Chapter 45.4- One Thousand Hands

“Now we can go to school, kid” I said, standing back up and walking over to pick ups her school pack from Mito, and passing it over to her. Even with all the offers that Mito had refused, Kushina was still scheduled to graduate this year at the ripe old age of 9. Older than I was when I’d left the academy, but younger than either Mito or I would prefer. Traditionally, Konoha had a policy of never sending their Jinchuriki out to the front lines, but that policy had only been tested in one war as of present, and that Jinchuriki had been the wife of the First Hokage. It would be political suicide to get her killed— even in a Ninja village. But. That had changed. Konoha had two jinchurikis now, and one of them had no direct blood relation to the Village’s founder.

Of course, I had already decided that I would be shipped out if Konoha ever needed a Jinchuriki on the front lines, regardless of what Hiruzen said. I was no longer a random jounin, but now the Head of a clan that was quickly becoming integral to the village’s operations. I walked Kushina down to the academy while I took the opportunity to look through the village searching for things and inefficiencies that could be improved upon. Souta’s work with the barriers, and my work on creating the Prisoner Capture Seal were good first steps but we needed more and better integration if we wanted the kind of influence that the Senju and Uchiha enjoyed by virtue of their history. I paused for a second and almost laughed. I just thought of myself as annoying Uzumaki, not a Senju. I felt Kushina pulling at my sleeves and returned my attention to her.

—

“A seat on Konoha’s Council?” Grandmother Mito asked with a chuckle.

“Indeed. He phrases it like he is doing us a favor and extending us a privilege. Every Major clan, and even more than a few Minor ones have seats. We are only second to the Uchiha in numbers and we’re doubling their output” I said with a grimace. Hiruzen was a smart politician, but still an annoying one.

“Then we will take the gift in the spirit that it is given, and accept it with grace” She said. I nodded, as I flexed my chakra and an orange tail moved to drag the cart with the next set of documents over to me. Being a clan head was just as stressful as I’d imagined. There were hundreds of contractors to hire and pay, and a million other things to do. The Uzumaki clan, beyond enrolling their young in the village had basically been frozen in time since their exodus from Uzushio. Now, I had to handle things like which members to enlist in active service, and which to leave behind. I had to create a general bank account for the clan as a whole, as well as many subsidiary bank accounts for various parts of the clan to draw upon as they needed. And I had to do all that while training to become as strong as possible. That was why I had dozens of clones arranged outside. One half were sitting still trying to follow Kurama’s mostly nonsensical-

“Hey” The furball interrupted but I ignored him

— Instructions for accessing sage mode, while the other set trained in the Flying Raijin, trying to perfect the jutsu. This body, the original trained in the thing only I could train with. Regulating and using Kurama’s chakra.