Chapter 19.1- Gamer of the Desert

“The Lord will see you now," the serving girl said, guiding me into my Grandfather's study. Like everything else in the castle, it exuded unimaginable luxury. The chairs, the tapestries—everything spoke of high class. Having stayed in the castle for a week, I had become accustomed to it and simply took the seat he gestured me towards, waiting as he collected his thoughts.

"I apologize that this took so long. Hosting the Daimyo is not an easy task," he said, and I nodded, aware of the obvious animosity between both men. For the Daimyo, it was animosity, but what my Grandfather felt seemed more like distant irritation.

"You are a very silent one, aren't you? When I received the reports, I almost couldn't believe it. A son of Karura rendered mute by the abuse of that buffoon Rasa," he growled, and confusion washed over me. "What? Abuse?" I asked, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Yes, abuse. What else should I call forcing a child to live and grow up without their family? But that's not why I brought you here," he said, standing and making his way to one of the bookshelves in the study. He waved for me to join him, and as I did, I was shocked to see him weaving hand seals. He was slow and clumsy, but his chakra obeyed, causing the bookshelf to disappear and reveal a door in its place.

"Shocking, right?" I nodded.

"Come with me, I will tell you a story."

We walked through the door and entered what was clearly a more private study. Portraits of red-headed women adorned the walls—two women, clearly, with fewer portraits of a man.

"It all began nearly 50 years ago. My grandfather was an ambitious man, terribly ambitious. He saw the dominance we held over the waters of Kaze no Kuni and wondered why we had not turned that into the great wealth of the other families. We had the water and the food, but terrible deals meant we were doing little more than breaking even from our businesses. He sought a way to improve this, to make our water and food last longer so we were no longer forced to sell as soon as we produced. He wanted to give us more bargaining power, so he turned to fuinjutsu on the advice of one of his shinobi bodyguards," he spoke, his gaze fixed on the oldest portrait.

"But he didn't stop at hiring a few ninja as his bodyguard thought he would. No, he wanted it in-house. He had no interest in being dependent on shinobi forever. So he sought me a bride from the major fuinjutsu clan of the world—the Uzumaki," my gasp was reflexive.

"Yes, I'm sure you've heard of me. That's where he found my wife, Karin. She gave me beautiful children, the youngest of which was Karura, your mother. Karura was the apple of my eye from the day she was born. She was the only one to favor my looks over her mother's. When she was born with that tuft of blonde hair, I was ecstatic.

"And so, naturally, I spoiled her. Whatever she wanted was granted to her. She was the only girl among her siblings, so it was expected that she would marry well. When the Daimyo himself sought her hand, we were prepared for her to make us prouder than ever. Of course, she had different ideas. She eloped with a jounin from Sunagakure, your father. He had been hired as a bodyguard a few times, and unbeknownst to me and my father, they had shared letters for years. Enough letters for the foolish girl to decide she was in love. What could we do? The Daimyo thought he had a bride, but she had already married a shinobi and lost her maidenhead," he sighed.

"My father wanted to disavow her actions entirely. Such was his wrath. But I saw how that would be a bad idea. We could not have the other Houses believe us weak, unable to control one of our own. So we hatched a plot. We refused the Daimyo and told him we had made a different choice. Oh, he was furious at that. Instead of being a family with no control over their own, we became the family arrogant enough to spurn the Daimyo. It was a better alternative, but it still cost us a lot," I nodded, realizing the immense power the Daimyo held in the country. Pissing him off would not end well.

"Yes, yes. But back to your mother. She was lost to us after her marriage. My father disowned her in every way that mattered, and by the time I had the power to do anything about it, she was already dead. When I assumed the Lordship, your mother was already gone, and that will forever be my biggest regret," he said. "Instead, I did my best to ensure her children would live beautiful lives. I never wanted any of you to become shinobi, but the jounin who had come to me as a supplicant to spare his life after stealing my daughter is now a Kage and believes himself untouchable." The description of Rasa was interesting, to say the least.

"Now that you know your mother's story, come, come. Sit on your grandfather's lap and tell me about your life. That's all I want to know," he said, and I walked over to him. Normally, I would resist this form of coddling, but now that he was done talking, I could see just how much Karura had broken the man. He was tired, and if telling him fabricated stories about a childhood I never experienced would make him feel better, who was I to resist?

XXXXXX

He left me in the study after a few hours. Karin, his wife, had left him with numerous scrolls of fuinjutsu, insisting that I learn from them. She called it my inheritance. At least, he agreed to let me keep them on the condition that I return them within the next five years. Five years seemed like a long time, so I quickly agreed to the deal he proposed. Finally, I could delve into fuinjutsu.

And then, perhaps even more important than the fuinjutsu, was the quest. When he left, a quest completion notification filled my vision.

Quest Complete!

Objective: Find out about Karura and her origins.✔️

Rewards: Opportunity to learn fuinjutsu, Automatic sand defense, 500 XP, Rare loot roll.

I now possessed the sand defense, or at least that's what the game claimed. For now, I had no way to test it. If it was true, and the game had never lied to me before, it meant a significant increase in power. No longer having to worry about defense would be a substantial advantage. The Rare loot roll had granted me a sword, of all things.

A special sword, as the game explicitly stated.

Rare Item received: Dark Sister. The Valyrian steel blade wielded by Visenya Targaryen. Said to have a thirst for blood.

The lackluster description failed to divert my attention from what the sword represented. It was special, a sign that the game was not limited to this universe. It could provide me with items from outside this setting. The blade itself was proof of that. While I doubted I would find much use for a longsword, it was still noteworthy. I stowed it in my inventory and focused on my studying. Yes, I could take the scrolls with me, but I was too curious and eager to begin right away.

A week later, I stood with the Daimyo as farewells were exchanged with Lord Nayohara, my grandfather. When it was my turn, he simply nodded at me. We had said our goodbyes hours earlier. The Daimyo's party departed, and I joined them in noticeably higher spirits. My fuinjutsu skill had just reached level 3. It was one of the slowest skills I had ever leveled, but progress was progress, and a part of me relished the challenge. After all, the most worthwhile things were never easy.

XXXXX

Of course, my good mood didn't last. The one-year mark had finally passed, and we were not even halfway through the journey. Over a year of crucial development time had been lost. I made good progress with fuinjutsu, reaching level 20 in the last few months. However, with the exception of meditation, it was the only skill that saw any progress.

The longer this mission continued, the more I despised the Daimyo. I couldn't have refused his request to undertake the mission, but I couldn't fathom why he made the request in the first place. Since I joined, he hadn't given me a second thought. Was this what it felt like to be the subject of fickle royal attention? It felt awful.

My hand jolted as the alarm seal I had created to alert me when my break ended activated, signaling me to get back to work. Fuinjutsu was difficult. Even with maxed-out intelligence, every concept stretched my mind to new limits. It seemed that no matter how smart you were, either you had the aptitude for fuinjutsu or you didn't. At this point, I was convinced I didn't. That didn't mean I would give up, though. I was too stubborn for that. But it did mean I had to constantly reevaluate my growth expectations. I had thought I would be near level 40 by now.

A/N; Make wayyyyy for a new chapterrrrrr!