章 20: Chapter 20

"He's not used to such feasts," Saya shook her head, watching her sleeping son, who leaned against Ryuta's sister and quietly snored, paying no attention to the noise around.

"If you had stayed with us instead of deciding to return to Konoha, he would have grown up in a large family, literally in a sea of love and care," Tomoko shook her head, "it's evident that such a situation is very unusual for him."

"It's not that simple," sighed Nara, "I simply wouldn't have been allowed to leave — being born into the clan head's family has its drawbacks."

"Then stay at least for six months," Ryudji suggested, "I'll train him a bit to the level of our children, it will greatly help him in the future."

"I don't know if Oto-san will allow it, he's very attached to Ryu-chan," Saya shook her head.

"Write that I want to get to know my grandson better — he'll understand," Uzumaki insisted, "after all, six months can't compare to the few years he spent together!"

"Okay, tomorrow I'll send a letter and if it works out, we'll visit you," the kunoichi relented.

"I'll take care of the little one during this time!" Tomoko exclaimed quietly, stroking little Nara's head, lying on her lap.

He slid there during sleep and not without a little help from the amused relative.

"I don't mind, sometimes taking care of even such quiet children as in our clan is very exhausting."

"Great! Then I'll take him to the already prepared bed and we'll continue the feast with something stronger!" Uzumaki joyfully picked up the sleeping boy in her arms and hurried to the staircase to the second floor, leading to the guest rooms.

* * *

The first few days as a guest among numerous relatives I spent in a daze, simply due to the close proximity of so many strong sources of chakra (of course, most of the people around me hid their true volumes well, but my sensor gift gradually got used to recognizing such chakra sources, and it didn't make it easier).

And that's not to mention the huge number of seals literally flooding the Uzumaki house.

Compared to the level of comfort I had in my previous life, seals definitely win simply because of their multifunctionality and ease of use for shinobi (water supply and heating in the bathroom, strengthening walls and blocking sounds, air filtration from dust and odors, use in food heating, drying clothes, lighting and heating, food preservation, and much more, the list could go on indefinitely — fuinjutsu was used everywhere), it was enough to have chakra to activate them.

And clan members always had plenty of this stuff. And most importantly, it was simply impossible to get bored in Grandpa's huge house — there was always someone nearby willing to take on the task of entertaining or interesting me.

What struck me the most was the huge number of guests who visited the house just to see me and get acquainted. By the most modest estimates, the total number exceeded four hundred.

Too many for me, accustomed to a fairly limited circle of communication even within the clan. Nevertheless, all this was more than compensated for by the sincere joy of the guests who came to visit. From all this, I drew one firm conviction — there are no bad Uzumaki!

Literally every member of the clan I saw was distinguished by astonishing cheerfulness, tender attitude towards children, and the ability to enjoy life. When I asked Grandpa about this, he seriously replied that even a thousand years ago the clan didn't differ much in its outlook on life from the present.

Uzumaki have always been able to enjoy the smallest things, and communication is one of them. Considering the tradition of having no fewer than three or four children, there's simply no time for sadness and melancholy. Besides, others in the clan don't survive.

I didn't understand the last phrase, but dismissed it as insignificant, somewhat surprised by the answer. A stark contrast to the headstrong but dreadfully lazy Naras. And despite spending only a few days in such an environment, Uzushiogakure became much closer to being associated with home than Konoha. The people here are much friendlier, more energetic, cheerful, and generous.

By the way, about generosity — the numerous guests literally overwhelmed me with gifts! Various clothes, shoes, weapons necessary for a shinobi career, both in my size and for growing up (when I learned that among the redheads such a term is very common, I had to suppress the desire to burst out laughing — hello, homeland! — such a concept simply doesn't exist among the Naras, all things are bought only when needed), numerous scrolls for studying and creating simple fuinjutsu and kekkei, training weights both with and without seals, everyday outfits in clan colors, several sizes of simply gorgeous traditional silk kimonos, sets of special paper and ink for drawing seals, training weapons, even several scrolls with water techniques and taijutsu and kenjutsu styles, studied and kept by clan members. But most of all, I liked the non-material gifts.

With special ink containing my blood, they applied an Infuin to my forehead, forming a very familiar crystal after several hours of application and activation, which adorned the same place on Uzumaki Mito and Senju Tsunade.

Considering the amount of chakra I had to pump into it just to get the seal to work, it commanded respect — almost five-sixths of my entire volume. By the way, a similar thing adorned almost half of the adult shinobi in the middle of the forehead or at the bangs, covered with hair.

Directly opposite the heart, a resistance seal has now appeared, designed to train the speed of all future shinobi of the clan, and just above the wrists on the inside, two universal storage seals were applied, capable of self-restoration even when damaged along with the skin healing process.

A stark contrast to sealing scrolls. In general, gifts overwhelmed me above my head, and this is not an exaggeration. However, vigilant Mom quickly confiscated all the scrolls and real weapons from me, but it didn't diminish my joy.