IdleMuse's Snippet

Chapter 7: Story 3 : Crimson Seals - The Legacy of the Uzumaki #01 : Hiruzen 1.1



Hello Everyone!

This will be a new project of mine, with a twist. The Entire story, with all the chapters, will be written from the POV of all the people except the MC(which will be an OC Uzumaki- you'll see). Now, I WILL be making some changes and it will not be completely in line with Canon Naruto, so keep that in mind before you go on correcting me in the comments.

Now, without further ado, please do read ahead.

______xx_____

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a man of many talents. The GOD of Shinobi, they called him, and yet, as he looked at the scroll that delivered the tragic news of Uzu's fall, he didn't feel like the God of Shinobi.

No, the one who was named as the God of Shinobi before would have made his enemies tremble with the mere thought of attacking Uzu, their bodies not responding to their mind as they imagined the consequences of angering the real God of Shinobi. Shodai Hokage-sama would have marched across the borders of the Land of Fire and demanded answers, Daimyo's concerns be damned and if not, brought back heads of the offending people to appease the dearly departed souls of the Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki were a dear ally of Konoha and losing them was going to deal a huge blow to their regular operations.

"You can go, Sakumo. Destroying any more of my furniture might just bankrupt the remaining fortune of your clan," He tried to make a joke to lighten the oppressive atmosphere that had blanketed his office ever since Sakumo came back from the mission he had assigned him.

He knew something was wrong when no reports about the impending seal shipments and due to the rationing that had been done on both sides due to the suspicious activity on all sides, they had refrained from maintaining active shinobi platoons on both sides, even though it was a regular thing ever since Mito-sama came to Konoha.

"Oh, Mito-sama," He bemoaned the loss of an invaluable ally of Konoha. Mito-sama would be devastated when the news finally reached her. It was a bad decision in hindsight when Mito-sama sealed off her long range sensing techniques on her own, citing emotional fatigue from sensing so much death, despair, and strife all around Konoha.

She could have sensed the impending doom and…..

And What?

"Go and rest, Sakumo. We will not let the sacrifice of Uzumaki go to waste. This will mark the end of the war," He said in his Hokage voice, no longer the kind elder figure to Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang.

Sakumo nodded, his chakra still tinged with the electric rage that could be felt from miles away to any half decent sensor, as he trudged out of his office. 

He took the scroll in his one hand and after taking one last look at the portraits of his predecessors, he steeled his heart and left for the Senju Estate, the place where Mito-Sama lived.

Even as he deliberately passed through the streets, waving and greeting everyone he recognised, his mind continued to churn out ways…ways of turning this to Konoha's benefit. He abruptly stopped before a stall that sold the Dango that Mito-sama, Tsunade, and Dan all liked to eat. Thinking nothing of it, he had it packed, paid for the order, and continued his journey to Senju Estate.

It was not far from the Hokage Tower, both being near the heart of the village and yet, his mind was weighed down by the burden of being Hokage. He mourned the loss of his previous innocent self, the one who could simply….grieve.

Simply grieve and not let his mind wander in ways that would have his younger self look at him with disappointment and loathing. What else would the child Hiruzen, the one who embodied the Will of Fire, do when he was told that his elder self was already thinking of ways of taking advantage of such a massive tragedy even before informing Mito-sama about it?

Unknowingly, his footsteps had brought him to the old secret entrance into the Senju compound that he, along with his team would enter and leave the Senju compound unseen by anyone bar the Senju Clan protectors. 

He smiled bitterly as he thought of the current situation of their team. Danzo was doing his ANBU duties well and he had recently gotten the go ahead from him to make his Foundation project permanent. Koharu and Homura had not gotten as much frontline action as Danzo and he did but that was simply because both of them were more suited for the administrative tasks, their tactical minds shining brighter than the strength of their bodies.

And that was fine, they had other people for the strength of their bodies, their chakra unmatched. The combined effort of all the different types of people was what was keeping Konoha ahead of every other village in this war.

They were caught in a three way war and with the Uzumaki attack most probably having hollowed out their resources, this was the best time to push for an advantage. Most probably, the moment he is back in his office after meeting Mito-sama, he will have to send out orders to the frontline.

Before that though, he sighed and said out loud, "I know you are here, Nawaki-kun," 

"Awww, I totally thought I had you this time," A youthful, childish voice came from behind him as Senju Nawaki, the last of the male descendants of the line of his sensei hopped from above him and landed in front of him.

The sight of his headband brought along another pang in his chest. Hashirama-sama established this village with the goal of stopping the practice of letting children participate in wars. Not letting children be children, and live their lives a little before they are thrust into the meat grinder that was War.

And yet, he watched, Nawaki Senju, a child, be forced to go to the frontlines. He had managed to hold back his deployment until the last moment but there were starting to be whispers about Nawaki and he had received a personal letter from Mito-sama to let Nawaki prove himself.

"I am just here to meet Mito-sama. I have important information to deliver to her," He said. Then he let his eyes twinkle with mischief as he swiftly made hand signs, "let me show you something interesting,"

"Oh?" Nawaki leaned forward as he finished his seal and planted his chakra into the especially authentication seal at the bottom of the wall, a section of the wall shining briefly before a hole appeared in the ground, showing stairs that led into complete darkness.

"Whoa! What is this?" He smiled as Nawaki jumped headfirst into the stairs, without a care in the world.

He might have to warn Orochimaru to train Nawaki in his trap sensing and paranoia because if this is what his investigative abilities amounted to, he might just fall to something as inane as stray explosive seals or even trap jutsus. Imagine the horror of losing the sole current male heir to the Senju line to something as stupid as inadequate caution.

He passed Nawaki who was busy exploring the many pathways that led to different areas of the Senju areas. Areas that were once bustling with activity but ever since the edict that seemed like the death knell of the Senju name, the Senju had gone all but extinct in Konoha.

As the Hokage, he lauded the decision of the Shodaime-sama and Nidaime-sama. To let the Senju clan members breed and merge into the civilian as well as the other Clan population of Konoha, just so that the advantages that the Senju generally enjoyed - stronger bodies, higher vitality, higher chakra capacity, and more- could be distributed to the entire Konoha population, was a decision that would be fundamental to the growth of Konoha for all of its existence.

As Hiruzen Sarutobi, though, he could not even imagine letting something as fundamental as his identity as a clan member be diluted, destroyed essentially just so the village can prosper as a whole. Something like that was unthinkable for him to do, even now.

"Now, I hope you are not skipping training just because you got your headband. I know you have to meet your new Sensei in a week's time so why don't you go get ready."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Nawaki said as he sprinted away to the direction of his house once they exited the secret tunnel and right into one of the private training areas of the Senju. Once upon a time, he along with his teammates had practiced their jutsus so many times, many times on each other, with the Senju clan members hollering and cheering them on, and yet.

And yet, it was practically a ghost town at this point, with cobwebs all around with most of the equipment falling into disrepair. He might have to issue a D-Rank to clean and get this place functioning. It would be a shame if this place was forgotten.

"I didn't think you would still be using that old entrance. I wondered if it was some intruder trying to use one of the old tunnels," 

His spine stiffened as he slowly turned around, his hands clenched around the scroll, as if it was some sort of lifeline for him. It was still terrifying how she could somehow evade all his senses and stand in front of him as if she were a ghost and not the current host of the strongest of the Bijuu.

Mito Uzumaki.

The Strongest Seal Mistress of the Old Warring Eras.

Also, as of a few days ago, one of the last living Uzumakis in this world. This accursed world.

He mentally noted to send out a few squads to look for surviving Uzumaki, not that he had much hope in that regard.

"Ah, Mito-sama, How have you been?" He asked, cursing himself for still feeling like an academy student in front of Mito-sama.

A/N - 

If you guys would like to support me or read more of where these snippets came from, you can head on to my P*treon. 

I run weekly polls on P*treon to decide which snippet series will get updated (2-3 ch/wk) and ofcourse, I write what my muse brings me as well.

Do note that the 5 extra snippets will be in order of when they were written & uploaded, not necessarily 5 chapters of any given story.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.