Book One: The Rise of the Blue-Haired Devil.

      I decided that getting on the ship whose captain had ratted me out was an honourable thing to do.... Killing the entire crew didn't make much sense either. Revenge for turning me in? Yeah, the whole crew's in rags, stinking of rotten fish. their lives aren't great, so fate will bring them trouble. I found the new ship quickly enough. To my surprise, the captain of the ship didn't recognise me, which saved me some money. Nah, I'm not self-serving, but at this point in time I'm severely limited in resources to afford luxuries or anything like that. It took over three days to sail to the Land of Water. Why did it take so long? Yes, the ship was a wreck. God only knows how it still floats. I wasn't too worried about it, because I was ready to run on water. Now my chakra in the seal was quite enough to reach the destination on the water, but I also wanted to rest a little, and given that the speed of movement on the water is severely limited by the waves, the travel time was roughly equivalent to that of the ship to swim or run. We arrived at once at the port, which served as a staging post. I did not linger in it, going straight to the place of clan gathering. A few hours of running and I was there.       What I saw pleased and alarmed me at the same time. About two hundred houses were already standing on the hillside. They were completely finished. Perhaps there was still some finishing to be done inside, but that was a minor detail. About four hundred were under construction. Some of them were only a quarter done, some half done. The only thing that was bothering me was the lack of shinobi in the neighbourhood. It was strange. I would have understood if the ninja hadn't arrived yet, but after scanning the area with my sensorics, I came to the conclusion that there were no ninja or humans within two kilometres. My faculties were greatly strained when I detected a huge clot of chakra in the depths of the water. What does that mean? It looks like a real trap. Too bad there's no choice. I walked through the streets of the future home of our village, heading towards the harbour, the outline of which was visible to the naked eye.       As I stepped onto the clean, rocky shore, the water in the sea churned, and then a huge creature emerged from beneath the depths. It was a turtle, the size of a five-storey building. It had a strange shell, at first glance, belonging to a crayfish. There were spikes all over the monster's body, and three shrimp-like tails dangled behind its back. It was a true biju. It was fantastic that I'd already met the second one in such a short period of time. But then it was a Kyubey, and now it was a Three-Tailed Sanbi, a creature that caused many ships to miss the Water Country. These are just rumours, though. They may or may not be true. Though what's the point of anyone lying about it? Although... there is a reason... human nature is fond of looking for extremes in dire situations. Such is the nature of human nature and one of the reasons why I gave up feelings and emotions in my past life. It's worth noting that there were two other major differences between the encounter with Kyubey and the current encounter with Sanbi. The nine-tailed fox demon was initially very aggressive. He didn't think, he just attacked people and ninjas without discriminating who he wanted to eat. Everything looked like food to him. Sanbi, on the other hand, looked very calm and balanced against him. His gaze was very meaningful... I would even say human. He was now studying me with a sliver of interest. The second difference, perhaps the key difference in this case, was that I was ready to fight back this time. Back then, I had only managed to delay the Demonic Fox. Well, now I could even try to give my opponent a light, even if not from the point of view of the strongest side. We stood for a while, studying each other's features.       - What do you want, human? - The silence was broken by the booming voice of a biju.       - I wonder if you didn't attack me. Why? - I asked the giant, ignoring his question.       - You're not like the other shinobi who came after me. Your chakra is different, similar to that of the biju. So what are you? - Sanbi said, answering my question and asking me a question in return.       - I am Michiko Yuki, head of the Yuki clan. - I introduced myself, making a bow.       - So what do you want? - The tailed man repeated his previous question.       - We wanted to set up a multi-clan village here. - I explained, pointing to the buildings.       - I want to stay here. I'm not bothered by humans in this place. - he proclaimed with a roar. I knew it was his normal voice, but it still made my ears ache. For a few minutes I thought about how to solve this dilemma. It's complicated... On the one hand, it's a very good strategic point for the future village, and on the other hand, I didn't want to fight a biju, although I'm not fooling anyone... I wanted to, but I didn't know the limits of his strength, so it would be idiotic to jeopardise my whole plan. It would kill me to believe in my powers so much.       - What if I could find you a place where you could rest in peace? -I asked the question, because I finally had a solution.       - People will still be able to find me. - the giant tortoise tried to contradict me. - And, if I provide you with protection? - I continued, trying to catch the thread of conversation that allowed me to move the dialogue in the direction I wanted. I know he wants peace. Monsters like that only want a break from humans, and he doesn't feed on humans. That's obvious.       - And where is your safe place for me? - Sanbi clarified after a few minutes of thought.       - Near the country of the Whirlpool. There is a ninja village there, Uzushio. The Uzumaki will take you in. I'll take care of it. - I answered him in a calm voice.       - What do you want? I can't believe you're doing this for nothing. - he narrowed his eyes and said. And yes, I had one condition, but the biju was forced to agree, because my request, in fact, is not so global.       - I want you to protect Uzumaki from potential enemies who might encroach on them. - I gave him my condition. - You won't have to interfere while the Uzumaki are fighting on their own, however, if their village is suddenly surrounded on all sides by enemies, you will have to save them. I don't want to ask you to do that, but I won't always be able to protect my loved ones. And I think it's a fair price to pay for peace. - I explained, so that my interlocutor would understand what I meant. The turtle thought for a long time. The creature apparently weighed in its head all the good and bad sides of my proposal, looking for tricks or some hidden meaning in my words.       - Well, I will trust you mortal and to show it, I will tell you my name. My name is Isobu. - The biju introduced himself. My eye even twitched at that. So Sanbi is just a nickname people gave him... Cruel....       - So the rest of the biju have names too? - I asked a question that intrigued my mind.       - Yes, but I won't tell you their names. That's the rule. If they start to trust you, they will introduce themselves. - Isobu answered me. To say I was surprised is an understatement. So it turns out they are not beasts, but beings that are quite intelligent and what's more, they have their own personalities. It's frightening and surprising at the same time.....       - Get on me. We'll be on our way in no time. - in an orderly manner demanded the turtle, bringing me out of my thoughts. I did not even object, just taking a comfortable place on the back of a huge turtle, pointing the direction of movement. You know, I've never swam so fast in my life. We made it to Uzushio in an hour, maybe two.       The laugh of the whole situation was something else. I made it to my funeral... Ugh, you should have seen everyone's faces when I showed up on the head of a three-tailed turtle.... It was epic. The first to recover from the shock, or rather the first, was Yumiko, who slammed me in the face with a chopper. I didn't even want to dodge, because I knew I deserved it. To my surprise, I didn't get knocked out after she hit me. I was just lying on the ground, head up. I had a childish smile on my face. Hell yeah, I was glad she was alive and even able to punch me in the face properly, otherwise I'd have had a hard time believing she was okay, but then again, that's my favourite Yumi. The yellow-haired girl fell onto my chest and started crying, not even that, she was sobbing so hard that I couldn't calm her down for a while. I felt wildly embarrassed in front of Isobu, who was watching the whole thing from the sidelines. He watched for a few minutes, and then he just closed his eyes, falling asleep. Apparently he realised that it was going to be a long time.... Clever turtle. A lot of time passed before I managed to calm down the crying girl, and calm is a big word. She just passed out from emotional shock, which was not surprising. Then I got a smack from Mito, who decided not to stay away, and Ashina shook my hand with a nasty smile. Oh those Uzumaki, I don't like their slyness. It was written all over my face that I was in for a setup. We went to the Uzukage's residence. Still, there were a lot of unresolved issues and my story could wait. Just as I thought, the big turtle had just spooked all the ninjas. It didn't rise from the bottom until the ninja clans came to take its place. The construction was done by the common folk, so the biju didn't even seriously consider them, continuing to sleep at the bottom of the sea. Byakuren, on the other hand, did the smart thing. He did not fight the "monster", taking all the clans ten kilometres away from the biju's habitat. They had to decide what to do, so now for several days there was a meeting, where my place was taken by Moku. I knew and trusted the man. It was unlikely he would mess up there. His mind was too good at working the twists in his head. I told Mito and Ashina what had happened to me. My story took a long time. The reason for this was that there were so many questions from the audience. They demanded precise details from me. I had to satisfy their curiosity. Then we discussed the current situation for a few minutes. As a result, it was decided that tomorrow I should go to the gathering place of the clans of the Water Country. I need to convey to the bright heads of the clan heads that there is no more danger. Of course, Yumiko would have decided to go with me, so I didn't even bother to ask her opinion on the matter. It's too petty an excuse to wake up a beautiful girl. Mito stated that she wouldn't let me go without a guard. That was the reason why she came with me. I didn't try to change her mind. Stubborn as a sheep... Uzumaki's main trait....