Naruto: Under the Banner of the Clans

*** Hope City ***

Landing on the mattresses of the room, Akeno woke up in just a minute, while Maiko took about ten minutes.

Somewhat confused, Maiko looked around her new surroundings with great curiosity, until she stopped at the two boys her age who were watching her with some attention.

"You're a Kaguya?" Izaya said, observing the two marks on Maiko's forehead.

"And you're a Hyuga?" Maiko replied, noticing his white eyes.

Feeling left out, Chikara pointed to himself and exclaimed childishly, "And me, can you guess which clan I come from?"

Without waiting for Maiko to guess, Izaya spoke up. "I would have thought you'd bring someone from the Senju clan. This is a surprise. Why such a choice?" he asked.

Akeno, gathering Qi on the mattress, smiled at his young white-eyed brother's remark. "A desire to bring the family together? Besides, you should know how strong the Kaguya clan members are."

"The family?" Izaya asked.

Looking at Maiko and then Izaya, Akeno was pleased to see the questioning looks on their faces. It meant they had no idea about their origins. "Yes, family. After all, the Hyuga clan and the Kaguya clan both come from the same ancestor."

"What!?" Izaya clearly hadn't seen that coming, neither had the other two. How could his noble and distinguished clan be linked to this half-savage clan!?

"But we have nothing in common!" Izaya said, somewhat suspicious of this information.

Similarly, Maiko had never heard such a story about their two clans.

"Yet it is the most likely truth," said Akeno. "Your ancestor is the brother of the Sage of the Six Paths. Hamura Otsutsuki."

"The brother of my ancestor!?" exclaimed Chikara in amazement.

Maiko, who was listening attentively, was surprised and pointed at Chikara. "So you're from the Uchiha clan!?" Only the Uchiha clan boldly claimed to be descendants of the Sage of the Six Paths. Even Maiko, who didn't often leave home, had heard such rumors.

"This would mean that my clan, the Kaguya clan, and the Uchiha clan all have a blood relationship?!" asked Izaya in shock.

How could Izaya remain unaffected when his understanding of the ninja world was so overturned? Based on this information, it meant that the most powerful clans all came from the same origin.

"Yes, just as the Uchiha clan inherited the eyes and spiritual energy of the Sage of the Six Paths, and the Senju clan inherited the body and physical energy, you, members of the Hyuga clan and the Kaguya clan, have similarly inherited the powers of his brother," revealed Akeno.

Akeno had loved the history of the clans in the Naruto world, and while no one knew exactly who the Kaguya descended from, knowing they must be descended from the Otsutsuki, the connection to Hamura Otsutsuki was easy.

He was the only one who could have given birth to this clan.

"...so..." faced with all these revelations about the origins of their clans, Izaya didn't know what to think anymore.

"Does this mean that the Senju clan and my clan are cousins!?" Chikara was even more surprised than Izaya. "...But then why... why all these fights!?" Chikara seemed to see the entire history of his world being rewritten before his eyes.

How crazy was this? If the Senju had a connection with the Uchiha, didn't it mean that the Uchiha also had a connection with the Uzumaki!?

Looking at the shocked children around him, Akeno couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing. What would the other clan members' reaction be if they also knew their origins?

"As for the wars, I'll just tell you that over the centuries, a creature has manipulated your clans like pawns to achieve its ends. It can be considered the origin of your hatred.

Unfortunately, you are not strong enough to find and defeat it," Akeno replied.

"No kidding, this creature just managed to pierce through Madara's chest in Juubi Jinchuriki mode. No one will convince me it's weak," Akeno thought.

Standing up, Akeno stretched his legs. "Now, I hope you truly consider yourselves brothers and sisters. After all, your clans are closer than you thought."

Slowly but surely, with Akeno's revelations, the young ninjas could gradually discern the play being staged in their world.

A broken family, establishing clans whose name has become legendary, instilling fear in the hearts of their enemies.

Their world was nothing but a battlefield for their war, a family war...

And according to Akeno, all of this had been manipulated from the shadows from the very beginning! How could they not be shocked by this?!

Who?

Why?

How?

Were the ninja clans even masters of their own destinies? Or were they just pawns on someone else's chessboard?

Izaya saw in Akeno a new form of gratitude. That of true freedom. Only he had been able to give him this opportunity to change his destiny.

Perhaps his clan and all the others would forever be controlled by this being if he hadn't come to save them.

As Akeno left to take a walk, clearing his mind, Izaya, Maiko, and Chikara looked at each other without knowing what to say. Chikara was still thinking about how the Senju clan, the most hated clan by his own clan, had actually been brothers at one time, and Maiko, who had just arrived, felt even more lost than before.

In this peculiar atmosphere, as each contemplated in their own thoughts, the door of their room was opened with a bang.

"Yo!" entering the room with great pomp, Kaede laid her eyes on the confused and worried faces of her friends. "Wow, you guys look serious..."

...

Walking through the sect's corridors, Akeno looked calm, with a peaceful, light mind... Quite the opposite of what was going on in his head...

Recalling the origins of the clans, Akeno had thought of a new clue for his chakra problem.

The inheritance.

It was Izaya, and before him, Chikara, who had transferred chakra into his body in an attempt to create a functional chakra circulation system.

Unfortunately, something hadn't worked. Or rather, something was missing.

And what if it was due to a missing inheritance?

The Hyuga clan and the Uchiha clan both inherited the Yin energy from their ancestors. But the Yang energy was inherited by the other clans.

The Yin energy could be used to control the user's imagination to create forms out of nothing, while the Yang energy could be used to control vitality, giving life to inert forms.

To give an example, the Sage of the Six Paths used the fusion of his two energies to create the nine tailed beasts.

While he had received only strong Yin energy chakra, he was actually missing powerful Yang energy chakra to reproduce what the Sage of the Six Paths had done.

His chakra circulation system wasn't a total failure, it was just incomplete.

He was missing only one step to succeed and finally produce his chakra. He needed to give life to his chakra system, as if activating a machine.

He needed to give life to the organ!

Perhaps finding the solution he was missing, Akeno was more than happy. Among those he had saved, Maiko and Kaede were members of the Kaguya and Uzumaki clans, two clans that had inherited the Yang power from their ancestors.

But to be sure of his move, Akeno wanted to recruit a member of the Senju clan first. Then he would try his theory to perfect his chakra system.

The time was no longer for training. His journey into the Naruto world had taken much longer than expected, and the day was already over.

He knew he would have to explain again to Fang Qin, the master of the branch, the sudden arrival of Maiko in the sect. But it was better to wait until tomorrow and recruit more members to finish it once and for all.

Akeno planned to recruit a member of the Senju clan for his next trip. He would then have with him all the descendants of the Otsutsuki except for those on the moon.

Apart from that, another problem would potentially slow down his dreams. Ninjutsu...

While at the time of Naruto, ninjutsu was unlimited in number, leaving Orochimaru with only the path of immortality to learn all the techniques, it was much rarer at this time.

It must be said that Tobirama Senju had been the creator of a great number of techniques, and unfortunately for Akeno, the ninjas had not yet invented such a large number of techniques for the moment.

The most well-known techniques like the multi-cloning or the flying thunder god technique only existed for now in Akeno's dreams.

Having questioned Chikara about his clan, Akeno had been able to determine that the time he was in was not even close to Madara Uchiha's time.

There was currently no Madara Uchiha known to Chikara. Not even Tajima Uchiha, who would be Madara's father.

This gave Akeno time to recruit as many members from different clans before their disappearances, while also giving himself a new goal, to rise through cultivation to live longer.

At the rate things were going, he might have to wait a century before meeting the various characters who had made him dream so much.

He would become stronger, rally powerful ninjas to his cause, become a legend, and eat at Ichiraku Ramen!

The adventure was just beginning!