AN: Chapter title: Promotions and Celebrations Part 6
On paper, Asuma Sarutobi had brought the current generation's Ino-Shika-Cho Trio to Yakiniku Q as part of the team's tradition, to celebrate Ino Yamanaka's recent promotion to Chunin, for both Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi showing exemplary bravery in the face of the attack.
In reality, he needed a private room and trusted the owner, figured he had earned some loyalty from her after his many years of patronage. Outside the chance to have this meeting at his own home, he figured this was the best option.
"And that's about it." Shikamaru finished recounting his conversation with Naruto, took in the stares of disbelief, of shock, he was on the receiving end of. "Yeah, I was pretty much the same."
"He offered you a job?" Asuma couldn't keep the surprise off his face, couldn't even keep his cigarette in his mouth. It promptly dropped into his lap. He quickly brushed it off before it could burn through his pants. He turned his eyes back to his student, tried to understand the rationale of the decision, the reasoning behind the actions of the new Chunin. "That's really all he did."
"Yeah." Shikamaru was still a little stunned himself over it all.
He had been in little more than prolonged shock since his conversation with Naruto, since he had fully read over the Scrolls Naruto had handed off to him, running over all the answers he had been given by the blonde.
"He basically told me that the two of them were thinking about recruiting, said they both had some people in mind but didn't tell me anything else." Shikamaru looked to the two scrolls the rest of table had gotten the chance to read by now, had the chance to digest the information on them. If nothing else, Naruto had been thorough in his offer, what being Optio would entail for anyone who joined his Legion, what he expected of them, what they should expect of him. "I…I don't really know what to do here." He had tried to come up with something, anything, ever since Naruto had left to no avail. His mind was painfully blank with a plan, anytime he tried to think of anything, think of what to do, all he could think about was Naruto's shocked face.
"After all, I do still consider you a friend Nara."
His words continued to incessantly rebound around in his head, made thinking about anything but their conversation difficult.
"Do you think so little of me now Shikamaru? I admit, I've changed much out of necessity as a Caesar, had no choice if I was to command my Legion, declare an empire all my own, but I am not one to ever disregard my friends."
No matter how much he tried to throw them out, try to think more of what Naruto had told him, this insight into how his massive army functioned, what both Naruto and Sasuke did everyday to keep it running, anything but focusing on that look of surprise on the blonde's face, the idea that he was surprised about anything at all.
"I see. I suppose this is my fault. I've been too occupied with my Legion, my Empire, busy to such an extent that you think I have no need for friendship. Kiba and Choji feel the same?"
"This has to be a bluff, some weird joke he decided to play on you, on us." Ino outright refused to accept the information in front of her no matter how much it fit Naruto's personality. Even if she was starting to think Naruto would be the type to willingly walk into a trap he knew was there just to show off it didn't hurt him, that whoever had planted it couldn't hurt him. Even if she was beginning to think it made perfect sense with how often he gloated about his army, how often he wanted everyone to know what he could do. "No one would do this, no one would jeopardize themselves like this. You can't recruit for an independent force not sanctioned by the Hokage, not approved by somebody with authority to do it. Especially one that acts in foreign lands like Naruto's army does, that's occupying foreign territory. That's all but treason, grounds for expulsion from the Shinobi Corps or execution."
"You're right, that would normally be the case. Unfortunately, this situation is anything but normal. Any situation with Naruto Uzumaki is already far from normal, is given a certain degree of leeway for a number of reasons I can't get into right now, that I need special permission to even talk about. Regardless, if we're being technical, going by the way the laws are written down in the books, this isn't an independent force in the slightest." Asuma lit another cigarette as the eyes of his three students turned to him. "You all have to remember this: No matter how odd it seems to say, how insane it is to think about, Naruto doesn't have an army. He just has clones, has a lot of Chakra so he's able to make a number of clones unbelievable to anyone else. Think about the sheer amount of Chakra you know he has, him being an Uzumaki and everyone in that clan being unique in some way, having abilities utterly unique to them thanks to their strong lifeforce. Thing like that may had helped make them seem more real but most people just think they're normal clones at the end of the day." The Sarutobi breathed out a fresh cloud of smoke, the frown on his face showing he didn't enjoy not telling his students the truth about this mess, what was really happening.
He hated the risk this all was, hated that he was supposed to just let them walk in blind.
"I really shouldn't be telling you any of this but…" Asuma leaned back in his seat, breathed out another cloud of smoke, took another drag on the cigarette. "Damn this is a bad situation." His eyes were focused on the darkened ceiling, the lamps placed on the table not bright enough to reach it with the shades over them. "If he's already approached you…If he's already planning something with you…"
Asuma knew it was wrong, was very much illegal, to tell his students any of what he knew of Naruto's Kinjutsu, what he had managed to dig up despite his father's tireless attempts to keep it within a tight circle. Of the few who knew the full truth, he was likely still within the first ten, first dozen or so, to have such a burden on their thoughts.
The Hokage, his shadow Danzo Shimura, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shikamaru's father Shikaku, and maybe Inoichi as well were likely the rest of the group. He couldn't honestly see anyone else knowing much, wanting to know much about the army of clones the Uzumaki had running around beyond the absolutely basics.
Most people, from Genin to Jonin to even some of the ANBU Black Ops, just thought it was the Uzumaki being his loud self, were too occupied with other things to focus on something they've simply grown used to seeing.
The Jonin would also counter those that argued against it that he had no choice in telling his students in the end, had to tell them after what he had just learned.
If Naruto was actively recruiting personnel for his army, recruiting people for roles like he had the Uchiha filling, his team was definitely at risk of being dragged into whatever the blonde's Uzumaki Empire was. Shikamaru had already been approached, Choji could be if Shikamaru wasn't wrong about Naruto still viewing the Akimichi as a friend, and Ino could very well be targeted by the blonde for any number of reasons, he could consider attacking her for whatever reason had his army glaring at her.
Hinata Hyuga had already been changed by Naruto, been turned into a girl foreign to Kurenai after only a handful of talks between her and Naruto.
There was no telling what he could do to anyone else, what he would do if they didn't know what they were really walking into.
"I don't want you to make an uninformed decision. Letting you walk in blind, letting you do anything without knowing everything I can let you…I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you three."
He put out his cigarette, settled for meeting the eyes of his students.
"Things with Naruto are clearly changing faster than the rest of us thought. I know I'll get some flak for this from somebody but you three need to know more about what's really going on, what this army really is. It's a risk but you three already look to be targets, for any number of reasons he's keeping an eye on you. You need to know the truth."
"You three already know that my old man's been using Naruto's army as a force multiplier, border patrol, escorts for the construction crews, almost anything he could think of to free up Shinobi for more missions. Judging from how the Daimyo came out with Sasuke, my old man wants that army of his to be involved in his security. Or the Daimyo wants a new guard and he was offered up, either by Naruto or my father. Who did it doesn't really matter, just that he'll be close to the Daimyo while he's in the village."
"That doesn't sound too bad…" Ino looked confused at the obvious things her sensei was saying, Choji seemed to be the same from her glance to him. "Everybody knows that already, could guess it."
"It sounds like they're just going to start taking on more missions? That doesn't sound too bad." Choji was of the same mind.
"That's also all surface level." Shikamaru joined his hands beneath the table, could clear his head for the moment. "This thing goes a lot deeper than any of us think, doesn't it?"
Asuma didn't say anything, focused on breathing out another cloud of smoke.
"What I'm about to tell you three doesn't leave this room, doesn't get talked about outside of the four of us, am I understood? The information I'm about to tell you is something that contains a number of S-Rank secrets, something that's kept on a strictly need to know basis. Officially, most of the information I'm about to tell you doesn't even exist, a majority of it hasn't been written down and some of it never will, has been verbally passed on and, mostly, originates from the Hokage himself. If not him, Kakashi Hatake provided the information."
He waited for the three to agree, to acknowledge the severity of his words before he continued.
"Let's get this out of the way then." Asuma reached to the glass in front of him, threw back the shot of sake inside. "Naruto Uzumaki is the current Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, chose to seal the Tailed Beast inside of him to stop its rampage even if it cost him his life." He took note of the looks on Choji's and Ino's face, the lack of surprise on Shikamaru's in turn. "When did you figure it out?"
"It wasn't hard when he stopped hiding it." Shikamaru thought back to what seemed like months ago to him, the day of the final stage of the Chunin Exams, before disaster had struck…
'W-What was that?' Shikamaru was almost glad he was on the floor already. He saw Temari nearly fall once the feeling was gone, Lee's body was rigid where it had once been relaxed, and he looked to Ino with worry only to find her supported by the Uchiha. He could see the tremble, however faint, from his arm. 'How did those two do that?'
His eyes turned to Shino, the Aburame still.
'There's no way Shino can win against him.'
"HEY! Get down here before you're both disqualified!" Anko's voice snapped Shino's focus towards the stairs. Gaara had already descended down them without a pause in his step.
"Shino Aburame." Naruto called out to Shino but his eyes didn't leave the arena, leave where Gaara slowly walked over to where Anko impatiently waited. He drew the Aburame's attention regardless of Anko's impending time limit. "What do you say to a deal?"
"My offer is simple Shino Aburame." A hand was extended from the grinning Uzumaki, Chakra visible around it as a deep blue light filled with crimson wisps of a power that was malice incarnate. "I will provide you with my Chakra to battle Gaara of the Sand. All you must do in return is provide me with some entertainment during your match."
"How do I know I can trust you? Last night, you were disappointed to find out you weren't fighting him." Shino was tempted but was cautious, such a thing was clear to the observing Nara.
"You fail to understand my reasoning, it is beyond you." Red eyes met the Aburame, cowed any further words from the Genin. "Now, either accept my offer or don't." His grin widened. "You don't have much time."
'This power…' Shikamaru could still feel his heart racing, could feel the power that Naruto was clearly just taking the chance to show off. 'I..I remember this…' It was a nightmare more than anything else, a terror that he was one of the many to suffer from. 'That night…'
A roar filled his ears.
He could almost choke on the hatred, the malice in the air.
"Shino." He got the Aburame's attention, managed an almost shaking step forward. "Accept it."
Despite the questions he had, the desire for answers, he trusted the Nara if nothing else.
He took Naruto's offered hand.
"Brace yourself." The vile power was gone and Shino was simply consumed in an azure blaze of Chakra, engulfed in a sudden typhoon constrained to him and Naruto.
A laughing Naruto.
"In victory or defeat Aburame, prove yourself a worthwhile investment of my Chakra."
Shikamaru shook his head, cleared it of the memory. He noticed the stares of not only his sensei but his teammates.
"It was more than a little obvious when I really thought about it. I figured it out for good when I saw him give all that Chakra to Shino before his match. There's having a lot of Chakra and then there was what Naruto had then, what he used when him and that guy from the Hidden Sand were talking." He turned his eyes to Asuma. "That guy was a Jinchuriki too, wasn't he?"
"The One-Tailed Tanuki." Asuma nodded. "Any other questions?" He looked to Ino and Choji. "I don't want to be interrupted once I start."
"Is that why we were never supposed to talk to him?" Ino was already out of her seat and nearly shouting, made Asuma glad that the private room he had chosen was soundproofed. "My parents always told me that he was like a monster or something! That I would get sick if I talked to him for too long! They were always super weird about it and it's over that?"
"Your parents, like most people in the village, said a lot of things they shouldn't because they were grieving. Many of them still are, haven't accepted what happened that night because they've seen Naruto everyday, have a reminder of what they lost that night, and eventually they began to consider him the Tailed Beast inside instead of seeing him as it's jailer. Seeing that, how he was already being treated, my dad decided to make it an S-Rank secret, forbid anyone who knew the truth from telling anyone who didn't. Like you kids." Asuma reached for the bottle on the table, made a decision and poured out four glasses. He slid them over to his students. "You may want this for the next part."
He picked up his drink and threw it back once more.
"His hope was for the next generation to decide on how to act by themselves, was that you kids would see Naruto for who he was instead of as the Jinchuriki. It didn't turn out too great. Regardless of it being outlawed to speak about, a few dozen snide comments, the way you kids saw your parents and other adults treat him…You picked up that something wasn't right with him." Asuma poured himself another drink, saw none of his students had taken even a single sip of their own yet.
Ino looked horrified at what she had done without being told. A glance at Choji and Shikamaru showed much of the same, it was to a lesser extent but it was still there. Both had been some of the many to, originally at least, not respond extremely well to Naruto. Whether that was because of his antics as a prankster or because the two had noticed how he was treated by other children and adults was known only to the two of them.
"Kids can be cruel. That only worsens when they see someone different from them, treated different from them…Good or bad, they begin to distant themselves from the oddity, decide to shun whoever they see as different, and eventually they'll begin to test the limits, see what they can and can't get away with when it comes to that outsider." Asuma shook his head. A part of him still couldn't imagine what Naruto had gone through for so many years, a part of him could understand why his father had given the boy so much leeway with this army he had created. "My old man wanted to give Naruto a normal life and that single rule may had singlehandedly ruined any chance he ever had at one." He looked to Shikamaru. "I know your father basically told you to make your own decision, your mother didn't like it but she was the same, let you decide on what you wanted to do and you did. From what you've told me, Naruto clearly values that more than we thought and that changes a few things."
'That's something to tell the old man at least.' He would need to alter the story a bit, would come clean one day but wouldn't reveal what he had told his team today.
"So, he made his army because he's a Jinchuriki? It's his power like how the other one could control sand?" Choji made a good guess. In most other situations, this likely could be pinned on the fact that Naruto was a Jinchuriki, that some could gain unique abilities from housing a Tailed Beast, especially ones for as long as Naruto.
"If only it was that easy." Asuma shook his head. "While things are hard to know for sure about his army, we know more than a little about its origins. At least if the Kyubi was involved or not." He thought back on the night an alarm had swept through the village, that the Scroll of Seals had been taken. "Since the village was on high alert, that meant the Konoha Barrier Team was on full alert, every member not on mission or on medical leave was called in to monitor the barrier, check every Chakra signature in the village for any unknowns, any strange fluctuations."
"The reports from the Barrier Team that night were misplaced a few days ago, ended up found about a day later." Asuma waited for his team to catch on. None of them did, three rookies just stared at him, didn't understand. 'I keep forgetting they're new to this.' He was tempted to pour himself another drink. "Half of the reports have been falsified, stated nothing out of the ordinary occurred that night, the situation was resolved at some point during the night without any significant activity. The real ones are detailed, state when a massive spike of Chakra was detected, stated when that massive source of Chakra spread across an entire forest before it began to move. The Chakra was identified to belong to Naruto Uzumaki and Naruto Uzumaki alone." He turned to Ino. "Your father was one of the many people brought in to confirm, make sure the Nine Tails hadn't escaped, hadn't infected Naruto's army with its Chakra."
His eyes swept over all three of his students.
"I want to be abundantly clear with you three on this: Naruto is himself. The Kyubi holds no influence on either him or his army. No one can find a hint of the Kyubi's Chakra in him or them if Naruto's not actively calling on it after his training with Jiraiya." Asuma once more saw Ino surprised by what he said.
Although, this time, she remained in her seat.
"That's what he was talking about!"
"You're going to have to be specific." Shikamaru looked to her for clarification.
"When he showed up on the day before the final stage! He was going on about…whatever he was talking about…" At the lost looks she was earning from her teammates, the quizzical look from Asuma, she snapped. "OH forget it! Chain!" Ino grabbed Shikamaru's hand as she spoke the codeword, Shikamaru on instinct grabbing Choji's. All three went dead-eyed as Ino dragged the two of them into a mental link. Asuma reached over the table and grabbed the hand Ino left for him, was ready enough to not immediately fall on top of the table.
It took a moment to recognize the scene.
It was the meetup they had after the month of training, the last day they had before the finals to the Chunin Exams. It was from Ino's perspective of course, she wasn't going through the hassle of compiling all of their memories for something this minor but even then, it was all just a blur. She was speeding through the nonessential part of the memory.
The Genin were all talking about the chances of each of their Jonin sensei if they faced off against each other before what was supposed to be a celebration took a nosedive when Naruto showed up.
"HA! You all speak of such nonsensical things. All of it is not even fit to be fiction to entertain a babe." Like always, Ino could catch sight of that infuriating grin on Naruto's face as he stepped through the door. His clones were at his side like always. He rose his arms out to his side, a mocking smile crossing his face.
Ino was about to rise out of her seat when Kakashi was gone from his, was suddenly in front of Naruto.
"Yo." His greeting was comprised of rising two fingers. "What are you doing here?"
"I am not here to dine with company such as this Silver Fang." Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. People were shouting from outside, Ino had no idea why, turned her attention away from Naruto in time to see Sasuke step inside with a pair of clones. Another was staying at the door.
She turned back to Naruto and Kakashi and saw the two were just locked in a staring match, Ino couldn't tell much else from where she was sitting. She looked to Sakura instead, tried to check up on the girl that had become incredibly still, that had become paler and paler the longer Naruto was around.
"If you're not here to eat than you don't need to be here."
"Do you honestly believe you can command me to do anything I do not already wish for, Silver Fang? Get out of my way or you will be removed."
"I would move if I could but a black cat crossed the floor behind me a while back. If anyone's going to move, it's you."
"A Caesar does not retreat. Step aside or I will be forced to show you the fruits of my training with the Toad Sage."
"Jiraiya-sama taught you?" That caught her attention, made blue eyes focus on the always smirking Naruto. "I guess I should be worried about you being a pervert like him now?"
"I would never fall to such foolishness. I am no cretin like so many others who falls so easily to the pleasures of the flesh." She couldn't blame Naruto for that look on his face with what Kakashi was implying. "Such actions are pathetic and far beneath a Caesar such as myself."
Ino, in the memory at least, was ignoring the argument that was swiftly springing up between Naruto and Neji, the words Sasuke threw in about being better than the Hyuga, the argument the two boys were getting into. The memory blurred for a moment as it simply sped up, slowed down once it reached Naruto's disbelief at learning who his opponent for the first round was.
"I am fighting the Hyuga?" The blonde sounded disappointed while Ino's eyes were focused on Sakura, taking in her pale face, her barely suppressed shaking. "I expected my opponent to be Sunagakure's Jinchuriki. The Hokage brought me to his office, gave me the Toad Sage as my instructor, and asked of the fruits of my training this day for the Hyuga? He dares to think I required any aid when it came to defeating a boy like him?"
Naruto brought a hand up to his forehead and his shoulders dropped when he sighed.
"My focus is leaving the true reason I am here the longer I allow your fools to spew your pointless drivel." Ino's glare went ignored when Naruto pointed two fingers towards Sakura. "Sakura-chan, things I have not had the time for during my training can be managed now. Your dealings with Silver Fang will cease."
"Who do you think you are ordering her around?" Ino rose out of her seat, blocking Sakura from Naruto's sight and he let his hand fall. He folded his arms over his chest and smirked instead. Ino was about to tell him to get out when she almost jumped at the sudden presence of smoke.
She was suddenly facing a number of the blonde's clones, could match the glare in their blue eyes with the force of her own.
"Step away." She saw Naruto approach Sakura on the other side of the clones. "Your attempts to weaken my gift were worthless Sakura-chan."
It was only the sudden surge of vile Chakra from Naruto that snapped her out of the glaring match she was getting into with his army.
"Come with me Sakura-chan. We have much to speak about." Naruto continue to stepped forward, ignored the looks sent his way by the Jonin, and stopped next to a shaking Sakura. His red eyes completely ignored Ino.
Colors suddenly erupted in two distinct tones, the world was two and then one when they were suddenly ripped out of the memory. It was a mark of Ino's still lack of mastery of the Yamanaka's Hiden techniques, the sharp burst of colors that came with leaving the mental world. Inoichi had learned to ease out before the end of a memory, was likely still teaching his daughter how to do the same. Asuma dropped back into his seat while Choji and Shikamaru both blinked their way out of their daze, one of the side-effects when it came to Ino linking their minds with hers.
"Yeah…He trained under Jiraiya for a number of reasons but one of them was as a precaution." Asuma was the first out of the daze, could barely be considered under it in truth. He was a Jonin, had been assigned responsibility for training the three of them well before they had graduated from the Academy. He had been their target just as much as he had been their teacher.
He carried on.
"Part of Jiraiya's assignment for the last month was to train him to combat the Jinchuriki of the Hidden Sand, test his control over the Kyubi just as a precaution, considered insurance if the situation became that dire. Turns out, Naruto has what we believe to be unrestricted access to the Chakra of the Tailed Beast. Jiraiya and ANBU Black Ops supervised him during this process and all signs point to him being a Jinchuriki in total control of the Tailed Beast sealed inside him, what's referred to as a Perfect Jinchuriki. While having access to that much Chakra is worrying to a lot of people, the main fear of the Kyubi being able to escape has been handled. Jiraiya informed everyone that the seal keeping it back is working fine, suffers from far less than the minimal damage he expected from it after containing that monster for over a decade."
Asuma once more looked to his student's completely untouched drinks. The three were staring at him in shock still, seemed to be taking this all rather hard.
A part of him understood.
A part of him didn't.
For as bad as it seemed, this was still a mostly positive situation.
Naruto was, for all of the problems he seemed driven to cause, deemed to be someone not willing to betray the village, slaughter them all one night. Despite his attitude in the meeting his father had, he could agree with what he had said, had apologized for it later that night in truth.
"I told you to take a drink." He lifted up his own. He gave them a humorless smile, offered them a toast. "Things don't get much better than being a Genin and it looks like you three ended up robbed of even that."
Shikamaru was the first to reach for his drink, take it up with some hesitation.
"I thought this was supposed to be a celebration." Ino was next, was unhappy from the frown on her face. For what reason, it was hard to tell. It could be because of any of the information he had just told her or because she had taken the chance to reflect more on who she had been in the past.
"It will be." Asuma held his glass over the table. "Look, let's ends the serious talk there. I'll tell you more about it later. Now we can hopefully go to something a little more fun."
"Hopefully." Shikamaru didn't seem to believe it.
"To fun." Asuma put a smile on his face for his students.
"To fun." The three echoed him, copied him and clanged their glasses together.
It was probably wrong of him to laugh at their faces as the sake filled their mouths.
'Gotta appreciate the little things.'
He couldn't help but laugh as the three coughed and sputtered.
'The little things.'