Naruto ch 12

Chapter 12

 

 

Coming back into the office half an hour later Naruto’s eyebrows practically flew off his head when he saw the only one in the room was Ayako, glancing around as Haku stopped next to him stunned his face wrinkle dup in confusion, Haku finally broke the silence, “Where did everyone go, did we lose all of the candidates.”

Looking up Ayako giggled, “I sent them home to clean up and come back in regular workout clothes, I figured for the next part you might like to see their skills and then maybe all of you can sit down and have a picnic, a meal the way I intended.” Grumbling under her breath, “even after I castrate that pretentious chef, I’ll do the meal myself so I know it gets done right.”

Blinking slowly Naruto tilted his head to the point he was looking at Ayako sideways, at her sudden what he stood back up and shrugged, “Nothing, I though I heard someone muttering threats like I do when I’ve been surprised is all.” Ignoring her fish impression He went over to his desk, “how many of them decided to stay to find out more?”

“Four,” Ayako pointed to the folders on his desk, “Only the four oldest ones, the younger ones while thinking that the whole thing is glamorous, well when they found out they would end up pregnant within a year, they were shocked out of their daydreams.” Finished cleaning up she bowed, “Uzumaki-sama I’ll leave your to your meeting with the Wave delegation. I told the girls to return around four,” she waved as she walked out the door.

Haku went around and picked up the folders, peaking inside to see who had stayed before he piled them on the corner of Naruto’s desk. Hearing boisterous chatting coming from the hall Haku leaned over and whispered, ‘Do you think Tazuna-san had a little too much Sake with lunch.”

Naruto growled out as he looked up, “He better not be drunk and come to this meeting asking for my decision…”

“Relax young one,” Tazuna smiled as he walked into the office, “I am no longer under the stress I was back when the bridge was being built and my family and country were on the verge of being enslaved or killed. I’m much too busy and happy to lose myself in the embrace of the warm oblivion.”

Looking at Tazuna, really looking at him Naruto nodded at finding what he was looking for, “Come in, please sit we have much to discuss.”

Yoshio was still amazed, “to think the most powerful person in this country is going on thirteen, amazing,” he whispered, then blushed as he noticed Haku-sama heard him.

Naruto had heard that of course but he was watching all of them and the man was not saying it to be mean, more like his tone was amazed and filled with awe. Which truth be told he still found funny when directed his way, even after almost four years, pulling his paperwork out of the left hand slot he placed it on the desk. “Good afternoon, I hope you have found your visit as eye opening as my people did?”

“Indeed we did Uzumaki-sama,” Tazuna smiled, “And I personally wish to thank you for the honor of allowing us inside the Caldera Valley, from what we have been told we are the first and most likely last delegation to be allowed inside now that you are building what your people call the outside village.”

“Yes, we have a long memory of traitors and war, a war to wipe very last one of us out,” Naruto almost whispered the answer as he looked at all four of them one at a time, “the merchants guild tells me this alliance will be a good for business, so much so that we would have to expend the outside village in size to a modest size trading center. The village council also tells me they would like to see this alliance happen, they feel it would be good for the people.” Seeing the so, so expression on their faces he shrugged, “The clan council likes the idea o f the alliance for the simple fact it will give them more to do, and if Zabuza follows through on his threat a base of operation.”

“That out of the way,” Naruto sat back in his chair as he glanced up at Haku with a smile, “from what I understand of these things, your proposal includes paying us a yearly fee of five percent of the amount of what your country does in business to have our Shinobi protect you.” Leaning forward now so he could let them see how serious he was, “I happen to know firsthand from going through several of the towns how much everyone is struggling to just eat, even with the influx of Gato’s businesses and cash you still have a ways to go before you’re truly back on your feet. So what I propose is a test run, I agree to the alliance which can be cancelled by either of us in the first year, many things can happen in a year. Beginning one year from now we will accept payment from you to patrol your country, until then we will satisfy ourselves with accepting students to our Shinobi academy as payment, after all the best way to keep you country safe is with your own Shinobi when they get trained up.”

Yuri chuckled, “Too true, and in a year Water might be part of Whirlpool and then we can join too.”

Naruto’s eyes crossed for a moment as he turned quickly to the female civilian, “Do you know something we don’t?”

Yuri was suddenly very serious, “The so called Daimyo of water right now will never bow down to the demands of the Mizukage, and he is so afraid of those that have Kekkei Genkai he will be willing to destroy his country before letting anyone with a blood limit live. I met him once and I do think he would be ruthless enough to have his army kill off every living soul to make sure no one with a blood limit would ever hurt him again.”

Haku reached down and pulled an empty scroll from the bin and started to write a detailed note to Zabuza warning him of what they had just been told.

“I see,” Naruto frowned before shaking his head, seeing what Haku was writing he would let Zabuza handle it anyway he wanted and hopefully he could stay out of it. Pulling the folder out of his drawer Naruto signed and stamped the top copy before sliding it over so he could sign and stamp his copy for their files. “I thank you for that warning, even if it gives me a headache later, he thought as he smiled. “This is your copy of the alliance treaty, modified like I just mentioned just now. Our Chuunin exam is in two weeks so in a month’s time you can expect the first of Whirlpool’s Shinobi forces to arrive, of course we will start accepting missions as of tomorrow and the liaison team I send back with you can send the requests on to me for approval as soon as they arrive.” Standing up Naruto looked at the four of them, the meeting over.

“More than fair young one, Naruto-sama I thank you on behalf of my country,” Tazuna bowed, as he stood back up he smiled, “Inari has done nothing but talk about you since you left, I have no doubt he will be one of the first to sign up for your academy.”

“Yes, thank you Uzumaki-sama for agreeing to the alliance,” Yoshio bowed as he readied himself to leave, after all they had taken up more than enough of his time.

Haku finished and rolled the scroll up, “Naruto-kun if you don’t mind I shall escort our guests to the mission office where the team is waiting to escort them back to Wave.” Holding up the scroll he nodded at Naruto’s questioning look.

“Ask Jiga to assign team Tarla to see that scroll gets to Zabuza promptly,” Naruto went to the wall and made the notation by the team name on their mission and gave it a week’s duration.

Gazing at the wall as he tried to figure out how to best rework the teams when the Dragon trials were over with, feeling a presence behind him he turned his head to see one of the hunter team he sent to find out what happened with team Kodochi. “Did you find out what happened to Kodochi’s team?”

“Hai Uzumaki-sama,” the Hunter-nin got up from his knee so he could face Naruto-sama, “Ryto used the reverse summon scrolls we carried to rush Team Kodochi to the hospital. We found a team of Iwa ninjas near the battle ground we found Kodochi’s team, the Iwa Shinobi looked like a border patrol, but they were clearly well inside Waterfall countries borders when they attacked our team.” Moving next to his leader he pointed to the spot on the map where his team found Kodochi and his injured Genin team, “Dai sealed up the bodies of the Iwa Shinobi and have taken them to the morgue to await the discovery team, but until Kodochi wakes we will not know what truly happened.”

Staring at the wall Naruto finally nodded, “Have your team take a few days off, drop your written report off as soon as you can. I think…I think,” he started to grin evilly, “I might have one of the Dragons drop by Takigakure no Sato to drop off the bodies and let the leader of the village hidden by Waterfalls know what happened inside his borders, maybe he might have some information he is willing to spare.” Turning back from the wall Naruto went back to his desk, “Good job Kaori, go get some rest so you can get some training in before the test.”

“How…” Kaori whispered before shaking his head, of course Uzumaki-sama would know he wished to try for Dragon, he mentioned it to Jiga who must have passed it along, bowing his head slightly, “Hai, Uzumaki-sama.”

Staring at the space where the slight mist whirling like one of their countries famous whirlpools Naruto tried to think what in the world Iwa was up to.

 

Watching the four Kunoichi run through their weapons skills Naruto leaned over to Haku, “Think we should let them run the maze?”

Haku was watching those four carefully, he and Naruto had talked and three of them were to carry his children first. So far they were very skillful in weapons, but there was more to protecting their children than being good with weapons. “I think it would be interesting,” he nodded agreement at the suggestion.

Once everyone had collected their weapons from the targets Naruto waved them over, “One last thing before we sit down and talk things out, and we answer all your questions. This next exercise will let us get a feeling to your current level, even though all of you are ranked Chuunin you might be skilled higher but your reserves drag you back down. This last test will take you to the edge, it’s our training maze. To get through it you are going to have to use everything in your arsenal.” Seeing nothing but eagerness Naruto smiled, “So follow us and we can get started.”

Leading the way Naruto walked towards the back of the training grounds, towards the rock outcropping, once there he moved to the smallest boulder on top of the pile. Hand glowing with chakra he placed it on it activating the release mechanism.

Seeing a set of stair being uncovered Toshiko hopped up to see better, “That is so cool, a secret underground training area.”

“You’ve not seen anything yet,” Haku grinned as he motioned for the four girls to go first, so he could bring up the rear.

Stopping gat he balcony above the maze Naruto looked back as he hit the switches turning all the lights on, grinning as the sounds of surprise, “Welcome to the Uzumaki training maze, the place we test ourselves to the very edge.” Pointing out the safety features he grinned, “Each of those red door leads to safety, so anytime you need to bail out of the maze go for one of those doors, and of course we can stop the training maze from up here at any time.” Cracking his neck Naruto’s grin was infectious, “I’ll go first so you can see how the maze handles.”

Jumping over the balcony Naruto bounced off several different outcroppings until he was on the maze floor.  Seeing the light turn green he was across the starting line on the floor in a blink, Kunai flying from his hand without him even stopping. He was around the corner before the three Kunai hit the red targets sliding across the track, in the second stretch those observing him blinked in surprise as he made several rapid hand seals bringing to life a giant wind born whirlpool, picking up a board Naruto jumped on top of it as the board hit the outer edge of the whirlpool and was drawn into the swirl, only to jump off the board landing on the floor on the opposite side of the dying whirlpool. Once the whirlpool disappeared the Genjutsu on the floor revealed the spike filled pit.”

“Crap…” Moriko muttered as she looked at the other girls then back to the maze.

“The spikes are also an illusion, but falling into the pit means failure, and it is wide enough you can’t easily jump over it,” Haku watched as Naruto approached the water hazard.

A resounding boom brought the girls attention back to the maze as a fireball rose up from the back section.

“Almost all of the animal dangers in here are Genjutsu that cannot be dispelled because they are seal based,” Haku calmed the girls down before grinning, “But the section Naruto-kun is entering now is all mechanical.”

They watched in horror and an eerie fascination as Naruto-sama jumped, dodged and blew things up to make it through this section of the maze. Their mouths fell open as he threw Shuriken and kunai to catch chains to stop deadfalls from activating.

Ten minutes later Naruto looked up from the finish line grinning, sweat dripping down his face as he called out, “Time?”

Looking at the clock Haku yelled down the Naruto who was climbing the steps back up, “Three seconds faster than last time.”

“Damn,” Naruto grumbled as he grabbed a towel from the ledge as he stepped back onto the balcony. “I got bogged down at the third turn.” Grinning at the group he tilted his head as he changed the course. The sounds of gears grinding was loud in the silence of the cavern as walls dropped and a new path opened up, “I set the maze to Chuunin level instead of Dragon. So it should be a lot more fair on you and still let us see your skills, the only thing we are going to keep track of are your times. Because if you take up the offer to be part of the Uzumaki clan you will be down there more often trying to improve your times. Any questions before we start?”

Kako shook her head as she jumped to the top of the rail, “I’m first.”

Jumping and dodging Kako laughed out loud, she was having fun, and running through another set of hand seals she let loose with one of her trademark fire Jutsu’s incinerating the oncoming horde of giant ants. Rounding the corner she saw movement and threw a shuriken without thinking and froze as she noticed it hit the image of a child. Falling to her knees she could not believe her eyes as she felt another presence drop down next to her.

“When I first went through the maze several years ago,” Naruto started as he sighed, “My mother had left instructions and even a video of her running through the maze to show me what it was all about. And just like I did for all of you, she never once mentioned that part of the maze had targets that were not targets. I felt like crap as I sat on the floor bawling my eyes out, even Haku never made it through the maze without injuring one of the victim targets. It’s what we do from here that shows how truly string we are and can be,” holding out his hand he helped Kako to her feet, “The test is over, and you passed.”

Kako looked up at Naruto-sama with tears causing her to be partially blind, “How…how can you say I passed…I…I…”

Pulling her tight against him Naruto looked up at the wall that blocked the rest of them from seeing what had happened, “You passed because you proved you are human, not only are you a good Kunoichi but you are human and feel guilt for killing one you should not have. My mother told me that all the mothers to the Uzumaki clan formed a special squad, and not to accept anyone if they failed this part of the test. Because only a Kunoichi could understand what this truly means to them and by going through it they would drive themselves to make sure it would not happen again…And those Kunoichi would go through hell and back to protect our children.”

Pushing chakra into his legs Naruto jumped to the top of the wall and ran to the balcony in blur, setting Kako down he looked at the rest of the girls who were worried, “She’ll be fine, it was nothing physical.” Seeing the slow nods that did not quite agree with him he smiled, “Who’s next?”

Half an hour later Naruto was leading a group of emotionally spent young Kunoichi’s back to the surface and into the house, smiling gat the quiet group he led them to the middle of the meditation garden and sat down,   Haku returned with a tray with water on it and a wet towel for Kimi to clean her face from where she had been sick.

“We…I put all of you through hell, emotional and physical,” Naruto sat and watched them as Haku took care of giving then soothing drinks and helped Kimi clean up, “And a small part of me is sorry for that. The larger part is thankful that all accept Kimi are at low Jounin level, though Kimi is not far behind, and if you still wish to be part of the Uzumaki clan after what you have gone through we will help you get stronger, all four of you would easily be able to go through the Jounin exam without a problem when we finish your training. So now that we have put you through things you never expected it is only fair that if you are still interesting in being the mothers of our children and being bonded into the Uzumaki clan you have a chance to ask some questions to help make up your mind.” Smiling as he accepted the glass of cool water from Haku he reached up and pulled him down on his lap.

Chuckling Haku slipped of Naruto’s lap to sit next to him, taking a small sip of his drink he watched the girls, the future mothers of their children if they agreed at the end of this meeting.

Kako choosing to be first again looked at Naruto, “Everything I’ve been put through just shows me you are serious about keeping your children safe. I think I can speak for everyone still here that we have a very good idea of what it means to be an Uzumaki male, and Ayako made it very clear that any Uzumaki mother is a Shinobi first and foremost. Though I’m not sure what that means, but what do you mean by bonding to the clan? Is that different than a bonding one does to a husband?”

Nodding his head Naruto finished his water and set his glass on the tray; closing his eyes he remembered his mother’s history lesson from a year ago, “The Golden Dragon, a special Division of the Dragons. They who where the golden dragon mask protect the Uzumaki clan, they protect our children and the children of our village.”

“In the time before the war the Golden Dragon division was the most feared division of any of Whirlpool’s Shinobi forces. Each and every one of them power wise was on the same level as the five Hokage’s, “Naruto opened his eyes as he looked at Kako, “all of the Golden Dragon’s are drafted from the Mother’s of the Uzumaki clan.”

Kako was wide eyed in awe, now she knew what Ayako meant, but why didn’t she just come out and say it, unless she never knew .that had to be it, no one knew where the Golden Dragon’s were recruited from but the Uzumaki.

Nodding as he saw they understood Naruto smiled, “Yes. Now to answer what it means to be bonded to the Uzumaki clan, this is not like a marriage bond; this is a physical bond that affects you on the DNA level. If you agree to bond to the clan you will be given the gift of a partial form of the Uzumaki Kekkei Genkai.”

“How…” shaking her head Nyoko thought about it, “I have heard rumors that the Uzumaki clan was masters of the Kekkei Genkai, the bloodline abilities, but I never would have dreamed it meant you could give someone a blood limit.”

“And that is a secret that is so deeply entrenched in our clan it means death to the person who even thinks it out loud,” Haku placed his own half full glass back on the tray, “the consequences to our children if it gets out is to horrible to even contemplate.”

Naruto nodded as he watched the four, “And I would not even have mentioned it now if I did not trust that all four of you are about to ask to be bonded to the clan.”

Kimi nodded, she was not going to back down now, even if her father was the one to originally push her in this direction, “How soon would we be expected to get pregnant and with who?”

“Normally the mothers of the clan are a much larger number and they can choose amongst the numerous males to have their four children with, but there are only two of us right now,” Naruto stared at them for a moment, “Let’s face facts, all of those eight that will be chosen will be compatible to our bloodline, they will be chosen to help strengthen the clan. Nyoko, Moriko and Kako were chosen to carry Haku’s children first, Kimi you are the youngest and I am still several months away before I would father a child so you will carry my child first. We still need to chose another four Kunoichi to fill the rolls of mother of the clans children but that will fall to all of you to make the first cuts once you are actually pregnant, only then can you take up the duties of being a mother of the clan.”

“As for when,” Naruto gulped quietly, “When, after all of you pass your Jounin exam. It will be safe to get you with child then as I don’t want any of you in a combat situation while pregnant if it can be avoided.” Holding up his hand, “Which does not mean you won’t be training your asses off every day; it just means you will be relegated to in country missions until six months after the baby is born. By that time you should be able to take up the mantle of Golden Dragon until it is time to get pregnant again and give the position to one of the other mothers while you train and teach the children.”

Haku blushed as Kako examined him, eyes undressing him with a grin before winking, “I understand what it means to be an Uzumaki male so I will not embarrass you.”

“That is the other reason why all of you made the final cut to have us test your skills,” Naruto looked up as the sky started to darken, “You can accept that while you must be faithful to the Uzumaki men, those same men are Bi and keep a lover. In the future those lovers who make good genetic matches to the clan will be bonded into the clan and will also have children with the mother’s of the clan, when we get to that point we will continually skim off the best of the best Kunoichi from Whirlpool into our clan.”

“So…” Haku stumbled over his words, “So do you have any other questions that you need to make your decision?”

Nyoko looked at the other Kunoichi and mouthed ‘are you going to’ to each of them and turned back when she got a yes from them all, “When do we move in and when do we start training?”

Chuckling Naruto stood up, brushing the sand off his pants, “Let me show you the wing you will be living in.” as they followed him up to the porch and past the Dojo, “You can start moving your belongings in tomorrow afternoon, once you have bonded to the clan and you get part of the Uzumaki blood limit, you can start training three days later. We’ll have to teach you the new chakra control and building exercises you’ll need before you start training because of the changes.”

“And you’ll definitely need them,” Haku winced at the loss of his hard earned control right after he had been bonded to the clan.

“These rooms are for the mother’s of the clan,” Naruto pointed to the row of room surrounding a mostly bare central garden, the only thing installed was a continuation of the Koi pond. “As you can see the garden is still not finished and since this is your wing I’ll leave the design to you, our room is back in the main part of the house, and once you have moved in we’ll show you where everything is.”

“There are plenty of rooms for you to chose yours from,” Haku waved around the courtyard.

Opening up the closest door Kako looked inside the room, it was bigger than her bedroom back home.

“Closet is over her,” Naruto opened the door to show them the large closet before opening the second sliding door. “A place to store all your uniforms and weapons.” Seeing the smiles on their faces he giggled before getting serious and walking past the bed to the only other door in the room, “the nursery.”

All the girls were sobered by that little room, it was brought home to them that soon they would be mothers, and if they were truthful with each other it made them nervous and excited at the same time.

Half an hour later as they walked back up the path from escorting the young Kunoichi to the gate of the estate Naruto raised his head enough to see into Haku’s eyes, “Shall we do a quick wash up and head to bed?”

Grinning in anticipation Haku took the initiative and dragged Naruto towards the Furo.