November 7th, Year 7
POV: RuinKondo
At the ruins of Uzushiogakure a young man is digging through rubble. This is one of Kondo's clones sent out to adventure: Ruinkondo. Touna is back in the Land of Earth, Ichigo is standing on business at Abe, and another clone is in the Land of Water named Suikondo. Yes, Kondo was able to create 2 extra clones this past break instead of his usual 1 thanks to his [Chakra Battery].
Ruinkondo has been rummaging through the ruins of the village in search of anything of value. He did find lots of complete and incomplete Fuinjutsu seals here and there which did various things. He made sure to memorize and copy them down for future research. Despite the slim pickings, he was impressed with the architecture. It was literally city with skyscrapers everywhere. It reminded him of Amegakure, but without the steampunk theme.
The Uzumakis had to have had the most developed clan/village before their destruction. This got him to wondering:
Why is it still deserted?
Why has no one tried to takeover?
The whirlpools are an understandable hurdle, but the Uzumakis thrived here, so what's the deal?
"Oh well, one man's trash is another man's Hidden Village." That's right, Kondo had decide to build his own hidden village here in the former home of the Uzumaki.
As for the clone that headed off to the Land of Water, it's goal was to explore and recruit young people. The Land of Water discriminates against people with Kekkei Genkai, making them ideal recruits.
He's uncomfortable with the fact that he's using villainous tactics, but it is what it is. Besides he's not out to use them as tools and abuse them, he just wants to make his own hidden village.
His top priority right now is Haku. He's sure Zabuza hasn't picked him up yet because there's no Bloody Mist news yet.
Bloody mist happens after Obito controls Mizukage.
Mizukage fights Jizu and Itachi before that, so the Bloody Mist happens some time after the Uchiha Massacre.
Haku would make a powerful asset, plus he would end up nerfing Zabuza by getting to him first. Besides, preventing Haku's death won't throw the timeline upside down.
Problem is, all Suikondo knows about Haku and his whereabouts is that:
He's androgynous,
He has black hair.
He stays at a village,
The climate is cold and snowy.
The Land of Water has cold climates up North, so that's where he's starting his search. He'll hit every single village in that region and search every nook and cranny of them. Additionally, he's aware of the existence of the Kaguya Clan around these parts. They still exist, so Kimimaru should still be Orochimaru-free. He'll keep tabs on them. If they go crazy and get themselves killed, he'll beeline over there and nab Kimimaru.
November 21st, Year 7
POV: Suikondo
During Suikondo travels, he's already met alot of orphans and street urchins. Haku's situation seems more widespread than he initially thought. Lots of people are trying their hardest to survive the harsh winter.
He would offer them food, ask them questions and observe their behavior inorder to determine if they had Kekkei Genkai and/or would make fine recruits.
He couldn't pick every single kid off the street, but there were some who caught his eye, and that he proceeded to recruit. Having little to no ties to the land was always a plus.
If the kids agreed to come with him, he would seal them in a scroll and chuck it into the inventory for RuinKondo to take care of. Some of these kids had older guardians, and he would prioritize these ones not just because the guardian can help him look after the other kids, but also because there guardian would serve as an additional motivation to be loyal to Kondo. Regardless, the search continues, and Kondo's faction grows by the day.
POV: RuinKondo
Back in the Hidden Whirlpool, RuinKondo looks after a bunch of kids in a clearing filled with tents which were gotten for cheap.
Kondo feels like he really needs to get Uzushiogakure up and running pronto; he'll see to building a settlement on the outskirts of the village where the kids can reside.
There he'll establish his own Ninja Academy, Residential Area, Farm etc. It'll be a temporary thing till he can rebuild a good enough portion of Uzushiogakure for them to relocate to.
Hopefully, in a couple years he'll have his first batch of Genin graduates and be sending them on missions. They'll have to start out as a Mercenary Group, though.
"What do I call the village, though... I know! Miraigakure: The Village Hidden in The Future. And I'd be the Miraikage. Hehehe... I might just live a weebs dream." Or he could settle for New Uzushiogakure instead. Anyway, to keep the kids busy, he's assigned them duties with shifts. They'll be pulling their own weight around here, that's for sure. They better get used to holding hammers, cuz they're going to help rebuild Uzushiogakure.
This is also important because the effort they put in would increase their attachment to the place.
He'll be going full speed ahead with his reconstruction of the village right after he feels they are ready.
POV: Fukumoto Kondo
Kondo takes some time to think about his Shin Uchiha build and realizes some problems. The Sharingan, Byakugan and Rinnegan are the only kekkei genkai that he's aware can be swapped.
"I'll have to see if a bone transplant from kimimaro will yield any results. I'll start with a small bone and see what happens. But I'm not replacing my entire skeletal system, though."
The mouth-hands of Deidara and the Hearts of Kakuzu may be body modifications and not kekkei genkai, but they're one the table... And then promptly removed from the table.
"I'd rather look normal, thank you very much. The only thing I'm pretty confident will work is the Hashirama cells which I'll graft unto myself. Everything else is iffy."
One last thing: Kondo confirms he's accumulated enough chakra to begin his Sage Mode training.
December 21st, 7-Kondo
POV: Suikondo
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Suikondo walks into yet another village in the snow-covered North of the Land of Water. As he's done numerous times before, he uses his senses to scans every nook and cranny of the place to find anyone that fits Haku's description.
A couple hours into the search, he senses a child sized individual fighting dogs. He decides to go take a look and finds it's as he sensed. They are fighting over scraps and the kid is losing. Suikondo quickly intervenes and yanks the kid away. The scraps of food are then eaten by the dogs on the spot. The child is shocked for a moment, before he attempts to struggle free, but gives up soon after as he has no leverage while being held up off the ground by the back of his collar.
Suikondo turns the child around to appraise him.
'Looks like a girl, check. Has black hair, check. It could be him.'
Suikondo then reaches into his backpack with his other hand and fishes out something wrapped in cloth and offers it to the child.
"You seem hungry, kid. Here, have some rice cakes."
Minutes later, Suikondo can be seen sitting at the entrance of an alleyway. Beside him, wrapped in a thick oversized coat is the child wolfing down on the rice cakes. It took a bit of convincing, but he was able to quell the child's fears and get him to eat slowly.
"Does it taste good, Haku?" The boy nodded vigorously before freezing in shock.
'Bingo!' Declares Suikondo. Asking someone a question with their name included is something he saw alot in movies. Good thing it was applicable here. Suikondo reaches out, and Haku flinches on fear before a hand rest gently on his head.
"Relax, kid." He says before ruffling Haku's hair till it was a complete mess. Then he proceeds to give Haku a made up explanation for why he knew his name. He thinks he buys it. Couple hours later Suikondo leaves the village with Haku tagging along.
Suikondo will continue his recruiting as he makes his way to the Kaguya Clan. He hopes to sneak in and observe the goings on as well as the situation with Kimimaru.
Pov: Fukumoto Kondo
It's Sage Mode training time! Kondo is seated in the middle of a secluded part of a park accompanied by 2 water clones: one to keep watch, and another to observe him and ensure he doesn't turn into a toad.
He intends to leverage [Meditation] and his incredibly high chakra sensitivity in the process by starting at a 100:1 chakra-nature ratio and going from there until he gets to that perfect ratio.
January 1st, Year 7
POV: Suikondo
Suikondo and Haku arrive at the Kaguya Clan. Miles away, to be exact. He leaves the kid with a shadow clone for protection while he sneaks his way over.
He soon discovers that their defenses are practically non-existent; no walls, or guards, nothing. Another thing that he noticed was the women and children. No men in sight. Thinking over it, it kind of made sense, since the males were a bunch of battle junkies. But this was too much.
Anyway, back to the women. From the anime and manga, Suikondo only saw male Kaguya Clan members and Kimimaro. He didn't see any women or other children.
The women looked like different versions of Kaguya Otsutsuki with normal eyes instead of Byakugans, and without the horns and outfit. They also come off as noncombatants: whether this was by choice or not is unknown to him.
The kids on the other hand look more like kid Kimimaro, but less jaded and cold. The boys are excited for violence and engage in alot of roughhousing, while the girls kept to themselves or their moms.
This makes him consider something he didn't think about before: The Kaguya Clan attacked Kirigakure and were wiped out. More specifically, the men were wiped out at the battlefield, then their village was invaded by Kirigakure who massacred the women and children. That realization left a bad taste in his mouth. It was similar to the Uchiha Massacre which still haunted him alittle. Granted they asked for it, but total annihilation was overkill. Suikondo eventually sneaks his way to the center of the village where a larger building can be found: likely the Clan head's.
Using his senses, he determines that there's an individual in a cage underground. His guess is that's Kimimaro.
Suikondo began considering his options:
He could make contact with Kimimaro now and attempt to recruit him, but that might fail. And even if it doesn't, the Kaguya Clan would go apeshit and probably attack Kirigakure prematurely thinking I was a spy sent by them.
He could wait till the Kaguya Clan to attack Kirigakure before he makes contact, but he'd be leaving the women and children to be massacred.
Does he relocate said women and children between the time the men depart and Kiri retaliates? The logistics would be insane. He's sure he'd have a hard time reasoning with them, and even if he forcefully takes them away, they'd be a headache to control.
He might have to be ruthless inorder to keep them in line. That didn't sit well with Suikondo, so he'd have to think of a more ethical way of going about it.
Suikondo considered assigning a clone to watch the Clan while he made preparations, but thought better of it. This was his Sage Mode training period, and he couldn't have too many Shadow Clones out and about.
Suikondo had to make a tough decision: His options were different variations of abducting Kimimaro alone or plus the women and children; right now, before the men attack the Hidden Mist, or after the attack but before the mist soldiers arrive. He's not going to be able to observe them properly to make a call, since he's going to be visiting other villages.
"You know what? Screw this! I'm going in. If the bonehead men attack the Hidden Mist because of my visit, then that means I can nab who I want faster and move on pronto. Too much thinking is burning daylight. Let's go!" With the decision made, Suikondo made his way back to Haku to put him somewhere safe, before returning to break Kimimaro out.
Successfully sneaking into the jail, Suikondo finds Kimimaro in a wooden cage with seals all over his body. This makes him take a mental note to ransack their library for useful Fuinjutsu data when he's free.
"Hey, kid." The sudden question makes kimimaro jolt in surprise.
"Who's there!" Demanded Kimimaro in a calm voice despite his initial scare. He couldn't see because his face was covered.
"What are you doing tied up like that? You get into some trouble?" Suikondo ignores his demand and preceeds to ask another question. This makes Kimimaro lower his head. There is silence for quite awhile before Kimimaro eventually raises his head and speaks. "They said I was too dangerous. They only let me out when they wanted me to fight in big battles."
"Oof! That's rough, kid. Listen. If I told you I can get you out of here, and you believed me, would you come along?" The question made Suikondo tilt his head in confusion.
"Who are you?" Asked the white haired prisoner.
"My real name is for my allies to hear. You want to be my ally kid?"
"Why me?"
"Kid, you're not being fair here. Answer my question, and I'll answer yours."
"... I don't know what will happen if I come with you."
"... OK, fair point. I should have explained myself better. But I'm getting tired of talking, so one more question: I'm offering you a better life in my village. So, if break you out of here and attempt to take you away, will you fight back?"
"... No."
"That's all I needed to hear." Suikondo says happily as he pull a sword out of his inventory. "
POV: Ruinkondo
The rebuilding of Uzushiogakure is well underway. In terms of housing, RuinKondo bought tents; lots of tents of various sizes. He had to get a loan and purchase a big chunk of them in one go in order to benefit from wholesale prices.
That would be where the folks would stay until more permanent housing can be built.
He has also been working on a farm using Earth Release to alter the landscape to suit his needs.
He has imported chicken, rabbits, pig and hogs as a source of meat, and also lots of different seeds to grow crops and fruit trees.
The first couple batches of people have been brought over, and are already hard at work. These were hungry and homeless individuals living in constant fear of persecution until just recently, so they took to their duties with zeal and enthusiasm especially since this was their new home. Anyone who can farm has been assigned plots of land to take care of.
Additionally, RuinKondo took time to think about what kind of political system his village would function as. Not intending to reinvent any wheels, he'd just copy the system adopted by the Elemental Nations minus the Daimyo (those guys were useless) and tweek it to his tastes.
Obviously he'd be the Kage and highest ranking individual. He'd prefer to deal with alot less bureaucracy, and all those depressing paperwork would be handled by someone else.
There's alot of things to iron out, and he'd most likely stumble along blindly in the dark while trying to figure out what works. So he's been gathering intel on how the other villages function so he can adapt what work, what he likes and what he agrees with.
POV: Ichigo
Inorder to raise enough money to fund the New Uzushiogakure rebuilding efforts, Ichigo had to kick things up a notch.
He started by getting a loan to purchase building tools and materials in bulk, as well as anything he'd like to resell.
Next he leased a much larger shop for Asa to run, with lots of space in the back so he can store appropriate inventory.
Ichigo, Touma and Suikondo would each purchase products in their respective areas for cheap, swap them through the inventory, and then sell them. However, Ichigo handled most of the logistics, planning and accounting.
He couldn't wait for the village to be sustainable, and save him all this hassle.
January 7th, Year 7
POV: Fukumoto Kondo
The Sage Mode Training has come to a head. With Kondo's slow and meticulous approach he has finally unlocked the [Sage Mode] skill.
However, it has a downside being that he has to release his [Chakra Battery] to raise his Chakra level to the appropriate mount to make it viable.
Another limitation is that he has a clone limit with [Sage Mode] active, just as how Naruto could only have a handful active.
Additionally, his body isn't up to scoff. He's still 7 years old, and the transformation drains his HP quite a bit and his Shadow Clones can barely last a minute with it on.
Similar problems arise with the 8 Gates where he can maintain his clones only up to the 4th Gate, and his clones can barely handle the 3rd for a minute.
There's no way he's stacking these as he is now. He can barely handle them individually. Right now he has to concentrate on tempering his body and leveling up inorder to overcome this. This means he'll have to put his adventuring on hold for a time so he can properly train. He'll wait till Touma gets back to Fu, and Suikondo finishes up with the recruitment before calling them back, though.