[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Uzushiogakure, Year 42.
...
...
Several kilometers away, a fleet of ships began advancing across the surface of the sea. More and more vessels were displayed, forming a small fleet of more than a hundred ships, heading in a certain direction.
Beneath the sea, one could see the horned fish curiously observing the movement on the surface, while beginning to emit signals through the seal connected to Minato.
One of the pair of fish disappeared in the next moment, leaving only the other staring at the underside of the ships advancing through the sea.
Minato was sitting in the middle of the large meeting room. Present were the leader of the Uzumaki, Masaki, Mu, and other village elders, as well as Tsuna and Kushina beside Minato.
As soon as Minato felt the call, he made a seal movement and, in the next moment, a fish appeared in front of him, with him catching it before it fell to the ground with his arms, as big as a large dog.
"Lord Minato," said the fish, looking at him cautiously.
"Tell me something, is there anything east?" Minato asked, already knowing the signal came from that direction.
"Yes, Lord Minato. There are several ships coming from the sea to the east, they are advancing through the middle of the sea. We believe they are heading for you, here," it said.
"All right, I'll send you back. I want you to count how many ships there are and if any more groups will appear in the sea. I'll summon you in a few hours," Minato replied, while the fish nodded and disappeared in the next moment, being sent back to its partner.
"It seems the information we gathered was correct," Minato said, facing the clan leader after everyone around him listened to the interaction between him and the fish.
They had already been in the meeting for more than two hours, and it was almost late afternoon, receiving information not only from that fish but also from others. Minato had already summoned fish from the north when the first report came of ships appearing in that sea, probably sent by Iwa in addition to those from Kumo.
The meeting was urgently convened, explaining the situation while they began to debate the next steps. The enemy was making its move.
An hour later, came the information that from the south there were also ships advancing north, ships from Suna. Even without the kage, they were sending their forces.
Now, Kiri was finally acting together with the others as well.
"It seems they coordinated the day to act, just as we found out from the hostage I captured... However, they will not launch an attack directly. First, they will organize, sending ninjas to talk to each other before the attack. Maybe send a group of scouts to see the terrain and the clan before the main force acts..." Minato said.
"How much time do you think we have?" asked one of the elders.
"It's hard to say, they may act within the next few hours or even wait a day at most before the attack." Minato pondered.
They had already been preparing since the day Minato had taken down the entire elite team of Kiri scouts and captured one of the Mist Swordsmen. Instead of killing him, he placed him under interrogation with the Uzumakis using fuuinjutsu. It could not be as effective as the Yamanaka clan's techniques, but it worked after some effort.
With that, they obtained information about the day of the attack, which would be the following day, and even some of Kiri's formations. Obviously, the joint attack would be organized to be launched at the same time. Everyone wanted to take their share at the end of this fight.
"Will we be able to protect the clan?" some elders did not hide their concerns.
"Of course we will. Uzushiogakure will not fall so easily! We have armed ourselves heavily in the past few days and we have powerful allies," Mu Uzumaki said firmly.
"Mu is right. Even though we had only a few days, isn't it obvious that our Uzumaki clan prepared well? We have three new layers of barriers around the island thanks to Lady Kushina, tens of thousands of explosive tags exhausting the whole clan to make them, and most of them are hidden in the water around the island, hundreds of ninjas for long-range attacks. We are more prepared than ever to face all of our enemies!" Masaki spoke with full conviction.
"Yes, do they have bijuus with them? We have Lady Kushina to face them, they have Kages, we have the young man who can defeat Kages here!" said another Uzumaki, wanting to raise the confidence of his peers.
"I believe we shouldn't even discuss this, we will keep the children, women, and the men who cannot fight already in the hideouts. The places will be sealed with barriers, since we don't know how the battle will unfold. It will probably come to the middle of the island, and they must be protected while we fight on the front lines," said Minato, and no one disagreed.
"Then let's prepare the clan. We have at most a day... They will have to stop to reorganize and launch the attack at the same time. So it's better that we all prepare now. Let's begin immediately," said Masaki, as he began to rise. Everyone nodded, there was nothing more to discuss there. The sentinels Minato had placed were already announcing that the enemy was coming and would gather more information a little later.
Minato, Kushina, and Tsuna went to meet Hanabi and Mikoto at Kushina's mother's house, while Lady Akahana Uzumaki prepared coffee in the middle of that afternoon.
"How are things?" she asked immediately upon seeing the three enter the kitchen after the teleportation.
"The clan leader will gather everyone now at the beginning of the evening and announce that the attack may come in the middle of the night or tomorrow during the day. If the enemies are more impatient, they will come during the night, but I believe they are too confident and will attack at some point with daylight, in some part of the morning or midday," Minato said, while the atmosphere seemed to immediately grow tense.
"You're going to win, aren't you?" the woman broke the silence, wiping her hands with a cloth and staring at Kushina. "Aren't you, Kushina?" she said to her daughter, who replied with a firm look.
"Of course we will, mother. Dattebane, we're going to win!" she said before looking at Minato. "Isn't that right, Minato? If you say we can win, then we will win," she spoke with confidence.
"Of course. We'll make them all regret the day they believed they could fight against the Uzumaki clan," Minato replied.
"Great. Come, sit at the table. You must be tired after so many hours in that meeting," she said, while Kushina and Tsuna joined the table. But Minato refused.
"I need to get some fresh air, if you'll excuse me," he said, wanting to be alone.
No one stopped him. Minato left through the door of the house and went to the middle of the courtyard of the woman's home. Looking around, he saw people returning to their houses to rest along the street after an entire day of work in the defense of the clan — mainly in the creation of seals. The people seemed quite agitated and worried.
Uzumaki ninjas began running down the street.
"Attention everyone! Meeting at the beginning of the evening, in front of the clan leader! Don't forget, meeting in front of the clan leader! It is of utmost importance that everyone attend!" the messengers shouted, calling the people.
"Minato!" a small voice called him. The blond looked to a corner and saw a little boy running up to him from the street, while Minato had been leaning against the wall of Kushina's mother's house.
"What are you doing here, Renji?" Minato asked the boy, who should have been with his parents, waiting for them to pick him up.
"I escaped," he laughed.
There was a kind of daycare for the children to stay while their parents fulfilled their duties for the clan. There were many children — it was said there were about five thousand Uzumaki in the clan, but only teenagers, adults, and elders were counted as combatants. The children, numbering over three hundred, were not included in that count. The little boy in front of him was only five years old.
His parents were working in different areas of the clan's defense. His mother was a powerful user of fuuinjutsu and, for that reason, a kunoichi responsible for maintaining the barriers and defensive seals, even before this threat. She had worked in breaking defenses in Konoha's enemy camps during the war.
As for his father, he was a combat shinobi specialized in the water element and trained directly in the water jutsu that Tsuna Senju had brought from the Senju clan, created by the Second Hokage, to be cast on a large scale against the enemies at sea.
Minato knew the little boy by chance. He had seen him crying before, a cautious boy who saw the blond for the first time. Minato had approached him and talked to him, cheered him up, since the boy had been very scared after overhearing a discussion between his parents.
After meeting Minato, he began to talk to him. The boy looked up to him as a hero, after hearing adults comment about who Minato was. The next day, when he met his parents, they thanked Minato, saying they were happy because he was one of the few outsiders who had come to help the clan.
Minato had met some clan members in the past few days. There was the granddaughter of Masaki, Asuma Uzumaki, who showed interest in him like a girl in love, as did many others. Minato escaped from them all, giving no importance to it, since he was quite popular here and known as a war hero and friend of the Uzumakis.
He also met other adults, talking with them mainly at night while walking around the clan after an entire day of training and supervising the defenses. For that reason, it was no surprise that he was recognized by some members who passed by on the streets, greeting him while he spoke with Renji. Still, his gaze returned to the boy.
"You shouldn't run away like that," Minato said.
"We're in the Uzumaki clan, what's the worst that could happen?" the boy teased, and Minato gave a bright smile. The boy had a sharp tongue.
"But even so, leave the work to the adults, you might get in their way while running around… We're protecting all of you," Minato said.
"I know, but I wanted to see you helping the clan. I heard you captured one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist!" the little boy said.
"Yes, that was yesterday. We got some interesting information from him. Anyway, your parents are arriving now," Minato replied, as two people ran up to the wall where he was talking to the boy.
"Renji Uzumaki, what are you doing here?" the woman shouted, worried about the child, even emphasizing his full name with a certain anger at him not being in the daycare.
"I ran away," he admitted awkwardly and with some fear of his mother, while the man sighed and looked at Minato.
"Lord Minato Namikaze… I hope he didn't cause trouble…" he said, while Minato shook his head.
"No, it's all right. We were just talking," Minato replied with a friendly smile.
The man nodded, the woman also thanked him, and they let the boy say goodbye to Minato. He remained there, leaning against the wall, watching them leave and observing some ninjas still running through the streets.
Minato was trapped in his own thoughts, as he let out a sigh.
At nightfall, the clan leader called everyone, and they all attended as he had asked, and soon the speech began. Minato, his four girls, Hanabi's grandfather, and Kushina's mother were in a corner.
"Hello everyone," the leader began. "I gathered you all here to share troubling news."
He then explained that the attack would begin soon, with the villages already advancing by sea in ships. They would soon reach them. The women, children, and men who could not fight should go to the underground shelters created for safety, where they would be sealed to protect them.
The reception of the news was not the best, with everyone becoming very worried, but the leader sighed, determined not to waste any more time. Minato, for his part, also did not want to prolong that announcement.
"I'll have to go somewhere else. I just need to organize a few more things," he said to Tsuna at his side, as his eyes began to shift into sage mode.
In the next moment, he disappeared, leaving everyone staring at the spot where he had been.
Minato appeared at Mount Myōboku. It was also night there, but a little later due to the different time zone. He appeared directly in the training area, without even announcing his presence.
Quickly, he rose into the sky with geppo, cut his finger with a kunai, began forming hand seals, and prepared the summoning jutsu.
An explosion burst out in the next instant, shaking the area. In the sky, an immense serpentine form appeared: a dragon over 200 meters long.
"Minato, what's the problem?" asked Guren, in his blue dragon form, displayed in the sky of Mount Myōboku.
"I need you to be ready to do something for me. It's time to act, finally," said Minato, with a serious look.
Guren nodded firmly. He had already had this conversation with Minato before. He knew that the plan was beginning — and that the part involving Guren would be, beyond being one of Minato's great trump cards, his grand finale...
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