After two weeks of testing at the academy, Kane learned that the card game was a smashing success. By the end of the third week, the children's parents repeatedly contacted the Uzumaki clan, asking about the card game's official release.
With the green light from his test market, Kane began working with his clan members on developing the game.
Within a week of hard work, during which his training took a backseat, the clan was able to create an assembly line based on Fuinjutsu that could create the cards autonomously.
They were in the process of contacting other companies to create the packaging when a ninja wearing an owl mask walked into the kitchen with Mito.
"The Hokage wants to see you," he spoke from behind the mask, then disappeared.
"Do you know what this is about?" Kane asked.
Mito shook her head.
"Not a clue, I'll come with you to find out."
After telling Ashita he was leaving the compound with his grandmother, the two left to see what Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted.
Walking through the streets of Konohagakure was entertaining as everyone had a different reaction to seeing the two.
The Uzumaki were well-received by most people, the main exceptions being the owners of bars.
Some people recognized Kane as one of the kids who trained with Might Dai. In contrast, others knew him as the guy who tamed the Uzumaki during their rampaging celebration.
Then, there were many respectful or downright worshiping gazes directed towards Mito. Being one of the village founders and the wife of the first Hokage is a lot of clout, even for the regular civilians.
The two stopped and bought some blueberries on their way to the Hokage's tower. Blueberries were in season at this time of year and were Mito's favourite fruit.
At the Hokage's tower, the duo were welcomed and told that Hiruzen was waiting for them inside.
Unfortunately, the blueberries could not be brought into Hiruzen's office for some strange reason. To circumvent this, Kane put them into his storage bracelet while pretending to put them behind his back.
The shinobi there was suspicious, but he did not have the authority to search the two, so he was forced to let them pass.
"Kane, Mito, welcome! Thank you for coming on such short notice; please, take a seat," said Hiruzen as the two entered his office.
"I only invited Kane, but it's not surprising that he would want you to escort him here," he continued.
"Well, of course, your summons piqued my curiosity, so I chose to tag along. After all, a young child like Kane shouldn't be out on his own." Mito's wizened voice replied.
Kane felt like something was off, but based on the last exchange, he didn't see anything too obvious. The two adults were smiling at each other, which should have put him at ease; however, he felt a strange tension in the room.
"Can I ask what you wanted from me, Hiruzen-Sama?" Kane asked.
The question seemed to break the tense atmosphere, and the Hokage gave him a light smile.
"You see, Kane-kun, there were some questions raised about your game, mainly regarding the accuracy of your cards and the strength of a village. Some fears have been raised that the cards could be used in espionage as a way to share the strengths and weaknesses of specific shinobi."
Mito frowned at his words, but Kane spoke before she did.
"Basically, they don't like that the cards can be too accurate for active Shinobi. Couldn't we just not give the cards specific names, then? Instead of Having a Might Dai card, we could call it Gennin #3 or something like that."
Hiruzen thought about it before nodding.
"So long as the cards have a certain degree of anonymity and aren't created to emulate a specific ninja, there should be no problem. That should be enough to dissuade their worries."
Hiruzen stood up, and the two guests emulated him.
"Did you want a set of cards?" Kane asked before they were dismissed.
The question made him pause for a second.
"If you have some with you, I would gladly accept your gift."
Kane put his hands behind his back, understanding the risk of revealing the storage bracelet but still wanting to mess with Hiruzen. He retrieved two decks of cards along with the small half-full container of blueberries.
"I don't have a rule book with me, but you can probably ask any academy student, and they will tell them to you," Kane said while placing the cards on the desk.
Hiruzen looked at him with a peculiar glint in his eyes.
"Thank you, Kane. If you don't mind me asking, how did you do that?"
"It was a magic trick."
Hiruzen chuckled at his non-answer.
"Thank you both for coming by; I will be in touch again if I need anything."
As they left Hiruzen's office, the guard's head snapped towards Kane's hand, which was holding onto the blueberries that they hadn't had earlier.
Kane saw the guard's look of befuddlement and couldn't help but let giggles escape his mouth.
Meanwhile, other meetings were taking place outside of Konohagakure.
In a meeting room in Kumogakure, the aged third Raikage and his advisors were discussing a topic that all the villages had on their minds. The impact of Konohagakure's newest clan, the Uzumaki.
Much to the advisor's chagrin, the Raikage was unwilling to make a move on them like they desired. He was more focused on making sure the third Raikage was ready to take on his mantle.
"But Raikage-Sama, It is the perfect time to strike. If we don't, we could be perceived as weak, which could incentivize Iwa to increase their attacks!"
"ENOUGH!" the Raikage yelled, the streaks of lightning resonating around his body, scorching the area where his hands touched the table.
"Uzumaki or no, Konoha has always been the prime target for the hidden villages. So long as we don't weaken our borders, Iwa will have no interest. So long as I am Raikage, we will not go to war. Take your complaints to A, but until he has the title, I will hear none of it. DISMISSED!"
A similar conversation took place in Kirigakure, while the remaining villages, Iwagakure and Sunagakure, reached contrasting decisions: one based on greed and the other on desperation.
-
Five months had passed since the meeting with Hiruzen, and the game's popularity was soaring every week.
A week prior, a letter from the capital promised great things in the future. A noble family had taken an interest in the game and wanted to meet and discuss their investment.
He provided an open invitation to visit his Mannor at any point in time.
Kane was obviously excited by the opportunity; however, the adults in the clan were much more skeptical. Tensions among the other villages were at an all-time high, unseen since the last war.
Mito and Ashita were afraid of leaving the village in case of an attack on Kane. After all, the game was his invention—he created three massive changes(Entertainment, Energy, & Storage). Who knows what he will do in the future?
Unfortunately for them, Kane was not so easily deterred. After a week of arguing, he finally got them to cave in on the condition that they hire a large squad of elite ninjas.
After submitting the equivalent of two S rank Missions as a request, they had ninjas fighting for their place on the 6 man squad.
In the end, they had a squad of two Elite Uchiha clan members, Nawaki, Naito, an Elite Hyuga from the branch clan and Ashita.
The 7 of them left the village before dawn, intending to make a quick trip to the capital without any stops.
Of course, nothing is ever that simple.
Two days into the journey, the Hyuga named Aya alerted the team that enemy ninjas were coming in fast and from all directions.
The 6 scattered into a battle formation with the Hyuga next to Kane while the other 5 came to surround them.
"You scared yet, Kane?" Nawaki asked, his voice tighter than it usually would be at home.
"Maybe a little," Kane said.
"Good lad! Face that fear; it will do you good in the future." The Uchiha named Aki tried to cheer him up a bit.
Within a minute of the group stopping, there were 30 ninjas surrounding them. They all wore black clothes without any identifiable markers and plain black masks.
It was impossible to identify any of them, and that wasn't good.
One name rang in Kane's head: Danzo.
'Fuck! I should have dealt with him as soon as I saw him!'
They all froze for a few seconds, and then as if by unanimous decision, everyone took action at once.
Naito and Naito's chains exploded from their backs. The Uchiha members threw out tons of kunai, and Nawaki began to make hand seals.
Ashita's chains lashed out and skewered two ninjas, and she began to use them as maces while the others were chasing after the others.
Naito began to create seals with all 10 fingers and the 9 chains.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique." Nawaki's jutsu broke off into a dozen fireballs that crashed into some of the enemy ninjas.
A few senbon were flying at Kane, but they were blocked by Aya Hyuga.
Kane was utterly lost in the fight. He wanted to help but didn't know what to do; anything he thought of would likely hinder them instead of helping.
In hopes of being able to do something, or at least not being as big of a burden, he drew Nature Energy into his body and mixed it with his chakra.
At least, he did before something sharp hit him in the back, making him wince and turn back around. He saw that behind him was a senbon embedded in his upper shoulder.
"Shit!" he couldn't help but exclaim aloud.
He knew what he had to do at that point. He drew in as much natural energy around him as possible and then condensed it into solid form.
"I'm safe! Go all out!" Kane yelled over the noise.
As if a bomb had gone off, everyone released a large jutsu. At the same time, Naito's matric was finally finished and activated.
Unfortunately, Kane was unable to pay too much attention to what was going on; he had to focus as hard as he could to maintain such a large construct.
The noise stopped after a few seconds, and Kane relaxed. Unfortunately, overusing his power exhausted him, and he quickly fell unconscious.
-
Hours later, a message was passed to Danzo in a dimly lit room.
After unfurling the scroll, he smiled.
"Perfect. The manpower can be replaced, but that kid was too dangerous to survive. The Senju cells were volatile enough, but adding the conflicting eyes from the other clans would guarantee his demise. Now, I only have to wait for the news to break.
A/N:
Sorry for the delay in this chapter. I didn't know how to wrap it up, but I wanted to at least have something similar to an ending, even if it was a cliffhanger.
It also leaves room for a rewrite in the future if I ever feel like returning to Naruto.
Basically, Kane got hit with a Senbon dipped in a mix of Senju, Uchiha and Hyuga cells as a poison to kill him. He got hit because it went through the small degree of Hyuga's blind spot as he was moving around.
Pretty crappy finish, but at least it is an ending, unlike my other stories. I'd give it a solid E out of S-F.
I had planned for him to wake up from a coma in 5 years (1 year into the 3rd ninja war) with new eyes that were a mix of the two. Think of a normal Sharingan only instead of a red eye it's the white of a Byakugan.
Or just a Byakugan with the Tomoe of the Sharingan. The eyes would follow the Sharingan's growth while having the Basic Byakugan abilities.
His chakra pool would be even more ridiculous, and he would have all 5 chakra natures.
I've learned a lot while writing this and am ready to start planning the next story.
I now know I need to build characters properly, plan out story and character arcs and make the characters do things that are actually believable. (No more 2 year-olds negotiating with two adults)
My next challenge is Vampire Diaries with a New AU character named Marcus Bennett, Bonnie's brother. He would be slightly more powerful than Bonnie and be a year older than Jeremy. (He would be in grade 10 at the start of the show).
No clue how far it'll go, but that's what I'm working on for now.
Comment on what changes you think should be made in a re-write of the story! (Criticism only, straight-up insults will be deleted. Keep it civil people.)