Chapter 3: Clan lives matter

"For normal people it might be impossible, but for me, it's a piece of dango." Oden Spoke as he stood up.

"Hokage-Sama, let me teach them beside Kakashi whenever I have time." Oden said.

"Hmm, okay, you can join in on their training now and then." Hokage said.

Seeing the impatient look on Oden's Face, Hokage waved him away, allowing him to leave as the two important matters had more or less been solved, they would continue on the matter of who would teach which children but Oden couldn't care less.

Walking outside, Oden saw the bustling streets of Konoha and felt that the air was very refreshing.

Thinking back, he didn't really care about being a teacher for those immature kids, but building a good relationship with them would do him and his clan really good, long-term speaking.

Furthermore, he did feel sympathy towards both Sasuke and Naruto. For kids to go through what they did is impressive, to say the least.

After walking for what seemed like half an hour, he finally reached the district where his clan have their compound.

Seeing the big gate, the first thing he noticed was the sign above it, with the Japanese kanji for eternity and a red circle around it. This was their Clan symbol.

"Welcome back patriarch!" The two genins guarding the Zaraki clan gate saluted.

Hierarchies in the Naruto world are very respected because these methods kept clans alive and strong.

If the head is strong, the rest will also be, and if the head is sick, the rest of the body will follow.

"Good work." Oden spoke nonchalantly as he simply walked in.

As he walked through his district, he couldn't help but feel a kinship with the people there, at the same time he felt a heavy responsibility to protect, provide and ensure economic success for his district.

He finally reached the biggest house, it was a traditional Japanese house, or rather mansion, with walls surrounding it, and it had open walls to the garden where you could see a beautiful Sakura tree beside a small pond.

This mansion had many rooms and a big garden where he used to train in his younger days.

"I'm home!" Oden said as he stepped inside his house.

"Welcome back young master." An elderly voice spoke. This was the butler that had taken care of his granddad in his late years as the clan leader, then continued his work with the former Clan head, and now worked for the newest patriarch.

"How did the meeting go?" The elderly man spoke.

"It went fine, some were reluctant to have me there, but they have no say in our Clan matters and I made that clear." Oden spoke.

Migoto was one of the closest people to him and someone he trusted dearly.

"Where's grandfather?" Oden asked.

"He's out training the young again." Migoto said, slightly worried about his young master.

After all, at the age of 15 years old he became a clan leader, and Oden was known to be a genius.

Even though he became a genin at 9, and then Jonin at 12, he didn't have much experience with politics.

Oden himself could have become a genin at a much much earlier age, however, he chose to continue in the academy, not because he was keeping a low profile, but rather because he knew building relationships was essential to his future.

Migoto hoped for Oden's grandfather to help and guide him, but the old man was very nonchalant about the whole matter, saying he trusted his genius grandson to do well.

Oden sighed, his grandfather was a piece of work, the old man simply fished all day, taught the young children martial arts, or nagged the Nara clan for a match of Shogi.

He gave them a good fight but always lost, the problem was... he was very stubborn and persistent, he would continue to challenge the Nara clan until they complained to both the Zaraki clan and Hokage. "Harassment" they called it.

"Well it doesn't matter, he worked hard to keep our Clan strong, he is allowed to play around in his elderly age." Oden said as he continued to a big room that could be counted as a living room.

There was a small table in the middle where one could sit on the floor, and the wall was open, showing the garden as a view.

As Oden sat down, a middle-aged woman came inside with food for him to eat.

Oden simply nodded at her before eating. The house only had four people including himself.

Migoto, the head butler, Mina the head maid, and his grandfather, Akai Zaraki.

"Young master, we have a matter to discuss." Migoto said with some reluctance.

"Is it about marriage again..?" Oden spoke tiredly.

Migoto had started asking Oden to get a wife three years ago when he became a jonin, but he really started to persistently nag after Oden became the clan head.

"Young master, your uncles and aunt all died in the war, and your father only had one child, now that you're a clan head it's a duty for you to marry and have a few children to secure your lineage, especially now that the former head died, or else you're wronging your ancestors and your clan greatly." Migoto spoke reasonably.

"I know, I know, if I died it would take a whole generation before the closest kin to the head lineage would produce someone with the potential for the Mugengan yada yada. Alright, I'll look into it, and see if you can find any potential wives for me." Oden said, he had heard this a thousand times already.

"Young master please take this seriously, If you die, it can take up to many generations before we find the one that inherited the Mugengan since not everyone with the potential for it can awaken it. Remember the dark times for our Clan, when The head lineage died, and it took our Clan 64 years to find the next clan head that inherited the Mugengan, we almost disappeared and it was our weakest time!" Migoto spoke with urgency in his voice.

"You're right, don't worry, find a few noble and pretty ones for me and I'll make sure to produce some offspring." Oden said tiredly.

In his former life, he lived in modern times where these practices were no longer needed, however in the Naruto world these practices are there to protect bloodlines, clans, and societies.

The thought of it was a bit repulsive for Oden at first, to marry someone solely for political reasons. However since he became the head of the clan, he started understanding that he can't work by his whims and desires anymore.

'I need to act accordingly to protect my clan.' Oden thought as he ate.

By the time he was done, Migoto had brought a dozen papers for him to read through, and work out any problems that might have come up.

"This is the weekly work Oden-sama, please inform us of any need you might have." Migoto spoke as he left.

It took Oden about half an hour to finish his weekly work. Luckily, he wasn't Hokage, because this is nothing compared to that.

As Oden read through the last paper, he found a letter that was sent from the Hyuga clan.

"Hmm, what's this?" Oden whispered as he read it.