Chapter 40: Weaponry of a new Age

Tadashi was silently cursing himself. All he had wanted, was to find out where his sister was and get her home. Now, he had found her but instead of taking her home he was escorting another nations prince. At least the bald guy wasn't wasting their time talking.

No, instead he was constantly bumping into the wall even though Tadashi was holding his hand.

When they would finally reach upstairs, they would surely run into some guards.

The top of the stairs was dark. A thick wooden panel was blocking the exit of the stairs.

"Careful, it's steep," Tadashi whispered towards Shizumasa, slowly lowering his arms. He let go of the blind ones hand and started to climb up.

"I know," Shizumasa whispered back. He seemed reluctant at first, but when he felt the wood beneath his hands, he quickly followed the other guy.

"Be careful. There should be a small hole from which you can see the corridor. Look through it before-"

"I still have my eyes," Tadashi grunted.

"…"

The red head closed his right eye, trying to see whatever was behind the wooden panel with his other one.

He saw a brightly lit corridor. The floor was dark, perfectly polished wood. The walls were thick paper. It was dead silent.

"Nobody is there. We can get out."

He was about to shove the wood panel aside, when Shizumasa tickled him.

"Stop that," the red head hissed.

"Sorry I didn't mean to do that," Shizumasa grunted and took hold of Tadashi's foot, "but you shouldn't get out just yet. We cannot hide anywhere as soon as we leave these stairs, you get that?"

For a second Tadashi thought about it. Shizumasa was right, he knew that. But he was thirteen. He didn't care whether anyone was right as long as he himself was wrong. Therefore, he responded in the manner, he thought suited the situation best:

"I can see that there is no one and I know it's alright to leave. What do I care if you stay here! How about it: I'll just leave you here and get back down where I really belong since I'm only here to get my sister back home-"

He would have ranted on, but Shizumasa quickly pulled on his foot. The redhead came crashing down. He hadn't anticipated this.

His fall came to a sudden halt though, when the prince caught him and put a hand over his mouth before Tadashi could utter a word of complaint.

"Shhhh," Shizumasa whispered.

Tadashi listened. There were footsteps, slowly getting louder and closer to them. After some seconds they were finally crossing in front of the wooden panel.

"They are fighting downstairs," a man shouted.

"Who? This is insane!"

"I bet Sano just drunk too much and Hajime is trying to calm him down," someone laughed.

"Shut up. This might as well be an invading force of Konoha shinobi. Be prepared."

"You think those kids were actually up to…"

The two boys couldn't hear the rest. With the footsteps, the voices faded away.

Shizumasa held Tadashi tight for just a second longer. Upon his release, the red head started coughing.

"Were you trying to choke me," he hissed and started climbing upstairs again.

"There will be more of them."

"I know… I know…" Tadashi was grinding his teeth. Oh how he hated being wrong.

After evaluating if there really was nobody in the corridor, they finally exited the narrow staircase and turned to the right.

Shizumasa climbed after him. He remembered this place.

His room was one floor down (the official stairs would have been to their left). It was a nice room. Shizumasa always kept it clean. But he usually didn't dwell in there. The room was simple, tatami mats on the ground, paper walls and nothing but a scroll and parchment on the wall. At night a servant girl would always prepare a fine futon and bring him food for the night.

But Shizumasa wouldn't return from official duties or training with his sword until it was late and his food was cold, the incense burned. What did it matter. He wouldn't ever see that room again.

The lordling shook his head. There were more important things to think about now.

"Where are we going now," Tadashi whispered.

"We need to find my brother. He should be up ahead, two rooms from here. There will be guards. Most likely."

Tadashi nodded and quickly remembered that his companion couldn't see him.

"Yeah," he grit his teeth, "let's go and do this."

Even at night, the Konoha research lab was full of people. Some of them were testing new gear, trying to find the perfect shape for a kunai in the wind tunnel. Others were testing jackets. Were they knife prove? Others were working on minimizing the weight of the gear and so on.

A young lady with dirty blonde hair wearing a lab coat greeted the Hokage as he entered the facility. What had once been a nerdy little girl, had become a fully grown woman with an hour glass figure. She ignored the Hokages advisor (he had once rejected her by not noticing how much she liked him) and started to explain the Hokage their research results

"… therefore we concluded, what we were given is not just some instrument, but much rather… well, the word that comes to mind is weapon but.. a weird weapon," she concluded as they reached a heavily guarded door.

Shiho tipped a code into a pad and it slowly opened

"What do you mean, a weird weapon? What is it? How can a weapon be weird," Naruto was confused, "a weapon is a weapon, right?" He looked at Shikamaru, but the adviser simply narrowed his eyes.

"Shiho… what did Sasuke send you," he asked.

The blonde just raised her brows, "as if you would care, Mr. I'm-too-dumb-to-see-a-girl-likes-me. Please, Lord Hokage," she bowed to Naruto, "please enter."

As he did as asked, there was a loud bang. Naruto covered his ears with his hands. What the hell?!

Another bang. And another one.

What was before them, was a man holding the thin metal pipe with levers Sasuke had sent them. He held the longer part away from this face but held the curved part close. The part was glowing icy blue, though it's glow wasn't as bright as it had been when Naruto had touched it first.

"Lord Hokage, we are pleased to tell you: We know how this thing works," Shiho proudly exclaimed. She took the thing from the other man and showed it to Naruto.

"If you point it at the wall," which she did, "and pull this lever here-"

Instead of her words, there was another huge bang and a hole had formed in the wall across the hall.

"What the hell is this," Naruto gasped

"We don't know," Shiho shrugged. She put the tube down on a table, "what we do know is, this thing is powered with chakra. You can remove the glowing part by pulling this lever," she pulled it, "and you can refill it with your own chakra. If you are capable."

"If you are capable," Shikamaru came closer.

"This little… bottle, if we may call it," Shiho showed them the glowing part she had extracted from the tube, "contains a years' worth of chakra. Like… you know how using the Kyubis powers wrong shortens your life," she looked at Naruto who nodded, "it's the same with this: If you want to fill this bottle, you shorten your life by a year. Not speaking of the other problem: Nobody has that much chakra at once at hand to put into this thing. But," she shrugged, "all we can do is estimate the amount of chakra needed. But oh well… And then," she picked the metal thing up again, "look at this engineering. It's rather complicated, but you can change the amount of chakra you shoot out at once, you can change the shape it shoots out and the speed I have never seen anything like this before. It's completely new."

"So… this may sound stupid, but… what exactly are we looking at," Naruto scratched his chin. He had an idea what the answer might be, but he hoped it was something else.

"I'd say…," Shiho took a deep breath, "I'd call it a weapon. I mean… with this, everybody could shoot your signature rasengan – and they don't even need chakra or any battle skills at all. You just point and pull this lever." She turned around and pointed at the wall. There were holes in it.

"Imagine if we had… is shot the right word? Imagine if we had shot this condensed chakra at a human. This thing here," she put it down, "can kill easily a hundred people. If a skilled hand uses it."

Shikamaru was stroking his beard. Where the hell did Sasuke get his hands on this? Had this something to do with the weapons trading route they had destroyed two years ago? Who could engineer such a thing? Heck, who would think of producing such a weapon? And why? And where did they get the chakra from? Were they harvesting it? Maybe, but… wouldn't that produce masses of dead people?

"Are you all right," Naruto looked worried, "Shikamaru… every time you think, you look like you are trying to tell Temari-san that you made out with a beer bottle."

Shikamaru glared at him, "we need more information… And you are not funny. Not that this is anything you should make jokes about. This-"

"…is a serious situation," Naruto cut in. "But we lack information. I think the best thing to do is to keep quiet about this weapon. We don't want the wrong people get their hands on this. Shikamaru, do we have the capacities to send Sasuke help down there? He asked for someone to pick up information. And maybe we can send him somebody who can accompany him and focus on finding the source of this… weapon."

The adviser nodded, "yeah we can and we should send someone down there. I'll prepare a list with possible candidates. It'll be ready tomorrow afternoon. Do you have a date in mind, when you want to start this mission?"

"Not yet… Let's talk about this tomorrow afternoon… Meanwhile," the Hokage turned to Shiho, "please lock this thing away. We cannot have it lying around. Make sure nobody except for the four of us know about this and don't tell anybody but Shikamaru, where you have locked it away."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shiho nodded. She picked up a heavy looking metal box from the ground and carefully placed the weapon in it, only to close the lid and lock it.

"Here, take the key," she gave it to the advisor, "I'll tell you later, where we have stored this."

Shikamaru nodded. He placed the key safely in this inner jackets pocket. Together with Naruto he turned to leave.

"So… we are late but we might still make it to the meeting with the landlord after all," Shikamaru reminded the Hokage as they left the building.

"Are you sure? It's late already… I mean… Do I have to? Can't we reschedule? To a time when I'm not upbeat tired?"

"You are really whiny. Where is the guy that fought three days straight? First two Kage, then a whole army of white Zetsu and even the strongest Shinobi that ever lived? Where is the guy that after all that still had the energy to go toe to toe with Sasuke Uchiha, the only guy stronger than any previous opponent? I have seen what you can do. A meeting like this should be nothing to you," Shikamaru mocked.

"You don't get it, do you… This is not about physical strength. This is about emotional and mental power. And right now, I couldn't imagine leading a negotiation! I'm-"

"Stop whining and get your live together!"

"But I-"

"Hokage-sama!"

One of the officers from the Hokage bureau came running towards them.

"Please, we need your help!

"What happened," Naruto looked at him bewildered. The guy had to catch his breath first and the Hokage patted him on the back, "what's going on Toshio?"

"I… We… there is a call for you – in the office – on the official line!"

"And..?"

"It's some crazy woman," Toshio had finally found his composure again, "she is yelling and telling us to get you on the line! She demands to talk to you-"

"I'm out of office and she cannot demand to talk to me. You know that," Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, I know that! But she told us to fuck off and get you on the phone. She said it's about your son…"

Naruto sighed. For a second he had thought that the evening couldn't get any worse. For a second. But no. It just did.

"How is the person calling us called?"

"She said, her name is Kajihara, Kajihara Ako and she says she is your sons teacher, but in that case she would call with an official phone or would at least know your direct line-"

Toshio didn't get to finish his sentence, because Naruto was already jumping back to his office. He had no idea why Ako would call him at night, but with that son of his, anything was possible.

As soon as he arrived, Naruto picked up one of the ringing phones standing around. "This is the Hokage office, Naruto speaking?"

"Holy shit finally, Hokage-sama," an exhausted sounding Ako almost yelled into the phone.

"Yes Ako, it's me. I can hear you perfectly – what do you need? Didn't you visit Keishi City with Bolt and Sarada?"

"Yes, we were there. We even found Shizumasa but that's not really important – you need to come here! Bring as many skilled fighters and medics as you can! And be quick about it! I'm going to meet you halfway between Konoha and Keishi. If you leave now, you'll be able to stop it! It's-"

"Calm down," Naruto tried to stop her erratic rant, "first: what happened. Second: What do you need? Third: Where do you need it?"

Ako was silent on the phone for one second.

"We have sufficient evidence to suspect that crown prince Murasaki is planning on killing his father, our Daimyo. He also plans to take the title for himself and take back all the reformations you and the current lord of the fire country have started, like the democracy movement. He also wants to cut your power and, should you not agree with him, take away all your power as the Hokage. We have the word from your son Bolt and the Kazekages son Tadashi Sabakuno. They heard it themselves. We also found Shizumasa, the Daimyos third son. He confirmed it.

We need strong fighters to protect the Daimyo and we need medical help to take care of Shizumasa and any other injured, that might occur in the upcoming fight.

Please hurry and get directly to the palace. I will meet you half way in the village of turtles and lead you to the location," Ako had spoken quickly, but calm. She needed the Hokage to understand how urgent this all was.

"What about the Daimyos guard? They are all highly capable shinobi from our village," Shikamaru had finally arrived after Naruto.

"We cannot be sure they are still on our side. Reportingly, they have helped the crown prince ditch Shizumasa. The only one we are currently sure that she is on our side is Mirai Sarutobi. I left her with the children. But who knows how long she can hold them back. They want to help…"

"We can't let them endanger themselves," Naruto nodded towards Shikamaru. The advisor had understood and was already calling together a hand full of fighters and medics. "Please go back and make sure the children don't interfere with this. This situation needs adult attention!"

"… that won't do…" Ako sighed into the phone.

"What happened?"

"Mirai texted me. The kids are gone. I'll be heading to the palace and try to contain the damage to a minimum. I'm sure you can find the palace yourself. Please hurry!"

And with that she was gone.

Naruto put the phone down too.

He was tired. But the night had just started.

"Shikamaru… please reschedule the meeting with the landlord. We are going to save the Daimyo."

End of Chapter 40

Well people. I have nothing to say for myself.

I stopped updating because I got my very first job and it was in the industry and I for one feared, that me having written fanfiction for one of the biggest IPs out there, might be a problem. But also because the job I told myself I had to love, was very exhausting. It demanded everything from me - physical and emotional energy. There just was no more room for anything but work and getting along with my abusing coworkers, who were the only people I knew in the small town I moved to.
I'm better now. I quit last december, moved back in with my parents and am about to move into my very own flat - Covid-19 or not. :) But this time, I'm not going too far away. It's a city. And in my new job, I actually have people looking out for me. Someone who values that I am giving my very best. And that (so far) feels great.

Concerning this story: I know exactly, what I had planned to do here. The beginning, middle and end had been planned long before I got to the chunin exams. What I cannot do though, is write it all out. I have been keeping up a tad bit with "Boruto" and to be frank - I hate what they are doing with the universe and the characters. I really hate it. But of course, if you enjoy it, please do. Just because I don't like something, it doesn't mean, that you can't.
But those developements have soured the franchise for me. Beloved characters have changed a bit too much for my taste and my general enthusiasm for it has died down.
My plan is to finish up this arc, which would be the halfway point of this work and a satisfying end, I think. And I am thinking about posting an epilogue in the style of a history book, detailing how I would have finished this story. The second act, so to speak.

To anyone still reading - thank you so much. I truly appreciate it. And perhaps a heads up: I wrote this chapters four years ago. My English has hopefully improved since then, my style change by a marging perhaps.
I'd be delighted to be able to entertain you until the very end. 10 more chapters to go, I think.
Let's end this on a high note!

Greetings to all of you - stay safe, stay healthy!

Usagi