Ch 26: Deep Down
---
Legendary Sannin Tsunade
Tsunade woke with a wicked hangover as her apprentice shook her by the shoulder. The legendary medical ninja rose from her cot with a sour expression aimed at the girl. "Shizune," Tsunade growled and formed her fingers into a flick gesture ready to strike. "Give me a good reason not to start you on evasion practice here and now."
Tsunade's long blonde hair was a mess, some stuck to her face from dried drool, while the girl was much more put together. Shizune, Tsunade's nine year old apprentice, recoiled in fear of her teacher for a moment before she rapidly bowed down. "Lady Tsunade -- a message from Lord Orochimaru has arrived!"
Oh great, Tsunade thought and rolled her eyes. That prick's finally found me. "Well, what did the message say?" Tsunade peeled the hair off her face and threw her blankets off. Ugh, she'd gone to sleep in her heels. Disgusting.
"I… don't know. The message is sealed." Shizune bowed again and remained in it. "I don't know the unsealing jutsu."
Tsunade sighed and rubbed her forehead as her headache grew worse. "Bring it here, then…."
A rattlesnake slithered its way toward her, a scroll in its coils. As soon as Tsunade picked it up, she recognized the seal placed on the scroll -- a secret seal which only the Sannin and Sarutobi-sensei could break. Orochimaru had really wanted whatever was in the scroll to be for her eyes only. Annoyed, and hungover, Tsunade unsealed the scroll and opened it. She fully expected it to be a lecture about her sabbatical.
'Please come to Wave Country, I need your help.'
That was all. Literally one sentence. Orochimaru was practically addicted to complexity, he couldn't do simple if he tried. Something was either seriously wrong, or someone was impersonating Orochimaru. Still, the only people who could use the three-prong seal were people she knew -- so she quickly summoned two messenger slugs of her own.
"Please go to Jiraiya and Sarutobi-sensei and ask what this is about," she told the Katsuyu clones and showed them the scroll's contents.
"Of course, Princess Tsunade," the two white and blue-green striped slugs replied, bowed, and vanished.
After they were gone, Tsunade got herself ready to face the day. With her hangover, it was difficult work but she had to set an example to Shizune -- sleeping with heels on had consequences.
The afternoon had come, and Tsunade had gone to the casinos, when her Katsuyu messengers returned. One with a reply from the Hokage: "Make haste to Wave Country, before calamity unfolds."
And the second came with Jiraiya.
It'd been a couple years since the two had seen each other, so Tsunade promptly ignored him until she lost her hand a poker. Then she bothered to greet him. "What's all this about Wave Country?" She demanded of her former teammate, hands on her hips. "That miserable island's been rather popular recently."
Jiraiya glanced at Shizune, who hid behind Tsunade, and led them to the casino's roof where they could talk. "Water Country lost its civil war, and is no more," he started off, his tone serious. "A lot of the ninja and civilians from Kirigakure have settled in Wave. Including their jinchuuriki."
"And Sarutobi-sensei thinks they'll attack Fire Country?" Tsunade said back, and used a mask of affront to hide how shaken she was to hear that one of the Elemental Nations was gone, along with its village. She hadn't even heard anything about a civil war in Water Country. "I'm not going to war for Konoha again."
Jiraiya looked at her with a calculating expression. "One of the jinchuuriki is Orochimaru's nephew -- it turns out he had family in another nation."
Tsunade was not prepared for that, and it caused her to mentally stall out for a solid three seconds while she parsed what she had heard. She scowled at the toad Sannin and clenched her fist so hard the knuckles popped. "That's not funny, Jiraiya."
"I'm not joking." Her teammate's voice was soft, like he couldn't believe himself either. He steel in his eyes when he looked at her. "I was there when Orochimaru did the blood test to confirm it. He told me what it meant, and we both know he wouldn't joke about that."
She had to take a moment processing that. Out of the three of them, she'd been the only one with surviving family -- her grandmother. But suddenly Orochimaru had a nephew? She glanced down at Shizune, and briefly wondered if the boy was around the same age -- maybe they could give the girl a friend?
"Well, why's he asking me to come with you to Wave, then?" Tsunade flicked her hand dismissively. "He's better at sealing than I am, and a better medic than you. He should have this handled."
Jiraiya's eyes narrowed at her, and it was his turn to clench his hands tight. "Orochimaru told sensei he thinks the kid's seal is FUBAR, and he asked me to bring an experimental half-finished seal with me. So I can think of two possible reasons he wants you there." The toad Sannin crossed his arms. "Either he wants you there because the bijuu is going to need to be removed and re-sealed…." He extended one finger to indicate the count, then a second as he kept speaking. "Or he wants you there to help when he has to put down the only family he has left because the seal is so broken that we cannot fix it."
Her blood ran cold. She drifted back through time to when Orochimaru had been the one to tell her about her little brother. She remembered looking up when Dan was dying, to see Orochimaru keeping an eye out for the enemy. She recalled how it had felt to have him, Jiraiya, and Sarutobi-sensei there in the days after those deaths. As bad as she was, she knew she'd be worse if they had left her alone to grieve.
"...I'll pack my things, and be ready to go in an hour," Tsunade said with her arms limp at her sides.
"Do that, please."
--
Jounin Kurosuki
Raiga watched as the pumps salvaged from wrecked ships started to chug and churn and spit out seawater from the interior of the village. It would take days to fully drain the village -- and then they'd have to start moving people in and getting the trappings of society built. Konoha had provided a lot of worked goods which would be helpful for that -- copper, glass, grains, and a line of credit to purchase additional materials.
There was so much work to do, he couldn't stand around and watch the pumps spit seawater back into the sound. He left, and went into the tent city where there was a noticeable level of excitement that dampened when he appeared. People grew quieter around him, they hid their children as he passed, and some outright went back into their tents. On top of the work needed to get Otogakure as location up to the standard of living Kirigakure had, there was clearly work which needed to be done to make them one people.
Or perhaps that was because Junko had decided to run circles around him as he walked into the tent city. Once he was aware of his student's presence, he placed a hand onto her head to stop her running. "Junko, what's up?" He tried to grin, but he just couldn't match the manic enthusiasm Junko had.
"I'm so excited that we're going to have a village again soon!" She bounced in place, even though Raiga tried to keep her on the ground. "Mama's already thinking of which tower we want to live in, and I wondered if you had a tower of your own already? Maybe we could be neighbors?"
Raiga arched his brow and looked around. People took notice of Junko's words. Perhaps that could present an opportunity. "Probably not. The Kaguya clan would be granted a whole tower because of their numbers. But me? I'd probably just get an apartment on a floor -- maybe one with a view of the reefs outside." He let her go and continued to walk. "Maybe Noburu's family apartment and mine could be close to the Kaguya tower, but we won't have a tower all to ourselves.."
People were listening in, eager for any scrap of information about their new home. That gave Raiga an idea as he tried to reign in Junko's enthusiasm. In the end, as was the case with all Kaguya, she could only be worn down with violence.
Later that evening, Raiga and his genin returned to the tent city with a prize to feast on -- a full grown maneater boar, a hog that could feed the whole tent city on his own. While Noburu, Raiga, and Junko went to work slaughtering the carcass Haruki was given the task of getting the cooks all prepared to go to work with such a hog.
"I can't believe they have pigs that big here," the Fujimoto survivor muttered as he watched the eleven-meter long carcass butchered by his team. "What do they even eat?"
"Do you think, Princess," Noburu muttered as he pulled armfuls of viscera from the chest cavity, "that they call them 'maneater boars' for funsies?" He stuck his arm in again and felt around. "Found the gallbladder!"
Chefs with knives carefully moved in around Noburu to remove the gallbladder while the jinchuuriki's shadow clones hauled organs away for cleaning.
Raiga wiped his forehead with a cloth while he carefully cut through to the joints on one of the hog's legs. Bit by bit, the hog was portioned down and carried away for cleaning. He glanced over at Junko, who was covered in blood and handing bowls of the stuff to other Kaguya clan members. Per her, they were going to make puddings from the blood -- Raiga didn't know if that was a good thing or not.
"Spread the word," he shouted as people watched them butcher the pig from afar. "There is to be a feast tonight! We celebrate this day, when our home comes closer to being finished! All who have questions about the village will be answered!"
"Yay!" The blood-covered Junko cheered, as she bounced and clapped her sanguine hands. "Question and answers over food!"
"Gah!" Haruki hoped away from Junko as blood spattered where he'd been. "Junko, watch it! You'll get blood everywhere -- and I don't want it staining my silks!"
Junko paused, then grinned maniacally wide. "Oh?" She twitched her fingers in his direction. "You don't want blood all over you?" She took a step closer.
Haruki waved a finger at her warningly, and took a step away. "No…."
"You don't want to have liquid life all over you?" She took another step closer.
"No no no…." Haruki continued to back away, then turned and ran when Junko charged him. "Stay away, devil woman!"
Junko chased after Haruki with her blood-covered hands stretched out and making grabby gestures. "A bit of red will make you look so nice!"
"Someone call a priest and exorcise this demon!"
Raiga sighed, and stabbed Kiba into the ground. "You two knock it off," he shouted after he cupped his hands around his mouth. "We have to get this done before…." He paused as he watched five Noburu shadow clones carry a section of the rib cage away to the cleaning station. "Oh. I guess… Noburu can help more than I thought." He cupped his hands around his mouth again. "Nevermind! Resume your chase!"
Haruki squawked as he quickly started to run from Junko once more, she didn't need to be told twice to chase after something.
Noburu and Raiga continued the work on butchering the pig while chefs cleaned and cooked it up for the feast. After a quick washup on their parts, they were ready to join the feast. Raiga sat with Fuguki and Jinin, while his students were seated together. Haruki's eye kept twitching as he had been forced to change shirts while the blood on the old one was soaked out, and Junko's grin was brighter than dawn. Noburu was seated close to the end of their table, where his mother could be at the far end of hers and sit next to each other -- however hse seemed ill at ease with who sat to Akami's flank, Orochimaru.
The feast had no set ceremony -- it was a massive meal shared by the settlement to celebrate progress, there was no need for fancy speeches or grand gestures in Kirigakure culture. But if they wanted to move on, they needed to have a talk. Raiga took a weight and struck the table to gain the feast-goer's attention, and stood.
He didn't know what he would say when he'd done that, but he decided that the best way to earn people's trust was to be honest with them. "Today we celebrate moving one step closer to living out of Kirigakure's shadow." He let that hang for a second while he thought of what he'd say next. "The nightmare is not over. There is still work to do. And we will have to keep watch to make sure that insatiable bloodlust and love of cruelty never manifest in our people to cause a repeat of history. When the food is eaten, the jounin, the heads of the Hoshigaki and Hozuki clans, the architects of the village, and I will take questions. We'll answer any questions you may have about the village -- and what we plan to do with it. But tonight, right now, we have a home days away from us being able to live in it, and we have honored guests to celebrate." He gestured to Orochimaru and his genin. "Let this feast be the beginning of good things! Bone app the teeth!"
Noburu was giggling like a madman while Raiga sat back down utterly redfaced. He couldn't believe he'd used the obviously fake meal blessing, but he felt he had to end on something. No one else seemed to mind, however.
--
Mother Jiang
Her son had made a clone which transformed into a model of the village as it was now -- which allowed the non-ninja the chance to look at the village clearly for the first time. She was amazed at how, from above, the village looked somewhat like a snowflake -- yet the towers and the massive dome beneath the village captured most people's attention.
With the feast done, she watched as the young man who was somehow a jounin explained the village to everyone assembled. "...We currently have seven of a planned twenty-five towers completed," Raiga explained. "They still need to be wired, to have ventilation set up, and amenities installed… such as doors. But they should provide us with more than enough room while new towers are built." He tapped three out of the seven which changed color. "Three of the towers, not necessarily these three, are reserved for the great clans which have helped us build the village and will continue to help now that we're past the hardest part. Any questions?"
Her brother-in-law next to her raised his hand with a smile. Akami did as well, though she was less confident. To her suprise, Raiga pointed her out to speak first. "Um… what is the large dome?"
Raiga tapped it, and it lit up on the model. "This is the agricultural area. It's going to be filled with soil and fresh water to act as the village's main reservoir and grow our food. They'll be grown on structures like tiered rice paddies, which are carved into the sides of the dome and continue up to the crown."
Akami nodded, content with the answer, and let Orochimaru be called on next. For such a fearsome reputation, he was subdued in his gestures and tone of voice -- always so soft and seemingly well-meaning. Akami had to work hard to remember that Orochimaru wasn't Jirou, and that she might color her son's perception of both of them if she warmed up to their new relative too fast.
"Have you made room for the facilities needed to power your village, and pump water for internal plumbing… and irrigation, since you have your own agriculture," Orochimaru asked with a curious tone.
Akami glanced at her son and saw him squint from behind his glasses.
Raiga nodded, slow and slightly suspicious. "We have space carved into the cliff behind the village." He tapped the edge of the model where the sides of the sound were implied to be. "We will have ventilation, power, and the pumping station in artificial caverns. What we're hoping to do is to have this area," he indicated the village proper, with its towers, "be the residential area and the more scenic location. The industrial region will be in the caverns, so as not to damage the reefs."
Another question came up, from a fisherman back in Kiri. "Will we be allowed to fish on the reefs?"
Raiga glanced at Noburu, and nodded at the asker. "The only form of fishing which is prohibited is bottom trawling -- we're afraid of damaging local reefs and agitating the krakens. Speaking of which -- do not provoke the kraken offshore. We have a plan to kill it, so leave it be."
"Yeah," Akami muttered, "it better involve leaving enough intact for me to cook."
Orochimaru looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You intend to cook the kraken?"
She nodded, resolute. If she wanted to wake a sleeping goddess who's favorite food was kraken, she had to get it right the first time. The village would never allow a second one to move in so close.
Suzume, seated on the other side of Orochimaru, leaned in to comment. "She's said it's an opportunity a chef would never pass up."
A completely true fact that was not at all why Akami wished for the kraken to be taken mostly intact. "Kraken will never be a common dish -- they eat whales to get as big as they do," Akami explained. "But I want to have that little piece of history for my name, so my son has something he can tell my grandchildren about. 'Your gramma was a legendary cook, who served kraken as sashimi'." She puffed her chest out in pride, while she knew her son hid his face. "That's what he'll say."
Orochimaru blinked at her, then tapped his chin in consideration. "Would… kraken make good takoyaki?"
"Probably not," Suzume answered while Akami shook her head. "They resemble giant cuttlefish, so the texture of the flesh is likely not the same as giant octopus."
"They likely have a decent amount of fat in them." Orochimaru continued to tap his chin as he mused. "They stay in the Kaizoku all winter, when even the whales can't take the cold. It could be that the texture of the flesh would change with how you cook it."
"Hmm, I hadn't considered that."
"You know," Noburu muttered loud enough for Akami to hear. "I really can't wait until I can take a break from all this nerd stuff and just beat someone up and get paid for it."
That was something Akami could identify with. Cooking out of necessity was fun, but she missed being paid for her work. Maybe she could make the village some money by selling recipes for kraken to stupid nobles?
She nixed that idea right away -- knowing the nobility, they'd start hunting krakens commercially, and then they'd all be dead in fifty years.
"Wait…" Noburu muttered as he lifted his head off the table. "I wouldn't have anything to spend it on until we get merchants to set up shop here. That's years off! Dangit…"
---
Cast:
Legendary Sannin Tsunade: One of the three Sannin, the last living descendent of the Senju clan. A veteran of the Second Shinobi World War, she is the foremost expert on medical ninjutsu on the planet. It is unknown if she has completed a medical doctorate, and what her area of specialty is. Tsunade is renowned for her bad luck, her drinking habits, and her cynacism.
Shizune: Tsunade's nine-year-old apprentice. Her late fiancee's niece, Tsunade took Shizune as her apprentice over more qualified candidates purely out of nepotism. Shizune likely will develop into quite a kunoichi in her own right, but she spends most of her time tending to Tsunade after the princess passes out drunk.
Noburu is really considering changing his casino idea into inventing the first shopping mall in the Naruto setting. He just can't make up his mind!
