Story Title: Technological Ninja Naruto Uzumaki
Crossover: Naruto / Star Ocean game series
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or plot from Naruto anime/manga series and the Star Ocean Video games series. This is a work of fanfiction.
Chapter Four: Time of Darkness
5 days ago
Power reverberated through the room as the inner council of the Uchiha clan sealed the room off from anyone who might plan to spy on them from the outside. In front of the gathered council, Itachi Uchiha, the most brilliant Uchiha of his generation, and the Anbu captain of Konoha kneel in front of the gathered council, looking at them calmly.
"I assume the council has something to tell me since I was summoned in such an abrupt manner." Itachi said coolly, seemingly not daunted into submission by the fierce judging looks on the council members' faces.
"Yes Itachi, you were summoned here for a matter of grave importance. What is your reply to the question we had asked you a week back?" One of the clan elders asked grimly.
Itachi turned to look at the cold face of his father before turning to face the elder who had spoken.
"Surely there must be some other way for our clan to gain back our power without revolting." Itachi observed calmly. "Konoha's full of ninjas loyal to the Third. The resulting conflict from our clan rebelling against the village would inflict grave casualties on both sides. Unless you can tell me how you are going to take over the village without so much bloodshed, I refused to be part of the plan that might spell doom for our clan."
"You insolent pup! Just because you're the prodigy of our clan does not mean that the clan will not take action against you." Another of the council member raged.
"Calm down Mozu. Itachi has a point, to him it looks as if the Uchiha clan is courting its own doom. Why not let him in on our plans?" Kairou, one of Itachi's blood uncles said in a pacifying tone of voice.
"Don't be a fool Kairou, until we are certain of Itachi's loyalty, our plans will only be known in the inner council." Mozu snapped. He turned to Itachi giving him a chilling look. "I suggest you quickly make known your allegiance. Should you betray this clan secret, you and your family will be killed, even if your father is the clan leader. There are many within this clan who can always serve as the next clan head."
"So that's how it is…" Itachi said grimly, giving a soft sigh, his eyes turned to stare at the floor stonily. "I really had no choice in the first place hadn't I?"
"Your answer Itachi, and it better be the correct one." Mozu said coldly as he turned to Kairou. "Ah Kairou, please enlighten me about the sentry that are guarding our dear clan head's home."
Fugaku's eyes visibly tightened though he kept silent while Kairou sighed.
"Yashito and Kiro are guarding the place right now." Kairou said, not looking at Itachi or Fugaku. "They are… quite competent ninjas."
"Yashito and Kiro, two of the best assassination specialists in Konoha are guarding my home." Itachi said deadpan and without humor.
"Ah yes, we always want the best protection for the wife of our clan head and his children." Mozu said looking at Itachi challengingly. "Your father is mostly busy with council affairs and your mother bless her heart chose to specialize in medic-nin techniques instead of the more offensive ninja skills, someone do need to protect her and your little brother, how old is he? Seven? Eight? The council wants the best protection for the two of them. After all, it takes an assassination expert to prevent an assassination attempt, assuming one would even take place of course."
Left unsaid was the hidden threat. Some of the council members stirred uneasily at the heightened tension in the room but kept silent. Mozu was one of the possible candidates for the Uchiha clan head before Fugaku was chosen to lead the clan by the elders. The Uchiha clan was one of the few clans that chose the clan head position based on ones' capabilities instead of birth of right, a common situation in the ninja world for a large clan that happens to possess a lot of powerful ninjas. As such, Mozu still had a lot of council members loyal to him and wield enormous power over the clan affairs.
"Itachi." Fugaku said breaking the silence. He looked at Itachi without revealing a shred of emotion on his face, visibly calm and collected. "This decision was not an easy one to make, but it had been agreed by the elders and the clan council that the only way for the Uchiha to gain back our power and prestige in this village is to proceed on with our plan. I was one of the council members who had agreed with the plan."
There was a pause as Itachi stared at his father before breaking the glance.
"Ha." Itachi laughed bitterly. "It seemed all along I have no say in this matter. Very well, what do you wish me to do?"
"It's a good thing you've come to your senses." One of the elder said. "As the Anbu captain, you have the layouts and schedule for the Anbu patrols, the clan is going to need all these information if our plan is to succeed…"
Present
It had only been three days since Konoha's mysterious infiltration agent state his intentions towards Naruto. Sarutobi had been hoping for a few more days of peace and quiet before any major incident occurs that requires his attention. He had not expected this.
"Itachi… you are telling me that the Uchiha clan council are gearing up plans to revolt and seize control of Konoha. At the same time, one of their plans of success is to assassinate all members of my clan?" Sarutobi asked with barely concealed rage, his thunderous eyes staring into the calm placid glance of Itachi.
"Yes Hokage. Unfortunately, the Uchiha council was not forth coming with their plans to me. It took me giving them the Anbu patrol schedule before they are willing to tell me that part of their scheme was to assassinate your clan during the night of their revolt." Itachi said, a tone of apology and regret in his voice. "Hokage, I've seen the number of lives lost in the war, if my clan's plan to rebel was to succeed, the number of people who will die would be numerous."
"I understand Itachi. I know of your loyalty to Konoha." Sarutobi said grimly. "I'll need to discuss this with the village elders, and we need a way to get more information on this matter…"
"'The Eye' has not informed you of this?" Itachi asked curiously. As Anbu captain, he was informed of the existence of the mysterious infiltration agent hiding in the shadows of Konoha. "It seems that he is not all knowing after all."
"Most probably, but there's no denying his expertise in infiltration." Sarutobi agreed. "I will send a scroll to him. Hopefully he would receive it and help us on this matter. In the meantime Itachi, do not do anything that might raise the suspicions of your clan, you are currently Konoha's only agent that can monitor the going-ons of the Uchiha clan. And from what you've told me, the Uchiha council is holding Mikoto and young Sasuke as leverage against you and most probably your father, I will not risk the lives of your family. Keep me informed, but also be mindful of the safety of you and your loved ones. I am sorry to have to ask this burden of you child."
"There has been enough suffering and deaths with the last ninja war and the attack of the Kyuubi." Itachi said suddenly looking very weary. "I do not wish this village to be embroiled in a power struggle between my clan and the ninjas of Konoha."
Outside the Hokage tower, one grim faced Naruto clone was ordering his Sica to contact the Boss of the latest threat to Konoha.
"The Uchiha clan is planning to rebel?" Naruto asked as he quickly chomped down on the eel that he had cooked earlier in the day. He was taking a short break during his night training as evidenced by the dense numbers of young trees surrounding him. All had sprouted from the ground at the usage of his Mokuton bloodline.
"Affirmative, Itachi Uchiha, Anbu captain of Konoha had just reported this news to the Hokage. The Hokage is sending someone to leave a scroll to contact us even as we speak." Sica reported. "The contents of the scroll state that the Hokage would be willing to give us S-rank pay if we could infiltrate into the Uchiha compound and come up with the names of the traitors and their plans."
"How much is an S-rank pay?" Naruto mused as he quickly finished up his bento.
"Depending on difficulty levels, S-rank pay can range from 1,000,000 ryo or more." Sica remarked.
Naruto raised his eyebrows. "I can buy a lot more materials to use in my experiments with 1,000,000 ryo. Anyway, it's just another infiltration trip, I'll just send a clone to the Uchiha compound to observe them everyday starting from tonight."
"Understood Naruto, however there is an error in your calculation regarding the spying of the Uchiha clan." Sica stated. "The Uchiha clan compound is one of the largest in Konoha, if your clone was to be stationed right outside the compound, the one mile scanning radius of the cloned Sica wouldn't be enough to cover the whole area. I would suggest at least four clones stationed at each intersection point to scan the whole compound."
"Alright then, I'll send four clones over to there right now." Naruto said as he made the handseal for the Shadow Clone Technique. Four clones puffed into existence beside him. Each of them gave Naruto a quick nod before dashing off towards the Uchiha compound, aware of their mission. Their cloned Sicas were already layering their holographic images around the Naruto clones to make them invisible as they vanished from sight.
"Let's hope the clones can find some information." Naruto said grimly. "From your description, old man Hokage sounds very worried, since the Uchiha are targeting him and his family."
"A rebellion by such a large clan against the village will affect more than the Hokage and those close to him. The resulting fallout and casualties could affect a lot of people and the civilians might even be pulled into the struggle for dominance." Sica warned. "Perhaps you might want to send more clones out to patrol the rest of the ninja clans in the village, see if any of them are in any way allied with the Uchiha clan."
"That's a good idea Sica. I'll do just that before continuing with my training." Naruto said as he quickly used the Shadow Clone Technique. Forty over clones puffed into view. Naruto turned to faced them, an authoritative tone in his voice. "You guys know what to do, each of you stake up each of the ninja clans in Konoha. Starting today, we need to know of what goes on in each of the clans before hand."
"Ai-ai Boss!" The clones chorused as their cloned Sicas turned all of them invisible.
Naruto felt the rush of wind around him as his invisible clone army rushed passed him, seeking to infiltrate the secrets of the clans of Konoha.
Kiba grinned as he quietly slipped into the empty classroom. The rest of the class was out in the fields practicing taijutsu and he had faked a need to go to the toilet in order to sneak back to class. In his hands, he held the careful mix of paint bombs that he had painstakingly created yesterday night just for Iruka and Mizuki sensei.
As he searched for the best place in the classroom to set up his prank, a soft sob caught his attention, causing Kiba to freeze in fright. He turned to survey the classroom that he thought was empty and saw a barely visible grey huddle at the back seat of the classroom.
Kiba placed the paint bombs down on the nearest table and made his way softly up the back of the class as more sobbing sounded in the classroom. As he neared, he realized who it was. It was Hinata Hyuga, one of the quietest girl in class. Now that he thought about it, Hinata had been sent away from the taijutsu class after getting injured shortly after class began, she was supposed to go to the infirmary, what was she doing back here?
"Hinata?" Kiba asked hesitantly. He was not familiar with the Hyuga heiress though he did know her by name.
Instantly Hinata's head lifted as she turned to face Kiba, a startled expression on her face. "Ki… Kiba. I… I was just resting."
Kiba blinked as he saw Hinata's pale watery eyes and flushed cheeks and felt something wrenched in his heart. Hinata just look so cute!
"Erm Kiba?" Hinata asked hesitantly at Kiba's stunned expression. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, yeah I am fine." Kiba said shaking his head to clear it before turning to face Hinata. "Why are you in class crying? I thought you're supposed to go to the infirmary?"
Hinata's lips quivered. "It is just a leg sprain, it is my fault because I am always so weak. I just bring shame to my clan."
"Of course not!" Kiba retorted, trying to cheer Hinata up as her face began to crumple. "You're one of the best taijutsu fighters among the girls, you got injured just now because you were paired up with that Sasuke teme didn't you? He's one of the best among the boys and he never knew how to hold back his strikes, don't worry about it. Anyway I heard your family had a super awesome taijutsu fighting style, I am sure if you're allowed to use that, you wouldn't lose to anyone!"
"But… but…" Hinata protested softly as she chewed her lips. "Even my father thinks I am weak, because I couldn't bring myself to hurt anyone."
"What?" Kiba said in outrage. His family was a close knitted one and though sometimes his mother might fight too hard against him during training, he knew that she loves him. "Well you're not weak! Trust me, you're one of the best in our class."
"Really?" Hinata said looking up at Kiba with watery eyes as he nodded firmly.
"In fact Hinata, my friends and I have a study group after school where we train ourselves. Do you want to join us? It's mostly guys, but sometimes Ino joins us as well." Kiba offered. "Naruto can give you some really cool advice if you want to become stronger."
"Naruto?" Hinata asked thinking back on the blond haired trouble maker who often got into messy situations together with Kiba.
"Yeah, his grades aren't very good, but he really knows a lot of stuff." Kiba said with a grin. "We're meeting this afternoon after class, so what do you say?"
Hinata glanced up at Kiba's friendly eyes and gave a small smile. "Erm… Alright."
"That's great! Follow me after school today, I'll introduce you to the rest of the guys." Kiba said excitedly. "You wouldn't regret it. Now how about you and I set up a little prank…"
"What…What?" Hinata asked with a startled look as Kiba grinned mischievously.
Iruka could feel his vein pulsing on his forehead as he resisted an urge to growl at the two pranksters before him.
"Kiba…" Iruka said with an underlying growl. "I expect you to clean up the whole classroom before you leave, without anyone's help."
"Ah… Ah… Iru..ka sensei, I should help also." Hinata muttered softly as she looked at the floor avoiding Iruka's look.
"No Hinata, I know that Kiba's the one that drag you into this. He will clean up the mess he created alone." Iruka said as he waved around the classroom which was splattered in multitudes of bright yellow and brown. He took a book out of his bag and placed it in front of Hinata. "However, since you've also aided in the prank, you cannot go unpunished. This is a book on advance academy taijutsu style. We will be learning it next month, but I expect you to memorize the contents and show the whole class what you've learnt next week."
"Show the whole class?" Hinata stuttered looking horrified, turning her petrified eyes to look at Iruka pleadingly. "Can… can I switch the punishments with Kiba? I… I don't mind cleaning the classroom…"
"That's a great idea!" Kiba said enthusiastically. "I wouldn't mind showing the class my advance taijutsu technique!"
Iruka stared at them with an evil grin. "No. These are your punishments, as such punishments are meant to punish you, not let you do something you like. Kiba will clean the whole classroom before he can leave. Hinata can leave to prepare for her class demonstration which will be up by next week. The two of you are dismissed."
Hinata and Kiba looked in dismay as Iruka strode to his desk and sat behind it.
"I guess I better get started." Kiba said with a sigh as he picked up a cloth and a bucket of water.
"I will stay with you." Hinata said softly. "We… we did the prank together, I'll stay until you're done."
"Oh Hinata you're a real pal!" Kiba said with his eyes shining brightly. "Tell you what, I will bring you to the guys later, Naruto can surely help with your demonstration next week!"
N3 paused as S3 alerted him of a situation through their shared mental link.
"I've detected some possible hints of the Uchiha's rebellion plot. Do you wish me to play it to you while I record it for the Boss?" S3 asked.
"Yes S3 do it." N3 said at his position leaning against the wall of the south side of the Uchiha compound.
"How is the progress?" A sharp male voice boomed inside N3's head.
"The Anbu patrol plans that Itachi had provided is a great help. We were able to remain undetected while we scouted the rest of the clans." A younger male voice said. "We currently have the schedule of the sentry shifts for the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Tenchi, Asura and Hyuga clans, there has been some difficulties with discerning the patrol timings for the Inuzuka and Aburame, their dogs and bugs are making it difficult for us to spy on them."
"Good, good." A gravel old voice said in satisfaction. "Thank you Shisui, your team has done great work. These clans are some of those that are devotedly loyal to the Sandaime, we need to force them out of the fight during our take over so that there would be less Uchiha casualties. Did you locate the rooms of the clan heirs?"
"Yes, here you are Elder Teizu." Shisui said. "I've drawn out the plans of each clan compounds and marked the rooms of each of the clan heirs. Pardon me for a wild thought, but shouldn't we include the Senju clan in our plans?"
"Surely you are joking. The currently Senju clan is a mockery of what it used to be they will be of no threat to us. They maybe known as the clan of a thousand techniques but much of the clan had been decimated by the past wars and the attack of the Kyuubi. That clan is now most filled with average ninjas and civilians who claimed high positions on the civilian council, a disgrace to the Shodai and Nidaime." A female voice said scornfully.
"Don't be hasty in your judgment Midaina." Edler Teizu said sternly. "Shisui brought out a valid point. The Senju clan was known as the clan of a thousand techniques for a reason, they had ninjas who were specialists in ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu. Even without any bloodlines, some in the clan are still able to go against a group of our best ninjas and disable them. But they would be impractical to our current plan.
Tsunade Senju remains the undisputed clan head and heir of the clan and with her disappearance the Senju clan is currently ruled by a democratic committee, there are no clan heirs for us to kidnap and use as leverage against the clan. What we can do right now however is to keep an eye on them while we think of other ways to deal with them. We all know that they would not take kindly to the Uchiha ruling over Konoha"
"You might also want someone to keep an eye on that Itachi as well. He seemed a bit… unstable to me." Midaina said catiously.
"Itachi is loyal to the clan." Shisui quickly spoke out. "I've known him for a long time."
"Yes you do know him for a long time don't you?" Another male voice said. "Perhaps it might wise for you to keep frequent tabs on him. As his childhood friend, he wouldn't suspect you of any ill intentions."
"But Elder Idano…" Shisui protested but was cut in by another voice.
"How's Riko and your family Shisui?" Midaina asked curiously, a hint of threat in her voice. "They live near the west wall of the compound don't they? We really should have the sentry patrol that place more often, after the services you've done for the clan, we do have a duty to keep your love ones safe."
"Please council member Midaina, my family and my betrothed need not receive any special treatment from the clan." Shisui said his voice breaking slightly. "I am loyal to the clan and will obey the orders of the elders and the council."
"Now, Midaina, Shisui's loyalty has never been in doubt, it is of poor taste to use such veiled threats." Elder Idano said disapprovingly. "Shisui, do keep an eye on Itachi for any signs that he might turn against the clan. That child might be the greatest ninja ever produced in this clan since Madara's time, but he has always been a pacifist."
"I'll do that Elder Idano. I'll promise I'll do whatever it takes to make sure Itachi stays loyal to the clan." Shisui said grimly.
"Very well, now that matter has been settled. Shisui, try to get the sentry timings and the layout of the Inuzuka and Aburame clan compounds within the next two days. We need to move fast before the Sandaime finds out about the clan's plan. Now, let's get on with the rest of the clan business, Shisui, you are dismissed, get Fugaku and his group of council men to come here while you're out will you? They are needed for the discussion of the clan business around Konoha." Elder Teizu said.
"In the meantime, the clan's revenue has been dropping since the last month mostly due to the new shops we set up in Konoha last year. Perhaps it's time we step out of the fur business, it hasn't been doing well in this village, could any of you suggest any other alternatives while we wait for Fugaku and the others…"
"That's enough S3, record the rest of the conversation just in case." N3 said as his forehead crumpled into a frown. "It seems that the Uchiha clan is strife with clan politics, and some members of the council are not averse to underhand tactics like threatening the lives of a ninja's family or even kidnapping of other clans' heirs to achieve what they want. The Boss might have to interfere with this mess directly. S3, perhaps it's time Boss extends a branch of friendship to Sasuke Uchiha, we might need to toughen him up so that he could protect himself when the time comes."
"Boss' group seemed to be getting bigger. I've just received a message from Boss' Sica that Hinata Hyuga had just joined Boss' study group." S3 reported.
"Boss' study group do seemed to be made up of a lot of the clan heirs that are currently targeted aren't they?" N3 pondered. "I wonder if there's a way we can use that to disrupt the Uchiha's plan of revolt…"
Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, this half year has been my last semester of my part time degree and I am bogged down with tons of project work. I've been planning and writing this chapter on and off this past year when I could find time to write.
Itachi is really a hard character to write due to the lack of information about him. I need to ask if there's any solid prove that Itachi was the one that killed his whole clan or did Madara helped out as well? After all Madara did came to Konoha that night to destroy Konoha, only to be stopped when Itachi offered up his clan to Madara for his plans of vengeance. I am just not sure if I am going to protray him as a tragic but loving brother or a cold hearted killer.
Let me know your thoughts.
Ps. Thanks Larry-Lansday and Jerrac for pointing out my spelling mistakes! ^_^ I've to admit I wouldn't notice them if not for you.