reacting to rise of the whirling tides

Chapter 6: Bijuu Life

10 years 10 Months before Canon.

The sun began to rise over Uzushiogakure and the citizens that called the village home began to stir. On the east side of Uzu the sun's rays hit a large compound surrounded by stone walls.

On the stone walls was a beautifully painted mural. The mural took the form of the nine tailed beasts accompanied by Otsutsuki Hagoromo, their father. The compound was the Uzushio orphanage, where the children who came to live in the village would reside until; they were old enough to go out on their own.

The Orphanage was run by one Kokuō the Gobi (Five Tails). When Uzushio had been reconstructed Kokuō had asked if the orphanage could be modelled after the Uzumaki clan compound but with a few alterations, one being the unique mural on the wall. The second, the rooms had been altered to accommodate up to three hundred children without squeezing them all together. The third change was she had asked Naruto to ensure the orphanage was large enough to accommodate the size she would take, often shifting between the sizes of a large dog to that of a tall horse. The Fourth and final change was the large dining room with kitchen add on that was centred in a large building in the middle of the compound; the rooms for the children were in a building in a U shape around the dining hall.

Mito: that is a wonderful orphanage. hashirama agreed along with everyone else.

Kokuō was making her way through her home. She had changed her form shrinking down to the size of a horse in order to walk through the hallways of the orphanage. It was early in the morning around seven and she was doing her duties in waking up the children. She would go door to door knocking on them with her horns and peek on in, "Wake my children, morning has come."

Kokuō would call to the children in a soft motherly voice, her voice making them stir. She would smile as they sat up in their beds, stretching their limbs giving loud yawns. Each of the beds were designed specifically for each child, this would ensure each child received the rest they needed. The beds had been made by Naruto, through the use of the Banbutsu Souzou (Creation of All Things). The idea was that once a child left, the bed would be pulled apart as Naruto absorbed the chakra in it and recreated it for the next child.

Kokuō continued on through the halls waking up the last of the children, before she started her way to the dining hall. She hummed to herself as left the dorms. Her hoofs clopped against the stone path heading into the dining hall. She used a tail to push the door open making her way inside, in the middle of the room was a long rectangle shaped table. She headed towards the kitchen opening the door making her way through. She used her tails and manipulated her chakra in the form of arms to help her start the day. During her time sealed inside of Han she had learned much from the strange man.

To many Han seemed to be a rough barbarian, a giant of a man who intimidated all who came across him. But beneath that hard quiet exterior, was a soft, kind and gentle soul. A man who enjoyed taking care of small animals, who used his past time cooking up strange and wondrous meals.

Ever since she had taken over the orphanage she would try out the recipes she remembered him making, adding Han's little twists to them and trying them herself before passing them on to the children. Han was not just a powerful Shinobi but a true culinary genius. She truly missed her old container, she remembered him as a child where she would sing lullabies to help him sleep at night, to sooth him of the night terrors he would have of those he killed. She always felt horrible every time Han was forced to kill in the name of Iwagakure. Curse Hashirama for handing her over to that horrible village, if he hadn't Han would never have had to experience that life. The man had been an idiot to hand her and her siblings out, it only brought more War.