บท 9: Matriarch, can I meet my nephew?

~ 1 week later ~

In Japan there stood a building that has a history as old as the island itself. This building is quite special for residents in Japan. This is all due to one simple reason which is, This is the place where important decisions would be made every month. They call this building the Jade Palace.

The Jade Palace has numerous rooms for different purposes such as Meeting rooms, guest rooms, dining rooms, etc. Due to it holding a significant value to the Village most of the time, it is guarded by Shadow Garden, a unit that is tasked with protecting the Village in the shadows.

Today the Jade Palace is quite lively. Since the monthly meeting would be held today, various clan heads and department heads came to the Jade Palace to participate in the meeting.

Although any party can participate in this meeting they usually send their representatives to speak on behalf of them. For the major clans, the clan heads take this responsibility. The smaller clans, will not participate until they want to ask for permission for something their respective department heads couldn't do.

There are various departments in Japan. Most of the time these departments are managed by the clans such as the Sealing department by the Uzumaki. Of course non Uzumaki can also join this department or even become a department head. But that rarely happens as most clans usually are specialized in their respective fields.

Anyway even though this is an unorthodox way of governing the village with Izanami's leadership skills the village was thriving. This is also one of the reasons why no one fights for the Village head position as they don't have the confidence to lead the people as smoothly as they could.

In the room where the meeting was supposed to be held, the atmosphere was quite lively. Various clan heads who were mostly busy due to their busy schedules often came early to catch up with each other. So most clan leaders and department heads are busy partying with each other. And if someone from Earth looked at how they party they would most likely say that this is a yakuza gathering.

" say Kazuma how is the recent project going, the one the matriarch wanted. " asked a middle-aged man with black hair and a beautiful face.

He is the clan head of the Yuki clan which was said to be wiped out in The Land of Water. Similar to the Uzumaki, they were rescued by Izanami and were tasked with running the public security department. Due to their good looks, they were quite famous in the village.

" Oh, I already delivered that to the matriarch already. I gotta say using seals to create a pocket dimension and then anchoring it to a necklace is something only she can think of. Don't you agree with me Haruko? " said Kazuma while drinking some sake from his cup.

Kazuma is the clan leader of the Uzumaki clan and also the head of the Sealing department. His age is similar to Minato but with his red beard, he appeared much older. Due to coming to the village with similar situations he and Haruko who is also known as Haruko Yuki got along together. And both of them are quite good friends.

Soon the door that led to this meeting room opened and Iznami came in. Beside there were Nanami and another man who was dressed like a young master. He had hair quite similar to Iznami but unlike her, he didn't have any silver strands in her hair.

When everyone looked at Izanami's face they all stopped what they were doing. The ones who were drunk quickly sobered up. Unlike her usual cheerful or mischievous face now her expression was some of fitting the leader of the Land of the Rising Sun.

She took her seat as the head and sat down. Her aides both stood at her side. Even when she was seated no one moved or spoke. Although the younger ones remained clueless about her sudden change, the older ones all wore a grave expression. They knew that when she was like the situation must be dire.

Izanami's gaze swept over the crowd and finally settled on Kazuma Uzumaki. She said softly, " Kazuma did you get notified of what happened in the Land of Fire? Specifically speaking about what happened in Konoha. "

Kazuma, although puzzled, still answered " I'm sorry matriarch, I only recently came out of my research laboratory. So I'm still catching up on the latest news these days. "

Izanami nodded her head in understanding. Kazuma as the head of the sealing department had a lot of duties, and he would go missing in his laboratory for a few weeks straight when he was researching seals. At that time no one would come to disturb him since the smallest mistake could blow the whole room apart.

" Vali tell them the details "Izanami gestured to the man next to her to do the explanation.

The man named Vali Rushifā bowed and said, "Yes matriarch ". He then deployed his domain and soon everyone saw that their surroundings turned white. With a snap of his fingers, he made a few screens appear in front of everyone.

On those screens, there are reports about the nine tail attacks that happened in Konoha. Reading those reports the crowd became nosy. Especially Kazuma.

"Impossible, please matriarch, please tell me what here is a lie, " Kazuma asked while tears came down from his eyes. Due to his shock, he even stood up from his chair.

Izanami closed her eyes and answered, " Unfortunately it is true. When I arrived at the scene Kurama had already pierced them with his claws. I'm sorry kazuma I couldn't save your cousin "

Kazuma flopped down to his seat with a defeated expression. Kushina was his cousin and also her only family member who had the Uzumaki Royal blood. So her loss hit him very badly.

Most of the clan heads or the department heads didn't say much to him. They just looked at him with a worried expression. Haruko patted Kazuma's shoulders to calm him down.

Looking at his expression, Izanami's expression softened. When Kazuma came to the village he was just barely 7 years old. So Izanami saw him as one of her own children. And looking at his expression she said softly, " Kazuma "

Kazuma turned to her. His eyes had lost most of its light. Izanami, unable to bear it said, " Kazuma although I know it is cruel for me to say but you must move on. You have a nephew you know. Remember the necklace I asked you to make? I gave it to him. And also all hope is not lost you know. I managed to anchor part of their souls to the necklace. If we are lucky they could regenerate their souls and be able to have a chance to be reborn again. "

Hope began to come back into his eyes as he thought of what he just heard. Yes with seals it is possible for someone to stay in this world if they have a suitable body and a full soul. This is the same principle Orochimaru uses.

" Matriarch, can I meet my nephew?" Kazuma suddenly asked. Since that child is in Konoha without anyone to look after him. He wanted to confirm his well-being.

Izanami didn't speak but her aide Nanami spoke on behalf of her, " That would be difficult for now. And you calm down first. This matter is also related to what we are about to discuss "

She looked at Vali who nodded and changed the content on everyone's screens. There instead of a report about the nine tails attack. There is a report on what happened in the high-level meeting in Konoha. In that report, there is something mentioned about a child that would not be adopted by anyone due to him being the Jinchūriki.