Ch. 25: Confessions

Mito's Residence

"Okaa-san, I have something to tell you."

Hearing the seriousness in her son's voice, she calmly turned around and sat down at the Chabudai where she set the hot food.

"Can it wait after lunch?" She asked.

"Yeah, it can." Arashi replied nervously.

They had a quiet lunch after that, and Mito could sense the worry and trepidation in her son.

After a quiet affair, they set the plates in the sink, and Arashi sat in front of Mito. "To begin with, Kaa-chan are you familiar with Sharingan and Uchiha history?"

Mito shrugged half-heartedly. "I know some, but not that well. Which part do you want to talk about?"

Arashi took a breath and asked, "What about the next evolution of Sharingan, the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

He saw Mito gasp. "What did you do Arashi?"

He shook his head. "I assume you have some idea about the eye."

Mito replied with a nod, but her eyes bore into Arashi. "I know only what Hashirama told me about Madara Uchiha. The Mangekyo Sharingan was an evolution of Sharingan, which awoke when its possessor faces a tragic loss. Madara was said to have awoken the eye along with his brother after they had to kill their best friend because he was a traitor. The loss made the two evolve their Dojutsu and managed to attain power to rival Hashirama's Wood Release and even later his Senjutsu. He had managed to create a chakra construct as large and powerful as a Bijuu, and he managed to control Kyubi for the fight at the Valley of the End. But he had implied that he had transplanted his brother's eye when he went blind due to continuous use of the abilities granted by this Dojutsu. But nobody other than him has managed to acquire the power of Mangekyo without gaining permanent blindness in their eyes due to overwhelming chakra costs and extreme strain caused on their eyes when using that power. So I ask again, Arashi what did you do?"

Arashi sighed and looked at her in the eye. "I did not kill any friends or comrades, if that is what you are worried about, though what I did can be called even worse." Arashi lied as he didn't include the test subjects he tried and experimented his hypothesis on.

Mito sighed, but didn't appear to be appeased. "And what did you do? You don't have to dodge the question. Be honest, son."

"I cloned Hashirama Senju's DNA, and performed extensive surgery to transplant his cloned flesh and chakra on my own." Arashi confessed.

Instead of a reaction of hurt and betrayal, he saw her sigh in relief. "I did not expect you to be okay with it."

Mito smiled wryly. "Do you think you are the first one to ask permission to take a sample of his body or clone it? Ever since he died, numerous attempts have been made to clone his body, inject his DNA and chakra into newborns or even in pregnant women. People have taken all biological samples possible and tried to awaken Wood Release or his chakra, vitality, talent and abilities in others: both legally and illegally. There are ready samples available in Konoha Hospital where you could find cloned samples of his flesh and his chakra, if you have the right levels of access. Granted, no Uchiha ever had any use for it, nor was there any attempt to stabilise Mangekyo Sharingan with his chakra, but I am not angry, as I remember signing off waiver and forms to allow Konoha to find the secrets of Hashirama's body and allow the tests and experiments to awaken his abilities in other people. Even now, I am sure, someone in Senju clan is experimenting with his samples. But till now, all results have failed, as even the cloned samples are so potent that they overwhelm the original body and chakra, and leave nothing but a writhing piece of chakra enhanced flesh. Even a single cell was overwhelming and enough to cause cancer and mutation in the test subjects and the official Tests have been concluded as a failure. So don't worry, I am angry you tried to hide something from me, even if I understand your motive, but I am not hurt by your actions."

That brought tears to his eyes, as he hugged his mother. "I didn't want to hurt you, but I needed the strength to face the war. I am sorry!"

They hugged each other in a tearful embrace, as Mito caressed his head gently. "So, besides using Hashirama's DNA and chakra, what did you do to gain the eye?"

Arashi responded with a shrug, as he pulled back. "I realised that my self-loathing and hatred made my body release chemicals which triggered my Sharingan. When I felt I wasn't strong enough or fast enough, I gained the next evolution and attained the three Tomoe of the Sharingan. The Uchiha Tablet in the Uchiha Shrine Hideout talks about a next evolution when you face the remorse, hatred and despair the most."

Seeing his mother follow, he continued, "So, I used Tobirama's Genjutsu and manipulated it to inflict myself with a Genjutsu that triggered those exact same emotions. There are Genjutsu to induce fear and another to deprive senses. I used them to make my brain believe I am experiencing those emotions, and it triggered my eyes."

Mito looked amazed. "It was quite a find, Arashi. But given that you have kept it a secret and still told me in confidence, I am assuming you don't want anyone to know?"

Arashi nodded softly. "Yes, because I realised its awakening made my brain more susceptible to anger, loss of inhibition, fear and recklessness, and it was difficult to concentrate and focus during missions compared to before. I realised that every time the Dojutsu is activated, it keeps messing with my hormonal system and makes it difficult to keep my emotions under control. But, since I could see the minute differences and used Hashirama's DNA and chakra to stabilise myself long before I even awakened my Sharingan, the effects were noticed and controlled. I used potent Yang type chakra to stabilise my eye, and saw that the Mangekyo Sharingan had suddenly gained something that reduced the strain and its effects on my body. Even its high chakra costs were brought down significantly and I could see clearly with my eye. It seems, using Yang chakra acted as a substitute to the eye transplantation that you talked about. Since it is preferable to have a close blood relative to donate the eye, as a orphan I lacked that option. Instead, I found that the hyper-vitality of Shodaime's chakra and cloned flesh could be specifically isolated and transplanted. But if every Uchiha realise this, it would endanger their clan, their people and make them a target during the war. It would bring more harm than good, as other villages could ally with each other to deal with us, and we cannot face that kind of strength."

Mito shook her head, "I don't fully agree with your reason, but I understand that this is your decision. A boy as young as you had to face a lot of tragedy and deaths. This was something that Hashirama wanted to prevent all his life: children going to war and having their innocence taken away by the violence. So I don't think anyone can suspect any foul play with your Mangekyo Sharingan. But use it sparingly, and keep your aces hidden as long as possible. This war is about to get worse."

He nodded, and hugged her in gratitude. They shared a moment of bliss in each others arms, only for Mito to break the companionable silence. "Okay, I also sensed that your chakra reserves expanded rapidly over the past few days. Did this happen after you transplanted the DNA and chakra?"

He nodded. "I had a hypothesis before and the results now confirm it. Initially, I had a theory that the Uchiha and Senju have been two branches of the same family. They share a common ancestry, and it seems like the split of a main family into two distinct lines. But, Uzumaki and Senju too share a common ancestry, but this common line is closer in DNA than that of Uchiha and Senju. I believe that there are more branches of this principal family. Namely, the Hyuga Clan and the Kaguya Clan of Kirigakure. I think they all share some DNA with the mythical figure now commonly known as Sage of Six Paths."

Mito was shocked at this conjecture. "You think the Sage was real?"

He nodded. "Yes he was. And if you can ask your prisoner, I can also confirm with absolute certainty that Sage created the Nine Tailed Beasts. In a way, we are all family."

Mito looked at Arashi with a suspicious glare. "Now I know you are pulling my leg."

He raised his hands as a sign of surrendering to her glare. "I swear Ma, I am not. Ask away. I am sure you are going to be surprised."

What followed was a long silence drawn over a while. Arashi wondered if his mother was talking to the fox or interrogating him like she usually does with her passive aggressive stance.

After what felt like a while, MiTo opened her eyes slowly and spoke up. "Your hypothesis is absolutely true. The fox even confirmed your words. But where does that leave us?I know you want to keep this a secret. But why tell me?"

Arashi kissed her forehead and held her cheeks softly in his palms. "Of course, because I had to tell you everything. I cannot keep a secret like this from you, not when it concerns you and affects you like this. Granted, your reaction threw me off, but I had to come clean."

Arashi saw his mother teared up, as she hugged her son. "So what do you want me to do now?"

"Don't tell anyone what I told you, but maintain a very cordial relationship with the Uchiha Clan. They usually are a lynchpin for the various plots and schemes, and their discontent and alienation could lead to some disgruntled Uchiha attempting to awaken the eyes and powers of the sage the same way I plan to."

Mito looked perturbed by it, but nodded. "I can somewhat see that, if what you told me is true. But what can you do to ensure that we keep things from getting worse?"

Arashi shrugged. "At the moment I have a lot of ideas. Tsunade had already sent a petition for adding Iryo-nin to every squad to increase success rate and efficiency in field missions. I have sent three amendments and field reports which would enable a better synergy in the clans."

And Arashi had done that while he had a few days off before his eventual deployment. He sent one report that said that Tracking Assault and Sabotage Teams should all be five men cell with One Jounin, Two Specialists, a Sensor who could either be a Dojutsu user or a Chakra Sensor, and one Iryo-nin.

This was special to Team Eight, Team Three and Team Thirteen who were the main teams where tracking, assault and sabotage teams were normally assigned.

He suggested having a Uchiha or a Hyuga in each team, and have a dedicated Dojutsu user keeping the Byakugan and Sharingan users hone their skills with their abilities and powers.

He dictated a report of improvements to be made and awareness of the weakness and shortcomings of their eyes to be made known to all to prepare for anyone who would exploit them.

He also sent a missive to the Hyuga clan that any enemy who would not kill the Branch member but keep them alive and then remove the eye would in fact not trigger the Caged Bird Seal. Therefore, either the seal must be modified or the members themselves should be allowed to enable or disable the seal or at least some part of it.

These special reports and communication caused a rumble in the administrative department as every one of the suggestions made would increase the cohesive ability and team effectiveness of all squads.

In return, Arashi was granted a position of Advisor to the Jounin Commander, and a payment of services of an A-Rank Mission.

Arashi had also met the Uchiha clan head and the elders and informed them of ways to trigger the Sharingan. He had doubts about revealing the secrets and methods to trigger the Mangekyo, but Sharingan by itself would have no problems.

Arashi also informed the clan elders to keep an eye on those who would exhibit hatred or reservations about their clan. He told them that the moody and destructive tendencies of Sharingan users was because of Chakra Imbalance, and he gave a seal to the clan which would convert a neutral chakra into Yang Chakra and circulate it back into the user's body.

He already had a similar seal on his body, that constantly absorbed Nature Energy, and instead of harming him due to excess Nature Energy, he made the seal store the Nature Energy for later use.

These seals were actually based on Uzumaki seals to store or draw Tailed Beast chakra, and modifying it was all too easy for Arashi given all his studies with the seals.

In secret he was still attempting to merge his own chakra with the Nature Energy to create Senjutsu Chakra, a feat too difficult to accomplish. He realised that the meditation pose for Naruto's Sage Mode was not to draw Nature Energy, but to limit the amount of energy you absorb and merge it carefully with your own chakra.

He realised that his phenomenal chakra control was very helpful in getting a sense of the amount of his own chakra required to merge with the Nature Energy. He realised that Naruto had it easy, since he could merge his absurdly large chakra reserves with the Energy without a need for proper chakra control.

On the other hand, Jiraiya had excellent chakra control and good chakra reserves, but perhaps his chakra was not as "dense" in Yang type chakra as required. He had seen that the chakra reserves he had had to be filtered through a seal to convert them into Yang type chakra before merging with the Nature Energy gave an excellent amount of Senjutsu chakra as required.

But developing the seal to separate the chakra into Yin and Yang, merging the Yang type chakra first with the Nature Energy, then adding Yin type chakra to the mixture and then circulating that Senjutsu chakra through his body to attain the Sage Mode was a complicated and tremendously time and stamina extensive task.

At the end of it, the effort required to achieve the feat was far greater than the value of the outcome itself.

That is why, Arashi was preparing the seal which would do a lot of these tasks for him, and allow him access to Senjutsu and Sage modes.

But the knowledge he gained from developing these seals, allowed Arashi to make a lot of seals for practical purposes.

But as he took a day off, Arashi sighed as he had to meet with the Inuzuka clan members, regarding the proposal he made to the Shinobi Council where he would need support from the various clans to streamline the induction of clan Shinobi into the force.

Inuzuka Clan Compound

"But it would add more duties for all clan leaders, Arashi-san. Having more responsibilities piling up would not be agreeable for any council member."

The Inuzuka clan leader was a brash and excitable man, who acted like one would expect from a Celebrity Sportsman. Thankfully, his wife was a calm centre who was the lead on this negotiation and meeting.

"I understand Manami-san. But you must understand, I except the system to be a functional delegation of work. Only matters of priorities and emergencies should ever be brought to your desk." That brought even the clan leader's attention to the table, as he had gained focus on Arashi's words.

"And what I want you to do more than before, is to simply keep a roster of your own clan members and their chosen profession or line of work. In case of any inducted into any of the Anbu branches, you could maintain a separate roster entirely, or offer an alibi or a cover for their job."

Seeing the wife, and a moment later the husband, nod, Arashi continued, "What I want mainly is for clan members to be already separated and thus trained according to their choices long before they are forced to go into the Academy, where chances are, they would be enrolled along with students from civilian origin. And we know that either civilian students want to take the Academy lessons in hope of a good paying job as a Shinobi or merely as a channel to experience that life before retiring to their civilian roots. And because of them clan members are forced to receive subpar education to allow them to keep up with the clan students."

That made the two Inuzuka pause, as they exchanged a glance and took over the draft they received from the boy.

"And what would this roster do? And how does it affect the separate curriculum you proposed for the Academy?"

The clan leader asked, as his wife nodded, probably because she wanted to ask the same thing.

Arashi expected this question. "We do not have a single curriculum for the entire batch. First we separate the clan students or those of Shinobi origin from the civilian ones. We teach the first years from shinobi origins the basic skills like maths, geography and history along with chakra control. For the civilian students, we teach them the dangers and hindrances in the life of a Shinobi in their final year, while we spent the first two years teaching the basics and fundamentals they should have learnt earlier. We make the final evaluation of the first midterm the leaf concentration exercise, and steadily increase the difficulty of education until the final year students are evaluated based on their water walking."

Looking at their shocked faces, Arashi continued. "Believe me, learning and teaching chakra control to students would be easier, and because civilian students tend to have lower chakra reserves, we could teach them chakra control quicker and sooner, while allowing them to take jobs and positions in the force where lower chakra reserves wouldn't affect their job."

The Inuzuka members were awed as they heard his plans. The only reason Tsunade's plans to have an Iryo-nin in every squad was not possible was because there were not enough students willing to learn the skills after spending such a long time to fight and kill.

But with this, they could have a contingent of Medical professionals every year skilled in chakra control from the very start.

"And what about orphans?" Manami asked as she thought about the proposal. She looked at Arashi and clarified. "Orphans would have neither a Shinobi parent or a civilian parent, and they cannot be expected to make the choice themselves. Surely as an orphan you are more knowledgeable about their situation."

Arashi nodded. "Yes, I haven't included that part to the draft. But I think the solution is much easier. We should call the Orphanage, a Village Facility, and the orphans as the 'Wards of the State'. What that would mean is that orphans would be annually given a medical checkup, and those check-ups could be used to separate the orphans. If the child wants to become a Shinobi these tests could be used to differentiate, and thus offered a preparatory year before they are of an age to be admitted to the Academy. This year can be used to train the orphans and give them a separate accomodation and training under proper oversight. These orphans could also be trained properly without being coddled and inducted into the covert squads."

And so on, the discussions continued, as Arashi was supposed to meet the Aburame, the Yamanaka and the Hyuga clans before submitting the proposal in the next council meeting.

He didn't get to see final resolution and decision of the council, since he was to go to the Kusa front lines.

Iwagakure had finally decided to officially declare war on Konoha and Kumo, and while the war with Kumo was much bitter than expected, Iwa was a bit lax with the Konoha front.

But Konoha wanted to change the status quo, as fighting the war on so many fronts was damaging their resources. And apparently, intel had reached Konoha that a small contingent of mid level Iwa chunin led by a few Jounins were expected to cross Kusa border to unofficially meet with a rat someone high up in the Fire Daimyo's court.

Konoha wanted that snuffed out, and dealt with promptly. To that end, Danzo had sent a small squad of two civilian-origin Jounin along with a Anbu and a Root Agent to assist Arashi.

Flashback

Welcome Arashi-kun. You are impeccably early." Arashi heard a deep voice from a man who had a shawl draped over his right side, who was seated to the left of the Hokage leaning on his cane.

Arashi nodded and bowed in deference. "Danzo-sama," began Arashi, as he called the elder man by his first name as was tradition in Konoha. So many clans and their members living in the village meant that calling by their family name would often invoke others to respond too.

"Danzo-sama, Hokage-sama Jounin Arashi reporting for duty."

The Hokage had a frown on his face, which continued from perhaps his previous conversation with Danzo, which sublimated into a kindly smile when he saw Arashi enter.

When he was greeted, he had much gentler gaze, as he nodded. "Come Arashi we have you first official B-Rank mission. The Foreign Intelligence Department has officially recommended you for the mission."

Which meant for Arashi that despite his choice or desire, he would not be allowed to decline.

"Our Liaison with Shinobi from Guardian Shinobi Twelve informed us that the Daimyo's Court may have a mole who could be potentially leaking intel to enemies, primarily Iwa and Suna."

Seeing the seriousness of the situation, Arashi leaned in and narrowed his eyes, as he paid full detail to the debrief.

"The Shinobi managed to intercept an encrypted communication from the mole, but failed to identify the mole or the other end of the communication. The encrypted message was immediately sent to Konoha, and we cracked it to reveal the current status of a Iwa Contingent suspected of entering to either purchase intel from the mole or exfiltrate them back to Iwa."

With that, Hokage nodded at a chunin who entered the same moment Arashi did. He handed a small file to Arashi who took it with a mere glance.

"Our Border Patrol and Forward Outpost relayed intel of a suspected contingent matching the description of the communique we decrypted cross the Kusa border and staying at an inn in the Kusa village. They are expected to meet at the rendezvous location in the file. Your mission is to intercept the meet, identify the mole, neutralise the Shinobi team before any intel is exchanged between the mole and the enemy. If possible, spot any member of the court you can identify and eliminate them. We could use the enemy ninja alive, as the one sent to negotiate could be someone who has access to classified information. But that is secondary."

Seeing the debrief come to an end, Arashi nodded and bowed before excusing himself.

Flashback ends

Crossing the Kusa border henge'd as an average young man in his early thirties, Arashi looked around with scrutinizing eye as he kept a watch on the surrounding.

His team had been sent with a small chakra receiver Seal which Arashi developed that needed to be tattooed behind the ear to communicate. It was impractical to be put to use, as it needed to be tattooed every time it was to be used, and needed the Tattoo to be made explicitly by the sealmaster who needs to act as a conduit for the communication.

It was a small application of the Heaven Transfer Technique and Arashi's research into Hiraishin Jutsu, which was still at the back of Arashi's mind whenever he took a break from his ridiculously busy life.

"Hello, confirm seal check for Eagle. Over." Arashi heard a slow creepy voice at the back of his ear, which sounded like someone whispered in his ear almost touching lips to ears. But the sensation was a phantom feeling and not true.

"Confirm seal check for Fox One. Radio Silence for Two minutes. Border Customs check. Over and Out."

Arashi replied. The code signs for the mission were Fox One for Arashi, Fox Two for the Root Agent, Eagle for the Anbu and Crow One and Crow Two for the two Jounin.

There was a soft "Copy." and then silence, as Arashi produced the fake clearance and customs order for a delivery of Fruit Jam and Beans to the village rationing centre. The delivery was a cover for Arashi to enter as he had stolen the delivery and forged the customs clearance forms by putting a local merchant from neighbouring village under genjutsu.

Arashi didn't worry about his Henge, as he glanced unconcernedly at the Kusa ninja who checked the goods. He had taken the real deal, and during times of war, Customs were lax with daily essentials, especially foodstuffs.

And if not, his Henge was a bit chakra-expensive as it needed more chakra than the normal D-Rank Jutsu, but in return made a solid illusion instead of the filmsy one.

His teammates lacked the same means, and Arashi teaching the Jutsu and his variation resulted in failure as none of the four could replicate his solid Henge.

They had instead opted to cross borders by evading the border patrols.

"You are clear to enter, Satoshi-san. Welcome to Kusa. I hope you have a pleasant stay." The Kusa Shinobi spoke pleasantly, as he handed the Customs forms and documents back. Politeness towards merchants bringing ration and resources during times of war was like Santa Claus. You were expected to be good children if you wanted a gift.

In return, Arashi nodded and smiled. "Thank you Shinobi-san. Please accept a token of gratitude for your continued hard work and perseverance." Saying that, Arashi handed a sack of assorted foods and grains to the Shinobi who now had his put-on smile turn genuine, as he felt the weight of the sack.

A "gift" to smooth things along was an expected ritual, no matter the circumstance, no matter the world, and no matter the integrity and purpose of the parties involved.

As he walked with his empty cart towards an inn, Arashi mumbled covering his mouth with a small cloth he had wrapped around his neck.

"Eagle, this is Fox One Copy."

"Copy Fox One. Status Report. Over."

"I have emptied the stock at the rationing centre. No problems so far. Over."

"Copy Fox One. Find a safe Rendezvous Point. We are waiting for the shift change in the border patrol. Expect us to enter village by 8 in the evening, if things go as planned. Over."

"Copy Eagle. I am waiting in Luxury Inn, in the merchant district towards the north. I have booked three rooms in the inn. Your rooms are in 203 and 204. Knock on 201 after you are in the village, three times on the doorframe. Keys are taped to the north wall of the inn. You can enter from there. Over."

"Copy Fox One. Expect us to arrive starving and thirsty. Over and Out."

Since the communication was simplex over the seal, the standard method to communicate had to be taught to the Anbu who readily accepted the wisdom in this procedure. Arashi had made the seal only on Eagle, as he knew they could communicate easily and efficiently if there are only two of them.

Arashi eagerly waited for the Boruto timeline to come close, as he couldn't wait to read the minds and shovel out the method which the villains used to communicate over long distances using some genjutsu.

As it was, he had to first live that long, and survive all the odds and ends of the obstacles before he was even remotely capable for the distant future.

Hearing a silence over the seal, Arashi spread his legs as he walked over to the Hot Spring for a much needed dip. He had an afternoon free while waiting for his target, and his teammates.

"AHH. I can soak up in the Hot Springs, and send a clone to take care of the reconnaissance."

And after a yawn, the young boy sent a clone to wander the village as he took his towel and headed for the bathhouse. Who said you can't mix business with pleasure?