"The Legacy Seal is based on Orochimaru's seal," Karin began. Both Sarutobi and Jiraiya listened intently. "As with the original seal the blood of the caster is a necessary component and allows him to detect and inflict harm on anyone bearing the seal. However my team and I were able to make a great many improvements upon the original version."

"You sound proud of yourself," Jiraiya noted.

Karun turned to him with a placid face. "I'm a professional, there is nothing wrong in doing the best you can at an assignment and in taking pride in your accomplishments."

"Please continue," Sarutobi said tightly.

"Of course Hokage-sama," she answered immediately. "The most important improvement is the fact the seal no longer has a 90 percent lethality rate to those who receive it. That was always the original seal's greatest weakness. That is the reason why there were never more than a handful of Sound ninja with the curse seal, and why the vast majority of those who attacked three years ago were ordinary shinobi."

"Which is no longer the case," Sarutobi commented. "What is this versions rate of lethality?"

"Zero," Karin answered. Then she thought for a moment. "Or a hundred, it depends on your viewpoint."

"Please explain."

"Essentially, applying the seal is done by inflicting a mortal wound on the subject. The jutsu is cast while a knife covered in ink is stabbed through the heart."

"What?" Jiraiya gasped. "Are you saying all those ninja out there are corpses?!" He well remembered the final show down with Orochimaru and how Minato and the first two Hokages were temporarily reanimated. To his relief Karin shook her head.

"No, they're alive. But only because of the seal. The moment the heart is stabbed it is healed by the seal which then spreads through the rest of the body. The core of the seal remains in the subject's heart though. Which means that without the seal the subject dies immediately. Once someone has the seal placed on them it cannot be removed without causing instant death."

Sarutobi shut his weary eyes, this was worse than he'd expected. "I have received reports from the field that some of the enemy we fought had Grass hitai-ites. Does this mean the Rain ninja are turning captured enemies into soldiers?"

Karin nodded. "The seal guarantees one hundred percent loyalty so yes. Another improvement is that the person whose blood is used can kill anyone with the seal with just a thought. Pein has also provided packets of his blood to his sub commanders so they too can kill anyone within sight with a special jutsu using the blood as a component."

"They obey or they die instantly," Jiraiya noted. "I bet that will keep them loyal."

"Yes," Karin said. "Another difference is that there is only one stage to the legacy seal. It is either active or not, there is no second level to it. There are also limits to how long the seal can remain active before the body starts to die. They can be used for a maximum of only several minutes, ten at the most, before the body simply fails. Recovery times are short though, so if there is time between activations, say at least an hour, the seal can be used multiple times in a single day."

"That is still a potential weakness," Sarutobi said hopefully. "If we can force them to remain with their seals active long enough they will die or revert back to human."

"The only problem is we have to keep them busy for that length of time." Jiraiya noted. "They seem able to do a lot of harm in a little time."

"True, but it is a weakness," Sarutobi said.

"Actually the seal has one more very significant draw back," Karin announced.

"Yes? What is it?" Sarutobi asked with interest.

"As with the original seal it affects the subject's mind. Only with much more pronounced results. The legacy seal has the side effect of causing insanity in the test subject."

"It drives them insane?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes," Karin answered in a detached clinical tone. "It progresses faster with prolonged use but I found that all subjects who have the seal become clinically insane with one year. I had one subject who escaped by the name of Yuzuru, he was quite psychotic and delusional."

Sarutobi recognized the name from a mission Naruto had gone on. Apparently the man had eaten a number of innocent victims while thinking them to be less than human. "I know that name, he went on an extended killing spree killing many innocent civilians." Sarutobi looked at her curiously. "If he could be killed instantly as you claim why wasn't he?"

"Once he escaped the facility I was able to convince Pein not to. I thought it would be an interesting experiment to see what the subject would do in an unstructured environment."

Sarutobi stared at her. She was talking about it as coolly and calmly as she might have been telling about some survey she'd conducted. "You allowed him to go about slaughtering people as part of an experiment?"

She nodded. "It was a rare opportunity to gather data on the results of long exposure to the seal. It would have been irresponsible not to have taken advantage of it."

He looked at the woman coldly. "Is there anything else you wish to tell me?"

"No Hokage-sama, if you will provide me with some of your blood I can begin mixing the special ink and teaching the jutsu."

"You expect us to use this seal?" Sarutobi said startled.

She looked at him in surprise. "Well of course. How else are you going to defeat Pein except by using it?"

"You just told us that anyone who gets this thing goes nuts within a year!" Jiraiya spat. "And you expect us to use it on our own people?"

"Pein has," she said coolly. "He knows the seal's faults, but he has made the calculation that he can conquer all of the elemental lands within the twelve month time frame. And the way he is going he seems well on the way."

"And then what?" Jiraiya demanded. "What happens if he does conquer everything? What happens a few months later when his entire force start to go mad?"

"Simple," Karin answered without blinking an eye. "He will kill them all with a thought. Once he has the whole world conquered he'll only need a much smaller force to police it. The next generation will not be given the seal. It was always his assumption he would have to sacrifice his entire force. He has deliberately not given his youngest ninja the seal in order to have them available after the war ends."

Sarutobi was stunned at how easily Karin accepted the idea of deliberately killing off all your own men in the hopes of winning greater power. As Hokage he had done many things he regretted. He'd ordered Itachi to exterminate his entire clan, sent ninja on suicide missions, ordered attacks in wartime that he knew would cause thousands of innocent deaths, but he had always done that to protect his village and his people. He could not imagine the sort of leader who could slaughter all of his men just to gain power for himself. And that someone like this woman could so easily accept that made him sick.

"You can go now, I am sure my researchers have many questions for you."

She nodded. "Yes Hokage-sama."

Once she had left his office Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya. "She is every bit as guilty of war crimes as Pein is, perhaps even more so. This vile weapon would not even exist if it weren't for her efforts."

"Does that mean you'll have her killed?" Jiraiya asked.

"No," Sarutobi said wearily. "I granted her a pardon, were I to ignore that I would be as bad as Orochimaru or Pein."

"Well that still leaves the problem of how we're supposed to fight this thing."

"I believe we have only one real hope for victory."

XXXXXXXXXX

Following their retreat from the forest the small Rain army had pitched camp in the ruins of a town they had passed through the day before. No doubt their stay would have been more pleasant if they had spared the town rather than burned it to the ground.

Naruto had still had 120 clones following them, keeping a careful eye on them. When they had camped he had kept a safe distance and noted the number of ninja they had patrolling the perimeter to guard their camp.

On the crest of a nearby hill several clones were looking through binoculars and making a careful study of the place. Once a clone was made there was no more connection to the thoughts of the original. When a clone was destroyed the original got all the memories, but that was the only communication. Which meant these clones were all on their own.

But of course they did all think like Naruto. At the moment Naruto was having a conversation with himself.

"Just six guards for the whole camp," one said.

"Pretty damn pathetic if you ask me," another clone said.

"Yeah!" Three others chimed in at once.

"So we're all in agreement?" The first one asked.

All the other Narutos nodded.

"Let's leave twenty out of it though so they can still be scouts." Another clone said.

Again heads bobbed up and down.

"Tonight, at 3 a.m." The first said decisively.

XXXXXXXXXX

One ninja sentry was slowly pacing back and forth just outside the burned out wreck of a town. He glanced down at his watch. It was three on the dot. He had one more hour before his shift ended. He put a hand to his mouth and covered up a yawn. He had never imagined they would ever retreat. Since the war began he'd seen nothing but one glorious victory after another as they'd swept aside the Grass nin and even burned down their village after their last stand had been wiped out.

The oh so powerful Leaf nin had been no match for them either. They had fought better than the Grass nin had. They'd been beaten but not crushed. Then going through that damn forest they had run into a bunch of cowardly traps and ambushes. Only weaklings and cowards had to fight that way! That was what the fearsome Leaf ninja had been reduced to, cowardly attacks with clones and hidden traps. Well those could never be more than a nuisance; you couldn't win a war that way.

That was what he was thinking when a hand slapped over his mouth. A kunai went into the back of his skull, turning him off like a light.

XXXXXXXXXX

"The night is the time of the assassin," Itachi had told him. "No matter how powerful or fearsome your opponent if you can strike him in a vital spot he will die like any ordinary man."

As Naruto pulled his kunai back out He made sure to keep his other hand firmly over the man's mouth. He jerked a bit as he died but did not make a sound. Naruto carefully set him down.

All around the perimeter of the camp five other guards were meeting similar ends. The rain ninja obviously felt themselves to be secure if they had only a handful of sentries. All their victories had convinced them they were safe. That no one would dare attack them.

Naruto smiled. They were about to get one very rude lesson in what happens when you go to war with Konoha. He made a signal. Out of the tall grass twenty figures got up and silently ran forward into the now undefended town. No sound and no trace of chakra came from any of them. They slid into the shadows as easily and naturally as Itachi-sensei could have wanted. He was using everything he'd been taught in the last year.

XXXXXXXXXX

The door to a relatively intact building opened, it was not locked. From earlier surveillance he had picked out five spots where he believed the Rain nin were gathered. Quickly and quietly ten shadow clones walked into the darkened building. Naruto was extremely happy to see twenty sleeping bags laid out with men asleep in all of them.

"Who's there?" Someone who was still awake called out.

Naruto answered, making the first bit of noise he had since entering the town. "The Lord Hokage sends you his greetings."

Then he and the other nine clones all poured chakra into their explosive notes.

XXXXXXXXXX

Throughout the town five huge explosions went off in almost the same instant, killing about half the enemy ninja. Men began pouring out into the street in confusion shouting and asking what was happening. As they did so the other fifty clones that had spread out through the town began to pick them off one by one. Most of them died without ever knowing they were in danger.

When morning came only 33 of them were left alive.

XXXXXXXXXX

That morning Naruto was eagerly updating Kakashi and the others about what his clones had done when Jiraiya arrived on the back of a toad.

"Hey ero-sennin!" Naruto shouted. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Have you come to take over command of the army?" Kakashi asked eagerly.

"Sorry Kakashi, I'm actually here to bring Naruto back to Konoha with me."

"WHAT?!!" Naruto screamed. "You want me to leave the army when we're at WAR?!"

"I know we're at war kid!" Jiraiya snapped at him. "The Hokage has ordered me personally to come get you. There's a special job that only you can do and the fate of the village depends on it!"

Naruto blinked at that. He couldn't really argue if the old man wanted him for a special mission.

The two of them headed back to Konoha.

XXXXXXXXXX

Late that day Pein received a messenger bird from his army in Grass. What he read there caught him by surprise. Apparently after conquering all of Grass and defeating the leaf in a battle his army there had been nearly wiped out by a single ninja.

Uzumaki Naruto.

"Interesting," he said aloud.

"What's that?" Konnan asked.

"It seems my army in Grass has run into some difficulties." He spoke without any worry in his voice. "It looks as though conquering Fire country will have to wait until we are done here."

She shrugged. "You didn't expect it to be easy."

"No, and it really does not matter." He began writing out orders for his Grass army to simply hold in place. He would send them a couple hundred men for reinforcement. "In truth I prefer it this way. I want to be there to see Konoha burn with my own eyes."