Second Chances

Chapter 17

Almost three months had passed since the episode with the three alpha and the Umino family had been hard at work to reach their goal. Naruto and Kurama had only been taking high rank missions to earn enough money for their move. This usually ended up with them coming home bruised and battered but the pay was good.

Shino and Iruka were no better. Aside from taking a lot of low rank missions, they've also been producing and selling larger amounts of crops and honey. Tending to both their crops and bees while making sure that they were producing quality products had taken quite a toll on them.

While the adults were busy raising funds for their move, the quads had been busy training. Since they were going to take part in the chunin exams they needed to hone their skills. Aside from training, they've also been doing some reconnaissance on the forest. Thanks to Kurama's puppets, they've been able to stay ahead of the elders' plans.

Whenever the elders sent some shinobi to tamper with their water supply, the quads would intercept them before they made it to the river. This led to the area around the river regaining its vitality. Fortunately, the elders weren't suspicious of how the quads kept intercepting their men but they had been making life harder for the Umino family.

In the last three months, the elders had been going behind Dan's back by creating and implementing new laws without getting Dan's input. This led to a rise in tension between Dan and the elders. Unfortunately, the people of the Land of Flowers had been at the receiving end of this tension, forcing the people to decide who they had to side with, the elders or Dan. The Land of Flowers had been split into two, those who follow the elders and those who follow Dan.

This split, had led to the villagers blaming the Umino family for the tension in the leadership structure of the village. Those who follow the elders believe that the village leader is being controlled by the four omega in the Umino family which would explain why a powerful alpha such as Dan would let four unmated omega run around the village.

Those who follow Dan believe that Dan is just too kind to turn the four omega away that was why he kept protecting them. His followers believe that, it is this kindness that made him a good leader regardless of how his decisions went against tradition. This had given some of the other omega in the village hope that they might one day be able to be like the four omega in the Umino family, free.

Everywhere the Umino family went, there would be someone either praising them for their free spirit or someone cursing them for it. Before the split occurred, the people in the village would keep their opinions of the Umino family to themselves. Yes, there were a few muttered curses, a few glares sent their way when one of them walked by and the occasional attempted forced mating but at least then the villagers did that behind their backs or under the cover of darkness.

Unfortunately, the villagers now do this in broad daylight. Before the split occurred, the Umino family only had to worry about the villagers closing down their shops when one of them walked by or the shop owners politely asking them to leave because their presence was bad for business. Now however, the store owners were more inclined to physically removing them from the premises.

If the villagers weren't enough, the laws passed by the elders were even worse. The new laws were mostly focused on omega behaviour and omega rearing. For example, Law Two of the Land of Flowers stated, once an omega reached the age of fourteen then that omega must be either married or mated. If an omega of aged fourteen or up is not married or mated, then that omega would be incarcerated until a suitable match was found. This was done to maintain peace among villagers.

This law led to a rise in the number of weddings being held in the Land of Flowers. There were weddings being held each week, which put a strain on Dan as he was the Village Leader therefore it was his job to officiate the weddings. It also put a strain on the parents of the omega as they were forced to marry off their young before they were of age and before they were trained properly. This also led to brawls between alpha and tension between packs in the village as most alpha were not willing to marry off their omega to certain packs as those packs only had alpha from ages thirty going up.

This law had also resulted in shinobi and villagers -mostly alpha - patrolling the edge of forest in hopes of capturing an omega from the Umino family, in the name of maintaining peace. If an alpha succeeded in capturing that omega, then that alpha had the right to mate with said omega or that alpha must bring said omega to the elders of the Land of Flowers. The elders would then help rehabilitate said omega. The omega would stay under the watch of the elders until that omega was deemed well enough to join civilised society.

Law Five of the Land of Flowers stated that, the use of scent blockers and heat suppressors was prohibited for any and all omega in the village. However, the use of heat inducers was permitted. This was done to maintain the natality of the Land of Flowers. Omega who failed to abide by this law were to be incarcerated and placed under the watch of the elders until those omega were deemed well enough to join civilised society.

Naturally, this law had led to an increase in the number of harassment complaints, domestic violence reports and attempted terminations of pups. This had also resulted in a slight crash in the economy of the Land of Flowers. Most of the village's revenue came from shinobi missions but as most of the shinobi were dispatched throughout the village tending to domestic violence reports there hadn't been that many shinobi taking missions (aside from Naruto and Kurama).

The tension in the village had also resulted in the halt of the Festival of Helping Hands. The Festival of Helping Hands was also a source of revenue for the village and a source of supplies for the Umino family so with its cessation, there hasn't been much revenue for the village and less food on the table for the Umino family.

'It's amazing how much damage four little omega can cause,' elder Reo thought as he walked through the village towards Dan's office.