Bab 26: Blood Clones

It took Araki and Kushina nearly an hour to understand the situation and what had transpired.

The Uzumaki Clan Members who had arrived at the end to confront the Three Great Village Forces were in reality clones. They were known as Blood Clones.

These Blood Clones were much more different than a typical Clone mainly because of two reasons.

The Blood Clones needed the Blood of the user and the user's vitality and was embedded in the clone using a seal. This meant that the life-force of the ones who used the Blood Clone would be halved. And the second was, the Blood Clones wouldn't disappear immediately after being hit. They would continue to exist until the Blood inside of the body is extinguished.

And unlike the Shadow Clones or Wood Clones, these clones aren't connected to the consciousness of the user. Meaning, once these clones disperse, the user won't get any memories.

However, it seemed that Uzumaki Hishin and the thousands of the Uzumaki Clan Members capable of fighting who were behind him were indeed dead.

The reason they hadn't created Blood Clones was that their faces were known in the world. At least among the Kages of the Great Villages, their faces were known.

They didn't want to take the risk of showing off their faces in the world again. Because once their faces were known, the Elemental Nations would become aware that Uzumaki Clan Members still lived. At that time, the Uzumaki Clan Members would be hunted by these Three Great Nations elite shinobis.

Another reason was because of their own pride. These 1000 or so Uzumaki Clan Shinobi didn't wish to keep living in the world while hiding the proud name of the Uzumaki Clan.

They hid this reason from the other members of the clan because they didn't wish for them to stay and get killed. Besides, Uzumaki Hishin and Uzumaki Takuya had utter faith in their heads that as long as Araki and Kushina continued to live, they could help these Uzumaki Clan members to revive the Uzumaki Clan once again.

Araki had a grim look on his face as he remembered his conversation with Uzumaki Hishin nearly half a month ago.

At that time, Uzumaki Hishin had told him that he would be leaving everything in Araki's hands. Araki didn't understand him at that moment. No… Maybe he did, but he was just fooling himself.

'Did Uncle feel responsible that the destruction of the Uzumaki Clan was going to occur while he was the Clan Head? That he couldn't protect the clan? Or maybe his decision to trust Konoha…' He shook these thoughts from his head—no point in thinking about this right now.

'Right now, I need to keep the whole clan united. As long as the Uzumaki Clan remains hidden for a few years, it should have a safe future ahead. Moreover, I need to gather enough power so that when I announce the Uzumaki Clan's presence to the whole world, there will be no one who would dare to attack us.' Unconsciously, Araki had accepted his Uzumaki identity as well.

He then called out for the Uzumaki Clan members, the middle-aged members. Well, they were the oldest members of the Uzumaki Clan now since the elders, and many of the strong Uzumaki Clan Members had died.

Most of the Uzumaki Clan Members who survived were all children.

Anyway, he had set a meeting with the oldest surviving members of the Uzumaki Clan since their children would naturally listen to their parents.

"It's nice to meet you all. I am really happy that you all decided to use the Blood Clone to survive." These were his honest thoughts.

Most of these Middle-Aged Members of the Uzumaki Family were women. Probably because unlike their husbands, they had seemingly stopped training to better take care of their family. Their husbands had died in the war against the Three Great Shinobi Forces while they had to use Blood Clones to survive and live for their children, at least.

All the ones seated on wooden chairs in front of Araki knew who this child was. They had seen him for 1 whole month and interacted with him. They did not respect him because he had the Bloodline Limit of Mokuton like his grandfather Senju Hashirama.

They respected him and even adored him because he was the grandson of Uzumaki Mito. Which meant he was one of their own.

"Greetings, Araki-sama!" All these people respectfully greeted him.

This respectful greeting caught him by surprise, and he curiously asked them, "Why are you so respectful to me?"

"Clan Head ordered us to listen to Araki-sama's instructions once we survive the Uzushio's Destruction. He said that although you are young in terms of age, you hold the potential to become a leader. Even Lord Takuya had nothing but respect for you…" It seemed that these Uzumaki Clan members had been given clear instructions.

This was something Araki did know. However, he didn't think the Uzumaki Clan Members would earnestly obey his instructions. The sincere looks on their faces were the things which caught him off guard.

However, he decided not to think about it for this moment.

"Very well, I don't know what Uncle Hishin was expecting, but I will do my best to keep the Uzumaki Clan protected." With this out of the way, he addressed another issue, "The entire Elemental Nations believe that the Uzumaki Clan has been destroyed. That is why my first instruction will be to ask you to change your name. At least until we are strong enough to declare the proud name of Uzumaki Clan once again in the world."

The faces of the Uzumaki Clan Members darkened. They didn't like this decision, but they understood that this was for their own benefits.

Araki wasn't finished speaking, he continued, "Not only that, but all of you also need to use some seal to change the colour of your hair. Maybe brown or black, your choice about that. I am sure you are skilled enough to accomplish that."

"Yes…" They said in a feeble voice but suggested that they didn't like this idea.

"I do not like this idea any more than you do. However, it's required." Araki said with a resolute tone.

"Alright. What name shall we adopt? If we take over a single name and appear in the Land of Waves, people are bound to get suspicious." This was a rather good question.

If thousands of people with the same family name arrived in the Land of Waves right after Uzushio's destruction, people would start talking and spreading rumours. The news would eventually reach the Kages ears as well. And that wouldn't be good.

Araki then thought about it for some time before answering, "I think Samazaki will be an appropriate family name. As for the other issue, you won't all live in the Land of Waves. Only 100 or so will live here for now. The rest of you will be coming to the Land of Fire. All of you will split up in the different towns around Konoha, taking your family with you. After every month, I will be going to different villages to pull over the Uzumaki Clan Members into the Senju Clan Manor. I am sure the Hokage won't deny me if I tell him that I request for people to maintain the Senju Clan Manor. Moreover, I will reveal my sensing ability to him so that I can use the excuse that I will only recruit people with good potential as a shinobi. All of you hold chakra which is far beyond a normal shinobi, I am sure it will be enough to fool the Hokage."

"This would take a long time for Araki-sama to bring all the Uzumaki Clan Members to the Senju Clan Manor. After all, we have nearly 2000 or so people here. Moreover, even Araki-sama would have trouble taking care of all 2000 of us in the Senju Clan Manor while hiding our Uzumaki Lineage." One of the middle-aged men asked a good question.

Araki nodded his head and responded, "You are right. I would only be able to pull over 200 or so Uzumaki Clan Members into the Senju Clan Manor. After choosing 200 or so Uzumaki Clan Members, I will be sending the rest towards the Land of Waves. By that time, there will be Uzumaki Clan Members here who could help out the others Members of the Uzumaki Clan to set up."

Each one of the Uzumaki Clan Member present at this moment was pretty much dumbfounded. They now understood why their Clan Head had ordered them to listen to Araki-sama's instructions.

One by one, all of them kneeled in front of him. Araki had a blank look on his face before he slowly shook his head.

'Looks like I will need to hold the reigns for some time.'

(A/N: For all those who are curious why Araki would return to Konoha. I guess I can list you a few points since I didn't mention it in the chapter.

Firstly, the Senju Clan Property, it was in Konoha and had quite a wealth.

Secondly, if the Wood Release User and Kyuubi's Jinchuriki would stay away from Konoha, do you think Konoha would remain quiet? They would search for them down to the hell and force them to return. And once they are found, the Uzumaki Clan would be at Konoha's mercy.

There are also other reasons which you will see in the future chapters.)