"So this is Konoha!" Akashi said looking outside the carriage.
The little well-made houses of woods and the inhabitants going about their days.
"Beautiful isn't it?" Tsunade said as she looked at her village with a mix of love and pain.
"Meh!" Akashi responded while shrugging his shoulder
"What do you mean meh?!" replied Tsunade as she copied his gesture
"That's a village ninja! It looks like a village ninja," he replied angering her
With a sigh, she turned toward the others "What do you think?"
"It has its charm," Karin responded dismissively.
She seemed dismissive but the truth is that she was taking in all the information that she could with her mind eyes.
"It barely changed since the last time I was here," Kuroko said after her
"And when was that a hundred years ago," She questioned angrily
"Pretty much!!"
The casual way they all dismissed the village made her temper flare up and she started to lecture them as she made the praise of Konoha.
The four were the only ones in the carriage, Akashi and his father remained in the capital.
After a moment on the road, they arrived in front of a big compound near the center of the village.
'That's big enough to accommodate a medium clan of about a thousand members,'
In Konoha and even the other ninja's village even one person can be categorized as a clan like Kakashi who was the only member of the clan Hatake.
A small clan can go from one person to five hundred people.
A medium clan starts from five hundred to one thousand five hundred people.
A big clan goes from one thousand five hundred people to whatever.
The reason that even a clan of five hundred people is considered a small clan is because of course not everyone can be a ninja.
Sometimes in a clan of five hundred only one hundred people qualify to become ninjas.
"This is beautiful and big, well kept," Karin said exploring the place with the other ninjas and samurais.
"Well then, welcome in your home Oh Prince Uzumaki!" Tsunade said bowing in an exaggerated fashion having spent a while together on the journey and in the capital, a sense of familiarity was created between them.
"Thank you for your hospitality Oh Princess Senju," he responded
After a little bit of small talk, she left then to inspect and manage the place.
"So this is the estate where the Uzumaki resided during their stay in Konoha in the past, huh, next to the Senju compound. I thought it would've been destroyed already." Akashi said walking around and looking around with the old Kuroko behind him.
He looked at everything from the big details to the little ones.
The compound exuded a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, there were little ponds where a few fishes were swimming, beautiful gardens of all kinds of flowers, and much more.
"Whoever decorated that place has great taste!"
Hours later
Karin and Kuroko stood behind him Akashi who was seated on a cushion, in front of him were the third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi his two comrades Homura and Koharo the Nara head.
Danzo had been notably absent and not far away was the head of the Ambu.
"This is a pleasure to have you among us, Your Highness?" the old man said with his practice smile,
"All the pleasure is mine, I'm lucky to be the one that had the chance to be sent here?" Akashi replied also smiling.
After feigning to look around he said with a smile
"I see that you didn't bring your blind friend this time. Good! Keep him far away from me and everything will be fine."
Everyone immediately understood that he was referring to Danzo who had come back to Konoha long before he arrived.
"I wanted to personally apologize, it was a failure on my part that caused the disaster of your clan. But you need to know that he was severely punished for his treachery."
"Yeah thank you but I disagree, the crisis of my clan was the result of its stupidity, nothing more. In my opinion! Anyway, you don't need to suck up to me or anything,"
He then took out a contract and handed it to Hiruzen,
"You are already aware and have agreed to the details of the exchange between Konoha and us right? All you have to do is reread the sign and everything will be fine. The ninja's tools speciality of the Uzumaki will flow back into your country the old Kuroko will be in charge of most things,"
At that the old man slightly bowed toward Hiruzen and the other who did the same, Akashi knew that they already knew each other.
"I'm here as, huh, just as the face of the thing, I'm here to play the typical prince, enjoy myself, create trouble here and there, and put a few signatures when needed, that's it, haha…"
"Hohoho… don't sell yourself to a short young man we know how important you are," Hiruzen said with his kind smile as he reviewed the document before signing it.
Even though everything seems harmonious and they laugh at his antic nobody is dupe to the situation between them.
They all knew of the tension and hatred that they had for each other, the Uzumaki that were betrayed by Konoha and barely escaped annihilation.
Konoha had suffered a severe blow from the Sky country during the war and still bore the scares of the attacks.
And the sky nations that were nearly decimated by Konoha in retaliation.
All that had created a situation very complex for everyone.
After the signature of the document, they walked together while making small talk.
"So Hokage may I know where is my dear cousin right now, I am excited to finally meet her. Kushina! My uncle talked a lot about her, same as Tsunade."
The faces of some of them changed for a few seconds before getting back to normal.
Akashi discerned some reticence at that moment he could understand why they were reluctant with the actual situation.
"Relax I'm not gonna try to snatch her up and run away. I heard that someone else tried that and failed, hehehe…"
"Hahaha…"" Uncomfortable laughter filled the atmosphere while they wondered how Akashi knew of that incident that had been kept under wrap.
Hiruzen was the only one who seemed to find the genuine situation funny
"I understand that you would want to meet her, you should be happy Tsunade asked that she live with her for a while so I guess you should be neighbors, she lived in the Senju compound for a little while when she arrived."
"Oh sweet, thanks, old man. See you later!"
"Yes, see you later, young prince."
Later in the Hokage office
"What did you think of him?!" Hiruzen asked the people in the room
"Scary!" the head of the Nara clan said
"I found that kid genuinely scary. We raise ninjas from a young age so having a mature kid is not unusual but he seemed above everything else I ever saw even Minato. He is cunning and calculating and very smart as described by Danzo and Tsunade he spends the whole time analyzing us."
After that, Sakumo added, "His chakra was what surprised me. I know that the Uzumaki have a massive amount of it but it makes it hard to control. His was not only massive but also extremely dense, and the amount of control that he seemed to have isn't something that someone his age shouldn't have!"
"And of course, he has no affection for us,"
"The casual way he was able to act in front of us is what impresses me more, the way he seemed to poke at our insecurity, to people that he must think arbor malice toward him and his clan, I wonder if he fearless or the result of his analyze of us who gave him that confidence,"
"They know that we aren't a danger to him, it's why they send him here. It means that they still have some level of trust in their eyes,"
"What about the girl?" Koharu asked, "We already know how dangerous Kuroko is."
"She seems to possess powerful spiritual abilities," even for a Uzumaki
"Great another genius to worried about,"
They continued to analyze Akashi and the situation they were in for a while.
"Is it a good idea to have them roam Konoha like he wishes, with the nine tail no less," Homura asked after
"It's his cousin, his family, we have no reason to stop him from seeing her, and it may not be so bad, their getting along will be good for us, It will put us in a more advantageous situation than the other nations,"
They couldn't help but nod at that.
"But we need to make sure that he doesn't put any bad thoughts in her mind."
"Danzo really messed up, now every major village and little will have access to the Uzumaki seals the Sky nations will soon become extremely rich but selling weapons to everyone, and with their technologies and the expertise of the Uzumaki, who knows there may soon be another major nation in the world."