Playing Blind
Chapter 9,
I do not own anything pertaining to either Naruto or The Gamer.
《PB》
The celebrations went on well into the night, and I was forced to retire when everyone currently residing in the Ichigeki household finally called it quits. Inari had fallen asleep crying in his mother's arms, though they weren't tears of sadness.
Everyone was in much better spirits now that the shadow of Gatou no longer loomed over them, his body still bound to the tree I grew specially just for him, since trees don't usually have large, phallus shaped pegs to hold a man in position in a very specific fashion that I don't really want to acknowledge consciously.
I'm sure Zabuza knows that I was successful by now, but I just don't feel like dealing with him at the moment. My head just isn't in the best place to be bargaining for his cooperation.
So instead, I once more took my place on the roof of the Ichigeki household after repossessing Haku from Karin to allow my apprentice to rest. Team Eight had settled into a proper search and patrol routine, so I allowed my guard to slip a bit while I tried to mentally process the events that had transpired in the last few hours. First thing is first, however, is checking out the skill tome that I just recieved, and that other skill book I completely forgot about.
Well, let's see here…
I pull the rather large tome from my inventory, too hefty to be a book but too small to be a grimoire, and immediately see a window pop up in my periphery.
[Do you wish to learn the skill: Seal Projection]
[Y]/[N]
I obviously select 'Yes', but another window pops up soon after that bums me out.
[Unable to learn: Fuinjutsu Mastery must be at level 100 to learn this skill!]
Welp, should have seen that coming. How about that other one, then?
[Do you wish to learn the skill: Kami-e]
[Y]/[N]
I once more select 'Yes' mentally, and once more I am met with a rejection screen.
[Unable to learn skill: skill requires 75 DEX to learn!]
"What, exactly, are you trying to do?" I hear Haku question as I throw the book back into my inventory, "Where did that book just go? What?"
"Yeah, I can bend space and time, forgot to mention that." I say while causally scratching my chin, deciding to have fun messing with Haku's mind like they did me for years in my past life. "I can also do magic tricks, like pulling apples out of people's ears."
"That sounds preposterous." Haku says after a moment of silence, "I believe you."
"Oh? Glad you do." I admit while reaching over and pretending to pluck a [Pearl Apple] from behind their ear, "Hmm, a little strange colored, but it looks fine to me otherwise."
"It's… pretty." Haku admits in a tone that was as confused as they come, "Why does it look like that?"
"Oh, I grew them specially, they restore Chakra at a strong rate for an hour. One of these bad boys will keep you training when you should have burned your coils out." I say while offering it out for Haku to take, who looked down at their bound arms and legs before looking back at me in an unamused fashion. "Oh, right. I'll just feed you, then, no biggie. We'll be going to talk to your master in the morning, so you'll just have to put up with me for a few hours more."
"You know, this has been an enlightening experience." Haku admits after hesitantly taking a bite of the apple I was offering after I held it near to their mouth, "I was expecting… well, much worse treatment, especially since the last thing I remember is you blowing off my arm before I woke up wrapped in chains."
"Well if you haven't noticed by now, I reattached your arm. Sorry about that, by the way, my clone was just following orders and I desperately needed a way to get Zabuza to stand down." I say after a few moments of silence, now knowing probably exactly what kind of treatment Haku was talking about after all of the shit I've seen tonight. "I still don't even know if you're a boy or a girl, so obviously I respect your privacy enough to have to ask instead of just checking for myself when I could."
"And why is that, anyway?" Haku questions while completely avoiding the topic of their gender, "why not just figure it out yourself?"
"Is that an offer, sweet cheeks? Just a warning, I'm into women exclusively, but I may just make an exception for you." I tease, knowing good and goddamn well I was lying through my teeth.
I seriously need to get laid or something, this pent up energy is just insane. Uzumaki virility will never cease to amaze me, this isn't at all what it was like dealing with during puberty in my past life.
[+100 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]
"I, you… that's not very funny, you shouldn't be so crass." Haku stammers after I grin knowingly when they fail to provide an immediate answer, "And here I thought I was starting to somewhat enjoy your company."
"Oh come on, snowball, you don't want to ride the Uzumaki Express? I hear it's the trip of a lifetime." I continue to tease, causing Haku to huff and turn their head in embarrassment. "Fine, fine, but if you ever change your mind…"
When it becomes clear that Haku now has far too much on their mind to be good conversation, unless I want to keep going and melt their brain, that is, I should probably check out my stat page and figure that out while I have a few moments.
[Stats]'
[Stats]
Name: Nemui
Title: Chishio no Nemui
Level: 42 [33,721/60,240]
Race: Human
Clan: [Uzumaki]
Class: [Ronin],[Sage],[?]
HP: 310,002/310,002 [+9/s]
CP: 37,684/37,684 [+10/s]/[-20/5s]
CC: 100%
VIT: 121
END: 61
STR: 50
DEX: 50
INT: 100
WIS: 29
LUK: 20
Ryo: 62,918,230
SP Available: 42
Hmm, not bad, but I'm getting rather annoyed by my wisdom no longer going up.
The way my stats break down, I'm starting to wonder if my health regeneration speed is tied into endurance while my chakra recovery rate is tied into wisdom. That's how it usually works with [Gamer]'s, right?
To test my theory, I say fuck it and dump twenty one points into wisdom before accepting the changes and dismissing the menu.
[For reaching 50 in WIS, you have been awarded a random perk from the WIS category!]
[Perk list updated!]
A quick check of my rather impressive perk list revealed a gem that was almost enough to be classified as broken.
[Combat Meditation] - [Permanently increases the User's base Chakra recovery to 5% a minute.]
Five percent a minute.
That means that my Chakra recovers completely in twenty minutes flat, no matter how high my reserves go.
Hell, that means my recovery is around thirty a second or something like that? I'd have to write it all out to see the math involved, but that sounds about right since I currently have thirty thousand points in Chakra.
Holy shit, I can spend my Chakra at a ridiculous rate with this perk!
Wait, that actually means I recover around a hundred and fifty points a second when I activate [Kuji-Kiri], since it increases my recovery rate by five hundred and thirty percent at level thirty three.
Holy shit, that's a lot of Chakra.
If I could grind [Yoton:Rin] to level one hundred, it would cost me fifty points a second to keep active, which I will inevitably reach if my potential for growth is truly unlimited.
I'll eventually be able to keep skills like that going indefinitely, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. What about lightning armor? Sage Mode? Body expansion?
How many of these skills can I get up and running at once, anyway? Would they even stack like I theorize they can?
Damn, I sure wish Tsunade had taught me that one seal she uses to store her spare Chakra, do you know how broken that skill would be right now?
"What exactly did you just do?" Haku questions after a moment of silence, "I don't notice anything obvious, but I swear I just felt something about you change."
Oh, I almost forgot Haku was still here. Hmm, I should probably wait to do anything else crazy around them until I can buy their masters loyalty, but this also provides me a chance to learn a few skills from Haku without having to give up my own.
It turns out [Psychometry] works on people, too, after I was forced to use it on Gatou on our way back to Sector One to double check if he was lying to me or not, since I only knew it would work in theory and not practice and needed to be sure.
As expected, the coward was lying and had a few boobie trapped vaults he was hoping I'd die checking.
I decide to say fuck it yet again and force the chains around Haku to drag them closer so I don't have yo get up from my comfortable spot leaning against the chimney, causing them to squawk indignantly before questioning what I was doing once more.
They go quiet when I place my index finger on their forehead and activate [Psychometry] for the first time, drawing their memories from their early childhood in and subsuming them as my own. The conflicting memories were jarring at first, but my mind seemed to comprehend their foreign status and stored them away in a manner that doesn't cause an identity crisis.
The second use started to paint a more thorough picture of their early childhood and the death of her father at… her hands.
Hah! I fucking knew you weren't a guy you filthy liar!
I was almost tempted to stop there, but I persist and begin to receive skills for my effort, like… [Gender Obfuscation]?
What.
Okay, well that info dump was particularly enlightening, and now I know I can go and activate my Trap Card whenever I want, but overall, useless to me.
[Futon Chakra Mastery] and [Hyouton Chakra Mastery], however, were immediately more useful.
Much, much more useful, as the sixth and seventh usage of [Psychometry] increased [Hyouton Chakra Mastery] to level twenty seven and gave me [Stealth Mastery] and [Assassination Mastery] as well.
Why the fuck is there an [Assassination Mastery] skill?
How does that even deserve a skill?
Well, regardless, I seem to now have skills that passively make me sneakier and better at assassinating people, which is just a whole can of worms in and of itself. That's cool.
I'm the most ninja-like hobo ever, and you can believe that.
By the eighth, ninth and tenth use of [Psychometry], there was nothing that Haku knew that I couldn't replicate myself, including her [Demonic Ice Mirrors], which was always one of my favorite techniques from the series I've found myself now a part of in an odd and rather unwanted way.
Distance only makes the heart grow fonder and holy fuck was I missing my bed right about now.
Unfortunately, I can't really afford to sleep again for at least a few more days, so until then, I've got some new skills to get good with.
Haku didn't know what to say when I started my [Hyouton Chakra Mastery] training by turning [Kirigakure no Jutsu] into [Fubukigakure no Jutsu], nor did the residences of the Ichigeki household when I basically summoned a thick blizzard on top of their heads.
Oh man, making new jutsu is really turning into a hobby. This is just fun.
"Come on, sweet cheeks, let's go make a snowman. Hmm, now where did I put that carrot Karin threw at me yesterday…?"
"...how?"
Some questions, Haku, are best left unanswered.
"Because I can, and snowmen are awesome."
This wasn't one of them.
"That isn't…"
Ah, I just love breaking people.
"Why in the super fuck is it snowing?! It's July, and in Nami! I CAN'T SEE SHIT, WHERE AM I?!"
Oh, I forgot Tazuna was out here sitting out by where they buried Kaiza. Sorry old man, not sorry.
[PB]
After having fun with Haku in the snow for a few hours, the rest of my night was spent trying to animate my snowmen to become a nightmarish instant army skill, but sadly I could only create [Snow Clones] and [Ice Clones] based on my understanding of Hyouton Chakra as it is now.
That said, it's still pretty useful because I can just cause them to explode outwards in ice spikes, and if I can figure out how to mix Ice Clones and Shadow Clones in the future, their durability would increase exponentially, since they would have a solid exterior and not a thin shell of Chakra to take the hits my enemies can and will dish out.
Now if only I can create clones that could hold more than five hundred points of Chakra, that would be fucking rad.
Outside of recreating new jutsu and having my now fifty Shadow Clones working on various skills to bring my mastery levels up, I started working on an economic plan for Nami's recovery that should, in theory, turn this country into a financial powerhouse within the next few months, let alone years.
Since I now own Gatou's assets and the deed to his company, I am technically the de facto leader of Nami now, and if I'm going to rule a nation, I'm going to do it right.
That is, of course, as long as it benefits me in some way. I'm not selfless enough to dedicate the rest of my life to these people without getting something out of it, not when I have so many women to meet and places to discover still.
And jutsu to learn, I guess, but if I don't get laid sometime soon, I could actually explode, so getting laid is obviously going to be at the top of my list.
What am I at, three weeks without rubbing one out? With these genetics? Fuck all that, man, it ain't fun or pleasant.
My building sexual tension and fears about my stunted emotional capacity aside, I'm confident in my ability to drag this country into the twenty first century kicking and screaming, since that's the best way to do anything. Luckily, the cotton gin and the printing press are already things, as are distilleries, so mass producing poorly reproduced books, whiskey and other very necessary commodities from Earth shouldn't be too difficult to get started.
Or any plant based goods, either, like tobacco or hemp. And food, too, I guess, since I probably should make sure my people actually eat.
I know I probably shouldn't pick up smoking, but it's a familiar habit and damn do I want to regardless.
So, the first thing I did after passing Haku over to Karin to babysit for a few more hours while I handled business was track down a hungover Tazuna and convince him to introduce me to his more entrepreneurial friends. It turns out that quite a few were smart enough to manage the projects I have in mind, and judicious use of [Observe] made sure none were foolish enough to try to fuck me over.
Once word had started to spread that I was bankrolling projects that were aimed towards the immediate benefit of those who needed it most, such as vertical farming operations in unused warehouses to kickstart year-round food production, I had people swarming me and asking for help in no time.
It wasn't long after that those same people chosen to represent the civilian body of Nami had an emergency meeting to effectively name me leader of Nami's new executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.
My new title to go with the position, however, was not Daimyo like I expected it to be.
[Congratulations! As a result of gaining prestige and displays of martial prowess, your 《Ronin》 class has evolved to 《Shogun》!]
I'm pretty much a Warlord now, though I'm not sure if it's actually beneficial to me in any way, since I have no idea what my class skills or benefits even are in the first place.
Nice.
[PB]
Haku jittered nervously as Karin and I touched down after flying her over the slums of Sector Seven on my back not long after we finally convinced her to tell us where Zabuza was holed up.
Finding out that an angry man with a giant sword fetish was hanging out just past a place called Sector Seven had actually made me genuinely laugh for the first time in what felt like weeks, but had generally left Haku and Karin confused since they wouldn't understand the irony here in the first place.
I didn't even know how to explain to them that finding a man with spiky hair and a love for all things big and slicey in an area called Sector Seven wasn't all that surprising to me, so I didn't bother and left them to question my sanity in silence as we flew.
Zabuza was outside his hideout waiting for us, unsurprisingly.
He immediately clammed up when he noticed Karin and his Chakra did a weird little loopdiloop.
"My god there's fucking two of them…" I faintly hear, his whisper carried by the wind.
Oh, good, I don't have to point out the obvious here, then.
"Good morning to you too, Zabuza." I say while gently urging Haku forward until my party of two plus my hostage came to a rest just outside of Zabuza's comfort zone. "I come bearing good news, and a gift, no need to be so tense."
"You didn't fucking tell me you had another Uzumaki with you, you twisted freak." Zabuza growls lowly while jerking his head towards the ground, "Now give me my fucking weapon back, and the sword too."
I feel Haku wince slightly under the chains, so I pat her shoulder comfortingly to immediately show a contrast between how Zabuza and I approach our apprentices.
[+10 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]
I'm going to steal your tool from you at this rate, Zabuza, you better watch out.
"And have you attack me before at least hearing what I say? Highly fucking unlikely." I shrug casually before using [Mokuton Chakra Manipulation] and [Shape Manipulation] to grow four chairs of wood from the ground, causing Zabuza's already panicked-feeling Chakra to start doing things I've never sensed before in a person.
Having your Chakra doing all that surely can't be healthy, he should probably stop that.
"Did you.. is that fucking Mokuton?" Zabuza asks breathlessly, causing me to nod and gesture for him to take the seat, which he did without further comment as Karin, Haku and I sat down as well.
"As you can see, I was holding back severely the last time we fought, please do not mistake my kindness for weakness." I start slowly with a good, old fashioned bluff that I just dare Zabuza to call after he saw me use such an exclusive Chakra nature. "That being said, I am here to negotiate a contract with you, if you would be interested in listening to my proposal before outright denying me?"
When Zabuza made no motion to argue or leave, still likely thunderstruck that he had an Uzumaki capable of wielding the fabled Mokuton Kekkai Tota sitting in front of him, I continued where I left off.
"My name is Nemui Uzumaki, and my goal for the future is to end the many threats plaguing these lands before they can end all of us. This includes Yagura, and the man currently controlling him like a puppet, obviously." I finally say after mulling over the many options available to me, as far as explaining my goals go.
Zabuza and Haku both suck in a sharp breath upon hearing me say Yagura is being controlled like a puppet, but neither argue against my admission, meaning they likely already theorized as much.
"Obviously, I'm not strong enough on my own to deal with all of the threats we as a species currently face as of this moment, only most, hence why I wish to recruit you and Haku to my cause. In return for your allegiance, I am more than willing to not only bankroll the ongoing rebellion in Mizu, I am willing to personally help take down Yagura and instill you as Godaime Mizukage, should you take my offer." I finish while dangling multiple pieces of bait for Zabuza to latch onto, just in case one doesn't work.
"You're being serious right now." Zabuza says after a moment nearly breathlessly, "I couldn't detect a single lie in your voice, but that doesn't mean I believe you. Tell me, why do you believe Yagura is being controlled?"
"I don't think he is being controlled, I know he is, and by whom." I shrug in response, knowing that I can't just put and say who is controlling him yet until I was strong enough to take Obito down permanently, "Their name is irrelevant, just know that I plan on killing them in the very near future after dealing with their puppet."
Sadly, I cannot offer any more proof than my word alone, but that seems to be enough for Zabuza, for now.
"And this puppet master is somehow a threat to our entire species?" Zabuza questions after a moment in confusion, "Yagura is powerful, but I wouldn't consider him extinction levels powerful."
"Oh, Yagura isn't. Hell, the person controlling them isn't either, but the person they work for is, and the person they are trying to resurrect, even more so." I elaborate while deciding to throw Zabuza a bone, "surely you've heard the name Madara Uchiha before, yes?"
"No fucking way…" Zabuza flinches slightly at the thought of someone like Madara still being around, "are you being serious right now?"
"Dead fucking serious, Zabuza. There is a man out there, right now, controlling Yagura, who plans on reviving Madara fucking Uchiha using Edo Tensei, and I need your help stopping them before they jump start the end of the world." I lean back in my rather uncomfortable chair while pretending to inspect my fingernails, "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm glad Madara is dead, and I have absolutely no desire to see that mad man be reborn."
"... Why should I believe a word you have to say?" Zabuza questions almost petulantly after a moment, his Chakra smoothing out and becoming as calm as it could be after having S-ranked information being dropped on his head casually, "How would you even benefit from my help against someone like that?"
"Didn't you hear me, Zabuza? I cannot do everything alone, and having the help of someone like the Demon of the Mist can surely only help. I've got more than enough money to pay you off and more than enough knowledge to turn you into an S-rank threat in less than a month, should you decide to throw your weight in with Team Uzu." I once more shrug while gesturing towards Karin, "In less than a month, I've turned my apprentice from a budding Genin to high Chuunin as far as power scaling goes, and I've only taught her a portion of what I know. Imagine what a Jounin can do with my help."
"Brat, you think I care about power? I don't give a shit if you can turn me into a Kage over night, just give me a good god damn reason I should work with a fucking Uzumaki of all people." Zabuza growls slowly, causing me to ponder just what it was my clan had done to this man in the past. "I was twelve years old when I first met one of you monsters. That bitch, the fucking habanero, turned my Sensei into minced meat with her chains. I only survived that encounter by hiding beneath his corpse and praying she would spare me. Now, tell me, why should I agree to fucking work with you? Huh?"
Ah, okay, I'm not letting this one slide. Nope, gonna have to shut down that line of thinking now.
"So this was after you personally slaughtered every single person in Kiri's academy while not even being an official student, right? Do you even have a right to complain about an Uzumaki killing your Sensei, let alone Kushina of all people? Did your Sensei happen to participate in the sacking of Uzushio, by any chance?" I question with a bit of heat to my tone, causing Zabuza to lean back in his chair as he seems to realize he was talking to someone who knew their history, "Look, join me or don't, I really couldn't care less, but one way or another, I'm going to kill Yagura and I'm going to steal the Sanbi, no matter what. It would be prudent of you to accept my offer to join the winning team now, rather than risk facing me on the battlefield again when I'm going all out, because I won't spare your life twice."
[+100 Reputation with Karin Uzumaki!]
[+50 Reputation with Haku Yuki!]
[+50 Reputation with Zabuza Momochi!]
Gott'em.
[PB]
The next few days of my life after successfully recruiting Zabuza and Haku to my side were spent consolidating my control over Nami, starting swathes of new farmlands with judicious usage of Shadow Clones and Hatton Chakra, reclaiming the many seafaring vessels owned by Gatou that had been stolen by his fleeing henchmen and starting what will eventually be the ground army of a new Uzushio.
It isn't much, but the change in the atmosphere here in Nami was practically visible to me, irregardless of the Juinjutsu sealing my eyes. The people were much happier now than they were even a week prior, even if they had traded one dictator for another.
All it took was providing food to eat, lumber for new homes and a promise of a brighter future to have thousands upon thousands of people chanting my fucking name to the heavens.
It was beautiful, and terrifying.
I never thought I'd have my own cult of personality, but here we are, I guess.
Beyond kickstarting the economy of Nami by providing a thousand ryo to every household that fell beneath a certain income, most of which came right back to me anyway since these folks were buying my products, I spent quite a bit of time with Team Eight.
It turns out that I can mix [Psychometry] with my fighting style very easily now that my Chakra regeneration speed has been enhanced so thoroughly, and as a result, I now know basically everything Kurenai and her team knows, including how to enhance my senses and be a very potent genjutsu user.
If I had to guesstimate my current skill levels, I'd put myself at a mid-Jounin level in all but raw stats, and even those can be spoofed with enough Chakra. If we throw in [Yoton:Rin], [Sage Mode - Nature] and [Megaton Punch]?
Low Sannin, maybe, if I go full balls to the wall.
Overall, I am very pleased with the progress I've made as far as filling out my skill set goes, even if my physical stats have stagnated once I reached the point where standard exercises no longer benefit me.
That said, though, I've reached the point now where I absolutely need to start working on my fuinjutsu mastery, and the only way I can do that is by visiting the Uzumaki clans ancestral homeland, Uzushiogakure.
"Nemui-dono, do you mind if we speak for a moment?" I hear Kurenai's voice cutting in over the din of construction workers milling about, causing me to turn away from observing the progress of Tazuna's bridge project that I was now bankrolling to help further build rapport amongst the civilian population that now answered to me. "It's rather… urgent."
I nod in Kurenai's direction while gesturing for her to lead on, leaving my growing army of Shadow Clones behind to help facilitate the construction project when needed while quickly pondering what Kurenai could possibly want with me now.
Obviously she doesn't want to spar, especially after I had locked her in a Genjutsu during our last bout that made her basically swing at the air for about thirty minutes before she finally caught on to what I had done.
For a Genjutsu Mistress, she sure doesn't check to make sure she isn't fighting an opponent who can turn her specialty against her. She should work on that.
"I have just received a missive from Hokage-Sama requesting an alliance between the country of Nami and Konohagakure no Sato. Would you be opposed to having me read the missive, word for word, to you?" Kurenai questions unsurely as she seems to search my face for something I couldn't hope to comprehend, "Considering your disability, of course."
You know, most people just hand me paperwork then act surprised when I immediately hand it back and ask for them to read it aloud. At least Kurenai seems to pay attention to the fact that I wear fucking bandages around my eyes for a reason.
"It would be appreciated, Kurenai-san." I gesture for her to continue after assuming a more serious persona for the moment, since I'm now being forced to act in an official capacity of sorts.
See, I can be mature when I want to, I just usually don't feel like it.
So I listened for around ten minutes as Kurenai listed off legal jargon that basically amounted to one message and one message alone.
Konoha wants exclusive rights to our food exports and in return, they will provide 'security' for us at a 'discounted' rate.
That's not going to be happening.
"Kurenai-san, as… nice as the offer sounds, I'm afraid I will have to politely decline Hokage-dono's request as it does not serve in Nami's best interests. Perhaps in the future, but for now, Nami will remain a neutral party when it comes to the affairs of mainland politics." I eventually say as diplomatically as I can, a response Kurenai was no doubt expecting after she had personally read off just how bad of a deal I was being offered. "I refuse to accept foreign occupation under the guise of peace keeping or security, especially now of all times when the people of Nami are finally getting a taste of actual freedom."
"I see…" Kurenai trails off awkwardly, knowing that she should likely try to argue in favor of her home village but finding herself unable to do so under these circumstances. "Do you wish to reply to Hokage-Sama personally by letter, or should I?"
"You may do so, if you wouldn't mind. I don't trust my apprentice not to turn this entire fiasco into a nightmare by trying to prank your Hokage." I admit while rubbing my forehead in frustration, "I've only just been able to wash that ridiculous dye from my hair."
Kurenai suppresses a snort and nods in acceptance before turning to make her way back to the bridge, only to pause mid-step to turn back to me. "A few days ago, you mentioned that you wouldn't trust Konoha with any of your clan members. Why is that?"
Oh, I see the seeds of doubt I've been sewing amongst Team Eight is starting to take root.
Good.
"That is a long story, Kurenai-san, but it can be simplified as this. Four great clans went in together to found Konoha, the Senju with their charisma, the Uchiha with their might, the Uzumaki with our ingenuity and the Hyuuga with their clarity. Of all four clans that created the mighty tree that is Konoha, only the clan with eyes that see all remain standing. This is the root of my issue with Konoha." I make sure to be facing Kurenai fully as I speak, since this moment right here is what might make or break my slowly fomented plans for Konoha, "How is it possible for the three clans responsible for producing monsters and legends like Ashina, Hashirama and Madara to end up dying out over the span of a few decades, while clans like the Hyuuga, Yamanaka, Sarutobi, Nara, Aburame and Akimichi remain mostly intact?"
Kurenai's Chakra suddenly went cold as the implications of my words set in, and she motioned to refute my subtle accusations, but found herself drawing blanks on how to do so.
"I see that you are slowly starting to understand the implications, but I guess I'll just outright say it as plain as I can. I believe someone or something in Konoha is directly responsible for wiping out three of the four clans that descended from the Sage of Six Paths and his brother, and I refuse to allow myself or my remaining family to even loosely associate with such a being, should they truly exist like I fear." I trail off and allow Kurenai to absorb all that I had to say for a moment before finishing driving the nail home. "Should I be right, there is someone intentionally targeting my extended family and possibly the other minor clans as well. Should I be wrong, that is still one hell of a coincidence. Either way, aligning with Konoha as it is today is not in my best interest."
Kurenai didn't know what to say to that, nor did Kiba, Shino and Hinata, who had been listening in on our conversation from afar using various means.
Oh yeah, I'm just sure Danzo and Hiruzen are going to enjoy having their dirty laundry aired so blatantly, let alone to three clan heirs who will likely bring up these exact points with their parents as soon as they get home.
I don't expect Konoha to remain standing for another year if even one of these four blab my rather well founded theories loud enough for someone else to overhear and draw the same conclusions, be it Sasuke, Naruto or just their parents.
Tsume would go apeshit and Hiashi would likely see my point, so the only tossup here is Shino's father.
Either way, I still win, and that's all that matters to me.
"Just think about what I've said for a few days and get back with me, Kurenai-san. Hopefully you know enough to put my fears to rest." I break the uncomfortable silence that descended over the small section of the bridge we occupied as to mostly avoid prying eyes and ears, "now if you'll excuse me, I should really go make sure my clones are actually working and not slacking off like they've become prone to do lately."
And I wasn't lying, either. Maybe I shouldn't have nationalized that one warehouse full of special tobacco, and by that I mean seized for myself.
I pull out my long, old japanese styled, jewel encrusted ivory pipe that had been hidden in the bottom of one of Gatou's vaults and take another drag regardless with a quick application of a downgraded campfire starting jutsu.
Damn I'm starting to love this place, this shit is pretty decent.