Chapter 36 -> Part 36

Here, take the hat for on your way," Sakumo said, thrusting the traditional, conical hat into my hands as I left. "And don't bring it back, I hate it."

I was mostly used to the occasional odd request from Sakumo and tied the hat on my head without questioning it.

After saying my goodbyes to Sakumo, and Kakashi, who woke just as I was leaving, it didn't take me long to walk to the Uzumaki house. I figured it had been too long since I last saw them and would be rather impolite and potentially alarming for me to slip into the window, so I knocked on the door and listened to the muffled voices shouting something indecipherable.

Ise opened the door, and his face brightened the second he recognized me. "It's nice to see you alive and conscious," he murmured and wrapped me in a hug. Before I could open my mouth, he was brushing the dirt from the road off my clothes and taking off my hat.

"You don't have to hide the seal," he said as I reflexively reached up to cover it when he pulled off my hat. "All the kids know about it already, as well as the fact that you're a Jinchuuriki."

"How?" I asked warily, keeping my voice low.

"Fusō and Kushina got into an argument when you were declared MIA after the war with Iwa restarted. Some things were slipped and Kushina didn't realize she had left the door open until the damage was already done. Don't worry, the kids aren't allowed to talk about you unless they're in the house and there's only family here." He hugged me again and smoothed my hair. It was a little weird after going what felt like six months almost entirely alone, but I didn't mind the contact. "Why aren't you armed?" he asked.

"I'm only ever armed when I'm on a mission or training," I answered readily.

"Fair enough," he shrugged. "Are you up to meeting all the kids at once or should I send in a few at a time? Tsunade-sama said you might have problems adjusting."

"Can I see Minato and Kushina first?"

"Of course, kiddo, I'll wake them up and send them to you."

"No! You don't have to wake them. Let them sleep, they're probably exhausted. I'll go talk to them once I've seen everyone else."

Ise nodded and guided me out of the entryway. The rest of the house was a lot different than what I remembered. Instead of a mostly-open space with only a few rooms closed off and temporary dividers closing off individual rooms, the rest of the walls had been built. A long hallway stretched from the front of the house to the back, most of the doors ajar. I glanced inside as I passed the rooms, noting that most of them were bedrooms. Ise stopped at one of the closed doors and knocked.

"Nagato, are you in there?"

"No," a voice responded.

"Nagato—"

"I'll come out when it's time for dinner."

"You can't spend your whole day studying, son."

"I'm not studying, I'm reading."

"If Minato gave you another—"

"It's not from Minato, I promise."

"May I come in?"

"No."

"I have a surprise for you."

"I don't care."

"Nagato—"

"I'll come out for dinner."

Ise sighed in exasperation and lowered his voice so Nagato couldn't hear. "He's attempting the Genin test in two weeks, even though Fusō and I told him he couldn't. We had a fight about it last month and he hasn't cooled down yet. He wouldn't even come when I announced to the others you were back. He doesn't know about you."

"Does he even remember me?" I asked skeptically in the same low tone. "He was only four when I left."

"He remembers you, but I'm not sure how much. He wrote you down as a shinobi reference for his Genin application. That was the reason Fusō and I found out about it, because those on the MIA list can't be used as references and the application was returned through the mail. Kushina noticed it and gave it to us, so he's mad at her as well. I hate to ask you, but he still really looks up to you as his idol, and if anyone has a chance persuading him to wait to take the test, it's you."

"It's fine, do you want me to talk to him now or later?"

"How long before they call you back? Tsunade-sama mentioned they could send you out at any time after you're released."

"I have three days before I have a training session with Sakumo."

"Thank you, Kichiro." He wrapped me in another hug.

"That's what family's for, right?"

"Everyone'll be outside if you need anything." When he released me and walked away, I turned to the door and opened it quietly.

"Go away, I don't want to talk to you," Nagato grumbled, not even glancing at the door. He sat against the foot of his bed, the book propped up against his knees and tapping his chin with the tip of a kunai. It looked like he only had a few pages left.

I slid the door closed behind me and leaned against the wall, surveying the room. From where I stood, his bed was in the far-right corner of the room, situated so he could easily face the door as he slept. In the center of the room was a low table cluttered with beginner-level seals and Fūinjutsu supplies. In the near corner to my left was a dresser with two drawers hanging open to reveal his clothes. Atop the dresser was a small bookshelf, with several books arrayed neatly on it. A kunai pouch lay on the floor beside the head of his bed.

"Good riddance," he snapped to himself.

I waited for him to say something more, but he thought I had already left and went back to reading. I waited for him to finish the last few pages. From what I could gather by reading over his shoulder, he was reading the book on the shinobi rules and regulations. He stood up, walked across the room and replaced it on a small bookshelf. It wasn't until he turned around that he noticed me leaning against the wall. He froze, staring at me, the kunai lodging itself between two floorboards.

"If I was an intruder wishing to kill or capture you, you would have been at my mercy for almost ten minutes now, Nagato," I told him bluntly.

"You're MIA," he retorted after he got over enough of his shock.

"'MIA' is a nice way of saying a shinobi is either captured or an unconfirmed rogue. Your first reaction to seeing me here and in reasonable health should have been to attack with the kunai you dropped because I'd probably be a missing-nin or an enemy with a very good Henge."

Belatedly, Nagato crouched, snatched the kunai out of the floor and hurled it at my chest. I was glad my reflexes weren't too dull to catch the blade.

"Unless you have another, you should never throw your last weapon until you are absolutely sure it is a kill shot and are in the process of following your blade to retrieve it." With a quick step and a little bit of chakra to my legs and feet for speed and traction, I stepped between Nagato and the pouch of training kunai. He looked towards the table with several explosive seals on it, but I cut off that attempt as well.

He settled into one of my favorite basic Taijutsu forms. When I didn't move, he attacked. It was almost too easy for me to grab his wrist and pull him into my knee before slamming him face down on the floor. He tried to roll over, kicking at my ankles in the process, but a little bit of chakra and his foot just bounced off. I knelt beside him and ground his forehead into the ground.

"That was a decent try."

"Who are you?" Nagato growled.

"I'm hurt, it sounded like you recognized me earlier! I suppose I'm not really surprised. You were really little the last time I saw you and even before that I only spent a few weeks with you."

"I remember you!" He protested vehemently.

"You sure about that? You haven't said my name or asked me any questions to verify my identity. I suppose I could forgive your lapse, you just started at the Academy after all, right?"

"I've been in the Academy since I turned five!" Nagato retorted hotly.

"It doesn't look like it from my perspective. I expected a lot better from you."

"Stop being mean!"

"News flash, kid: all shinobi are mean, they hurt and kill people for a living."

"I'm not gonna be like that."

I snorted. "Do yourself a favor then and stay a civilian, because if you keep on this path, you're going to kill people, you're going to tear families apart, you're going to get hurt."

"To-san put you up to this, didn't he?" Nagato struggled against my grip.

"He asked me to persuade you not to take the Genin test, yes, but I don't care about the stupid test."

"Then why are you telling me to quit?"

"Lots of reasons. The biggest one is that I love your parents and I don't want anyone to hurt them, even if it's you coming home in a box."

He didn't respond, his face reddening in shame.

"The next reason is that I love my family, even though I haven't seen them in a long time, and I want them to stay safe."

"You didn't stop Minato and Kushina from being shinobi!" He retorted smugly.

"The two of them didn't suck at defending themselves. Did you know, before they graduated, they were able to take on a Chuunin and win. You can't even be bothered to turn around when the door opens, I don't care how angry or upset you are at whoever is supposed to be standing there."

"There were two of them against one person!"

"They work as a team, Nagato. That means they would stick together and fight together on a mission. You don't have a teammate to help you, so that means I expect that much more out of you."

"My sensei says I'm really good for my age," he snapped defensively.

"Your sensei isn't the one with the final say."

Nagato looked as if he wanted to cry.

"If you follow through with taking this Genin test, I will make sure you fail. When you think you're ready, challenge me. If you can beat my Taijutsu, even if it takes every skill, jutsu, and trick you have, then I will let you take the test, hell, I'll make sure you pass it, get on a good team, and get the best sensei the village has to offer."

"You can't do this," he choked out

"Do you want to test that theory? You're staying alive whether you want to or not, Nagato." I released him and pulled him back to his feet, but he only sank back to the floor, crying. I knelt in front of him and brushed his hair out of his eyes. I wasn't sure how Madara had done it, but the Rinnegan was most certainly still dormant and his eyes were a dark brown.

"I'm sorry, Kichiro-san," he cried and lunged forward to hug me.

"What happened to 'nii-san'?" I teased and hugged him back.

"You're not mad at me?"

"I'm not mad."

"But I hurt you!"

"I'm okay, Nagato, getting mad wouldn't help anything. You know, you did hurt your parents, even if you didn't mean to. You should go apologize to them."

He nodded against my shoulder. "But not right now. Everyone will be so happy you're back and I don't want to share."

"I guess I'm fine with that. Do you like the Academy?" I asked, ruffling his hair.

"It's not really the Academy. One of the old retired shinobi is teaching me but it's still—You're the one who's been gone a long time! I should be asking you questions!"

I leaned back on my hands as Nagato parked himself on my lap. "I've still been gone and I don't know a lot about what's been going on here. I'm going to tell Minato and Kushina the entire story, and when I do you can listen as well. You still want to be a shinobi, right?"

He nodded.

"Okay, then I'll come and get you when I go and talk to our favorite duo. Deal?"

He nodded again.

"For now, how about you catch me up on everything I missed."

In simple words, Nagato summarized what I missed with the family. It was mostly everyday things, but I missed a number of larger events. Shortly after Nagato started training, the Inuzuka clan had a litter of puppies who couldn't access chakra. Normally, the puppies would have been put down instead of sentencing them to a life without a human counterpart, since the Inuzuka clan was the only clan in Konoha who was made up exclusively of ninja. Kushina found out about them and persuaded the Inuzuka clan head to gift the puppies to the Uzumaki clan. Nagato was of the opinion that the clan head only agreed because the litter had the same number of puppies as the Uzumaki clan had civilian children, which any shinobi knew would be at risk once they began to learn Fūinjutsu. Even though the puppies were unable to access chakra, they were still smart and strong enough to serve as guards, and any ninja, no matter what rank, would hesitate to attack a child guarded by a large dog with Inuzuka markings. Both the puppies and the children loved the arrangement, and the Uzumaki and Inuzuka clans had quickly become the closest clans in the village.

Nagato snickered as he recounted several events since that solidified the unlikely friendship. All four of the events Nagato knew of were explosive arguments between two members of the clan that somehow always ended with the two clans taking over the nearest restaurant and sharing a meal. It was completely illogical and unlikely, and no one else dared to get involved.

A group of four Uzumaki women appeared at the Konoha gates while Kushina was negotiating for the dogs. They claimed to be from Land of River and they were all civilians who got word of their clan being reestablished in Konoha and decided to try their luck somewhere they could openly share their name without fear of being exploited. After an extensive attempt to make sure they were who they claimed, the four were pointed at the clan and fit in nicely. One of the women was a doctor, while the other three were Fūinjutsu masters, who had posed as an artist, scribe and forger while in Land of River. One escaped the destruction of Uzu while on a trip to Suna as a tourist. The doctor's story was similar to Ise and Fusō's, and the other two had been on the mainland during the destruction and fled, spending the intermediate years trying to settle down in different minor countries, only to be forced to flee when their names were revealed. They made several attempts to enter Hi no Kuni, but their lack of papers prevented them from legally crossing the border. It wasn't until they met the other two women that they made it across with fake papers. Luckily, Fusō knew the three Fūinjutsu women on sight, and Ise was familiar with the doctor's name, even though she was several years behind him in Uzu's medical program.

At the arrival of the women, Ise and Fusō no longer had to work odd, infrequent hours to make sure someone was home to take care of the adopted orphans. The second floor of the house was entirely dedicated to Fūinjutsu. Now able to practice their preferred trade, the three women started a business of sorts from the sale of customizable explosive and storage seals to shinobi. They also sold security and barrier seals to shinobi and clan households. When Uzushiogakure was destroyed, the market for seals in Konoha had collapsed and prices for explosive seals had skyrocketed. Several groups had tried to fill the void, but the Fūinjutsu knowledge had been all but lost. The three masters slowly started to ease into the devastated market and lowered the prices, creating a promising future for it, depending on how many of the civilian children chose to join in the effort. The clan would never be in want of money. Several individuals already approached the clan to ask for apprenticeships, but the women hadn't been satisfied with any of the candidates and refused.

A few months after they arrived, a man, seriously injured and claiming to be an Uzumaki, had approached the Konoha border from Yu no Kuni. He was brought to Konoha and his identity was verified, even though none of the established Uzumaki recognized him. Before Uzu was destroyed, he was one of the village's merchants, and at the destruction, he lost the entirety of his livelihood, as well as his wife and infant son who remained in the village. After a few failed attempts to restart his business, he apprenticed to a samurai, who threw the man out when he got word that the Uzumaki clan was aligning themselves with Konoha and the man refused to give up his clan name. On the slim chance one of the surviving children was his son, he cut through a territory that was being fought over by two groups of criminals. He barely made it to the border before he collapsed, and had a variety of impressive scars after he recovered. Once he established himself as a member of the clan and somewhat recovered from the disappointment of his family still being dead, he was given the responsibility of 'everything else' which included fixing up and maintaining the house and property as well as acting as a salesman and advisor for the budding Fūinjutsu business. It didn't take long for the kids to start calling him 'Ji-chan'. Since his arrival made the clan large enough to earn representation in the council of clans and the rest of the clans wouldn't take no for an answer, he had drawn the short straw and become the clan's representative. He was good at his jobs, even if he made a show of hating the other uppity representatives and the incessant teasing from the other adults, of which he was the youngest, excluding Kushina and me, who were only considered adults because of our shinobi status.

As the highest-ranked shinobi, I was still recognized as the default clan head under Konoha law. Nagato noted that one of the only good things about me going MIA for so long was that as clan head I was technically the legal guardian of the orphaned children and Kushina. Of everyone in the clan, I was the only one with enough public standing to handle the bundle of attempts by other clans and families to incorporate Uzumaki blood into their lines. One of my first jobs back would be to accept, or preferably reject, the shinobi clans attempting to pull Kushina into their families and the civilian families attempting to either marry into the Uzumaki clan or pull members away from it. I was quite disgusted to hear that news, mostly because no one except Kushina was even ten years old, though the oldest of the civilians would be ten at the end of the month. The rest of the clan shared my sentiments.

Nagato started telling me about how Minato and Kushina had been promoted to Chuunin just after Kakashi was born when a loud angry knocking sounded from the front door. "It's one of the suitors trying to take one of the civilian kids," Nagato grumbled. "He came yesterday, but since it was during dinner we ignored them until they went away. To-san didn't want to risk a fight since Kushina and Minato weren't here and Ji-chan was at a meeting."

"I guess I have to handle it," I sighed, standing up. "Do you have something I can wrap around my hands and forehead?"

Nagato nodded and jumped up to pull out a roll of bandages from his dresser. I wrapped my forehead and the palms of my hands as I slid open the door and walked to the front of the house. When I glanced behind me, Nagato was following closely and Ise was quietly ushering everyone through the back door. As soon as they disappeared into one of the rooms, I opened the front door.

"Good afternoon, stranger-san. Is there an emergency that requires you to attempt to break down the door?" I greeted politely.

"Who are you?" The man demanded and took a step forward to enter the house, but I made no motion to move out of his way and allow him through. After a long moment of staring each other down, he returned to his position. He was dressed in traditional clothes and had a little boy and girl, twins, primped up to look thrice their age hovered behind him, terrified.

"Generally, the visiting stranger introduces themselves first," I responded coolly. Three men, apparently there to look intimidating, took a step up onto the porch, making the space seem more than a little crowded. Frankly, civilians, no matter how big and strong they looked, didn't scare me the slightest.

"Oshiro Riku, head of the Oshiro clan. My clan controls seventy percent of the spice trade in the land of Fire," he responded pompously.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Oshiro-san. I am Uzumaki Kichiro, and this is my little brother Nagato." I put an arm around Nagato's shoulders and pulled him partially into view, forcing him to hide the kunai in his hand, but not fast enough for the civilian not to notice. Suddenly, he was a bit less confident, though it was almost imperceptible. "Is there a reason for your visit?" I prompted when he tried to stare me down again. I knew he expected me to invite him inside and play host, but I knew better.

"May I speak with your clan head?"

"That is me."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you, young man."

"I assure you, I am telling the truth. I am a Chuunin shinobi of Konohagakure, as well as an Iryo-nin and Jinchuuriki. That makes me the senior shinobi of this clan and with the main family deceased, I am, by default, the head. I'm also in the Bingo books if you would like to verify my claims, though that entry might be slightly outdated."

The man in front of me lost a lot of confidence at my closing statement. "Uzumaki Kichiro was declared dead over a year ago," he drew himself up pompously.

"I was declared MIA, not KIA, but I can understand the confusion. With all due respect, I am fairly certain your visit isn't about the identity of my clan's leadership."

"You are correct. I came to discuss the engagement of one or both of my children to members of your clan." He bowed respectfully.

After a brief moment of hesitation, I mimicked him and stepped aside so he could enter. Nagato took his cue and led them to the appropriate room once they had taken off their shoes and dusted the dirt from the road off their clothes. I made note of the fact that the roads were abnormally dry for the time of year.

I closed the door behind everyone and followed them to a room with a table in the center and cushions arranged around it. I sat down opposite the Oshiro clan head. A man who appeared to be a lawyer sat down at the clan head's right and placed four scrolls on the table between us. The guards knelt in a line against the wall behind the clan head and the children stood on either side, directly behind him.

"I'll get some tea," Nagato said and hurried out.

"It has come to my attention that you have several children in your clan at the perfect age for betrothal. As a new clan with such a young head, I can understand the difficulties in establishing yourself a political base of power."

The door opened to reveal an unfamiliar redheaded man. He bowed politely to the room, closed the door behind him, and knelt beside me on my right while I carefully kept my eyes on the Oshiro head. I only looked away when he slid a piece of paper in front of me that briefly explained who he was and why he was here in a rushed script. The ink hadn't even had a chance to dry. It was nice to know his name was Takeshi since Nagato only referred to him as 'Ji-chan'. I folded the page before the Oshiro's lawyer could read it upside down and retuned my attention to the guests.

"As I was saying, I can understand the difficulties in establishing yourself a political base of power, especially as an active shinobi. I wish to help you in that."

"Before you continue, I would like to ask why it appears that I need help in these matters."

He smiled widely. "You see, your clan only recently entered Konoha politics, and are only just beginning to participate in the trade here. There are many pitfalls in the markets and anyone can benefit from someone with experience. An alliance with my clan could only prove beneficial for you."

"As I'm sure you are aware, my clan is quite small and the goods and services we have to offer this village reside firmly on the shinobi side of this economy, even though the clan is mostly civilian. Why do you suppose we need the help of another civilian clan who almost exclusively caters to civilians?"

"To broaden your spheres of influence and provide your children with potential niches in the workforce."

I glanced at Takeshi for guidance and he motioned under the table for me to accept the explanation. "Hypothetically, would this betrothal be an alliance between the clans or the absorption of one clan into the other?"

The door opened and Nagato came in with a tray of tea and placed it between us and served it with ease. In the distraction, the Oshiro's lawyer took one of the scrolls off the table. I almost missed the deft movement and tensed at the fact a civilian nearly pulled a fast one on me. Takeshi scribbled down a note in pencil that assured me neither the Oshiro or his men would not be able to cross the table without triggering the room's security. I read it and flipped the page over.

"The betrothal would be an alliance," he assured me once Nagato knelt with his back to the wall.

"So tell me, what can your clan offer that any other clan in this village, particularly one I am more familiar with, cannot?"

He immediately launched into a well-practiced spiel extolling the virtues of his clan. I listened with amusement and enjoyed my tea. I signed at Nagato to tap on the floor twice if he could understand the standard Konoha signs. When I heard the confirmation, I proceeded to mock the man through signs to amuse myself and assure Nagato I had no intention of following through with any agreements.

Partway through, the stomach of one of the children, the girl's, growled obnoxiously.

"Nagato, would you be so kind as to take Oshiro-san's children into the kitchen and find them something to eat?" I figured it wouldn't be very polite of me to embarrass the father in front of his children.

As soon as they left, Oshiro hurried and finished the speech, finally noticing that I was less than impressed by him. Before I could state my opinion on the matter, he launched into an extremely dehumanizing description of the two children, as if he was attempting to sell them to me like an animal. I might have been slightly overreacting, considering his behavior would have been considered perfectly normal to most anyone else, but I was certainly not going to deal with it any longer, damn the consequences.

"No," I interrupted him firmly. He glared at me in shock, as if I had just thrown my tea in his face, a motion I was honestly considering. "I am not interested in trading children for money, prestige, or political power. If you are interested in allying our respective clans through marriage, your proposal will be considered when the parties affected by the agreement are of age and have initiated the conversation." I always wanted to throw someone out of a house and I dearly hoped he was going to provoke me to the point where I would be justified in doing so.

He smirked at me, which was not the response I was expecting. "Let me rephrase, little boy. You are in no position to deny this settlement."

With a somewhat evil smile, the lawyer spread out the scroll he had taken off the table earlier in front of me and pointed at a blank space on the scroll for my signature. The clan head unrolled a quill and ink jar above it.

"I'm afraid I don't see a reason why I'm compelled to sign this." I raised an eyebrow at them.

"Kichiro—" Takeshi began grimly.

I held up a hand to stop him. "Oshiro-san, as I am sure you are aware, I am a shinobi. I have fought in this war and I have killed both in defense of myself and in defense of this village. I gave myself up to become Iwa's prisoner, I gave myself up to be tortured for several reasons, the foremost of which is the children of this village, the future of this village. Now, tell me why I should voluntarily betray the happiness of those I've sacrificed for. If it's money, forget it. The children of this clan will grow up reasonably well-off, that I am certain of. If you think prestige can tempt me, you're forgetting the fact that the Uzumaki clan has their insignia on the back of nearly every shinobi in this village, even though they are an almost-entirely civilian clan, and always have been. For that same reason, we have a disproportional effect in the political sphere as well. From my perspective, I have absolutely no incentive to agree to anything, especially after you attempted to rudely knock down the front door and proceeded to insult me by insinuating I was a liar, incompetent, and dead."

He just glared as I rolled the scroll closed and tossed it at him. It bounced off his chest and landed in his hand.

I stood up slowly and the rest of the room quickly stood in return as I leaked the tiniest amount of killing intent. "Not even the Hokage could make me give up one of my family members, and I assure you, he's tried. Now leave. Please." I finished. They left in a hurry.

A minute after the front door slammed, Ise appeared in the door.

"I'm going to make sure his children get home," Takeshi said and slipped past him.

"Minato and Kushina are taking them back," Ise said over his shoulder. "Everyone is at the dinner table."

"No one's going to complain if I just accidentally started a feud with the Oshiro clan, right?"

Ise laughed. "No, kiddo, we're not going to complain. No one else knows you're here yet, so why don't you stay here until I come and get you so you can make a big entrance."

I rolled my eyes. "If you say so."

Ise closed the door behind him with a vindictive grin.