The shadows

ch62

Years passed in the blink of an eye. Yurei was 15 now. He was walking in the village to clear his head. The once-dead city was once again filled with the sounds of chatter and squeals of joy from children. Everywhere he looked, people were laughing and enjoying their lives.

It was beautiful. During the past years, Yurei was busy. Getting Uzushio to prosperity was not an overnight task. Their population was steadily growing. With all the security and secrecy, the only way to get to Uzushio was to have someone to take you.

Even then, thorough checks would take place. The major villages all tried to infiltrate them, but after receiving the dead bodies of their spies time and time again, they gave up. Well, not entirely, since they still tried to kidnap their shinobi or gather information in other ways, but they were unsuccessful.

Another significant improvement was the island itself. While Uzushio was naturally surrounded by whirlpools and well-protected, Yurei made adjustments to ensure their safety. He made it so the island was able to move.

He got the idea from Turtle Island. While it wouldn't be practical to keep the village moving at all times due to the extent of the chakra needed, it was a great advantage. They even had prepared locations to move to in case it was needed.

Many things happened outside of the village as well. After attacking Ame and killing Obito, Pein requested a 5 Kage summit to disclose some information. He declared that he was under the control of a man calling himself Madara Uchiha shortly after the death of Hanzo, the salamander.

After some back and forth, the Yondaime, who was the previous Hokage and the new Hokage's bodyguard at the summit, telling them about his own confrontation with the man, the new Hokage telling them about his own encounter, and even Kiri telling them about the fate of the previous Mizukage, they all agreed that the story was the truth.

Pein claimed that he had no idea of what happened to the man. He only said that he felt trapped in his body for years, able to see what was going on around him but unable to control his actions and body. But after he was attacked by mysterious ninjas, he suddenly gained back control over his body.

The Kage's had no option but to believe him. But the possibility of such a man running free and able to attack at any given moment scared them. Also, the fact that there were some mysterious ninjas around who could attack a country and fight a Kage-level shinobi.

After the summit and reaching an agreement to share any information regarding this case, the Kage went back to their respective villages.

After the Kage summit was when the first phase of their plan began. They wanted to slowly introduce the Uzushio to the world. They didn't want to be well-known or connected with others. They just wanted them to be aware of their existence.

They started taking more missions outside the village. Claiming to be from Uzushio to clients but remaining silent about the other questions asked. Also, having traded with the outside was an excellent way to assert their existence.

They were peaceful. They never took missions that involved shinobi of the other village, and even if they came across them accidentally, they did their best to let them live.

It was hard, and their hands weren't clean from dirty work, but they didn't want to provoke other villages. The only information others had of them was that they'd been around for a while but were now ready to connect with the outside world.

Slowly, their missions and their ranks raised, but they made sure not to become greedy. They took only as many missions as they needed or some of their loyal clients ordered. They had a steady rate of missions, and their living situation improved.