I admit it, I fucked up the last chapter. So bad that I could have ruined the whole story. I felt it was important enough to at least try and fix this as soon as possible. Though this chapter is shorter than normal.
The Demon of Butcher Bay Ch. 6
As soon as Ryuu was escorted into the council room a man who he could only assume was the clan head of the Hyuga clan asked him a question with barely contained rage. At first he didn't understand, but then he realized that he probably knew that he had been talking with his daughter.
"Why did you run knowing you would be caught? Or did you actually expect to escape?" Hiashi practically hissed out hoping to find a way to humiliate him. Ryuu just shrugged innocently.
"It's a mystery, become a detective." Ryuu said trying to hide the sly smile that he had but failing to do so. This statement got several reactions. Hiashi was apparently trying to make him catch fire by glaring at him, a woman with red fangs on her cheeks snorted in amusement, the Nara clan head had a small smirk on his face, a blond man and a large man in armor were openly grinning, and even the Hokage himself seemed a little amused. Apparently, the Hyuga clan head was not liked all that much.
Before things could get out of hand, that is any more smart ass remarks from Ryuu, the Hokage intervened.
"That was quiet the performance, how much of it was real how much of it was bullshit?" the Hokage asked in a calm tone. Ryuu just sighed.
"I don't know how much you know, but I'm going to assume that you somehow were watching yourself." The Hokage only nodded in as a reply. "How much did you see?" Ryuu asked, hoping to see how much he could hide.
"We all started watching about half way through the conversation with you and your summon." The Hokage was careful not to say its name out loud; he could see that that would be an insult. "I am curious to find out why you didn't leave. You could have summoned a big enough summon to escape, but instead you chose to stay. It doesn't make sense, from what I can tell, you're a survivor, not a samurai." The Hokage said with a knowing look showing his insight and wisdom.
Ryuu practically groaned, he was caught and he knew it. However, he did have one thing going for him, this was confirmed when the Hyuga demanded an answer. That meant that they had no real way of knowing if anything they heard was actually true. So in a way, they were just fishing for answers. But most importantly, they probably didn't know about Riddick, not yet anyway.
"If you could hear me, then I assume you know how I was captured." Ryuu said carefully observing the look on all of their faces. Almost every person there faces' soured. 'Good' Ryuu thought to himself. "That was not a lie."
"Well, it's kind of for the same reasons, no regrets. I still have questions, and I know I would never stop thinking about them if I didn't at least try to get answers. Even though ill probably die because of escaping." This was only a half truth.
"Ok, so why not just say that?" the Hokage asked clearly confused.
"Simple, he is like a brother to me. And from what I am told no brother would ever leave his sibling to die unless he believed that it is what he wanted." Said shrugging. The Hokage nodded at this.
"Ok, so why lie to Hinata? I can see no reason to not lie to her." This time it was the Nara to speak up. It surprised Ryuu that he hadn't figured it out yet.
"I planned to be caught, if I told her, she would have given that away, and I had hoped to keep that a secret. While it may not have really hurt me all that much, it would just be one more secret that I would have. I doubt it would have helped me, but you never know." Ryuu said shrugging. They all seemed to understand that as well.
'Raised by a Nara indeed.' Was what most of them were thinking.
The Hokage had one more question before they got back to the main discussion.
"Just out of curiosity, what was that clone? I've never seen one like it before, and it seemed to be incomplete. It apparently can only last so long before it dispels." The Hokage asked with genuine curiosity.
Ryuu just sighed, unhappy that he was going to have to give away something else. If he didn't tell them, it would undoubtedly be forced out of him later.
"Your right, it is incomplete. It is a shadow clone that Daichi taught me, though he also knew that it was incomplete. He told me that the true shadow clone jutsu was much more powerful, but that it was considered a forbidden technique for various reasons. Because of this, I was only able to take the clone this far, it's as close as I can come to the true form." He nodded, accepting this. However, that was the last of the unimportant questions.
Suddenly the Hokage was serious. Ryuu got serious too, knowing that it was finally time for his fate to be decided.
"I would like to start by answering your questions, we owe you that much." Said the Hokage getting nods from everyone but Hiashi.
Ryuu didn't waste time. "Though I don't want to care, I can't help but want to know my true heritage. I would like to know who my biological parents are, and why I was chosen to be the sacrifice. By the time I found out that you weren't going to tell me, it was already too late to get away." Ryuu added with an afterthought.
The entire room was uneasy, a giveaway that everyone knew exactly who his parents were, they were almost afraid to tell him for some reason. The Hokage was in deep thought; Ryuu took it as a sign that he was actually considering telling him the truth.
First, the Hokage addressed the rest of the counsel. "As far as I can tell, he is mature enough to handle it. He is also smart enough to not spread it around, and he can clearly take care of himself if he managed to escape at all. Does anybody have any objections?" the Hokage asked in all seriousness. Unfortunately, there were some very big concerns from everybody.
Finally, Danzo spoke up for the first time. "He cannot be told; it will anger him, and encourage him to release the nine tails. Just imagine how dangerous he would become if he did escape the village no matter how unlikely." Though they hated to admit it, Danzo was right. If he were told, Naruto would undoubtedly be filled with righteous fury. There was no Yondaime this time to stop the Kyubi, if Naruto released it, they would all die. Though Ryuu didn't know what they were talking about, even he saw their logic from their point of view. All eyes turned to the Hokage.
"I do not think he will do that. He knows that if he did release the Kyubi, countless innocents would die, and considering his actions in the past when confronted with such an ultimatum, I do not think that he would ever do that. Come after us maybe, but endanger any innocents, I do not think he has it in him." The Hokage said looking straight at Ryuu.
Ryuu hated to admit it, but he was right. No matter how angry he was, he could never bring himself to purposely kill an innocent. He couldn't help it, a life time of hatred and ugliness gave him a perspective on the value of life that few could ever hope to understand.
As he looked up, he saw that many of the council members were reluctantly nodding in agreement. As dangerous as it was, they couldn't help but feel all the more guilty at keeping the knowledge of his heritage away from him. But before anyone said anything else, the Nara clan head spoke up again.
"Ryuu, I want your word, I want your word that no matter how angry you are, you will not endanger the ones not responsible for your imprisonment." Shikaku said making eye contact with Ryuu. Ryuu noticed that he had not had Ryuu promise that he wouldn't seek revenge on them.
After a few moments, Ryuu made up his mind and decided on an action. 'No regrets' he told himself. "I give you all my word that I will never seek to harm or otherwise hurt any innocent no matter how angry I am. I give you my word that I will not unleash the Kyubi." Ryuu said with conviction.
The Nara nodded. "I'm sold, tell him." He said crossing his arms. While Shikaku didn't speak for all of them, everyone trusted his logic. At the very least if Shikaku trusted the boy, which was all the clan heads of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans needed to know. After a few moments Tsume Inuzuka also gave her support. After that, the rest soon folded.
"Very well," the Hokage said in a grave voice. Ryuu prepared himself. "Ryuu, your full name was never actually recorded due to the danger it would put you in. That is why your full name did not appear when you signed your summoning contract. Your true name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. Also known as the Yellow Flash, and the Yondaime Hokage." Sarutobi said with a sigh of relief as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
This did shock Ryuu, that was the last thing he expected. He didn't speak or move for almost five minutes; everyone gave him as much time as he needed.
"Then why me? If that is true, why would he seal it in his own child?" Ryuu asked in a still shocked tone. Sarutobi was quick to answer.
"He could not bring himself to seal the nine tails in anyone else's child. While he had no idea of the fate that would ultimately follow you, he had no illusions to what your life would be like. He could not bring himself to ask anyone else to sacrifice their child. How would he ever be able to call himself Hokage if he did? How would he ever look at himself in the mirror?" the third answered softly.
That hit Ryuu the most. And as much as he hated to admit it, it made sense. After all, he himself would have done the same if he were in his position. How could he hate a man for doing what he himself would have done? He simply couldn't live with that regret.
Even with all this, he still wanted to be angry, but he couldn't. After a while, he gave up, and relaxed. It was over, he finally knew. To everyone else, he appeared to be at peace.
"Now what?" Ryuu asked. 'No, Naruto' Ryuu thought to himself, that was going to be confusing for a while.
"Well, that's really what this whole thing is about. What do we do with you? For the moment, I believe that you would not ever harm any civilian or innocent, and unless I am mistaken by reading your body language wrong, you will hopefully bear no animosity towards the village as every person responsible is now long dead." The Hokage said now really looking at Naruto carefully, but he was still too shocked to show any real emotion.
"The last two reasons that I can think of is your crimes that brought you here in the first place, and the fact that you are a jinchuuriki and could give our enemies a significant advantage over us."
Ryuu nodded, that he understood. It would be stupid of them to let someone with that much potential just walk away. What if he joined a village that would eventually go to war with them?
Danzo was thinking and plotting, it was obvious the way the Hokage was leaning. Danzo needed every opportunity to try and get the boy on the village's side willingly. After that, he could figure out how to get a hold of him himself.
'If the boy is going to be released, it's going to be done on terms that will encourage his cooperation.' Danzo thought to himself already having a plan in the workings.
"I think I have a solution." Danzo said out loud. Everyone was suspicious of him, and Ryuu picked up on this. So, Danzo knew that he had to give at least a part of his plan away so that they knew that at least he was telling some of the truth.
The Hokage motioned for him to continue, apparently looking for anyway to help the boy.
"I can see that you want to release the boy to do as he will. But that is too much of a risk. However, if his word is as good as you seem to think, I propose that you simply have him swear to never join a village but the ones that are more or less permanently allied to use, and that he come back to us if war does break out. In addition to this, I think it appropriate that a tracking seal be placed on him. "
Many of the council members were shocked, and clearly wanted to hear more of his motive.
"As I can see that if we gave him the choice of prison, death, or just being a shinobi of the leaf, no matter what he would view this as just another form of servitude." This, Danzo actually believed and understood. He would feel the same.
"As I can see no one here trusts me, I will elaborate. Sarutobi will not kill him, period. That means that no matter what, I have no doubt that he will find a way to escape. If he is to be out on his own no matter what, I see that this is the best option." Danzo stopped at that, and let it simmer. He knew that they still didn't trust him, that he still had some hidden motive, but they could see the logic his plan.
After a full minute of silence of everyone considering this, and the fox boy not trying to hide the act that he was studying him intently, he continued in hopes that he could gain some sort of trust from the boy.
"As for his crimes; if you are willing to take his word on everything so far, then it's not a stretch to assume that he is telling the truth about his motives for the murders. If that is the case, then it would be probable cause to do that, as the ambassadors that Sarutobi chose would have been executed anyway for their crimes."
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Ryuu was thinking as fast as he could. He could tell that most of the counsel wanted to accept this plan, at least to some extent, probably out of guilt. What ultimately sold Ryuu was Danzo himself. Daichi had actually known him when he was imprisoned, though Danzo was only a kid back then. Still, he could tell what kind of man he would become.
This was a man that got what he wanted, if Ryuu didn't agree to his terms, especially ones this generous, there was no doubt in Ryuu's mind that he had some way to get either capture him, or kill him. Even if he had the Hokage's protection. All things considered, agreeing to Danzo's terms was really the only option that he had. He needed to act fast to at least seem that he would both not be a threat, and willing to take Danzo's counsel.
"If those were the terms that were required for my release, than I would accept them." Ryuu said with a tone of submission. This kind of surprised everybody, well almost everybody. Both the Hokage and Shikaku could at least guess at Ryuu's decision.
"Is there anything else that anyone would like to add or modify?" the Hokage asked, trying to act as if the decision was already made. He too realized that agreeing to Danzo's terms was probably the only way to give Naruto at least some freedom, at least for the moment.
It took almost another three hours to finalize all the details involved. There were a lot of extra terms, but they were reasonable. Ryuu, or rather Naruto, had to agree to be added to the bingo books listed officially as a shinobi. Though it would say that he was granted amnesty from leaf, and that he was not a missing Nin. This way, it would be just that much harder for him to disappear, now that just about every shinobi in the world would no doubt know his face. They had to make his amnesty public, and at least half of the reasons for it, this was too big of a matter to simply sweep under the table.
After that, he had to agree to 'check in' at the leaf village or one of its solid allies every six months. This would help confirm that the tracking seal was indeed not tampered with, and that he couldn't wander all that far away. Not only that, but he did have to do an occasional mission in favor of the leaf in some way. Or at least does something on a regular basis that would in some way help them.
Then of course was the oath on which certain villages and organizations that he was not allowed to in any way cooperate with.
The final term was that the Hokage himself place the seal on him. The Hokage was the best seal master in the village, only rivaled by Jiraiya. It really would be next to impossible to find someone who was good enough to do anything to it.
In addition to the seal, it also severely limited Naruto's usage of the Kyubi's chakra. This didn't bother him all that much; he had practically never drawn on any of its power before. Still, he knew one day he would want, or have to learn to control it. And this made sure that he would have to come back to them when that happened.
While it still limited Ryuu a lot, he did understand their view. Not only that, but it was extremely generous of them to even allow him to ever leave the village. He was getting off very well.
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After Ryuu made the oaths, the sealing was done almost immediately. That was fine; it was smart of them to do it before he left the room. After that though, he still couldn't leave until his status recognized by the other nations. However, he could wander the village; they would be informed the next day. The Hokage wanted to get this in motion as soon as possible.
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"Well if that's it for now, I think we can finally go sleep." The Hokage said wearily. It was true, they had been there the entire night, but Ryuu had one more thing he wanted to ask, and right now was the best time to do it.
"Um, I do have a request Hokage-sama."Ryuu said, raising some eyebrows in the room. The Hokage gave a gesture for him to continue.
"If it's at all possible, before my status is made public." Ryuu said not able to hide the smugness in his voice. "Do you think it would be possible for me to play a little joke joke on that Inuzuka kid?" Ryuu finished with a grin, but at the same time trying to have a pleading look for the benefit of Tsume.
The Hokage himself couldn't hide a chuckle. "Tsume sama, do you have any objections?" Tsume just gave a feral grin.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Wow, seriously?" Ino moaned as she saw the team with Rock Lee in it approach. Apparently, every single team had been summoned to this field for some reason. They had all gotten the summons from ANBU agents that wouldn't elaborate in anyway.
After waiting another hour, Sasuke Uchiha had had enough.
"Ok, what the hell is going on?" he growled out. As unusual as it was for them to agree with him, everybody did. This was just plain weird.
"Ok, let's think about this." Shikamaru said as he was woken up by Sasuke. Reluctantly, they all more or less gathered around him.
"Ok, so far every one of the four squads has been summoned here. And, none of our instructors were told to come along even though this has to be a big deal. Not only that, but for something this big, why isn't there someone here to brief us, and why would we even be out in the middle of nowhere instead of in the Hokage's office?" this got everyone thinking.
Sakura was the first to speak up. "Your right, none of this in any way makes sense. For that matter, none of this is conceivably justified by any circumstances that I can think of, so why would ANBU want us out here?" at this, everybody got tensed, they all were thinking it, but it was Shino that actually voiced it.
"This isn't official, they were either not ANBU at all, or were given false orders to deliver the summons." He was right, and they knew it. It was Shikamaru's turn again. For once he was fully alert.
"Ok, let's assume that either one of those is true. Who would want us out here? It might be a trap, but who is stupid enough to think that they can take us all on at once? A large number of shinobi would already have been spotted, and the only ones that would be powerful enough to kill us all, would have no reason to come out here themselves. So who, who wants us dead bad enough to risk something like this?" Shikamaru finished with an obvious nervous tone.
It went unsaid that they all knew they were far enough away that even if they asked for back up, it wouldn't get to them in time.
All were thinking, while being on full alert. Shikamaru was getting frustrated, it was very rare that something could stump him like this, it just didn't happen. Everyone knew this, and even Sasuke Uchiha was nervous. Shikamaru decided to think out loud, any input at this point would help.
"Think, it would have to be someone…."
"With nothing to lose perhaps?" An all too familiar voice said out of the forest. Every one of their eyes were as big as physically possible.
Already, they would never have forgotten that sinister tone, they would remember it for the rest of their lives.
"No." Kiba whispered out, though every one of them heard it. Then, they heard footsteps coming from the forest; they all instantly got into a defensive formation.
And sure enough, out walked the person that they hadn't admitted had given them all at least one nightmare.
So, did I fix it? I hope so, because I'm out of ideas otherwise. I know that some of it seems unrealistic, well, to fucking bad, that's the way it is.