June 16th, 8:48 PM, Aburame clan compound
Shuuichi voiced his request for a meeting with the Aburame at 12:15. With that done he ate lunch consisting of a ration bar and wild fruit. At 12:20 he suddenly became incredibly interested in an ordinary beetle that he found near the waste bin where he tossed the wrapper for his ration bar, to Zoe's and Kinoe's confusion. They would occasionally see Shuuichi place the insect in the center of a sealing tag and make a few handseals, but for the most part all Konoha's newest jounin would do was sit in the lotus position with an expression of intense concentration on his face while a miniscule thread of chakra from the center of his forehead connected to the beetle. Four hours after the leaders of the Aburame clan had all been informed that Minamino Shuuichi wished to discuss "an opportunity to significantly raise the capabilities of their hive" before a young Aburame named Muta informed Shuuichi that the leaders of the Aburame clan would expect him to come by at 8:45 that evening in the meeting room of the Aburame clan compound.
Minamino Shuuichi scarcely opened his eyes to thank Muta before returning to his meditation on the insignificant beetle. The emissary of the Kyuubi no Youko only stopped for twenty minutes between dinner and restroom breaks from focusing his chakra on the beetle before sealing the insect away and heading for the Aburame compound at 8:30. Shuuichi had to wait an extra three minutes when the Aburame insisted that Zou and Kinoe stay outside a privacy barrier that would keep the discussion between the elders and Shuuichi regarding clan secrets before his ANBU escorts complied.
And so Minamino Shuuichi found himself in the meeting room with the Aburame clan head Aburame Shibi, Aburame Shikuro who could use the rinkaichuu, their brightest kunoichi Aburame Michiko, and their eldest member Aburame Osamu. The Aburame council introduced themselves to Shuuichi, who greeted them in turn.
(Translation: Rinkaichuu = Phosphorus Destruction Insect)
(Translation: Michiko = Beautiful wise child, Osamu = logical)
"Minamino-san, are we correct in understanding you asked for this meeting to request permission to study our kikaichuu?" asked the venerable Aburame Osamu, a shinobi who boasted reaching the age of 64 before he retired from missions to devote solely to his clan eight years ago. But even retired, Osamu had still directed his colonies to help out during the Kyuubi attack.
"Indeed you are, Osamu-dono. If you would permit me to summon my sealing scroll, I feel returning all the kikaichuu and their variants I sealed away during my little escapades are an order. I was saving them in case I needed extra leverage, but seeing as how we're on the same side now and I've got the Uchiha looking for any excuse to get rid of me, possession of stolen property is something I wouldn't want hanging over me."
"If you truly intend to release some of our allies, you have our approval to do whatever is required, Minamino-san." replied Aburame Shibi.
Minamino Shuuichi nodded and formed the handseals for Dog, Bird, Monkey, Hare, and Snake before summoning the Kofuusatsu, which contained virtually all his possessions except the clothes on his back or sealed inside the scrolls in his vest pockets. While unrolling it to the point where he had sealed away a huge jar where he kept several thousand kikaichuu in stasis, Shikuro spoke up.
(Translation: Kofuusatsu = Fox Seal Scroll)
"I couldn't help but notice that you omitted drawing blood for the Kuchiyose this time, Minamino-san." the rinkaichuu user observed.
The emissary of the Kyuubi no Youko shrugged as he released the jar from the storage seal.
"After I got the hatai-ate, I decided that I didn't need the extra security of a blood seal to bring my sealing scroll out. Can you imagine how inconvenient having to draw blood to get my toothbrush was?"
The buzzing sound coming from Shibi and Michiko indicating the Aburame equivalent of a chuckle was covered up by the swarm of kikaichuu released from Shuuichi's jar taking flight to search for their hosts.
"You must have gone through considerable effort to capture that many kikaichuu without harming them, Minamino-san." Michiko said with appreciation as a few dozen kikaichuu returned to her. Shibi and Shikuro were also pleasantly surprised to find members of their own colony returning to them.
"Not many ninja are so considerate with our allies." Osamu remarked with approval.
"Ah, you give me far too much credit, Osamu-dono, Michiko-dono. My thoughts at the time were that more secrets could be uncovered by studying live kikaichuu than dead ones." Shuuichi said humbly.
That gained more buzzing laughter from the Aburame clan. "While you are obviously a highly intelligent and talented individual Minamino-san, I highly doubt that you would be able to discover anything about the standard kikaichuu species by studying them that our adversaries have not. In the Third Shinobi World War the Kamizuru clan captured millions, literally millions of our kikaichuu." replied an amused Aburame Shibi.
"Even some of the methods our enemies employed to deter or destroy our allies in the past are no longer effective, Minamino-san." Osamu contributed with a soft smile.
For the first time in his admittedly short life, the emissary of the Kyuubi no Youko felt embarrassed and foolish. "I assumed that since one of my ANBU escorts said you would be unwilling to permit me to study the kidaichuu, studying kikaichuu would likewise be highly frowned upon."
"We're flattered that you would find the kikaichuu something worth your attention." Shikuro said in monotone that made it difficult for Shuuichi to determine whether or not the remark was sarcastic. A slight brush with the rinkaichuu-user's spiritual energy using Ninshuu: Tamishii no Manjiwari revealed that the comment was genuine.
"The kidaichuu however are a different manner. They can be rather dangerous even to their host. If we heard correctly, you believed that studying the kidaichuu would allow you to bestow the kidaichuu's ability to grow by several orders of magnitude upon other species." Shibi remarked.
"That is indeed the case, Shibi-sama. What particularly intrigues me is that the kidaichuu seem to grow unless the proper amount of chakra is fed to them. The Akimichi's expansion jutsu can yield similar results, but it takes a significant quantity of chakra. If the kidaichuu can grow without chakra, a seal to bestow that capacity to grow on other species would only require chakra to make the change in genetic makeup." Shuuichi answered with excitement in his voice.
"Let's say hypothetically that was the case. What benefits could the Aburame clan expect in return for allowing you to study the kidaichuu to create such a seal?" Shibi asked.
"I thought you'd ask that." Minamino Shuuichi grinned with vulpine mischief as he unsealed the beetle he'd spent over seven hours working on as well as an acorn about the same size as the beetle. "Don't worry, the beetle is going to survive what I'm about to do." The Aburame watched in surprise as Shuuichi attempted to smash the beetle between his hands when they noticed a puff of smoke to come out. When he parted his hands the Aburame saw the acorn in the place of the beetle and the beetle scurrying away from the point where the acorn had been.
"Kawarimi," the leaders of the Aburame clan whispered in unison.
"You taught the beetle Kawarimi?" Michiko asked in awe. Kikaichuu were able to execute very complex orders, relay a wealth of information, and even use chakra to make tunnel. But the Aburame had long considered having their kikaichuu learn actual ninjutsu as a lost cause.
"Not exactly. It's not intelligent enough for that. I etched a seal with the chakra pattern for the jutsu into the exoskeleton. Still, the beetle has survival instincts, so when it sensed danger it made use of the seal. Next, I'd like to show off the Fuuka Houin I bestowed." He suspended the beetle in the air above his fingers and formed the tiger seal. Concentrating so hard he began to sweat, a tongue of fire appeared over his fingers. Rather than reducing the beetle to cinders however, the flame was vacuumed into the top of the beetle's shell, which glowed faintly in certain areas. Under magnification or from a kikaichuu's perspective, one could see the formula of the Fire Sealing Method. After three seconds of being flamed, the beetle performed another Kawarimi.
(Translation: Fuuka Houin = Fire Sealing Method)
"Very impressive Minamino-san. If my allies weren't able to confirm that the beetle was using its own chakra, I would have thought that you were utilizing that Kohenkyo Kawarimi of yours." Shikuro commended.
"The demonstration was indeed very interesting, Minamino-san. How long did you spend on that beetle?" Aburame Shibi inquired.
"Seven hours and fifteen minutes." Minamino Shuuichi answered.
"I see. While I cannot deny that having seals on our kikaichuu would drastically increase the capabilities of our kikaichuu, spending seven hours to add two seals on a single kikaichuu would be illogical." Aburame Shibi responded with a slight tone of disappointment.
Shuuichi however just grinned. "Oh, you meant how long did applying the seals require? That was only fifteen minutes."
"Even so, you could spend an entire day on applying seals to kikaichuu and not have enough for each member of our clan to receive one." Shikuro remarked. "I assume that the additional seven hours you spent on the beetle would rectify this limitation?"
"You assume correctly, Shikuro-dono." the emissary of the Kyuubi no Youko said with a smirk as he unsealed a juvenile centipede native to Training Ground 44 from the Kofuusatsu. The creature was four-feet long and was covered in sealing tags. Sensing the questioning gazes, Shuuichi quickly explained. "I save a large amount of chakra if I have organic matter to use as a base, and even more if I use a living subject. Using this little fellow as a sacrifice easily saves me 92% of the chakra I would spend if I started from scratch." He gathered up his chakra and started to form handseals. Dragon. Tiger. Ox. Dog. Bird. Ram. Boar. Hare. "Onmyouton: Shi Kara Inochi." Shuuichi barked, laying his hands on the creature.
(Translation: Onmyouton: Shi Kara Inochi = Yin-Yang Release: Life from Death)
The centipede let out a screech as its body glowed progressively brighter until it shone white. After around ten seconds, a few hundred bolts of light scattered from the creature's body, which dimmed becoming beetles. Aburame Osamu examined one of the beetles that decided to land on his fingers. He took out a powerful magnifying glass to inspect the insect's back. The other three Aburame likewise examined some of the beetles in their own way. Suddenly, a beetle that had Aburame Shikuro's focus emitted a puff of smoke and switched places with another beetle. Aburame Shibi generated a small tongue of fire at his fingertip and carefully inched his hand towards a beetle's shell, and found the flame sucked up into a glowing seal on the insect's back. Seeing Shibi's action, Michiko breathed a baseball-sized fireball at a cluster of beetles. It was a D-Rank jutsu, but should have burned them regardless. It would have even killed off a few kikaichuu, which were leaps and bounds above ordinary beetles. But the fire was sucked right into the backs of forty beetles, the miniature Fuuka Houin lighting up as the flames were converted into chakra and supercharging their tiny chakra circulatory systems.
The Aburame were silent for moments as they processed the sight before them and came to the same conclusion. "Minamino-san, did you manage to make those seals a part of their genes?" Osamu asked with awe present even in the normally monotone Aburame voice. Shuuichi's smug vulpine grin served as ample confirmation for the leaders of the Aburame clan.
You could literally hear the gears whirling in the four Aburame's minds, because their kikaichuu buzzed in excitement. The highly advanced beetles themselves were getting excited at the thought of being able to fly into flames with no negative side effects other than potentially being gorged on chakra. Aburame Shibi lowered his collar so he could wipe away a slight trickle of drool that leaked out of the corners of his mouth. "Well Minamino-san, you have certainly intrigued us. Would you be able to provide us with a sample of a kikaichuu with genetically inheritable seals?"
"If you allowed me to study the kikaichuu, certainly. The time to gain the intimate knowledge of your allies required to reconstitute a kikaichuu with fuuinjutsu integrated into their chakra circulatory system will probably be significantly longer than seven hours. I'm sure that the chakra network of a kikaichuu is already more complex than my humble demonstration beetles."
Shuuichi responded. Just because the statement was intended to ingratiate himself with the Aburame didn't mean it wasn't true. Kikaichuu had chakra coils and brain that were proportionally huge to their tiny bodies.
"If you can provide kikaichuu with seals in similar quantities to what you produced your Onmyouton: Shi Kara Inochi and on a similar timeframe, take all the time you need to study our kikaichuu." Shibi said after a brief non-verbal conference with the others of his clan.
"You probably should analyze both genders of kikaichuu in order to ensure that the seals are passed down to successive generations, Minamino-san," Aburame Osamu commented, dispatching a few kikaichuu to one of the greenhouses where they housed spare kikaichuu. Moments later, some unbonded kikaichuu arrived for Konoha's newest jounin to examine. Shuuichi thanked the Aburame clan for their trust as he placed a score of kikaichuu in stasis to preserve them for analysis.
"We eagerly await your return, Minamino-san." Shibi said as Shuuichi prepared to depart.
Shuuichi bowed respectfully to each of the four Aburame. "I will do my best to live up to your expectations, honored leaders of the noble Aburame clan." Farewells said, Shuuichi exited the Aburame compound with a yawn. He'd been up for over twenty-four hours and now that he was a Konoha Shinobi, he couldn't ditch his physical body and turn himself into pure chakra like a bijuu. This was the real reason why he had been able to evade Konoha's grasp for so long. But he still couldn't call it a night. It was time for him to fulfill the reason why he had joined Konoha in the first place; to visit Uzumaki Naruto so he could make contact with his master, Kurama the Kyuubi no Youko.
-Shiin Sen'i no Jutsu!-
9:20 PM, Konohagakure Research and Development Department, Subject #9 Observation Room
Minamino Shuuichi's eyes twitched as he surveyed the room where the jinchuuriki of his creator was kept. The whole room was white, with sterilization seals painted in special white ink covering the floor, walls and ceiling. The crib that held his sleeping "cousin" had white railings, a white mattress covered with white blankets and white pillows.
"Either they're trying to stunt his growth, or give him sensory overload when something that wasn't colored white entered the room. Yeah, I can see the procedure now. Introduce stimulus and see how Naruto-chan's chakra fluctuates." Shuuichi muttered darkly, not knowing that the scenario he described had been enacted numerous times, though young Uzumaki Naruto was startled less and less until two weeks ago the young jinchuuriki had started thinking that the quiet mask people were playing a game. As a result, the pranking reign of Uzumaki Naruto would begin sooner than it might have. "And Shimura-sama is okay with this?"
"Why wouldn't he be?" Kinoe asked. Kinoe's 'mentor' may still be considering methods to dispose of Minamino Shuuichi, but that didn't mean that Danzou-sama would ignore any information the young jounin offered.
"Because this bland environment without stimulus is almost guaranteed to be detrimental to my itoko-chan's development. I know Shimura-san is pretty big on the whole emotional conditioning thing. I won't deny that learning to control emotions has merit; meditation is one of the two most effective methods of increasing one's spiritual energy after all. But to have spiritual energy, you need to have spirit. To have spirit, you need determination. While the will to survive is undeniably a form of determination, emotions can provide many other forms of determination and further strengthen the will to survive. This blank room is only conducive to boredom, which can actually dull the will to survive, either in the form of depression or recklessness. And thus Naruto-chan's potential as a shinobi or a weapon would be diminished." Shuuichi explained in a soft tone so as to avoid disturbing the sleeping child.
"When you present the arguments like that, I can't help but think you have a point." Zou remarked in a hushed voice as he observed his charge quietly call out his Kofuusatsu.
The envoy of the Kyuubi no Youko unsealed a recycled scroll, a quill, and a bottle of ink that was covered in enough fuuinjutsu seals to ensure that could give him fifty milliliters of ink for the equivalent of a Bunshin no Jutsu. He had a similar bottle for fuuinjutsu ink, but that was too precious to waste writing down notes. Besides, writing notes was only a cover for his real activity. At such close proximity, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox was able to reach out from within his seal and establish contact with the means of escape he'd spent decades planning. With complex manipulation of his mindscape, the purely human part of Minamino Shuuichi started writing a list of things that he should get for Uzumaki Naruto while the pseudo-bijuu part stood before the mightiest of the tailed beasts.
"WELL IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME, KIT. WHAT TOOK YOU SO EFFING LONG, SHUUICHI?" the Kyuubi no Youko snarled from behind the bars that represented the seal placed by the Yondaime Hokage. Although "bars" probably has given you the wrong idea of how a mindscape would interpret the seal keeping Kurama at bay. Instead of bars of metal, beams of white light held the Kyuubi inside his jinchuuriki.
"My apologies, Kyuubi-sama. With Orochimaru of the Sannin becoming Hokage, Naruto-chan has been under heavy guard and observation. They've hooked him up with all sorts of monitoring fuuinjutsu that would have detected me if I attempted to spirit your vessel away as an artificial bijuu, and only now in human form have I been able to get close enough to contact you," replied a kneeling Shuuichi with a bowed head.
"AND A COUPLE OF HUMANS KEPT YOU FROM CONTACTING ME FOR EIGHT MONTHS? GREAT, I NEED TO SPEND ANOTHER THREE QUARTERS OF A CENTURY COMING UP WITH A PLAN FOR GETTING OUT OF THESE DAMN EFFING SEALS."
Shuuichi frowned and raised his head to meet the man-sized eyeball of his creator in annoyance. "My apologies again, Kyuubi-sama. I was under the impression that you would prefer for me to release you from the seal at a location where you weren't likely to be resealed."
"DON'T GET SMART WITH ME, KIT!" Kurama roared. A tail reflexively attempted to impale Shuuichi, but the prison changed from simple beams of white light to bolts of red lightning. Voltage flooded through the Kyuubi no Youko, who inexplicably looked like an x-ray picture of a nine-tailed fox for two seconds before returning to normal coloration other than a smoking tail.
Shuuichi flinched and winced at his creator's pain. "That's quite the seal. Either it absorbs your excess chakra and converts it for use against you, or the seal actually turns your own chakra against you."
"THE FORMER. [CENSORED] MADARA COULDN'T CAUSE MY OWN CHAKRA TO TURN AGAINST ME, AND EVEN OLD MAN HAGOROMO WOULD HAVE HAD TO ABSORB MY CHAKRA AND CONVERT IT BEFORE IT COULD HARM ME." Kurama sneered. "SO, DID YOU JUST COME BY TO ANNOUNCE YOU ARE AS OF YET UNABLE TO FULFILL YOUR PURPOSE, OR DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING USEFUL TO TELL ME?"
Shuuichi looked rather sheepish. "Um, well, I've infiltrated Konoha and they made me a jounin this morning. They think I'm a relative of Kushina and your current host, so I'll be able to remain close by without attracting too much attention. The Uchiha aren't very happy with it, however. They're still trying to find a way to imprison me or kill me outright since they know that I know about the Mangekyou Sharingan."
"EFFING UCHIHA, TO THINK THAT EVEN SEALED INSIDE AN INFANT THEY STILL MANAGE TO BE A THORN IN MY SIDE. IF YOU DON'T INTEND TO RELEASE ME IN KONOHA, I HOPE YOU'LL FIND A WAY TO EXACT OUR REVENGE ON THAT INFERNAL CLAN."
"I just came from a meeting with the Aburame clan with a demonstration of how I can make their kikaichuu able to absorb Fire differentiated chakra. I'll consider adding a seal that will absorb Lightning differentiated chakra if the kikaichuu's chakra network is flexible enough to accommodate. Still, just the addition of the Fuuka Houin to kikaichuu would place them at an advantage against the Uchiha."
"ABURAME? AH, CHOMEI'S PATRON CLAN. I SUPPOSE THAT HAVING A CLAN INFESTED WITH INSECTS SURPASSING THE BEARERS OF THOSE ACCURSED EYES WOULD BE SOME CONSOLATION. ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?"
"The Godaime Hokage Orochimaru wishes me to train your current host in manipulating Qi-"
"YOU FOOL!" the Kyuubi no Youko thundered, sending the pseudo-bijuu flying back twenty meters in the mindscape and causing the body of Minamino Shuuichi to flinch. "THERE WAS ONE THING - ONE THING! - THAT YOU WERE NEVER TO REVEAL TO THE HUMANS OF THE ELEMENTAL NATIONS! EVEN IF IT MEANT THAT YOU COULD GET ME OUT OF THIS ANATHEMATIZED SEAL, YOU WERE NEVER! EVER! EVER! EVER! EVERRRR! TO TEACH THESE HERETICS THAT HAVE PERVERTED AND ABUSED THE OLD MAN'S GIFT OF CHAKRA HOW TO USE QI!"
Shuuichi was glad that they were only in a mindscape; he would have been deaf at the volume his creator roared. "Kyuubi-sama, if I have even acknowledged the existence of Qi to these humans, let me suffer like none has ever suffered before. They simply think that I'll be teaching Uzumaki Naruto an advanced chakra control technique. And that's kinda what using Qi involves, seeing as how you have to deconstruct chakra back into physical and spiritual energy. Orochimaru was bound to silence and he won't try to observe me training your vessel, nor attempt to have any of his associates spy on us in his place. I'm also able to use Qi when I take on full flesh and blood form, incidentally. If I have to get into a fight, it might be enough to make up for the energy expenditure required to take on human form."
The Kyuubi no Youko gradually calmed down as his agent defended his innocence. "I SUPPOSE MY REACTION WAS PREMATURE. " Kurama's lips twitched upwards into a smile. "CONSIDERING YOU'VE MANAGED TO DECEIVE THE KONOHA NINJA, HOW LONG CAN YOU AFFORD SPENDING IN THE MINDSCAPE WITHOUT ATTRACTING TOO MUCH ATTENTION?"
"About fifteen minutes real-time. You have something in mind, Boss-Fox?"
The Kyuubi no Youko's mouth opened his fanged maw in a smile that could make an S-Rank ninja cower in fear. "THIS SEAL MAY KEEP ME FROM INFLUENCING MY HOST, BUT THANKS TO SOME FOOLISH FOOL TINKERING WITH THE SEAL, I DISCOVERED THAT I CAN USE THE OLD MAN'S TEACHINGS TO COMMUNICATE WITH A WILLING SUBJECT. THINK YOU COULD KEEP THE ABILITY TO FLY WITHOUT USING OBSCENE AMOUNTS OF CHAKRA UNDER WRAPS?"
"Kyuubi-sama, I only have to ask why you didn't give that to me in the first place. At the very least, I could have remained anonymous and Konoha wouldn't know that I was interested in your host." Shuuichi said with a frown.
"AND THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T GIVE YOU THE KNOWLEDGE. WHILE MOST QI TECHNIQUES WOULDN'T ATTRACT AS MUCH ATTENTION AS THEIR CHAKRA EQUIVALENTS, FLIGHT STILL ATTRACTS THE ATTENTION OF ANYONE CAPABLE OF SENSING THE VARIOUS FORMS OF ENERGY. UNLESS YOU JUST WANT TO HOVER A FEW FEET ABOVE THE GROUND OR TRAVEL AT RUNNING SPEED, YOU CAN'T CONCEAL THAT AMOUNT OF ENERGY."
Shuuichi facepalmed. "Kyuubi-sama, how would those releases of energy be any different than ninja using chakra bursts to travel from the rooftops or the trees?"
There was a long silence from the mightiest and most cunning of the tailed beasts.
"… JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME TEACH YOU THE F—ING TECHNIQUE."
-Shiin Sen'i no Jutsu!-
9:52 PM, Outside the Konohagakure Research and Development Building
Minamino Shuuichi's eye twitched at the sight that greeted him the moment he stepped out of the Research and Development Department. Blocking his way were six members of the Konoha Military Police, led by a smug Fugaku Uchiha. There actually was a non-Uchiha among them this time, although Shuuichi's Negative Emotions Sensing detected the influence of both alcohol and genjutsu on the shinobi.
"I've said it before but apparently it bears repeating you guys have way too much time on your hands."
"There's always time for the protection of Konoha from ninja who overstep their boundaries. Something you seem to have a particular aptitude for, Minamino. Entering a building clearly marked 'A-Level Security Clearance and Up Required Beyond This Point'. When the building was renovated they decided to leave out; 'Violators Subject to Execution on the Spot'." The Uchiha clan head sneered.
Before Fugaku Uchiha had started speaking, Shuuichi had placed his hands behind his back in the sign for connecting spiritual energy with Ninshuu: Tamishii no Manjiwari. 'Zou-san, Kinoe-san, I think that the Konoha Military Police member who isn't an Uchiha is under a genjutsu. Would one of you snap him out of it? I'd do it myself, but these Uchiha will probably see any action on my part as justification to attack.' Shuuichi requested. He also fed chakra into the walkie-talkie to broadcast his harassment. By the time that Fugaku had finished his attempt at an intimidating speech, Kinoe had dropped from his hiding spot behind the Non-Uchiha member of Konoha Military Police, tapping the man in the back to dispel the genjutsu, and zipped away before the Uchiha could notice.
"Ugh, what the hell?" groaned the ninja, fighting away the disorientation for three seconds before his sharply honed ninja mind digested his last memories before everything became far hazier than five bottles of sake, let alone his traditional single bottle, should have made him. The Konoha Military Police officer whirled on a long haired Uchiha. "What the hell, Inabi-taichou? What's the idea of using your Sharingan on me?" The five Uchiha spun towards their sixth member in surprise.
Shuuichi clicked his tongue in and shook his head. "Now this is just shameful. I wondered why the vaunted Uchiha Sharingan was unable to detect the presence of a genjutsu in one of their own squad. Need help taking Inabi-san in for questioning, Fugaku-dono?"
"Inabi-san's services may be needed to ensure that the proper disciplinary action is taken." Uchiha Fugaku spat back with venom as the other Uchiha returned their attention to Shuuichi, with the exception of Inabi who took the non-Uchiha aside. "While execution is restricted to inside the building, the minimum penalty for unauthorized entry to an A-Rank security area is three months imprisonment."
"My ANBU watchers didn't have a problem with it. Besides, watching over my itoko-chan is the only reason why I agreed to put on the headband." Shuuichi shrugged.
"And where does the agreement state that you were allowed to enter restricted areas to access the demon brat?" Fugaku sneered smugly. Shuuichi and Sarutobi Hiruzen had felt it so obvious that he would be allowed to see Uzumaki Naruto that they didn't need to state it explicitly.
"It was so strongly implied that Sandaime-sama didn't think anyone was dense enough to think otherwise. Or did you not read the part where I'm allowed to see him at any time as long as I'm under supervision, and that if I pass my probation period that I'll be given guardianship?" Shuuichi left out that Jiraiya trumped his claim of guardianship, but the damned Uchiha didn't need to know that.
"Irrelevant," Uchiha Fugaku barked, incensed at being called dense. "I may not have been able to apprehend you earlier today due to the public spectacle it would have caused—"
"The —- I'm just going to drop it! You used your Sharingan on me, and you don't even have the decency to tell me why?!" the non-Uchiha member of the Konoha Military Police swore loud enough that Fugaku was interrupted. Once again their attention was drawn to Uchiha Inabi and the officer he had placed in a Sharingan genjutsu.
"Well, I don't know the specifics, but I can guess that Inabi-san put you in a genjutsu to add credibility to their latest scheme to arrest me. I guess they took my comment about believing their ruses if they had non-Uchiha in the groups trying to arrest me to heart." Shuuichi hollered.
"You used your freaking Sharingan on me just to make a guy think the arrest was legitimate? Why-" the officer said before Inabi used a Sharingan Genjutsu to knock him out. One of the Uchiha moved to take the member of the Konoha Military Police back to his home.
"What the hell happened, Inabi?" Fugaku hissed, but noticing the twitch in Shuuichi's lips gave the Uchiha clan head his answer.
"You can walk away from this at any time, Uchiha-dono. Sure my ANBU observers are probably going to have to report an Uchiha having used a hypnotic genjutsu on a member of the Konoha Military Police and then knocking him out regardless, but I have lots of things I'd rather do than how you and your clan are seeking to invalidate the agreement I came to with Sandaime-sama to avoid war."
"Sarutobi is even more of a senile imbecile than I thought if he considered having to deal with you as a matter of war. It would be the shortest war in history to exterminate clanless scum like you."
Fugaku hissed, unsheathing his weapon and poised to strike. "You've wasted far too much of my time today. I'll still give you the choice to cooperate and come with us. That way you won't accumulate any more charges."
A certain "senile imbecile" happened to uncover the communications device that Shuuichi had given the Sandaime at just the right time to hear Fugaku's comment.
Shuuichi sighed in exasperation before folding his arms. "You know what? Fine. If locking me up will get you off my back, I'll humor you. But first, you're going to place a Truth Seal on and swear that as long as I'm in your custody, you will make sure that nothing happens to me while I'm in the stockade. As in you are going to personally make sure no-one so much as punches me."
"Absurd. I can't be bothered to watch over a single inmate for such a long period of time." Fugaku spat.
"It's only going to be seventy-two hours. That's how long you can hold me without conviction." Shuuichi countered.
"Your conviction is a foregone conclusion. We are the Konoha Military Police, not samurai of some feudal lord. The minimum you'll be staying will be ten days, IF you surrender within the next thirty seconds. I've lost my patience with you." Fugaku snarled as he activated his Sharingan, with the remaining four Uchiha following suit.
Shuuichi took ten seconds to connect his spiritual energy to everyone within a forty meter radius except the Uchiha to shield their eyes when Fugaku announced time had expired. Another five was spent Zou and Kinoe where he intended to flee. He slowly raised his hands with his fingers spread out as far as possible. At twenty-five seconds after Fugaku delivered his ultimatum, the pseudo-bijuu had his hands positioned close to the center of his face. "I'd turn those Sharingan off I were you. I won't be responsible for what happens if you don't."
"What kind of bakas do you take us for? Time's up." Fugaku announced as he signaled the other Uchiha to kill Shuuichi, which didn't escape the notice of Kinoe while the he quickly performed a flash protection Jutsu. For a fraction of an instant Fugaku and Inabi witnessed Shuuichi's chakra complete vanish from his body. Before the Uchiha had time to strike, the smirking emissary of Kurama announced a technique not seen on the Elemental Continent since before Indra's descendants had assumed the surname Uchiha.
"Taiyang Quan." Shuuichi hissed with vindictive glee as he shut his eyes as tight as he could manage. All who had received the message to shield their eyes had somehow known in their gut to do exactly as instructed. Even with their eyes covered, the people within the radius of the attack were thankful that the intense brightness only lasted a second. When the flash resided, Shuuichi was already several blocks away.
(Translation: 太陽拳 Tàiyáng Quán = Sun Fist [or Solar Flare])
The Sharingan eyes of the Uchiha processed information in a fraction of what the user's unaided eyes required. And skilled ninja like Fugaku and his entourage already were capable of processing information nearly a hundred times faster than you or me. So to the doujutsu widely considered the strongest kekkei genkai, that second where blinding light entered their precious eyes from every angle seemed like minutes. The five Uchiha dropped to the ground, screaming (yes screaming) in agony and cursing Minamino Shuuichi to the most violent and agonizing deaths imaginable. Surprisingly their blindness was solved simply by turning their Sharingan off and on again after three hours, but the agony tormented until they took painkillers or used a jutsu to achieve the same effect.
-Shiin Sen'i no Jutsu!-
10:18 PM
After dodging and weaving through the streets of Konoha away from any Uchiha, Shuuichi encountered Sarutobi Hiruzen near the Sarutobi clan compound. "Sandaime-sama, what a pleasant surprise." Konoha's newest jounin said, giving a respectful bow to the great veteran.
"Oh? I thought that you would have been expecting one of the people present during your assessment by the way you were transmitting your confrontation with Fugaku-dono." Sarutobi Hiruzen commented.
"That was the idea." Shuuichi acknowledged before sighing. "Sandaime-sama, I just don't know how to deal with them. I got on my hands and knees and publicly apologized for any perceived wrong against them. I was even willing to let them arrest me if I could be assured they wouldn't try and end me where there wouldn't be any witnesses."
"So I heard. I'd never thought that Fugaku-kun would act so…" Sarutobi Hiruzen said with a frown, pausing to find the proper description for the Uchiha clan head's behavior.
"Psychotic? Bloodthirsty? Abusive of power? Dismissive of consequences?" the emissary of the Kyuubi no Youko offered.
"The last one." the Sandaime acknowledged. "I wouldn't think that Fugaku would so transparently attempt to assassinate another Konoha ninja, and certainly not simply due to having been offended."
"It… might have had something to do with confirming that I know something the Uchiha don't even trust some of their own clan to know. Incidentally that is one of the few Uchiha clan policies that I agree with."
"What made you confirm that you knew an Uchiha clan secret? Naturally they'd seek to ensure you wouldn't leak their secrets." Sarutobi said with a sigh.
"They accused me of espionage, so I foolishly thought that once I clarified that the Minamino had recorded the details of that secret before I was born, they would leave me alone." Shuuichi shrugged, fighting down a yawn. "Sandaime-sama, does the offer to snooze over at your place still stand? I'm getting a little tired, and I don't want to have to spend an eighth of my chakra to refresh myself."
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave Shuuichi a soft smile and invited the young man into his home. He dismissed Zou and Kinoe after they gave a brief report of their day, assuring them that he would be able to keep watch over Konoha's newest jounin having had a nap earlier that day. Shuuichi gratefully plopped down on a futon and placed some protective seals around him. He trusted the Sandaime not to attack him, but he wasn't so certain about the rest of the Sarutobi clan. While Minamino Shuuichi caught much needed rest, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked over Konoha law books to see what could possibly be done for his new young friend's situation with the Uchiha. His respect for the young man had grown when Zou described how Shuuichi hadn't resorted to violence despite the hostility of the Uchiha clan. Not many ninja with Shuuichi's caliber would have simply walked away from obviously false pretences of arrest.
The Uchiha clan seeking to seize Shuuichi despite them having no real right to do so was troubling. Sarutobi Hiruzen had noticed the clan's unusually withdrawn attitude, any Konoha ninja worth their hatai-ate had. But he never thought the Uchiha would enact a poorly disguised assassination attempt of a fellow Konoha ninja in broad daylight. Though by the way Fugaku referred to him as a senile imbecile for negotiating to keep Shuuichi from becoming an enemy, it seemed that the Uchiha refused to acknowledge Minamino Shuuichi as Konoha's newest jounin.
This didn't bode well for the young man. While a comfortable majority of Konoha ninja had agreed that having "Betobeto-san" join their ranks would be beneficial, Hiruzen suspected that significantly less would support Shuuichi against an Uchiha clan hell-bent on silencing a stranger. The Sandaime Hokage had to concede that his young friend hadn't managed to secure many allies during the few days Konoha had known his identity as Minamino Shuuichi. Anyone capable of looking underneath the underneath could see Konoha's newest jounin had only joined their forces because he had found himself unable to liberate his cousin from the village. Even if one was unable to determine this, Shuuichi's self-introduction had mentioned his dislike of the ninja lifestyle. That must have been the influence of the Truth Seal the young man had allowed Jiraiya to place on him, because telling your future coworkers that you thought their lives were based on "deception, manipulation, paranoia and betrayal" wasn't something to mention if you wanted a healthy working relationship.
So there would be little chance of amassing enough political pressure to force the Uchiha to stop persecuting Shuuichi, at least not in a timely manner. Orochimaru had confessed to planting four ninja in Shuuichi's assessment for the purpose of assassinating the young man, so getting his former student to order the Uchiha to back off seemed highly unlikely. Perhaps another clan might be willing to give Shuuichi sanctuary if properly motivated. According to Zou, the newly minted jounin had made quite the impression with the Aburame clan, although the clan leaders had ensured that the proceedings of the meeting had been carefully obscured. Still, Shuuichi's entire reason for joining Konoha was to take care of his cousin and the Research and Development Department was much closer to the Konoha Military Police headquarters than the Aburame clan compound.
Hours of looking for a method to resolve Shuuichi's problem with the Uchiha yielded no diplomatic solutions. Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. Konoha's justice system worked as one could expect from a military dictatorship. Trials weren't common, and if the authorities thought the accused was guilty, they were judged guilty. So Sarutobi Hiruzen was forced to acknowledge that conflict was inevitable. That meant the best he could do for Shuuichi was a law or tradition that would permit the young man to defend himself. He likely would be able to force the Uchiha to formally declare a blood feud with Shuuichi. But then anyone who gave Shuuichi sanctuary would be declaring themselves the enemy of the Uchiha, which would leave the young jounin with even fewer allies. The Sandaime Hokage was about to give up when he came across a page in some of the most time honored customs for conflict resolution. Trial by combat. It was rather crude in his opinion, but that hadn't kept this ancient method for solving disagreements from falling out of practice. In fact, disputes in leadership of the Uchiha clan were sometimes solved via trial by combat. The question was if Shuuichi could get through trial by combat alive and without igniting a blood feud.
Author's Apology: A month or so after first writing this chapter, I read on the wikia that kikaichuu only live a few hours. I have attempted to fix this fact, but if there's something I missed, I would appreciate if you would bring it to my attention!
Last edit:10/10/2016