The Protagonist System

After being commissioned to build several large suspension bridges to connect the various large land masses in Water Country, we chose to stay in the capital there for the next three months. Not exclusively, though. We couldn't ignore the requests from both the Wind Daimyo and the Fire Daimyo to install land-based static bridges in certain places to make travelling across their lands easier.

I only spent a week doing each refurbishment and one full replacement, because the water park business had taken off and it needed a lot more attention than our other projects. We also hired a lot of the locals, whom loved having high paying jobs that they enjoyed.

There were also a few missions that both Tsuru and Anko approved for the Genin team to use for exercises and we used the teleportation circles to secretly move them into position and ensured the mission successes. It also allowed a seamless retreat and no one but the Kazekage knew it was us that did it and he fully approved keeping his children out of the spotlight.

Our shipping business was also increasing at a steady rate and gained a stellar reputation for never failing to make a delivery. That reminded me I needed to make a round-about trip to the continent to the east of the Land of Water. The lands there had odd names like Honey, Wolf, Sky, Marsh, Valley, Wood, Neck, Forest, Bird, and even Demon, as if a child pointed at them and said simple words.

Since I was going by myself during my day off, I wasn't restricted by the normal means of travel available to hide my abilities. That meant I could change into my Atlas persona and used my flying ability to cross the strait between the Land of Water's closest island to the Land of Honey. The Water Daimyo didn't want a bridge built across the distance, because it would need to be three times the size and length of the Uzumaki Bridge to survive the harsh conditions.

I stopped in each place I checked with clairvoyance and made a teleportation circle, indexed it with our shipping company, and added it into the teleportation network. I also easily found several bandit camps along the way and erased them from existence. I kept the heads and popped into the local village to ask if there were any bounties, only to get a pittance when compared to the bounties in the more prosperous countries.

A quick poke mentally let me know they didn't pay foreigners well for anything and didn't only rip them off for the legal bounties and kept the actual rewards for themselves. So, I burned down their government building, saved the people inside, and told them to respect the people trying to protect them and to be grateful that I didn't lock them inside.

They got the point of the lesson when I told them to use the bounty money to rebuild and that I would be telling everyone about what happened in the Land of Wolf. That shut them up and stopped their complaining, because everyone would know it was their fault.

I went to Marsh next, my first stop being the Hidden Village of Bubbles named Kiho, and cleared out a lot of swamp monsters from all over the place. Most of the shinobi there hoped to one day become big enough to count as one of the major hidden villages someday.

It was a noble goal and I may have left a few training plans in the hands of some of the more promising younger students. I also made several safe and secured teleportation stations in various places, with one in their capitol and one in their hidden village, and I moved on to the next land.

I went through all of the various lands as I circumnavigated the entire continent and expanded the shipping network to include all of them, even the ones that didn't have capital cities or hidden villages. It was only fair, since we shipped for civilians as well.

My journey ended late into the night in the Land of Sky, in the Hidden Sky Village, and I avoided all of the shinobi that were on alert and searching for the foreigner that burned down a government building. I checked and found the bounty placed on my head and laughed at how low it was. I thought about going back there to burn the entire village down, as a lesson to not annoy me, and decided to change the color of every single building, retaining wall, and protective barrier to bright orange.

I would laugh my ass off in the morning when they saw their entire village had been changed overnight. Just to ensure the point was made, I transfigured giant letters onto their main street that if they annoyed me again, there wouldn't be anything left for them to repaint or rebuild.

I changed my appearance back to my Naruto one after that and stepped back to our rented house. Tsuru was waiting for me in my bed and she didn't have to say a word about missing me all day, because it was clearly shown on her face. I went to the bathroom and had a quick shower, not that I needed it, and went back to my bedroom and climbed into bed.

Tsuru's motherly instincts had been ramping up as time moved on and her belly started to show. She didn't demand any more of my time than she thought was necessary, even though she could have. It was one of the things I loved most about her. She wasn't pushy or aggressive, despite being one of the most powerful ninja in the world.

We made love for only a short time before she asked me to tell her about what I did all day. I wasn't going to deny her physically as I talked, so I kept going as I regaled her with stories of wilderness, stolen bounty money, lessons learned, and how to never annoy someone that claimed forty-five heads worth of criminals.

Tsuru had laughed and moaned the whole time and was very happy that I had fun and hadn't worked the entire time on my day off. I thanked her for understanding and held her in my arms and went to sleep. We still had a lot of work to do in the Land of Water and then we would have another week to travel on a ship back to the Land of Fire.

We could have used the teleportation circles in the shipping company and chose to go the long way, both to give us a chance to wind down and to give the people protecting us a chance to relax themselves. We took care of our own and that included enforcing a relaxing time when it was needed.

*

As soon as we landed at the dock in the Land of Fire, there were several messengers that carried missives from both Konoha and the Fire Daimyo. Tsuru accepted them after checking them for chakra traps and poison, which they all passed, and all but one of the messengers left.

“There's an immediate reply request.” The young man said in his defense.

Anko barked a laugh and appeared beside him and grabbed him by the ear, making him yelp. “We just arrived after eight and a half days on a rocking ship across rough open waters. We're going to the nearest restaurant to eat a real meal and to recover.”

“I doubt an immediate response would reach whomever it is very quickly if a messenger has to carry it personally back to them.” Yui said and motioned for us to move down the dock. “The best meat is served in a small shop on the next street in that direction.”

“Table grilling?” Gaara asked and licked his lips. He had gained a taste for it lately and liked being able to cook it for himself to make it come out just how he liked it.

“Of course. A strong growing boy like you needs his protein.” Yui responded with a hint of teasing in her voice.

Gaara's face went red for a moment and he glanced at his sister.

“It was both a compliment and she wanted you to know she noticed how you really are getting stronger.” Temari confirmed.

Gaara beamed a smile at her and then at Yui. “Thank you.”

Yui chuckled and gave him a quick one arm hug. “You need to stop being so cute or you're going to have all the girls after you in a few years.”

Kankuro made a snort sound. “He had at least six giggling teenage girls watching his every move last week at the water park.”

“Hey, you would have too if you had worn the bathing suit I picked out for you.” Temari told him.

Kankuro shook his head. “I was not wearing something that showed off more skin than you! It was like wearing nothing at all!”

Temari smirked at him and he realized she had done that on purpose to torment him.

“It was comfortable.” Gaara admitted. “Was that why the girls watched me? I was comfortable?”

His uncle Yashamaru chuckled and patted his head. “Yes, it was because you were comfortable.”

I held in my own laugh as he avoided telling the boy that it was his well-formed muscles, as well as how he wasn't trying to hide himself, while also wearing something like a Speedo.

We reached the small shop and entered, then had to split up into three groups to fit at the smaller tables. I had Tsuru and Yui with me, Yashamaru had Kankuro and Gaara with him, and Anko had Temari and Akiko with her. The messenger sat at the counter and looked a little lost.

“You can eat as much as you want and I'll pay for it all.” I said fairly loudly, indicating the yong man as well.

The man and woman running the shop celebrated with a hug and a peck on the lips, then they started working and delivered some of the necessary things to our tables. It would take time for both the grilling of the meat and cooking the vegetables, so we talked about what we were going to do next.

“The Fire Daimyo wants travel to become easier, so I think building the rest of the little bridge projects would be for the best.” Tsuru suggested.

“Or the large one over the gorge near the Land of Rain.” Yui said.

“There's not a lot of traffic going that way.” Tsuru countered.

Yui looked thoughtful for a second and reached into her bag. She pulled out a small version of the full map and placed it on the table. “I'm sorry, I meant near Grass.” She said and tapped on the spot. “It's little more than a fingertip between where the gorge is and Rain Country.”

Tsuru softly laughed. “Your fingertip is about 50 miles wide at that scale.”

“My reach is far greater than that!” Yui joked and softly laughed, too.

“If we do the bigger bridge, that will increase travel across Grass and into Earth Country.” I said and looked at the map. “Depending on the depth of the gorge, we could use either a fully supported wide bridge with pillars all along the length or a full suspension bridge that's only braced on the two ends.”

Tsuru gave the map a look as well. “It depends on if we want to show off or not.”

I smiled at her. “You think the Tsuchikage of the Hidden Stone Village is going to object if it's too showy?”

“He's going to have more weak people visiting his land, so yes. He's going to be livid.” Tsuru said with a huge smile, clearly amused about the prospect.

“We definitely need to do that first.” Yui agreed and put the map away. “I've been exchanging hawks with the Earth Daimyo and he's as frustrated with the stubborn old man running his hidden village as all of his neighbors are.”

“Really? Why?” I asked and spread the now cooked vegetables onto our plates.

“He hates anyone less powerful than him and won't discuss anything with someone that's younger than him. Since he's about 80 years old and refuses to retire, there's almost no one around that's close to his age and considered his peer.” Yui answered.

“That's not as surprising of an attitude to have as some might think.” I said and didn't have to bring up the Hidden Mist Village and how they determined who would be the next Mizukage to rule the village. “I guess he hasn't trained or chosen a replacement, either.”

“No, and he's not going to.” Yui said as I flipped over the strips of meat again. “That looks good.”

I pressed my chopsticks onto one of the pieces and it sizzled on the grill. It was loud and also spread the smell as the grease dripped off. Tsuru had to use a napkin to stop her drool as she watched me cook. I smiled at her and did the other pieces, held them down for another minute, and handed her the first piece. She had it half-chewed before I could put a piece onto Yui's plate.

I chuckled at her reaction and gave her the third piece instead of taking it for myself and added more to the grill. Tsuru and Yui exchanged knowing looks and didn't comment on how I was feeding them before myself. It created a relaxing atmosphere and we shared the task of both cooking and eating at the same time. It also gave us lots of time to talk to each other about whatever we wanted.

The other two tables had similar conversations after hearing we were doing the large bridge in the Land of Grass as our next big project. It should increase travel through all three lands, even for those that only went there to look at the marvel the giant bridge was going to be. I was definitely going to apply the old saying, 'go big or go home' to it.

We stayed there for over an hour and ate our fill, made the owner and his wife very happy by paying twice what the food cost, and we left there to head to the closest inn to rest for the night. I rented enough rooms for everyone, either alone or to share as they wanted, and Yui, Tsuru, and I brought the messenger into my room.

“Which one was yours again?” Yui asked and he pointed to a scroll in the small pile. She broke the seal on it and unrolled it. She frowned at what it said and handed it to me.

I read it and it was a demand from the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village for the Uzumaki Construction Company to travel to the Land of Lightning as soon as possible. He had been personally insulted that his village was the last of the five major hidden villages to be visited and he would seek satisfaction if it was delayed any longer.

I didn't say anything and handed it to Tsuru. She read it silently, just like Yui and I did, and her face stayed blank. She rolled it up and placed it to the side of the pile of scrolls.

“You may return to the sender and tell him that we received his message. We will be travelling with all due haste to arrive there as soon as we deem it possible.” Tsuru told the young man.

He visibly relaxed, thanked us for the meal, and ran from the room.

“Do you think he'll repeat exactly what you said?” I asked.

“No, he only heard what he wanted to hear.” Tsuru said and motioned for Yui to write it out on a piece of paper. “Drop this into his pocket, will you?”

I nodded and took the paper, made myself invisible, and stepped to where the messenger was. He was in a line to leave the port city and I slipped the paper into his pocket and gave him a mental nudge to check his pocket for the note. He did so, mentally relaxed at the physical confirmation of the message he successfully delivered, and he left the city with determination.

Now we could leave and continue our plans to make the bridge in the Land of Grass first and then it would be 'possible' for us to move on and go to the Land of Lightning to respond to the Raikage's insulting order. No one was allowed to order us around like that and he wouldn't be happy when he found out why.