Bridge 30 (Stolen)

After prying Mika off of me I was dragged over for a meeting. I should have expected something like this. Honestly, it was becoming more and more clear I needed to get away from this world for a little while.

I will say that I had made bonds here but I was not going to leave forever. I still had a promise to keep after all.

When we reached the meeting room I met all the regular players that I expected. The various Clan heads but two new faces were at the table. I guess that I made a big enough stir that the other members of the council had to be let in.

The Funato clan head was a tall man who had a beefy and firm frame. It was surprising as most ninjas were lithe and light on their feet but this guy was built for power. He had orange hair tied up in an almost man bun but it was pointed upwards. Finally, he had a spiky orange beard.

I was not that interested in the guy but he radiated danger in comparison to some of the people I had met. It made sense as the Funato clan was able to hold their own for the most part which meant they had powerful deterrents. In addition to their mobility advantage.

Still, while the man had danger coming off of him the last person was who caught my eye. She was young, far younger than the rest of the ninjas here but that spoke about her abilities to drag herself here.

Or maybe it spoke of her importance to the cause. I did not expect someone like this to be the representative of the clanless Ninja but her trademark red hair was telling.

I had seen various hair colors since my time here and while Mei’s family had auburn hair this woman had bright red hair that could only come from one place. The representative of the clanless ninja was an Uzumaki.

I wonder if her position was a slight against her clan as Kiri was one of the forces that tore down her home. I guess her need to kill Kiri ninja just happened to align with the rebellion.

I gave the woman a hesitant smile but her eyes were zeroed in on me with a furious intensity that had me shivering.

I’m a little worried about what she is going to do in the future. She was not someone who appeared in the future so she might have died in cannon. She would have gotten screen time for being related to Naruto and the sheer beauty she had going on.

Long red hair, and a rounded face I knew was prevalent with Uzumaki. She had a body that rivaled Tsunade and that was something incredible. As most of the Uzumaki I can recall from Cannon were rather lacking in that department. She would not look off on the cover of a magazine but there was something intimating from a woman who held such a soft beauty.

There was also the way she was looking at me. She looked like she was five seconds away from capturing me and running.

“Ito-kun you should know why we called you here.” The Terrumi clan head spoke out softly but she was clearly chiding me. The Hozuki man let out a scoff and looked at me with interest.

“Of course, the boy knows why he is here. He would have to be all sorts of stupid to not know. Then again he picked a fight with Yagura of all people.” The Hozuki member spat out mocking the Terrumi head while looking at me with interest.

The guy was not doing a good job of hiding his motives. The Terrumi clan head was just saying those words to break the tension but he added more tension. He was not going to win himself any friends with actions like that.

No wonder he was not up for the position of Clan Head. The guy might have ambition and a sneaky side but he was clearly tactless and that was not going to help him in the long run.

The Hoshigaki let out a sigh and gave the Hozuki member a glare and a scoff of his own. Which was returned with a fierce glare.

“Right, the fight with Yagura….It was not in my plans but it happened.” I spoke out softly acknowledging my fault in this.

“You never should have been within spitting distance of the village.” The Uzumaki shot out a glare on her face but she was clearly more concerned about my well-being. Which was a bit shocking considering I had just met the woman.

I guess she put more weight on my value to the Rebellion in comparison to the potential I showed by holding Yagura off.

Wait, She was a part of the Uzumaki clan…She was from a clan that was nearly destroyed. I had the potential to bring all of those people back. So she was not just betting on the Rebellion here she was betting on me.

She might not have even been a member of the Rebellion at first but she might have heard things and joined up despite her anger at Kiri. I could see that angle being true.

“That was my fault” Ringo shot out from my side fully prepared to accept her fault in this. I spun to look at her with wide eyes. Sure she wanted her blades and that was the reason I was there but all of that was my choice.

“No! I chose to be there!” I shouted out showing my own side of things. I was not going to let her take the fall for this. I was not even sure why she was saying anything. She did not respect the authority of this council and she knew I was thinking of leaving for a bit.

So why was she pipping in here?

“No need for that brat. I wanted my Kiba blades back and I was going to go get them but the brat did not want me to waltz into the city so he snuck in.” Ringo explained and I glared at her for her words. 

At least she did not look like she was giving up her head for execution. In fact she had a disinterested look on her face as she faced the remaining members of the council.

I guess she was using her own influence to down play my part in this and it was not like she thought these guys could handle her.

I still hated she was drawing argo to herself but I got it.

“Whatever the case may be he should have not gone there.” The old lady spoke out softly while trying to get her point across.

“What are you talking about the boy fought Yagura to a standstill and escaped. I think he was exactly where he needed to be.” The Hozuki member shot out as he looked over at the Terrumi head with a cocky grin.

The old lady was about to respond but someone beat her to it.

“Absolutely not!” The Uzumaki shouted out and glared at the Hozuki member with everything she had. The soft beauty of her face contorted in anger and a fire bloomed in her eye. I knew they say things about redheads but she really could get worked up.

Then again this was rather important to her.

The two ninjas glared at each other.

“I can understand the need to have someone capable of handling Yagura but we need Ito-kun far more” The Yuki head spoke out as he tried to break the tension in the room.

Before I could say anything else the Kagura clan head was by my side staring at me with those wide eerie eyes.

“How was the fight Ito-kun? It must have been glorious with the tailed beast bombs going off all over the place. Are you sure I can’t introduce you to my granddaughter?” The Kagura man spoke out quickly with his eyes shining.

I felt flabbergasted and I took a step back from the sudden energy coming from him.

“Enough!” The Uzumaki woman shouted out as she appeared next to me and scooped me up. She pressed me against her chest while she glared at the rest of the room.

“Clearly I put too much trust in all of you. You can not handle the protection he needs so leave it to me.” She shot out as she stood with me mushed into her.

I felt offended that she was manhandling me but she was also rubbing her tits all over my face…..worth it.

“Hey, I take offense at that!” Ringo shot out but without any real heat. I guess she was taking me being in danger a bit harshly. 

The Uzumaki woman took one look at her and the fire that was brewing faded slightly but it was still there.

“Clearly you do not have the capabilities of protecting him swinging around a sword is all well and good but true protection lies in seals if you really want to protect him you need that.” She spoke out smugly but with far less heat than I expected.

What was going on there?

I took a good look at Ringo and had a plausible shot. Ringo may not have the shiny red hair that the Uzumaki woman had but she still had red hair. It was closer to maroon but she might be a descendant of the Uzumaki who married out of the clan.

So the Uzumaki woman was treating her lighter than she was treating everyone else. I would question the validity of recognizing distant relatives by hair color but she was the one that lived in this crazy world. So who was I to say her method was not going to work out?

Ringo actually looked chastised at that which was baffling. Ringo was usually utterly shameless so seeing her so subdued was shocking.

I guess she was taking me being dragged into that fight rather hard. She might not have shown it earlier but now that we were safe she was beating herself up over it.

I looked over at the rest of the room but everyone was letting the Uzumaki woman do what she pleased. Even the Hozuki, he was still glaring at her but he did not say anything to stop her.

I guess she had far more weight here than expected. Maybe she was not even the Civilian representative and she just barged into here after hearing the news.

Whatever the case may be I had to take matters into my own hands I was not going to leave without Ringo.

“I’m not going anywhere without her. Ringo is the only person I trust!” I shouted out from my position. The dejected look on Ringo’s face faded for a moment replaced by that cocky look I remember.

The Uzumaki woman took one long look at Ringo before nodding and walking away with me in her arms. I could only squirm in the air as she took me away.

“Fine, the girl can come.” She let out briskly as she dragged me away motioning for Ringo to follow. Mei looked like she wanted to say something but her grandmother said something to her that I could not pick up.

Again I was baffled that I was being taken so easily but I can’t exactly do anything about that.

I hated being pint sized. Sure being carried in the valley she called a chest was nice but being manhandled like this was embarrassing.

If I was older there was no way she would drag me away like this.