The moment someone spotted land
in the distance, Naruto was up and out on the deck to see it.
For all the travelling he’d done
with Jiraiya, he’d never been to the Land of Whirlpools. For most of his life
he’d never even known it existed. It had taken his dead mother manifesting from
his chakra for him to even find out about it and there’d never been time to ask
anyone about it – and so few people to ask. It had been destroyed so long ago.
What little Kakashi and Obito
knew were mostly history and rumour. That Uzushio had been strongest in
sealing, that it’s most powerful clan, the Uzumaki, had been distantly related
to the Senju, that it’s people were powerful and crazy. The Uzumaki had been
the strongest in raw chakra abilities – they had the best chakra sensors, they
had chakra healers who didn’t even need training never mind hand seals go heal
someone, and they had a surplus of chakra manifestation abilities, like Uzumaki
Kushina’s famous chakra chains.
With Naruto the only Uzumaki with
the name alive in their time, it was easy to forget – but Uzumaki had been a
clan rivalling the Senju in its prime. So much so that they’d been able to establish
a hidden village all by themselves. That was why Uzushiogakure was known as the
Uzumaki village – because it was. Even when other clans joined them, Uzumaki
remained the most powerful one.
And then it had been destroyed,
the Uzumaki clan slaughtered, and it hadn’t mattered anymore.
It had been Naruto’s mother’s
childhood home. Coming there now, when it was still alive and strong… it was
maybe a bit like coming to a second home.
“Don’t get your hopes
up,” Obito warned him darkly. “This might go horribly wrong, you
know.”
“You are such a downer. Let
me have my moment of optimism,” Naruto grumbled, leaning their lower
elbows on the railing as they stared over the water.
The island was a distant line of
green, half shrouded in clouds. Already it looked amazing – there were
mountains, what looked like a light house, maybe buildings along the shoreline.
Each moment it got tiny bit closer and Naruto could feel their heart pounding
with excitement.
Please, please let this go well.
“You’re up early,”
voice commented from behind them and they glanced backwards to see Orochimaru
walking towards them. “I expected you to sleep in, all things considered.
How do your legs feel?”
“Absolutely terrible, but I
wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Naruto grinned. “Also, good
morning.”
“Mm,” Orochimaru nodded
and stood next to them. “This is your first time here.”
It was more a statement than
question, but Naruto nodded. “Have you visited Uzushio before?” he
asked curiously.
“Couple of times, yes.
Konoha and Uzushio are closely allied, and our teacher is the Hokage,”
Orochimaru said and shrugged. “This will be my first visit without
Sarutobi-sensei, however.”
“Something new for all of
us, then,” Naruto said with a grin and then looked at Orochimaru. He…
didn’t look like he’d gotten much sleep. “Hey, about what the others said –”
“You don’t need to
apologise,” Orochimaru cut in, looking down at the waves. “They
didn’t say anything that wasn’t at least partially true.”
“I know,” Naruto agreed,
making Orochimaru look hesitantly up. “But they’re both pretty single
minded people and they’ve been burnt by people a lot of times – they have hard
time giving people second chances. There’s more to people than their defining
features. People are more complicated than that.”
“Some of us more than
others,” Orochimaru agreed, giving him a small quirk of a smile.
“Well, that’s what you like
about us,” Naruto shrugged and looked at him steadily. “I’m not
saying you should ignore what they said – they said it for a reason. But just
make sure if you decide to do something about it, it’s for you, not us.”
Orochimaru frowned a little at
that and then looked towards the slowly island. “You all want me to
change, though,” he said quietly.
“No,” Naruto said.
“Never. We just don’t want you to be ruined.”
There was a moment of silence at
that and after a while Naruto turned their eyes ahead. The ocean breeze was
nice and the island was much closer now and he could almost feel…
“I don’t want to go down
that path,” Orochimaru admitted after a while. “I’ve seen what it
does to people, and you’re right. It ruins them. But… no one’s ever given me
an alternative, between that and stagnation.”
“And no one ever will.
That’s your job, to figure it out for yourself,” Naruto said and sighed. “It
sucks, but no one can do it for you. It’s all up to you, in the end.”
He’d certainly tried to change
the destinies of others. And nothing he’d ever done had done a damn thing to
change Sasuke’s mind, not until the bastard had been well and ready to change
it himself. And usually when he did, it was always for the worst, the damn jerk.
Orochimaru thought about it for a
while. “I will think about it,” he finally said and glanced at him.
“Does this mean out date in six months is still on?” he asked with a
faint, almost shy, smile.
“Five months and twenty nine
days to go now,” Naruto said and grinned. “Not that I’m counting or
anything.”
-
“Good morning,
lovebirds,” Jiraiya greeted the two standing by the ship bow, making
Orochimaru do a full body twitch and Naoka let out a quiet laugh. “Ah how
romantic, enjoying the ocean cruise together. I think I’ve read a book like
this, it was about –”
“I will throw you off the
ship,” Orochimaru growled at him.
“No you won’t,” Jiraiya
grinned and stepped closer. “Though to be fair someone was thrown off the
ship in that book – there was epic rescue scene. And even more epic
thank-god-we-didn’t-die-sex. So are we there yet?”
“Almost,” Naoka
chuckled, leaning his chin on one of his palms. “It beautiful,” he
then said, nodding towards the island.
“You should see their women
– although, I suppose that wouldn’t even interest you much,” Jiraiya said
thoughtfully. “Well, more for me. Anyway, do you know, there’s a rumour
that they made the island themselves, out of nowhere? They used seals and whatnot
to bring up a volcano on the ocean floor and just up and made themselves an
island.”
“I rather doubt that’s what
actually happened,” Orochimaru said. “Just looking by the trees
alone, that island has been around far longer than Uzushiogakure has.”
“I don’t know – you can do
some amazing things with Mokuton,” Naoka commented. “And the First
Hokage married an Uzumaki. So, who knows. Maybe he spend some time there, gave
them a hand.”
“Huh,” Jiraiya said,
folding his arms. “That’s a very good point.”
“It that was the case, I’m
sure Mito-sama would’ve mentioned it at some point,” Orochimaru said with
a shake of his head. “The Uzumaki are powerful – but even they can’t
create land masses out of nothing.”
Naoka just hummed thoughtfully
and said nothing.
The ship set anchor just little
off the Uzushio harbour, and even at a distance they could tell they were being
expected. There weren’t that many people on the harbour itself – some fishermen
and such, who were busy at work getting ready for the day. Aside from them, there
were couple of figures in grey flak jackets waiting on one of the piers,
watching the ship.
“Time to go greet the
welcoming committee,” Jiraiya said, clapping both Orochimaru and Naoka on
the shoulder. “Ready?”
“Do they know about
us?” Naoka asked thoughtfully, his posture little different – he’d
switched personalities.
“Sarutobi-sensei sent word
ahead – that’s why there was a ship waiting for us in the first place,”
Jiraiya shrugged and looked them over. Arms hidden on their sleeves again, they
looked almost normal. “Are you okay to chakra walk over there?”
“Just don’t ask us to
run,” Naoka sighed.
After Jiraiya had paid his
compliments to the crew and the captain, they departed the ship. Orochimaru
hovered by Naoka side the whole way to shore and Jiraiya didn’t miss the fact
that he subtly supported the man by his elbow the last few meters and up to the
pier, where they met the Uzushio-nin waiting for them.
“Good morning,” Jiraiya
said cheerfully to them and produced a scroll from one of his chest pouches. “Jounin
Jiraiya and Orochimaru from Konohagakure, here on escort and delivery mission.
I think the Uzukage is expecting us.”
“He is,” the female
Uzushio-nin answered, accepting the scroll. She had short flaming red hair and
bare arms with more muscles than most men Jiraiya knew – himself included. Striking
in a mature way, he mused, but entirely too old for him. “Welcome to Land of Whirlpools. Just hold for a
moment while I check this.”
“Of course, of course,”
Jiraiya said with a smile.
The other ninja beside the
kunoichi was younger, maybe in his thirties, with shaggy dark hair and a sort
of rugged face Jiraiya kind of hoped he’d have in his age. The guy was too busy
staring at Naoka to notice him looking, though, and he looked… amazed.
Jiraiya shared looks with
Orochimaru, who frowned faintly but said nothing. Naoka just met the
Uzushio-nin’s eyes evenly.
“Right,” the kunoichi
said after reading through the scroll and rolled it shut. “You,
weapons?” she asked, looking at Naoka.
“Some useless summoning
scrolls but that’s it,” Naoka – the diplomat one, judging by the tone – said.
“But in interest of honesty and cooperation, we do not need weapons to be
dangerous.”
“No, I don’t expect you
do,” the woman agreed, arching an eyebrow and looking him over before
nodding. “I am Uzumaki Sagami, this is Kazama Rokurou – we’re here to
escort you to the Tower.”
“Uzumaki Sagami?”
Orochimaru asked with interest. “As in Uzukage Aizu’s sister?”
“One and the same,” she
agreed and looked at Naoka. For a moment she looked like she was about to say
something but in the end she just motioned them down the pier. "Right this way then, gentlemen.“
They followed her and her partner
down to the shore properly. There were few people about, fishermen and the
like, who didn’t pay them much attention to them as they headed up from the
harbour towards the actual village. It was a pretty short walk, and the road
was pawed all the way – the worst bit for Naoka seemed to be the stairs leading
up to the village itself, but Orochimaru kept a hand on the man’s back the
whole way, so Jiraiya didn’t draw attention to it.
Once there, though…
It had been a few years since
he’d been to Uzushiogakure, but he remembered it being full of cheerful, if
weird people, quickly to laugh and hard to anger. He’d made a whole bunch of
fast friends in all of his visits, and they’d always been pretty happy
encounters.
Now…
All around them people in and out
of Uzushio flak jackets were on obviously nervous and they were all staring at
them – no, at Naoka. Almost as if they recognized him, and didn’t quite know
if they liked him. Everyone from kids to adults seemed to be hyper aware of him
– few were even whispering behind their hands, pointing at him.
Jiraiya looked around them,
confused. Then he looked at Naoka. "I thought you haven’t been here
before,” he commented.
“We haven’t,” Naoka
said slowly and bowed their head slightly, his lips thin. “I think… they
can sense our chakra.”
There was a weird look on Naoka
face, dark and contemplative as he looked from one person to another, trying to
figure it out. Then his expression switched as another Naoka took control.
There was realisation on his face now, and amazement. “These people – they
–” he started and then swallowed what he was about to say. “Oh, damn,
I think I know why now. Holy shit, this
place.”
“What?” Uzumaki Sagami
asked sharply.
Naoka ignored her and suddenly
stopped, his eyes widening slightly. Jiraiya and Orochimaru both followed his surprised
stare, to find him staring at a statue that stood smack in middle of Uzushio
central square. A statue of an elderly spiky haired man seated in meditative
position.
Vaguely Jiraiya recalled that
Uzushio’s main street was laid out in a spiral that started out on the central
square – they’d cut through most of it by the side streets that connected
different parts of the spiral. The central square – and its gigantic stone
statue – were literally the centre of the Uzushio spiral.
“You like our statue?”
Sagami asked, eying Naoka suspiciously. “That’s the Sage -”
“It looks just like him.
Damn,” Naoka said faintly. “That’s Super Grandpa Hagoromo, down to
the last wrinkle.”
“Excuse me?” Sagami
asked, looking offended. “That is a statue of the Sage of Six Paths – show
some respect.”
“Yeah, it is,” Naoka
agreed and shook his head in amazement. “Its exactly him. You even got his
weird glare right. That’s amazing.”
-
Orochimaru had been careful about
his expectations. All things considered he still knew very little about Naoka,
and next to nothing about why he really wanted to go to Uzushio. There had been
no way of knowing what the man was planning and what would happen, once they’d
reach the village. Expectations would have been unwise.
The reactions of Uzushio-nin was
hardly surprising – there was a high number of chakra sensors in Uzushiogakure
after all, and Naoka had confessed to having several types of chakra. Naoka
sensing something about them in return wasn’t that strange either – one aspect
of him was an Uzumaki with powerful chakra abilities, it stood to reason he
might be a sensor as well.
For Naoka to recognise a statue
of Sage of Six Paths… Not just recognize it, to say it looks just like him…
Just what was that about?
Uzumaki Sagami stared at Naoka
for a moment, unreadable look about her face. She looked between the statue of
the horned Sage and then Naoka. Then her expression hardened. “The Uzukage
is expecting us. Come on.”
The Uzukage Tower stood just behind the
statue. It wasn’t Uzushio’s most imposing building by far – there were other
larger buildings. But it was one of the oldest buildings there, and maybe the
strongest. Like all of Uzushio’s buildings it was stone – and it was carved
full of small seals.
Rumour had it that every
Uzushio-nin added protective seals to the Uzukage’s Tower when they graduated.
Orochimaru looked at Naoka as
they approached the tower, taking in his expression. Whether Naoka recognised
the seals or not, they definitely seemed to sense something about the tower,
and there was a curious, almost wondering look on their face as they entered
the building.
“This place is amazing,”
the cheerful Naoka murmured softly with a shake of their head and then
personalities switched and they slouched their shoulders slightly, the
diplomatic one in control once more.
“What was that about?”
Jiraiya asked, not quite nonchalantly.
Naoka shrugged and didn’t answer.
Then, seeing Uzumaki Sagami head for a case of spiral stairs, he made a face.
“Oh no.”
“I’ll support you,”
Orochimaru offered quietly.
“That won’t make it any less
easier for our knees,” Naoka sighed, giving him a look. “But we
appreciate it.”
It was still obviously hard going
for the man, especially since the Uzukage’s office was at the very top of the
tower. It was a round room that took that whole level, with windows on every
wall, showing a nearly perfect 360 degree view of the village and it’s
surrounding areas. The floor was grey and, of course, marked with the Uzushio
Spiral.
Uzukage Aizu was there, sitting
on one of the many meditation mats near the windows.
“Aizu,” Uzumaki Sagami
started as they stepped in.
“I know,” the Uzukage
said calmly and stood up. “Thank you, Rokurou, you’re dismissed.”
“Sir,” the shinobi said
and vanished in whirl of warm air.
When Orochimaru had met the Uzukage
with Sarutobi-sensei for the first time, he’d thought he looked like he’d been
in a gale. Few years later, Uzukage Aizu still looked windswept and ruffled,
red hair sticking every which way. But ruffled or not, the man was still intimidating,
tall, wide shouldered, and obviously powerful. You didn’t get to be the Kage of
a village like Uzushiogakure if you were anything less.
“Welcome back to Uzushio,
Orochimaru, Jiraiya,” Uzukage Aizu greeted when with an amiable smile, as
he stepped off the meditation mat. “Its good to have you back. And you
must be the informant we’ve been expecting,” he said and turned to Naoka.
“I’ve heard some interesting things about you. You’re hoping to buy a
place in our village.”
“Something like that,”
the diplomatic Naoka said slowly, watching him closely. “And even if you
refuse sanctuary for us, we still have some information for you which we think
you might find important. And which we’d rather share in private.”
The Uzukage smiled wryly at that.
“Of course,” he said, not quite sarcastic, and turned to Jiraiya and
Orochimaru. “Let’s get the nasty official business out of the way. I think
you have something for me.”
“Yes, sir,” Jiraiya
said, glancing at Orochimaru. “It’ll take summoning to get it here – is it
fine if we do it here?”
“I’ve seen it done before,
it’s fine – go ahead,” the Uzukage said and motioned the floor.
“There should be plenty of space.”
Feeling weirdly like he was about
to perform a new jutsu for Sarutobi-sensei to inspect, Orochimaru turned to
Jiraiya. “You start, I’ll add my part after you.”
Jiraiya nodded, bit his thumb,
and crouching down begun to quickly sketch out seals on the spiral marked floor.
Aizu, Sagami and Naoka all watched, Aizu with mild smile, Sagami without an
expression and Naoka with curious tilt to his head. The seals were quickly enough
done, though – after all, Jiraiya only had to do half of them.
Once he was done, Orochimaru bit
his thumb, and added in the second half. Neither of them had ever seen the
summoning circle in full, but Sarutobi-sensei had taught their parts to them
perfectly, and to Orochimaru’s censorious eye it looked good enough.
They activated it together, and
in explosion of chakra smoke, a large scroll appeared, fastened carefully with
the Hokage’s official seal.
“Excellent,” the
Uzukage said, and picked the scroll up, hoisting it over one shoulder. “Thank
you, gentlemen.”
“Of course, sir,”
Orochimaru said and he couldn’t help but feel terribly interested in
what that scroll had in it. Sarutobi-sensei had gone through awful lot of
trouble to keep it secure after all.
“As for what comes to
you,” Uzukage Aizu said, turning to Naoka. “You realise that for
private audience, you would be chakra sealed and chained.”
Naoka blinked at that and
straightened. “That is acceptable. But… you’re going to need more than
that,” he said apologetically. “If you mean to make us
harmless.”
“Oh?”
“We have abilities that
won’t care about mere chakra seals and chains,” Naoka shrugged. “I’d
suggest paralysis seals for below neck paralysis, chakra coil anaesthesia,
chakra neutral cell and lead clad blinders.”
The Uzukage paused at that and
Jiraiya choked a little – even Orochimaru stared at Naoka in astonishment. That
implied… it implied a lot of things. That Naoka could use chakra even with
his own sealed, and he’d need the slightest movement to do it, maybe none at
all. That he could perhaps break any chakra seals and chains they put on him. A
chakra neutral cell too – those were for people with ability to absorb chakra.
And finally… lead clad blinders. Those were designed for Hyuuga and Uchiha,
which was… very interesting indeed.
The Uzukage coughed, hiding whatever
he felt behind a smile. “And that’s be enough to make you harmless?”
He asked with some amusement. “That’s quite the risk you’d be taking,
putting yourself in that sort of vulnerable situation.”
“Not really, we’d still be
able to escape,” Naoka shrugged and the amusement on Uzukage’s face
vanished. Naoka smiled faintly at the man and shrugged. “But it would make
us unable to attack, and incapable of further actions until the anaesthesia
wore off.”
Aizu stated at them hard for a
moment and then let out a faint laugh. “I’m almost tempted to do it just
to see if you can actually do what you boast,” he muttered, shaking his
head and turning to Sagami. “Please show
our good Konoha-nin here their rooms,” he said. “I’m sure they’re
tired from their travels.”
“Brother?” the kunoichi asked suspiciously.
“It’s fine,” the Uzukage said and looked at Naoka. “And
hey, if he’s here to assassinate me, then you know who to blame, won’t
you?”
“We’ll blame Konoha and start a war,” Sagami muttered. “Don’t do
anything stupid, stupid.”
“Why I never,” Aizu
said and blinked innocently at her.
“Tch,” she sighed, and
turned to Jiraiya and Orochimaru. “Come on, I’ll show you the rooms where
I will mercilessly murder you if your friend here touches a hair on my
brother’s head.”
Jiraiya let out a small, awkward
laugh and Orochimaru hummed. So, his recollections of the Uzumaki were right.
They were all insane.
-
Kakashi stood as straight as he
could as the others left, leaving them alone with this… Kage they didn’t really
know. Of course it stood to reason that Uzushio would have a leader, same as
any other village, but somehow in all their plans for Uzushio and what they’d
do when they got there, they didn’t quite plan for a Kage.
Well, there were lot of things
about Uzushio they didn’t plan for. So, so many things they hadn’t planned for.
Uzumaki Aizu stood still for a
moment, head tilted to the side. Then he made a seal that was very obviously
not one of the standard hand seals, and there was a pulse of chakra.
Naruto perked up inside them at that, and sent his senses out – and moment
later, the silent, invisible guards present disappeared.
Communication but chakra pulses.
Kakashi swallowed and even Obito felt odd, awed unease. Not only was this… casual
throwing of chakra abilities so common in Uzushio that they’d created a system
of it, but it was so common that a system could actually be used.
In Uzushio… everyone was a chakra
sensor.
Except they weren’t.
They probably weren’t even ninja,
really.
“There, bit of
privacy,” the Uzukage said and walked over to the clearly rarely-used desk
on one part of the round room, setting the scroll Orochimaru and Jiraiya had
summoned on it. “I do hope you aren’t actually assassin sent here to kill
me, though. That would be a major bummer,” the man said and rested his
hand on top of the seal. “So, what do you have for me.”
“I… don’t know where to
begin,” Kakashi admitted. “What we have to say you won’t believe, and
we have little evidence. Except for ourselves.”
“Hm,” Aizu said.
“How about you just say what you have to say and we take it from there,
hm?”
Definitely an Uzumaki, Obito
thought, but not meanly. There was something almost nostalgic about this guy.
Something a lot like Naruto – something a lot like Kushina. It was weirdly
comforting.
Oh this was Kushina, if this was
Naruto… what would they say.
Everything, Naruto thought. If
this guy is what I think he is – and I’m pretty sure he is – just tell him
everything.
“In few years time there
will be war,” Kakashi said slowly. “It will eventually spread and
then it will be called the Second Great Shinobi War, it will last almost eight
years. During that war, there will be a power shift in Kirigakure. The Second
Mizukage will die in battle, and he will be replaced with Kiri’s Jinchuuriki,
Yagura.”
He took a breath. “Yagura
will be under control of… outside forces, with agendas of their own and on
their command, in his first year of office, Yagura will attack Uzushio with all
of Kiri’s power,” he said and met the Uzukage’s eyes evenly. “It’ll
be a massive surprise attack. Uzushio will be completely destroyed, every
citizen killed, before Konoha even hears about it.”
The Uzukage stared at him. “Well,”
he said and then nothing else for a long, tense moment. “I think,” he
said eventually. “I think you better explain that all in bit more
detail.”
Kakashi smiled wryly. “No,
rather, I should start from the beginning,” he said. “Do – do you
mind if I sit down?” he then asked. “My knees are about to give
out.”
Aizu gave him a strange look but
motioned them to go ahead – and they did, all but collapsing to the floor,
stretching their aching legs out. “Sorry, we’ve got some… issues with
anatomy,” Kakashi sighed, rubbing at their aching calves. “Anyway, I
assume you know who Uchiha Madara is?”
“Was,” Aizu said.
“Is,” Kakashi refuted.
“He’s not dead.”
-
Uzumaki Aizu had been Uzukage for
good twenty years and in that time he’d encountered a lot of… frankly weird
things. He was leader of Uzushiogakure no Sato, after all, and if there was a
village with more crackpots in it than his, he’d yet to hear about it. In his
time he’d known all sorts of ninja, from side to side, some of them more sane
than others. As their leader, he’d loved and accepted them all.
Sarutobi had told him about this
Naoka in couple of lengthy letters that detailed some things his students had
reported to him. Subject of human experimentation, unusual anatomy, three minds
in same body, and strangely blatant and straight forward goal of Uzushio. If he
was honest, Aizu had rather been looking forward to whatever it was, a poor
assassination or spy attempt, or something bigger.
To have the man there, in his
village, was a whole different thing. The feel of it, his chakra… he had so
many. Off hand Aizu could count four, but there were others, hints of
chakra that had been there, absences in already too much of a tangle. Going by
his reactions so far, the man had some sensor abilities, and Aizu would
honestly be surprised if it ended there.
No doubt about it, the man was
very, very unusual.
But this…
Even for Aizu the idea that one
of Konoha’s founders was alive and plotting to enslave all of sentient and
sapient life under genjutsu that utilised the moon was bit too much.
Naoka sat on the floor, running
his hands – his four hands – over his legs has he talked with single
minded straight forwardness of someone used to reporting, telling him…
impossible things. That Uchiha Madara had not only survived but he’d stolen
some of the First Hokage’s DNA when he’d escaped. He’d then used that bit of
DNA to awaken ancient powers, Rinnegan, Mokuton, before using it to create a clone
of Senju Hashirama, harvesting him for even more DNA. From that, he meant to
grow an army.
He probably was already doing it.
“He’s himself being
controlled though, subtly manipulated,” Naoka continued, his tone almost
flat. “When he awakened the Rinnegan and summoned the Demonic Statue of
Outer Path, it brought with it… something from where it had been previously
sealed away. Madara thinks he created it, that it’s his most loyal servant, but
it’s not. Zetsu, it calls it self and it’s the manifestation of someone else’s
will.”
Aizu folded his arms, staring at
the man. Weirder and weirder. “And you have no proof of any of this?”
he asked, and it took some effort to keep himself from laughing because…
because it was all so ludicrous.
Naoka looked up at him and then
something about his eyes changed. Curiously, there was no change to his chakra
at all – another aspect of his personality took control, but their chakra
didn’t reflect it. Interesting.
“That statue down
there,” Naoka said, nodding towards the window. “How do you know what
he looks like?”
“Lucky guess?” Aizu
said, idle, inflectionless.
“You got every wrinkle on
his face exactly right,” the man said and leaned back a little. “You
got his eyes right, you clothes right, you got his fingernails right.
That thing was made by someone who’s seen the old man. Who made it?”
Aizu considered him for a moment.
“How do you know to tell how accurate it is or not?”
“Asked you first,”
Naoka said with a toothy grin and stared at him hard. “Did you make that
thing?”
Aizu smiled faintly at that.
“No.
It was build by Uzumaki
Miura, the wife of First Uzukage,” he
said after a moment. “My mother.”
Naoka frowned a little at that.
“Your mother,” he repeated. “But wouldn’t that make you –?”
“A lot older than I look?”
Aizu asked and shrugged. “How do you know what the Sage of Six Paths looks
like?”
Naoka considered how to answer
than for a moment. Then, shrugging his shoulders, he pushed his sleeves up to
his elbows so he could lift his hands without tearing them. Then, as Aizu
watched, he removed the somewhat ragged bandana he had over his forehead.
Aizu’s mouth didn’t quite fall
open with shock, but it was a close thing.
“Because I met him,”
Naoka said, and looked up at him with five eyes. One of which was the legendary
Rinnegan. “And I think,” Naoka said slowly, “as the leader of
Ninshu, you’ve probably met him too. And that’s precisely why Madara, under
Zetsu’s command, will try to destroy you – because this whole village is in the
way of Otsutsuki Kaguya’s return.”
- - -
Sup. Look at my extremely AU Uzushiogakure. I ain’t even sorry about it. Pretty Obito-lite chapter this one, but they were trying really hard to be on their best behavior.