"WHAT?!" Came a loud yell from the Senju compound.
Minutes later, a young blonde teen stormed out the house full of rage.
"Tsunade!" A dark haired man came out the house and yelled after. "Get back here this instant!"
"Screw you." Tsunade turned and spat on the ground. "And screw this family!"
"Tsunade!" The man yelled angrily.
He was about to run after her and teach her some manners when he was stopped by an older woman.
She shook her head.
"Let her go." She said solemnly. "She needs her space right now."
The younger man frowned.
He watched her walk out the compound and turn the corner, disappearing from his sight. He stared at the gates before turning to the older woman.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" He said, slightly angry.
"It was something your father and I decided to keep under wraps until the time came." She sighed. "With the other nations mobilizing and this village still trying to stabilize, we are in a precarious position. If word of this engagement passed, it would alarm the other clans, the Uchiha in particular."
The man pursed his lips.
He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't.
He felt a complex of emotions, hurt and disappointment being the biggest ones.
After sorting out his feelings, he shoved the negative ones deep down and looked at his mother with a serious expression.
"When will he be coming?" He asked.
"I'm not sure." She said. "It was originally supposed to be a shotgun wedding. I'm not sure if the boy has been informed yet. They've only sent me his profile."
She thought for a moment.
"However, if he's been told as early as Tsunade, it may be a chance that he will be a part of the envoy that escorts our new jinchuriki to Konoha." She commented.
"....That's not far away." He said in deep thought. "Why tell her now when it's a few years away?"
"I wanted to give her time to process and prepare herself." The woman sighed. "It's the least I can do given the circumstances..."
Silence fell between them.
Minutes later, the man spoke up.
"You said they gave you his profile?" he asked.
The woman nodded.
"I want to see it." He said, walking past. "I at least need to know something about the bastard."
He mumbled the last part under his breath.
The woman followed after him.
As they started down the hall, the woman was glomped by something small and it stuck onto her legs.
"Obachan!" A child stared up at with bright eyes.
"Nawaki-kun." She says fondly.
"I tested my affinity!" He said in excitement.
"Really?" The older woman looked surprised and looked at the man who also stopped.
The older version of the boy shrugged his shoulders, equally clueless.
"Yeah!" He grinned and puffed out his chest. "I have three affinities: Water, Earth, and Fire. Hishimi-san said that it's rare and that I could be powerful ninjutsu user one day!"
The two adults looked at him then each other, even more surprised.
The man looked back at the boy deeply before turning away.
"Nawaki." He said, getting the child's attention. "Your grandmother and I were in the middle of a discussion. Meet me in the backyard in 20 minutes. I want to test it for myself."
"Hai, tou-sama." Nawaki meekly smiled and bowed to both adults. "Gomen, obachan."
"It's okay, Nawaki-kun." She rubbed his head affectionately. "Do me a favor and check on your kaasan for me. She's been a little under the weather lately."
"Hai!" He gave her a bright smile before running off.
"That boy reminds me so much of your father." She sighed.
The man doesn't comment and started down the hall.
"It's going to get him in trouble one day." He said.
"Yoichi." Mito frowned.
The man stopped and turned to her.
"Your father was a light in this dark world. He never lost his smile despite of his many losses." She said. "You should be happy Nawaki takes after him in that aspect. Under the right guidance, he'll grow up to change the world for the better."
Yoichi pursed his lips with a frown, a look that reminded Mito too much of her brother-in-law, Tobirama.
He loved his father, but he felt that the man while a loving father and great Hokage, was also a fool. He felt that the world wasn't ready for the peace his father envisioned. Being a light in the world and giving in to its darkness yielded the same results.
Death.
That's why he respected his uncle so much. Despite of his zealous hatred/fear of the Uchiha clan, he understood nature of the world and acted accordingly, instead of imposing his will upon it.
Only the powerful had the ability to shape the world and it required more than just one strong shinobi.
Yoichi shook his head and walked away.
He didn't want to argue with his mother again about his father.
They both walked to his office and took their seat at either side of his desk.
Mito gave him a scroll and he opened it.
Channeling his chakra into, several scrolls poofed out of it.
He opened the first one and it was the boy's birth certificate along with a few pictures. He picked up two of them, one where he was just a toddler and the other where he was child.
"Isn't he 16?" Yoichi raised an eyebrow.
"Hai." Mito nodded. "He's been away from home in the last 6 years. They're expecting his return soon. That picture is the last one they had of him before he left."
"Hm." Yoichi put down the pictures, looking at the certificate. "He doesn't look like much of a shinobi."
"He was only a child then." Mito chuckled. "But he has been formally trained. He reached the status of fuinjutsu grandmaster by the age of 10, the first of our clan to do so."
This peaked Yoichi's interest, although he didn't show it.
Although he didn't have much talent in the art, he knew that to master fuinjutsu at the Uzumaki level at such a young age was beyond impressive as there were only few Uzumaki grandmasters including the Uzukage and clan head.
He grabbed the other scroll and opened it.
Even though Uzushiogakure didn't have a formal academy, they did have an education system for their clan which is how they were able to track their fuinjutsu rankings in the clan.
According to the boy's records, he seemed to not only be good at sealing, but taijutsu and to a lesser degree, ninjutsu. He didn't have a lot of talent genjutsu and some kenjutsu experience.
"Are these records recent?" He asked as he read through everything.
"No." Mito replied, making him look up. "He has to get tested again when he returns to Uzushio."
"And his parents?" He questioned.
"His mother is the priestess of the god shrine in Uzushio." Mito said. "You've met Gion before. She helps me maintain the mask temple sometimes."
Yoichi thought about it for a moment before nodding.
His mother was close friends with the priestess.
"His father is the cousin of the current clan head and nephew of the Uzukage." Mito replied. "He's a merchant by trade. His in-laws are humble farmers."
"I thought Gion was a priestess." Yoichi frowned.
Shrine leaders are not only chosen by the gods, but are passed down through heirs like clans.
It has more to do with their reiki and qi. If the parent has strong spiritual energy, there is a high chance that their offspring will have strong energy as well. Just like shinobi, priests want stronger successors.
"Gion is an orphan and was taken in by a farmer and his wife who is an Uzumaki." Mito explained. "Their her adoptive parents."
"I see." Yoichi nodded.
They fall silent as he continued to read through the scrolls.
"Why him?" He asked later. "I would think they would offer someone more closely related to the Uzukage. Also, I don't understand why they would be willing to give up someone who will likely become one of their strongest shinobi. Where would they benefit given the dangerous times we're in?"
Mito suddenly smiled.
"They didn't say much, but I think the clan intends to reap their benefits on the backend." She said. "Why else would they send a merchant's son to marry into our family?"
Mito stood up and prepared to leave her son to think about it.
"The Uzumaki clan have always been a clan of peace, but nonetheless a clan of warriors. We had our time to be neutral, but the marriage between Hashirama and I has changed our world. These are times we can no longer be passive bystanders. It has been prophesied years ago that it will be our destruction."
With those words, she left him in his office.
Yoichi stared at the door and finally sighed.
He looked down at the papers on his desk.
The wedding was to take place after Tsunade's 18th birthday.
He wasn't thrilled about the arrangement but his hands were tied. The contract even bore the Fire Daimyo's seal, meaning he blessed it. It also meant that this contract was unbreakable.
He sighed and looked at the ceiling.
He still didn't understand his mother's reason for telling her so early on.
Tsunade was only 12 years old this year, not even old enough to really process it.
What was his mother's goal here?
After spending some time to deliberate, he collected his thoughts and placed everything back in the scroll. He sealed it away in his desk and left his office.
He went straight to the backyard where his son was waiting on him.