Hey guys, Striker777 here with the next chapter. Uni starts tomorrow for me, so I figured I'd smash out one more chapter before I start. This chapter is all about Naofumi's home world, and I will be focusing on the other world in the next chapter. The official start of the simultaneous Marriage, Escort and Peddling Arcs. But enough introductions, onto the story!
———
The Hidden Leaf Village was never really on the top of Mei Terumi's places to visit when she was younger. She wasn't really the adventurous type in the way of new places, she was certainly adventurous in other aspects of her life, such as her career and love life. She never really wanted to visit other places all that much, maybe a trip down to a hot spring resort for a holiday, or beautifully long walks on the beach, but not travelling to another nation for the sole purpose of sightseeing or just getting away from the places she called home.
But if it was for a shot at romance with one of the kindest, coolest and hottest guys she had the pleasure of meeting, Mei was far more than willing to make the trip.
A month after she sent her return acceptance letter to Naofumi's welcome surprise of a marriage request, she finally had the time to make a trip to the Hidden Leaf. She had been unfortunately been prevented from coming earlier as a result of sudden and unexpected action by Yagura of the Three Tails had her and the whole army on high alert, ready to attack at any given opportunity. However, after a while of nothing being heard from him, Mei, Ao and Chojuro made the trip to the Hidden Leaf to make the preparations for the wedding.
Ao had stressed the importance of the marriage to Mei more times than she cared to admit. He did care about her happiness in his own special way, but he had repeatedly stressed the fact that having the Blood Rain actively take their side during the civil war could cause a massive swing in momentum in their favour. Naofumi was an Uchiha, and if the stories of their descendent, Madara Uchiha were to be believed, than hypothetically, Naofumi would not only be able to incapacitate Yagura with his Mangenkyou Sharingan, but maybe also control him into willingly giving up control over the Hidden Mist and ending the war with a lot less bloodshed than what they originally anticipated.
Mei was much more focused on the romantic aspect. She was getting married, a life long dream of hers, and to a kind man at that. Marriage, settling down and starting a family are what she wanted in life. Having that be possible with Naofumi Uchiha was one of the best feelings she ever had. Their one meeting had drawn her to only one conclusion.
Love.
Physical compatibility and aesthetics aside, Naofumi was someone she could see herself forging the rest of her life with. She could see herself settling down with the man, having kids and living the rest of their lives together. And the wedding, she had been envisioning it for the last few weeks. A beautiful day, countless faceless people applauding her and Naofumi as they walked, arm in arm, out of the venue. The ringing of wedding bells in the distance as she walked out in her beautiful wedding dress, her groom by her side, smiling all the way to their honeymoon.
It was a scene of pure love. Mei Terumi loved Naofumi Uchiha. And she was going to spend the rest of her life with him.
The gate of the Hidden Leaf approached as the three concluded their journey. Somewhere in that village, perhaps even waiting at the gate, Naofumi Uchiha was waiting for them. For her. To marry her.
Thinking about it still gave her happy goosebumps.
The three stopped directly outside the gate, but it was not Naofumi greeting them upon their arrival. There, at the entrance to the village, stood the Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake himself. He looked over the three of them, before nodding to himself and sighing. "The Hokage is ready to meet you."
Mei Terumi didn't like the way he said that.
———
After three attempts to contact her, Yugito finally caved and allowed for her mother to have one last conversation with her. Despite all of the anger, and all of the yelling she wished to do, if her bitch of a mother wanted to get down on her hands and knees apologising and wanting to take her back, Yugito wasn't going to stop her. She also wasn't going to stop her plans for leaving for the Hidden Leaf no matter what her mother said, nor did she ever plan on forgiving her.
That said, she wasn't sure how she felt about the sudden, out of the blue request to meet up by her mother. So, seeing as she was definitely going to be emotionally unstable, quick to anger and ready to launch fireballs at the woman who gave birth to her, she had to ask for assistance from one of the people who could help keep her under control when agitated.
"Yo, it's Killer Bee yo,
Killer Bee ready with the flow,
On our way, to talk with this hoe,
Fools, ya fools!"
She may have made a terrible mistake.
Killer Bee walked alongside her, rapping away as he normally did. His book was in his hand as he sometimes came up with raps on the spot, writing them down to use them later. He was muttering and rapping all the way from her house to the meet up spot in the market area of the village, to a little teahouse that was well visited by the civilians of the village. Yugito herself had never been to the teahouse, but it was where her mother had requested to meet her, so she would be visiting for the first time.
The two jinchuriki made their way through the civilian section of the village. Yugito never visited there much on account of her not having a reason to. The civilians were afraid of Matatabi, and the shinobi she worked with always accepted her, but civilians were a lot more closed minded than that. The difference in their cultures was always eminent through their treatment of the jinchuriki as well as others, such as life, death and sex. They lived in completely different worlds.
So Yugito Nii, future Yugito Uchiha, walked with her friend and fellow jinchuriki into the teahouse. It was a well-sized establishment, with as many as 15-20 seperate booths and tables, most filled with customers quietly chatting about their day to day lives. A few stopped to stare at the newcomers, nothing the two of them hadn't gone through before.
"Yo yo yo! Killer Bee in the hou-"
"Shut... up..."
"Struck a killing blow to my killer flow..."
She definitely made a terrible mistake.
A quick scan of the room pointed out her mother, seated in the back of the teahouse. She was alone, as far as Yugito could sense anyway. No husband, no kid, no one but her. Working up her nerves with an inhale through the nose and out the mouth, Yugito walked over to the booth and sat down opposite her mother. "You wanted to talk?"
"Look, cat, I'm not happy being here either." shot back her mother, raising Yugito's eyebrow. "The Shinobi Council forced me to sit down with you and convince you to stay in the village."
Even Killer Bee was dead silent at her words. The Shinobi Council going against a direct order from the Raikage was stupid at best and suicidal at worst. It was seen as treason, and the punishment could very well involve execution in extreme cases, or banishment.
"Why tell me this?" asked Yugito. She saw no motive for her mother to come clean straight away.
"I want you gone." said the woman. Yugito slapped herself mentally for not seeing that coming. "I don't want you anywhere near me or my family. If you want to shake your tail in another village, be my guest, I'll pay for the travel. Anything it takes to keep you away from me. You took one family from me all those years ago, I won't let you take another."
Yugito, rage about to boil over, stood up before the waitress could even take her order. "I'll speak to the Raikage about this. I will be leaving. Thanks for at least warning me, unlike everything else in my life I should thank you for that." she said, turning away. "This is goodbye, for the last time."
Yugito walked out of that teahouse, and had Bee carry her directly to the Raikage's office. She needed to speak to him about this.
———
"I see..." muttered Mei, seated across the Hokage's desk with her head down. Ao was behind her, glaring menacingly at the boys, one blonde and the other black haired, Naofumi's pseudo younger brothers, who had orchestrated the false signing of the marriage proposal.
False. That word rang in her head over and over again. She wasn't going to get married. Naofumi didn't take responsibility. He wasn't going to marry her. All the fantasies, dreams and everything else she envisioned for their future were suddenly erased in the blink of an eye, shattered like glass.
"I am so sorry for this." offered the Second God of Shinobi. "If I had caught on sooner to this little prank by these boys, all of this could have been avoided. I had no wish to inconvenience you, or lead you astray."
"..." Mei remained silent, lording over her thoughts. She believed him. This served no purpose other than to irritate the Hidden Mist Revolutionary Army, and that served no purpose to the Hidden Leaf.
But...
It didn't make her feel better.
Why? Why was it? Was she that undesirable that the only man who ever showed even a semblance of interest in her as a person refused to marry her? No, of course she wasn't. She was Mei Terumi for fuck sake. She was drop-dead gorgeous, and in the prime of her life. She was only 27 after all. But yet...
Was it her personality? She thought she came off as a good person, but maybe that wasn't the case. But everyone seemed to genuinely like her. Was that because of who she was, or out of respect for her as a leader? Probably the latter now that she thought about it.
A tear trickled down her cheek. Ao placed a supportive hand on her shoulder, bless his heart. The blonde boy looked like he was about to say something, but was quickly silenced by the Copy Ninja Kakashi.
"We will be expecting a reimbursement for this." said Ao in an authoritarian voice. "We have spent weeks going over plans and other things in regards to this that could have been spent on our war. This has cost us greatly."
"I do apologise, and I agree that we are in the wrong, but I would ask that you not request troops. I have no desire to send my shinobi into a war not their own." said the old Kage. "Anything else within reason will be given to you."
Not Naofumi though...
"You are not in such a decision to be making demands such as that, Lord Hokage." shot back Ao. "Not when Lady Terumi is in such a state." he said. Why did he have to say that? It made Mei feel worse.
"I wished this on no one, and whilst the Hidden Leaf is willing to give provisions, equipment and other supplies to your cause, we are much stronger that you." said the old man. He had 8 ANBU stationed in the office currently, as well as Kakashi. He was well prepared to face off against the three of them.
"We should go."
Everyone turned to Mei, who stood up from her chair. "We missed out on a lot of work thanks to me. I'll... have to work even harder to make up for it..." she said as she walked over towards the door.
"Lady Terumi, we can't ju-" tried Ao.
"What's the point?!" yelled the woman, startling the occupants. "He's made it clear... we came here for nothing..."
Tears in her eyes, she touched the door handle. "There's nothing for us here..." she mumbled in utter despair.
The door opened, but not by her. She stepped back to accomodate the new comer. A man, an old, frail man, walking with a cane, covered in bandages around his right eye and black, shaggy hair creeping out of the top of his head and bandages. He noticeable had a cross shaped scar under on his chin, wearing a white shirt and a grey robe that covered his right arm completely but left his left arm exposed, tied down with a purple fabric belt.
"Danzo?! What are you doing here?!" demanded the Third Hokage. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"Hiruzen, the Council has met and come to a decision on this matter." replied the bandaged man. "If the contract between Mei Terumi here and Naofumi Uchiha is null and void, than the same can be said for the two contracts between him and the other two, Anko and Pakura."
This was not going to end well. Mei stepped back as the man continued into the office. "If so, then it is time for us to consider other options." he said, drawing out several envelopes from his robe and throwing them onto the desk. "I have with me a total of 6 marriage requests for Pakura, and 4 for Anko. If Naofumi did not sign all the contracts as you have said, then the two of them will simply have to choose between these, or have one chosen for them."
'This son of a bitch.' Mei thought, watching Hiruzen's face morph into one of pure rage.
"Of course, Sasuke Uchiha will also be forced into such a contract. The sharingan is too useful a tool to become extinct. I have 12 different marriage proposals for him, and he is eligible to accept them all if he so desires." Danzo continued. The 'or if I so desire' was left unsaid, but everyone heard it. Kakashi stood protectively in front of the two boys, one hand over the blonde kids mouth to stop him from talking. "The council has made their decision." he said, turning around. "Now make yours. I trust you to make the right decision for the Leaf."
The door closed behind him. In an unseen fit of rage, Hizuren Sarutobi lost his cool, picking up a vase he had on his desk and throwing it at the wall. It was caught by an ANBU Black Op before it could make contact. Everyone remained silent for a time as Hiruzen breathed, trying to get his head back in the present. "I'm... so sorry you had to see that." said the man.
Mei looked at the Kage, then at the floor. This wasn't what she imagined. She saw her and Naofumi falling in love and planning a wedding together, to live out the rest of their lives in happiness.
She didn't know what she would rather have, this forced upon Naofumi marriage, or going home empty handed.
'I should have just given up.'
———
"They did what?!" yelled the Raikage, slamming his fist into his desk with so much force it was reduced to splinters. "How dare those bastards even consider something like this!"
"Lord A, please calm down." responded Mabui, migraine already forming. "The table did nothing to deserve the fate it was dealt."
A stood down. He sighed as he looked over at his brother and pseudo sister. "And your mother confirmed this?"
"She never even tried to hide it. Just told me immediately." said the pregnant girl. "Those rat bastards are gonna pay for this!"
"Ayo!
Coming in for the killing blow!
Fools, ya fools!"
Mabui could only sigh as the thumping began.
Honestly. If she and Naofumi Uchiha never had that one night stand 3 years ago, then this situation would never have played out. Sure, she had a great night with him. He was a good lover, knew the moves and even went down on her. That was a first, and since then she had a small obsession with it, but there were certainly those more skilful than Naofumi Uchiha was 3 years ago.
Now though, if they hooked up now, how good would he be. He was only 17 when they had sex, and she was 23. Mabui was not all that interested in finding out, however. She had met someone that she intended to spend the rest of her life with in the village. Naofumi Uchiha would forever remain in the past for her.
What she wouldn't give to go home and just lay down on the couch, not even needing her bed right now. Just the sanctity of her home, where no one could scream like the three people in the room right now.
Thump
Thump
Thump
———
"Hey! Pretty lady!" called out a young voice. Humble as she was, Mei turned around, looking at the blonde kid from before. Naruto something if she remembered correctly. Her companions turned as well, looking at the kid.
"Ah, hello there. It's Naruto, right?" she asked.
"Yep! Naruto Uzumaki, future Hokage at your service!" yelled the blonde boy.
Uzumaki. The destroyed clan from the Second Great Shinobi War that was eradicated. Mei had heard tales of their prowess on the battlefield, sealing and other irrational fears of some of the villages. From what she heard, they were usually characterised by their beautiful red hair. Was he truely an Uzumaki, and if so, why was he blonde.
Me pushed that thought aside for the moment, deciding it wasn't important. "Mei Terumi, future Mizukage. A pleasure to meet you, future Lord Hokage." she said with a smile, getting a laugh that lifted her heart from the young boy.
"Hey, you love Naofumi-Itoko, right?" asked the boy with absolutely no lead up. The child was direct, she'd give him that.
"I do... he just doesn't feel the same about me..." said the woman. Ao continued to stare at the boy, asking himself what he could possibly want with her.
"I think he does. I think he loves you."
That was so unexpected that Chojuro fell back and landed on his ass. Mei gasped and took a step back from the boy. Ao continued to glare, but anyone could see his surprise.
"You see, we were eating ramen at Ichiraku's, best ramen in the whole world I tell you, when Sakura-chan walked by. I told Naofumi-Itoko how much I loved her, how perfect she was, and he called me stupid! Like, what the hell Itoko?!" he rambled. "He goes on about how love is complicated and how I was just having a crush, and I told him love was simple and that the feeling mean you should overcome anything!"
"Naofumi-Itoko told me I was wrong and said he knew how complicated it could be. He told me about this beautiful girl he felt he could fall in love with, before learning something about her that made him not even try, but he still has feelings for he. He said she had the most beautiful green eyes and beautiful red hair. I think he was talking about you. I think he loves you." said the boy. "So please don't be sad anymore. No matter what that weird chin scar guys says, Naofumi would be so happy to marry you."
To think that a mere child would be the one to set Mei Terumi straight in the romance department. The future Mizukage chuckled lightly, kneeling down to the small boy and rubbing his head. "Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki."
"No problem! Naofumi-Itoko always looked out for me when I needed him, so this is just me paying him back!" exclaimed the boy. He laughed so loudly it began drawing a crowd.
A crowd sending hateful glares to the young boy.
Mei looked around at the civilians, who met her gaze and looked away, before going about their daily business. She looked down at the boy, oblivious to what had just transpired, or really good at hiding his emotions to the world. Mei suspected the former.
No reason she couldn't get to know the little guy who may very well become like a son to her. "Hey, would you mind showing me to this Ichiraku place? I'll buy you a bowl."
And with that, the jinchuriki of the Nine Tails became friends with the leader of a revolution.
———
Kakashi, Anko and Pakura stood in Hiruzen's office, their faces grim over what transpired, having witnessed it first hand or hear about it from those who were. Danzo had made a move, and it affected them all.
Anko was shaking in anger. Danzo reminded her greatly of Orochimaru. Manipulative, quick to work and with the moral compass of a lunatic. She had suffered enough at the hands of men like that, and now Danzo was playing his game to force Hiruzen and Naofumi's hands. She had personally sworn to herself to kill the man if the opportunity arose.
Pakura was in a similar headspace, having been betrayed once by the leaders of the village she served. Now the same thing was happening in her new home. She thought that she had escaped the scrutiny, manipulation and games of the elders when she relocated from the Hidden Sand, but she was experiencing them once more in the Hidden Leaf. And it would affect the rest of her life. Her hands shook with anger at the thought of that man getting his way and separating her and Naofumi.
And then there was Kakashi. Naofumi had entrusted him with helping protect Sasuke and Naruto from any schemes that the council tried to enact in order to get to him. And he had failed him. Danzo was able to threaten Sasuke into a possible marriage that was more akin to him becoming breeding stock for the Leaf to continue possessing the sharingan. That was something Naofumi specifically wanted to avoid. Kakashi was certain now that he had to prevent that at all costs, even if it meant using the 1000 jutsu he had copied against the council themselves, and any that came after them.
"I know we are still shaken by what happened at that meeting." said Hiruzen, gaining the attention of the three of them. "However, we must first focus on another matter. I have just received word from the Raikage that the council of the Hidden Cloud is trying to force Yugito Nii to stay in their village."
"Forcing her to stay? Is it because of her jinchuriki status, or the pregnancy?" asked Anko.
"Probably a bit of both." replied Kakashi. "Losing a jinchuriki is bad enough, but a whole Kekkei Genkai on top of that? There's no way there'd be no resistance."
"I came to the same conclusion myself." responded the old Kage. "Therefore, we now have an S Ranked mission on our hands. You must go to the Land of Lightning, to the Hidden Cloud Village, and retrieve Yugito Nii. Bring her safely to the village."
"Yes sir!"
———
Hope you guys enjoyed. I'm looking forward to working on the next chapters featuring some of the hardest scenes to write. I'm going to have to work hard if I want to do the original works justice for what I have planned. I'm hoping you enjoy what happens next and how things are going to play out. Be sure to vote if you enjoyed and comment on what you think might happen next. You might be right (totally not gonna say you're right and get ideas on what to do next. Whole thing's figured out on how its gonna roll until the end of OG Naruto.)
Anyway, for now, this is Stirker777 over and out.