Naruto chapter 07

Chapter 07

 

Walking out the back door of the citadel Naruto led Haku down a short flight of steps before crossing a bridge only to go back up the steps, seeing the questioning look as Haku looked back at the bridge he shrugged, “I know…I know, but from what dad mentioned in his journal there is a good reason for not just making the bridge go from the citadel to the hill, something to do with the defense of the tower.” Shaking his head as he smiled at the sight of his parents home exactly where it should be in the front of the rest of the clan building he felt like jumping in joy, his dad was a genius. “Now that we are here to stay I’ll have to dig up the scrolls he left me explaining all the defenses of the city.”

“It’s beautiful, how much of this structure is the original house and how did you get it to merge seamlessly?” Haku studied the as they walked around it to get an idea of its size.

Rubbing his neck Naruto shrugged, “To tell you the truth I have no idea. I might be able to copy my dad’s sealing work after some study, but I have no clue how he was able to do some of the things he did.” Walking up the steps Naruto slid open the door and reached for the light switch out of habit as he kicked off his sandals, to his shock the lights came on, “what the hell?”

“What is the mater Naruto-kun?” Haku sat down on the step to take his shoes off as he looked around, “this looks like a very nice house, you can tell by the floors it was handcrafted with care.”

“We have electricity,” Naruto frowned as he tried to sense any chakra signatures around.

“Well of course we would have electricity the lights came…” Haku trailed off as he understood what was worrying Naruto. Dropping several Senbon needles into his hand he held his other hand at his side ready to quickly form seals as he followed Naruto through the house.

After a quick trip through the house and not finding anything touched or missing Naruto stood in the central garden and looked up towards the roofline, “I don’t sense anyone around. Yet…I’m not sure why we have power, since the last time I was here there was no power hooked up yet, no water either, yet that is working too.” Scratching the back of his neck he shrugged before hugging Haku with a smile. “Let’s head towards the kitchen and unseal the special feast I saved to eat after my move.”

Melting into the embrace Haku quietly nodded before they broke apart to follow Naruto into the kitchen, “From what I have seen this is a very special place. I am going to enjoy living here very much.”

“I’m glad,” pulling one of the long scrolls out of the cupboard Naruto quickly rolled it out covering the table before molding some chakra into the activation seal. With a puff of smoke the table was covered in huge boxes of food stuff, “I’ll unseal dinner as soon as I get the groceries put up, that way we have food in the house for the next week or so plus all the main staples.”

Smiling as he opened up all the cupboards Haku started to put the items needing refrigeration in the refrigerator while Naruto quickly put the staples away, “I would have never considered long term storage of foodstuffs like this.”

Chuckling as Naruto rolled up the large scroll before unrolling a small one, “My parents were geniuses. When I discovered this place I was so confused when I opened the cupboard to find it overflowing with scrolls.” Laughing as he took the warm food from the top of the scroll so it could be reused later on he sat down as Haku brought over some plates and drinks. “I was six when I discovered this place.” Filling his plate with food he smiled as he got lost in memory, “I learned so much, but especially about my father’s motto of planning for the worst and expecting it to go further down the toilet.” Snorting as he drank some juice, “Well its close enough to his motto for now.”

“Anyway after several hours of exploring I sat down right here all depressed and stomach growling when I found the letter my father wrote me sitting on the top of the table. I framed it and placed it in the room I use as my office, so all I have to do is turn my head and remember that they planned to take care of me if the worst came to pass.” Snorting as he ate some more, “the letter explained how to unseal the food stored in the scrolls, for the first time someone gave me the tools to learn and succeed. Anyway I was shocked silly at the amount of food in one of the scrolls.”

Taking another sip Naruto smiled at the enjoyment on Haku’s face as he ate, “I later found out they had stored enough food for ten years in these scrolls, just in case. The smaller scrolls hold food my mother prepared that were their favorites, I’ve saved them for special occasions now that I know how to cook, well mostly cook that is.”

“I am honored Naruto-kun, thank you for sharing something special like this with me,” Haku bowed low with a slight blush.

“I’ve been thinking,” Naruto put his chopsticks down as he looked at Haku, “I know that my father’s bloodline has to do with rapid healing, with training in molding chakra to areas of your body you can heal pretty much anything very fast. I know of a way to share that bloodline with you.”

“How,” Haku stared at Naruto, “I thought a person could only have one bloodline gift. That the stronger Kekkei Genkai would override the weaker one that is what everyone is always told anyway.”

“Unless you are an Uzumaki, and you are one of us now, or will be if you agree to the procedure,” Naruto pleaded with his eyes.

“Is this your mother’s bloodline?” Haku was curious, smiling at the thought of having something that actually made him part of the clan he had joined, a physical aspect like a blood limit would be proof.

Cleaning up his plate after covering the containers of the leftover meal, “My mother’s gift, what set her apart as a genius, was the ability to manipulate blood limits. But the real gem is that the…her Kekkei Genkai, the Uzumaki blood limit is the genetic ability to merge two bloodlines creating a new one. Of course that aspect only works with and through our offspring,” frowning as he tried to remember what he had read, “I think the scrolls said that we can bring other blood limits into the clan by, as crass as it sounds, breeding the gift we want into our line.”

Haku blinked as he thought about what Naruto said, “I am not sure I fully understand…Maybe because I do not have the same schooling in the medical field that you do.”

Standing and putting the dishes in the sink to be washed while Haku put the leftovers in the refrigerator Naruto tried to figure out a way to say what he meant, “As far as training in the medical field, well I couldn’t heal a cut if it was not on my body.” Grinning as he rubbed the back of his neck, “Tomorrow I’ll pull the scrolls out again and let you read them. I only studied blood limits and how they were formed, or at least how my mother thought they came about. She had notes on almost every blood limit heard of and how to tweak them I think is how she put it. All I know is that because of you joining the clan I am willing to use her knowledge to give you my healing blood limit, and any children we have, if they would have children with each other instead of one blood limit dominating the weaker it would combine somehow to become something different, a merging of the two.” Shrugging Naruto smiled shyly, “let’s take the conversation to the Onsen, and then we can get to know each other better when we go to bed.

After rinsing off and stepping over the warm rocks Naruto ignored the fact the rocks should not be warm as part of tomorrow’s investigation of things that should not be happening as he slid into the deep pool. Sighing in relief as he sat on one of the submerged stone benches he smiled as a beautiful sight stepped into the pool, Haku really was something.

“So your mother’s skills,” Haku rolled it around in his mind, “Made it easier to use her bloodline limit to modify other people Kekkei Genkai, their special bloodline only skills?” seeing the nod he looked incredulous, “Why the hell weren’t your clan hunted down and captured for your skills?”

“Because it is and was the best guarded secret of my clan,” Naruto smiled sadly, “Though the invasion of Whirlpool way back when my mother was young was because there was a rumor about a great secret we hid that would give great power to those that had it, the power to create bloodlines.”

“How…How many…” Hauk stuttered before sitting upright, “But more important why are you telling me?”

“If the Clan journals are correct, we had a hand in creating almost all the bloodline limits, at least a good eighty percent of them,” Naruto smiled shyly, “Not that I understand much of what the technical scrolls are explaining…well at least not yet. And as far as why I am telling you.” Taking a deep breath Naruto looked at him, nervous as hell, “Because you are Uzumaki now, when you accepted the blood bond you were accepted into my clan, not as a retainer, but as a full member, tomorrow night we will go to the seal room and we will make it permanent when I give you my healing ability. We will tell the public that the Uzumaki bloodline has to do with our incredible chakra reserves, along with our chakra growing at a very early age.” Chuckling Naruto pictured it, “I can see it now, instead of hunting down our four year olds like normal children, we will most likely find them sticking to the underside of tree limbs or something. The Uzumaki children have to learn Genin and Chunin level chakra control very early or they will have trouble with their control once their reserves start to really grow.” 

Nodding with a smile Haku got confused and then looked at Naruto, “Wait…You said your mother’s families bloodline gave all of you the ability to merge other bloodlines into your children, giving them both bloodlines and eventually merging them into a new one. How come you are not a mix of all the bloodlines out there now?”

“Because we have been very careful in who we chose to be the mothers of our children, it doesn’t hurt that almost all of the male Uzumaki are attracted to the same sex the most, even though we would be considered to like the best of both worlds so to speak, if given the choice to settle down with one mate it usually ended up being male. That is why my clan went from one of the strongest in numbers to just me after four generations.” Naruto smirked as Haku blushed, “Which also means now that you are an Uzumaki and male you fall under our clan laws, you will have to choose four Kunoichi to be the mothers of your children and we will have to choose carefully so they will strengthen your bloodline when children are born. And they have to be Shinobi because they must be able to protect our children and clan, there is no other way.” Naruto looked away for a moment before shaking off the morass he was sinking into, grinning at spotting the full body blush Haku was sporting he slowly stood, it was time to wash.

Haku watched Naruto wash up intently, ‘I think I fit in with my new clan quite well, in fact it seems it was made for me’. Slipping out of the water he balanced on his heels with his knees spread wide across from Naruto and slowly started to soap up his body, aware he had eyes on him. Smiling he enjoyed the quiet knowing another was taking enjoyment with his simple act.

A quick rinse later Naruto decide to forgo another soak choosing instead to lead Haku to his bedroom, tomorrow they would finish setting up the house, lowering the back of the futon Naruto got in and held the covers up so Haku could slip in beside him. Getting comfortable they both fell into a deep relaxing sleep.

 

The next morning Naruto rolled over and found he was all alone in bed, smiling at how well the previous night had gone he slipped out of bed and almost whooped in joy at the thought of not having to wear that hideous orange jumpsuit anymore. Getting dressed in black he pulled his vest on without zipping it up. The vest that had the clan crest on it, the orange spiral against a sea of black, opening the small case on his dresser he stared at the Shinobi rank pin laying on the velvet and steeled himself as he took it out and pinned it to the other side of his vest. Ready for the day he walked out in search of Haku, staring at the garden with a smile on his face he heard a noise coming from the kitchen, “Good morning Haku, you’re up early.”

“Good morning Naruto-kun,” Haku smiled as he put the simple breakfast on the table, “I was hoping to get an early start, explore some of the village and after lunch if you can go through the procedure…the sooner you can do this…well I’m excited,” he grinned.

Chuckling Naruto nodded, he knew that feeling, it was the feeling he got when he used the transport seal for the first time when he was nine and found himself in the citadel. Remembering back to that day he ate automatically.

 

After a long morning of training Naruto sunk down into the chair in the recreation room and put in the next tape, he had two weeks off from the Academy since it was between semesters, he planned to use it wisely. All his plans went out the window as his mothers face flickered on the screen after he pushed play.

                                                                            Greetings Naruto

Well if you are watching this and it is soon after your ninth birthday I just want to say congratulations, you have worked long and hard to get to this point, and we are both proud of you.

 

Naruto thought she had the prettiest laugh as she stared at him from the television screen.

 

You might be wondering how I know you have been working hard and have accomplished all we set out for you, well the truth is your father is the greatest seal master to ever live, so each box of lessons tests your chakra levels before allowing itself to be opened, and the only way for you to gain the level necessary to trigger the seal is through hard work and mastering what we had set you doing from the last lesson. It will probably surprise you to realize you are working at a low to mid Jounin level, so it is time for you to visit my home, the home you will as heir to the Uzumaki clan lead from.

 

Shocked, pleased and excited Naruto leaned forward eager to hear more.

 

You have already learned in your clan history lesson about the third great Shinobi war, what we have not mentioned until now is that at the beginning of the war you father and I along with a few very trusted friends went back to my home country and rebuilt the last stand village. We did so for two reasons, so that my people could come home and if things went horribly wrong Konoha had a place to fall back to. A safe haven to heal and recoup so we could retake Konoha from the enemy.

While I don’t want to boast, well not too much, she laughed, we put protections around the valley the village we rebuilt is in. Calling it a village is not being truthful…we built a city; we and our summons did that is. You could easily move the capital city of Fire country and the Leaf village into it and still have room left over for more people to move in.

Your father used his toad summons to build huge impassible mountain ranges around the new land, they literally rebuilt the countryside. And then he spent days on end working at night in secret placing his most devastating technique in the basalt mountaintops, he emplaced blood seals that will completely drain chakra from any person not of Uzumaki blood. He did this for two reasons, once activated he would never be able to go up there and damage them or turn them off, and I would never have the skill to do so. In time though Naruto you would have the skill to perform maintenance if it is needed. So for now the caldera valley is safe from outsiders, and our people are safe.

 

To say Naruto was shocked was the understatement of the year, what his mother said next added to the shock.

 

The reason why we went to such extremes is a simple one my son, by the time the war was over most of the people of Whirlpool had found their way back home, and now that you have advanced to the level of Jounin it is time for you to take a trip home, they are expecting you around now. Until now the council has been holding things together for you, and the ninja of the village will be anxious for you to come home to give them their orders. A small amount of blood on the transport seal activation symbol while molding Chakra in your hand will take you home and bring you back when you’re ready. Plan carefully my son as you need to spend seven days getting comfortable with your people and clan duties.

Your next set of instruction tapes can be found in the citadel.

 

 

Naruto was brought out of his trip down memory lane when he heard the chime of the iron bell at the gate, confused he looked up and back towards the garden, hearing the bell clang again he got up, “I’ll be right back Haku, breakfast was really good thank you.”

Making his way out of the house Naruto peaked curiously over the gate before spotting four people he had not expected to see yet, the three members of his council and his Shinobi aide from the Citadel, opening the gate he grinned at them, “Good morning, what brings you four around so early this morning?”

Showing signs of relief Jiga smiled, “We were very worried about you Uzumaki-sama, it’s been almost a month since your house showed up, and when you did not follow, well let’s leave it at that we are glad you have returned for good and we can stand down the armies”

Eyes widening slightly Naruto motioned for them to come in, “Please come in, I can explain how things went wrong once we get to my office.” Smirking as he led them back through the dojo and spotting Haku putting his weapons away, “I would like you to meet Haku.” Hiding his snickering as the bowed and greeted each other he started down the hall towards his office, “After tonight it will be Uzumaki Haku…”

Haku hid his giggle as the four froze in mid-step from shock.

 

Sitting down behind his desk Naruto moved some of the scrolls to the back credenza while his advisors and assistant sat down, Haku mouthing the words tea slipped away to get refreshments together. Smiling at him he pointed to the chairs, “Please sit.” Looking up to the ceiling he shook his head, “I think my father must have been cursed with bad luck when he was a child and it rubbed off on me somehow. If it was not for the fact I prepared for the very worst I could think of happening that morning and going the extra step besides I would have ended up having to go missing-nin and more than likely we would have to go  to war. Thank the gods my preparations of studying the Leaf law gave me several outs, last night I and Haku returned to the Leaf after completing the required C-Rank mission to allow one to drop out of the Leaf Shinobi ranks. Unfortunately the C-Rank mission turned into a high A-Rank bordering on S-Rank…but I’m home for good now, back where I belong. And it was not all for the bad, I got Haku out of it.”

Ayako smiled as she looked at their lord, glancing up at the pretty young…man? Sitting up as she accepted the cup of tea she was surprised. Remembering the tendencies of the Uzumaki clan, or as much that was ever revealed she sipped her tea before playfully asking, “So Naruto-sama, does this mean you will be holding the search early?”

Winking at Haku’s blush Naruto nodded, “While I still have probably a good six months before I could father a child, Haku is more than mature enough.” Becoming serious he looked at them, “I’m not going to mince words, my…and Haku’s priority for the next year or two is rebuilding the clan. All the old Uzumaki clan laws are in full effect, and we will adhere to them strictly.”

Jiga nodded as he noticed the Jounin rank pin on Haku’s collar, “So when do you think you want to let the rest of the world know about us?”

Reading between the lines Naruto nodded, what the man really wanted to know was, when would they send out word Whirlpool would be accepting mission again. “Did you finish building the office and outpost at the foot of the outside mountain pass?”

Grinning Jiga nodded his head eagerly.

Chuckling Naruto nodded as he finished his tea, “Then Jiga your dream has come true, after all it slipped out to the Konoha village council this was where I was going and that the village was not as empty as they thought.” Glancing over at Ayako who was studying Haku as she took notes he hid his grin.

“Since today is Saturday, I planned a quick visit to the bank to deposit the spoils form my A-Rank mission into the Village account, then I planned to show Haku around. At least the highlights so he knows where the important shops are. Is there anything that I truly have to deal with before Monday morning?”

“Other than the fact you need to think about when you want to schedule the Chunin and Jounin exams, your weekend is surprisingly free,” Jiga craned his neck around looking for the reason Naruto needed to go to the bank, he was curious to know how much money Naruto was talking about.

“Ayako, if you would meet with us after lunch on Monday you can finally get your project underway, by then Haku and I will have come up with a list of requirements possible candidates must have before they are considered,” Naruto wasn’t sure he should trust here gleeful look, ignoring her for the moment he looked at Kyoto this year’s merchant advisor to his council, ‘if you could drop off an update on the trade expansion plan and how it is progressing this weekend I can take a look through it before Monday.” Glancing at the only person who had not said anything yet, just spent the whole time sitting there grinning, “Should I be worried Katsuro?”

Still grinning like he knew something Naruto didn’t Katsuro shook his head, “Besides you taking the reins of your clan permanently and you statement you are about to start rebuilding the numbers? There is the possibility of three new clans joining us if the talks have a positive conclusion, and one of the clans has a bloodline limit.”

Sitting up, Naruto looked at the clan representative eagerly, “Really? What blood limit are we talking about?” bouncing eagerly in his chair he became impatient to get answers so he could go off and dig through the clan archives.

Katsuro chuckled, “I swear you act like a kid running through a candy store for the oddest of reasons. All I know for sure is that they have some strange gift with fire.”

Giggling Naruto pouted before breaking out into a grin when no one bought his act, “It probably has to do with growing up as the last of my clan, and digging into the history of my clan to feel a little closer to my ancestors.”

Standing up Naruto grabbed Haku’s hand, “Let’s get the banking over with before they all go home.”

Frantically looking around and seeing Naruto only pick up a fatter than normal scroll, Jiga offered, “Do you need me to carry anything,” frowning at the one scroll Naruto was carrying.

Holding up the scroll Naruto grinned, “This is one of my father’s multi-storage sealing scrolls, it has a sealing set every foot and a half.”

“Holy Shit,” Jiga looked at the scroll with a new respect, “When are you going to release some of the new sealing techniques?”

“Very soon,” Naruto slipped his sandals on as he led the way to the gate, once on the path down to the village he glanced over his shoulder at Jiga, “Wait until you read the report of the success on those new reactive tag seals, I’ve had a chance to try both types out including the chakra wire…they work great.”