Land of Hot Water shares its borders with Land of Lightning and Land of Fire alongside the eastern coast beyond which lay the Land of Water and a few other Island Nations such as Land of Whirlpools.

Being sandwiched between the Land of Lightning and Land of Fire, the Land of Hot Water had turned into a war zone but the situation wasn't as bad as the developing, unnamed nation unofficially dubbed as the Land of Rains. It was only because, to develop his own nation beyond his village, Hanzo needs funds beyond any imagination and thus, opened the borders of the land to let Kumo, Suna, and Iwa beef it out with Konoha. In Land of Hot Water, however, the skirmishes barely leveled villages. Sure, a few settlements were 'turned' into casualties but the minor Shinobi Village of the Land of Hot Water— Yugakure, wasn't at crossroads with either Kumogakure or Konohagakure.

Konohagakure didn't need any more enemies while the Kumo Shinobi stationed around Yugakure... surprisingly didn't do anything. It was merely a token of effort. The Kumo Shinobi had no overly taxing demands. In fact, they were friendly and lively. Easy to converse with, too. Which... made many of Yugakure's shinobi wonder about the rumors of the Third Raikage.

Where were the rapes, plunders, and massacres?

It is said that the Third Raikage was behind the rebellion that killed the Second Raikage and was aggressive beyond belief but it... didn't show on Kumo shinobi. They were somewhat laid back, too, despite their devilish kenjutsu and lightning releases.

But today, the first day of the year, a day of celebration was marked by the level of gloom among the higher-ups of the village to an unprecedented level.

Near Yugakure, within one of the lovely towns known for its hot spring alongside many around Yugakure, a large number of hidden shinobi could be seen. The usual lack of motivation among a few Kumo nin was evaporated into the thin air while they stood in callous guard against men in red and brown—Iwa Shinobi.

Within the town itself, the most popular hot spring was booked completely with a giant of a dark-skinned man sitting and relaxing in the warm waters. His head was leaned back as he let his long, drenched, muddy blonde hair sprawl over his muscle-packed shoulders and the rocky pavement over which he spread his arms on. One look at him and many would soil their pants— men and women, both. The man commanded a strange sense of dominance and presence unlike any. His thick, weary lips were pressed up together to form a displeased scowl as his green orbs stared at the dwarven grey-haired man with a prominent and bulging nose.

"Onoki..." the bronze-skinned titan had his voice rumble out of his throat as it had a tiny crackle of electricity itself, "How long till we get the signal?"

Refusing to share the pool with the man in front of him, the dwarven man still had his clothes on as he narrowed his eyes, "Worried, are we?"

Exhaling a sigh and revealing a thoughtful look unlike the rumors established him to be, the Third Raikage— A, commented calmly, "Mu was a researcher. No point in trying to deny that Dust Release is a researched change of chakra transformation and not a Kekkei Genkai. The future generation may be fooled but your predecessor, Second Mizukage, Second Kazekage, and Second Hokage, all ironically made their names through their efforts in the growth and development of chakra theories. You, Third Mizukage, and Third Hokage... are products by the legends of past that I admire."

The man's words were humorously well-reasoned compared to his unreasonable physique as it grated the middle-aged man, the Third Tsuchikage of Iwagakure greatly.

"Because I admire them, I want to kill them again should they come to life. Inspired by Tobirama Senju, Mu of Iwa is the one behind a great many numbers of forbidden jutsu of Iwa, whatever they may be... but there remains a spark of such talent. A possibility. Uzushiogakure is an origin worth fearing and respecting. I shall plunder them, and kill them. I will let a few of their members live irrespective of their response to the Chakra Restoration Act. They are bound to have emotions, higher than others, if rumors are true, and thus, maybe not in my time, but slowly, Uzumaki will thrive under Kumogakure's wings."

"Quite the ambition you've got," Onoki scoffed and continued to sit idly as a faint smile developed over A's face, "Try it, your dust release. I can feel your urge to kill me... and that is a sign of respect. Thank you. If you do respect my skills, stop smearing my name by calling Kumo a village of assaulting freaks... if anything, we have the lowest number of assault cases even amongst the civilians..."

Onoki's lips twitched. Information like this is easy to gather and compile... but not many would because the leaders of the powerhouses like Shinobi Village didn't care about such a thing... yet, clearly, A did.

The two of them stared at each other until Onoki shifted the subject, "What about Hanzo? We predicted Sakumo to tackle Hanzo but the White Fang directly retreated which was one of the major reasons why the attack on Konoha War Camp failed and we couldn't kill Enma Sarutobi."

A closed his eyes and exhaled softly. "It was your plan in the first place. The only reason Kumo even entered this war was to distract Konoha for enough time while spreading the various trigger seals stolen from Uzu to various local crime lords."

Onoki frowned, "Hiruzen Sarutobi is both of our problem—"

"He is your problem alone," A cut Onoki off midsentence and added, "Mu's Dust Release may be a threat but Hiruzen would need to develop a perfect terrain to try and even become the slightest bit troublesome. Mastering five elements would maybe work against the rest of the Kages but not me."

"Maybe I really should use my Dust Release on you right now," Onoki smiled as he touched his pointed beard.

Tensions grew visibly as the sheer amount of chakra that emanated from their bodies made the water visibly tremble. Opening his eyes slowly, A stood up and the sight of it soured Onoki further. 'That' could grow to rival half the height of the current Tsuchikage...

"Should your dust release take more than a second, I will be happy to take your corpse back to my research facilities that your Iwa, dried and rock-brained fools have been trying to infiltrate for a long time and may just discover the secrets of Dust Release."

Onoki smiled coldly, "Dust Release is a Kekkei Tota. Accept the reality. I and the Second Tsuchikage are just born with a better birthright."

"Birthright only lasts in front of mediocrity," A narrowed his eyes and stretched his hand out to grab his towel and cover himself.

"We should leave... the Third Mizukage has already sent his forces." A revealed the mark on the back of his hand that gave a red flash as Onoki snorted in reply.

---

Ruuji, the second Uzushiokage of Uzu nervously paced over a cliff around a masked woman in white as tiny dots bloated the horizon of the ocean in front of them where there were supposed to be two giant whirlpools acting as a natural defense formed specifically by Uzu's seals itself. Ruuji Uzumaki... felt that this world was treacherous but he would have gone down fighting.

He would have prepared his men and even increase the defenses around the village to fight the invaders to the death but... with this woman's interjection, Ruuji felt that retreat was a safe option, too.

"Mi—" before he could speak, the woman's glare from under the mask made him groan and he shifted, "Maiden-sama, we really should retreat. It's going to be easy to set up a Space-Time Seal to teleport everyone out."

"Really, you're stupider than Tsunade." The woman scoffed, "Why do you think that the three villages can hide their movements to such an extent? Because even the civilian spies and their own special shinobi of Daimyos are helping them. Believe me, if I wasn't here, Uzu would have been raided completely, and tomorrow, a collective declaration would have announced OUR treacherous end because it's that easy to manipulate information."

"If we retreat, every Uzumaki outside Uzu will be branded a slave ripe for the taking. They can still be captured but the Uzumaki clan cannot be hunted down!" The woman spoke sternly, "I didn't... think of trying to live just for a clan extermination or hunt. Besides, this will be my last favor to Konoha for various reasons. The only way Konoha comes out on top of this war is if the three united forces suffer disastrous losses, which they would have should the clan get serious. Now, stop your wuss and give me scope."

Ruuji groaned and handed her the scope. He wasn't even allowed to prepare his men. She remarked that it was a punishment for not having enough foresight even after being a leader for years.

The woman looked through the scope and let out an amused hum. Ruuji, however, pestered, "Please. They WILL have Jinchurikis with them. Isn't Kyubi already extracted—"

"I don't desire to hear another incompetent rambling from your mouth. Sages, I know a child who would have done a better job as an Uzushiokage than you, Stupid Nephew." The woman spoke in a tone that froze Ruuji.

It was at this moment, that the masked maiden and Ruuji witnessed a brief flash of light on one of the boats.

"Let's see... ah, there's A. Quite quick... but he looks a bit haggard... hmm, ah, that light... are they trying to mimic space-time transportation? That is... impressive. So reports on A working alongside the research facilities more than the administration has some truth to them. Onoki... still isn't here. So... Kiri provides transportation and guidance. Kumo provides a Kage, the kind that will be impervious to most traps alongside a few special squads and Iwa provides a majority or army. Onoki always was aggressive to send out genins but these have exceptional talents, too... ah, and there is that Jinchuriki I sensed. Only one? What a shame. Good thing these batteries come back to life... where they died itself."

Ruuji had difficulty even sensing Raikage but the woman could sense chakra even from this great distance.

'Truly... the inheritor of the sages...' Ruuji shook his head but he almost plunged down the cliff as she continued, "So... decimating them will prove most detrimental to Iwa. A... may just survive the attacks. He did, after all, kill the Kinkaku Squad alone. And Kiri will reserve most of their strength... despite losing a few Kekkei Genkai shinobi they have sent... wait, it's even better. Iwa will step out of the war. They have spent too much so losses are great. A will be the reputation we will step on to make it clear that Uzu and Uzumaki are off-limits. And just by existing, the Land of Water will remain quiet for a good decade. Good... really good. Ten years... maybe 12... should be enough for both of us..."

Ruuji didn't understand half of it but he paled with fright as the woman summoned a scroll that was four meters thick and five meters long.

It was a storage scroll, the kind that stores Jutsu. Only the Uzumaki Clan produced these and they didn't even sell them to others because these were remarkably hard to form and storing Jutsu itself requires a level of epic control of chakra by the seal master and jutsu caster.

The woman filled all shoes.

---

"Raikage-sama, are you well?" A few masked individuals wearing single-strapped gray flak jackets surrounded A on the boat that was just impacted by a flash of light.

"Hmm... the Jutsu was a success..."

Yet A's words trailed off. It was quite the grand sight.

A grand fleet of 400 ships made its way towards Uzu, which, for some reason, had lost two of its protective whirlpools. A trap for sure but the alliance was undaunted.

Yet... the sight of 15, dark-purplish mass of pure destructive chakra flying in the direction of the boats made the Third Raikage instinctively cloak himself in blue lighting, and the next second he zipped past every boat, retreating towards the mainland by running on the water at a speed that paled only to lightning.

The resulting, devastating blast of energy even made Raikage stumble as a sonic boom echoed before a cataclysmic shock wave tore past him. He only stopped now, quite a bit of distance away from Uzu and the mainland and even from this distance, he could see the crater being filled up by the ocean.

None survived.

'I...' Raikage was in a moment's daze as he heaved a deep sigh, 'I did not know seals can produce attacks comparable to the war deterring Jinchurikis... do they have limits? This kind of attack cannot be replicated forever. Can they move this attack elsewhere?'

Many thoughts ran within A's mind but he... hadn't really suffered any major loss. Despite being a bit disheartened in losing a squad of capable Shinobi, A turned around and left as whirlpools began to form and finish off any remnant still alive.

---

"And that..." the woman huffed as she barely looked fazed but Ruuji was on his butt. His clothes and expression disheveled as the entire cliff was destroyed and they had retreated behind. Uncaring of the Uzushiokage's plight, the woman continued, "is how others will now know that Uzumaki is a Legacy that will not die out anytime soon. Hmm, one more thing, keep up your defenses now, alright? I will be retreating there," pointing at the whirlpool she continued, "And I do not intend on getting disturbed. I am merely a ghost. Now be a good boy and focus on your practice like usual."

Before Ruuji could stop her, she disappeared.

"Lord!" A few shinobi arrived at this point as they all looked worried, "Somebody robbed your personal collection of chakra ink! We— what... happened? Wait... is that a sound and vibration suppressing seal... covering the entire coast?"

Needless to say, the guards and Ruuji himself were dumbfounded for various good reasons as Ruuji felt heartbroken by his collection taken away by that... ghost, and the guards, well, they never knew a suppression seal could be this grand and cover-up for a level of destruction that changes the face of the map.

***

A/N: Look, I know Mito is downplayed in canon... but I don't know why's that. Every other Uzumaki with a bit of screentime has shown remarkable skills including Karin even if the series did her dirty. Orochimaru could have easily had a Jinchuriki with that one. Anyway, you could say that I am a bit biased toward Tomato Supremacy.

Senju is somewhat close. Aside from 'Sage' Body... nothing ever was really developed about the Senju. Uchiha got all the abilities while Senju got... wiped off of canon. Feels bad man.

Ah, and I first wanted to make the Third Raikage a proper brute... but I changed my mind. Fourth Raikage has shown a level of sophistication despite his more general nature that cannot be cultivated by a brute alone. And I am thinking of developing different ways the clan restoration act actually works in various villages aside from just breeding and baby-making. It'll be a cool concept regardless... hehe, for various reasons.

***

Shoutout to Richard, Musakhulu_, CiekawyNick, joao goncalves, MasterClass007, DENSYS BRATANI, and Xolone M!!

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