju” territory. Tou-san, as a ninjutsu/kenjutsu based clan-guard of about jonin level was probably a seven. A normal shinobi-born kid might hit a density of two by the time they were twelve years old. A member of a major clan might hit three. A genius in a major clan who trained extensively, someone like Kakashi or Itachi might hit four or five, or, very very rarely six. A gifted Uzumaki who trained a lot might hit six by age twelve; a very few managed a density of seven. A single Uzumaki in a generation might have a chakra density of eight by the time they were about to enter puberty.
228
229Typically, density increased with age and training, and was one of the major ways that ninja got “more chakra”. Their circulatory systems weren't flexible enough after puberty to expand much in volume, but the density could (and did) increase. Conversely, before puberty, it was relatively easy for volume to increase, so density tended to have relatively low gains. Jinchuriki for example tended to have very high volume and density, though the speed at which the system grew combined with the absolute lack of established and reinforced pathways from regular chakra use tended to give them terrible control. A jinchuriki might have had a density of seven to eight by the age of twelve, and might reach nine in their lifetimes.
230
231High chakra densities, especially at young ages, were typically a pre-requisite to activate bloodlines. Very high densities, especially without any full bloodline to activate, frequently resulted in a new bloodline, especially if the high density occurs before puberty. This chance could be further boosted by high environmental chakra concentrations.
232
233Any Uzumaki with density seven or above before puberty could activate the Adamantine Chains bloodline, and by law must be reported to the Clan-lord so appropriate training could be arranged. In fact, this is one of the few invasive laws concerning Uzumaki clan-members and also required testing at the age of 12. Apparently when you first “unlocked” the chains, they tended to fly all over the place and could accidentally cause a lot of damage or even death.
234
235Tou-san and Kaa-san didn't explain any of the particulars of the affinity test beyond the elemental affinity parts; I learned all the rest later. I channeled a trickle of chakra into it, until a light on the seal indicated a sufficient volume. A moment later, seven circles indicated numbers.
236
237Water: 5
238Earth: 4
239Lightning: 3
240Wind: 6
241Fire: 3
242Yang: 35%
243Density: 8
244
245“Holy… Tou-san! Kaa-san! Look! I'm going to be the god of wind!” I beamed at them, and saw the looks of mild shock. Tou-san recovered first.
246
247“Hahaha… not quite. I didn't say this, but since your density is so high, you need to subtract one from each of your elemental affinities. Normally, we only see that problem in older people. So, really, it's this,” he said, taking my paper and writing down the adjusted affinities.
248
249Water: 4
250Earth: 3
251Lightning: 2
252Wind: 5
253Fire: 2
254Yang: 35%
255Density: 8
256
257“Still though, you should be very proud. You'll be amazing at wind jutsu, and I can teach you all of my skills with water too. You're lucky; both are relatively common affinities for Uzumaki, so we have a lot of techniques for you. We'll have to see about getting your cousin Kiyoshi to give you some training.” Tou-san was getting a bit carried away already with plans for future training. We really bonded during it, and he took a lot of pride in it, but it could annoy Kaa-san if he wasn't careful.
258
259Still, seeing cousin Kiyoshi more would be awesome. He was Dad's first cousin, and one of the closest to our family. He was a bit younger, only seventeen years old, and hadn't married yet, though he brought a number of dates around to our place for dinner when he was at home. He was part of a naval patrol group in the clan-guard, and strong enough in wind techniques to enhance the speed of the ship while damaging enemy sails. Apparently, he was very well thought of, and considered something of a genius with his wind techniques. He was also a bit ridiculous, and over to top at home, with these big sweeping gestures and exaggerated stories that he told me. He was probably my favorite, outside of my parents and grandparents.
260
261“Wait, wait, wait! Kohaku, look at the density and think for a moment, you jutsu obsessed knuckle-head! We have to bring him to Kazuo-sama, he may have the Adamantine Chains.”
262
263As an aside, Kazuo-sama was Kazuo Uzumaki, the clan leader, head of Uzushiogakure, and overlord of Whirlpool and its associated territories. Technically, he had several titles: sama, in this case, as he was acting in a non-formal setting as head of our extended family. He could also be called dono (milord) when acting in a more formal setting as head of the noble Uzumaki Clan, or as lord of Uzushiogakure. Finally, when acting as the Lord of Whirlpool, he would typically be addressed as kaka (excellency). The Uzumaki had this very strange history, where they ended up as a shinobi clan, a noble clan, and the rulers of Whirlpool, and for some strange set of formal diplomatic rules, the Uzumaki Clan head was actually three people: the clan head, the village leader, and the minor Daimyo of the country, most of which was organized in semi-independent townships.
264
265“Good point Tomomi. What do you think, eh Daichi? Happy to have the honored bloodline of the Uzumaki?” And hell yes, I was honored. More elated, actually. The Uzumaki, partially because of our naturally high chakra density, had a ton of potential bloodlines (beyond a general propensity for seals and high chakra amounts). This was partially a result of chakra density being one of the defining characteristics for bloodline activation, but largely that the Uzumaki were an old clan that mostly stayed neutral during the warring clans era.
266
267Over time, we'd bred with just about everyone at one point or another. This meant a lot of residual bloodline potential, and a high chance of activating something. Most of the time these were positive adaptations, but occasionally people had cosmetic deformities, sensitivities, allergies or the like that had to be managed. Within this slurry of potential specialness, the Adamantine chains had a special place in Uzumaki hearts; the chains were powerful in and of themselves, but had also been used by many of the Uzumaki's greatest heroes.
268
269The main reason these chains were so awesome is that they were ridiculously overpowered. First off, they stayed connected to the user, so while they took a lot of chakra to use, you could return them to your body and regain the chakra. In other words, they merely occupied part of your reserves, rather than really draining chakra during a fight. Considering Uzumaki had high chakra density and volume to begin with, and the Adamantine chain users were prodigious even among the Uzumaki, it was rare for the amount reserved for the chains to prove needed; still, if it came down to the wire, the user could retract the chain and then use that chakra as needed.
270
271Next, the Adamantine chains were, as you may have guessed, ridiculously strong (physically). As in, they were strong enough to hold back Biju with an experienced user. The chains didn't actually have to look like “chains”, but could be edged or barbed for increased damage. They were ridiculously fast when being used too; since they were basically a chakra construct, the mind’s imagination was the biggest limit to how quickly they can move. Lastly, the chains were chakra conductive, but only for the creator’s chakra; otherwise, they were completely chakra blocking.
272
273This meant that you could use chakra flow on the chains; chakra flow was a technique that imparted elemental chakra onto physical objects. Wind-attributed flow could cut through just about anything. With my wind and chakra reserves, I’d be a whirling dervish of chains capable of going Cuisinart-blender on everything within a few hundred meters.
274
275You could also apply seals through the seals, so long as you could use chakra seal-etching. There were some seals designed to direct their payload through a chakra conductive medium; these were designed with the chains in mind, though could also be used with some swords. There was, in fact, a specific seal-modifier so that it could be directed unidirectionally through a chain. Sealmasters with the chains often used them to apply several seals at one time over wide spaces, giving massive battlefield control and allowing widespread destructive sealing techniques to be used with a good degree of control. So, defense, offense, and restriction, the chains were damned awesome.
276
277In fact, it was recorded that in the early days of the Uzumaki clan's setting up shop in Uzushiogakure and the land of Whirlpools that an alliance of several pirate-shinobi clans were annoyed in the perceived incursion into their territory, and attacked. An Uzumaki champion at the time, who's name had since been lost and was known only by his title of “the Red Osprey” (he was the possessor of the Osprey summoning contract, still in Uzumaki hands centuries later) was said to have sunk a dozen ships, all commanded by ship-combat specialist ninja, and killed over two hundred enemy ninja in the battle. He then proceeded to the island, now known as Wave, that was their base, and threw them the head of the enemy commander. He ordered the clans to bend the knee, or lose the head. The Himura clan, whose ships sailed under red sails, and the Kawaguchi both surrendered; they are part of Uzushiogakure to this day. The others refused, and were utterly destroyed. The only weapon that the Osprey used were his chains.
278
279So, hearing I might have these chains, I was pretty stoked. I'd heard the stories before, and had a lot of ideas as to how I could use them. Most of all, I wanted to find out if shadow-clones could use them, since that would mean I could make shadow-clones with chain-armor capable of tearing through even enemy jonin. It would make defending the village much easier.
280
281And so, we got dressed in somewhat more formal kimonos and trooped off to fortified compound in the middle of the village where Kazuo-sama lives and works during the day. We passed a number of guards, most of them covert, but my sensing skills were fairly strong, and only the stronger stealth-types would be hiding their chakra enough to avoid me. I was sure there were a few of these near Kazuo-sama, but not that many. Soon enough, we were in a waiting room, and Kaa-san had informed a secretary that we had “non-pressing family business concerning the inheritance of Uzumaki traits in Daichi”. As it turned out, Kaa-san actually had higher rank within the clan than Tou-san; we were a fairly meritocratic rather than patriarchal people when it came to rank, and sealing skills were highly valued.
282
283We were served some tea and snacks by a servant, and about a half-hour later, the secretary returned to bring us to Kazuo-sama. Kazuo was a strong looking man, about six foot tall, with a full head of dark, wine colored hair just beginning to grey pulled into a ponytail. He was dressed in the semi-formal uniform of a clan-guard officer, which included a lightly armored chess-piece and clothing that looked both comfortable, respectable, and combat-effective at the same time. He gave off an excellent appearance and air for a clan-leader and lord. He stood as we entered, and smiled, beckoning us to sit with him while we gave our bows.
284
285“Ah, Tomomi-san, Kohaku-san, and little Daichi-kun! You're all looking very well, and Daichi-kun seems to growing to be a fine young man. Which reminds me, it's your birthday isn't it? Congratulations; though it's not much, please accept this token, though it is not much.”
286
287With this, he gave me a beautifully detailed box about a foot cubed, made of a lovely lacquered wood with a hint of red stain. I bowed politely, thanking him greatly. I was curious what was in it, but too polite to open it until after we left. He could tell though, and grinning, told me to open it.
288
289Inside were a pair of finely carved wooden ospreys and a seal. Inspecting the ospreys, I saw small seals scribed on the underneath of the wings. It was truly masterful work; though the sealing was not overly complicated, the fine detail and orientation of the seals was extremely difficult. All together, the base seal would, when fed chakra, detect the bounded space it was in, and have the Ospreys swoop about inside of it; at least, that was my best guess, as I didn't know a number of seals that were used.
290
291I suspected that Kazuo-sama, one of the best sealers in the clan, had chakra etched the seals himself. Likely within the half-hour we were waiting. A real class-act, our clan-head. I was greatly impressed and touched, both by the sealing itself, as well as the thought that went into giving such a present to me, a four-year-old whose parents, while promising, were far from significant within the clan.
292
293“My greatest thanks, Kazuo-sama. The sealing work is beautiful. And the seal itself; the ospreys will fly within my room?” At this he burst into laughter.
294
295“Amazing! I didn't expect you to recognize that for years yet! Thank you for the compliment on the work. Are you interested in sealing?”
296
297“Very much so! Kaa-san has even made me her apprentice.” I was throwing Kaa-san under the bus when it came to our Head's attention a bit, but if I was going to be the child prodigy, then I was going to be, by god, a prodigy.
298
299“Really?” This time, the question was directed at Kaa-san. She looked a bit sheepish.
300
301“Ah, yes Kazuo-sama. He passed the test, and, well, showing him the dictionary was the best way for him to learn without always asking questions.” Thanks, Kaa-san! “In fact, today is going to be the first time he is allowed to create and activate a seal he drew himself.”
302
303And now that I was reminded about that, I was excited all over again. Being able to create and activate a seal you drew is a big thing. While other villages may allow dangerous hacks to call themselves sealer, as the Uzumaki clan and with such a large number of available sealers, we held ourselves to higher standards. Though I was Kaa-san's apprentice, I would only become an apprentice sealer once I had passed this step.
304
305“Excellent, excellent. I am always happy to see the promise of the next generation. Becoming an apprentice sealer at the age of four is an impressive achievement; I'll look forward to your future, young man. So, what brings you here?”
306
307“Ah, well. I was thinking that I'd start to teach Daichi-kun some jutsu, and so tested his affinity. He had an eight on the density, so according the Chakra Density Indication of Adamantine Potential Act we brought him to you.” Tou-san dropped this brick with characteristic lack of subtlety, and at this, Kazuo lost a bit of his composure. Granted, a four year old, especially one who wasn't a jinchuriki, with that level of chakra density was nuts. If I continued to grow as I got older, which I intended, I might end up actually achieving a perfect ten on my density. At the time, I didn't know what that meant, and I doubted my parents did either, but Kazuo definitely did; it meant I was leaving the map, and going into the space of saints and monsters. After a moment to reflect, Kazuo replied.
308
309“Truly incredibly. Well, as per the Act, I will now confirm your findings.” He passed me a seal. I repeated the process, and the readings were the same.
310
311“Very good. And an interestingly high amount of Yin, with great elemental affinities. You will certainly become an admirable man, Daichi, if you continue to work hard.”
312
313“Of course, thank you, Kazuo-sama!” I replied with a little bow. I was pretty damned cheerful; it was hard not to be, getting that kind of praise from the absolute ruler of your territory and your clan patriarch, especially since I was a kid.
314
315“Very good. I'll send Haruto over starting Wednesday next week. He'll train you in the Chains, and starting next weekend you will take classes with my niece, Kushina, who also has the possibility of the chains. She's a bit more than year older than you, but you seem very mature and I am sure you will become great friends.” We thanked Kazuo-sama again, said our goodbyes and left. I was left thinking though.
316
317Kushina existed, and I had previously learned that Mito did too. The Biju existed. The probability of this world being at least a near-neighbor of a canon Naruto world was significant and getting likelier with everything I was finding out.
318
319Kushina was in the Academy with Minato and other Konohagakure brats, and Uzushio was invaded around the time that she moved over. That meant I had about two years at the earliest, and six years at the latest, to prepare for the invasion, with it being most likely three or four years.
320
321I needed to step up my training.
322
323Following our meeting with Kazuo, and my successfully testing a seal to become an official apprentice sealer, I decided to pick up the pace in my personal explorations. For Uzushio and the Uzumaki to survive, we needed a force multiplier. For me to have it ready in time, I needed something to increase the speed at which I worked and learned.
324
325Two years.
326
327I had to be ready – more, to be sure that I'd be ready in time. Any extra time would be nice, but ultimately, not something I could be sure of. For me to be ready in two years, I needed to learn faster. I may have been a genius, with one of the best developed chakra systems ever, especially given my age, but the challenge I faced was daunting.
328
329Looking at the numbers, it was a tough situation. The “village” of Uzushio had a population at time a little higher than thirty thousand. Of those, officially, a little under a seventh were in the reserve combat forces or some active formation. That was four thousand people who were at least nominally combatants.
330
331But, of those four thousand, about a quarter were sealers, and only one in five sealers would be any more effective than, say, a logistics corps genin from another village. Of the remaining two hundred sealers, about one hundred could fight as well as chunin, and the other hundred could match jonin; they'd be glass cannons, since the enemy jonin, probably even chunin, would be faster and have more jutsu, but the battlefield control, both defensive, mobility, and destructive that a good combat sealer could achieve was pretty impressive, especially on a prepared field. Most sealers were in the reserves, or part of logistics units.
332
333Of the remaining three thousand who had been trained as clan or village guard, about one thousand were in the reserves for a long time and had lost their edge or were logistics units and not particularly combat effective leaving two thousand to provide the bulk of actual combat-focused personnel. Five hundred of those were genin or apprentice warriors (remember, our village had samurai types too). Of the fifteen hundred remaining, about five hundred could match jonin, while the other thousand would probably be better qualified as better-than-average chunin.
334
335At any given time, about a third of the combat forces were on patrol, attached to National Guard soldier units, or otherwise unavailable. This meant a decapitation invasion targeted at my home would face the following:
336
337Four hundred jonin-equivalent
338Eight hundred chunin-equivalent
339Two thousand genin-equivalent
340
341These numbers were actually really good considering our population. In general, as a martial village, there were a number of private citizens who could fight (particularly the women in samurai families, many as well as chunin, some as well as jonin), but they were less organized and more for a “the village is already broken into, how much can we make them bleed” scenario.
342
343Uzushio didn't really run active combat missions, just protection details for any sealers that left the village and national defense, and we didn't do repeat business with villages that didn't take appropriate steps to protect our sealers. Some, volunteers, would go and serve a tour or two with the Leaf, as per our alliance, and bring back new techniques so we stayed current.
344
345Because of our generally defensive outlook, our men didn't die nearly as frequently as in other villages, and so tended to reach higher levels on average. On the other hand, our forces were a bit older on average, and had less experience of actual blooding, though all had desensitization training. Our village was wealthy, and had a high proportion of sealers; our troops reflected that, and were on average better equipped and outfitted than our potential foes, especially for things like explosive, protection and trap seals.
346
347The biggest problem was one of scale; Uzushio was relatively small, and our culture and military planning were designed around being too tough to hit, rather than actually being able to win a war by defeating an enemy nation.
348
349For comparison, Konohagakure at the time had above two hundred thousand citizens, and a nominal military force of twenty thousand, weighted much more heavily towards semi-crippled reserves, with higher proportions of genin, and a large number permanently committed to supporting the Daimyo's forces and intelligence gathering operations.
350
351If they went all out, Konoha could probably put about five hundred jonin or special jonin, a thousand chunin, and twenty-five hundred genin into an assault without seriously stripping the home guard or neglecting their feudal obligations to the Fire Daimyo. Konoha’s troops would be of slightly lower quality overall, and significantly worse equipment for each quality category.
352
353At the time, Konoha was the largest military force, so you can see why Uzushio couldn't be invaded by any single village. Especially so since challenging a sealer on their own turf was rightly considered somewhat foolish. Enemy villages rarely worked together, so Uzushio could be forgiven for becoming complacent, not that being forgiven would have saved us.
354
355A big problem with the invasion I feared was coming was that Uzushio didn't practice as aggressive population increasing measures as other villages. Ninja villages had high attrition rates and demands for fresh blood. As a result, they tended to evolve cultures that were effective at filling this need. Lightning’s Kumogakure was rumored to engage in significant levels of what I, as a modern person, would consider slavery to provide enough women to fill their ranks; to be fair, in a more historical middle-ages context it wasn’t quite that bad, but even other nations thought that Kumo’s actions were a bit distasteful. Konoha (an example I was more familiar with) had this idea that patriotism, especially for females, was to breed with the strongest male they can, then send the kids to the war-machine.
356
357Jonin there actually got incentives to have harems. While Uzushio allowed polygamy, consorts and concubines, our long lives and relatively low death rate didn't necessitate such an aggressive breeding philosophy. But that was for relative peacetime. What that meant during wartime was that our casualties would not replace themselves. And since our troops tended to require more knowledge and skills, we needed a longer time to train them. A series of even relatively minor wars could draw down our population and reduce our institutional knowledge, whittling away at our strength until we failed.
358
359Uzushio had not been seriously attacked in centuries. If we were attacked, we needed to crush the invaders so completely that they never even thought of it again. I wanted attacking Uzushio to become the Elemental Countries' version of a land-war in Russia during the winter; an obvious military trap.
360
361So, there I was, just turned four years old, and I needed a way to at least double, preferably quadruple, our combat potential. Alternatively, I needed to be able to match the combat potential of five hundred jonin on my own. And, to make it even more complicated, I needed to do so without introducing a technology that could be turned against us in the future. For example, guns. Guns were simple enough compared to the local technology level that if an enemy village developed them, their genin might have over-run us. I sure as hell was not introducing anything that could be used against us so easily.
362
363So that was my challenge. Become a monster, or create a monster of Uzushio, and all within two years. And, as I could hardly prove I was a reincarnation with potential knowledge of the future, I had to do so without being able to get massive resources or support from my village.
364
365At my then rate of growth, that was impossible. Even assuming I unlocked the chains, and projecting my speed forward, I still needed at least two years of progress to go against a low-strength jonin without special bloodline tricks. Assuming I somehow learned or re-created the shadow-clone jutsu, which, from Tou-san's explanation on clones, was not known in Uzushio; I might have matched a hundred jonin, though would still have lacked the ability to go after any of the S-ranked titans of the battlefield. This approach was still far from sufficient.
366
367I decided that if my rate of growth at the time was insufficient, then I needed to improve it. Sort of like investing in infrastructure and research in the beginning of a strategy game. The experience-sharing shadow-clone jutsu, my first choice, was not known to Uzushio then, or if it was, it was at a level far higher than those I had access to (no matter how nice Kazuo-sama was). While I'd need to reinvent the shadow-clone later anyways (or steal it, or somehow purchase it, I wasn't picky), it was beyond my theoretical understanding. But if I couldn’t think more, I could certainly think better; the avenue I picked was thus thought-acceleration and mental reinforcement.
368
369I've already discussed how internal chakra acceleration makes you faster and stronger. It turns out, that while it could use regular old chakra, using energies weighted towards ki, or yang, yielded better results. As in, a one-to-two parts mixture of mental and physical energies was almost twice as effective at physical reinforcement as a one-to-one chakra mixture. Getting too imbalanced wasn't good either though, since it took time to change and would make casting jutsu impossible while too imbalanced.
370
371Reinforcement of tissues using chakra was similar, though bone, muscle, tendons, everything had its own optimal mixture. Tou-san was a wealth of information. I wasn't perfect, or even very good at the time, but I was putting in the effort to improve and perfect myself; all of this knowledge was important for training.
372
373A similar technique could be done in the mind, but using a predominance of chi (ie yin or mental) energies. The thing was, over-loading anything could cause damage: tears, burns, and chakra induced morbidity were just a few of the possible effects from overload.
374
375I'd just recovered from losing my brain to disease; I had little desire to experiment with burning it out. That said, my soul was the seat of my mind. I should have been more resilient to this damage than others, and Uzumaki’s, especially those with chakra densities as high as mine, were stupidly regenerative.
376
377And, if I did die, at least I would have tried.
378
379By that point, my personal chakra-building, control, and sensing exercises and meditations were somewhat automatic. While they were more efficient when I specifically spent hours every day on them, I could continue to improve by using them in the background. Instead, my main focus became experimentation with neural and mental reinforcement.
380
381In the days leading up to Haruto, my new tutor's arrival, I had a bit of time free which was normally used for meditation or extra studying. Since Cousin Kiyoshi was on a long-distance patrol for the month there were no other distractions so I experimented.
382
383First, I wanted to find the maximum load on a neuron. I reinforced a nerve a bit above the hip, then poked it. I reinforced it a bit more, and continued to do so until I felt a slight burning pinch there, after which the nerve seemed dead. Having found the limit, I set my own personal limit as half that, and began testing this level of reinforcement in other areas where I could afford to lose feeling. I burned out a few more nerves, halved the limit again, then continued testing until I was relatively sure I had found a safe amount. Then I repeated the process using yin-dominant chakra acceleration, which turned out to be basically inherently safe much the same as how the yang-dominant chakra acceleration was for my physical enhancement.
384
385The moment of truth came as I began to apply these principles to my brain. The first day, I only applied yin-acceleration. It seemed to make me a bit sharper, more aware and focused, increased my reaction speed a fraction. I thought my memory was stronger too, and processing speed faster. All excellent advantages, probably worth another standard deviation, or about fifteen IQ points, but not the gains that I needed. It did however give me the idea to develop yin-reinforcement techniques for my signaling nerves to improve speed in combat.
386
387The second day, I began to apply the reinforcement to the brain. And holy fuck was it a trip. Turns out, that if you reinforced areas of the brain you reinforced everything that area controlled. Sensations, pain, pleasure, colors, desire to sleep mixed with manic energy, emotions, all of them, at once, mixed with leaps of intuition and moments of clear logic.
388
389If I didn't have the memory of being a baby, I think it might have driven me mad; if I didn't have much of my mind in my soul, I'd have lost control of my chakra and possibly killed myself with a runaway overload. I managed to dial it back though, and began systematic testing of what regions should be reinforced, and how. I was basically getting all of the symptoms from those lists drug companies are obligated to read out in television adds. When not learning from Kaa-san or training with Tou-san, I suffered temporary twitches, random pains, burning feelings, sudden bouts of emotion, hyper-awareness, blindness, irritability, hysteria, even the hiccups, and this just in the days before Haruto arrived.
390
391Meanwhile, Kaa-san had me started on a whole new set of seals. It turned out that as an apprentice sealer, I was expected to know more – a lot more. I already knew the eighty four symbols of the basic, introductory level. Next, I had to learn every interaction they had, not just as pairs but as groups. Seals interacted somewhat similarly to atoms; anyone that studied atomic theory in solids knows you have to worry not just about the nearest neighbor atoms, but those out several further steps too.
392
393Although seals had a lot stranger qualities than atoms. Celestial and elemental alignment, dimensional polarization, and chakra orientation were all potential qualities to be worried about. Higher level sealers with a good intuition would often talk about the beauty, hesitancy, and other artistic qualities that could have their own sub-interactions too, though I didn't have to worry about that much at my level. Apparently, the goal for my level, and what separated out those who can become true masters from those who couldn’t, was the ability to develop an intuition about the interaction of seal symbols. Otherwise, to learn literally millions of combinations – and that only for the most basic symbols – was not really an option.
394
395Tou-san, not to be outdone in the “fun new stuff now you're four,” had started me on elemental jutsu. As a Water-type, he didn't know the elemental manipulation training for air, but my water affinity was still strong, being above average even for a clan-member. He was happy to start me off on several exercises to train that. I spent hours focusing on extending my senses into the water, manipulating water from one glass to another, catching rain, and desiccating leaves.
396
397It went really well. While I may not have trained my elemental affinity before, my chakra itself was highly trained and responsive, as I'd been consciously controlling it from a young age. Further, my concentration was high. I found within days that while focusing I could complete the basic exercises. Tou-san gave me a set of small water balloons and tells me to try and work on keeping one in orbit while I work on other things; this became a new type of meditation for me. Being orbited by small, bright water-balloons was great, filling my inner child’s desire to be like some comic-book character.
398
399With the first level of manipulation done, he taught me my first water jutsu, the Canteen. The canteen was a jutsu that collected about a liter of water, typically out of the air, but could also be used on existing water sources like a pool or river. It would collect only water; at low levels, it would filter out particulate but not salts, while at higher levels, the water would be completely pure. It was excellent as a way of avoiding being poisoned, and by purposefully adding and then trying to remove salt, served as an excellent training method and way of testing my control of water.
400
401Not the flashiest jutsu, and my inner-child was a bit disappointed, but as an E-D rank jutsu it was a great choice, since I'd be using for the rest of my life. Literally starting that day; Tou-san banned me from drinking any water that I hadn't used the canteen jutsu on. He’d even do things like add capsaicin to the water at the dinner table as a trap. At the time I didn't realize it, but looking back he must have been worried about assassination considering my status as an “amazing prodigy”.
402
403Suffice to say, I was kept so busy by both myself and my parents that I had almost forgotten about Haruto by the time he arrived.
404
405And what an arrival he made.
406
407It happened while I was out in a training field, putting in my three hours a day of martial arts practice and physical conditioning. I had already finished my kata and impact-conditioning, and had moved onto workout circuits of running, pushups, pullups, leaps, situps, sprints with rapid direction changes and rolls for dodging, leglifts, burpees. I’d then repeat that circuit ten times until I was properly exhausted. The first seven were without reinforcement; the last three circuits were with, but at an even more brutal pace. And yes, that did suck just as much as it sounds. On the other hand, between that and my chakra reinforcement training, Tou-san said around then that I was as fast as most genin, and stronger per pound.
408
409I was on my sixth circuit. So there I was, covered in and dripping with sweat, steaming slightly in the cool air. I could barely even see I was focusing so hard, ears buzzing with the sound of blood, pushing my body to the limit and just far enough beyond. And then, while exhausted and distracted, I heard a fwip sound of an incoming projectile and suddenly sensed someone who had been suppressing their chakra.
410
411I tried to dodge but tripped, luckily falling beneath the object. I rolled, coming to my feet facing the attacker. He moved towards me, fast. It was only my over-reinforcement and hard-gained speed that allowed me to block the first strike, a punishing kick that knocked me over despite my defense.
412
413He was on me in a moment, flipping me over, capturing an arm behind my back in a half-nelson and placing his other arm around my neck, a knife held in a reverse grip touching both his forearm and my jugular. I froze, filled with panic.
414
415I thought, in that moment, 'no, No, NO! I can't die like this, I haven't done what I needed to, I haven't lived this life to the utmost, not to this bastard, this child-murdering piece of shit, please, fuck, I NEED TO KILL HIM FIRST!'
416
417And something heard those prayers. It wasn't Tou-san or Kaa-san or a passing Kami.
418
419It wasn't Haruto either, if you thought that’s where this was going.
420
421No, I heard that prayer. Or rather, my subconscious and chakra did, and they answered.
422
423Chakra poured out of me, and in truly obscene amounts too. Enough that it scalded the majority of my skin just from the concentrations of energy. And my chakra, my chains, pierced the enemy and coiled about me, lashing the air protectively. A moment later, the enemy collapsed in a burst of water, and somewhat distantly I heard someone yelling, telling me that everything was alright, that I could withdraw the chains, to just focus on my chakra coming back to me.
424
425I did, and Tou-san and Kaa-san ran over and hugged me. While I was still a bit shock-y, they told me how proud they were, and how brave I had been, and Tou-san even said he was impressed with my speed and strength and that we'd be starting some more advanced forms the next day.
426
427Then they motioned, and over came a new man. He looked like he was in his late thirty's, so was probably at least sixty, maybe more like eighty years old. Kaa-san was glaring at him a bit, and Tou-san looked a bit sheepish.
428
429“Daichi, this is Haruto-sensei. The attack you just experienced was only simulated danger to get you to activate your chains. Haruto-sensei will be taking over your training in the Adamantine Chains bloodline, and will be providing some advanced training in other arts too,” Tou-san explained.
430
431“Holy shi-” I started to reply, still obviously in shock.
432
433“Language!” Oops, I thought. Kaa-san would definitely have me in the doghouse for that later.
434
435“Sorry, sorry. It's not every day you get attacked, think you're going to die, kill the attacker with your previously inactive bloodline, then find out it was all some sort of sadistic test!”
436
437So, yeah, at the time I was a bit pissed. I mean, sneak attack? While I can sympathize, they had to at least allow me to be angry after. I thought I was going to die, that the whole village would fall. And, to my shame, I started to cry. I blamed my tiny body's child hormones.
438
439Freaking child body and child emotions.
440
441And that was how I came to meet Sensei Haruto.
442
443After our eventful meeting, Haruto-sensei explained what exactly it was that he'd be teaching me. It turned out, as I'd somewhat discovered, that the “Chains” didn't normally take the shape of “chains” at all, but were normally basically whips or tentacles. The “chain” shape was actually a chakra-conservation technique; since the holes didn't include chakra, it allowed us to make the chains longer.
444
445This fell into the first category of chains-training: manipulation. This was also used to make the chains pointed, sharper, barbed, or smooth depending on how the target should be restrained or destroyed. Manipulation further covered how quickly the chains moved, and what motions they used to strike.
446
447Beyond manipulation, there were a few other training categories too. The second category of chains training was manifestation. This included how dense the chains were, their overall length, and overall cross-sectional volume, all of which were typically constant for all chains in use at a time. Advanced users were eventually able to manifest two or more different types of chain.
448
449Manifestation further covered the chakra balance in the chains. Higher amounts of Yang made the chains stronger, tougher, while higher amounts of Yin made them more fluid and easier to manipulate. Since I had comparatively high levels of Yin, especially for an Uzumaki, I was expected to have an unusually high level of control. Manifestation also included how quickly the chains were generated, and how much chain was generated. A large number allowed greater effect, but over a smaller volume for the same chakra expenditure compared to a single longer chain.
450
451The third category of training was channeling. This was how the “Sealing” chains work, as well as chains that used elemental chakra flow. Channeling was important too if they were being used to do something like restrain Bijuu, and high levels of channeling expertise could allow users to make their chains resistant to enemy elemental chakra flow techniques. The most basic level of channeling was to only allow the user's chakra to exist within the chains; this prevented the enemy from using a shock jutsu or similar. At a higher level, the chains could also be used to drain an enemy, allowing the free flow of chakra that is either the users, or uncontrolled and elementally neutral.
452
453Lastly, there was combat training. Or, how to combine manipulation, manifestation and channeling together to block enemy techniques, and slice, tear, crush or capture as desired.
454
455Haruto-sensei was primarily a wind user, and would be training me in how to use what he called the razor wires, his signature technique. Haruto's technique used super-dense, very fine chains only as thick as some thin wire. He then used an advanced level of wind chakra flow to make the wires even sharper, and high levels of manipulation to control the rigidity on the fly to strike fluidly and viciously but with a strong cutting edge.
456
457Haruto demonstrated his technique by cutting a line through the foliage of an oak tree; dozens of branches, some as thick around as my arm, were cut in a moment. He showed off the piercing version of his style too, driving a handful of wires through about a meter of rock before they separated and spun, cutting a whirlpool symbol into it. I was, as you may imagine, extremely impressed. If I could learn this, I would be much stronger. Haruto had my full attention, and found me an apt pupil.
458
459My training schedule was modified to account for those lessons. He would come twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I would visit on Saturdays to take classes with both him and Kushina. Apparently training the chains was dangerous, and so we would not be training the chains actively together until we had both achieved greater levels of control. Other days, I was expected to spend an average of one and a half hours practicing with the chains.
460
461This meant that daily, I did the following (note that Uzushio typically ran a day based off of dawn, but for convenience I'll assume that that is at about six in the morning):
462
4636 am: Wake up. 30 minutes of meditation, then starting the chakra building exercises and meditations while going through a set of stretches for the day ahead.
464
4657 am: Eat breakfast with the parents.
466
4677:30 am: Start morning with physical focused training, including katas and conditioning and physical chakra techniques. Frequently train with Tou-san.
468
46910:00 am: Finish physical training, eat a snack and start elemental and chakra control training.
470
47111:00 am: Finish elemental and chakra control training. Wash up.
472
47311:30 am: Find Kaa-san, train seals.
474
4751:00 pm: Lunch.
476
4771:30 pm: Continue learning from Kaa-san. Sometimes work on history or theoretical knowledge beyond seals.
478
4795:00 pm: Train chains until it gets too dark to continue, either alone or with Haruto-sensei.
480
4816:30 pm: Eat a snack. Personal training indoors, especially chakra control and growth exercises and meditations. Practice mental reinforcement.
482
4838:00 pm: Dinner. Tou-san was often still on shift (2-10 pm most days).
484
4858:45 pm: Bed. Meditate on my own chakra, and on keeping the link between mind and spirit. Focus on planning sneaky or cunning or creative ways to get more powerful, or weapons concepts I could introduce and how to achieve those concepts on a large enough scale to matter.
486
48710:00 pm: Fall asleep.
488
489This schedule kept up until the weekend. I continued to focus on my mental reinforcement, and began making progress in identifying what part of the brain interacts with what type of thought, and how much reinforcement effected it. I could significantly, if not hugely, speed up my reaction time in general. I could also enhance my hearing to an extent. It was more of a “enhance the processing of the audible sounds you hear” than actually enhancing my hearing though; the latter would be extremely dangerous with loud noises. Instead, this made everything a lot sharper and clearer.
490
491While useful, it was far from the holy grails that I was searching for: eidetic memory, increased logical processing speed, improved intuition, enhanced muscle memory adaptation and enhanced chakra memory adaptation. With those I would be able to grow several times faster in physical combat, practical and theoretical sealing knowledge, and chakra manipulation.
492
493Less important, though still an eventual goal, was a combat mode consisting of mental and physical reinforcement paired with the release of a combat-cocktail of adrenaline and other drugs that I hoped would be similar to opening the first gates, if less permanently risky to my chakra coils. I had no other way beyond shadow-clones that I could think of in the scarce years I had to prepare, and so had to succeed. I endured headaches, phantom pains, even a small seizure all for my goal.
494
495Perhaps influenced by my irritation at my continued slow progress and the pain it had caused, I was not as “on the ball” as I should have been meeting Kushina. While her importance to the canon plot had likely changed due to me and butterflies, she was still the Clan-head's niece, and had enough promise to manifest the chains even at such a young age. If she showed any promise in sealing, and I suspected she would, she would be a fairly strong candidate for next clan head despite her gender.
496
497On the other hand, when I was introduced to her, she acted the absolute brat. Alternatively whiny, petulant, demanding, argumentative and loud, when she wasn't being more than one at once, she basically acted the way I should have expected. Here she was, five years old, told how special and clever she was to have unlocked the chains at such a young age, how it showed her excellent breeding. Somewhat more sheltered by her parents than I, due to a combination of parental preference and the demands of my genius, and spoiled due to her station, this was a predictable reaction to me, an interloper.
498
499So there I was, suddenly taking her Haruto-jisan's attention, having become more special by unlocking the chains at an even younger age. Not only that, but I had already passed the Apprentice Sealer qualifications, and, unbeknown to me, was being hailed as the hard-working prodigy of the Uzumaki for the speed at which I learned and observations of my training. I was mature and cool and collected even though I was younger than she. In short, I challenged Kushina's childish world-view and her self image.
500
501And so I should have anticipated that she would somewhat explode at me after I told her to “Calm down, Firecracker,” when she was being overly loud and aggressive. Suffice to say, the day's training was delayed while a long-suffering Haruto dealt with her emotions after excusing me for the day.
502
503In my defense, she was driving me a bit nuts. I wanted to grab her and shake her, tell her that she had a duty to her family, our clan, our village and nation. That her very existence may have doomed us; so closely related to Mito-sama, with the sealing chains, able to breed and likely to develop an attachment to Konoha, especially if Uzushio were destroyed.
504
505I had no trust for the leaf; for Uzushio, with all our seals to fall, and our ally to be absent? And, if I remembered correctly, there may even have been Root ANBU taking part in the assault. For this brat, this brat that so happily accepted the platitudes of Konoha and allowed herself, allowed Uzushio, everything I valued there, my family, to be sacrificed, burned, destroyed for paltry benefit to those two-faced bastards, those scum in human skins? And for this child, the potential cause of so much misery and suffering, to be such a brat?
506
507Well, it may not have been mature, but I had few fucks to give and threw myself back into training.
508
509The next week of training went well. I made a conceptual breakthrough in both sealing and my mental reinforcement, on the same day to boot. I started to get a good sense just as my day's seals training was coming to an end on how the seals might combine, something which was still on my mind when I later moved onto my mental reinforcement.
510
511I realized that the best way to enhance my mind to achieve things like eidetic, or at least improved, visual memory was to improve the memory region, the visual signal, and the aid the transfer and permanence between the two. Basically, I was looking at parts of the brain as functional elements, and reinforcing those that were responsible for certain cognitive tasks. After that week of practice, I could take mental photographs and videos, and even link in my chakra sensing.
512
513That wasn't the week's only progress. As mentioned, I also achieved level one seals intuition. When Kaa-san tested me, she was so proud she got teary, and almost cracked a rib she hugged me so hard (no, seriously, I had to reinforce it). As a more material bonus, I got my own dictionary with the first level of seals unlocked. Dictionaries only unlocked depending on intuitive understanding as a safety measure; the fact that I had one may have been a record.
514
515As a note, despite the intuition, the dictionary was still pretty crucial. Intuition only meant that the user had a very good idea on how to combine symbols that they already knew to get a specific result. In a computer programmer, it would be like knowing how to write code without bugs. Considering a sealing “bug” could kill the practitioner, that was pretty critical. But the dictionary was what had the full list of symbols and their information to use. It also let a user take a completed seal (done via intuition), and then back-track, checking that the practitioner hadn’t missed anything. The reason that the Uzumaki were such unbeatable sealers was the combination of the deep theoretical background available in the dictionaries, and the individual intuition as a result of the bloodline.
516
517After Kaa-san told me how hard it is to achieve that kind of intuition, and so quickly too, the thought passed my mind that all this reinforcement mucking about, especially combined with how I'd been spending so much time practicing seals, might have resulted in pools of available spiritual chakra being re-purposed to modify my mind to be even more suited towards sealing.
518
519That, or I was just that badass (or, more likely, it was a remnant artifact of having touched on some deeper truths while reincarnating). I was happy with any of those options.
520
521Either way, after a test on Thursday I was suddenly Uzushio's newest sealing Initiate, the term for someone with intuition on first-level seals. Second-level and above, for reference, were titled “Adepts”, with Fourth-level being “Experts” and Sixth-Level “Masters”. Eighth level or above were Grandmasters; only a half dozen Uzumaki were recorded as becoming Grandmasters in so many centuries.
522
523There was chatter that at that rate I might be the next Grandmaster sometime in my lifetime. Either way, I brought myself and my parents, especially my mother, a lot of honor. Tou-san got off shift early and we went out for a special celebratory dinner.
524
525Of course, in his typical, endearing competition with Kaa-san as to who could train me better, he announced that he thought I was ready to test for my Basic Instructor's level in Whirling-Fist and then start in with weapons. I was so happy, both due to my parents' pride and my own progress that I was still wearing the smile two days later for my second “joint-training session”.
526
527I'd reflected a bit, on why that first meeting with Kushina went so poorly, and was a bit disappointed in myself. She may have been a bit of a bratty kid, but I understood her circumstances. It was also totally unfair for me to blame her for what I estimated to be Konoha's actions in an alternate time-line. I endeavored to make our second meeting better than the first, and immediately bowed and asked her forgiveness. From the surprise on her face, it was like I had done a full dogeza (formal Japanese kneeling prostration).
528
529She was so taken aback, blushing and stammering that I couldn't help but chuckle, which of course irritated her again. Somewhat panicked, I said the only thing I could think of.
530
531“Sorry, Firecracker-princess, but your blushing is just a bit cute!” Of course, I used the ambiguous kind of language that meant it could be “cute like how a kitten is cute”, but also “attractive”; this sent her into another paroxysm of blushing and stammering that I couldn't say that and she wasn't ready to be married like in the stories and she didn't know me and I hadn't saved her from an evil dragon. Haruto, off to the side, could barely contain himself.
532
533And that is the tale of my first and second meetings with Kushina, the Firecracker, or, as she'd later be come to be known, the Fireworks.
534
535Following my second, more successful meeting with Kushina, things settled down into something of a pattern of improvement. With Tou-san's intense last-minute preparation, I successfully passed my Basic Instructor's level in Whirlpool fist, which allowed me to officially instruct up to (but not including) Basic Instructor level to anyone I chose.
536
537This was about equivalent to, say, a 1st Dan (1st degree Black belt) on Earth. There was still more to learn, and much more to refine, but it showed basic expertise in the style and the trustworthiness to teach it to others. It was a pretty big deal; as Uzushio and the Uzumaki were official a military village and martial clan respectively, achieving certain levels of proficiency in any combat art came with an automatic rank in the reserves. In this case, it gave rank equivalent to a leading genin who would be 2nd in command of a 4-man genin cell, behind the traditional chunin or genin-corporal. Given my age and lack of other qualifications, I would officially be on “extended leave”.
538
539Still, if I were to be going a traditional ninja route in a place like Konoha, and became, say, an elite-track genin under a jonin leader, it meant I would automatically be the superior of my team-mates (unless they had some similar qualification). The whole thing may be a bit silly from an outside perspective, but as a mark of respect and honor, it was a big deal.
540
541I'd never have made it so fast without my prior understanding of martial arts; I mostly had to learn the Whirling-Fist kata and combinations and philosophy, then drill muscle memory rather than learn to move and strike in the first place. Even then, it took years of training several hours a day, much of it under a Expert Instructor and combat veteran, and in later months with my muscle-memory enhanced by my mental reinforcement.
542
543The test itself was on the kata and techniques, as well as interpretations of how the kata were applied. There was also a physical capability test, and one of my chakra reinforcement and speed. Lastly, there was a spar against an Advanced Instructor; I didn't win, but did extremely well, especially given the size disparity.
544
545Tou-san, pleased with my success, added knife-combat to our practices at my request, and showed how the kata and combinations were modified to account for both parties being at least somewhat armed. He told me that once I was proficient with these and had passed my Advanced Instructor's test that he would start me on swordsmanship.
546
547Tou-san also decided that I was good enough at my manipulation and canteen-jutsu to start in on my next water technique, the water-clone. Water clones were pretty interesting, since they were about the same density as the jutsu-user, and had similar speed. Thus they made for a much more realistic distraction, since they sank into the ground a similar amount, sounded the same, and had little difference in movement compared with the original.
548
549Compare this to other clones: Illusion clones didn't interact with the environment; a glance at the feet would show them for what they were, and they made no sound. Earth based clones tended to be very heavy, and sink into the ground. More esoteric clones tend to fall under one of these two categories too, either above or below the real user’s attributes. As a further, water clones would “bleed” for a bit if struck, unless so much damage was dealt that they disperse completely. Still, this could provide a split second of distraction that's needed, especially if the enemy relaxed thinking they had won.
550
551The problem with water clones was that they were weak. While they were quick and fluid, they could not exert nearly the same maximum force on an object, and could explode if they hit something hard enough due to the shock wave. Water clones, like many other elemental clones, were also stupid. Unlike the shadow-clone of anime fame (kage-bushin), which came with an automatic duplicated intelligence, clones came with a set of commands. The greater your affinity, and the more chakra you put into them, the tougher the clones would be against shock, the longer they would last, and both more and more complex commands could be programmed. Higher affinity also helped with detail, making the clone look like the user.
552
553Learning the clone jutsu wasn't hard. Learning how to program them, and making them a bit more lifelike in appearance, was a real challenge though. Right when I first started, most of my clones looked a bit creepy, somewhere in the “uncanny valley” along with mannequins and other humanoid objects. With time and training they improved, but while I could see the use in them, Water Clones were hardly the trump that I was looking for, and so I merely got them to an acceptable level. Eventually, I would develop or learn the shadow-clone technique for all my cloning needs. Instead, I spent a fair bit of time and focus on improving the replacement technique.
554
555While a skilled sensor could sense it at a fair distance, and just about any jonin was skilled enough to sense the replacement if they were nearby, it was still a great way to avoid large scale attacks that were highly damaging or difficult to dodge. It was a relatively low chakra technique, and was a major precursor of the shunshin, or body flicker technique. That was definitely a technique worth mastering, especially if I could use a modified version to make me generally faster instead of just increasing burst-linear movement. I hoped that if I could get the replacement technique down to a single half-seal, or no seal at all, that Tou-san would teach me the flicker.
556
557Eventually I reached my goal, and impressed with my dedication to the replacement technique, and satisfied with my adequate replacement technique, Tou-san showed me both the shunshin and the Mist Generation technique, similar to what Zabuza used in the fanfics I read all those years ago back on Earth. That said, Tou-san didn't train me in silent killing or anything, though I was learning some stealth stepping techniques in Whirlpool fist at the time.
558
559Tou-san did talk about how to combine the jutsu with my natural sensor skills, and how the use the technique to create cover. It’s hard to hit what you can’t see, and the Mist Generation jutsu was great at quickly covering large areas in impenetrable fog. As a sensor, I had a massive advantage within it too, so long as my enemy wasn’t a sensor. Another use of the technique was for when the user was heavily outnumbered – the dense fog made it difficult to coordinate with allies, and allowed the user to turn a many-vs-one fight into a series of one-on-one engagements; if they were lucky, the enemies might even get hit by friendly fire.
560
561Tou-san also mentioned I should ask Haruto-sensei for some help with my sensor skills, as he was apparently fairly proficient himself. Tou-san and I focused a fair bit on that technique while he was training me so that I could achieve anything from a heavy fog with minimal chakra traces to imitate a real one, all the way to a spooky cloud that was so impregnated with my chakra that even sensors would not be able to locate me within it, and that those with eye-based bloodlines would find it impenetrable.
562
563What people often mistook about ninja-based training was that it wasn’t really designed to turn people into death-dealing combat gods. That was more the samurai’s deal. Think about the classic genin skills: body replacement (kawarimi), illusion clone (bunshin), self-anchored illusion (henge). None of those were remotely offensive. They werere all designed so that a kid can escape and evade a large number of chakra-less or low-chakra city guardsmen, militia, or low-ranking soldiers. The Mist technique was similar; it wasn’t meant to make me more deadly, it was meant to increase my survivability. And at that, it excelled.
564
565As for my training with Kaa-san, I was learning all the seal-elements that made up the second level of seals, and developing my intuition as to how they interacted with each other. She also had me making custom explosion seals, determining the size, heat/light/concussive force mixture, color, and timing of the explosion. It was a lot of fun (who doesn’t love fireworks?) but actually fairly complicated.
566
567While they may have seemed simple, especially since Naruto had everyone tossing explosion seals about like confetti, your average explosion tag was anything but. Each one consisted of several separate sealing circuits combined into one whole seal. There was a main storage, which the user filled to power the seal. There was the indicator, that interacts with the main storage to indicate the seal was full and that the user should not feed the seal chakra unless they planned on activating the seal. Then there was the primer storage, which slowly empties; this was what the user fed a small bit of chakra when they planned on using the seal.
568
569It turned out, the seal actually filled the primer when the user first filled the main power, so the seal needed a counter to detect whether it has been filled once (don't activate) or twice (do activate after the primer is empty); the primer emptying provided the fuse, so too thick a line there and the seal will literally take the user’s hand off. Then there was a feed circuit that took the chakra from the main storage and converted it to some combination of energies with some kind of bounding to make the explosion more potent within that space. And this was just for the most basic of explosion tags.
570
571As a fun project, Kaa-san had me set up a fireworks show, after which she promised we would start in on functional sealing scrolls to store objects. I took full advantage of the ability to experiment, and wheedled Kaa-san into teaching me a number of second and even third level boundary seals to shape the explosions.
572
573Among the tags I made, three were particularly applicable to combat. The first I made was a high intensity directed flame attack that was hot enough to burn through a quarter inch of steel plate at thirty feet. I called it the Dragon's Breath seal. It honestly wasn’t anything unique; other sealers had designed similarly motivated seals of similar efficacy, and Uzushio’s shops tended to stock a good variety for qualified buyers (eg, members of our military forces).
574
575The second tag I made was a type of semi-persistent flash-bang seal that would continue making explosions within a bounded space around the seal; these explosions were loud enough to be slightly painful, and could be bright enough to blind for up to an hour at close range. The point of the seal was to make it impossible to fight for anyone without some kind of chakra-based sensing system; as a potent sensor, this would help me, and many Uzumaki with similar skills. This, I gave the rather innocent name of a Sparkler Seal.
576
577The third seal was by far the most complicated yet elegant. It created a bounded chakra field, then condensed the field into a three dimensional spiderweb pattern. This pattern was then itself used as a circuit, and flowed through the seal to convert the nature of the chakra to make it closer and closer to fire until it exploded. It was by far the most advanced seal I designed, as it was essentially a seal that made the surrounding air itself into a second, temporary seal.
578
579The cool thing about the seal was that it was extremely cheap in chakra costs, since the majority of the chakra came from the local environment. Also, because the spider-web shape, it would be extremely effective at causing damage with a small actual volume of effect being used to damage large objects (ie humans) in the overall area of effect.
580
581The use of natural chakra, and the time that the seal persisted, made it extremely suited to landmines which trapped, fed on leaked enemy chakra, and killed the enemy, but also denied the area for anywhere between a half minute and five minutes, with larger fields lasting longer. It addressed a big issue with automatic land-mine style seals, which was a field could be cleared quickly by suicide-clones; with this, the field would still be cleared, but it would take a lot longer. Considering landmines were, much like on Earth, only really useful when supported by troops, that was fine. I called it the Spider's Seal.
582
583Kushina and Haruto-sensei were invited to the show, as were a number of extended family members, and we ate cherries and these delicious sweet bean rice buns. Kushina was very taken with the idea of being able to make fireworks, and apparently demanded that whoever it is that was teaching her sealing begin instructing her. I felt kind of guilty at that; I wasn’t sure I was responsible enough to play with explosives, but Kushina sure as shit wasn’t.
584
585Hikaru jii-san, my mother's father and a full-on sealing master, was quite impressed, and told me that he would start tutoring me after Kaa-san thought I was ready. Overall, the evening was a great success. The next morning, Kaa-san started me in on sealing seals (which I still think need some sort of better name. Sadly, dimensional subspace scrolls was both somewhat in-accurate and lengthy to say), and I went back to more conventional training.
586
587The training with Haruto-sensei was not progressing as quickly. Learning to control the chains was kind of like learning to play the piano, but with dozens of individual fingers, all of which were new and had no reflexive kinesthetic sense. And, just to make everything a bit tougher, the piano keys were made of eggshells and couldn't be broken.
588
589I think the analogy may have escaped me a bit, but suffice to say, it was hard.
590
591I learned how to control a pair of chains first, and how to manipulate their motion and begin to refine their shape. Apparently I was doing well and learning quickly, but it was basically learning a set of highly complicated chakra control exercises, some at a fairly long range, while also learning how to use a whip-like weapon. It didn't play to any of my pre-established strengths, and my chakra control, while excellent for someone of my age and chakra reserves, was not so instinctual that it could simply overpower these issues.
592
593I decided that my chains would significantly benefit from some correctly applied mental reinforcement, and began to focus on reinforcing the chakra memory reflexes. While significantly more difficult than the visual eidetic memory, it was not impossible. I achieved it a bit more than a week later by enhancing the sensation of the chakra-sense and combining it with mostly emotional memory reinforcement. Interestingly emotional memory seemed more linked to chakra control than other types of memory.
594
595There was still the issue that I was making a lot of mistakes; I didn’t want to burn the wrong things into my memory, and needed to overcome that issue too. With my physical training, I could simply do the motion perfectly but slowly, then over time speed up, going faster and faster, burning the memory in again and again. But with chakra memory, that wasn’t an option.
596
597To overcome that issue, I experimented. I found that by enhancing the short term memory constantly, I would have a perfect, temporary buffer of all my chakra manipulations. When I stopped reinforcing, and in fact scrambled it a bit, the memory of mistakes would fade. Then, whenever I did something correctly, I could flash-reinforce the long term memory.
598
599I had achieved perfect chakra memory. The technique was pretty new, and hard for me to achieve, so I could only use it in general, methodical training until it became more automatic, something which would come with practice.
600
601The chakra memory technique wasn't perfect, since there would still be residual information from my chakra sensing and personal state, but it massively accelerated my growth in chakra manipulation, especially for my chains, chakra control exercises and elemental manipulation exercises. It also helped with removing handsigns from jutsu so I could cast faster as well as using techniques one-handed while wielding a sword in my other hand.
602
603By the end of the month, I had completed the intermediate levels of water and wind manipulation (basic, intermediate, advanced, expert, master), and could control two chains up to twenty meters (60 feet). The chains were still a bit crude, and very far from Haruto-sensei's masterpieces, but they did now look vaguely like chains, and I could make the edges sharper and serrated. The chains could also move fast enough to catch the average chunin. My chakra reinforcement improved a bit faster too, and I started seeing better gains from my meditations and exercises, which became easier to perform in the background.
604
605Haruto-sensei, pleased and somewhat astounded at my progress, taught me the Bubble technique. Like the Canteen technique in Water, the bubble technique was a relatively simple one. It created a bubble of pure air around the user's head, banishing dust and other particulate matter. As the user got better, he could remove harmful gasses too, and the bubble would get larger and persist for longer. The bubble technique was commonly used as a precursor to the Air-shield technique which was particularly effective against fast moving projectiles, and the more advanced vacuum-shield technique which could reduce the severity of incoming fire and lightning attacks.
606
607Haruto-sensei also began to teach me the advanced level of wind-manipulation which consisted of the Wind-flow techniques to use a wind-sheathe to sharpen projectiles. While I had not mastered them, my progress was extremely rapid, and Haruto sensei extremely impressed.
608
609Overall, I was doing reasonably well, but still had a long way to go to meet my objectives.
610
611Another week later, as I was just done demonstrating my expertise in wind-flow combined with my chakra chains (I was only allowed to practice this with one chain without supervision, and two chains with, due to the inherent danger), Haruto sensei asked me a question.
612
613“How is it that you learn these things so quickly? It took me almost a year to get these chakra flow techniques to that level. Even then, I was much older and considered a prodigy because I learned Wind techniques so easily.” A bit taken aback, I decided to answer honestly. My plans needed me to have at least some influence, and I'd need people other than my parents to vouch for me. Haruto-sensei was a senior and highly respected Uzumaki combatant, sort of like Gai or Kakashi in canon Naruto.
614
615“Ah, well, Haruto-sensei, that's a bit complicated. See, the first part is when you were learning these techniques. You were probably already in active service, right?” as he nodded, I continued. “So, you had patrol, and regular wind practice, and were probably doing shopping and chores, and physical training, team training, and maybe a girl you liked?” He smiled, and nodded again.
616
617I nodded too. “Right. I don't have any of those distractions. I wake up, train, eat, train and sleep. Every day. In this last week alone, I've put in over ten hours of training, specifically on the wind-flow manipulation. That's probably as much training as you could put in during a month, and it being closer together helps, I think, both for my mind, and for my body's memory of the chakra manipulation.” His eyes widened a bit at that, likely impressed (and perhaps a bit horrified) by my dedication at such a young age.
618
619“That's the first reason,” I continued. “The second is because I am young. Young people learn things faster, and things become part of themselves easier than for older people. It also helps that I've been practicing internal chakra manipulation before I could speak, so I think I'm more suited to using chakra than most other people, again because of how I've developed since a young age. I'm lucky, too, to have a very strong wind affinity and excellent chakra stores; I can practice full-out, using as much chakra as it takes to succeed, without worrying about being tired, so I can improve faster.”
620
621“That all makes sense,” he replied, “and explains how quickly you've been learning and growing as I've been teaching. But you got a lot better just recently. Did you have some sort of epiphany?” At this, I understood what he was getting at. Chakra is partially spiritual. That's not understood enough a lot of the time, especially with lower level ninja and chakra users.
622
623At higher levels of chakra users, many understood that the spiritual explanation was often just as important. There was a reason that few would challenge a senior monk in jutsu; certain koans or riddles meant to expand the mind were capable of inherently improving the user's chakra (typically control or elemental manipulation) once understood. This knowledge was also one of the reasons why clans had such a leg up; they had repositories of knowledge, philosophical treatises written by past masters and living experts to pass on the small, subtle, but critical hints and tricks to optimize jutsu.
624
625Haruto wanted to know if I had discovered such an epiphany; if I had, it would be an excellent indication of my potential, and potentially a boon to the many wind-users of Uzushio. Unfortunately, I had not; I had, however, experienced kensho several times while meditating on the wind, though any claims from a child of such would be highly suspect. In truth, my deep spiritual power did massively improve my learning rate and potential, especially of this sort of deeper knowledge and personal understanding.
626
627I shook my head. “Unfortunately, I have had no new epiphanies, though I do meditate on the wind every day. Instead, and this was what I was getting to, I've recently had a breakthrough in a technique I've been developing. From a very young age, basically as long as I can remember, I've noticed my own and others' chakra; this isn't that unusual for an Uzumaki sensor. But, I played with it, and eventually came up with internal chakra flow acceleration and chakra reinforcement. From this, and the use of yang chakra to enhance physical reinforcement, I developed the idea of using yin or mental chakra to perform mental reinforcement.” Haruto was looking stunned. Probably at a combination of my ridiculous genius (not knowing my mind, at least, is older than I appear), and at my luck in not killing myself.
628
629I took the opportunity to continue before he could explode. “I know it's dangerous. In fact, it's so crazily dangerous that I think that if I didn't have a strong regeneration potential even for an Uzumaki that I might be dead or insane or broken. And, I think you have to start young for it to work; just in sensing, I've noticed that kids’ brains are more flexible and change more than adults. I think the brain becomes somewhat more resistant to change as time goes on, so it probably needs to adapt to these kinds of techniques before it gets too set, or it's even more dangerous.
630
631“But, I was careful. First, I started with nerves outside of my brain, and reinforced them to failure until I could determine safe levels, and experimented with reinforcing nearby tissues to detect any chakra conduction or leakage issues. Then, I carefully reinforced my brain with small amounts in specific places after I meditated so I could detect any changes. I messed up, a lot, but I figured out how to safely do two things so far: I can give myself eidetic visual memory, and chakra reflex memory.” Done, I gave him a moment to reflect.
632
633“Incredible,” he said with a hint of awe quickly turning to disapproval. “Truly, incredibly. Insane, poorly thought out, massively dangerous, and a remarkably poor show of judgment for someone of your intelligence, but still incredible. I'm not sure if I should praise you or punish you right now.”
634
635“It wasn't that bad a judgment!” I protested. “I survived, and am fine, aren't I? Nothing even took more than a half hour to recover from.”
636
637“First off, you didn't know that would happen when you started,” he countered. “Second, you didn't think to practice on a rabbit or something, and look at long term effects? Baka!” My eyes were wide as he gave a light smack to my head to emphasize his words. “And what about interactions with genjutsu, or foreign chakra, or your future development. Why the hell did you feel the need for this anyways? You already learn faster and work harder than anyone else I've ever seen, and I'm considered a monster myself.” At this, I got a lot grimmer.
638
639“I think war is coming to Uzushio.” I'd been planning a conversation like this for a while. I had the benefit of possible-future knowledge, but needed a way of convincing others. It always helped an analysis when you knew the conclusion to reach.
640
641“What? Why?” he asked, frowning. “You can't have heard anything on a mission, and I'd know if there was any intelligence indicating an attack.”
642
643I shook my head. “No, no, it's only logic. Allow me to explain. Ninja are kind of like wolves. Fast breeding wolves. And villagers and nobles are like rabbits and deer. When there aren't very many wolves, but lots of deer and rabbits, the wolves are all happy and fed. If two wolf packs meet each other, well, they may not be friends, and some young wolves may fight to prove themselves, but there is nothing serious.
644
645“But, a generation later, when all of these fed wolves used to plenty have bred, there are now too many wolves. If the wolves don't want to eat all their rabbits, and all their deer, so that they have more in the future, then they must take the rabbits and deer of other wolves, and protect their own. And now, when wolf-packs meet, they have reason to fight.”
646
647As I continued speaking, I could see him start to nod, understanding where I was going with the argument. “Back during the Warring Clans era, these packs were small; we, Uzushiogakure, were large enough and strong enough that none could challenge us. But now, Konoha, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Suna, all are large enough, and have enough allies, that they might think they could destroy us. We are known as a powerful people, and would likely task any one enemy more heavily than they could afford, but they may alliance against us. Suna is isolated, and has no interest in a nation of islands. Konoha are our allies, so they may be ignored. But for Iwa, Kumo and Kiri I fear this is not the case.”
648
649My voice was soft and grimly resolute. “Uzushio's alliance with Konoha is dangerous. We are strong, yes, and our sealers present an increase in combat potential that scales very well with numbers, so we make Konoha much stronger than it would be alone. In return, we get intelligence services and ninja to call upon. But, the problem with creating danger to others is it makes them have reason for your destruction.
650
651“Iwa hates Konoha, partially due to their Kages. To defeat Konoha, an excellent first move would be to remove us. Looking at a map, it seems improbable. Until you consider that Kumo too has reason to remove us. They are a militarily focused village, and our fleets and forces present a raiding threat on their seaward flank if they ever enter conflict with Konoha. Further, our destruction would weaken Konoha. If Iwa allies with Kumo to deal with us, then they need only pass through territories whose ninja look to either Iwa or Kumo for leadership.
652
653“Lastly, Kiri resents us for two reasons. First, we are a challenge to their dominance over ninja affairs involving ships; while ours fly under Whirlpool's Daimyo's flag, ninja care little for our distinctions. Second, we are a threat to their philosophy; Uzushio, which treats its citizens well, and cares little for bloodshed, is significantly more profitable and prosperous than Kirigakure with it's focus on blood and killing. This is a threat to them internally, as our very example of continued existence gives lie to the idea that they must be brutal killers to survive. Thus, Kiri too has cause to desire our destruction.
654
655“What then would these wolves gain if they were to turn on us? Iwa would weaken Konoha. Kumo would expand into the territories to the North East of the Land of Fire as Iwa pushes in from the North West. And Kiri would gain our own territories, and might be allowed to operate with impunity up and down the coast.
656
657“So, I have established that wolves fight for territory when hungry, and that they have cause to want our territory. The only question, then, is are they hungry? And I fear that the answer is becoming yes, in these years. It has been a generation since the last war, and the villages are finally seeing this new generation come into its own. Full of notions of glory and mastery, and with a limited pool of resources which can be gleaned from the nobles, merchants and civilians, these wolves have already started to growl at each other from the edges of their territories. Judging by our increased usage of Konoha ninja to conduct anti-pirate operations by folding up the organized criminal groups that deal with their money and goods on the mainland, I would guess that the missions have become cheaper, which would only happen if Konoha's supply of ninja were higher.
658
659“Further, you should remember that these wolves have little knowledge of the fire of our seals. They likely don't realize how capable Uzushio is, since we do not compete with them. Instead, we protect our people and live our lives. But for wolves who survive without making anything, and only eat the fat of the land, we likely appear weak and impotent. Where we see restraint, they see weakness, protectiveness, cowardice. Their leaders may recall well that Uzushio created the Jinchuriki, and fear our power, but this will only serve to temper their plans with caution while being driven by the arrogance of their rank and file.
660
661“I would guess that we have anywhere from a year to a decade before the wolves are at each others' throats, but fear that we will feel their bite first. If pressed, I would estimate three years before these wolves are at our doors. To be sure in our preparations, we should be ready in two. As a somewhat known prodigy, I may be a target. In extremis, I will be deployed; after all, officially, I am already in the reserves as an assistant instructor of Whirlpool Fist. But most importantly, I want to do everything I can to ensure our survival.”
662
663As I finished my speech, Haruto looked somewhat sad. He knelt down, looking me in the eye, and pulled me into a hug for several seconds. Drawing away, he held me at arms length and wryly smiled.
664
665“You truly are incredible,” he said. “And I think you may be right concerning the current situation; this is something I will bring up with Kazuo-sama when I have tea with him later this week. But it should not be your concern, especially not so young. That said, now that I know about your unique technique – which will not be taught to others, or ever, ever mentioned to those who might foolishly try and copy it – I will be training you harder than every before. By the end of the year, I expect you to have mastered the expert level of wind manipulation, a year after that, be an acknowledge wind master. I also expect that you will achieve a proficiency in your chains at least equal to mine when I was thirty. Does that sound like fun?”
666
667I blanched a bit; by the age of thirty, Haruto was already known as the Razor-Wind after a battle against a clan of ninja that also operated as a major crime family. They had attempted to expand into Wave, and had killed a detachment of Uzushio village-guard attached to the local garrison. Haruto, their commander at the time, had walked into the clearing near the capital where the criminals were gathered, and killed all forty-eight of them with a minute.
668
669Haruto's wires were so thin that they would float on a breeze. Per the story, he floated the wires in as a cloud around him using passive wind manipulation rather than an active technique. When the enemy refused to surrender, he whipped up a bit of a squall while using wind-flow. The wire-chains whipped around, slicing through everything and everyone.
670
671A large clean-up seal was used for all human biological material. Apparently one had been cut into four pieces; this was the fewest number of pieces for a single person out of the whole group. The largest number of pieces was twenty four. The seal was then sent as a warning to the criminal ninja clan home on the mainland. No one from that clan has been seen in Whirlpool territory since.
672
673So, when Haruto said he'd be training me to that level, and expected me to achieve it within my stated two years, as well as all his other chain techniques by that age, I was understandably a bit daunted. It was nice of him though; he didn't want me to worry too much about a possible invasion, but thought I could handle being prepared to a level which would help whether I was or was not attacked.
674
675Of course, that wouldn't stop me from worrying, and preparing. I did, after all, have my goal. Uzushio would not fall.
676
677About a month and a half after the conversation with Haruto-sensei I was practicing when I noticed the signal for the return of the sixth escort group, which was the group that cousin Kiyoshi's unit was assigned to. I was so excited to see him and show him everything I learned, especially after he’d been on patrol for months, even coming back late.
678
679Well, maybe I wouldn't tell him about my mental reinforcement. I’d further improved that to the point where I could now achieve near perfect physical reflex memory, as well as logic processing speed boosts and a semi-accidental skill in memorizing chakra-sensing memories (which I used almost like a budget Sharingan but more limited to the basics than something with hand-signs). Unfortunately I wasn’t yet at the point of having the full suite of enhancements. I wouldn't want Kiyoshi, who was somewhat young and thought himself immortal, to practice mental reinforcement and break himself.
680
681But I'd certainly mention everything else I've learned, and rub in how quickly I was growing.
682
683Tou-san had started me on swords after declaring my speed “acceptable for a new chunin” while reinforced, as well as refining the expert level of water manipulation which I was almost fully through. I could fully shunshin within a quarter second and a half-hand-sign too. Haruto-sensei meanwhile had put me at “three, maybe four years worth of my own chains skill on a good day,” and after a fair bit of focus on my wind manipulation exercises had declared me ready to start in on the mastery exercises, though I still practiced expert level exercises too.
684
685Both Tou-san and Haruto-sensei were focused on the basics of elemental chakra manipulation since I had time to learn and it would make future techniques easier. That said, they had taught the basic Wind/Water bullet and Wind/Water blade. Mostly because the former was a useful technique to practice rapid elemental projection, while the latter was good for shape control.
686
687Kaa-san too was pleased with my progress; I could write basic dimensional seals and had developed second level intuition. She was already teaching me her own warding/area-control specialty and how to write seals with chakra alone. After I learned enough of that, she was planning on passing me off to Hikaru jii-san to continue my education. In all, my skills would have been promising as a fifteen year old. I wasn't yet five.
688
689It was the afternoon, and I was training with Haruto-sensei when I saw it. “Sensei! Look, the sign that Kiyoshi-nii's back.”
690
691“Excellent. I know you won't be able to focus, so why don't we go down and greet him?” I nodded, grinned, and disappeared in a shunshin a moment later, reappearing at the docks. Haruto followed, and we both watched as a small fleet limped into port.
692
693The ships, particularly the escorts, were damaged. One showed extensive burns, another was missing a mast, the third escort appeared fine until it completed a turn and revealed a massive gash through the side. I was somewhat surprised it was even sea-worthy like that.
694
695A number of harbor-patrol water-users went out in smaller boats and shepherded the ships in to dock. Medics rushed on board, some returning at a sprint towards the hospital carrying people on stretchers. I was starting to worry; the ships had obviously met with trouble. But, I told myself, Kiyoshi was strong, and so he should have been alright.
696
697We waited as people began leaving the ship, but didn't see Kiyoshi. Next to us a family was re-united with what I was guessing was their uncle, the mother of the group's brother. Next, he came over to us.
698
699“Daichi-kun?” he asked hesitantly.
700
701“Yes, Patrol-sergeant san?” I read from his uniform.
702
703“You probably don't remember me, but Kiyoshi introduced us when we were leaving on patrol. I'm very sorry to tell you this. We were attacked by pirates led by ninja, missing Mist-nins. Kiyoshi fought like an eagle, and saved many lives, but he didn't make it. He was a true hero of Whirlpool. I'm sorry for your loss.”
704
705I was stunned. Haruto's hand tightened on my shoulder, a reassurance. I just… didn't know what to think. For all my personal experiences, I was unfamiliar with others, especially those I cared about dying. I mean, some oldest members of the family had died back on Earth, but that was the natural state of things. Oh, I hated it, the idea of death, but at least they lived full lives.
706
707I'd had a couple close friends in the military who went aviation, which was a dangerous community more from training accidents than enemy action; I'd worried at the time, but both had survived. And because I died young, I didn't have to deal with others that were close to me, or young, or what have you dying. So, I was in shock.
708
709But manners were something that both sets of parents had drilled me in, and that's how I defaulted.
710
711“My thanks for your consideration, Patrol-sergeant san,” I replied shakily with a bow. The man looked a bit sad, clapped me on the shoulder, and left with his family. For that time, maybe a minute, maybe a bit longer, I just stood there, processing. Eventually Haruto broke me out of it.
712
713“Are you alright, Daichi?”
714
715“No, sensei. No, I'm not. I'm sad, and angry. I want to know why this happened,” I said, closing my eyes for a moment, blinking back the tears. “Can you look into reports of attacks by missing-nin, especially from Mist, over the last six months? Also how many ships or patrol groups have gone missing?”
716
717I was still in shock; my mind was working, but the emotional parts of it were almost totally shut down. Honestly, at the time I don't think I was even really aware that I was speaking; I had been blind-drunk once as a university student, and this felt very similar.
718
719“Sure, Daichi. I can do that. What do you want to do now?” he said softly in his deep tone. His voice was calming and familiar, his hand comforting and reassuring; the combination helped break me out of my state a bit more.
720
721“We need to go home. I need to tell Kaa-san.” It was going to be rough. Kiyoshi was in between my parents age and my own. He had a sort of younger-brother relationship with Kaa-san, and an older-brother / cool young uncle relationship with me.
722
723“You know we don't need to go immediately. We could get some food, or go destroy a training ground,” he offered.
724
725I shook my head. As much of a relief as that would be, it wasn’t the right thing to do. “No, Haruto-sensei. If Kiyoshi could die to protect us, it's the least we owe him to tell Kaa-san myself.”
726
727“Alright, Daichi. But you do know this isn't your fault, right?” he asked.
728
729I did, but it still hurt. “Of course not. This is a matter of duty, not guilt.”
730
731And so we left for my home, walking this time as I needed the time to come to grips with this and had no desire for the motion and discombobulation of shunshin at that moment. About a quarter hour later, we were home, and I went into Kaa-san's sealing study.
732
733“Kaa-san,” I started, but suddenly my mouth was dry, my throat shut.
734
735“What is it Daichi?” she turned around, and saw me, and knew (as would any good mother) that something was deeply wrong. “What's wrong Daichi, what happened?”
736
737“It's Kiyoshi. He, *sigh* he didn't make it.”
738
739“Oh no.” And, as I started to cry, she swept over, kneeling, and pulled me into a tight hug. “Oh Daichi, it will be all right. Shh, shh.” And then and there, in my Kaa-san's arms, crying about my dead cousin, I decided I'd do whatever it took to ensure war never came to Uzushio's shores. If only out of a selfish desire to minimize this feeling in the future.
740
741Kirigakure, the aggressive, Bloody Mist, was the only power willing or capable of challenging Uzushio at sea.
742
743Kirigakure was already a dead village. They just didn't know it yet.
744
745I just had to figure out how.
746
747=================================================
748
749My training continued over the days, then weeks, then months following Kiyoshi's death. I came up with so many plans, discarding most of them.
750
751First, I thought about guns; I'd thought of them before, but decided not to because it would hurt Uzushio in the end. Then I found out that they weren’t even possible.
752
753The Elemental Countries were actually in some sort of post-apocalyptic world. I didn't know (and never found out) if it was high-energy reality warping physics, or some early jutsu, or alien-space bats, or an alien-space bat jutsu, or a seal, or divine intervention or the vagaries of Chaos and the Warp that caused it. But as a side effect of whatever had destroyed civilization, gunpowder didn't work how it did on Earth.
754
755In fact, chemical explosions in general did't, even purely chemical flames weren't as effective as I remembered them being. I hadn't been able to get conclusive proof on the mechanism, but it seemed that if something with low chakra potential was burning, it had to create fire-natured chakra too.
756
757This conceptual bond between physics and metaphysics was extremely interesting, especially because it meant that any gun equivalent needed to run on seals or chakra mechanisms. Chakra conductive materials, especially neutrally-conductive metal, were ruinously expensive; only the very elite could be armed with any weapon system that required it. So, seals were the way to go for a gun-system. And Uzushio had an effective monopoly on deploying tactical seals beyond a few basic explosives or lower-rank dimensional sealing scrolls.
758
759The design concept I eventually came up with was something inspired by the space-marine storm bolter. It was a seal on the arm that could launch projectiles or laser bursts or jutsu like plasma bolts. Of those, I actually preferred the laser bursts; there was no reason for it to be visible, and jonin with speed specialties were sometimes able to dodge or block the bullets.
760
761Plus, lasers didn't make noise that gives away location. Lasers weren't actually that difficult to make using seals either, were relatively low energy cost for their effect, and were more restricted by peoples' lack of scientific knowledge than anything else. Secondary firing modes could easily blind or signal. The seal on the arm linked to a HUD seal that projected onto the eye; it relayed where the user was aiming, how much energy was being put into each shot, firing mode, and remaining energy reserves.
762
763Overall, this was a design I could accomplish by the time I'd achieved level 4 intuition, which I estimated was likely to be achieved sometime close to my fifth birthday. The design was somewhat complicated, but relatively simple compared to most body-seals, to the point that sealing adepts could install them with a medic available in case of any emergency (most Uzumaki Combat Body-Seals, especially those that link into the chakra network, need a sealing expert or even master, as well as a full doctor to be done safely).
764
765I estimated that with the expected complexity, enough could be produced for all chunin equivalents and above, and with a serious push, enough could be made for the genin as well. With this seal, genin should have a decent chance against chunin, and chunin should be relatively sure of killing other chunin. Jonin would still be a major threat since they tended to have a lot of tricks, stealth and adaptability. Still, survivability of Uzushio forces would substantially increase, especially in the first days of war before enemy countermeasures and intelligence caught up with the threat. But while an excellent seal, and one that I fully planned on developing, it wasn’t enough to make Uzushio impossible to invade.
766
767Second, I thought about air-support, partially inspired by looking at Kazuo-sama's gift of a pair of flying Osprey while lying in bed. Air-support excelled at recon, strategic strikes and tactical support as well as communications and transportation. It was totally different from what the Elemental Countries expected too; after the fall of the Sky village close to the founding of the Five Great Villages decades ago there had been no significant aerial assets. Even better, seals allowed for super-efficient aircraft, since fuel and payload took up no space or weight.
768
769I was planning a set of three general UAVs or drones, and two special purpose ones.
770
771The largest, which I was calling the Osprey after the premier summons of the village, was planned to be optimized for long deploy-times with station-keeping, a higher ceiling and longer range sensors and some powerful munitions. It would mostly be deployed over fixed installations or as a strategic asset by force-commanders. It would also be able to deploy a stealth-ed summoning circle to teleport in troops.
772
773The middle sized model, which I was calling the Sea-hawk after another, slightly less powerful summons, was planned to fill the tactical mission profile. It would have a decent range, strong mid-ranged sensors, and be designed mostly for anti-personnel combat with machine-gun, laser, and rocket equivalents, as well as optional seals for heavier anti-field-fortification munitions.
774
775The smallest, which I was calling the Peregrine, after another bird summons in the village, would be designed for more covert and close support missions. The least armed, I planed for the Peregrine to only have lasers and rockets, but upgraded with basic stealth and hover capacity, as well as the ability to fold the wings in and grip onto trees or other solid structures and act as a turret.
776
777The two special purpose drones would be for underground and underwater combat respectively. The Mole, designed for underground combat, would have a special transportation seal to temporarily seal dirt, then move forward, then unseal the dirt behind it. The mole would be designed to send out seismic shocks and interpret the readings, as well as look for enemy chakra, and release targeted burrower-missiles to detonate the enemy, or use a limited seismic jutsu recreated via seals to crush them.
778
779Similarly the Swordfish, designed for underwater combat, would similarly search for enemy ninja, though could also launch their seeker-torpedoes at ships. Unlike the fliers, the special purpose drones were designed to be somewhat permanent, though could be recalled to refill chakra reserves.
780
781Overall, these drones would massively improve Uzushio's defensibility, assuming I could actually make them – I hadn’t quite figured out that part yet. Many of the functions I wanted required 5th level seals; some, especially the communications net that I wanted and some of the sensors, required 6th level seals. Further, each drone would be far more complicated than the hand-laser and HUD seals.
782
783If I wanted to achieve this, I'd likely have to settle for just the Sea-Hawk to start, and still enlist the aid of Hikaru jii-san and some of the other masters. That said, it was a cool project and they'd likely be interested; everyone loves toys that fly, after all.
784
785Creating enough drones to be widely deployed, and keeping them safe from being stolen or copied, was something of a challenge. Assuming I got higher level sealer support, an automated seal-creator and significant security upgrades were not unreasonable expectations though. With sufficient drones deployed throughout the force, Whirlpool and Uzushio would effectively be impossible to invade or destroy in a conventional fashion; I fully planned on completing at least the Sea-Hawk if I had the time to do so.
786
787The problem was that I had thought of the laser and the drones before Kiyoshi's death. While excellent in defense, it would still be far too costly to use these to destroy Kirigakure, not to mention that I wanted to do so without anyone else knowing; Uzushio hardly needed the kind of heat that that would bring.
788
789And I was adamant on the necessity of Kirigakure's destruction; Haruto's investigation had shown a sharp uptick of Mist “missing-nin” attacks, though reports from other friendly Daimyos did not report heightened levels of Mist missing-nin activity along their coastline or otherwise. Clearly it was a black-flag operation, and the Mist would keep looking for ways to destroy us until one or the other were destroyed.
790
791No, I decided, regular weapons were not the way to go. I had been thinking too small; instead of a weapon, I need a Weapon of Mass Destruction. And so, a week after Kiyoshi's ship returned without him, I began to come up with possibilities.
792
793The first idea that I had was a seal-driven nuclear bomb. It was something I was familiar with, and as seals allow conversion of lots of different types of energy, I thought it might be achievable. It turned out, seals made nuclear explosions absolutely impossible. The problem was that a seal converts things through chakra, and it was unfortunately the case that through chakra, while matter still has a lot of energy, it wasn’t enough to be making a WMD out of.
794
795The Creation of All and I guess the reverse, the Destruction of All, were possibilities allowed by upper level seals, but were also too expensive in chakra to make any kind of chain reaction. And there was no way I could manage to duplicate an entire nuclear program on my own, even with seals to help with containment and such. I simply didn’t have the time, or even the theoretical background.
796
797The second possibility that I thought of was massively scaled-up conventional chakra bombs, maybe ones similar to my Spider's Seal. It turns out that that would basically require heavy carpet-bombing. It would definitely be traced back, and at a guess likely cause no more than forty percent casualties, primarily in the weaker ranks and civilians.
798
799I immediately discarded the third and fourth possibilities: chemical or biological warfare. Chemical weapons were less effective as they weren't infused with the chemical's natural chakra; that was an extremely chakra-intensive concept. Further, I really didn't want to introduce chemical warfare to the Elemental Nations, and had no easy way of getting the chemicals I'd need in the proper scale. Biological WMDs are always, always, always a horrible idea. They would inevitably backfire, either when new bioweapons are used in a retaliation, or as the disease infected everyone, mutating and spreading beyond control. So, just, no.
800
801The fifth idea I had, based on the chemical weapon idea, was a poor-man's Alchemical Bomb. I'd either concentrate oxygen by creating a partial gas boundary, or concentrate nitrogen. In the first case, I'd immolate the village; in the second, I'd wait for them to suffocate. While I marked this down as a possibility, the odds that someone would notice made me wary; even a Kirigakure sealer can break something with sufficient power, or evacuate the village. The odds were far too low that it would work.
802
803It was while I was wishing that I could make a Bond-villain super-laser work as easily as villains seemed to in the movies when I thought of my sixth idea: Rods from God, or God's Hammer as I'd seen it referred to in a fiction whose title I'd long since forgotten. More technically, Orbital Kinetic Energy Weapons, or Kinetic Orbital Strikes.
804
805Basically, large rods, preferably made of Tungsten, though seal-enhanced iron and stone would do at a pinch, launched from orbit. If I remembered right from when I read about this sort of thing way back when, I'd manage to get a speed in excess of Mach ten, and a blast damage equivalent to somewhere between ten and a hundred tons of TNT. That could be fatal to even stronger ninja out at five hundred feet, and destroy even reinforced buildings at one hundred feet distance.
806
807A look at a map of Kirigakure, much of it blank due to being in a security restricted area, and I calculated that a spread of twenty five rods would be sufficient to get, at a guess, eighty percent destruction given the generally wooden construction in the ninja-populated region of their village. Another five rods for their Kage's seat of government, one for their central records facility, one each for a trio of barracks, one for the academy and a pair for the docks and shipyards and Kirigakure would be completely unable to wage war.
808
809I had a winner.
810
811As far as seals-based WMDs went, KOS (Kinetic Orbital Strike) was almost embarrassingly easy. If I were being particularly cunning and kludge-y, I could have probably done it with level three seals. Less kludge-y, level four. To penetrate the village anti-kinetic shields (which every village had, probably for things like this), and do so with a bit of elegance and real time visual feeds, I would need level five seals, and about four months of my total chakra output. Call it a year of my spare output.
812
813That was it. Level five seals and a year's chakra to obliterate one of the great villages.
814
815I had my goal, I had my method. All that was left was the execution.
816
817The next year passed in a blur of training as I pushed myself to become stronger and learn seals at a greater and greater rate. Soon, I had surpassed the limits of my Kaa-san's teaching and entered Hikaru jii-san's tutelage.
818
819Hikaru jii-san was pretty amazing; he was a full sealing master who focused on manipulating natural forces and properties like gravity, pure kinetic energy, mass and heat. Apparently while a younger man, and studying to become a master, he had invented the cooling seals that we use even to this day in food-stores and wealthier homes. That's right, another reason to love Uzushio – we had air conditioning. And that was yet another way that I knew Kiri was evil; no one else would try and rob the world of civilization air-conditioning, the hallmark of civilization.
820
821Hikaru jii-san was also an accomplished combat-sealer. A fairly old man now of over a century's age, when he was about 60 and still in his prime (Uzumaki, remember), around the time that the Villages were starting to really form, he had been part of a four-man trade mission to Konoha (sealing scrolls meant that nothing else was needed for transport).
822
823A whole clan that was against the idea of forming ninja villages attacked the mission. Under Hikaru's order, the Uzushio forces retreated until they came to a fairly empty field, where they seemingly decided to each make a break for it in the hope of escaping the hundred or so pursuers, leaving Hikaru behind to slow pursuit.
824
825Suffice to say, Hikaru's guard had split up to plant territory-defining seals, not to flee.
826
827The enemy ninja decided to go after Hikaru jii-san first, and charged across the field only for the entire surface of the field to suddenly become hot enough to ignite clothing. Hikaru jii-san had used a heat-concentration seal that moved heat from the ground to the air up to a height of 10 feet, and roasted all the enemy ninja.
828
829So, yeah, gramps was kind of a badass.
830
831I had completed the basics of my mental reinforcement, though I was always refining those basic techniques with practice. Under his eye, and making full use of these techniques, I quickly worked my through the third and fourth levels of sealing, earning complete intuition with each. Soon I was focused on the intuition for fifth level seals, particularly those needed for the God's Hammer project, as well as some sixth level seals that he had given me access to.
832
833In my spare time, I had already completed my basic laser/ directed energy weapon that I called the DEWS-1 (Daichi-Energy-Weapon-Seal-1). It had proved a bit more complicated than I expected, as I experienced issues with thermal bloom and efficiency that necessitated a high-intensity pulse at a frequency which would interact with human liquids and fats but not be absorbed overmuch by air or common solids. It was still most effective at damaging softer and unarmored targets.
834
835I also had a few bits and pieces of what would become the Sea-Hawk, but had not completed it, or even enough of a proof of concept to bring to Hikaru jii-san.
836
837Tou-san had continued my instruction in Whirling-Fist, and I had completed both the Intermediate and Advanced Instructor's tests. My speed could match the minimum standard for jonin, and if fully enhanced, I was capable of matching most of the younger chunin in strength despite my lack of size. My swordsmanship was also developing; I had passed the Basic Instructor's test, and Tou-san had said that I was good enough to qualify for the clan-guard on the basis of my swordsmanship alone, which was fairly high praise.
838
839My combat skills with the Adamantine Chains was becoming very advanced. Haruto-sensei, though now a father himself, and thus with less time to train me, had nonetheless gotten me past the manipulation and manifestation and even elemental channeling lessons. I still needed to continue to train and improve here, but was at the point that it was practice and the occasional hint once I hit a plateau; I had the basics and the training methods I needed. He had further started me in on mechanical manipulation techniques, things like how to use the chains as a drill, or saw, rather than as a piercing whip or flail, as well as the more advanced Seal-channeling techniques needed for the Adamantine Chains to become the full Adamantine Sealing Chains.
840
841My elemental chakra training had perhaps seen the furthest growth. I was practicing the Water and Wind master level manipulation exercises, and could achieve results similar to B-level jutsu with a bit of focus and pure elemental manipulation. I had practiced the Water-Dragon, Water-Prison, Crushing Wave and Raging Waters techniques to a high degree for my water techniques, and similarly focused on Vacuum Bullets, Slicing Storm (a large scale slicing attack with medium damage), Razor Gust (smaller scale but more damage), Tornado and Hurricane (effective against large numbers, disrupted ranged jutsu) wind-based techniques.
842
843I hadn't been overly impressed with the shields from either wind or water, and had worked on some layered, collaborative Wind/Water techniques that were more useful. My Pressurized Bubbles Shield, for example, functioned a bit like reactive armor and could be used offensively in close range as the explosive concussion would deal a fair bit of damage.
844
845I also had a fairly long range and relatively low cost Water-Jet-Cutter techniques which I had invented; based on water-jet cutters back on Earth, it used Wind to accelerate Water with bits of the ground in it to ridiculous speeds (easily above Mach one, but more than that was hard to estimate). The technique was capable of cutting through a half inch of steel in a moment. Even worse for its victims, the Water-Jet-Cutter would leave behind all the solid particles which would cripple or kill those for whom the technique was not instantly lethal.
846
847I wanted to start learning more advanced general chakra control, as well as genjutsu (illusions) and medical ninjutsu but unfortunately didn't have the training time to do more than read the occasional theoretical text.
848
849Overall, I was almost six years old, and I was a monster capable of at least facing Elite Jonin (oh, they’d kill me, but if it were one of our elites versus an enemy I might be enough to turn the tides). But what would really make me a monster wasn't the fact that I was so much stronger than someone my age should be, but the project I had just finished: God's Hammer, the set of seals that would achieve a Kinetic Orbital Strike on Kirigakure. And that weekend, I was finally ready for the first trial.
850
851The idea was a pretty simple one. The issue with getting things into orbit wasn't that it took so much energy to lift the payload; it was that the energy itself needed to be raised too, so you weren’t just lifting the potential satellite which might only be a few tens of pounds, but all the fuel too which would weigh hundreds of tons.
852
853With seals, that wasn't an issue; I actually used a gravity-effecting seal to lift the payload seal into orbit. Once in orbit, the payload seal would deploy the Kinetic Weapons, a series of thirty-seven eight-foot long, foot wide, seal-reinforced cylinders of metal that I had gathered from some hills rich in metals using resource-collection and refinement seals.
854
855The plan was for the payload seal to reach orbit, then deploy the weapons. The weapons were heavily sealed themselves, primarily with a station-keeping seal to keep them at the right orientation and spacing, as well as gravity-acceleration seals and very precise location and guidance seals to move them at the right target.
856
857Actually, the most difficult part of all of this was the targeting system. Not only did the guidance and movement system need to be incredibly precise and finely gradated, but I needed a very precise location reading of where Kirigakure was in 3-dimensional space. In fact, to avoid relativity issues (something all GPS calculations back on Earth need to manage), the calculations for which I had forgotten, I needed a no-lag communication between the beacon and the guidance system.
858
859This communication was one of the major focuses of my research with Hikaru jii-san, and was also the first step for my creating a Hiraishin knock-off. I also had a visual-transmission communication seal, and backup maneuvering seals to do manual targeting if necessary.
860
861As the weapons approached atmospheric re-entry, they would activate a dimensional-contraction technique. I'd totally cribbed the seal from one Hikaru jii-san had demonstrated at my request, as he hadn’t realized the extent of my memory when I desired. The dimensional-contraction technique was a rare conceptual seal, and actually stored the space in a special temporal seal. Then, at a very low altitude, the stored space would be expended to make the cylinders much wider for all but the weapons aimed at the Kage's fort.
862
863This would improve the damage, at a cost of reduced penetration through bunkers, as well as increasing the velocity (and thus kinetic energy) of the weapons by reducing drag while falling, and so further increasing damage. Also at that moment of impact, another seal would activate a “dense air shield” above them, reducing the amount of explosive pressure and damage lost to the air and hopefully reflecting the shock-wave back at the village to maximize damage.
864
865To reach Kirigakure in the first place, each weapon had a Shield Breaking seal designed to penetrate the bombardment defenses. Finally, there were storage seals that would release fire chakra when the weapons impacted; this would melt whatever remnants of the cylinders existed, and hopefully spread secondary fires and destruction.
866
867I had had to do a lot of work on not just the seals, but on how to create the seals. I tested them in vacuum, and in low temperatures, and both at once. In an early test, I sent a probe into low orbit with a chakra-sensing device; it turned out that space, being empty of chakra, actually drained chakra at a very high rate, and so I had to develop a chakra retention shield seal, and apply it to all of the objects.
868
869I had similarly tested the deployment of the payload, and discovered that retrieving an object from a storage seal gets harder the greater the difference in potential energy between entering and leaving the seal. I actually had to develop a new, stacked, super-high efficiency chakra storage system based on fractal capacitance just to retrieve the weapons; the seals on that needed to be so finely etched to be small enough that it took a week just to get the technique right. Hikaru jii-san and the other sealers were quite impressed by the new chakra batteries, and adopted my designs for small but energy intensive applications which meant a nice residual income from my invention.
870
871Worried that the weapons might hit an object in orbit, and that if that caused a failure I'd never know why, I developed a special chakra sensing pulse seal that only worked out of atmosphere without any distracting chakra signals; it was basically a space-radar with a thousand kilometer range that recorded back to a signal storage seal I had, making a status update every micro-second.
872
873Then, with all the planning and testing done, I actually had to charge all of these; I had been storing a full quarter of my prodigious full reserves every night for eight months for this purpose.
874
875When I had finally finished, and was ready to test the weapons, I didn't know what to think about them.
876
877On the one hand, I was ecstatic. Here I was, a genius, granted. A reincarnation, granted. And effectively a magician, granted. But here I was, a kid, in a society stuck in the Middle Ages. And I had managed to make something that was Science Fiction during the beginning of the 21st century.
878
879On the other hand, I was at least somewhat somber. Here was the protection of Uzushiogakure, the destruction of the enemy Kirigakure that would ensure our survival for a century. But, also, I think I understood Oppenheimer in that moment. I had truly become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
880
881And I did so under no recognizance but my own. I was prepared to destroy a village, kill potentially hundreds of thousands of people. And this terrified me. I wanted to ask Haruto jii-san's opinion, talk to Tou-san and Kaa-san, even ask Kazuo-sama.
882
883I wanted absolution from the responsibility of deploying this monstrosity of a weapon. But I knew I couldn't get it. This was my decision, my responsibility.
884
885And so, on that Sunday morning, I deployed the weapon.
886
887Everything was going well. The payload-scroll had reached orbit, and reported successful deployment of all weapons. Weapons had locked onto Kirigakure, and were gaining velocity on their approach vectors. Velocity had hit a bit over what I estimated to be Mach three. And then, one by one, I lost contact with the weapons.
888
889What the FUCK just happened? How the fuck? I can't have just… My mind was a mess. I didn't know what to think, what might happen. Hell, the weapons might still hit, but I wouldn't know where. If that was the case, and they were off target enough to damage but not destroy Kirigakure, we might want to evacuate the village to reduce the target we presented. My shield breaker's were standard, known designs, but were fairly recently published, only available to other Uzumaki sealers, and I'd overpowered them with a ton of chakra.
890
891I started pouring over the feedback data from all the sensors to see if I could figure out what happened.
892
893The first five weapons didn't have any anomalies. Just, there one moment, gone the next. I started looking at the chakra space radar readings, and saw that each one seemed to have been broken up into what looked like, if I was reading the results right, a cloud of gas or maybe plasma, as well as a few shards of the weapon.
894
895Looking at the heat readings, which were on a significantly slower response time, I did see that the weapons noticed a slight heat rise with each destruction, and that one of the weapons had noticed a sharp temperature spike, into the thousands of degrees C, just before failure. Another had caught what I was now thinking might have been part of a reflected laser beam, and experienced a few hundred degrees temperature rise, then later been destroyed.
896
897Someone, or something, was up there. And they had the capacity to track thirty seven small objects flying at Mach three, and hit them with what I was guessing was a laser strong enough to vaporize them despite the fact that they were enhanced to be able to survive re-entry.
898
899That, that was fucking terrifying. But for a moment, I couldn’t worry about that.
900
901I packed up my things with shaking hands, walked back to my room, sat down, and cried.
902
903It had been a long fucking year. I had been pushing myself, especially the envelope of my mental reinforcement, really damned hard. I was wiped out, physically, emotionally, burning too hard and too fast. And that day had been when it was all meant to pay off; the pressure would be off of Uzushiogakure, and the pressure would be off of me. But then, then whatever had done that decided to fuck everything up, and so I cried.
904
905I was still a kid. Sue me.
906
907About a half hour later, I stopped crying and started thinking. I considered who or what might have stopped my plan. Gods and other such beings were immediately disregarded; there was no chakra presence at all, and my understanding of the local Laws of Reality made me think that divine intervention was unlikely.
908
909In fact, on further reflection, I didn't think it was a “someone”. Other humans or aliens might have made contact with the precocious fuck (me) who introduced Orbital Bombardment to a civilization who's most advanced weapon was made of re-folded chakra conductive steel. Or they might have killed me. Or at least done something; it seemed unlikely they would just kill my weapons then ignore me.
910
911That left “something”. I remembered that the world was, at one point at least, high technology, but had fallen; further, chakra seemed limited to the planet, and didn't cross the void of space well. What if the chakra was what interfered with the regular operation of high level technology? Then, any orbital assets would have survived.
912
913I doubted that there was anyone living there; if they really wanted to, there were too many ways of getting into contact, ways that weren't used, and if anyone was living there, then the weapons probably wouldn’t have been totally automated. I doubted any residents of this hypothetical space station would still be keeping to battle-stations thousands of years after the planet dropped out of contact, and thus doubted that an occupied station would have so quickly managed to destroy my weapons. Plus, a hundred-percent efficient food recycling program seemed unlikely, and anything less would have resulted in starvation after so long.
914
915No, I suspected that there was either an AI or a complex computer controlling some Strategic Defense hunter-killer satellites. Maybe even orbital fortresses. Either way, it was likely set to destroy any ICBMs or similar weapons. But that was all I could hypothesize. Other things were, of course, possible. I just rated my conclusion as the likeliest possibility.
916
917The scenario that seemed likely was not favorable towards me. I had no idea how to get around the situation. There were, of course, things I could test, like whether it was the speed of the weapons that caused the attack, or the height, or some combination of the two. I could probably design a shield to redirect laser-fire around my weapons. But ultimately, I didn't think it was a good idea to mess about with the unknown orbital power with super-lasers unless I wanted to risk retaliatory bombardment, especially since I didn't know what kind of Orbit-to-Ground weapons it might have.
918
919A year's work was down the drain, totally useless.
920
921Well, maybe not totally useless. And so I tried out a basic estimation: My kinetic weapons would still function as missiles; at a restriction of Mach two-point-five (a safe margin of error on velocity calculations), they would have less than a sixteenth the energy at impact compared to Mach 10, and only be effective at around two-fifth’s the previous distance.
922
923That meant the new missiles could be killing ninja at two hundred feet and destroying buildings at forty feet. The problem with this was that I'd need something like six hundred of these weaker rods to achieve similar levels of destruction. I just didn't have the time to gather that much metal.
924
925I had no idea what I was going to do. I could only train and practice and hope I came up with some other way forward. Well, that and continue to store my chakra in case I needed it.
926
927And maybe take a bit of a break before I burned out.
928
929Following the intervention of the Orbital ex Machina into my plans for Kirigakure's neutralization, I decided I needed to take a step back, and stop to enjoy life a bit more. I decided to focus on making sure Uzushiogakure survives, and took a rest on the whole destruction of Kiri until I came up with a better plan, one that didn't possibly annoy the hypothetical Orbital Fortress with unknown threat-assessment algorithms.
930
931I had been uncomfortably close to burning out, closer than I had even realized. I asked Tou-san to teach me Shogi, learned Go from Hikaru jii-san, and asked Kaa-san for some recommendations on good books to read. Every day, I made sure to take at least two hours for personal relaxation, and one whole day off every week. Evenings would typically find me playing a game with family, or reading a book while sipping green tea.
932
933And god was it necessary. I found that my food intake, previously near five thousand calories a day, dropped down to three thousand (I lived an active lifestyle with high chakra expenditure; that was pretty normal). I felt well in ways I had forgotten, like a weight and itch had been removed from me. My body filled out some, and I looked visibly healthier. All in all, I think that I had been pushing so hard that my healing factor, high even among other Uzumakis, was being slowly ground away by my previous habits.
934
935As I turned six, and over the following half-year or so, I made a point of sampling the culture. I ate out at restaurants for lunch. I visited the theater, once, and decided never again. It wasn’t that I dislike the theatre. I liked some modern plays, back on Earth, adored Gilbert and Sullivan, and had a great time watching Greek and Roman plays, reading some in the original. The performances available in Uzushiogakure, however, varied between incomprehensible formalized Japanese-esque forms, and absolutely puerile slapstick without much in between.
936
937And the music… just urgh. The music sounded like strangled cats to me.
938
939Some of the art, however, was quite nice. The most interesting thing I saw was a head-to-head art competition where each round, the artist had only one hour to make their piece of art given a prompt. They used jutsu and seals of all varieties. The judges would then go around, taking into account the cheering of the crowd, and make a cut.
940
941Eventually, it came down to two. One, a fairly young Earth-user favoring sculpture, who was the clear crowd favorite (though part of that was certainly his good looks, and part his supporting cheering-squad of the rest of his patrol group). The other, a fairly old looking non-Uzumaki seals user favoring abstract and subtle elements that still somehow conveyed his message, oftentimes incorporated into the seals themselves.
942
943I favored the sealer, and cheered loudly for him, though in the end the sculptor won. Afterward, I walked up and congratulated the sealer on the speed and elegance of his seals, as well as the subtle artistry, and mentioned that it was a shame that these subtleties were so difficult for those who don't study seals to recognize. He was fairly shocked at my youth and knowledge, but still showed off how he was able to get some of the effects, and I left beaming.
944
945The architecture too I found very interesting. I had always been a fan of Medieval European architecture as a child, especially castles and other fortified structures, but had never had a chance to see Eastern ones. The Uzushio fortifications were an interesting mix of styles. They definitely had an Eastern look to them, especially in how the wall's slope changed a bit gently between the base and the main section of the wall. But, overall, the fortifications were more similar to those of an Industrial-age Europe than anything else, likely because of the need to resist jutsu impact.
946
947The influence of seals could also be seen, as there were some structures that were otherwise impractical or unnecessary. I didn't get to see the restricted areas, but did get to see the general ones thanks to a note from Jii-san to one of the officers. My guide, a relatively fresh corporal in the Patrol, didn't quite seem to know what to think of me and my questions.
948
949I frequently put on laser shows and fireworks shows for fun on Sundays. Eventually it became something of a neighborhood thing; Kushina would come over, of course, and Haruto-sensei would bring his wife and sometimes his kid too. There would be barbeque, often (and unfortunately) live music, and whatever sealers were there would put on a bit of a show. It was a pretty idyllic time.
950
951Of course, I kept up with my training too. My skills continued to improve, my body continued to grow, and my chakra continued to develop. I mostly focused on my sealing, especially as I started many collaborative projects with Hikaru jii-san. First, I showed him my body-mounted DEWS-1, which he found highly interesting. We adapted it to have several more firing modes, and Hikaru passed the design over to the Infantry Weapons, Defense Emplacements and Naval Weapons research groups.
952
953I read a fair number of other Uzumaki researcher's journals; the historical ones were particularly interesting to me, and I always found it useful to learn from the ways that they thought. A lot of the time, progress is cyclical in the kinds of thinking that it needs; by looking at how scientists thought in the past, you can make interesting observations in the present and future. This idea also worked with seals.
954
955In fact, one section, an account of another experimenter's research, gave me a solution to high-velocity small to medium caliber weapons. The account spoke of a “device like a sling made of an iron disk which throws metal pellets at great velocity”; after a moment to puzzle it out, I thought about a centrifuge gun.
956
957Basically, the design that I came up with used a centrifuge to accelerate the payload. In this case, 12.7mm or 40mm rounds. The 12.7 would be only stamped with a no-air-resistance seal and potentially an elemental chakra charge; the 40 would have the no-air-resistance, but also a seal for either elementally-charged High Explosive or Canister. The rounds were loaded into a centrifuge. A seal near the center of the centrifuge could give it very high tangential velocity compared to the surroundings; this meant that at the edge of the centrifuge, it will be traveling much faster.
958
959For example, if the centrifuge was traveling at a tangential velocity of 150 m/s (fairly efficient to do with a seal) at a distance of 1” from the center, then at 6” it would be traveling 6x150= 900 m/s.
960
961The centrifuge then released the rounds into a pulse-dimensional seal, which could activate, seal whatever is fired into it (so long as it hits within the sealing array) and when released, fire it back out at the same velocity. Before entering the pulse-dimensional seal, the rounds passed through a straightening array that made sure the orientation of the holding-seal and the firing path was precise. The weapon was effective in direct-fire up to two kilometers, and with an absolute maximum range of just over eighty kilometers, so long as the air-resistance seal stayed active. The holding, or “magazine” seal fired past a set of seals that straighten the path, so that it was effectively in a fairly perfect barrel which allowed improved accuracy for long distance artillery applications.
962
963At first I thought that my (re-) invention would be perfect for defensive emplacements. Grids of these could provide some fairly serious direct and indirect fire support all around the island, after we worked out the communications network to control it. Instead though, the Naval Weapons group basically took over. They wanted to arm our ships with the weapons. They worked with the Surveyor's Research Group a fair bit on extending the capacity to target objects at larger distances, especially after I showed them a version of the Orbital Weapon that was more a “slow, guided shell with spotting capabilities”.
964
965The Surveyor's liked my semi-disposable spotter-missile, and loaded it up with a bunch of mapping seals I'd never seen before, tying the feeds in to the targeting seals. Hikaru jii-san was in charge of the mechanisms to steady and control the total system, so that the rocking of the ship wouldn't affect it too much. The Weapons Group adapted the long-range ballista targeting mechanisms, and tied the whole system together before passing it off to the Industrial Quantities specialist on the team who figured out how to make the seals that automatically churn these systems out.
966
967I barely had to lift a finger. Seriously, I got to peek over basically everybody's shoulder as “Hikaru's sweet genius grandson/apprentice, who came up with the concept,” and had my name listed as the first inventor for the system when we filed the design (in the “classified seals” seal, so no official credit, unfortunately), but I didn't have to come up with any of the work beyond the basic concept. I learned a ton too; it was so awesome not to be working on a secret project in my spare time.
968
969I even got the Surveyor's group and the Weapons Group master who specialized in communications seals to add the functionality to my HUD-projector seal so that authorized users could link-in to the surveillance feeds and direct the fire remotely. Unfortunately, the security seals they added to the whole thing were level seven seals, so I couldn't modify anything myself until I learned those. In fact, I wasn't even allowed to watch them put them on at the time, having to wear a blindfold when my own HUD seal was re-applied.
970
971Even still, that was definitely the way to invent. Having a horde of even-more competent individuals to take my ideas and turn them into reality was far better than working myself to death on secret projects.
972
973It turned out that for Uzushiogakure, naval combat seals were really the most important combat multiplier. Uzushiogakure itself is a fairly small island, and only accessible to Uzushio ships and citizens. There was this whole process to immigrating, even from the rest of Whirlpool, I guess to keep out the ninja riffraff. The closest neighbor with a navy that wasn't a joke was the Land of Fire, but their navy was mostly run by the Daimyo rather than by Konohagakure which was fairly land-locked, both by location and by inclination. Whirlpool had excellent relations with the Fire Daimyo. In fact, Whirlpool's Daimyo (the village leader and clan-head acting as Head-of-State) maintained a permanent embassy at the Fire Daimyo's court; this was the only embassy with an attached Expert Sealer, who acted as the court Seals-Master and was the probably the best sealer you'll find outside of Uzushio other than maybe Mito-sama.
974
975The biggest threat to Uzushiogakure and Whirlpool, as I mentioned previously, was Kirigakure. Whirlpool, apart from its fair sized navy crewed by Uzushiogakure chakra users and equipped with the latest seal-devices, also had very difficult to traverse currents. The navigation markers, controlled by seals, meant that only authorized ships could find their way to Uzushiogakure, part of why the village was chosen to be a strong-point in the first place.
976
977Kirigakure was the only ninja Village with a sufficient number of skilled and powerful water-jutsu users and capable navigators and sailors to overcome those natural barriers; they also had a special underwater-operations group that could pose a threat to Uzushiogakure ships. But even Kirigakure's ninja couldn't swim the five hundred or so miles between Kirigakure and Uzushiogakure, so naval strength was a major indicator of Uzushio's defense. Because of this anything that could extend the range and hitting power of the Uzushiogakure ships got a lot of attention from the Applied Seals Research groups, especially Naval Weapons.
978
979When I brought up the idea of Swordfish Underwater drones, and what functionality I thought they should have, Hikaru jii-san grinned.
980
981“The existence of any such seal-devices would be a secret that you are not allowed to learn yet, Daichi-kun, but I would not spend overmuch time on such underwater autonomous attackers,” he said with a wink. I grinned back, and right away gave him my idea for flying drones.
982
983This too he found interesting and worth a joint project. A bit more complicated than the Cyclone Bullet Seal and the Cyclone Cannon Seal (the official designations of the machine-gun and automatic-grenade-launcher equivalents respectively), and something worth taking their time to get really efficient, the development on the Peregrine, Sea-Hawk and Osprey went slower than I might have liked. It turned out that again, the people with the research brawn to get sealers working on something and making progress was the Naval Weapons Group; they were more interested in patrol-craft acting as spotters than on the multi-role strike-craft capability of the Sea-hawks or the remote chakra transmission and heavier weapons of the Osprey.
984
985I had to do more work with the aerial drones, as I had a much better understanding of aerodynamics and functional avionic systems than the other Sealers, even though mine came more from logic, flight simulators, and a few half-remembered conversations with Aero/Astro majors back in my previous life. Because of this, while I had developed intuition of fifth level seals, I had made very little progress on sixth level intuition more than six months after.
986
987The drones themselves were wracked with issues. We tried a basic plane shape first, but the number and fiddly-ness of the seals to control everything, especially the flaps, became an issue. After a few months of failed designs, we eventually settled on something of a cross shape with acceleration seal “thrusters” at the points of the cross. By firing the bottom thruster harder, the craft would point up. Similarly, by firing the top thruster harder, the craft would point down. Turning was similar.
988
989The first tests went well; the craft was relatively easy to control in good weather, though a bit slow to turn and totally incapable of the kinds of dare-devil maneuvers I wanted, especially in the lighter craft. Unfortunately, the damned thing didn't really have any way of re-stabilizing itself after a serious upset like a gust of wind, after which the bottom thruster was often not actually positioned at the bottom anymore. Hikaru jii-san actually figured out the fix to that, using a highly efficient if somewhat conceptually strange set of gravity-effecting seals to re-orient the craft when triggered.
990
991The end result was effective, if somewhat less than I had hoped. The maximum efficient speed was about 210 m/s, or about 470 mph. General cruise speed was about 170 m/s or 380 mph. The drone could hover, and was relatively small and light so the chakra requirements weren't obscene. It had an effective loiter height of about 35,000 feet with a ceiling of just over 40,000 feet and a maximum range of about 1,500 miles.
992
993For weapons, the drone had a variable-angle laser weapon, paired forward firing Cyclone Bullet Seals (though without the additional long-range guidance system used on ships), a nose mounted Cyclone Cannon Seal, and a seal with several fire-and-forget secret underwater hunter drones that I was totally unaware of (in theory).
994
995The drone had a reverse summon seal on it so that it could be retrieved when near empty on chakra (a refinement I did not think of), and enough chakra to stay up in oversight for up to six hours in decent weather, three in unfavorable weather (bad weather drained the stabilization seals something fierce), and those times could be doubled with extended chakra batteries or clever usage of thermals.
996
997Apart from weapons, the Remote Surveillance Group put in some of their most advanced sensors. Some were normally kept off, because they drained chakra ridiculously quickly, but even the “basic” sensors were advanced enough to provide good resolution from the ceiling height. The most advanced, which drained the chakra the fastest, had just been produced in time to be included in the design, and could only be triggered in a burst, could even detect most underwater enemies. Using advanced sensors pretty much required extended batteries or a very short flight time though.
998
999Overall, it was a system that was comparable to a WWII aircraft, if somewhat less maneuverable and with better sensor capabilities. Most favorably, the range was sufficient to reach Kirigakure's harbor and loiter long enough and high enough for effective surveillance.
1000
1001I decided that the Peregrine would have to be faster and more maneuverable than this though, and so we named the first drone the Pelican Weapon System.
1002
1003There were about six months of “tests” that followed before the Pelican was completed, and the automatic-manufacturing seals started on. These “tests” were more “everyone on the weapons group discovering the joys of flight simulators” using test munitions. We started off with basic flight (aka how not to crash), and after some failures added a load more instrumentation to report flight conditions back to the user. We then moved onto spotting, and what objects look like from the sky, aka, flying over Uzushiogakure. Then we finally moved onto simulated attack runs (fireworks for adults at work).
1004
1005In a very sneaky move I convinced people that dog-fighting might be fun; as a result, I found out that the maneuverability and speed kits for the Peregrine and Sea-hawk went up about six months on the priority list. They still weren't an immediate project, but I did notice that certain Seal-masters who had claimed their own “birds” had begun to make modifications to the standard sealing arrays that were not on the list of improvements in a bid to one-up each other. Personally, I was working on a fire-and-forget missile system with Hikaru jii-san that would lock onto a designated chakra-signal, in this case the active seals, and launch a homing, high velocity shell with a powerful explosive payload; apparently one of other budding Aces was a somewhat rival of his, and we “absolutely had to win the first Pelican Combat Tournament for the family's honor”.
1006
1007Eventually though all good things came to an end, and we couldn't justify playing with them anymore.
1008
1009The project-completion party was pretty awesome; I ended up getting taken aside by this Weapons Group weapon-designer who had had more than few shots of sake.
1010
1011“When you are older, and your Grandfather is not keeping you to himself, you must come work with us,” he said. “We will make a beautiful fire.” Then the pyromaniac pressed a shot of what I thought was sake into my hands and had me drink. It turned out much stronger, and I ended up coughing a fair bit, much to his amusement. Hell, I don't even know what that drink was; I suspected it may have been enhanced with chakra, since the basic campfire jutsu burned less.
1012
1013I lucked out somewhat though. As one of the seal-system creators, who had been with the project literally from the beginning, and not being too busy with other projects (and really as a seventh birthday gift to me from Hikaru jii-san), I ended up assigned to the Pelican Application Team with one of the other seal-inventors. The Application Team was basically a group of officers, about half of them experienced with or currently in Naval patrol, as well as some general strategists, regular Patrol, a couple high ranked Retinue guard and even a senior combat-sealer. All of them were thinking of how the Pelican should be used, and how that use should be taught in the Academies and Training Courses. For me, it meant another four months playing with prototype remote-control weapons, and kicking the asses of many fairly elite and senior officers using them. It was awesome.
1014
1015One of the things I pushed for, and got, was that there would be optional Pelican classes in the Academies for the pre-genin-equivalent students as Pelicans became available. Unlike many other villages, Uzushiogakure believed in additional training classes even after graduating as a basic recruit into the Clan or Village guard, or into a Retinue unit, including obligatory classes when becoming an officer or reaching higher command rank. Part of this was the nature of Uzushio's missions, many of which required a fair competency in Naval affairs, and thus more education than the normal ninja who might learn on the job.
1016
1017There would be special Aerial Systems Training for selected service-members first, so that the Pelicans could get deployed as soon as possible, but eventually I wanted an aerial device with semi-customizable weapons selection to be available to anyone with the security clearance (not actually that high, since the things were remote-detonate-able and security sealed to hell) who was willing to fill enough chakra batteries for the manufacturing seals to produce one (and the ammunition). That way, Uzushio would be able to field hundreds of flying devices similar in potential damage output to a fairly fresh Jonin, but with more range, all commanded by people who would otherwise be kunai-fodder.
1018
1019The first Pelican pilots were just out of training in time for their early surveillance flights to locate a (presumed Kirigakure) infiltration team. This would prove to have been a major blessing. A guards reaction team was sent to apprehend them, and succeeded. This would prove to have been a major mistake.
1020
1021I wish to God that they had killed the infiltrators on the spot, burned the remains, and banished what was left to Void. But the patrol, following standard procedure, engaged and when possible captured. I wasn't there, but was involved in the rather lengthy aftermath; rather than lay things out in the confused manner in which I learned them, I will relate my notes on the situation. This is what occurred.
1022
1023Day Zero: A cell of four infiltrators were detected barely one week after the Pelican program went active. According to the report, the Ready-Team, a fast reaction group, had a pair of Pelican's on regional surveillance. The active chakra sensor detected a failure in one of the nodes of the Uzushio coastal waters sensor net. A full four action teams, 16 village guards in total, went to investigate and found the infiltrators. The infiltrators fought, wounding two of the guards, but were fairly easily overwhelmed.
1024
1025Although they at first appeared resigned, when the guards came to apply chakra-sealing seals, the intruders activated a suicide jutsu. Three of the guards who were attempting to apply the seals were covered in blood and viscera.
1026
1027Day One: I was congratulated by Hikaru jii-san; the use of the Pelicans was decided to be instrumental in preventing the intrusion. He remarked that I was likely to receive a reward from Kazuo-sama, likely a ceremonial weapon as a sign of honor, when all was said and done. First, though, the three guards, including the Group-Leader, would have to leave hospital. I asked jii-san to inquire as to what was wrong with them, and relay my wishes for a speedy recovery and congratulations on their success.
1028
1029Day Two: Hikaru jii-san told me that the guards seemed to have contracted some sort of illness; all three, including the leader whose Uzumaki bloodline would normally prevent it, were running high fevers. Healing jutsu were less effective than expected, and poison was suspected.
1030
1031I still remember that moment. A moment of thought, and I realized what had happened; the infiltrators had not failed their mission, or at least not completely.
1032
1033Back on Earth, one of the biggest fears within the intelligence and military circles had been the idea of bio-warfare suicide-bombers. Basically, instead of walking up with a bomb on them, these people would walk up as incubators of engineered plagues; get on an airplane, and watch the pandemic spread. The carriers may die, but the disease would spread everywhere. An even greater fear was the idea that travelers could be mugged and injected, becoming a stealth-carrier.
1034
1035This, I suspected, was a similar scenario. The operatives had likely wanted to spread this without dying, but, in failure, had used the suicide option. I even vaguely remembered that Kirigakure had done something similar to their bloodline users; I wasn't sure if that was canon, or fanon, or would have happened in our world regardless. I still had to tell Hikaru jii-san, especially if the illness was strong enough to overcome a Jonin-level Uzumaki with a full healing factor.
1036
1037Hikaru thought it unlikely, but sufficiently possible that he demanded an immediate meeting with the head of the Medical Department and Kazuo-sama. Apparently, one of the clans that eventually formed Kirigakure was known for using targeted illnesses as poisons rather than more conventional concoctions; they had been rumored to be the founders of a Black Ops unit, referred to as the “Plaguebearers” by Konoha's intelligence briefings.
1038
1039Quarantine was declared for both patients and any who had treated them. Bubble technique or seals which created a space of clean air were ordered for any coming into contact with them. Full measures were being taken, and preparations made for a full village-wide quarantine if needed.
1040
1041Day Four: Several doctors and nurses, including those who had been taking full precautions, were sick. A few cases were seen in other citizens. The village went into full quarantine. Troops were sent into defensive positions; those that passed quarantine and were not needed within the village would deploy on ships to maintain health. Other cleared troops would deliver food and water rations in seals for all citizens, who were ordered to remain in their houses otherwise. The disease became the primary research focus for the village, and certain prisoners were authorized as test subjects.
1042
1043All non-essential communication was ordered to occur through video-seals. A call was put out to Konoha to summon aid as per treaty, specifically the assistance of Tsunade who was already renowned as a medic-nin. She would arrive, at the soonest, a week later.
1044
1045The panic was awful. The disease was capable of effecting Uzumakis, who were typically resistant if not immune to illness. Many had never been ill in their lives; whether because of this, or because of some trait of the disease, those with the strongest healing factors were impacted the worst. I was wracking my mind for more clues, but couldn't remember anything.
1046
1047Day Five: Hikaru jii-san and I were assigned to a team focusing on decontamination measures. By the end of the day, we had a set of seals that use UV, soap, water, and even a light acid wash for decontamination. The seals were approved and produced. We were re-assigned to a long-range surveillance group responsible for watching Kirigakure for any signs of a possible invasion.
1048
1049Day Seven: Containment measures, even those using decontamination washes, continued to fail. Medical stasis seals were being produced in record quantities, and dozens of victims were already sealed within. Some of the seals, particularly those containing the sickest, were draining faster than expected. Two and a half months was given as the amount of time that the patients could be safely sealed; they were expected to die within a week of being unsealed.
1050
1051The full progress of the disease had been documented and disseminated. First, came an incubation phase lasting about a day, then a phase similar to a bad flu. The fever would continue to get worse, and the subject more ill, as their chakra drained. If the fever didn't kill the patient (which happened fifteen to twenty percent of the time), then there was a forty to sixty percent chance of the patient dying when their chakra reached a nadir. Those that recovered were expected to be basically useless for at least a month, and appeared to have some sort of chakra damage.
1052
1053Based on the description of the disease, I had a theory that it was more chakra based and possibly somewhat metaphysical or spiritual in nature, with a focus on consuming chakra. With Hikaru jii-san's help we got a temporary leave, and with a few of the Spacial Sealing Group we modified some seals, including my vacuum-protection seal. We then launched a probe into space which would be in Geo-synchronous orbit. The probe contained a seal that opened a semi-stable gate at a remote distance, in this case to the outside of the probe’s void-shielding. The other side of the gate would be used to create a vacuum-shield to hopefully protect the medics, since the vacuum should be impenetrable to any chakra-based mechanism.
1054
1055While the new containment system proved effective, it was bloody expensive in terms of chakra and effort. Each shield consumed the equivalent of 12 Chunin-equivalent chakra-sources, and required some fairly fiddly seals hand-written by at least a sealing expert. It did at least provide the necessary protection for medics to experiment or treat victims.
1056
1057Day Nine: With the disease contained, and the clock ticking down for those already infected, stock was taken and a Council meeting called. Hikaru, as one of half-dozen High Masters of the Sealing Department, and the theoretical lead on the current containment system, was going. He brought me along as his aide and attendant.
1058
1059As we are now approaching discussing the political sphere, I think it worth a brief diversion into the basics of Uzushio politics, at least so far as I am familiar with them.
1060
1061First off, there were the village politics as a whole. There were two main “parties” or philosophies that tended to crop up. The first were the “Progressives”. The Progressives believed in “progress for Uzushio” which typically meant developing more seals and a more isolationist foreign policy. They were ascendant at the time of the epidemic.
1062
1063The second party were the “Interventionists”. The Interventionists believed in bringing Uzushio enlightenment to the poor barbarians of the rest of the world. Honestly, both parties were somewhat patronizing and superior, at least in how they looked at outsiders (though, to be fair, Uzushio was decades more advanced than other nations, none of whom could produce things like air-conditioning). The approach was the main difference. At the time, the Interventionists were definitely in the minority. A large part of that was historical.
1064
1065About forty years previous, in other words well within a standard Uzumaki lifetime, there had been a bit of an odd situation. See, the Naruto-verse was mostly feudal, and any student of feudal history knows what kind of a mess that can result in, particularly with regards to feudal inheritance and obligations after sufficient intermarriage. What happened for the Uzumaki, Uzushio and Whirlpool was an excellent example.
1066
1067The problem was that different branches owed each other fealty in a circular fashion. A noble but fairly minor clan that owed fealty to the Uzumaki had, a couple generations previous, married into the Whirlpool Daimyo's family. His niece, to be precise, who was never expected to succeed. One illness and a boating accident later, and suddenly this minor clan contained the Daimyo. But, they owed the Uzumaki fealty, and the Uzumaki had military dominance.
1068
1069The situation could have gotten a bit bloody, but the relations were previously cordial, and the leaders at the time astoundingly rational. There was already a marriage in place with the heirs, and an Uzumaki would be the eventual Daimyo. The problem is, it would be a fairly distant (and unimpressive) branch Uzumaki with no political or marital aspirations. The bigger problem, this Uzumaki's sister (who thus might end up inheriting) was Mito Uzumaki.
1070
1071Mito Uzumaki, who would become Mito Senju-sama, was extremely politically divisive. She was a staunch member of the Interventionist party, and a fairly accomplished if not particularly gifted sealer, which was actually the biggest issue.
1072
1073Within the Uzumaki clan, the clan head candidates were chosen from a dozen potential families by voting from qualified Uzumaki. It wasn't a “one-person, one-vote” system either. Votes were partially based on accomplishments, and sealing weighted heavily.
1074
1075After the candidates (never fewer than three or more than five) were presented, the entire village, including the Uzumaki, would have a similar vote. The sealers were influential enough in the initial process that every time bar one, the candidates were at least level four sealers. That one time, the candidate was a young, but extremely accomplished for his age, and had achieved a level three sealing intuition. He lost that election, but survived long enough to be the next village leader.
1076
1077So, the sealers had a lot of influence. And that brings us to factions within the Sealing Department. There were three main factions, mostly to do with beliefs towards higher-level seals dealing with Celestials, Demons, Gods, Powers and Concepts.
1078
1079The first faction, which I belonged to, was the “Isolationists”, called the “Ostriches” by our opponents (because we didn't want to see things that scared us). We believed that the world should be as isolated as possible from these beings, and that anything that weakened the walls of reality, or summoned them (which was pretty much synonymous), was a horrible fucking idea. I would eventually learn things in the future, as I gained rank as a sealer and got access to more secret information, that would support these conclusions.
1080
1081The second faction were the “Contractors”, or as we called them, the Demonologists. I think you may be able to guess what they believed in; they were a bunch of power-hungry fools who thought they could interfere with things we were not meant to without consequence. There were a number of hideously ugly actions that they took, often for “the sake of knowledge” or “the greater good”, or some other sop to their power-seeking morality. I'm talking about human sacrifice, black-sabbath type shit.
1082
1083And that was before demonic corruption set in and started further warping their minds. Things could go very, very wrong. But, on the other hand, the power was a lure, and every now and then the philosophy would rise up in the Department. To give them their due, there were accounts of some High Masters and one Grandmaster who had in extremis and temporarily, successfully bound greater powers. But the aforementioned masters had level seven intuition (level eight in the case of the grandmaster), and significantly more knowledge than the Experts who were the typical demonologist dabblers.
1084
1085The third faction were actually the Clerics. They ware a cult (by which I mean small order of religious adherents) of mostly Uzumaki sealing priests. They agreed with the Isolationists, for the most part, and pretty much quietly did their own thing.
1086
1087So, want to guess which group Mito belonged to, considering she went on to seal the 9 Biju?
1088
1089That's right, she was a Demonologist. In fact, she was the last of the high-ranking Demonologists, following an accident. She had been part of a failed summoning and binding; the Master of the group, and three other experts, ended up buying her just enough time (as their minds likely melted) to escape from the higher-seal testing room and hit the emergency vent seal. The room, and whatever was trying to come through, ended up in the Void, and Uzushio escaped a major incursion by the skin of its teeth.
1090
1091Mito survived censure, barely, but was discredited and put under watch, supposedly for possible demonic taint, but more to make sure she didn't do anything else that was that fucking stupid. Interviews with her afterward showed that she had, apparently, learned absolutely nothing as to how bad such experiments were. Honestly, she was lucky not to be killed or sealed herself. After all, the fucking room that they did the summoning in was still sealed and forbidden territory decades later.
1092
1093The village was thus, those 40 years ago, in an extremely tight spot. The possible successor to the Daimyo's seat was Mito, who's appointment would literally cause civil war. She couldn't be set aside completely though, at least against her will, since it would give other nations a causus belli to support her position and install her as a puppet; the dumb bitch was already being courted by several of our larger neighbors, and open to their proposals. So, Mito ended up married off to the Senju in a formal ceremony that cut the ties to her original family; while she could claim to be their child, she was out of the line of inheritance. Her brother happily joined a monastery, as he had wanted to do for years. And Kazuo-sama, the next in line as a cousin, inherited first the Clan-leadership, then the Daimyo's seat when the previous holder stepped down. Kazuo permanently linked the Daimyo's seat to the position of Uzumaki's clan leader, and left the clan-leadership as an internal matter.
1094
1095In all this political maneuvering, Mito and some of the more radical Interventionist supporters managed to start the whole “Great Villages” experiment. At first somewhat promising, their faction was doing fairly well. Then, of course, Mito went and bound the Biju, pissing off the sealers. The other Villages formed, and it was shown that no-one was actually moving towards peace, as had been hoped. Hashirama died in the fighting around then, and Mito, now thoroughly persona non grata, was quietly asked by other Interventionists to stay in Konohagakure lest she distract the situation at home with talk of Demonology.
1096
1097Then, the First Shinobi World War broke out, and showed that all these “Great Villages” had done was cause escalation. The Interventionists were massively discredited, and under the Progressives' influence, relations with Konoha cooled. There was still an alliance, but it had not been activated in decades, and Uzushio mostly used Konohagakure as a slightly discounted ninja force. No one was exactly sure of what influence Mito would have on how Konoha thought of Uzushio, but Konoha had been warned more than once that she had no influence back in Uzushio.
1098
1099Moving into this important meeting about the Epidemic of Uzushio, bear this in mind. Most of the characters involved favored isolationist policies, though there were still a few that are pro-Intervention, and pro-Konohagakure.
1100
1101Day Nine: We had the meeting that would determine our village’s future, and my own.
1102
1103We filed into the room, taking up positions according to some set of rules I was unaware of. My position was standing about four-feet behind Hikaru jii-san. There were maybe two dozen people in the room all told. Kazuo-sama started it off in his role as Village-head.
1104
1105“Well, I'm glad to see you all, you all look healthy, which is good,” he said plainly. There were some nervous chuckles. “No, really, this is good. The quick actions of Village Security and the Medical Department have made this disaster far less damaging than it could have been. I congratulate you.”
1106
1107At this he bowed, fairly deep no matter what position he was operating under. Had I been back on Earth, living in the West, I wouldn't have been as cognizant of how much of an honor this was. Honestly, it was actually a bit much, making people embarrassed at the surfeit of praise.
1108
1109“Ah, we don't deserve all the praise,” the active Chief-of-Medicine replied. His boss was currently in one of the stasis seals. “Hikaru-sensei, after all, gave warning that these actions may be necessary, and developed the seal that currently protects us.”
1110
1111That's right, praise Jii-san! I thought. As a note, Hikaru was being called “sensei” because of his position as a seals-master.
1112
1113Hikaru jii-san smiled. “You should praise Daichi, actually, I merely relayed his concerns, and the idea for the shield was his as well.” There were a number of glances and head-bows to me at this, and I blushed and shuffled under the attention while ducking my head in a return bow. Honestly, the whole thing was very Uzushio, this sharing of praise and honor, but without anything other than verbal acknowledgement.
1114
1115Kazuo-sama laughed. “I knew I would be watching your progress with interest, Daichi-kun. But, to business. What are the numbers?”
1116
1117“They're bad, but better than they might have been,” the Chief-of-Medicine replied. “We've got a hundred and forty six down with the illness so far. Of those, eight are doctors including the Chief-of-Medicine, and fourteen are nurses. There are eighty four Guardsmen down with the illness, of whom sixteen are genin equivalent and ten are jonin equivalent; the fifty eight others are chunin. Two sealers are ill. The other thirty eight patients are villagers, though some are retired veterans. All are currently in Stasis seals, and have an expected to last two and a half months from the date of their sealing. There have only been a pair of newly discovered cases since two days ago. Both were fairly advanced progressions from individuals in quarantine; they were discovered after they didn't pick up their rations. There have been two casualties, one a villager, the other the Patrol Lieutenant who first made contact with the enemy.”
1118
1119“His family will want for nothing, and the villager's will receive standard compensation,” Kazuo-sama pronounced. “See to it.” One of his aides nodded, making a note, and Kazuo-sama continued. “And what progress towards a cure?”
1120
1121The Chief-of-Medicine grimaced. “Slow. We've identified the disease vector; it's a chakra active illness, but it's extremely exotic, and doesn't act like anything we've seen before. We're having no luck in figuring out how to clean it from someone's blood, and it hasn't responded to any of our common treatments. Chakra exhaustion close to death appears to be a possible solution, using chakra-free life support and first aid, but even with full facilities we'll lose at least 5% of the patients to death, and another 10% will have permanent issues with their chakra system. We've requested Tsunade Senju come and provide assistance.”
1122
1123Kazuo-sama rubbed his jaw, thinking about the implications. “That's understandable, if not what I was wanting to hear. I want all spare sealers to be working on possible solutions. When will the Senju arrive?”
1124
1125The Minister of Foreign Affairs leaned forward to address the question. “Our messenger has arrived at Konoha, but the negotiations are complicated. Mito-sama seems to be looking for a successor to carry the Kyubi. Konoha has recalled Tsunade as a gesture of good faith, but is pushing for a potential host to be given in trade.”
1126
1127There were grimaces and grumblings at this, and the sealing detachment looked positively murderous.
1128
1129“Let's revisit that at the end of the meeting,” Kazuo-sama said, refocusing the conversation. “What's the military situation?”
1130
1131I saw a man in the uniform of a high-officer shift forward; I vaguely recognized him as the Minister of the Military from the Pelican's launch party. “Nothing to report. We've had constant Pelican patrols in local waters, and over Kirigakure. No anomalous movement. We are now tracking sixty five percent of the Kirigakure fleet, and show no gatherings or unexpected behavior.”
1132
1133Kazuo-sama nodded. “The investigation?” he asked.
1134
1135The Military Minister motioned at the Commander of Village Security, one of the subordinates of the Commander of the Village Guard.
1136
1137“Not much to report,” the commander replied. “The remains of the infiltrators were disposed of, save for samples, when they were found to be infected. The previous analysis didn't show any signs of where they were from. The gear was in the Kirigakure style, but the method used to get past the sensor-net is much more sophisticated than I would expect from them. The leading theory is that they used a dissolving seal to temporarily over-ride the sensor. There is no suspicion of any traitors at this time.”
1138
1139“Did Intelligence turn anything up? Could Kirigakure have managed this?” Kazuo-sama questioned.
1140
1141“Unlikely,” the Intelligence Commander answered. “Is it possible? Anything's possible. But Kirigakure is almost totally unfamiliar with Uzumaki sealing techniques. And there are no seal-users of sufficient skill outside of the village to teach that kind of talent, other than Mito-sama.”
1142
1143“Sealing Department, do you agree?” Kazuo-sama requested verification. “And what's being done to prevent this from happening in the future?”
1144
1145“We agree,” the Sealing Chief said, nodding. “That sensor net is solid, Expert-level work. It's unlikely that Kirigakure, who are among the least talented sealers, would have managed to get past it in such a subtle fashion. The network is being expanded with overlapping territories, and alarms and more aggressive fail-safes are being added. If a seal is deactivated in the future, we'll know about it, and those doing it will suffer if they're not very careful.”
1146
1147“Good,” Kazuo-sama said with a sharp smile. “So, what do we do? Who do we think did this, how do we prove it, and what can we do to them?”
1148
1149At this, the careful equilibrium shattered. People started talking, then arguing, then shouting at each other; I was not using my memory reinforcement techniques, and so do not remember it well enough to recount. It was, frankly, a bit embarrassing. To make that point clear, after Kazuo-sama released a burst of killing-intent that quietened the room, he turned to me.
1150
1151“Daichi-kun. You've been surprisingly effective in this situation. What is your analysis.”
1152
1153I was totally taken aback. I was seven! I sure as hell shouldn't be talking in this setting. I quickly realized why Kazuo-sama was doing this; it was a subtle remonstration and commentary on the behavior of his advisors. I cleared my throat, partially to give me a moment to organize my thoughts.
1154
1155“Ah, Kazuo-sama,” I began. “Well, it seems like there are three simple questions, with not so simple answers. First, who are the suspects. In other words, who had the motive, means and opportunity. Second, how do we prove this, or how sure are we? And third, what can we do, or rather what do we do in reply?”
1156
1157“A good framing of the question, but I asked for you answer,” he chided me in a fairly gentle tone. I blushed hard.
1158
1159“My apologies, Kazuo-sama. First, for the medical situation, we should be testing samples of blood for immunity. We should start with those with the strongest healing factors among the Uzumaki, and see if there is some kind of immunity we can duplicate.”
1160
1161“A worthy idea, yes?” he interrupted while looking at the Chief-of-Medicine, who nodded. “Continue.”
1162
1163I cleared my throat again. “Well. I think it was Konohagakure, or elements within them.”
1164
1165The room burst into another uproar; even Kazuo-sama had risen an eyebrow. The Foreign Minister, who was apparently an Interventionist, looked positively murderous. Once again Kazuo-sama quietened them.
1166
1167“An unexpected answer. Explain your reasoning. Without interruptions,” he said, giving a quick glare at the rest of the room.
1168
1169This whole thing was way too serious for me. I was comfortable working on seals; honestly, it reminded me of studying in university, and was always interesting. I enjoyed working out and sparring, and learning magic jutsu was freaking awesome. But standing in front of the leadership of my family, my country, and giving unpopular or shocking theories? Not so much.
1170
1171“Well, first the suspects. Kirigakure is the most obvious. They resent our influence and wealth, and the fact that our ships both refuse to pay protection and are still safer is a serious threat to their economy. Further, their philosophy of the survival of the strongest and the shark-like nature of man are at odds with our own; so long as we exist, we represent an existential threat to their philosophy and encourage potential rebellion. This is the motive. As for means, it is well known, or at least well suspected, that they have that Black-Ops unit, the Plague-bearers. But opportunity is less well established; it seems unlikely they could have infiltrated in such a way. As for confirmation, they don't seem to have realized that our situation even exists, and have certainly taken no action to indicate the invasion we would expect to come on the heels of this illness.
1172
1173“Compare this to Konohagakure. For motive, they have the general fear of our sealers and might. Especially with Mito-sama as an example, who knows what they think about our sealing-arts? Further, they need a new host for their asinine attempt at causing peace through mutual fear of the Biju; without the Kyubi, they may even be attacked. If Mito already needs a new host to take over her demon, then the damage caused by the chakra must be far too damaging for any other than an Uzumaki. For means, Konohagakure is known to have one of the best intelligence networks, and fairly good researchers; they may have invented the disease themselves, or stolen it from Kirigakure. As to opportunity, they have the best sealing training outside of Uzushio and some select monasteries, and are the best suspects as to how the ninja got through the sensor net. Their motive is weaker than Kirigakure's, but is it strong enough? I think yes.
1174
1175“If I had to give odds, I'd say sixty percent Konohagakure, thirty percent Kirigakure, and ten percent someone we're not even considering. Note that when I say Konohagakure, I doubt that the Hokage knows; it is likely some conspiracy involving a less principled and more warlike senior adviser with the influence and knowledge necessary to pull off this plot.
1176
1177“As to how we could test this, things get harder since we have called for Tsunade. Had we not, we could have waited, especially if we came up with our own cure, and seen if Konohagakure made any moves. The same for Kirigakure. Their reactions may have provided us with clues.
1178
1179“As it stands, I see no easy way to test who is responsible. We could make seals to disperse aerosol samples of the illness over both Konohagakure and Kirigakure and perform this mission around midnight using Pelicans. If Kirigakure has a cure, they are likely to have developed it. If Konoha does, then they are likely to have deployed it. Either way, we can be fairly sure that the guilty will suffer, though so will many innocents. It will, however, make it far less likely for biological warfare to be used in the future if the users fear the spread of the disease.”
1180
1181At my final recommendation of spreading the plague I caused another minor uproar. I could hear one of the military officers half-gasp and half-laugh something that sounded a lot like “the balls on that kid”, as well as gasps of horror and shock from the more civilian-minded advisers. The Minister of Foreign Affairs even jumped in.
1182
1183“Kami above child!” he shouted. “What are you saying? Spread the disease to anyone, let alone our ally?”
1184
1185This actually pissed me off a bit.
1186
1187“Someone spread it to us, intending our destruction,” I retorted. “If we don't reply, we invite future attacks. It's distasteful, but worth considering seriously.”
1188
1189Kazuo-sama, who had been watching things, re-took control before his minister could get in a shouting match with a seven year old.
1190
1191“That is a disturbingly believable analysis as things concern Konohagakure,” he pronounced. “We will not release this weapon on others. We will however keep samples in the highest security sealing vault, and make it clear that any future attacks will not meet with such restraint. Now the question is, do we deal with Konohagakure, and if so, what are we willing to trade?”
1192
1193The discussion continued, now much more strained than it had been before. It was no longer a question of who did this, and what we did to them, but the possibility that our strongest ninja allies may have factions seeking our destruction. As the discussion became somewhat circular as to whether to treat with Konoha or not, I payed less attention until something caught my notice, spoken by someone who I neither recognized, nor did I think they had been introduced.
1194
1195“Who could we give them, if we had to?” the man asked.
1196
1197“They would need the Adamantine chains, and be at least two years pre-puberty,” the Sealing-Chief replied. “Mito's seal cannot function without the chains; she was only an Expert Sealer when she left, and for something as strong as the Kyubi no-one below the 7th level could write an adequate seal. The youth is needed to acclimate to the youkai chakra, which would otherwise cause a very short life for the holder. In fact, without the Mokuton (wood-release) it may be too dangerous to seal into someone without some spare chakra flexibility.”
1198
1199“What about simply sealing it ourselves into a subject of their choosing?” a second anonymous (at least to me) man asked.
1200
1201This was definitely the wrong thing to say to the sealers. Before they could jump him however, a legal expert, easily the oldest man in the room, spoke.
1202
1203“That's impossible,” he announced. “It's against clan, village and national law to give examples of such high-level seals to foreign nations in case they could reverse engineer it and continue to use it, and derivative seals, in the future. It would take too long to change this law, even if we wanted to.”
1204
1205The first man leaned forwards again. “So, who would we give them, if we had? How many lives would it save.”
1206
1207“We can't be sure,” the Chief-of-Medicine answered. “Possibly none, or possibly, preventing the death or permanent combat-ineffectiveness of about half the patients.”
1208
1209“Seventy to eighty lives then, including half a dozen Jonin,” the other man summarized. “We can't not deal with them, then. Pretty much whoever we give would be worth it.”
1210
1211“On the contrary, it shows we can be pressured in this way, and weakens us to the future,” the Intelligence Commander interjected.
1212
1213“But, as Kazuo-dono said, we will make it clear that any future attempts will result in serious reprisal,” that first man argued. The Intelligence Commander scoffed, but didn't say anything. From this I at least knew that the man was a villager, and not an Uzumaki.
1214
1215“So, we could seal it into who? Kushina-sama?” the second man asked. The two seemed to be working together; I suspected they were upper level merchants or landowners, political types rather than administrative, combatant, or skilled experts.
1216
1217I saw Kazuo-sama wince at this. It was difficult to protect his niece without looking selfish, especially if eighty lives hung in the balance.
1218
1219But, I was hardly going to throw my sole childhood friend to the snake-pit of Konohagakure. She was just a kid, and family, and that went against pretty much everything I believed in. I, at least, might eventually escape; I was far less likely to fall into some Demonologist's trap too. So, I spoke up.
1220
1221“I am also capable of the chains, and am younger than Kushina-sama. Further, I am a more experienced sealer, and am somewhat more worldly and less likely to fall to Mito-sama's demonology. I will be more suited to keeping Konoha in line as well.”
1222
1223I purposefully put as much sarcasm as possible into Mito's title, and used the term demonology to refer to her. Keeping your daughter selfishly is one thing. Refusing to give her to a Demonologist is something else entirely, and the rank badge on my robes spoke to the fact that I was a senior enough Sealer to make such a judgment.
1224
1225I could tell from sensing his chakra that Kazuo-sama was grateful.
1226
1227“Very well,” Kazuo-sama agreed solemnly. “I have decided. If Tsunade arrives before we find a solution, then in return for their aid in curing the Chakra-Consumption Epidemic, we shall send whomever is most suited to hosting the Kyubi. So I decree.”
1228
1229At this, we all bowed. He stood and left the room. I had maybe three days for there to be a solution. And I knew jack-shit about biology.
1230
1231After the meeting, life continued. The village was still on lock-down, though it had been slightly loosened for military activities, and all efforts were being made to find a cure.
1232
1233Day Ten: No progress. My blood was taken to be tested for immunity.
1234
1235Day Eleven: When Tsunade was reported to be boarding a patrol-craft, Kazuo-sama was contacted by seal-communicator. He summoned me. Hikaru jii-san would have come, but I asked him to stay and keep working on a potential solution. Jii-san nodded grimly at me, and gave me a hug.
1236
1237When I arrived at the fortress, I was immediately ushered into a private audience with Kazuo-sama. He motioned that I should sit, and served me some tea. We sipped in silence for a moment before he spoke.
1238
1239“It was a brave thing that you did. Thank you.”
1240
1241“No thanks are necessary, Kazuo-sama. It was my selfish wish not to allow Kushina to enter such a den of scum and villainy.”
1242
1243He chuckled. “You have always been surprisingly mature.”
1244
1245“I must have an old soul,” I smiled.
1246
1247“Yes, that must be it.”
1248
1249We sipped more tea.
1250
1251He sighed lightly. “As for the matter at hand. Tsunade is hours away. Unless we find a last minute solution, it doesn't look good.”
1252
1253“What can one do?” I meant it as a semi-musing philosophical thought. Kazuo-kaka however grinned and answered.
1254
1255“Well, as Daimyo of Whirlpool, I can refuse to let you leave my service. Konoha's agreement is with Kazuo-dono; he overstepped himself. As an inactive Militia reservist, you are officially sworn to Whirlpool's service, not Uzushio's.”
1256
1257“Kazuo-kaka, your agreement though? Would this be possible?”
1258
1259“Possible, legally, yes. Not so in reality. Though I can at least force a compromise. You will not be leaving my service entirely. Instead, you will be given an official diplomatic position within Whirlpool's government active immediately on the basis of your services and sealing achievements. When you go, you will be sent formally as a diplomatic emissary from Whirlpool's Embassy to the Daimyo's court, then appointed by the ambassador as a representative in Konohagakure.
1260
1261“This is allowed as part of our treaty with the Fire Daimyo, and will give you diplomatic protection, both formally under Whirlpool's aegis, as well as formally from the aegis of the Fire Daimyo's court. If Konoha oversteps itself, it will face censure both from us and their own Daimyo; you may even end up coming home. They will doubtless be very careful.
1262
1263“In your position as an Advanced Instructor of Whirlpool fist, and thus a recruit-sergeant of the Militia, you will be activated at the youngest possible age, 8 years old, and indefinitely seconded to Konohagakure's military as part of a largely imaginary exchange program. Thus, you will serve within Konohagakure, and host Mito's mistake, but will be as protected as I can make you. I apologize for not being able to do more.”
1264
1265When he finished the explanation he bowed to me, and did not raise his head until I replied.
1266
1267“Ah, Kazuo-sama, please, there is no reason to apologize, you have merely done your duty as clan-head, as village-chief, and as Lord of Whirlpool. You have done more than is necessary for this poor vassal.” I bowed as well. Let it never be said that my parents didn't manage to teach me formal manners. Kazuo-sama laughed at this.
1268
1269“Please, do not bow. Already you show your talent as a diplomat, eh Daichi-san?” I grinned, both at the comment, and at the address; by calling me Daichi-san he was effectively saying that my actions meant he respected me as an adult.
1270
1271“Now, come.” he ordered. “You're position, second assistant to the Whirlpool Ambassador to the Fire Nation, Chief of the Permanent Konohagakure Mission, is Titled. There is formal clothing in the attached room, and your parents are waiting for the ceremony where I will grant you your sword.” I was shocked speechless. Kazuo-sama was seriously grateful that I had saved Kushina, clearly, and was honoring me with the lowest of noble positions. It would make me even more inviolate in Konohagakure, and was a huge honor.
1272
1273I thanked Kazuo-sama profusely, but he just motioned me towards the connecting room. There was an attendant to help me into the formal clothing, apply some face-paint, and explain the ceremony that I was about to participate in. Then, newly dressed in my diplomat's regalia, I was ushered into another room where my parents, grandparents, a few other family members, Haruto-sensei and his wife, and Kushina were all waiting. Tou-san's parents, part of the noble rather than sealing or ninja Uzumaki branches, were looking particularly pleased. Hikaru jii-san looked proud and amused; I knew he'd give me a bit of ribbing about being a doll later on, given my clothing and make up. I was a bit overcome by the situation, and went through the ceremony in a daze.
1274
1275When Kazuo-sama handed me my new swords, a pair of katana and wakizashi, I couldn't contain my smile. It was either smile or cry, honestly; this honor was dearly purchased, and seeing all those whom I'd be missing while in Konoha really drove the point in.
1276
1277I was told that the swords were a pair that had been made as a collaboration between a sealing expert and a swordsmith from the Land of Iron about a century ago for an Uzumaki who had gained great renown at sea. They were called the Red Night's Sky (the Katana) and Morning's Storm (the Wakizashi). Apart from being chakra conductive, they had seals to enchance Wind-element and Water-element respectively, and other seals to bond with the owner until death or dismissal, and could be further bound as a summon to using body-seals. Apart from the honor, the swords were highly functional, and a beautiful work of art.
1278
1279After the ceremony was over, I received congratulations and hugs from my family. Kushina came up last, and looked at me for a moment before she burst into tears, saying it was all her fault, and then hugging me and crying into my chest. I hugged her back, told her that it wasn't her fault but Konohagakure's, and that it wasn't like I was leaving right away, and we'd be able to keep in contact with video seals too. She sniffed, and pulled back, allowing me to see the water-stains on my new silk outfit. When she saw where I was looking, she blushed, apologized, and then huffed before declaring we'd be blaming the Leaf for that too. I just laughed at the little Tsundere.
1280
1281Some of those stains never actually came out, though the servant who had dressed me did manage to fix most of the damage. I decided to let it remind me of the conditions of my rise in station and upcoming voyage to Konohagakure.
1282
1283Some hours later, Tsunade arrived
1284
1285Day Twelve: A sample of blood immune to the disease was finally found. Furthermore, it proved capable of curing the disease when injected in relatively small quantities. It was quickly placed in one of the greatest sealing creations of the Sealing Department; a duplication array made by a Grandmaster, capable of taking a sample and then performing the Creation of All Things to make a perfect duplicate down to the chakra and metaphysical identity of the object being copied.
1286
1287Soon enough, enough blood was produced to heal all the diseased. Spare samples of the blood were stored against future need.
1288
1289Want to know what was really ironic? The blood was mine. And Tsunade, despite her presence, didn't have time to lift a finger.
1290
1291I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
1292
1293But I knew I was going to Konohagakure in four months time either way.
1294
1295If I had thought I knew what “busy” and “hard-working” were before, I had been totally wrong. The four months leading to my departure were a whirlwind of activity.
1296
1297First off, two days after my investiture, or one day after the disease was cured (and Tsunade left in a bit of a snit due to our not sharing how exactly we did so – suck it, Konoha), I was called into a meeting with my grandparents. And not Hikaru jii-san, but rather Tou-san's parents Ojii-sama and Obaa-sama.
1298
1299As you may have guessed from their names, or rather the honorifics I had to call them by, they were pretty formal. They were part of the Noble Uzumakis, and were among the higher-titles that weren't directly part of the village top leadership. Most of their income, like that of many of the other nobles, was from ships and docking or warehouse space on Wave.
1300
1301They pretty much lived in “ye olde days” in their small compound, practicing a samurai lifestyle. They trained in the sword and archery, and had a number of servants and an even greater number of retainers (some of whom were from ninja families). Tou-san was the second youngest of six children, and something of a black sheep. He had made his parents rather happy by joining the guard, and performing well, but had scandalized them when he insisted on going through ninja-training. That, after all, was the position for the help.
1302
1303Tou-san ended up married to Kaa-san, and since Kaa-san had higher rank within the village, his parents were fairly happy for him to marry into her family rather than vice versa as it fulfilled their social expectations. My being invested as a minor noble, and being appointed to an honorable position, especially at such a young age, had them totally tickled pink. I normally saw them on some ceremonial dates, where I would be one among many of their grandchildren. We’d attend a banquet or ceremony, and I'd typically be located in a middling-honorable seating position due to my achievements as a sealer balanced against Tou-san's actions and my own interest in the ninja arts. For them to summon me for ceremonial tea was… unexpected. Well, not even something I'd considered, really, though in retrospect it made sense.
1304
1305So I prepared formally, in my new regalia and wearing my swords as was proper, and went to my grandparents for a ceremonial tea. I loved the tea in Uzushio. We had a lot of trade, and all the best tea in the Nations ended up coming through Whirlpool's ports. I hated tea ceremonies though. The damned things could last literally hours. Oh, the tea was quite good, and the whole thing was typically in very nice settings. But even with chakra reinforcement, and flexible as I was, sitting in seiza for hours was a fucking misery. I would sit in misery for what felt like forever, then eventually, finally, be allowed to drink the damned tea which could have been made in a tenth the time, cursing the rules of etiquette in my mind all the while.
1306
1307We had the tea. I sat right, made the right motions, the right sounds, the right compliments. I was sure this formal tea was only meant to see if they can make me sweat while I waited until Ojii-sama revealed the purpose of my visit. Eventually proprieties had been served, and Ojii-sama said the first meaningful thing of the whole visit.
1308
1309“Your father has raised an excellent son. You are truly a credit to your blood.” God, but I wanted to say something sarcastic. But I just nodded stoically. He seemed approving.
1310
1311“You now need the proper accouterments that go with your station.” I was thinking that I might be getting a gift of money to help me uphold the expectations of my new station. That would be in keeping, at least, with our general history; I tended to get a carefully calculated gift of money on all the socially expected occasions, but little else. Maybe I'd get some property, I thought, or a stake in some ships to provide an income. If he was being overly samurai, possibly an armor. But what happened next broke every expectation I had, even the most ridiculous.
1312
1313“Sachiko, come!” he commanded in a slightly raised voice. The screen door on the side of the room slid open, and a teenager in a functional but sharp looking uniform was revealed kneeling behind it.
1314
1315She was, at a guess, about 14 years old, with dark hair pulled into a ponytail behind her. She seemed fairly fit, with toned muscles and lithe movements that spoke to training rather than merely an active lifestyle. I surmised she was likely a combat-trained retainer.
1316
1317She bowed from her kneeling position to Ojii-sama, and then shuffled into the room, settling off to the side in a respectful seiza that managed to indicate a degree of submission. Her movements were smooth, showing her familiarity with this sort of formality, but didn't have that “stick in uncomfortable places” stiffness endemic to the samurai retainers, so I guessed she was likely a retainer from a ninja family.
1318
1319“Sachiko, my grandson has recently been invested as a Junior Baron Courtier of the Fifth Rank and appointed Assistant to the Ambassador to the Fire Daimyo's court.” That was actually pretty damned impressive. My title was new enough that even I didn't know it, at least not without looking at the scroll that served as my Patent of Nobility, and here's Ojii-sama rattling it off like nothing. This whole thing clearly meant more to him than I had realized.
1320
1321While Ojii-sama paused in his usual way after saying something for it to sink in, my mind was spinning into all sorts of strange directions. I was really worried for a moment that he was going to try and have me sleep with her or something crazy like that; the old man was about a hundred, and could easily have forgotten when kids went through puberty. I was mercifully spared the embarrassment of explaining, in this hyper-formal setting, that I wasn't actually capable of sex yet, or deciding to disappear with her and have an awkward conversation until enough time had passed. Honestly, all that might have been easier.
1322
1323“I wish for you to become my grandson's first retainer, Sachiko.” Holy shit.
1324
1325No, seriously. This was super fucked up. Dear old gramps had just basically given me someone as a cross between my slave and my bodyguard and minion-in-chief (pro tempore). Of course, calling her a slave would be a massive insult, to the point she might kill herself, so I would never do that. But in effect, it's what she was.
1326
1327She would have been raised literally from birth to serve; Danzo had nothing on a good traditional samurai conditioning regime. I could probably have her do just about anything; as a ninja retainer, she didn't really have honor of her own beyond what I gave her. Basically, she could do anything ordered, no matter how dishonorable it might normally be, because her honor came not from her actions but by fulfilling my commands.
1328
1329If you want an example of how fucked up people could become under such a regime, well the White Fang, Hatake Kakashi's father in the original canon, was probably once from a retainer family and held those morals, with the Third Hokage as his master. As a full grown man, with a kid, he finally managed to break programming to save people as close to him as younger brothers from certain death; the shame, the moral misery he experienced because of the failure to complete his orders from his surrogate lord, the Hokage, led to his suicide.
1330
1331This was probably my grandfather's antiquated way of showing approval and apologizing for the distance between us; it was also likely, in retrospect, to be an outreach to Tou-san. By showing me such a conspicuous honor - and being given a retainer valuable enough to have sworn direct oaths of fealty at such a young age was a real honor – it would also show honor to Tou-san. Basically, Ojii-sama was trying to repair the rifts that his honor originally demanded, and doing so in a way commensurate with his honor.
1332
1333If this had been happening to anyone other than me, I'd have loved it; this is what the damned theatre should have been about, if mocking such an ancient and revered tradition wasn't likely to end in an honor-duel. On that level, this was really nice.
1334
1335On another level, it's about a hundred times worse than giving a seven-almost-eight year old kid a puppy right before he leaves for summer camp, and expecting the kid to look after the puppy during summer camp.
1336
1337It was only shock and the combination of British (first life), and then (partially) Samurai upbringings that let me keep my shit and my straight face. And that was important; while I was biologically a kid, I had been appointed a title by the Daimyo, our Clan-leader, and would thus be dishonoring him, my grandfather, and myself if I behaved inappropriately.
1338
1339But I really felt for this girl. Here she was, just entering her teenage years. She had likely worked herself to the bone to gain scraps of attention and approval. And she had excelled. And then the reward for that excellence? Being given literally as an accoutrement, a trapping, an accessory to my station. Of course, this station would be in a foreign city about 400 miles away as the crow flies. And her poor parents. Her very name, Sachiko, meant happiness (sachi) and child (ko). So I was taking their “child of happiness”, possibly their first child, maybe after a trying time to give birth, and I was going to take her to the snake's pit of Konohagakure. She might be their only child; their line might end because of this, Ojii-sama's gift.
1340
1341I tried the gentle dance of refusal, but knew Ojii-sama would not do this without being sure. I had a greater chance of holding back the tide.
1342
1343“I am greatly honored, Ojii-sama. But, I would not wish to deprive you of a retainer with such skills as Sachiko,” I tried as my opening gambit.
1344
1345“I insist. I assure you our family has sufficient retainers that one can be spared to your service,” the old bastard replied with a faint hint of amusement in his eye. He already knew how this would end, but found my efforts at this dance amusing.
1346
1347“I meant no insult, no such insinuation, Ojii-sama,” I returned quickly.
1348
1349“Oh, then do you question Sachiko's skills? If you prefer, you may give her a test yourself, or would you prefer another?” Sachiko managed to keep her cool appearance, but that was cruel.
1350
1351“Not at all Ojii-sama. After all, any that has your personal recommendation must be very highly skilled.” I could sense Sachiko's well controlled chakra lighten a bit at that.
1352
1353“Good. Then it is settled.” And it was.
1354
1355With her previous oath released, and a new one sworn to me in blood, I had my first retainer, Hisakawa Sachiko. And these oaths aren't like the western ones, promising loyalty for fealty, protection for service; no, not at all. She promised her obedience, her skills, her blood to me, taking no other honor but what I gave her. I was suitably somber; this was one of the most important moments of her life. After the ceremony of fealty, I turned to her.
1356
1357“Sachiko-san.”
1358
1359“Yes, Uzumaki-dono.”
1360
1361“I would have you address me as Daichi-sama, Sachiko.” That was about as informal as I could try with her; baby steps, I thought, would be the way to go. She gave a brief bow of her understanding, and I decided to explain my reasoning. The sooner I could get her treating me as human rather than some sort of minor god, the better.
1362
1363“After all, things will doubtless be confusing otherwise, and you are my first retainer and head of my Retinue Guard and household.” This was something of a sop to her; she may no longer be in direct service to my grandfather, a greater lord than I, but at least she was the head of the Retinue and household for a lord. A position as in my Retinue was actually a fairly high honor, even with a lord as young as I, mostly due to my prowess with seals. And there were some thousand or so Uzumaki on the island, all told, so calling me “Uzumaki” anything would get old fast.
1364
1365“But what I meant to say, Sachiko-san, is that we will be leaving in just over 4 months, after my eighth birthday, so I might take up my post in Konohagakure. Until then, I will be practicing every morning from dawn until three hours after with my father; I expect you to join me so we might become accustomed to fighting together.” Though I was facing Sachiko, I could tell that my grandfather, the old warrior, clearly approved of my preparations.
1366
1367“Very good, Daichi-san. Your talent continues to impress me. Sachiko will, with your approval, have the rest of the day and night to herself, and move into your household tomorrow.” Shit. I'd have to warn my parents; Tou-san would definitely understand, but Kaa-san saw all this as antiquated (which it was). She'd totally make fun of me; I'd have to make sure she treated poor Sachiko well. Oh god. Kushina. I just knew she'd be a total brat about the whole thing. I'd just have to make sure Sachiko understood that as my retainer, all she had to care about was my approval. And I could start then.
1368
1369“Thank you, Ojii-sama for your consideration for my retainer. I am deeply appreciative.” I bowed to my grandfather; he nodded back having clearly understood the subtext, and approved.
1370
1371Some more meaningless pleasantries and a small, partially eaten snack later, and I was on my way out of Ojii-sama's home with Sachiko a step behind and to the left. She had certainly mastered silent movement; if I wasn't able to sense chakra, I would never have known she was there, and even her chakra was reasonably well controlled and concealed.
1372
1373“Sachiko-san,” I began, then gave a small pause to make emphasize what followed. “Thank you for giving me your oath. Know that I will cherish it, and value you. From this day forward, disregard any displeasure but my own, and believe no censure that does not come directly from me in person. Hopefully, in time, you can find it in yourself to be my friend, as well as my vassal. Is this understood?”
1374
1375“Yes, Daichi-sama.” And to this day, I am in awe of her; her composure in being given to a callow youth, and her ability to take the pompous pronouncements of a seven year old seriously. To my credit though, she was somewhat more relaxed.
1376
1377That night, when I explained the situation to my parents and asked their forbearance towards her, especially from Kaa-san, I got hugged tightly by a woman slightly teary at “how quickly her little boy is becoming a man” while my Tou-san looked on approvingly. It was worth it though; Kaa-san promised to treat Sachiko with all due caution towards her feelings, and even offered to give her some sealing training when she was too exhausted from Tou-san's training.
1378
1379And Tou-san was doubtless going to train her into the ground; as a heavy combat specialist with both Samurai and Ninja training, he was well suited and motivated to prepare Sachiko for a life of protecting his only son. That said, it was unlikely I'd remain his only son for long; apparently my parents were under pressure to have more children to see if any would be geniuses like me. Someone had even broached the topic of Tou-san taking concubines, though it was generally agreed that Kaa-san was responsible for my inclination to sealing.
1380
1381It was a bittersweet idea. I was glad for my parents, and happy both that our family would grow and that I was being seen as such a valuable person. But the idea of missing my to-be siblings’ childhoods just made me more pissed off with Konohagakure.
1382
1383Sachiko was the first development in my last four months in Uzushiogakure. To aid in her development and training, I ensured she received the most recent version of the DEWS laser weapon seal, an enhanced HUD-projector around her eyes, and the best defensive body-sealing scheme I could cadge out of Hikaru jii-san as well as a built-in Cyclone-Cannon Seal and a full selection of Magazine seals. Unfortunately, she did not have time to learn how to use a Pelican as well as all of her other training; it was something I intended her to work on by remote-training using a Pelican stationed out of Uzushiogakure after our arrival in Konoha, though if possible I'd have her using a Sea-Hawk or even Peregrine depending on what designs were published.
1384
1385The second development was my social and diplomatic training. I was expected to have small classes, mostly as they fit into my schedule, from a special tutor assigned by Kazuo-sama to educate me on diplomatic conventions and polite behavior in every setting. I dined most days with either Kazuo-sama and his family, including Kushina, or with whatever guests he was entertaining on business. During that time, I became close with Kushina and learned more than I had every imagined knowing about the background of running a nation and the social niceties so important to avoid incidents in that semi-feudal world.
1386
1387The third development, and by far the most draining to my time and energy was my Advanced Seals training. I suffered with semi-constant headaches during those four months due to over-use of my mental reinforcement, all to push myself to the level that I needed to obtain before leaving.
1388
1389The group that took over my seals training was actually the Priest-faction. I was officially ordained as the lowest-possible rank, an apprentice exorcist to be exact, so that I might be inducted into some of their mysteries and prepared for my tasks.
1390
1391The high-ranks of the Sealing Department saw a unique opportunity in me. To understand this opportunity, you need to know something of the deep mysteries of chakra. Should you ever end up in the Elemental Nations, DO NOT MENTION THESE. They will get you killed or abducted, and draw the interest of the likes of Madara or Itachi.
1392
1393The deep secret that needs to be understood is the nature of “demons,” in particular the Biju, and how they relate to chakra and the local fabric of reality. I will relate what was related to me.
1394
1395Before the first days of chakra, far before even the Sage of Six Paths, there was a great society with mighty powers. From what I personally understood, it was a modern, or post-modern but still recognizable civilization similar to those present on Earth. Then, something happened, though what exactly I didn’t know. Possibilities included high energy physics experiment, superweapon, divine intervention, extra-dimensional interference, alien act, or just an (un)natural disaster.
1396
1397The result though was chakra.
1398
1399When chakra first came into the world, it was wild, uncontrolled. For while the Nations had adapted to chakra over time, chakra was not originally native to this world. Instead, it came from realms of greater chakra-density, and poured into our world. Unbound Chakra, lacking even the structure of standard, dangerous nature chakra as used by Sages, was power and change. New, unstable bloodlines would form in those completely unused to chakra.
1400
1401Imagine, a town's marketplace, crowded, full of life. A man begins to bleed from his skin and claw and writhe. His bones begin to break through, and as the crowd flees, too slow, a forest of bones erupt around the man, killing him and any within a few hundred meters.
1402
1403For far too long, that was peoples’ reality. Humanity shrank, often surviving in small pockets where the local chakra was, for whatever reason, particularly weak or benign. And chakra did not make it easy for even these little remnants of civilization to survive. Technology stopped working, and beasts empowered but also driven mad by raw chakra hunted mankind in the ruins.
1404
1405Some lucky human individuals survived their mutations too. A rare few benefited, gaining new powers, and even fewer managed to establish bloodlines that bred semi-true. By the time I was born, everyone had small bits and pieces of potential bloodlines in their systems, though far too few could activate them.
1406
1407Eventually, the pressure of chakra equalized. The fabric of reality, no longer strained by this bleed-over of chakra, eventually healed. Even the chakra, as it was filtered by the living, gradually became less dangerous.
1408
1409But chakra was not the only thing to have come over. Creatures of foreign realms came too, or, if they did not come, their attention was drawn. From this, we knew the existence of the many varieties of Spirits, Demons, the Celestials, the Gods and Powers and Concepts.
1410
1411Incredibly dangerous, the very presence of these beings was enough to raise the local chakra levels. Some, like the many varieties of Demons, were too foreign or hostile to safely treat with. Others, the Celestials, were powerful but benign. The Gods, mightier still, might be constant or capricious as their nature. Places of strong chakra could develop Spirits, genius loci, or perhaps these Spirits grew the chakra of their location. There existed beings of Power, absolute dominion over some aspect of reality, and Concepts like Death that embody that aspect of reality itself.
1412
1413These beings were both blessing and curse. Without them, I found it entirely possible that the era of chaotic chakra would have lasted much longer, and many a human settlement would have failed without the intervention of a well-meaning kami. It was entirely possible for all of mankind to become extinct, or so mutated as to no longer qualify as human. But still, that left many of these beings, or their emissaries and servants, sharing our planet.
1414
1415The first sealers were exorcists, trying to protect what fragments of civilization remained, and priests who would doctor the soul, trying to remove the corruption of Unbound Chakra. One group, particularly skilled, was the origin of one of the many clans that would eventually be incorporated into the Uzumaki, and the source of our skills in sealing.
1416
1417There were deeper mysteries still, secrets of these beings greater and more terrible than humanity could ever be, but such were above my needs and capacity. The Biju, though, the Biju's history was something I did learn.
1418
1419At the site of one of these holes in reality, some say at the site of the first such hole, came to be a tree. It is unknown whether this tree was there, and managed to survive the Unbound Chakra, growing in ways it needed, or perhaps a Spirit or minor God joined with this tree, or the tree was itself a migrating god. What is known is that a mighty tree grew there, and in it was stored the chakra of a wide region. This tree served as a filter, and was part how the world's stability increased.
1420
1421At one point though there came a wandering tribe of people who claimed “to have descended from the stars.” I suspected that they might have been the progeny of those once living in orbital habitats, descended to our planet, Chakyu. It was possible that they were explorers, or left after key systems failed, or perhaps were exiled as a result of some power-play. Regardless, they arrived.
1422
1423Mistaken as Celestials due to their powers and wondrous items, they knew little of chakra, and settled at the roots of the Great Tree, which kept a wide area safe for human habitation. Not content with their lot and powers, they studied the tree, and sealing.
1424
1425One day, in either the greatest mistake or greatest success of their experiments, they found a way to drain the chakra of the Tree, and use it to empower humans. Most died, or were mutated with local creatures; of these are numbered the lesser summons clans native to the Nations (as opposed to those greater clans native to near-by realms). Others were transformed and driven mad; they joined the ranks of those considered demons and were killed or sealed.
1426
1427But of the experiments' success was born the first and only recorded human ascended god, the goddess Kaguya.
1428
1429Kaguya would eventually give birth to twins, but she was not stable. Never meant to bear the power of a goddess, she gained a type of chakra illness associated with an overpowered chakra system. It drove her to desire greater and greater control of chakra. She began to think of all chakra as hers, and tried to take that of her children.
1430
1431When they refused, she sought more power from the Shinju Tree. This time however she fell prey to the Tree's curse, and transformed. Far more mighty than any of those who had transformed before, her twisted form was likewise tyrannically strong.
1432
1433After she took the form of the Jubi, the Ten-Tailed Beast, her children fought her. Having studied with the clan that would become the Uzumaki, and gained great skill, her children succeeded in sealing her. They split her chakra into nine beasts, the Biju.
1434
1435For a thousand years, the Biju roamed the Nations, mostly keeping to themselves, though occasionally causing a disaster. Then, Madara captured the Kyubi, and Mito began her “great work of peace” by sealing the Beasts. In doing so, she reduced the levels of chakra in nature, and like a slowly breaking dam, the walls of reality were once more letting in more and more influence from Outside. There would be a balance, as was needed, but it could take a long time to arrive.
1436
1437In the meantime, greater amounts of foreign chakra, unbound chakra, and benign, malignant or unknown but always inhuman influences would act on the Nations. Destabilization and conflict would result. This state of affairs was highly undesirable, and the priests intended to address the issue before it became a catastrophe.
1438
1439I suspected, though did not say, that my own presence there and then was partially a result of this weakening of the walls of reality. I wasn’t sure I liked that implication, and what it meant for any of my future reincarnations and what apocalypses I might be forced to endure or avert. Then again, even back on Earth there were constant wars and conflict throughout human history.
1440
1441The mission that the priests prepared me for was to conflict with the other Jinchuriki and Biju, and make it impossible for them to be sealed by anyone less than a true Sealing Master, or controlled by the accursed Sharingan, as well as how to help restore the balance.
1442
1443To this purpose, I had to master four extremely advanced seals. The first seal was a sealing-protection seal. It would make it very difficult to seal whatever the protection seal is applied to. Functionally, it shorted out sealing attachments and twisted the chakra trying to attach to protection-sealed entity, similar to a white-noise generator drowning out lesser sounds. It was also sort of like computer password making a file read-only, in that if you knew how, you could still seal the protected being; the priests left that in so that the Biju couldn’t attack Uzushio.
1444
1445The second seal was a Sharingan-proofing seal. It would, when fed chakra, disrupt genjutsu, and was optimized for Biju levels of chakra. It would also power a reflective coating around the eyes using naturally available chakra, and absorb the vast majority of chakra that shared the Sharingan's unique hybrid human-demon signal.
1446
1447The third seal was a spirit-binding seal; it would seal the sealing-protection seal and the Sharingan-proofing seal to the Biju's spirit so that they could not be damaged by physical force. Functionally, it was the least impressive in effect. But it was by far and away the most impressive in difficulty and construction.
1448
1449The fourth seal was a small but incredibly dense energy storage seal; I would feed it chakra from the Kyubi, then release it into the atmosphere. Since the Biju normally didn't exert themselves to their maximum levels of chakra gathering from the local environment, I could actually match the average chakra output of half the Biju taken together using just the Kyubi. This would lessen the degradation of the barriers greatly, especially since Jinchuriki still leaked some of their imprisoned being’s chakra.
1450
1451The seal to bind the Kyubi to me would be permanent, binding us at the level of our spirits, but could be released with an act of will at the moment of my death; the release was buried deep inside. We needed a proper seal, rather than whatever Mito came up with, but equally the Konoha sealers would know, and claim they were cheated, if the seal were “temporary.” This seal, though, the Master of the Priestly faction would apply himself.
1452
1453None of these seals were easy. In fact, they were hideously difficult. I had previously achieved fifth level Intuition, and was working on my sixth. A sealer was typically capable of learning seals at most two levels above their Intuition without excessive levels of effort and specialized education; even then, it would be risky.
1454
1455Each seal I was meant to learn was based on level seven seals, with some elements from level eight seals. Each day I'd spend ten or more hours being tutored by the Master of the Priests' faction. It was a great honor. It was a mental and, as my reinforcement began taking its toll, a physical torture.
1456
1457But I finally mastered the seals and their subtleties to the Masters' standards, barely four days before I was meant to depart. Our first stop was the Fire Daimyo's court to be presented, then we would continue on our way to Konohagakure along with the party that contained the sealers responsible for my future bond with Kurama, the Kyubi. In the process of mastering the seals I achieved sixth level Intuition, and became the youngest recorded Master Sealer of the Uzumaki Clan. Officially, however, for my protection, I was ranked an Expert.
1458
1459I spent those last days with my family, other than some hurried gathering of my supplies and gifts. I had received a full set of sealed-armor from the Priests, whose Master was apparently something of a specialist in the art; the sealed-armor was a set of leather bands, blood-bound to me and summon-able, that was the closest I could come to full Body-Seals until I was at least fourteen years old. It would give a fair bit of passive protection from near-misses, and when active could tank even a regular Jonin for a hit or two; easily enough time to surprise them.
1460
1461Hikaru jii-san gave me several sets of prepared wards; they were enough to thoroughly guard my future home, as well as a smaller set for traveling. He also helped set up a secure linked communications network between me, him, my parents and the Sealing Department. The Naval Weapons Group gave me a two way inanimate-transportation seal to transfer designs and prototypes, as well as ammunition reloads for my Pelican to and from my location.
1462
1463Kaa-san gave me new clothes, and Tou-san two sets of kunai and shuriken with short-range recall seals, one being for Sachiko. Both gave me their advice and their love. Kushina gave me a picture of herself, and the order as “the future first female Daimyo of Whirlpool” not to forget home, and to call often.
1464
1465Finally, laden down with knowledge and supplies and enough seals to fight a small war, carrying my swords and wearing my travel-garb, I was prepared. I made my goodbyes to my family and Kushina, and after some words from Kazuo-sama our forty-strong party left for the Fire Daimyo's court.
1466
1467I'm not too proud to admit that as I stood on the deck of our ship at sunset, and looked back at Uzushiogakure in the distance, the image of my home was blurred by the tears in my eyes.
1468
1469My name is Hisakawa Sachiko. I was born into a family of ninja, retainers to a mid-ranked Uzumaki noble. Mother grew pregnant when on a mission, and died in birth; she lived long enough to name me Sachiko or “joyous child”, a name that would ensure I knew I was loved despite the outcome.
1470
1471And so I was raised by Auntie and Uncle so that I might serve as they did. I worked hard, and excelled from a young age, showing the grace and intelligence necessary to be trained not as a brute, but as a subtle blade. Whether a hidden protector or invisible assassin, I learned to walk the halls of power and be of use not only as a weapon to my master, but as an assistant too.
1472
1473My master used to be Master Uzumaki, the grandfather of my current master, Master Daichi. The first time I heard of Master Daichi, I must have been five years old, and Master Daichi had just been born. Master Uzumaki always appeared with the stoic visage he was so famous for; this visage, along with his martial skills and Noble Sea-Hawk summons (who selected only the most honorable of samurai, and had served as his eyes) had earned him the sobriquet of “Whirlpool's Sea-Hawk Samurai” when serving in the navy many, many years ago.
1474
1475But, in secret, he was a very caring man; I think he simply felt it unsightly to show this. He would have us, his ninja retainers, check up on his children, especially Kohaku sama, Master Daichi's father, who was somewhat estranged. This duty fell to Uncle, a jovial and joking man with his family who was only too happy to report to us about the successful birth.
1476
1477And so, I grew up with reports of Master Daichi. I learned when I was six how he was already walking, and speaking. I learned when I was seven, and he two, that he was already actively practicing calligraphy to manage seals in the future. When I was eight, I formally became Uncle's apprentice; I was in the room and saw Master Uzumaki's hidden joy when Uncle reported that Master Daichi was progressing well, and likely to turn into a fine man and a credit to Uzushiogakure and the family.
1478
1479Uncle said that this was training; that even at their most emotional, men like Master Uzumaki are hard to discern, and that by studying his reactions, I would be able to understand the reactions of other stoic men. I think, however, that Uncle merely wished to share the details of the charge he watched from afar. Part of this storytelling from Uncle to me was that there is a universal rule: servants gossip about their masters. We may be more circumspect, call it Espionage/Counter-Intelligence training, keep things “in family”, but we ninja are subject to this rule too.
1480
1481I learned of Master Uzumaki's relationship with his son this way, and when I did I remember being sad. It might have been amusing had I not cared, but the whole thing was, at least as it was described by Uncle, a misunderstanding. Master Uzumaki wanted his son to master a certain level of the sword and traditional arts before branching out. His son, headstrong and young and not suited to hearing the subtleties of his seemingly cool father, disobeyed. Then, to make matters worse, refused to apologize.
1482
1483While Master Uzumaki would have likely allowed it, or forgiven his son, his honor would not let him let the disobedience lie. While the son married, and propriety was served, for years things were cold between them, though Master Uzumaki always kept my family, and the other ninja retainers, busy with updates in his son's situation.
1484
1485As time passed, Master Daichi's achievements grew, and my involvement, peripheral as it was, increased. I tested my stealth against his notice, and watched that first fireworks show he made. I was aware of many of his greatest successes and achievements, and, to be honest (something I may only be with myself and my master), both highly impressed and intimidated.
1486
1487Master Daichi was beyond someone you could call a prodigy or a genius. He learned at a rate that astounded his teachers and drew mention of being a reincarnation of a Saint or Sage; while in most this would be at least somewhat sarcastic, the tone used when discussing Master Daichi had an underlying tone of semi-fearful belief. Some were worried, or afraid of Master Daichi, thinking him somewhat unnatural; others almost worshipful.
1488
1489I, I was merely inspired. And Master Uzumaki could not have been prouder at his grandson's accomplishments, though again, it was impossible to see.
1490
1491At the age of ten, I watched as Master Daichi worked on some secret project which clearly failed. He had poured effort into it, working harder than I ever had, and all self-driven. He had even managed to slightly worsen his health, truly a feat for one with the Uzumaki vitality. I knew such failure could break full grown men, let alone children, and I wanted against training to comfort him at the time, tell him not to give up. It proved unnecessary; he immediately bounced back, and after resting himself, was back to work.
1492
1493When I was eleven, and “showing great promise as a kunoichi”, Master Daichi was collaborating with the Naval Weapons Research Group, and developed the Cyclone seals. His involvement and the entire project itself may have been secret, but I knew. I also knew how revolutionary these seals were; I heard from a cousin who watches the Navy that they necessitated entirely different naval strategy and tactics, and ensured Uzushio's dominance at sea for generations. And yet, I also knew that the boy showed less arrogance than I held in my heart for my comparatively meager skills. I thought then that Master Daichi would not be a bad person to serve.
1494
1495Perhaps Uncle noticed this, and saw which way the wind blew when Master Daichi was working on those marvels of surveillance and destruction, the Pelicans; this may have been why he had Auntie train me to act as an assistant to a man, teaching more than the noble-lady’s attendant's arts I had learned before. Whatever the reason, I thank him. When Master Uzumaki made the announcement that he was searching for someone to become Master Daichi's retainer, I volunteered, and was immediately on the short list of candidates.
1496
1497During the interview with Master Uzumaki and his senior ninja retainer, I listed my qualifications. I spoke of how I was trained to act within the bounds of noble society as hidden guard and invisible blade, how my skills with weapons, stealth, poisons and illusions would all be of use and complement Master Daichi's own, greater talents. I was asked many questions, but there was one which, I believe, was responsible for my being given this honor.
1498
1499“If selected,” Master Uzumaki began in that slow, deliberate way of his, “how should I present you to my grandson?”
1500
1501And so I told him, how Master Daichi's compassion would be the best way of him accepting happily.
1502
1503Master Uzumaki did as I suggested.
1504
1505Though I spent the four months before our departure in brutal training, endlessly learning combat skills from his father, and though his mother insisted in cramming some small knowledge of sealing into my mind when I too exhausted to move, and though I would be leaving my home and all I knew, I was happy.
1506
1507I had a master I could be proud to serve for the rest of my life: Uzumaki Daichi.
1508
1509The journey was long and uninteresting. For someone leaving their village for the first time in their memory, it might have been more significant; I, however, had traveled fairly diversely back on Earth, and had long since come to the belief that the best part of travel was finally arriving where you wanted to be. Travelling by boat and foot was far less pleasant than plane and car, and just reinforced that belief.
1510
1511I had suggested using Pelicans to drop off a summoning seal linked to a circle in Uzushiogakure; it was deemed an unnecessary expenditure of energy, unnecessary exposure of strategic capability, and an unnecessary departure from tradition. All of these but the last seemed reasonable, and so I endured the trip as well as I could.
1512
1513Admittedly, the first leg, while on a Medium Naval Escort ship was quite enjoyable. I had always loved sailing and the water, and the weather and currents weren't so bad as to make me sea-sick. While some of the other members of the party were not so copacetic, Sachiko too was lucky enough to have a strong stomach. Unfortunately, Uzushiogakure was close to Fire's landmass, and so we were soon on a road headed to the national capital and the Fire Daimyo's palace.
1514
1515Of my presentation at court I'll say little; it was highly formalized, and something of an afterthought when compared with introducing our new Ambassador, (one of) my theoretical boss(es), who was replacing the previous representative. We traded eight of the party for eight of the ambassadorial staff who were headed to home after our short detour to Konohagakure, and continued on our way.
1516
1517Konohagakure was somewhat more interesting, if only because I was going to be living there for a while (though it would not be, would never be, home). We were escorted by an honor guard to our new Consulate and washed and dressed for our visit to the Hokage's Tower, the center of their bureaucracy.
1518
1519I was, once again, in full regalia. On my Haori's (formal jacket-like robe's) lapels were displayed the device of Whirlpool; beneath, slightly smaller, was my personal device, a stylized Hawk's head (which I inherited from my family) with the kanji for “seal” on its forehead. I wore swords which were slightly comically oversized compared to my frame, and I couldn't help but chuckle at my image.
1520
1521I looked like a brat wearing the most expensive Halloween costume ever. I sobered when Sachiko looked at me inquisitively and shook my head. Hidden out of sight behind a sash were the remnants of Kushina's tear-stains.
1522
1523Sachiko too was looking sharp. She had foregone her hidden weapons, though not those accessories that could be used as improvised ones (seriously, I think the only reason these women had hair like that was to make weapons of the spikes they used to style it). She was in a female dress-uniform remarkably similar to what she wore under Ojii-sama, though bearing my device rather than his. I knew her well enough by now to tell she was slightly nervous.
1524
1525We were joined by my nominal deputy, Minami Ichirou, and his assistant. Ichirou-san was, at least in theory, a samurai. In reality, while he might have been the match for some peasant bandits, Ichirou hardly qualified to be compared to the death-dealing human blenders that truly earned their title. Instead, he was well experienced in trade, and slightly less in politics.
1526
1527I had Sachiko investigate him during the journey; she found he was a moderate Progressive, one who would likely focus on creating trade and mutual profit, but not increase any military dependencies on Uzushiogakure's part. Ichirou would take care of the day-to-day business, and much of the more formal events too. Our consulate also had a trio of servants attached to it whom I had been assured were discrete and efficient (read Uzushiogakure ninja), though I did not interact much with them.
1528
1529While we would all be living on Consulate grounds, Sachiko and I had our residence in a different building, a bit more removed from the public and closer to the attached training ground and dojo. It was actually a pretty good deal for me. I had free lodging, and was being paid a fairly generous stipend by Kazuo-kaka as an appointed official, as well as a different small stipend as an activated militia member by Kazuo-sama; I suspected this allowance was another way of his showing appreciation for my stepping up to live in this foreign land.
1530
1531To make my financial situation even better, I would still keep whatever pay Konoha owed for my service. It wasn't quite as much money as I had been making through the work on my inventions with Hikaru jii-san, but I wasn't precluded from continuing that remotely, at least part-time. On the expenses side, I had myself and Sachiko to support, keeping us clothed appropriately (which could get a bit expensive with formal wear for growing boys), supplied with gear, and of course fed.
1532
1533The walk to the Hokage was reasonably short; I wasn't sure whether Konohagakure or Uzushiogakure had paid for the land, but whoever had definitely didn't stint. Such a decently sized tract so close to the center of the village was definitely expensive. The villagers were somewhat taken by our procession; that kind of pomp and circumstance was rarely seen in ninja spaces unless the day was a major festival, in which case it was expected.
1534
1535The ceremony where we were official greeted and welcomed by the Hokage was emotionally delicious. Mito, Danzo, a gaggle of clan heads and several other important Konoha figures were there. It was a good thing that Sachiko had been training my sensing skills towards ninja while on the trip; she would do this thing where if she had a joke or comment, she'd hold it in unless I ordered her to speak. The trick was detecting these moments; I'm not sure if she knew I'd caught on yet, but she was basically trading sensing progress in return for her lightening up a bit.
1536
1537Still, if I hadn't been watching their chakra carefully for their reaction, I never would have caught it. When I was introduced as the Consul, they were shocked.
1538
1539It only took me a moment to realize why. See, Kazuo-kaka had played a bit of a joke on them; this wasn't it, though the reaction was what I was looking for. When Kazuo-kaka sent the missive of our agreement to their terms, he further negotiated this consulship. In the letter, he somewhat ambiguously stated that Uzumaki Daichi, his retainer, Minami Ichirou, his assistant, and three servants would be sent when he sent “the best candidate to host the Kyubi” and the sealing team to ensure the transfer went well. It never actually mentioned that I was the best host candidate.
1540
1541What caught up the Konohagakure dignitaries though, and a mistake I never would have suspected such a powerful ninja village to make, was my identity. I had a very distant cousin, about as distant as an Uzumaki could get, who was also called Daichi. He was a somewhat aged veteran of the Uzushiogakure Guard who had achieved a decent rank with a good reputation as a ship captain. The only reason I knew about him was that occasionally messages meant for one of us would find the other. Konohagakure must have read Uzumaki Daichi, and assumed that the other Daichi was getting the post as a kind of retirement posting.
1542
1543Instead, they got me in all of my eight year old, 4'4” glory.
1544
1545When they realized that Kushina wasn't there, there were even mutters in the less important ranks of dignitaries. I very carefully, and very pointedly, did not give a glance of superiority to Sachiko at our superior breeding and manners, but I sure as hell emoted it enough that any decent sensor, and most Jonin, would have picked up on it.
1546
1547I wasn’t sure how many there had the diplomatic training necessary to see what kind of a win we had just had, but I was paying attention to the Fire Daimyo's representative to Konohagakure, and he definitely did. I was still filled with a slightly warm feeling when we (myself and Ichirou-san, as well as the Head Sealing Priest and the previous Ambassador to the Fire Daimyo, accompanied by our assistants) were invited to an “intimate” tea with the Hokage and his three chief advisers (and their own attendants), presided over by the Fire Daimyo's representative. Mito was apparently too poorly for much more exertion, else she'd have been attending as well as a “family member”.
1548
1549I grinned, and thought 'let the games begin'.
1550
1551We met in a room near the Hokage's office. Seating us was a bit interesting. On the one hand, I was the chief of the diplomatic mission, and so I was senior. On the other hand, the Head Priest was the second most senior figure in Uzushiogakure's Sealing Department, my own senior, and hugely influential within the Clan and village.
1552
1553But, he gave the signal in Sealing Priest Cant, a set of signals used to communicate when doing complicated sealing chants and hand-chains that I should lead, and so I took the seat at the head, facing across from the Hokage. The assistants, of course, sat at the edges of the room looking like painted statues. Sarutobi just looked at me for a moment, taking stock of me.
1554
1555I'll admit, it was a bit nervous-making. Sarutobi was already something of a legend, and a much bigger bad-ass than I. But I had stared Death in the face (the concept, not personification), and it would take far more than a stern look to phase me.
1556
1557“It seems you were expecting my cousin, Hokage-sama. I would have thought that Konohagakure's intelligence apparatus would have warned you when I was presented to the Fire Daimyo. I apologize for any confusion.” I swear Danzo, Mr. “No Emotions Danzo,” twitched. It's not common that you could get one over on the Hokage like this, and I wanted to show that I refused to be cowed.
1558
1559A moment later, the prototype of Sarutobi's eventual “lovable-grandfather” mask, in this case the “friendly-uncle” mask, slipped into action. Or perhaps his business mask slipped off. I was unsure, and I suspected even Sarutobi didn’t know; truly, ninja prodigies and multiple personality disorder were uncomfortably similar.
1560
1561“There's no need to apologize for anything, my boy. I assume your Uzumaki blood is particularly strong?” Urgh. I hated being called anyone's anything (unless I was sleeping with them, that's a bit different, then they could call me their dear or lover or whatever), let alone their “boy”. It was a calculated parry that didn't answer to the (possible) failure of their intelligence, and insulted me at the same time. But he made a mistake asking so obliquely about my age.
1562
1563“If I were a boy, Hokage-sama, I would have to be recalled to Uzushiogakure. It is against our law for children to fill such positions.” Let's see you backpedal now, motherfucker. If you don't and your statement stands, I have legitimate cause to claim dismissal under our Alliance, and the whole Kyubi thing falls apart.
1564
1565“It was merely a figure of speech, I meant no commentary on your adulthood, Daichi-san.” That was a point to me, bringing us back to even. Now to poke again…
1566
1567“And as for my blood, it is strong.” There was an almost visible relaxation that I wasn't as young as I looked that I allowed before crushing it. “That said, I don't believe I look any younger than I am; I recently turned eight. Do I look younger, Hokage-sama?”
1568
1569The Hokage at this point was about forty years old, a little younger than my cumulative age. He may have been more experienced with diplomatic matters, but I was running a pretty hefty mental reinforcement giving me comparatively greater brain-power, and was likely a fair bit more intelligent than he was to begin with. Most importantly, I wasn't behaving how he expected and it had been keeping him on his back foot for the most part.
1570
1571If he thought this would be easy, he was dead wrong. I felt like the Daimyo's representative wanted to cradle his face in his hands at the absolute mess this was becoming, but the Hokage recovered fairly well.
1572
1573“You must be very impressive then, to have been appointed.”
1574
1575“Thank you, Hokage-sama, for your judgment of my abilities. I hardly need say the same of you; you must know how skilled you are, as you would not be Hokage else-wise.” That was a lovely turn of phrase. Just confused enough that it could be a legitimate compliment awkwardly worded because of my young age and the formal language, but at the same time vaguely hinting that the Hokage was less skilled than he appeared.
1576
1577Deciding to interject and give time for people to re-evaluate the circumstances, our mediator redirected the conversation to meaningless platitudes about the trip here, the local vegetation and flowers and such. Eventually it turned back towards business and the advisers joined into the conversation; we fenced a bit more, less aggressively, and with far more advantage to Sarutobi. I carefully avoided any openings that led to Kushina's absence until eventually Danzo lost patience.
1578
1579“And what of Kushina-sama? Was her arrival delayed?”
1580
1581“Kushina-sama? Why would she be coming? Did you receive another faulty informant's report?” I could see the annoyance in his eyes.
1582
1583“The agreement we signed during the Uzushiogakure Epidemic was for Tsunade to go with all speed and do what she could as a medic; in return, Uzushiogakure would send us Kushina-sama to become the next host of the Kyubi.” He managed to say it without grinding his teeth in annoyance, I was impressed. But I was definitely going to turn up the heat.
1584
1585“Ah yes. The Uzushiogakure Epidemic. A true tragedy, but you already knew that, didn't you Danzo-san?” Let's see what pigeons that cat manages to catch, I thought as the Hokage's chakra pulsed in what I thought was interest. “And such a shame that though Tsunade arrived, she was too late to add to the efforts of our own doctors.” No reason not to make them seem like petty contract-lawyers (which they were, the bastards). “But, as for Kushina-sama, I remember no such agreement.”
1586
1587By this point, everyone's attention was solidly on our back-and-forth. Danzo's irritation was apparent; he must have been seriously pissed.
1588
1589“Do you deny that Uzushiogakure promised us a host for the Kyubi?”
1590
1591“Ah, I see the problem now. I suppose you have not had a chance to read the documents we presented you with yet. Fortunately, I prepared and have brought copies. Sachiko.” At the command, Sachiko passed me copies of two documents. “The first is the agreement between Konohagakure and Uzushiogakure for support. The second is Kazuo-dono and Kazuo-kaka's missives as to how Uzushiogakure is resolving its agreement. Perhaps you should review them.”
1592
1593I bowed, and presented the documents to a silent Hokage. In fact, the whole room was silent and still. When I mentioned Kazuo-dono and Kazuo-kaka as two separate individuals, I like the think that Sarutobi, Danzo, and their other lickspittles arseholes clenched in knowledge of the reaming they were about to receive.
1594
1595Ok, granted, not such a great reaming, but they thought they were getting sweet, naive Kushina and got her rather spikier, sharper cousin instead, the same person who had at least held his own at the adult's table. Let them have their minor victory; may they choke on it and on me.
1596
1597The Hokage read the documents, going over the provisions of my secondment several times before passing it to Danzo and looking up at me.
1598
1599“So you're to be the next host.” It wasn't quite a question, more a statement, but I nodded and answered anyways.
1600
1601“Exactly. I was originally intending to report tomorrow morning in my person of Whirlpool Reserve Militia, Recruit-Sergeant Uzumaki Daichi. Would that still be agreeable?” I asked with the faintest hint of amusement in my tone.
1602
1603“Of course. Nine o'clock?”
1604
1605“I'll be here, Hokage-sama.”
1606
1607By this point Danzo had finished and demonstrated that he really hadn't quite recovered his calm yet.
1608
1609“So you're the candidate? Do you have the Adamantine Chains?” That, that was over the line, especially in this diplomatic setting where I represented the Daimyo of Whirlpool and our meeting was mediated by the Fire Daimyo's representative. If this weren't informal, I might have had to call him out in an honor duel or demand punishment from the Hokage; I wasn't quite sure which. So, of course, I capitalized.
1610
1611“Are you seriously challenging the word of the Daimyo of Whirlpool in front of me, his official representative to Konohagakure? You forget your place, ninja.”
1612
1613See, socially speaking, only the Hokage out-ranked me as he was lord of a Great Village. Normally I, as a lesser appointee of a Daimyo and Danzo, as a greater adviser to the Hokage, would have equal-ish rank. It depended somewhat on circumstance; when acting in some of my duties, I was considered Kazuo-kaka's direct representative, in which case I ranked higher.
1614
1615But, in another sense, ninja ranked below any samurai, even so poor an example as Ichirou, save for perhaps the Kage who was recognized as an independent city-lord by his Daimyo, and some ninja clans which had their own patents of nobility. I ranked, as did many Uzumaki, as a samurai. As soon as Danzo questioned my Daimyo's signed documents to my face, I was able to rebuke him.
1616
1617And now the bastard would have to bow his head or face censure; if he insulted me or the Daimyo at all at this point I could claim insult and break the agreement on my Lord's behalf. If we were somewhere like the Land of Iron, I could request, and would have to be granted, his head. Unfortunately for this instance at least, the Land of Fire was somewhat less permissive towards the samurai class.
1618
1619He bowed in dogeza.
1620
1621“I apologize for my thoughtless words. Please forgive me.” He stayed down, as was proper until I acknowledged him.
1622
1623“I think that's both of our problem, Danzo.” I purposefully left out the honorific here. “We speak, and act, without thinking of the potential consequences. You know, the infiltrators who spread the plague to Uzushiogakure were similar, acting without thinking. Had they thought, they would have known that had that disease spread, it would have spread throughout all the Elemental Nations. It might have even killed them, the ones that spread it. So, either they trusted our quarantine measures, or they already had a cure, or they were foolish. Not to mention the kind of damage that Uzushiogakure's sealers might have done were they made mad with grief. But I digress. I should not blame you for the same fault I have, neh? Raise your head, Danzo-san, your misspoken words are forgotten.”
1624
1625By the variation in people's chakra, that warning was well understood. Let's see you wiggle out of this one, Danzo.
1626
1627“Now, I think we are all tired. It has been a long trip, and an eventful day. I will come calling at nine in the morning, as we discussed, Hokage-sama.” And so after a series of goodbyes, we left and went back to the Consulate.
1628
1629Along the way, the Head Priest came up next to me and after activating a privacy seal spoke.
1630
1631“You're playing a dangerous game.”
1632
1633“I know, Master. But, in this town, it's the only game to play, I fear.”
1634
1635“Are you properly prepared?”
1636
1637“They need me. And I've already taken measures.”
1638
1639“And these measures are sufficient?”
1640
1641“I would say more than. And have no fear, they breach no Laws.”
1642
1643“Good. I'm glad you're prepared. It would be a shame to lose such a promising Sealer. Good night.”
1644
1645“Good night, Master.”
1646
1647I had taken measures too. I had used up the majority of the chakra I had been hoarding over the previous years after the failure of Operation: Hammer of God. Just before leaving Uzushiogakure, I initiated Project Thor: The Sequel.
1648
1649It was an upgraded version of Hammer of God, using the strongest anti-laser shields I could come up with, a slightly customized visual distortion seal that would hopefully throw off radar targeting, illusion seals for spoof-targets, heat-sink seals designed to deal with volcanoes to reduce the damage from laser fire that did get through, and twice as many rods as necessary. Honestly, with the seals already designed or stock seals available with my greater knowledge level, the thing was almost embarrassingly simple to prepare, and only took me a couple days to design and build.
1650
1651The trigger was a seal on my body; as soon as I died, or failed to renew the signal on a monthly basis, the bombardment would activate, with the payload seal already in an optimal firing position above Konohagakure. I included a chakra transfer seal to maintain the anti-void shield around the payload; it was barely noticeable against my reserves. I was still scared shitless at the idea of pissing off the Orbital Fortress, but figured if I was dead or being tortured it was worth it.
1652
1653Sachiko had spotted me launching the seal the night before arriving in Konohagakure. I had warned her that if I died, or was taken, to be out of the village within 10 minutes and activate her emergency recall seal if possible. If being the Jinchuriki ever failed to protect me, I figured that this would.
1654
1655As I went to sleep, I had a single thought: I may have gone a bit overboard with Danzo.
1656
1657First thing the next day I woke, dressed, ate a breakfast prepared by Sachiko, and left for my meeting with the Hokage with her in tow (there was no way I was leaving her alone anywhere until I was more comfortable there).
1658
1659The meeting with the Hokage was fairly pro-forma, but important nonetheless; this was, after all, when I was going to try and buy myself four years before facing any missions. I saw no reason to become a combat asset, not when I had had barely any legitimate ninja training in things like survival, stealth, illusions, poisons; hell, I couldn't even throw kunai.
1660
1661I had no reason to graduate early from the academy either. No, I wanted to grow into my body, and be as powerful and awesome as possible when I finally had to actually fight someone. The longer Sachiko and I had to train, the happier I'd be. I never understood wanting to graduate early and enter a front-line position. It didn’t matter if someone was the best five year old, or ten year old ever; all they needed to do was meet a single stronger enemy, whatever the age, and they’d be a corpse.
1662
1663In fact, enemies often prioritized the youngest. They were the most promising after all, but oh-so easy to snuff out while they were still young and weak rather than full-grown threats. No, I was of the mind to spend as long as possible making sure that by the time I saw combat my odds of survival (and those of Sachiko’s survival) were maximized.
1664
1665I vaguely remembered that Hiruzen had a soft spot for kids. Hopefully that would extend to me despite last night. Or maybe he'd like to keep me in a known place watched by his soldiers during the day. Either way, I wanted four uninterrupted years at the Academy, the premier ninja-educating school of the Village.
1666
1667After being let into the Hokage's office (having left Sachiko at the door), I reported with a snap.
1668
1669“Hokage-sama! In accordance with the wishes of my Lord, I, Recruit Sergeant Uzumaki Daichi of the Whirlpool Militia have been indefinitely seconded to Konohagakure's Ninja Corps!” Then I bowed and held position. It may have been in a bit of a high-pitched voice, but I liked my greeting. I was dressed in a fairly snazzy work-dress uniform from the Uzushio Sealing Department, including my swords and High Expert Sealer patch. Today I looked like a brat playing at being a soldier instead of playing at being a lord. I was fairly sure the Hokage was amused.
1670
1671“At ease!” he replied. I relaxed my bow. “So, you've been sent here to become the next Jinchuriki?”
1672
1673“Yes sir! With your approval, we will prepare and perform the Sealing in the secure room at the Consulate three days hence.” It was actually quite amusing to play the dutiful subordinate when we both know I was anything but.
1674
1675“Very good. Other than your potential as a Jinchuriki, please list your skills and attributes.”
1676
1677“Yes sir! I am eight years old. I have been trained by my father, who is from a samurai family, and by my mother and her father, who are both sealers. I am qualified as an Advanced Instructor of the Whirlpool-Fist style, and a Basic Instructor of the Whirlpool-Sword style. I am effective with Wind and Water chakra techniques. I am an Expert Sealer. I can use the Adamantine Sealing Chains, and use chakra flow techniques through them. I am a fair sensor. I am familiar with court protocol, and have some diplomatic training. I possess a retainer, who has been trained to be my assistant and Chief of Household by her family who are themselves retainers to my Grandfather.”
1678
1679“An impressive list, especially for one so young. What would you like to do?”
1680
1681“Sir! I would like to go to the Academy.”
1682
1683“Really? Why? I would think you would want to be a ninja immediately, or maybe work in the Sealing Corps.”
1684
1685“Not so. I am only on secondment, I may not grant Uzushiogakure's or my Clan's sealing secrets. As for the Academy, I will receive valuable training in stealth, field medicine, survival, tracking, espionage, infiltration, interrogation and counter-intelligence. I may also learn about poisons and illusions. Further, I am somewhat unused to people my age, as I have been tutored. I, I believe socialization may be useful.”
1686
1687I made sure to make the last bit sound a bit hesitant. I was sure Sarutobi saw through it, but was hoping that he thought I was trying to play him to be able to make friends because I actually wanted friends, rather than wanting another four years before combat. Then again, it's possible he was thinking I was operating on an even deeper level after last night. Or a total fool for challenging Danzo. I couldn't tell.
1688
1689This was why I hated dealing with ninja and diplomacy; seals at least you could test, no matter how complicated they got or how weird the results. With ninja, I always felt like the Dread Pirate Roberts from the Princess Bride in the scene with the poison. Like him, I also felt that desire to attack everything to make sure I got my target. After a pause, the Hokage finally nodded and answered.
1690
1691“Very good. It is good to know your limitations, and attempt to account for them. I'll grant your request to join the Academy. A new class is entering in three weeks, you will join them. I assume you want your retainer to accompany you?”
1692
1693“Yes sir!”
1694
1695“I assume she can keep up. Very well, I'll place her with your group. Now, I've arranged for Jiraiya, one of my students, to give you a tour. He's waiting outside. Dismissed.” I blinked, a bit taken aback that he hadn't asked any questions about what I'd insinuated last night, then bowed again.
1696
1697“Thank you sir!” I replied, and marched out the door. I saw Sachiko very studiously not looking at a man who was, at a guess, in his early twenties and inspecting her rather blatantly. His massive mane of white hair made it difficult to tell his age. 'So,' I thought, 'this is Jiraiya'. The fact he was ogling my retainer instantly got my dander up. I walked up to him, and looked him up and down before sneering slightly.
1698
1699“I had already heard you were a pervert, but I didn't think you were so depraved as to ogle children, ero-Jiraiya-san.” He just spluttered while a nearby secretary had to hide her laugh as a cough. We began walking towards the exit.
1700
1701“I wasn't ogling her, dammit! And what do you mean you already heard I was a pervert! I'm a super-pervert!” Wow. I did not expect that; the world had been so much more serious than in canon. I really didn't think that he would actually be that insane. Maybe it was just to get us to drop our guard.
1702
1703“Even in Uzushiogakure, we've heard of you, Jiraiya,” (this was a total lie) I said, and waited a moment for him to puff himself up in pride. “Yes, the great failure of Sarutobi Hokage-sama, his student Jiraiya who unlike his team-mates excels only in perversion.” I could tell that hit home a bit but Jiraiya just laughed it off.
1704
1705“Wow. You go right for the kill, don't you kid? Now I know why Sensei said to watch out for your tongue. But I really wasn't ogling her, just trying to spot all her hidden weapons; I kept noticing more.” That bastard. Giving good compliments to my retainer was totally not on; I trusted this giant prick about as far as I could throw him without using chakra.
1706
1707“See, Sachiko-san, when a no-good man like him gives you a compliment like that, do you know what to do?”
1708
1709“No, Daichi-sama, what should I do?” she asked softly and as if deeply interested in the subject.
1710
1711“You ignore him. The compliments of a no good man are less than the barking of a dog.”
1712
1713“Ah. I see. I will bear this in mind, Daichi-sama.” I loved Sachiko; she played the perfect straight-man.
1714
1715“Alright, kid, alright. I get the point. Eyes off, hands off. In fact, we'll start the tour now. Happy?”
1716
1717“Hmm. You're much better than Danzo-san, you know. Much more subtle, and I'm mostly left without an over-riding desire to explode you.” I told Jiraiya that I understood he was trying to take my measure. It would be dangerous to be underestimated too much, just as it would to be overestimated too much. Even an accurate accounting could prove dangerous, but I had to do and Jiraiya was a decent sort in canon (mostly). An idiot, and idealistic, but at something least trying to do good.
1718
1719“You're really sharp, huh. I never would have believed there was an eight year old like you without meeting you, Daichi-kun.” I nodded at the compliment. “Alright, let's get going on that tour.”
1720
1721Jiraiya was a surprisingly competent tour guide, and we ended the day with a much better understanding of not just the best places to eat and shop, but of Konohagakure's identity, culture and idiosyncrasies.
1722
1723Konoha was a completely different place to Uzushiogakure. It was significantly larger, less prosperous, and had a high combat tempo that resulted in a high attrition rate. Because of this, Konohagakure had some fairly unique solutions to their particular situation.
1724
1725If you have any ideas from the anime or manga, forget them; the manga/anime massively misrepresented the numbers of ninja that there were. First off, there wasn't one academy, there were several, and even more outposts throughout the Land of Fire that could train genin. Overall, including reserves, logistic corps, etc., Konoha could call on a little more than twenty thousand ninja, and graduated over two thousand a year out of a static village population somewhere north of two hundred thousand. The Land of Fire itself could call on another fifteen to twenty thousand more ninja, as independent ninja Clans or retainers that could be activated by the Daimyo.
1726
1727Of those that were “active” Konoha ninja, about eight thousand were combat-fit but crippled in some way that made them have to leave the active forces, or just too old; ninja with long-distance mobility issues, for example, could not be active-combat forces. Many of them still taught, worked in the hospital or in logistics, or any of a dozen different departments that don't actually result in doing frequent missions; all did regular training as part of the reserve.
1728
1729Of the twelve thousand remaining potential combat troops, fully half were employed as ordered by the Daimyo; they could be attached as special forces units in the national military, acted as couriers or internal spies, and policed the border and roads. This was where most of the “genin corps,” those genin too unpromising to be “elite genin” on the fast-track to Jonin path, and the “chunin corps”, most of whom were once part of the genin corps, ended up.
1730
1731Those who tried out for elite genin (like the Rookie Nine or Twelve or whatever highlighted by the show) got two chances. The first was when they had the Jonin test. Just being allowed to take the Jonin test required graduating in one of the top classes, and even still only about a third passed.
1732
1733If they failed, the new ninja went to the genin academy, rather than the student academy, with the rest of the leftovers from the academy program who never even got a chance. They were then given general forces, specialization, and electives training. They then got to try the Jonin test one more time, along with the most promising of the genin who never got to try in the first place.
1734
1735If they failed that test, then they faced another one to two years of training at the genin academy, leaving when they either tested (and passed) as a genin, or tested into a specialist training program (medic, sealing, genjutsu, ninjutsu, strategy, stealth etc.). Out of a class of two thousand graduates, only two to four hundred would end up in the elite-track, or one of the specialization programs that gave similar benefits and reputation.
1736
1737All of its reserves, logistical requirements, and the Daimyo's requirements left Konoha with only six thousand active duty combat-forces. About two thousand of these were kept as a guard in and around Konoha, though about half of the guards were “paper-guards” who trained with guard units, but spent most of the actual “guarding” time in the hospital or Torture and Interrogation or whatever.
1738
1739There were also about four hundred ANBU. Another eight hundred were hunter-nin, or on long-term infiltration or recruitment assignments across the countries. Tsunade, when Naruto retrieved her to become Hokage was probably (at least nominally) one of these. Within the village, there was the hospital staff, who also operated the combat-medic training center, Torture and Interrogation, Sealing Corps, Academy Staff, Specialist Training Staff, Cryptography, Strategy Office, etc., all taking up about another eight hundred active duty ninja. This left Konoha with only two thousand active duty ninja to deploy at will on mercenary missions.
1740
1741While two thousand were not that many to be the principle bread-winners of the village, it was still one sixth of the total active combat forces, and they kept up a very high combat tempo. Casualties above twenty percent in dead ninja alone (and thus much higher if including crippled ninja) per year would be considered good when dealing with the active mercenary ninja, and these losses were especially concentrated in the fresh genin ranks. Some years casualties might rise above eighty percent, especially as a shadow-war with a foreign village was shaping up. When combined with the losses suffered in the forces working for the Daimyo, reinforcements were crucial to continued operation.
1742
1743About two hundred of these two thousand active workers were jonin, not all of whom would or could mentor genin-teams, and about a hundred and twenty genin would join the elite-track every year coming from a total of four different academies.
1744
1745The competition was fierce, and this was where the Clans truly shined. They may have only supplied a tenth to a fifth of the Konoha forces (clans tended to keep some of their ninja self-employed, so they functioned similar to reserves), but they were consistently better trained, with specialist skills, better gear, and there was something to be said for serious selective breeding. The acknowledged members of major and minor clans, whether main or branch houses, between them made up sixty percent of jonin or special jonin, forty percent of Elite Chunin, and twenty five percent of the total chunin.
1746
1747Another little factoid; Konoha, and the other villages, were obsessed with breeding (not that Uzushio was all that different). Most clans in the anime were Great Clans. A combination of numbers (typically above two hundred mission-capable ninja each, only a fraction of which actively worked for the village), talent, bloodline ability and accumulated wealth made them indispensable to the village. Their leaders had automatic seats on the Hokage's Security Council. The Hyuga, Uchiha, Nara, and similar clans were among these. Then, there were the minor clans. Typically between twenty and fifty ninja, they tended to have lesser bloodlines or secret techniques, often with some sort of instability or weakness, but the number of these lesser clans made them an important part of Konoha's might.
1748
1749Clans all had charters that laid out what it took to be a member, and there were typically at least two, sometimes three or four categories someone might fall into. Main members would be full clan members of the main house. If there was a line of succession, they were probably in it, or could challenge for leadership when it became available. Branch members were recognized as members of the clan, but typically ineligible for leadership, and had lesser stations compared to the main branch.
1750
1751The third category were clan affiliates or auxiliaries. Often illegitimate children born to a civilian or a non-related ninja such that it was unlikely that they unlocked the bloodline (if there was one), or were untrained in the secret arts of the clan. Affiliates who were successful as ninja frequently became concubines after reaching chunin, and in rare cases were married, most frequently by branch-members. A particularly successful affiliate might be adopted, normally by their birth parent, especially if they unlocked the bloodline through whatever circumstances.
1752
1753The last category were clan retainers. This normally included any civilians that were part of the clan, as well as non-related ninja that serve it or its members for whatever reasons.
1754
1755The cause of there being so many Affiliates was the Konoha policy on relationships; Konoha wanted the most successful shinobi to breed, and breed prodigiously. The village had only a few hundred jonin at any point in time, and it took the deaths of thousands of genin and chunin to get them. If there was anything in their genes that could be passed on to have more successful ninja in the future, then Konoha wanted it. This led to a number of seemingly odd but very logical practices.
1756
1757Jonin were eligible to go to brothels with loyalty-screened employees for free, and could take them as concubines if desired. Jonin were allowed any number of wives and concubines, and got a tax-reduction or allowance (if retired) for every child. Chunin were encouraged to have at least one wife and one to three concubines, had access to the brothels at a relatively low rate, and were given slightly less generous allotments for any children. Even genin got marriage assistance and child-support.
1758
1759Female ninja were encouraged to attempt to seduce superior-ranking male ninja (so long as they were out of their rank-structure or not on active deployment), and those that made chunin, especially if they might make jonin in the future, were encouraged to retire, or at least take a non-active posting, and have children. There were sperm and egg banks as well, of varying security levels, and citizens were encouraged to make use of them to the limit of their security clearance.
1760
1761So, I hope that explains Konoha, the number of their ninja, and how they could survive their high levels of attrition. Note that none of this was cheap; in fact, ninja saw the vast majority of their funds going to the village, especially on missions higher than D-Rank.
1762
1763That said, ninja lived well, and having all the chicks and children you wanted was typically a good reason not to go missing nin to avoid high taxes. In fact, chunin with little sex drive made up the majority of attempted defections; Konoha even tested for it as part of the routine psychological profiling.
1764
1765In comparison, Uzushiogakure had very much lower combat casualties, partially due to a lower combat tempo, and partially due to having the luxury of greater resources for all ranks of soldier including things like a medical stasis seal for any soldier in the field in case of serious injury. Uzushio troops trained for longer, and had more access to specialist training than any other nation.
1766
1767The main Uzushiogakure combat mission involved anti-piracy escorts and patrolling Whirlpool's territory. Whirlpool's ships were better built, better armed, better crewed and equipped with the latest in weapons development and seals. The only real threat was Kirigakure naval combat groups, and even still they would need to outnumber the Uzushio forces to have an advantage.
1768
1769The ninja and samurai worked hand in hand with the National Guard and Militia, resulting in greater combat efficiency and fewer occasions of Samurai officers giving damaging orders to their ninja subordinates. Most years, Uzushio tended to suffer more losses due to injuries from training accidents or sailing itself than to actual combat.
1770
1771So when an enthusiastic Jiraiya explained the concept of what were basically factories to breed ninja, it seemed very strange to me, and I suspected to Sachiko. Especially given my age. I resolved to apply a birth-control seal to both myself and Sachiko as soon as we returned to the Consulate, and place the strongest security seal possible over it. Soon enough, the tour ended. Jiraiya left, and when we returned, I applied the seals before retiring to bed.
1772
1773Soon enough, I would be meeting the Kyubi. I would need my rest.
1774
1775After the departure of the Uzushiogakure delegation, I just wanted to sigh. That had not gone at all as I was expecting.
1776
1777“Thank you for your time tonight. I'll want to have a meeting with you tomorrow, Mitokado, Koharu. Say, 2 o'clock? Danzo, I'd like to see you in my office; we have some village business to discuss.” I turned towards the Daimyo's representative. “Thank you for hosting our discussion, Yasu-sama.”
1778
1779“Not at all, Hokage-sama. It was very interesting.” Ahhh… I just wanted to sigh again.
1780
1781After arriving at my office I dismissed my security detail and put up the privacy seals. I sat down but pointedly did not offer Danzo a seat.
1782
1783“What the hell was that?” I demanded.
1784
1785His face didn’t even twitch. “I apologize. I should never have let a child get under my skin like that.”
1786
1787“No, you damned well shouldn't have. We'll discuss that, and him, and the many intelligence failures later. You know what I'm talking about. Don't dodge the question.”
1788
1789“You know you're not meant to know what measures I take for Village security. That was our agreement when I formed Root,” Danzo stonewalled.
1790
1791I snarled. “Yes. That was the agreement BEFORE WE WERE SUSPECTED OF SPREADING PLAGUE TO AN ALLY!” I had lost it, flaring Killing Intent and shouting. “Explain yourself. Now, Jonin Shimura. Did we even do it?”
1792
1793“We're not responsible.” God. When had it gotten this bad? Even directly questioning him, I couldn't get a straight answer out of the twisted bastard.
1794
1795“So why do they suspect us?” I asked as if he were a particularly unintelligent child.
1796
1797“Likely because the infiltrators had seals to penetrate their sensor network and we pressed so hard for a new host for the Kyubi.”
1798
1799“Wait, what? How did they get seals capable of penetrating Uzushio's sensor network?”
1800
1801The silence was damning.
1802
1803“Gods above Danzo, how could you let this blow back on us! They probably suspect that it was Root that launched the attack!” I exclaimed.
1804
1805“We needed a host. I did what was necessary. There's no proof I supplied the seals.”
1806
1807“No. Because Uzumaki trained sealers grow on trees, do they?” I asked rhetorically, sarcastically. “I'm surprised they didn't declare war.”
1808
1809“Against the wishes of Uzumaki Daichi from the looks of it. Why the hell would an eight year old have known about this?”
1810
1811“Well he's clearly no ordinary eight year old. I think that's obvious. I never would have thought I'd see the day where a child managed to get such advantage over you. Your insult almost cost us our future Jinchuriki.”
1812
1813Danzo grimaced at the reminder. “At least we know what to expect now,” he replied.
1814
1815“They really pulled a fast one on us,” I said. Honestly it was a pretty admirable political move, one I’d appreciate infinitely more if it wasn’t aimed at Konoha. “I didn't expect it from Kazuo-dono. And the information we received from Mito-sama didn't even mention him as a possibility.” What a fucking mess.
1816
1817“Clearly her influence is far less than she would have us believe.”
1818
1819“But we've been basing all of our interactions on it.” I hated this. I hated lacking information, being less informed than someone who was eight damned years old. It was an embarrassment. “What could they do, if they wanted to?” I asked Danzo. He was likely more informed than I.
1820
1821“Well, it's likely from what Daichi said that they now have stocks of the disease, and have weaponized it,” he answered with a grimace. “And their Sealing Department, well… there's a reason they are feared, even if I suspect there are many exaggerations.”
1822
1823“Danzo. This was a disaster. I just… *sighs* Let's discuss the other intelligence failures first.” Obviously I’d have to bring Danzo to heel. This was just inexcusable. But changing the subject gave me time to consider how to manage that.
1824
1825“You mean the fact that we didn't know we were getting an eight year old from a samurai family as both our Consul and future Jinchuriki?” he clarified.
1826
1827“Yes. How the hell did our agents miss that?”
1828
1829“I think because they weren't looking for it. Clearly the training will need to be improved.”
1830
1831“Clearly,” I semi-mockingly deadpanned. “Do we know anything about him?”
1832
1833“Other than what we learned tonight? No. He may be related to the Sea-Hawk Samurai. He was a Naval officer, though he's retired now. Very effective, very old-school samurai if I remember correctly.”
1834
1835“Well that's something. Now we just need to find out everything else.”
1836
1837“How do you intend to?” he asked. “We'll lose Mito-sama's contacts soon.”
1838
1839“No, Mito-sama's contacts are clearly unreliable. I think I'll just ask him.”
1840
1841“Of course,” Danzo chuckled. “Where will you put him?”
1842
1843“The Academy, I think. With his diplomatic status, and as someone who is 'indefinitely seconded' it's vital he makes bonds with the village. He's young; he may even forget his previous suspicions.” But I sincerely doubted it.
1844
1845“I doubt it. I think he is far more like me in that respect,” Danzo voiced my concern.
1846
1847“Danzo, let me make myself clear. You may, under no circumstances, act against him in any way. His protection, and Uzushiogakure's protection, have by necessity become our greatest priorities. When word reaches the court of our discussion… we need to go above and beyond.”
1848
1849“I could have the representative removed from play.”
1850
1851“Are you fucking insane! Daichi is likely in contact with his embassy. If he heard of that, he would certainly ensure that the Daimyo heard of his suspicions, both about the plague and about the representative's death.”
1852
1853“It was just a possibility.”
1854
1855“No. In fact, double the guard on him. If he even had an accident… that's the last thing we need right now. And post a guard on Daichi and the rest of his mission.”
1856
1857“Of course.”
1858
1859“Good. Now, Danzo… this can't be without consequences. From now on, I expect a weekly or daily update on planned Root operations as appropriate to their timing. Further, you will undertake no mission involving the destabilization of a foreign power without permission. Is that understood?” This, this I expected a fight on. Danzo had always itched at the thought of even light oversight, and this was heavy.
1860
1861“Hiruzen! You can't be serious. You know your own limitations, why Root is needed and why I need to run it! You've always been too moral to do what's truly necessary.” That. Disrespectful. Little. Fuck.
1862
1863“Jonin-Captain Shimura Danzo, you forget yourself!” I roared, standing up and putting my finger in his face. “I am your HOKAGE, damn you! You serve at my wishes, and if you've forgotten that fact I'll accept your retirement. There's a reason Sensei picked me as his successor. You lack something. It makes you a wonderful weapon, but you've begun to cut indiscriminately. I will be wielding you directly. Is that understood!”
1864
1865At some point in my tirade he had come to a formal kneeling salute. “Yes, Hokage-sama!”
1866
1867I sat down in my seat. “Good. I'll expect the first update on Root in person tomorrow, and weekly updates from those watching over Daichi. Dismissed.”
1868
1869Danzo wasted no time leaving. As I sat back in my chair, and pulled out a flask of sake from a drawer, I wondered when things had gotten this bad.
1870
1871But whatever the answer, I knew I was getting too old for this shit.