Chapter 26: Chapter 23
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***
In the evening of the same day.
While cooking dinner for myself, I was thinking about the past fight between Ryoshi and Hiashi. Water Element techniques, right? I tried to evolve in all directions, but he concentrated on water and Fuin? Honestly, I didn't expect that from myself. I'm more into Fire, Lightning and Wind Techniques. Well, maybe it's because he's been to Kirigakure a lot... but he's been to Grassland too, and most of the Fire Techniques are there. He probably hid them... I'll wait for him to arrive. I can't go to him myself, it doesn't fit with my morning behaviour, so we'll wait for him to come. And I didn't have to wait long. A few minutes later I felt someone touching the Barrier. It surprised me at first, and I even thought it wasn't Ryoshi, because he would have passed through the barrier. I can't change his blood. Maybe someone's watching him.
But no, when I opened the front door, I saw my adult Clone at the Barrier, but he wasn't alone. With him was an adult girl with short shoulder-length red hair, grey eyes, and slightly pale skin. She was a little shorter than Ryoshi in height, a slender figure with a highlighted size three that the red Kimono hid well. Hiding behind her was a small girl, no older than Naruto, with the same short red hair. She seemed to be a small copy of the woman she was hiding behind and differed only in her red eyes with a tinge of pink and the black square shaped glasses she wore over them. The two of them eyed me with equal interest, and Clone only smiled, beckoning me over with a gesture of his hand.
- You're not going to let us in, Original?
- Have you completely forgotten about conspiracy? - I asked him as I approached them.
- No, I'm fine. There's no one within a kilometre. - Clone smiled at me, and that smile was starting to piss me off.- Why is there no one? - I asked perplexed.
- I've sealed off the area with a barrier.
- You did what?!
- Calm down. Before that, of course, I bought everything here.
- What do you mean you bought it all out?
- I gave money and got paper. That's it in a nutshell.
- Wait a minute. How did the residents agree so quickly? I mean, how could everyone leave in a day? They were here this morning.
- You don't know what people will do for a good deal.
- Are you saying you overpaid them?
- That's right. I paid twice as much and asked them to leave today. Then I put a barrier around our new Quarter.
- W-w-w-twice?!
- Don't worry. I've saved up a lot in three years. The heads of high-ranking Nukenin were worth a lot, and their bodies... You have no idea how much I got for killing Jagura.
- So the rumours were true after all. Is Kanon gonna be all right?
- Well, I've done my best to make sure it won't break, but I can't guarantee it.
- I see.
- Um, Original. Of course, it's been a while and I'd love to continue the conversation. But why don't you remove the barrier and let my companions in? It's not very hospitable of you to chat on the doorstep.
- Oh, yes, I'm sorry. - Putting my hand on the Barrier, I just absorbed back the chakra of the Fox, which supported its action, and in a couple of seconds it collapsed, scattering dust. - Make yourselves at home.
- Thank you. - A calm female voice sounded, and then everyone entered the house. We were already at home in the living room, and I looked at Clone carefully.
- Ryoshi, when and how did you have children? - I couldn't stand it.
- What? What makes you think so?
- Looking at you, the first thing that comes to my mind is that you're a one-child family.
- And how do you see that happening? She's six years old.
- Hmm, that's true.
- You really don't recognise them? - He pointed to two red-haired men I didn't recognise at all.
- Should I?
- Yeah, no wonder. I didn't recognise them at first either. Look closely. - I turned to the girls and looked at them closely, going over the anime characters in my head. After staring at the girl's red eyes and glasses for a few seconds, I almost gave up, but suddenly I opened my mouth wide in surprise as I remembered her!
- Karin?! - The designated girl looked at me in surprise, and Ryoshi nodded contentedly.
- You really recognised my daughter. Just as you said, Ryoshi-kun. But I guess it's time to introduce myself. My name is Mariko Uzumaki, and this is my Daughter, Karin. Nice to meet you, Menma-kun. - she stood up and bowed as Karin did, and I automatically bowed back to her, still reeling from the realisation of everything that had happened. She's Karin's mother?!
- Pleased to meet you. - I mumbled automatically as well.
- Well, I think there's something you need to talk about. Shall I use your kitchen, then?
- Original, she's a great cook, don't worry.
- I don't mind.
- Come on, Karin. Will you help me?
- Yes, Mum! - The way she spoke, the graceful and harmonious way she moved, everything about her reminded me of Mikoto. It was like she was her twin. I shifted my attentive gaze to Clone and waited for an explanation.
- Why are you looking at me like that?
- How did this happen?
- You mean Mariko? Well, she saved me and that's how we met.
- What? Shouldn't it be the other way round?!
- Well, then I helped her in return.
- Of course you did.
- If you think she's my woman, you're sorely mistaken.
- Am I?
- Yes. She's my wife.
- What?! Isn't that the same thing?!
- Surprisingly, no. There's no doubt that she's a dear person to me, but not in a romantic sense. I wanted to give her a high status gift and she agreed to it. I think it's a good decision, don't you?
- I don't get it and I don't want to. You want to marry her? Congratulations on your future marriage.
- Thank you.
- Heh. I'm too lazy to listen to your stories, so let's just merge back together and split up when we go through each other's memories.
- Unfortunately, that's not possible at the moment.
- What? Why?
- Because of the mark on your stomach.
- The Fox Seal? What about it?
- Your seal that restrains Kurama encompasses your entire Inner World. In other words, your Inner World is that seal. Since we don't have the key to that seal yet, we can't open it.
- Wait a minute. What does this have to do with our merger? It's supposed to be okay. You're not coming into me, you're merging with me, aren't you? And what does that have to do with the Seal?
- You and I will merge successfully. But because of the closed Inner World, the Tail inside me won't be able to get into the Fox Cage and get along. - that's where I got @×¥¥€!!!!
- WHAT?!
- You be quiet. - Putting his finger to his lips, Clone said, and then pointed with his other hand towards the kitchen. - They're already uncomfortable enough about coming to a new place, and you're scaring them by shouting.
- Oh, right. I'm sorry. - I felt guilty for a minute, but then I got over it. - Are you kidding me right now?!
- Well, maybe a little. - Clone smiled a nasty smile that made me want to punch him in the face.
- You...!
- Come on, let's go to the backyard, I'll show you around. - Ryoshi slowly got up from his chair and walked towards the door to the back range. I followed him. I was a little pissed off, but interest overcame anger and I was excited to see something extraordinary.
- When were you planning on telling me about this, Kurama? - I shouted to the fox asleep in the Inner World.
- You told me not to tell you anything about your Clone. - He mocked me with a sneer.
- Yes, but you could have mentioned THOSE things!
- I was only honouring your request, that's all.
- You...!
- So... - my inner dialogue was interrupted by Clone, who turned to face me, clapping his hands loudly. - Couldn't think of anything better, so Call of the Tailed One!
Ryoshi folded his hands in a seal of concentration and in the next instant began to be covered in grey, in some places red, chakra and it kept growing. A gigantic stream of wind rushed in different directions and in a few seconds a Giant Being of chakra in the shape of a Three-Tailed Turtle was standing in front of me, with Ryoshi hovering at its head, waving cheerfully at me. The Three-Tailed wasn't like in the anime, it was made up of grey chakra and red on its belly and was somewhat similar to Kurama's canon form. That is, he wasn't material and there was a Clone moving around easily inside him as if in some sort of liquid. One of his eyes was closed and he had no hind limbs. Instead, he had three shrimp-like Tails. Its entire body was practically covered in grey spikes, excluding some places covered in red muscle tissue. I stood there staring at this bulky body, unable to utter a single word. After a minute I came to my senses and shouted at the top of my voice...
- WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!? Wait, no. I know what it is, but how the hell did you do that?! - The chakra slowly started to fade and a Clone in the same grey cover with red patterns came down to me.
- You like it? It's my masterpiece!
- How could you do that?! I thought only Kurama could do that because of his unrealistic chakra volume!
- Well, in a way, yes. Kurama has more chakra and it's easier for him to use that form, but Isobu's not inferior either. He has less chakra, but that's only compared to Fox. Otherwise, he's also quite capable of doing such things.
- Why would you do something like that?
- Well, to me, it's a better form than the one Jagura had in canon. This body is made entirely of chakra, and if something damages it, it's easier to repair. The slime method, so to speak.
- So you became the Jinchuriki of the Three-Tails? You sealed it in yourself?
- Well, it's not like I sealed him in. Isobu is much freer than Kurama. I just put him inside me, but he can get out if he wants to.
- Why doesn't he? Don't tell me you're holding him under Genjutsu?!
- No, no, no, what are you doing? Kurama said, "I'd tear your body apart and get out by any means necessary." I'm quoting from his words. Anyway, Isobu and I have an agreement. an agreement.
- Hmm. In the anime, he seemed like a calm Tails. Almost like my Kurama.
- Yeah, he's not a bad turtle. Make a fist. - I bumped his fist with mine and a second later I was in a blue space with only water and we were standing over it still in the same position as a second ago. The clone then turned back around and at the spot he was looking at, Isobu began to emerge from the water. After he finally surfaced, a red eye with a yellow pupil, with black circles around it like rings from a stone thrown into the water, was already looking at me, and with a serious muzzle, he didn't remove his wary gaze. - Meet Isobu. This is Isobu, my Turtle. - A smile flashed across Clone's face as he looked at my dazed eyes. The three-tailed one was already quite material and looked much scarier than it did in the anime or as Ryoshi's chakra.
- Ryoshi, I told you not to call me that. - What the hell is this?! Am I the only one seeing those purple vertical stripes in the upper right corner of his face. And why is his eye half-open?! Is he using his power to make that expression, or is Clone giving me an illusion?
- No, I see them myself and I'm as surprised as you are. My brother has some strange habits. - I heard a voice in my head.
- Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Just looking at you, except for Turtle you can not be called in any way, Isobu. - replied to the giant Clone.
- Hello? - Not knowing how to attract Isobu's attention, I decided to just greet him, raising one hand palm forward.
- Hello, Menma. It's nice to meet you. - He nodded slowly, to which I reflexively nodded back.
- Mm-hmm. Nice to meet you too, Isobu-san.
- Please, no endings at the end. I don't like that kind of thing. You can just call me Isobu.
- Call him Turtle He likes it
- Ryoshi. - he looked at the Clone reproachfully and seemed. offended?
- Okay, okay, I get it. I won't do it again.- You two get along well. - I looked at them with a slight smile on my face.
- Yeah. - Clone smiled back at me. After that I talked to Isobu for a while, and Clone occasionally intervened in the conversation, giving out funny stories of his and Tails' journey together, which, by the way, was not long. After that, I came out of Ryoshi's subconscious and was already talking to him in the same backyard of the house.
- So, that's taken care of. So we really can't merge until Kurama's free?
- Yes. Once he's free, we can easily merge and become the Jinchuriki of the two Tails, just like in the anime when Naruto had nine of them at once.
- Hmm, well, maybe it's for the best. If we merged, our powers could have added up, and if we split up, I'd still have your powers and you'd still have mine, but halved in power. So what do we plan to do about the prison?
- There are three ways to open Fox's cage. The first is simple and easily accessible. Ask Jiraiya for the key. Well, find him with Hiruzen's help and convince him to give us the key.
- There's no way I'm asking that Toad's arse for anything.
- As expected. I agree with you, so there are two more options. The second is to use Minato's remaining chakra to summon the toad that has the key to the cage and force it to give it to us.
- We've already used the chakra we had, and I don't want to use Naruto's chakra. Let's go with option three.
- The third option is the hardest. I'd have to study Dad's seal and print it myself, but that would take a lot of time and effort.
- Well, I'm more or less happy with this one. So let's go with it.
- That's what I thought.
- Do you have any other secrets from me besides Tails? - Well, if he didn't mention it right away, he's probably hiding something else killer. and I was totally right.
- It's not a secret, you just didn't ask about it. But I can show you something. Namely my Mangekyo Sharingan.
- You awakened it?! When?! How?!
- Well, you took longer to recover than I did, and I had some advantages, so I got there faster than you.
- All right, you'd better show me the pattern of your eyes quickly. I'm really curious!
- Okay, watch this. Mangekyo Sharin.
- B-brother Ryoshi, B-brother Menma, let's go eat! - behind us came the childish voice of a little Uzumaki calling out to us at the doorstep.
- Heh, okay, it's getting late. Let's go to dinner. - I said and turning around with a smile on my face replied Karin. - Yeah. We're coming.
- Wow, I thought you'd be more interested in my eyes. - Clone said with a slight tease.
- Actually, I'm on the cusp of eye evolution too, so don't show off. In fact, I've had enough shocking news for one day. I want to get to know my new relatives better. - I told Ryoshi and went inside.
- Huh, I'm not the only one who's changed in three years. - Clone whispered under his nose, which I safely did not hear, and went in next. In the house there was a beautifully set table and a bright smile from Mariko. Karin was sitting next to her, looking childishly embarrassed. Heh, it'll be nice to get used to this sort of thing. I wonder how Naruto will react to this kind of family atmosphere....
***
The Hokage's office.
- Hokage-sama! - An ANBU in a bear mask appeared in front of Hiruzen's desk out of nowhere.
- What's wrong? - Hiruzen broke away from his work with a pile of papers and looked at his subordinate in surprise.
- Last night Ryoshi Uzumaki, along with Mariko Uzumaki and Karin Uzumaki, went to Demon's house before placing a giant Barrier on the entire area in a radius of about a kilometre around his house.
- Yeah, Ryoshi-san was telling me about how he was going to buy the entire area around Menma's house and put a Barrier there, making that place his Quarter. Don't worry about that. The new Head Uzumaki is reporting to me on the progress with Menma. Report back to me when Menma lets them through the Barrier. - "He decided to talk to him? Honestly, I was expecting more drastic methods from him, especially considering his past, but it looks like he's going to gently gain Menma's trust. Heh heh, good luck to him with that. It's been so many years since I've been able to get even a drop of affection from him, a stranger from another Village can't get much more than that.
And if he's planning to use his companions somehow, that's an even bigger failure. The Honey Kunoichi sent to him has been unable to get Uzumaki to even get her through the Barrier for years now, let alone get a guy to fall in love with her. From Viper's words, it seemed to her that the boy could see right through her. Such insight wasn't even seen in Minato, much less Kushina. Although, they were more peaceful, but their son, having survived their deaths, had become more negative about everything. So how is Ryoshi going to find common ground with Menma? Maybe he's going to give him his family's scrolls? Or give the guy power in some other way? Or maybe he's going to tell him everything that's been kept from him? That would make me look as bad as possible in his eyes, but if it does tie Menma to Ryoshi, I can control Jinchuriki through him."
- Ryoshi Uzumaki hadn't left the Quarter all night, but a few minutes ago he had come out with Menma Uzumaki. Apparently, he managed to get through the Barrier, as the Demon was walking along with the Head Uzumaki and talking to him.
- What? "Just one night?!" - What was the nature of their conversation?
- They spoke discreetly, showing no signs of friendship. But neither of them treated the other negatively, and Ryoshi Uzumaki often smiled at Demon.
- Alright, where are they going?
- To the centre of the Village for now, but it's unclear exactly where.
- Alright, take a couple more ANBU's with you and keep an eye on them. Execute.
- Yes! The ANBU disappeared into Shunshin.
- "Ryoshi-san is more capable than I thought. Though perhaps I just wasn't paying attention. His ability to find common ground was well demonstrated back in the battle with Hiashi. He was able to gain that prideful man's respect and showed himself not to be too dangerous in front of the others. Even Fugaku, who had been wary of him, had softened after that battle. But some of the Heads on the contrary started to be careless towards him, not sensing much danger. This kind of attitude towards Ryoshi is perfect for him. Huh, I'm getting more and more interested in him. Getting trust from him was a good idea. I now have a pretty strong figure that can help me suppress the others and improve my position. Danzo seems less dangerous now."
***
In the morning, Clone and I discussed a couple of important matters and I told him about the situation in the Village. Specifically about the escalating situation with the Uchiha. Yeah, looks like canon is coming after all. I didn't change it in any way, though, so the Uchiha started thinking about a coup. How did I find out? From Itachi, of course. He's been very worried about this moment and hasn't decided which side he's going to take.
Actually, this rebellion was a failure from the start. I don't know what they wanted to achieve, because if they started it, they wouldn't be able to win anyway. They should have at least enlisted the support of a few other Clans to have a higher success rate, but if they do that, they'll get killed and the Village will just get weaker, and then other countries might attack us. If some of the Clan had Mangekyo awakened, then they could stage a coup and even defend themselves against attacks from other Hidden Villages, or Fugaku could take control of Jinchuriki with his Mangekyo. Yeah at least they would have thought about using Shisui and taking control of the Hokage. Of course, they wouldn't have been able to do that, but I don't think they even tried in the anime.
And about the Uchiha themselves, they were really discriminated against by the top of Konoha, and they were already doing it visibly. Tobirama's policies only intensified after his death. They were especially disliked because they were the ones who served as Konoha's police force and kept order. Of course, some of the Uchiha were badasses themselves, but there were some in every clan. In general, the Uchiha were discriminated against for no reason, and they didn't like it as much as I did.
Ryoshi, on the other hand, told me why Hiruzen had agreed to his proposal. Hmm, Fox control. I think it's even good for us. I'll be able to use Lys's chakra without a trace and open his cage. Right now I could only unleash one Tail without harming myself, but this was already giving me more options. I'm not afraid to open the cage, since Clone said he could seal Kurama back up if he went on a rampage and tried to kill me. All I have to do is wait for Ryoshi to fully learn his father's Seal, and in the meantime I can pretend he taught me how to control one Tail.
Last night I got to know Mariko and Karin better. Well, how did I get to know Karin, Karin kept getting embarrassed and hiding behind Mariko, and she in turn tried to convince her not to be afraid of me. Hmmm, according to Mariko, they were kidnapped and beaten more than once in the Land of Grass and after that Karin developed a phobia of strangers. Sociophobia, huh? Then I just decided not to freak her out too much and try to gently build a relationship. So I only talked to Mariko and Ryoshi all evening.
About Mariko and Karin's peculiarity, I was asked not to tell anyone and keep it a secret. Well, I agreed right away because I realised how important it was. I think she's had a hard time. Living her whole life in agony. haha. I admire that she didn't go crazy living like that. She didn't go into detail, but I remembered her story. Now I understand why Clone wanted to give her high status and take care of her and Karin.
He also mentioned that he wanted to open a Fuin shop for her. Although, it's hard to call it a shop. According to the blueprints Clone showed me, it looks more like a giant shopping centre for everything and anything! Yeah, Fuin programming rules! He's also taken into account all the goodies of my Auction, and decided to use it to expand the products in the shop as well. He's also going to put his special Technique into all sorts of items and Weapons. His technique, by the way, is very useful in many cases.
He creates these seals in advance and can transfer them to any material object, and even to living people. He keeps these seals all over his body and the inside of his clothes, but he also has a lot of scrolls that contain them. These seals themselves can contain all sorts of Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu based techniques.
They work in two ways. In the first, the technique is applied to whatever it was applied to, whenever the user desires. Enabling the seal works almost like a Tag Blast and you don't have to snap your fingers, Clone just wanted to show off, well, and make you think it takes a certain action to do so. It was in my case when Ryoshi used a simple Fireball Technique on me, but since it was in close proximity, it enveloped my entire body at once.
In the second case, however, the Technique is applied under certain circumstances and acts as a simple Technique, directing the attack on the enemy from the place or person on whom the seal is placed. Different circumstances can be imposed, such as a trivial attack from an enemy. Mariko and Karin have a lot of seals like this on them, and if anyone tries to attack them or harm them in any way, even if they use Genjutsu on them, the seal will activate and strike directly at the enemy. There are other seals on them as well, such as seals with barrier techniques, seals of signalling Ryoshi or the appearance of his Clone. As in the first case, Ryoshi can activate the seals himself.
Seals can only be moved by their user and only by touching the object on which the seal was applied. So, if he applied a seal to my arm, for example, he can move it directly to my throat if he makes prolonged contact with me. All in all, it's just an imbo thing that Clone recreated by studying a few other Techniques. And the main thing is that it's impossible for a simple Uzumaki to achieve this. It takes not only knowledge of Fuin, but also Mangekyo Sharingan to use it!!! I don't know how he got the idea to use Mangekyo on Fuinjutsu Techniques. I think he said something about it being based on Itachi's Death Technique, but whatever. The point is, he did it! And it's pretty cool!
When they were accepted into Konoha, Ryoshi was automatically given the rank of Jonin, as was Mariko, which I didn't expect, but she turned out to be a strong Kunoichi. It seems Clone had trained her well. Well, Karin was given the right to enter the academy this year. Yeah, something tells me she and Naruto will be studying together. I guess then Naruto will be able to heal the girl and help her settle in. As for Naruto, we're finally going to pick him up from the orphanage!!! HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR THIS!!! WAIT FOR ME, MY LITTLE, SILLY, LITTLE BROTHER! I'M COMING!!!