Chapter 8: Wolves

Another week later, as I was just done demonstrating my expertise in wind-flow combined with my chakra chains (I was only allowed to practice this with one chain without supervision, and two chains with, due to the inherent danger), Haruto sensei asked me a question.

“How is it that you learn these things so quickly? It took me almost a year to get these chakra flow techniques to that level. Even then, I was much older and considered a prodigy because I learned Wind techniques so easily.” A bit taken aback, I decided to answer honestly. My plans needed me to have at least some influence, and I'd need people other than my parents to vouch for me. Haruto-sensei was a senior and highly respected Uzumaki combatant, sort of like Gai or Kakashi in canon Naruto.

“Ah, well, Haruto-sensei, that's a bit complicated. See, the first part is when you were learning these techniques. You were probably already in active service, right?” as he nodded, I continued. “So, you had patrol, and regular wind practice, and were probably doing shopping and chores, and physical training, team training, and maybe a girl you liked?” He smiled, and nodded again.

I nodded too. “Right. I don't have any of those distractions. I wake up, train, eat, train and sleep. Every day. In this last week alone, I've put in over ten hours of training, specifically on the wind-flow manipulation. That's probably as much training as you could put in during a month, and it being closer together helps, I think, both for my mind, and for my body's memory of the chakra manipulation.” His eyes widened a bit at that, likely impressed (and perhaps a bit horrified) by my dedication at such a young age.

“That's the first reason,” I continued. “The second is because I am young. Young people learn things faster, and things become part of themselves easier than for older people. It also helps that I've been practicing internal chakra manipulation before I could speak, so I think I'm more suited to using chakra than most other people, again because of how I've developed since a young age. I'm lucky, too, to have a very strong wind affinity and excellent chakra stores; I can practice full-out, using as much chakra as it takes to succeed, without worrying about being tired, so I can improve faster.”

“That all makes sense,” he replied, “and explains how quickly you've been learning and growing as I've been teaching. But you got a lot better just recently. Did you have some sort of epiphany?” At this, I understood what he was getting at. Chakra is partially spiritual. That's not understood enough a lot of the time, especially with lower level ninja and chakra users.

At higher levels of chakra users, many understood that the spiritual explanation was often just as important. There was a reason that few would challenge a senior monk in jutsu; certain koans or riddles meant to expand the mind were capable of inherently improving the user's chakra (typically control or elemental manipulation) once understood. This knowledge was also one of the reasons why clans had such a leg up; they had repositories of knowledge, philosophical treatises written by past masters and living experts to pass on the small, subtle, but critical hints and tricks to optimize jutsu.

Haruto wanted to know if I had discovered such an epiphany; if I had, it would be an excellent indication of my potential, and potentially a boon to the many wind-users of Uzushio. Unfortunately, I had not; I had, however, experienced kensho several times while meditating on the wind, though any claims from a child of such would be highly suspect. In truth, my deep spiritual power did massively improve my learning rate and potential, especially of this sort of deeper knowledge and personal understanding.

I shook my head. “Unfortunately, I have had no new epiphanies, though I do meditate on the wind every day. Instead, and this was what I was getting to, I've recently had a breakthrough in a technique I've been developing. From a very young age, basically as long as I can remember, I've noticed my own and others' chakra; this isn't that unusual for an Uzumaki sensor. But, I played with it, and eventually came up with internal chakra flow acceleration and chakra reinforcement. From this, and the use of yang chakra to enhance physical reinforcement, I developed the idea of using yin or mental chakra to perform mental reinforcement.” Haruto was looking stunned. Probably at a combination of my ridiculous genius (not knowing my mind, at least, is older than I appear), and at my luck in not killing myself.

I took the opportunity to continue before he could explode. “I know it's dangerous. In fact, it's so crazily dangerous that I think that if I didn't have a strong regeneration potential even for an Uzumaki that I might be dead or insane or broken. And, I think you have to start young for it to work; just in sensing, I've noticed that kids’ brains are more flexible and change more than adults. I think the brain becomes somewhat more resistant to change as time goes on, so it probably needs to adapt to these kinds of techniques before it gets too set, or it's even more dangerous.

“But, I was careful. First, I started with nerves outside of my brain, and reinforced them to failure until I could determine safe levels, and experimented with reinforcing nearby tissues to detect any chakra conduction or leakage issues. Then, I carefully reinforced my brain with small amounts in specific places after I meditated so I could detect any changes. I messed up, a lot, but I figured out how to safely do two things so far: I can give myself eidetic visual memory, and chakra reflex memory.” Done, I gave him a moment to reflect.

“Incredible,” he said with a hint of awe quickly turning to disapproval. “Truly, incredibly. Insane, poorly thought out, massively dangerous, and a remarkably poor show of judgment for someone of your intelligence, but still incredible. I'm not sure if I should praise you or punish you right now.”

“It wasn't that bad a judgment!” I protested. “I survived, and am fine, aren't I? Nothing even took more than a half hour to recover from.”

“First off, you didn't know that would happen when you started,” he countered. “Second, you didn't think to practice on a rabbit or something, and look at long term effects? Baka!” My eyes were wide as he gave a light smack to my head to emphasize his words. “And what about interactions with genjutsu, or foreign chakra, or your future development. Why the hell did you feel the need for this anyways? You already learn faster and work harder than anyone else I've ever seen, and I'm considered a monster myself.” At this, I got a lot grimmer.

“I think war is coming to Uzushio.” I'd been planning a conversation like this for a while. I had the benefit of possible-future knowledge, but needed a way of convincing others. It always helped an analysis when you knew the conclusion to reach.

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“What? Why?” he asked, frowning. “You can't have heard anything on a mission, and I'd know if there was any intelligence indicating an attack.”

I shook my head. “No, no, it's only logic. Allow me to explain. Ninja are kind of like wolves. Fast breeding wolves. And villagers and nobles are like rabbits and deer. When there aren't very many wolves, but lots of deer and rabbits, the wolves are all happy and fed. If two wolf packs meet each other, well, they may not be friends, and some young wolves may fight to prove themselves, but there is nothing serious.

“But, a generation later, when all of these fed wolves used to plenty have bred, there are now too many wolves. If the wolves don't want to eat all their rabbits, and all their deer, so that they have more in the future, then they must take the rabbits and deer of other wolves, and protect their own. And now, when wolf-packs meet, they have reason to fight.”

As I continued speaking, I could see him start to nod, understanding where I was going with the argument. “Back during the Warring Clans era, these packs were small; we, Uzushiogakure, were large enough and strong enough that none could challenge us. But now, Konoha, Iwa, Kumo, Kiri, Suna, all are large enough, and have enough allies, that they might think they could destroy us. We are known as a powerful people, and would likely task any one enemy more heavily than they could afford, but they may alliance against us. Suna is isolated, and has no interest in a nation of islands. Konoha are our allies, so they may be ignored. But for Iwa, Kumo and Kiri I fear this is not the case.”

My voice was soft and grimly resolute. “Uzushio's alliance with Konoha is dangerous. We are strong, yes, and our sealers present an increase in combat potential that scales very well with numbers, so we make Konoha much stronger than it would be alone. In return, we get intelligence services and ninja to call upon. But, the problem with creating danger to others is it makes them have reason for your destruction.

“Iwa hates Konoha, partially due to their Kages. To defeat Konoha, an excellent first move would be to remove us. Looking at a map, it seems improbable. Until you consider that Kumo too has reason to remove us. They are a militarily focused village, and our fleets and forces present a raiding threat on their seaward flank if they ever enter conflict with Konoha. Further, our destruction would weaken Konoha. If Iwa allies with Kumo to deal with us, then they need only pass through territories whose ninja look to either Iwa or Kumo for leadership.

“Lastly, Kiri resents us for two reasons. First, we are a challenge to their dominance over ninja affairs involving ships; while ours fly under Whirlpool's Daimyo's flag, ninja care little for our distinctions. Second, we are a threat to their philosophy; Uzushio, which treats its citizens well, and cares little for bloodshed, is significantly more profitable and prosperous than Kirigakure with it's focus on blood and killing. This is a threat to them internally, as our very example of continued existence gives lie to the idea that they must be brutal killers to survive. Thus, Kiri too has cause to desire our destruction.

“What then would these wolves gain if they were to turn on us? Iwa would weaken Konoha. Kumo would expand into the territories to the North East of the Land of Fire as Iwa pushes in from the North West. And Kiri would gain our own territories, and might be allowed to operate with impunity up and down the coast.

“So, I have established that wolves fight for territory when hungry, and that they have cause to want our territory. The only question, then, is are they hungry? And I fear that the answer is becoming yes, in these years. It has been a generation since the last war, and the villages are finally seeing this new generation come into its own. Full of notions of glory and mastery, and with a limited pool of resources which can be gleaned from the nobles, merchants and civilians, these wolves have already started to growl at each other from the edges of their territories. Judging by our increased usage of Konoha ninja to conduct anti-pirate operations by folding up the organized criminal groups that deal with their money and goods on the mainland, I would guess that the missions have become cheaper, which would only happen if Konoha's supply of ninja were higher.

“Further, you should remember that these wolves have little knowledge of the fire of our seals. They likely don't realize how capable Uzushio is, since we do not compete with them. Instead, we protect our people and live our lives. But for wolves who survive without making anything, and only eat the fat of the land, we likely appear weak and impotent. Where we see restraint, they see weakness, protectiveness, cowardice. Their leaders may recall well that Uzushio created the Jinchuriki, and fear our power, but this will only serve to temper their plans with caution while being driven by the arrogance of their rank and file.

“I would guess that we have anywhere from a year to a decade before the wolves are at each others' throats, but fear that we will feel their bite first. If pressed, I would estimate three years before these wolves are at our doors. To be sure in our preparations, we should be ready in two. As a somewhat known prodigy, I may be a target. In extremis, I will be deployed; after all, officially, I am already in the reserves as an assistant instructor of Whirlpool Fist. But most importantly, I want to do everything I can to ensure our survival.”

As I finished my speech, Haruto looked somewhat sad. He knelt down, looking me in the eye, and pulled me into a hug for several seconds. Drawing away, he held me at arms length and wryly smiled.

“You truly are incredible,” he said. “And I think you may be right concerning the current situation; this is something I will bring up with Kazuo-sama when I have tea with him later this week. But it should not be your concern, especially not so young. That said, now that I know about your unique technique – which will not be taught to others, or ever, ever mentioned to those who might foolishly try and copy it – I will be training you harder than every before. By the end of the year, I expect you to have mastered the expert level of wind manipulation, a year after that, be an acknowledge wind master. I also expect that you will achieve a proficiency in your chains at least equal to mine when I was thirty. Does that sound like fun?”

I blanched a bit; by the age of thirty, Haruto was already known as the Razor-Wind after a battle against a clan of ninja that also operated as a major crime family. They had attempted to expand into Wave, and had killed a detachment of Uzushio village-guard attached to the local garrison. Haruto, their commander at the time, had walked into the clearing near the capital where the criminals were gathered, and killed all forty-eight of them with a minute.

Haruto's wires were so thin that they would float on a breeze. Per the story, he floated the wires in as a cloud around him using passive wind manipulation rather than an active technique. When the enemy refused to surrender, he whipped up a bit of a squall while using wind-flow. The wire-chains whipped around, slicing through everything and everyone.

A large clean-up seal was used for all human biological material. Apparently one had been cut into four pieces; this was the fewest number of pieces for a single person out of the whole group. The largest number of pieces was twenty four. The seal was then sent as a warning to the criminal ninja clan home on the mainland. No one from that clan has been seen in Whirlpool territory since.

So, when Haruto said he'd be training me to that level, and expected me to achieve it within my stated two years, as well as all his other chain techniques by that age, I was understandably a bit daunted. It was nice of him though; he didn't want me to worry too much about a possible invasion, but thought I could handle being prepared to a level which would help whether I was or was not attacked.

Of course, that wouldn't stop me from worrying, and preparing. I did, after all, have my goal. Uzushio would not fall.