Rian Chapter 04 (Patreon)

Roughly one thousand years ago…

The sage of six paths held the wound made in his chest, his breathing labored as he looked at the corpse slowly dissolving into motes of light. It had been the toughest fight in his entire life, and he barely managed to survive. If he didn’t risk his own body, if he didn’t kill the person and the fight started to drag out… It wasn’t worth worrying about now because that wasn’t what had happened.

The corpse rolled over, which startled him; if the body still had both its hands or attacked him instead, he might have dragged him to his own grave. The voice began to chuckle before ominously saying. “This isn’t the end. You’ve only stopped me for so long. I’m endless, I’ll… I’ll be back, even stronger than before.” The dying man breathed his last breath before his body fully broke into motes of light.

The wound on Hagoromo’s chest had already begun healing, but the damage was done. He could live forever, but something the man had done… Stopped his immortality. He would soon die; it put a time limit on how long he could hold the ten tails inside himself. He would need to get to work creating the tailed beasts even sooner than he’d have liked.

…

Roughly thirty-four years ago…

Sarutobi Hiruzen had just become Hokage. He had a lot of paperwork to do as he got into his new role. While filing away at it, he came across a document from the previous Hokage. Opening the letter, he already saw it was addressed to the next Hokage. Sarutobi began reading that letter.

“If you are reading this, then I am dead. To whoever the next Hokage is, I’m sorry for all the work my brother and I have left you to deal with. It wasn’t our intention, we just wanted what was best. I’m sorry you’re the one who has to deal with the burden of being the leader. Speaking of which, this will also function as my last will and testimony.

I leave the Senju compound to Mito. The paperwork for the transfer is already done, but I’d like you to help her transition the Senju compound into a home for the Uzumaki clan. It was always our wish for them to join our village, and now is the chance to fully incorporate them. I left behind my wealth and the wealth of my brother to be split between our remaining clan members, with the bulk going toward Nowaki, who will be the next clan head when he comes of age.

Our clan's treasures are protected with blood seals; only a clan member of the Senju can open the caches and treasure vaults. You’ll need to get help from one of our clan members to unseal the treasure to pay the inheritance. I personally give all of my techniques to the village in the hope that my knowledge will help the village grow stronger. Only the S class techniques and the ones I deemed too dangerous to use should be witheld from everyone. Hopefully, after you let everyone learn my ninjutsu, the village will experience a boost in the number of ninjas who can use water release.

I give you a warning. Keep an eye on the Uchiha, but don’t alienate them. My brother has put forth tremendous effort to keep them in the village, it would be terrible if something were to happen to divide them from us. Make sure you incorporate more ninjas into the police force of the village. My original plan was to give them a job but they need to develop bonds with people outside of their own clan.

Finally, I want the secret identity of my children to remain secret until they’re of age. The inheritance I left aside for them to live peacefully for their entire lives if they didn’t want to be ninja, but with my blood I have no doubt they’ll become great. Please keep an eye on Sakumo and Jiraiya for me.”

Hiruzen finished reading, and his thoughts immediately went to how to steal the Senju inheritance for himself and his clan.

…

One year ago…

Gin Uzumaki had a pretty comfortable life. He was strong, handsome, had many wives, and was an important component of the village he grew up in. At some point, he became the head of the Uzumaki clan inside of Konoha, he wasn’t sure how, but most of the work was done by his first wife. He married her more for his mother than for any real reason; he didn’t care much about the continuation of the Uzumaki clan, but most Uzumaki did.

Gin still didn’t know who his father was. Every time he asked his mother she would get real quiet and not talk to him for the rest of the day, so he stopped asking. He made a name for himself after the second shinobi war, and on top of everything, he was well-liked by people outside his clan. So when it came to finally leading his own squad of fresh shinobi, all of his students knew who he was.

It wasn’t the first time a sensei took one of their students as a wife. She was his fifth wife, and while she was almost a decade younger than him, nothing happened between them until she was of marriageable age. Their relationship was a whirlwind, possibly the most chemistry he had with any of his wives. She quickly grew pregnant with his child.

The child wasn’t the heir to the Uzumaki clan; that would be Gin’s firstborn with his first wife, who was eight years older than this child. The child was Gin’s eleventh, but it was the first he had with that wife. While the child wasn’t heir to the Uzumaki clan, he had another legacy to fall back on. His grandfather was Jiraiya, the great toad sage.

Time kept going forward and it was nearing the birth of the child. It was an auspicious time because the Hokage’s wife was also pregnant. They would be born a month or two from each other. Gin and Minato had known each other before he became Hokage. They got along very well, to the point that Gin was made godfather of the boy and Minato was named godfather of his own son.

The day grew closer, and as he held his son in his arms, he couldn’t help but notice his light blue hair. He was hoping for red, only about half of his children had red hair and he made it a contest in his own mind that he wanted more of his children to have red hair than not. The child didn’t cry out, but Tsunade did a quick scan and said there was nothing wrong; the child was just tired and wanted to sleep. With gigantic smiles on their faces, the couple moved closer as they enjoyed the moment of contentedness.