A/N- Hey guys. Here's the chappy. Expect the next update on Wednesday next week and know you could skip the wait and rea the next three chapters as well as continuous updates on Pa-treon right now. Since I now qualify as an unemployed member of society, all subscribers on my pa-treon are much appreciated. If you enjoy my writing, then please don't hesitate to support it if you can. For Pa Treon, you can remove the hyphen between Pa and Treon and Google it, then search for my username—Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting it in your address bar. Note: Please subscribe to my pa-treon using the website directly instead of using the IOS app. It's cheaper on the website.
XXXXXXX- UCHIHA UZUME
Two seals. She finally managed to get it down to two seals without making any compromises as to size or intensity, and she could not even enjoy the win for more than a second as multiple waves of water crashed through her fireball, dispelling it and forcing her to jump backwards. She stared at Izuku's position for a second as she waited for him to engage. It galled her to admit it, but after three weeks of sparring with him like this, she was thoroughly disabused of any notion of her and Shori being equals for the time being. Somehow, while she'd been running missions and growing stronger at what she felt was a rapid pace, he'd leapfrogged her so completely that now even working together with Izuku was not enough to ensure that she'd manage to scratch him when they sparred.
Shori rode a large wave of water like he was surfing, and she blinked as in a second, Izuku appeared in the corner of her gaze and began weaving seals. She joined him, forming the same jutsu and firing at their opponent at the same time. "Lightning release: Thunderbolt scattershot" She said, weaving her chakra into a deliberate net of electricity that sent multiple charges flying right into the water, electrifying it. From his end, Izuku did the same, amplifying the voltage a second after her jutsu had hit. The combination made it too unstable for Shori to just force the electricity to bend around him as he usually did.
He saw it coming and jumped off of the wave and into the air. Both she and Izuku jumped in the air to match him, from different directions. His gaze was fixed straight ahead, but she knew he could see all around them in detail that she would never be able to match. It was the gift of the byakugan, after all. Konoha's second strongest doujutsu for a reason. He turned to face her fully, and she prepared herself, knowing that she was the one he would be facing.
She readied her Gunbai in her grip as they sailed at each other in the air. And then he smirked at her while forming a single seal. She brought the flat of the gunbai to bear, using it to tank the force of the wind release technique sent at her even as she felt her momentum come to a halt. When the jutsu had run its course, she returned the gunbai to its previous position and got to watch her cousin and teammate crash into the ground while engaged in a furious taijutsu exchange. Rather, Izuku crashed into the ground while Shori brought himself to a sudden stop only a scarce few centimetres from landing on the ground himself.
She weaved a series of handseals, and deliberately unleashed about two dozen fireballs with the same breathed. They spread out like the blooming flower the technique was named after before consolidating as they approached their target. He body flickered backwards, but all it took was a simple flex of her will, and the fireballs continued to chase after him.
He skated across the ground, moving backwards like he was moving on ice and not water and allowing the fireballs to keep coming after him. She allowed her attack lead him right into Izuku's waiting grasp, and her Cousin took no time in striking with all the force of an enraged god. Fire cloaking his fists, he punched right at Shori's head from behind on his way out of a body flicker. Shori dodged the attack like he had seen it coming from miles away which was probably the case, but that was just the beginning of the exchange. Fire around his fists, Izuku did not use the traditional Interceptor fist her Clan had taught them both from a young age. Instead, he used the style some genin had brought over from some family in Tsuchi no Kuni. Strong fist.
The first punch almost made his fist blur to her vision, and yet Shori leaned out of the way almost casually. The next came at a similar pace, and he did the same, trying to counterattack with a tap aimed at Izuku's head. Her cousin pressed his attack, moving forwards and forcing Shori's attack to land somewhere other than where he had aimed it. Risky. Very risky, she tsked. It was the kind of gamble he could only try in a spar. Shori would have pulled out the chakra from the attack on fear of causing any permanent or truly severe damage.
Izuku's knee rose for Shori's chin but hit naught but air. Shori twirled out of the engagement, and then back in like he was some sort of dancer. He slapped Izuku's fist out of the way with a hand glowing blue with chakra, and then retaliated with a slap across Izuku's face that made her cough out loud. It took effort to prevent the cough from developing into laughter. The distraction had worn on her, and her trump card was moving in before she was ready.
With a scowl, she sent the fireballs right at the two of them. Izuku could handle himself, she rationalised. Of course, it seems her cousin had other plans. He saw her attack coming, she knew he did. But he was not moving. He kept pressing, punch after punch leaning into kick after kick. Every single one was executed quickly, efficiently and in succession. He was on his best form, but why was this singleminded focus showing as he was about to get roasted. Shori dodged, blocked, or waved aside each attack in turn while frowning at his opponent. It was like he was waiting for him to disengage and move on with the next phase of the battle, but he was doing the very opposite.
Izuku's right hook clashed against Shori's raised forearm but failed to gain any headway, and in the struggle, Shori somehow found the opportunity to step right on Izuku's foot. The fireballs were right on them. In one smooth movement, while Izuku flinched backwards from the pain, Shori jumped into the air and sent a powerful dropkick right into Izuku's crossed arms that sent her cousin flying, and in a blur of wind, Shori went sailing in the other direction.
She smiled at the impressive manoeuvre even as her blood screamed at her to get right back in the thick of things. Shori rose from where he had landed in the forest, and began to walk right back in their direction. She smiled and brought her gunbai to bear, while waiting for Izuku to stand. It took him a second longer than she expected for him to do so, but when he did, he was glaring right in Shori's direction. Good. His blood was up as well.
She ran forward with a war cry on her lips but was forced to stop at Shori's raised hands.
"What? Tired, pretty boy" She mocked, even knowing that he had spent more chakra than both she and Izuku combined and still had more in the tank than the both of them.
"I just don't see the need in continuing when we've achieved our goal" He said, while tapping his face.
What? Oh. She turned to Izuku, taking a look at his eyes. Three tomoe in each one. Fully matured Sharingan, just like hers.
He looked at her, doubtful, but she nodded at him and a smile bloomed on his face.
"Hold on, let me give you a hand" Shori said, and then formed a handseal. Water rose from the ground in front of them until it took the shape of a discus. He switched seals and then to her surprise weaved three more seals. There was visible exertion on his face for a moment or two, and when she made to speak she found her words knocked out of her as the water in front of her froze at once.
"Ice?" She asked him suspiciously, but he merely smiled and pointed at Izuku who was ignoring the impossible being done in front of him in favour of staring right at his new eyes in his reflection.
X
"Well, now that that is all in order. Happy Birthday Uzume" I said, taking a wrapped gift box out of the storage seal on my bracers in one movement and passing it over to her. I ignored the way her face flushed red at the reminder. We had been friends for years now, and if there was one thing I knew for sure it was that her family did not celebrate birthdays. Most of the Uchiha clan did not, in fact. So that meant that when Toshiro and I had given her gifts for her first birthday as a member of the team, she had blushed and run away from embarrassment of the situation.
Now, she was more well-adjusted for such things. "As always, Pretty boy. I don't need any presents for the day. But if you must, then thank you" She said with an easy tone and picked up the box from my hands. As always, she wasted no time in ripping open the packaging. She frowned as she did so because the first layer of packaging just parted to reveal another layer of packaging. One thing I could not reject was the urge to make each of these a prank of some sort.
She ended up ripping through four sets of wrapping papers before she realised the trick. When she did so, she turned to me with literal fire in her eyes, but she was still one alive Toshiro away from having that particular ability, so I met her gaze unflinchingly.
"I hate you" She said as she began slowly unravelling the wrapping paper and I smiled at her as the paper fell away to reveal the gift within. It was an intricate work of fuinjutsu. Thankfully, I'd figured it out a long while before ever needing to give her the gift, or I would have found myself in quite a pickle. The wrapping paper was essentially locked in space. It would replicate itself if it was bypassed with brute force, but would give way if slowly and steadily unravelled. Simple, but oh so complex. Just like the best seals tended to be.
She took out the leather gloves with an appreciative hum. I'd left the fingers bare just like most shinobi wore theirs so it would not mess up her chakra control for jutsu, hand seals, and the sort. The rest of it though, I'd gone to town.
"What do they do?" She asked eagerly.
"I'll leave that to you to figure out" I told her in reply. The gloves did a shit ton of stuff, and I was practically vibrating in excitement at the thought of getting to see her figure them out in real time.
"So what next guys?" Izuku suddenly piped up, finally done looking at himself in the icy mirror I'd conjured. I looked at my creation with pride for a few moments before sending it hurtling towards the training ground's pond.
"Now, we go for dinner at mine. I'll be cooking".
"I definitely don't need a birthday dinner" Uzume called out in consternation.
"Not everything is about you, birthday girl. It's not everyday you get a fully matured Sharingan, is it?" I said in reply as I pulled her and Izuku along.
"Besides, I don't think you guys have met my little Cousin yet. She's a fireball".
XXXXXXX
"Steak again, Shori-nii?" I smiled at her voice as I heard her whine her way into the kitchen. The red haired ball of sunshine looked like she'd had quite a day.
"Go wash your hands, Kushina" I said, as I saw her marching her way to the plates already laid down even if she did start by complaining about the food.
"Besides, what do you mean by again. We haven't had steak in three days" I replied when the nature of the complaint finally sunk in.
"And we haven't had Ramen since yesterday. It's ramen's turn" Her opposition was instant.
"First of all, that makes no sense. Secondly, I know you had ramen for lunch" I replied.
"Nuh-uh" She denied.
"I already asked Domu-san, and she said you made her make you ramen for lunch Kushina. No lying" I reprimanded, even if my heart wasn't in it. She just stuck her tongue out at me and took a seat at the table opposite Izuku and Uzume.
"Stop staring" I reprimanded all three of them when five minutes passed and the only sound in the kitchen was the sizzling the steak made as I worked to cook enough for everyone and then some.
"Kushina, these are my friends Uchiha Izuku and Uchiha Uzume. They're cousins like you and me. Izuku, Uzume, this is my little cousin I was telling you about, Uzumaki Kushina" I finally said when neither party seemed keen on breaking the deadlock that existed between them.
"Cousins?" Kushina asked with audible curiosity.
"Yes, we're cousins" was Izuku's reply.
"Nuh-uh. You look like Siblings, Dattebane. And you even have the same name. Not like me and Shori-nii at all" She said sagely, almost making fumble the lay-off as I dropped one more sizzling slice of steak down on a plate. Placing down the pans, I worked to lay down each plate in front of each guest and began working to dish the rice when another person entered the kitchen.
"Hope you made enough for me, brat" Tsunade's voice rang out as she marched in and plopped down on the seat I'd been saving myself next to Kushina. I didn't even blink as she began to dig into the plate I'd already set down. I was ready for this. I made extras for a reason. This Senju household had people showing up all the damn time.
"Siblings don't have to look identical, the same way cousins can look alike, Kushina-san" Izuku continued the debate with Kushina almost like nothing had changed, and we didn't just add an interloper to dinner. Another slice of steak was dropped on the pan as I worked to dish out rice in a new bowl for myself.
As I walked towards the table to put it down on Kushina's other side, I heard the sound of a cane tapping. A sound that no one who lived in the compound would mistake for anything else.
"I was just dishing your food, Oba-san" I said as she walked in.
"Of course you were, Shori" Mito replied with a smile that said she didn't believe a single word. She took a seat at the head of the table and I quickly rerouted the plate of rice I'd just dished, towards her. The steak began sizzling to tell me it was ready, and after a quick flip, I had it on the plate and heading towards her, even if she had since joined the debate building between the Uchiha cousins and little Kushina with anecdotes of how everyone back home at Uzushiogakure could have been mistaken for siblings with how alike everyone looked.
I ignored the conversation, thankful that I still somehow had more food in the pot and began dishing another plate for myself. There was barely any rice left, so I picked a few vegetables I knew would taste exquisite together and began chopping them up as I cooked the steak. The steak went on a plate and I used the rest of the grease to begin frying the veggies. Finished, I topped the bowl of rice with veggies and took hold of both plates as I went to take my seat.
Of course, in that moment someone else walked in.
"Well done, Shorirama. Just what I was craving" Granduncle Tobirama took the plates from my hands as I was frozen in place and then took the last seat at the table. I just stared at the whole thing dumbfounded.
"Thank you for inviting me to dinner, Mito. Apologies for the lateness" He said right before he began to dig in, and then everything slotted into place perfectly. I turned to my Grandmother with twitching eyes, but she just gave me a wide smile and nothing else.
Nothing to be done about the situation, I sighed, and moved back to the burner to see what could be whipped up. We were all out of steak as that was the last cut, but there were some eggs in the pantry, and I still had some leftover veggies, so I could use that. Rice was finished, but Domu had left out some beef broth, so there was a meal to be made between all of that. By the time I returned to the table, the conversation had turned to Kushina regaling all of us with the tale of how she'd beaten Minato-baka in today's physical tests. Of course, it was an endurance test which she had an unfair advantage in, but that mattered little. It excited her, and kept the table engaged.
I tried to send silent apologies at both Izuku and Uzume for dragging them into this, but Izuku was taken with the whole thing and was hanging on to every word being said while Uzume had her head pointed down at the plate and was eating her food at a slow pace, careful to observe every rule of etiquette there was.
XXXXXX
"Nice cooking, Shori. Almost didn't believe your grandmother when she told me you were offering to host all of us for dinner" Granduncle Tobirama said while tapping his stomach and stacking his empty dishes. I smiled at the compliment but said nothing more.
"You know, Shori. Just likes showing love for those he loves" Mito cut in.
"But dinner was just the beginning of tonight, I fear. Uzume-chan, Izuku-kun, it's lovely to see the both of you again, but I fear I must ask you to excuse us" She continued. I silently stood up to walk both my friends to the door, and Mito gave me a look that silently demanded that I hurry up. I took the warning to heart and after a quick goodbye with my friends, I returned to the table again.
"So what is going on, Grandma?" Tsunade was the one to ask.
"This evening, I received a message from my nephew"
"A message? Why have I not been informed of this? How did a messenger from Uzushiogakure miss my attention?"
"Not with a messenger, Tobi. With this" She replied, holding up a leather-bound journal.
"While Shori was comatose, we needed a way to communicate seamlessly to make sure I got the relevant information as quickly as possible, so I made these. They're blood bound so they only work for the two of us. This evening, he wrote in the journal that the defences of Uzushiogakure were being attacked" I nearly fell out of my seat in shock. This was it. The fall of the Uzumaki clan. But why had she allowed us waste time having dinner instead of moving quickly.
"How long do we have?" The Hokage asked. His face had changed in seconds. The easy smile had fallen away in favour of flat lips and a severe expression as he stared across the table. I realised then that we, the four of us he sat with, were the Uzumakis of Konoha.
"Natsu estimates another hour until they breach the seals and land on the Island proper. Considering that message was sent in about twenty m minutes ago, it's realistic that we only have about thirty to forty minutes before we have to move." She said.
"Wait. Hold on. Why didn't you say anything sooner? Why did you just let us have dinner and talk about irrelevant stuff?" I tried my best to modulate my voice, but even I could tell it was rising because of the urgency in the situation.
"There would have been no use. We can only leave with the flying raijin, and that won't work with the wartime seals on Uzushio up. I calculated that we would have more than enough time, and Kushina's school time adventures are anything but irrelevant" She said, making me bow my head at the reprimand.
I reached out and took my cousin's hand in a silent apology. She wasn't even offended, just watching everything with worried eyes. I realised then that the Uzumaki were distant relations to me, but to Kushina they were her whole life. She was an orphan, but that hadn't mattered because she'd essentially lived as everyone's child. In most other societies, being everyone's child was just another word for nobody's, but the Uzumaki's were anything but that. She had so many stories to tell of so many people and I realised that each and every one of them was in danger now. I walked across the table and gathered her into my arms even as I kept an ear on the plans.
Granduncle Tobirama was hesitant to involve most of the village's apparatus. The chance that this was a distraction for Konoha's enemies to attack us had already been brought up more than once. I knew it wasn't, but how would I press home that sort of fact?
Mito also pointed out that the Uzumaki would not feel comfortable with outsiders even if they were coming to help. The Clan head was confident in their ability to repel the attackers in the end.
"No chance" I cut in the moment the conversation stretched towards leaving me behind.
"There's no chance I'm not getting in on this. They're my family. Kushina's family. If you don't take me, I'll run there myself. Believe it" I argued.
The Hokage chuckled, but there was no mirth in it.
"I have been watching your training session, and I will not deny you this Shorirama. But do be aware that this is war we will be stepping into. You will kill many, and many more will try to kill you. Do not disappoint me" He replied, and I released the breath I'd been holding.
After that, they began to debate who would be added along. Me and Tsunade were a given. Tobirama volunteered Hiruzen, Kagami, and Danzo because all three of them had visited the Uzu homeland before. While my hackles were lifted at the last name, I said nothing. Mito was keen on going, but Tobirama was refusing on the grounds of her status as the Jinchuriki of the nine tails.
"Fine. If not me, then send 15 jounin in my place. You will need at least that many to act as a close substitute" She finally said. Something told me that she had known Tobirama would never have taken her in the first place and simply used it as a negotiation tactic.
"Deal then. 15 Jounin. I'll have Saru draw up a list of ones who are not mission critical. That should make a force of 21," He said.
A/N; Not all fluff, I guess. As I said earlier, the next chapter comes up next week Wednesday or skip the wait and read the next three along with daily uploads on pa-treon. For the pa-treon, you can remove the hyphen between pa and treon and google it then search for my username- Oghenevwogaga. Or you could copy the link in my bio and remove the spaces before pasting in your address bar.