7 07 – This will be mine

"Tone, Ryu," Yamato warned Ryu about his tone getting a little informal.

"I-I apologize, my lord but, why another war? And how will we start a war?"

"You're pretty dumb for a captain…Hah, think about it, Ryu. Even without a war, our clan would be attacked soon. To keep all the members of the clan safe, we need to send them to a safe place, that is, here.

If we suddenly send them here, we might get caught but, if we send them in small batches and there is a war going on, it will be assumed that all the members were killed and the other villages, rather than looking for some members who 'might' remain alive, they would engage in their own fights." Yamato told Ryu about his plan without any worries.

Ryu and all the other alive people in the area were all Shadow Guards, super-loyal to the Uzumaki clan's head.

"Then–"

"Enough. Let's go back. It's already noon and I've got some work to do."

.

.

-Konoha-

As the day drew to a close, the sun had almost completely disappeared from the sky, casting a soft purple hue across the horizon.

Hiruzen, the Hokage of Konoha, sat in his office chair, listening to the report of the officials standing in front of him.

"Hmm, and what about the missions? Any A-rank missions were requested today?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama. One A-rank mission was posted today. Jonin Sakumo already saw it and is looking forward to completing it."

"Oh, if it's Sakumo then it's good. Alright, please leave now and tell the man standing outside to come in." Hiruzen said as he placed both his hands on the table and smiled gently at the two officials in front of him.

"Yes, Hokage-Sama." The officials bowed and left the office and not much later, a man wearing bandages on half of his face walked inside.

Hiruzen casually collected the papers scattered across his desk, not sparing Danzo a single glance as he spoke. "So, Danzo, what brings you here today?"

"Hiruzen you– When are you going to send that boy Namikaze Minato to the ROOT?" Danzo yelled.

"Danzo! Don't forget, I'm the Hokage, not you. Don't try to make decisions on your own." Hiruzen yelled back in response. Hiruzen was not someone who got angry easily but sometimes, even he could not help it.

"I don't mean it like that, Hiruzen. What I mean is that as he grows up, he'll gain more feelings and emotions for things and people around him and it would be harder to let him become a perfect ROOT member then." Danzo spoke in a soft tone, trying to calm Hiruzen down.

"Hah, I'm sorry for getting worked up right there. It's just that I'm not doing that good today."

"Hmm, I see. I hope you get better. What about Minato now?" Danzo shrugged off the subject of Hiruzen's health in a single line and returned to the topic of Minato quickly.

"Minato is going to be taught by Jiraiya as soon as he leaves the academy. He cannot join ROOT."

"That's disheartening but I hope that he joins us sometime soon. How about we make the–" As Danzo was talking, he was interrupted by the loud screech of an eagle.

It entered the room from the window behind Hiruzen and sat on his table, facing Hiruzen.

"Ahh, I was waiting for this eagerly," Hiruzen said happily as he extended his hands and took off a small piece of paper tied to the eagle's feet.

"What is that?" Danzo asked curiously.

"It's the bird that I gave Koharu's son to tell me about the latest news."

"Koharu's son? The one you sent to the Uzumaki clan with Sao- No, Ro- whatever his name was?" Danzo asked as he stepped forward to look at the message.

"Yes, him. This message is saying that…Uzumaki Yamato agreed to send a Royal family member to Konoha. He says that the clan's situation is pretty bad and they are looking for help everywhere." Hiruzen said.

"Hmm, the Uzumaki clan will fall within 6 months or a year," Danzo said after thinking for a little while.

According to him, it would still take a long time until the Uzumaki clan got severely low on resources. Before that, they would be more focused on preserving their resources and trying to avoid a war with the villages.

'The villages will strike them at their lowest.' Danzo said.

"Hmm, you are correct. I hope that they go down silently and do not start a war. Konoha is already helping them a lot by not attacking them along with the others, it would be good if they do not inflict us when they die." Hiruzen said in a disgusted tone.

'No, Hiruzen, a war would be better. I need to clear the road to becoming the Hokage very carefully otherwise. A war would actually help me a whole lot more.' Danzo said in his heart as he looked at Hiruzen yawning and gesturing to him to leave the office.

Danzo left and closed the door of the office. He held the knob of the door from the outside for a while, moving his hands on it and feeling it properly.

"One day, this office will be mine," Danzo mumbled as he left the Hokage's building and went back to the ROOT headquarters.

.

.

-At the same time, in the Uzumaki Royal Family Mansion-

Kazuha had returned home after another gruesome day of training. He was now focusing on making his body stronger and learning ninjutsu.

He had already learnt some basic jutsu like, transformation jutsu, clone jutsu and body replacement jutsu.

He was currently working on enhancing his body flicker jutsu. Kazuha felt that the body-flicker jutsu was not fast enough and with the infusion of the Wind-element, it would be better.

'But how do I infuse elemental chakra?' Kazuha wondered while walking into the house. He did not know about the chakra control techniques yet and they were not mentioned in any ninjutsu book that he had read till now either.

Most of the ninjutsu books did not mention it because it was assumed that a genin was reading them after learning about it.

"Kazuha, follow me," Yamato said standing on the stairs, stopping Kazuha right before he entered the washroom.

'This makes it two times.'

Kazuha sighed once before walking up the stairs and following Yamato into his study room.

"Close the door."

"Yes," Kazuha said as he closed the door and walked inside the study room.

"Now, my son, this might feel abrupt for you but, I would like to tell you some important things," Yamato said as he walked over to a table and looked at Kazuha.

"What is it?"

"We'll start with the first thing, your chakra. You might not know about it but your chakra has been enhanced by nature's energy."

"Nature's energy? Isn't it chakra that is everywhere?"

"No, chakra exists only in living beings. Nature has natural energy. Your chakra has been enhanced by it a lot. Fortunately, even your chakra blockage was healed by natural energy." Yamato answered.

"I'm…confused," Kazuha answered. He had never heard about natural energy before.

"Tsk, let me show you practically," Yamato said as he went and picked up three empty glasses, and a big jar of water and placed them all on his table.

'What is he trying to say? Wasn't their chakra everywhere in the world? If not, then what is this natural energy and how does it affect my chakra?'

"Here, this is a normal man's chakra reserves," Yamato said as he filled half a glass with water.

"This is someone from the Uzumaki clans' reserves." He filled up to the quarter of another glass.

"This is yours, someone who belongs to the Uzumaki clan and a chakra blockage victim." He filled the glass completely this time.

"Now, when we bring in natural energy to activate your chakra, it affects, or rather, enhances it like this," Yamato said as he put some powdered chalk into the glass which was filled up to the brim.

"This makes your body better than others, your chakra stronger…I think it is something very similar to the sage body. I believe that just like Senju Hashirama, your healing ability is great. There must've been slugs all around your body when you activated your chakra."

"My body…is just like Senju Hashirama's?" Kazuha asked. He was still new to this world yet, he had already heard about Hashirama's name and knew his feats. If he had the same body and talent as his, he would have no problem defending his family in the future.

'And I thought I was getting stronger slowly.'

"Yes, I think it should be very similar. You have a stronger body and your chakra blockage was also healed, meaning, your healing ability has been improved by a lot. Tell me, were there slugs around you when you activated your chakra?" Yamato asked again.

"No, as far as I remember, there were snakes and frogs with slugs too. Maybe a few birds too." Kazuha answered.

Yamato was taken aback by Kazuha's revelation. He quickly rushed to him and shook him by the shoulders, asking, "What do you mean? Are you absolutely certain that there were all three of them?"

"Y-Yes…"

"Wow, do you realize what this means, son?" Yamato asked with a mixture of shock and excitement. He hurried over to Kazuha and grasped his shoulders firmly. "It means that not only has your healing ability improved, but your strength and speed have increased as well. This is amazing, Kazuha. You may very well become the strongest person of your generation, and even of all time."

It was not wrong when people said, 'Your father is the only person in the world who wants you to be better than him.'

"T-Thank you, father. But, how do you know about all this?"

"Haha, the Uzumaki clan has details on matters you cannot even think about. If you get the chance, do read them."

"If I 'get the chance'? Aren't they all in the Uzumaki clan? If they are, why would I–" Kazuha asked but was interrupted by Yamato. Kazuha did not think that he would be restricted from reading something in the clan. The only reason he might be restricted right now would be due to his young age.

"Uhmm, anyhow, onto other important matters. The second subject is your training, I want you to be–" Yamato was interrupted by a knock on the door.

KNOCK~~!

"Hey, you two, come and eat dinner. It's getting cold," Miyazu called out from outside the room. She didn't open the door but instead spoke through it.

"You go ahead, Kazuha. I'll be there soon." Yamato said. He picked up the glasses which did not have chalk mixed in them and drank them.

"Yes," Kazuha said and left the room.

Moments after he left, Yamato said in a low voice, "Ryu,"

"Yes, my lord."

"Train him and make him the best you can in one month. I'll be leaving for Kumogakure very soon so I am busy."

"Yes, my lord," Ryu said but did not disappear right away.

"Any other thing you might need, Ryu?" Yamato asked when he saw Ryu not going away.

"It's about the thing that those envoys asked about…Are you planning to send either Young Lord or Young Lady?" Ryu asked.

"Yes. Well, at first I planned to send Kushina since she was much wiser than Kazuha but, ever since Kazuha woke up, he has been much better. I am reconsidering things now." Yamato said.

"Yes, my lord. Thank you for answering my question." Ryu said and was about to leave but stopped when he realized something.

'The young lord has been acting differently ever since he woke up and my lord just said, 'at first' and the envoys just came with the news two days ago…could he be–'

"My lord, did you already know this–"

"Shhh," Yamato interrupted Ryu, his eyes narrowing as he held up a hand in a gesture of silence.

He took a seat in his chair and propped his feet up on his table, a sly and self-assured grin spreading across his face as he met Ryu's gaze with his own.

"Oh, damn it, my dinner!" Yamato exclaimed, jumping up from his chair and dashing out of the room and towards the kitchen.

As he reached the kitchen's entrance, he saw Miyazu washing the dishes and Kushina sitting on the dining table alone.

"Hey Miyazu, is everyone done with their dinner?" Yamato asked as he walked and hugged Miyazu from behind.

"Oh yes, honey, you're a tiny bit late. Kazuha just went to sleep and I'm feeling a little sick. I think it is the flu due to the changing weather. I'm going to take some rest now." Mityazu said as she turned off the tap.

"Do you want any medicine?"

"Ahh, No no, it's just the flu. I'll be better after I sleep."

"Alright. Go inside and sleep then." Yamato said as he kissed Miyazu's forehead and let her go inside.

Yamato then thought that he was going to be alone while eating dinner but his thoughts were interrupted by Kushina's voice.

"Hurry up daddy. I need to sleep too."

"Hmm, go sleep then, my princess," Yamato answered as he put some rice in his bowl and sat on a chair at the dining table.

"Yes I will, but I want to tell you about my day first. So, today Shio and I…"

'Having a daughter is the best…' Yamato said as he covered his mouth from happiness.

'Though, this boy Shio…'