Wildflower Book 1 | Naruto Fanfiction

Chapter67: Truth Untold

"Remember, all twenty one of you, you're Uzumaki of Uzushiogakure and no one can take you down no matter what. They tried. They succeeded after hundreds of years, and that's almost ten nations against a single clan. Take pride, hold your heads up and show them just what you're made of. They couldn't get us this time if they tried!", Hotaru called from beside Tama.

Tama nodded along seriously, observing keenly every change in every expression. Sure enough, they were true Uzumaki, proud and powerful. They had proven themselves.

"Seven adults will accompany you as your sensei(s). These are the same people who facilitated your training once you were broken into squads. Squad Suiren, as you know, you'll be broken up temporarily until Tama-sama arrives in Konoha with the rest of your teammates, so please keep close to the others until then.", Hotaru explained further.

"Yes, sir!", the one member of squad Suiren, Uhyō, called. Hotaru nodded in acknowledgement. He then turned to face Tama, nodded at her, then left.

"That'll be all then. You guys can go now, and don't forget to have fun, alright?", Tama finally said. Everyone nodded briskly in response. Tama and a few other adults had taken the chance to do several petty missions, so they weren't going to leave with empty pockets.

Tama watched as everyone ran out to look for their sensei(s). She then turned to look at her girls. They seemed ready, but she knew that deep down they were scared.

"You'll do great. We'll get your mothers back. Alright?", she said softly. Akira nodded seriously, and Karin, nervously.

"We'll go eat first then get ready.", Karin said, and they finally left for the dining hall.

"Our hostages are asking if we'll be taking them with.", Shisui said as he entered the room immediately after. Tama immediately shook her head. Shisui's chuckled.

"They're currently enjoying the feast you and the kids prepared for everyone. Aren't you going to join? You haven't eaten in a while.", he said. Tama barely smiled at him as she began to walk out.

The dining hall was especially packed today, mainly because some of the village folk decided to join in. When she arrived, Tama found that she wasn't willing to be there. She really hated such large crowds. However, she really was hungry, so she would just go in. It was too much trouble to find another place to go to.

Just as she began eating, she locked eyes with Santa from all the way across the room. Suddenly, a memory occurred to her from when she was still under his supervision.

Back then, even though they had only been under him for seven months, he had been tasked with overseeing the growth of clan protege that had been gauged out back then. He did his job well, that's for sure, and she respected him, but sometimes one had to do what they had to do in order to get what they wanted.

Just then, Mizubana approached Tama, and sat down next to her. The girl looked up at her, to see the woman smiling mischievously at her.

"I need something from your, child.", the old woman said. Tama swallowed the piece of meat in her mouth. She knew that look all too well. In fact, she might have inherited it from this exact person.

"What can I do for you?", she asked carefully. Mizubana looked around sneakily before setting her gaze on Tama once more.

"I need you to find me Matatabi.", she whispered. Tama paused. Why did she need that?

"Is someone sick?", Tama asked. Mizubana seemed to carefully ponder before she cocked her head to the side. Tama waited awkwardly.

"Something like that. I really need Matatabi to help them. It's a big deal, you know, and since you're going to Kusa, I believe that you should find some there. That place is rich with it.", the woman said. Tama nodded. She couldn't help but wonder who this sick person was. You seen, for the past few weeks, there has been this one woman who had been acting strange. Tama easily attributed this to her coming to terms with having come back to life, but now she was of the mind that she was this person in need of Matatabi.

"I'll have a clone go ahead and start looking.", she finally said, earning her a satisfied hum from her great grandmother.

"Thank you, child. You won't regret this.", Mizubana said before rising to her feet and rushing out.

Tama pursed her lips. In all honesty, that woman could have sent absolutely anyone else, heck, Hotaru and Koharu were always by her side and willing to serve if need be. Why did Tama have to be the one to do it? Anyway, it wasn't any trouble, really, so it wasn't worth complaining about.

With thus in my, pulled out a chakra clone seal from her pouch and immediately poured a bit of chakra into it. When the clone manifested it immediately set out, leaving Tama and the girls to get ready.

It was two hours later that they themselves left, parting ways with the Tamaki and Uzumaki clan folk at the entrance of the village.

...

Ibiki was not surprised. Tsunade was baffled. Kakashi was silent as he listened. The clan leaders were stunned. The council was humbled.

"Wasn't the Uzumaki clan wiped out completely?", Hyuga Hiashi asked, clearly perplexed.

"We know it was. So how could this happen?", Akimichi Chōza replied.

"They must've been in hiding this whole time. Their students are going cause a stir. I fear we might witness another war in the near future.", Nara Shikaku said.

"You mean to say that the island disappeared because they've re-occupied it? Could they be their at this exact moment, Kakashi?", Ibiki asked. Kakashi shrugged. He honestly didn't have the slightest idea what was going on, and he didn't want to find out.

"I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question.", he said. Ibiki nodded in understanding.

"We very well might prepare for a war, then. If they have seven teams coming, then they must have a good standing.", Danzō said solemnly.

"Why are you so set on there being an impending war?", Tsunade suddenly asked. The question was clearly directed at Danzō, and so the room immediately fell silent. Danzō sighed.

"During my time, Tsunade, I tasked sent several teams out to search, rescue and retrieve any and every last Uzumaki that they could find. Every team returned empty handed. They were all already dead.", he said seriously, but Tsunade was quite sure that he wasn't being honest. Otherwise, the Uzumaki would be a part of Konoha, thriving, by now. Suddenly, a familiar face flashed in her memory.

"Bullshit. If that was true then Jiraiya, Orochimaru and I wouldn't have randomly run into an Uzumaki child all those years ago in Amegakure. Also, my own grandmother was an Uzumaki, and so was Kushina, and my father's cousin. They all knew and mentioned on several occasions that the clan was scattered, not wiped out.", she hissed. It was all coming together now. Danzō didn't try to save the Uzumaki clan. In fact, she was starting to believe that Danzō had a part to play in the supposed annihilation of the clan. It only made sense why he was so sure that they would declare war on Konoha.

"I called you all here today because I needed to show you something. Once you've seen it, please judge it according to your thoughts.", she said again as she turned to face the clan leaders. She then took out the scroll that the owl gave her, and gave it to the Inuzuka clan leader. At this, Tsume was suspicious, but opened it and read it immediately.

Then, much in spite of herself, she blanched, and looked at Tsunade. The older woman nodded serious, and Tsume felt her heart sink into the pits of her stomach.

"How am I supposed to judge something like this? This is...", Tsume trailed off, clearly disturbed.

"Morino, bring in the bird.", Tsunade said grimly. Ibiki nodded, and a hushed chatter immediately broke as he stepped out. Things were about to go down.