DISCLAIMER: I do not own Negima or Naruto. Negima is the property of Ken Akamatsu, and Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
Ackdam's story "Naruto One Man Team" has inspired portions of this story. If you haven't read it, I strongly advise you to do so.
Italics text = character thinking to themselves.
Underline+Italics = character communicating with telepathy
Bold text = shouting
Bold+Italcs = Casting Spell/Ability
Chapter Ten
The bet and the Fuhen Clan
As Naruto finished naming his new clan, Hiashi decided to speak.
"Fuhen, as in eternal? That's a little too grandiose for you, if you ask me…" he began.
"Well, nobody asked you." Naruto cut him off, earning a few snickers from the other clan heads.
"I see you become even more arrogant. You should remember your place." Hiashi spoke coldly.
"And that would be two rows in front of you in the council chamber, right?" Naruto shot back with a wide grin towards an equally pleased Sarutobi.
"Hokage-sama, surely this is a joke!" Hiashi turned towards the old man. "We can not allow a… child in the council!" he said, quickly holding back the word 'demon'.
"Of course I'm serious. It's one of the laws insisted on by the Shodaime himself. All clans, old or new, that have a bloodline or a special ability must have a representative in the council. And Naruto-kun has both." Sarutobi said.
"But we can't have…" Hiashi tried to say something but was suddenly hit by killer intent from all the other ninja around.
"'Can't have'? If I didn't know better, I would say that you are trying to oppose the Hokage and defy one of the fundamental laws of Konoha." Sarutobi said coldly.
"Of course no, Hokage-sama, I was just expressing my concern about Uzumaki-san' knowledge and ability of what a council member must be able to do." Hiashi said in a slightly trembled voice.
"Oh, that should be the least of your concerns. I know all the laws in Konoha, including the individual clan laws. As for the 'ability' as a council member, I'm pretty sure you are talking about patience during the meetings, since there hasn't been a new law since the Kyubi attack. And considering I used to spend a few hours a day listening to various bullshit claims of crimes I didn't commit, I think I have plenty." Naruto finished with a glare at the Hyuga head.
"I see." Hiashi muttered, with a vein pulsing on his temple, making him look like he's using the Byakugan. He then focused on something Naruto said. "Wait, what do you mean by 'the least of my concerns'?"
"Oh, did you forget?" Naruto asked a little surprised. "With something so important on the line?" he teased.
"What?" Hiashi asked, with a sudden feeling of dread.
"I believe Naruto-kun is referring to the bet you made with him a week ago regarding his clan status. You had me act as witness, after all" Sarutobi said with a wide smile that told the council member that someone was about to suffer, and that someone will most likely be Hiashi.
"Oh, I see. Yes, I remember." Hiashi said, ashen faced.
"Yes, and since I won the bet, I get my prize. Do you remember your offer?" Naruto asked in a sickly sweet voice, giving the others shivers.
"'Anything within my power to give'" Hiashi spoke with horror. He realized that he may have just as well signed his death certificate. "Do you want my life?" he asked with a shiver.
"No, I had something else in mind." Naruto grinned.
"Very well, name your prize." Hiashi said relieved and then got an idea. "Just keep in mind that you can only name one thing and it must be within my power. If it isn't, you'll waste your chance" he said, earning protests from Anko and Kurenai.
"Sure, I accept those terms." Naruto brought silence. "After all, like I just told you, I know all of the clan laws, yours included. I know very well what you can and cannot do." Naruto said, making Hiashi' smile disappear.
"Well, what do you want?" he asked.
"There is a certain law that you made several years ago within your clan. It was opposed even by a few of your elders, if I recall correctly. You also made it in a way that only the clan head could change or remove it, with or without the elders' consent. Do you remember which law I'm talking about?" Naruto said.
As Naruto spoke, Hiashi thought back to the night his wife Hisana died. She was one of the few that didn't hate Naruto and even allowed Hinata near him. That night, after his talk with the elders where the possibility of Naruto' role in Hisana' death, he had remembered how close Hinata was getting to Naruto. He had hastily decided that all marriages from that point onwards were to be within the clan, under the excuse of bloodline preservation.
"Do you mean the law I made for preserving the Byakugan?" Hiashi asked.
"For destroying the Byakugan you mean" Naruto replied, drawing everyone's attention. "While it's true that any children born from that inbreeding will have the Byakugan, their bodies will generally be weaker then those of their parents because of the lack of new genetic material in the mix. Within a few generations, their bodies wouldn't be able to support the stress caused by the Byakugan and it will become a looked ability like the Sharingan, requiring special circumstances to activate. Or it could become locked permanently. And yes, I know for sure, I had to do research for my bloodlines as well, you know." he added, at Hiashi' expression.
"I see… So, you want me to remove that law or chance it so that outside marriages are allowed?" Hiashi asked.
"That's part of it. Besides changing it to allow outside marriages, I want it to forbid forced marriages and any of that sort of control of either you or the elders in those maters. If the person wants to be with someone, you'll allow it unless there are legitimate reasons for not doing so, like the other person being a wanted person by the village. If the person refuses to marry someone, it's their decision only." Naruto explained. "I'll give you the complete version later on."
"You think you can impose what laws you want upon my clan?" Hiashi raised his voice angrily.
"No, I an imposing it on you" Naruto said bluntly. "It's within your power. By the way, one of the clauses of the law is that it's unchangeable unless that Hokage himself says otherwise." Naruto added, making Hiashi' final loophole out of the situation disappear.
"Very well, it's not like I have any choice in the matter anyway" Hiashi agreed grudgingly.
"Indeed. We'll make the announcement in tomorrow' council meeting, where we'll announce the details of Naruto' new clan and compound." Sarutobi grinned.
"Compound? What compound?" Hiashi snapped in attention.
"The new Fuhen compound, of course." Sarutobi said.
"You're having the village build a new compound for a clan with just one member?!" Hiashi almost yelled.
"No, Naruto has just signed the deed to a now extinct clan of Konoha. It would be meaningless to have him reside elsewhere." Sarutobi explained with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Extinct clan?" Hiashi asked more to himself, as he though of the possibilities.
The Uchiha had a compound, but they weren't extinct. So that meant it happened further in the past. That led his to the Kyubi attack when several clans were extinguished; fortunately none had bloodlines, but clan techniques. Among them, only a few had had compounds and those were destroyed during the attack. There was only one that had survived unscratched, thanks to the seals that were protecting it. But that was…
"You're hiving him the Yondaime' compound?! That place is nearly twice as large as the Hyuga compound! It's too much for only one person!" Hiashi all but screamed.
"Not for long." Sarutobi countered with a grin.
"You mean you are reconstructing the compound to make it smaller?" Hiashi asked, calmer.
"No, it means I'm invoking the Clan Restoration Act. All male members of a clan that has less then ten male bloodline users must have at least three wives. So he won't be alone in that compound for long. Besides, the same could be said for the Uchiha, and I don't hear any of you complaining" Sarutobi said before noticing that looks on the other clan heads and add "not today, anyway".
"But what of the Yondaime' secret techniques and other things left in the compound?" Hiashi insisted.
"Everything within those walls now belongs to Naruto. Besides, Minato made sure that only someone worthy can even enter the compound. I'm sure that the things inside are even more protected." Sarutobi countered.
"But he's an orphan and a mere genin for that matter! How can he afford to keep it in good condition?" Hiashi tried.
"Who cares about the condition? The Uchiha compound is half covered in dust or worse. It's his property, his business. He can even burn it down and build something else if he wants to." Sarutobi shrugged. "The same goes for any of you regarding your own homes: as long as it doesn't cause real problems for the village, it's your business what you do on your property."
"Fine!" Hiashi snapped, earning a glare from Sarutobi before continuing in a more civil manner "Are we done for today?"
"I believe we are, unless any of you has something to add." Sarutobi said, looking at the others questionably.
"If I may Hokage-sama" Kakashi stepped forward "I would suggest we should keep Naruto' Sharingan, and especially the Mangekyo Sharingan, hidden from the rest of the population. Sasuke at the very least should be in the dark about it."
"Why, it would be good for moral to have two users of a famous bloodline, rather then one? Not to mention that Sasuke had yet to even achieve the first stage of the Sharingan." Tsume Inuzuka asked.
"That's exactly the point, not only I suddenly have such a power, but in such an advanced stage. Imagine Sasuke's reaction to that. As for most of the population, they'll either say that I stole Sasuke' Sharingan, or associate it with the influence of my tenant. Either scenario is not looking good at the moment." Naruto explained.
"Yes, you have a point, Kakashi." Sarutobi said, rubbing his chin. "Here's what we'll do. Next time you unlock a bloodline or ability you have sealed, say that that Sharingan was one of them and if someone discovers the Mangekyo we can say it's because of its sudden contact with your massive chakra reserves." he decided and everyone there nodded in agreement before starting to leave. All knew that the scandal would affect them as well.
Soon, only Anko, Kurenai, Kakashi, Ibiki and Sarutobi were left with Naruto.
"Kid, the way you played Hiashi-teme… it was beautiful" Anko said, wiping an imaginary tear.
"Ever considered entering the Interrogation Division? You seam to have a talent for mental torture." Ibiki added with a grin.
"Yeah, the though did cross my mind. But I think I'll keep aiming for Hokage, thanks for the offer though." Naruto returned the grin.
"Still, you took even me by surprise with Itachi' blood. You didn't mention it before." Sarutobi said.
"Yeah, I wanted to keep it a secret until I can tell Kakashi about it as well. I wanted to know if you considered it an insult to the memory of your teammate." Naruto said, looking at the silver-haired jounin.
"I don't mind, Naruto." Kakashi smiled. "In fact, Obito would have found the whole thing very amusing. Think about it, the bloodline that can steal jutsu gets stolen by a bloodline that steals other bloodlines." he said, making the others chuckle at the irony. "Thanks for the thought; I know I would have bought Hokage-sama' cover story otherwise."
"No problem. Now, there's someplace I need to go with Hokage-sama, please excuse us." Naruto said and Sarutobi gave the others a dismissing glance.
After they were left alone, Sarutobi turned towards the blond.
"Are you ready to see your home, Naruto-kun?" he asked gently.
"You bet old man." Naruto grinned.
"Very well, we'll need to stop by my office first though; we'll need instructions on how to enter to estate." Sarutobi said as they started moving.
"You mean that was in the box? The one in the safe?" Naruto inquired.
"Yes, among other things. The box is blood-sealed, but Minato told me about its contents." Sarutobi said as they reached the boundary of the training ground. There, they stopped long enough for Naruto to make a few Kage Bunshin and instruct them to destroy the privacy seals he had placed beforehand.
"I think Danzo is severely pisses right about now." Naruto said. "Not only did he lose several of his men today, but the ones left couldn't even enter, let alone see demonstration."
"'Lost several men'? Did they try to attack you?" Sarutobi asked concerned.
"Yeah, the keyword is 'try'. What they got was an explosive clone. Still, I'll keep an eye out for them, in case they try something again." Naruto assured him.
A few Shunshin later, they arrived at the Hokage's office where the old man quickly removed the portrait of the Yondaime hanging on the wall and took out the small box Naruto already knew of before handing it over to the blond.
Inside were a few documents, a couple scrolls, two small books and a bundle of keys. On one book was written Minato Namikaze and on the other was Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze. As he opened one of them, his eyes watered. In his hands was his fathers' diary. As he looked at the first pages of both diaries, he noticed that they began the day the two had started dating. Also, at the end of Minato' diary was written that only a blood relative of either him or Kushina may unseal the compound. It had a very advanced blood containment seal on it, enveloping the entire property in a spherical barrier. To open it, a large amount of chakra had to be supplied in addition to the blood; amounts that only a Namikaze were known to have naturally.
Armed with that information, the two headed for the richest area of the village; area where both the Uchiha and Hyuga compound were situated in. Fortunately, there were a few rows of houses belonging to some rich merchants between them.
Like the other two, it had a tall stone wall surrounding it. However, unlike the other two, it had only one gate. It was made of a black steel that only reflected moon light, practically absorbing any other kind of light. In the center of it was golden plate with the Namikaze clan crest on it. It was that plate that Naruto had to put blood on and channel chakra into. As he pierced his thumb with a kunai, he thought about a paragraph regarding the golden plate. According to his father, the plate was made "to fit any situation".
"Oh well, there's only one way to find out." he shrugged and touched the crest, channeling chakra into it. At first he thought it was going to be easy, but he then realized why only someone with massive chakra reserves could open it: the thing was like a goddamn black hole! He had depleted about half of the reserves he had before he graduated from the Academy when the absorption process stopped, making him realize that he had been trying to pull his hand away before but couldn't.
When he took his hand off the plate he noticed that the Namikaze crest was gone. Instead, there was a new one. It was very similar to a pactio circle, the difference being that the star inside it had seven instead of six corners. Also, the eye symbol in the center was made entirely of sapphire.
"I think I have found my new clan crest, old man." Naruto spoke after a few minutes of staring.
"Yes, I believe you have." Sarutobi nodded, equally impressed.
"Just one question though." Naruto said, looking at the gate "How do I open the gate?" There was indeed no sign of whether one must push or pull the door.
"Oh, you're gonna like this." Sarutobi grinned. "Tell me, did you notice that the gate is perfectly round? The lower part is under the ground, but it's shaped like a perfect circle with the round crest plate in the center." Sarutobi explained enthusiastically. "To open it, you just need to tap the plate twice. It only applies to you since you are the owner. Other people can open it if you put a certain blood seal on them."
With a nod, Naruto tapped the plate. He then watched in amazement how the plate melted into the black steel of the gate and a small round hole appeared where it stood. The hole expanded quickly and in a few seconds it was the size of the gate.
"Cool." Naruto said in amazement.
"I couldn't agree more, Naruto-kun. Anyway, I believe you'll handle things from here. I need to get back to the office. Maybe you can give me a tour after you've cleaned up the place." Sarutobi said and left.
Looking back at the entrance, Naruto took a deep breath and entered the compound, the gate closing behind him.
The first words that crossed his mind were: "Fuck! What kind of jungle is this?!" and indeed he had a point. The entire area was covered in overgrown plants, some even reaching his height. In fact, the only places NOT covered were the buildings and the stone pavement that led to them. There was a stone causeway that led directly from the gate to the largest building that he assumed was the main house; along the way it branched out towards several other buildings, living areas or not.
As he reached the main house, he took a look at the wilderness behind him. "No wonder the old man was in such a hurry to leave" he thought.
"Yeah, old guys kinda hate doing yard work" Asuna said amused.
"Yeah, I kind of figured. And as much as I would like to make a few hundred clones and have them get rid of everything, I would feel kinda bad if they ruin some of the rose bushes I noticed." Naruto replied with a sigh.
"Yeah, it would be a shame." Eva admitted. "Why don't you order the clones to clean up the buildings first? Maybe there are some photos lying around that would give you an idea of how the gardens should look like" she suggested.
"Good point. And while they're at it they'll also scout the entire area so I can figure out how big this place is. Hiashi said that it's nearly twice as large as the Hyuga compound, but my memory of that place is a little fuzzy." Naruto admitted sheepishly.
"Yeah, I bet. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the fact that you landed on your head when you fell of Hiashi' roof. After you painted the roofs of the entire compound pink, remember?" Kyubi laughed.
"Oh, yeah! Good times, good times!" Naruto grinned at the memory. He was never proved guilty of that one. Probably because they only noticed a week later, since ANBU rarely were allowed to approach the Hyuga compound.
With that happy thought Naruto covered nearly every spot of pavement with Kage Bunshin.
"Alright, search and clean up all of the buildings. I'm particularly interested in pictures of the gardens; I want them to look just like in the past, if possible." Naruto instructed and dispatched the clones.
As the clones got to work Naruto headed for the back yard. To say the least, it was humongous. It was about half the size of a regular genin team training ground, and fortunately for Naruto it was partially paved with either wood or stone. There were a lot of trees in that area as well as a large pool, but the central clearing took most of the space. Even with so many years passed, there were still visible signs of various techniques on either the ground or trees.
What drew Naruto' attention was a large hexagonal stone structure in the center of the clearing. It was full of holes from various techniques, but the kind that intrigued him was quite organized for mere holes. They were in a straight line on a side of the stone structure, in varied sizes, but almost the same shape: perfectly round. Naruto quickly realized that it was left as sign of mastering that technique, but couldn't help but notice that, while the holes began at a corner of the structure, it didn't reach the other one. "Hm, maybe it was mastered quicker then initially thought" Naruto mentally shrugged.
It was over an hour later that Naruto returned to the front garden to see how things were going. Several of the houses had been sealed since they were no longer in use since the clan had few members, so there was only a little dust in those. On the other hand, some of the storage buildings and the dojo had a few windows open and there was a lot clean. The only building that the clones had been unable to enter was ironically the main house, the one used by the clan head.
It had a seal on the entrance identical with the one on the gate, but apparently the two were connected somehow since the crest had already changed.
"What do you think, should I simply tap it or wipe blood on it?" Naruto asked.
"Try taping it first, no use wasting blood or chakra." Eva said.
As he did so, his hand was suddenly glued to the crest and chakra began pouring out of him. It was far less then the gate had required and it was over rather quickly, the housed being enveloped in a green glow for a few seconds when he removed his hand, followed by the glow being shattered like pieces of glass that dispersed before it reached the ground.
"It had some sort of advanced seal on it." Naruto said intrigued.
"Hm. This feeling…" Negi muttered. "Naruto, I don't think you'll need to clean this house"
"Why?" Eva asked.
"The sensation I got when the seal was broken is similar with the one I had when I used the Cassiopeia all those years ago" Negi explained. "So it must have a time-space component. My guess is that the house is just like the day it was sealed."
"Well, there' only one way to find out" Naruto said as he opened the door.
The inside was indeed spotless, which brought his the mental image of his father wincing when his mother berated him for dirtying something. It brought both a smile as well as some tears in his eyes.
He then proceeded to inspect the three story house, from top to the four levels of basement. Each basement had a different stairwell with a blood seal at both ends of it.
The first level was a large jutsu library, about half the size of the Hokage' library. The biggest section was for Fuinjutsu, which was to be expected since all Namikazes were very skilled in that area of expertise.
The second level was a weapons storage and weapon forging area, if one were to guess looking at the various foals, anvils and tools. Most of the visible weapons were swords, some of them chained to the walls with various seals on them that intrigued Naruto, but he decided to inspect them at a later time.
The third floor was a dungeon area, with a dozen holding cells. They were in a surprising good condition, almost brand new, so either they were a recent addition or they were rarely used, which increased his good mood.
The fourth and final level of the basement was by far the best guarded. It had a seal like the one at the gate and sucked a good deal of chakra. When the circular door opened, Naruto had to shield his eyes from the sudden light. He had been using a basic Lux spell to light his way, so it came as a surprise that an underground chamber was so well illuminated.
The chamber was a perfect sphere with a suspended pathway leading from the entrance to the center of the chamber. As he got there, his eyes gradually adjusted to the light, enough to notice where it was coming from. The entire surface of the chamber' walls was covered in glowing seals. In the center of the spherical room was another sphere, made of glass, which contained a perfect model of the compound.
At first, Naruto thought of Eva' Resort, which he had heard so much about, but he dismissed the thought immediately since the landscape was different then the real one by the lack of overgrown plants. Still, it did show how the garden was supposed to look like and Naruto took the chance to memorize the image with the Sharingan. He then made a Kage Bunshin and relayed a message for the other clones that were done cleaning to stat working on the garden using the mental image of the model and the information they already had. He then dispelled it, thus giving the memories to both himself and the other clones.
But that wasn't all he noticed with the Sharingan. Thin invisible seals covered the surface of the glass sphere, the pattern being identical to the one on the walls around. He also noticed seven crystal marbles situated under the ground level of the compound that were glowing as well. Thinking about the fact that the compound had been impossible to enter until today, he realized that there had to be some sort of barrier around the property, and apparently this was a control room of sorts. But such a large structure must have required huge amounts of power to be maintained.
Then it hit him. If the seven spherical crystals were also present in real size underground, then they could only be for either channeling energy or absorbing it. In other words, those crystals were drawing energy from the earth itself to power the barrier. Ingenious.
When he relayed his theory to his tenants, they told his that the same theory had been used at Mahora, but using the World Tree' magic as power. Eva in particular knew all the details, since she had researched it for years because of the curse that held her there.
After he inspected the seals a little, he decided to see the upper levels as well. There over twenty bedrooms, the largest being the master bedroom at the third floor.
It has a large balcony facing the gate of the estate. There were several photos of his parents there; the last one seemed to have been taken when Kushina was pregnant. He took great pleasure in looking at each of them, laughing at the ones that featured Kushina making fun of Minato or the two eating ramen. At least he knew where he got those traits from.
He then decided to have an aerial look at the progress in the garden and was impressed to see that most of the weeds and excess grass was gone. The only places where the clones had avoided working too much were the rose bushes since they might have gotten dispelled because of the thorns. Deciding that a few clones were expendable since the worst part was over, Naruto yelled a few orders at the clones and soon enough the rose bushes were starting to look presentable. It was almost nighttime when the yard work was done, and it was only because Naruto had made another three hundred clones to speed up the process.
He had also sent a few Kage Bunshin at his apartment to pack hi things, or rather pick up the already filled containment scrolls. He had decided to stay in the master bedroom and had some clones gather his parents' personal items and seal then away. He also made sure that these were Kaze Bunshin, since he had a feeling that some things hidden in the drawers were not to be seen by kids. That had earned a few teasing remarks from the girls, but they had to admit that they would have done the same if it was their parents' room. He then proceeded to put his stuff away and settle in for the night. It had been a long day and he was very pleased of the way the future of the Fuhen clan looked.
Next time: Emergency Backup