The Blueprint

Naruto Uzumaki turned to Minato Namikaze and said, "Dad, take them somewhere they can build their homes first."

Minato smiled and nodded, then walked over to the workers and began speaking with their foreman.

A moment later, the foreman turned and waved to the workers. "Don't unload anything yet. Follow this boss."

The group set off after Minato in a long procession.

Naruto Uzumaki turned to Kushina Uzumaki. "Mom, how's your research going?"

"I looked through the formation manual you gave me. The formations in it are incredible, but I haven't had much time. I've only learned a defensive formation," Kushina Uzumaki replied.

Naruto Uzumaki smiled. "That's already great. Could you use that defensive formation in this construction project?"

"Of course. I've already memorized the blueprint. I'll draw it out in a little while," Kushina Uzumaki said, sounding rather pleased with herself.

Naruto Uzumaki nodded. "Then thanks for the effort, Mom."

Kushina Uzumaki nodded back without saying anything else, then headed toward the Council Hall.

Before long, Minato Namikaze returned and said to Naruto Uzumaki, "I took them to an unplanned area that still needs construction. They can build their homes today and should be able to start work tomorrow."

Naruto Uzumaki nodded. "There's no rush. We'll have them start after Mom finishes the blueprint."

"Then we might need to gather some stone first. Your mother and I talked about it last night. We want to incorporate that defensive formation into the entire complex, and wood alone won't be enough," Minato Namikaze said.

Naruto Uzumaki asked, "Dad, would the stone from the Land of Earth or the Land of Wind be better?"

Minato Namikaze thought for a moment before answering. "I've been to both countries. The stone in the Land of Wind has been weathered by sandstorms for years, so it's not easy to quarry. We should go to the Land of Earth."

Naruto Uzumaki asked, "You left Flying Thunder God Marks in the Land of Earth, right, Dad?"

Minato Namikaze nodded. "I left a few when I passed through."

"Then let's go to the Land of Earth. Let's get the Pervy Sage and Shisui Uchiha, and then we'll head out," Naruto Uzumaki said.

The father and son went into the Council Hall and reached the Altar. By then, Jiraiya and Hinata had finished training. Hinata was preparing breakfast, while Jiraiya and Shisui Uchiha stood beside Kushina Uzumaki, watching her draw the blueprint.

Naruto Uzumaki waved to the two men. They came over, and he told them they needed to go to the Land of Earth. Both agreed. After changing clothes and putting on masks, they followed Minato Namikaze to the Land of Earth.

Unlike the Land of Fire, this area had few stretches of forest. Stone mountains dotted the landscape.

After choosing a spot, they quickly made their way there. They selected several sturdy stones and prepared to quarry them.

Once they had chosen the stones they needed, they all got to work. Before long, they had broken off one stone slab after another and stacked them in an open area.

By noon, a shout rang out nearby. "Who are you? Why are you damaging the Land of Earth?"

They turned to see a man wearing an Iwagakure Forehead Protector and holding a katana.

Naruto Uzumaki immediately flashed forward. A chain shot from behind him and bound the man tightly. Then he asked, "How did you find us? Is anyone else coming?"

The ninja kept shouting after being captured, so Naruto Uzumaki quickly gagged him. He paid the man no more attention and simply told the others to speed up their work.

The spot where they were quarrying was not far from Iwagakure. The ninja had been patrolling near the village, and when he sensed a powerful chakra fluctuation nearby, he hurried over.

At first, he had thought that Deidara, the Tsuchikage's apprentice, had returned. Deidara used to enjoy setting off explosions near the village, so the ninja had planned to investigate and then report back to Ōnoki.

But as soon as he got close, he saw several strangely dressed people damaging his country's land. He hadn't stopped to think before calling out to them.

Naruto Uzumaki and the others did look rather strange. All four wore black robes and masks.

They paid it no mind, activated their sensory abilities, and continued quarrying. At the same time, Naruto Uzumaki thought, I've gotten a little overconfident since officially leaving Konoha. I didn't even think to activate my sensory abilities this time. Good thing it was only an ordinary ninja.

By the afternoon, the hungry group stopped working. Naruto Uzumaki looked back at the stone they had collected and nodded. "This should be enough. We can head back. If we need more later, we'll come back."

Minato Namikaze used Flying Thunder God to return to the Land of Whirlpools with some of the stone. Naruto Uzumaki enveloped the rest in spiritual energy, retracted the Adamantine Sealing Chains, then took Jiraiya, Shisui Uchiha, and the pile of stone and vanished.

The ninja Naruto Uzumaki had released was stunned. He stared, mouth agape, at the place where they had disappeared.

When he finally came to his senses, he ran straight to Iwagakure and headed for the Tsuchikage Building.

After he explained why he was there, one of the guards immediately escorted him to the Tsuchikage Office.

They knocked. When a voice inside told them to enter, the two went in.

A short, large-nosed old man was pacing around the Tsuchikage Office. When the guard brought the ninja inside, he stopped and asked, "What is it?"

The guard answered, "Lord Tsuchikage, the ninja assigned to patrol the village has something to report."

The short old man was none other than Iwagakure's Tsuchikage, Kitsuchi Onoki.

After hearing the guard's report, Ōnoki looked at the ninja behind him and said, "I remember your name is San-chi, right? Tell me what happened."

San-chi hurriedly replied, "Yes, Lord Tsuchikage. I was patrolling the village today. When I reached the eastern side, I sensed a powerful chakra fluctuation in the distance, so I went to investigate. When I arrived, I found four people damaging our land. I tried to stop them, but one of them bound me with a chain. A short while ago, they vanished with a huge pile of stone."

Ōnoki asked, "What did the four of them look like?"

San-chi thought for a moment. "They were all wearing masks. One had white hair, another had black hair, and the remaining adult and the child had blond hair."

"How did they disappear?" Ōnoki asked urgently.

"I didn't see them do anything. They just vanished into thin air," San-chi answered.

Ōnoki's pupils contracted. He couldn't help picturing the man who had haunted him like a nightmare during the Third Shinobi World War.

"Which direction were they in?" Ōnoki asked.

After San-chi pointed out where Naruto Uzumaki and the others had been quarrying, Ōnoki pushed open the office window and flew out.

He soon reached the spot. Seeing the small mountain nearly hollowed out and the ground pitted with holes, Ōnoki flew down, his face dark.

After investigating the area, Ōnoki found no useful clues. Full of questions, he returned to the Tsuchikage Office.

"That man's definitely dead. Maybe I'm overthinking it," Ōnoki murmured. Then he sank into his memories, falling silent for a long while.

Meanwhile, Naruto Uzumaki and the others returned to the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools and went back to the Altar.

Kushina Uzumaki was nearly finished with the blueprint. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, they sat nearby and quietly watched her work.

After a long while, Kushina Uzumaki dropped her pen, picked up the blueprint, and looked up. "Hahaha! I knew I was a genius!"

The others immediately went over to her.

Kushina Uzumaki stopped laughing and set the blueprint on the table. Then she explained it to everyone.

"I incorporated the defensive formation. Since we don't have those special materials, I changed the parts that required them into small formations that can gather spiritual energy."

Everyone looked at the blueprint, which was covered in markings.

A large complex of buildings extended outward from the Council Hall at its center. One of the larger buildings in the upper left corner was labeled "School." The building in the lower right was labeled "Hospital."

Open space had been left around these three buildings, forming a wide passage that seemed to encircle them.

Beyond the circle stood a large cluster of buildings. There were too many to label individually, but eight roads extending outward from the circle divided the buildings into separate sections.

Within each section, smaller pathways separated the buildings, leaving enough room for people to walk between them.

When everyone traced the roads, they saw that the entire complex formed a huge bagua.

Kushina Uzumaki had marked every detail on the blueprint, including its scale and the symbols used to represent each type of building.

Another circle surrounded the entire complex. Kushina Uzumaki had labeled it "Wall," with a watchtower placed at regular intervals.

Pointing to the watchtowers, Kushina Uzumaki explained, "We'll place Spirit Gathering Formations here. Since the construction materials are just ordinary wood and stone, they can't gather spiritual energy on their own. But if we put enough Spirit Gathering Formations around the perimeter, they can draw spiritual energy here."

Spirit Gathering Formations could attract not only spiritual energy but also Wood Spirit Qi. Once the entire formation was complete, spiritual energy would be more concentrated throughout the village than elsewhere, and Wood Spirit Qi would continuously gather there as well.

Even ordinary people living in the village would become stronger and healthier, and would be less likely to get sick.