Sealing Salientia - Chapter 45: Tongues - Author: PenSmoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.

Previously on Sealing Salientia: Following the boy numbly as they practically sprinted through town towards an unknown destination, Sai could quickly tell that once this boy entered your world, it would never be the same.

Konoha
Friday, November 2nd, Year 74

Shortly after leaving the ramen stand, Naruto arrived home with his newest friend in tow. Letting go of Sai's hand to open the exterior door, he looked back and noted the pale boy clutching the previously grasped appendage. A quick closer inspection revealed the normally white skin even more colorless than normal.

Sai seemed to shake it off rather quickly, entering the compound and turning his attention to the rest of the occupants of the central living room. Shizune sat with Sakiko in a corner, bouncing the child on her knee while engaging in baby chatter. Jiraiya sat across a couch, studying a scroll and looking into an odd crystalline ball at times. Tsunade was nowhere to be seen, likely working her shift at the hospital.

Jiraiya waved his hand lazily at Naruto, not even taking his focus from what he was doing. In stark contrast, Shizune smiled and enthusiastically greeted the two boys.

"Hello Naruto! And who is your friend?"

"This is Sai. He's in my class from the Academy."

"Why hello Sai. Welcome to our home. My name is Shizune. Have you been friends with Naruto for long?"

Sai replied quietly. "About 15 minutes."

At that Shizune laughed, causing Sakiko to erupt in tiny baby giggles as well. "That sounds about right for Naruto. He makes you his friend whether you like it or not."

The pale-skinned boy nodded while Naruto pouted. "It's not like I kidnap them or anything!" Sai unconsciously rubbed at his wrist, which had sprouted a lovely shade of pink from raw skin. Shizune amusedly looked back and forth between the two of them.

Naruto ducked his white hair in embarrassment. "Fine, yeah, whatever, shut up." He turned away from the older girl and started to try and get the attention of his father figure.

"Hey Pops! I got something to show you."

Jiraiya glanced up at the two of them, skillfully covering the crystal ball with a purple fabric in the same movement. Naruto figured that he was working on something he didn't want a stranger to see but resolved to ask about it later. Sliding up from his reclined position, he looked towards Naruto attentively, awaiting what was forthcoming.

"This is Sai. He's in my class at the Academy. He's got a really cool talent." Naruto grabbed at his comrade's arm again. "Show him your picture!"

Sai reluctantly handed over the scroll that held his drawing, seemingly knowing that if he refused, it probably would be coaxed out of him anyway.

Jiraiya unraveled the scroll and looked at it for a moment. Rotating the scroll side to side, his eyes widened when he saw the effect of the ink layering itself on the page. He held the scroll tightly in his hands as he spoke up for the first time.

"That's quite the talent you have there. How do you do it?"

Before Sai could respond, Naruto interrupted. "He says he pushes his chakra into the ink and makes it enter a whole new dimension."

Sai flushed a bit, likely not wanting to speak up and correct Naruto, but stated quietly. "He's kind of correct. I layer the ink on top of each other to make it a 3-dimensional object, using chakra to help keep the layers separate. Another effect is this allows each layer to only be perceived at certain angles."

"Could you show me?" Jiraiya handed back the scroll, staring intently at the boy.

"What would you like me to draw?"

"Anything you'd like."

"Okay." Sai gathered his supplies and sat down. He wasn't really sure what was going on, but he certainly recognized Jiraiya, both as the man had made several appearances in the classroom over the years and as one of the famed Sannin. While he hadn't really shared his self-taught ink techniques with anyone outside of his formal training, he didn't really see the problem in doing so here. Perhaps the seal-master could give him some tips and tricks on how to improve his work.

He settled down and took a deep breath, calming himself down. Being around Naruto was certainly stimulating, something he wasn't really used to. He lived alone, spent many hours isolated and training underground, and most of the people he interacted with showed little to no emotion.

Putting brush to paper quieted the turmoil in his heart, causing him to visibly relax. Letting the ink flow, he looked around for a suitable target. While pictures of buildings and locations were often prized as targets for information, he also liked to draw human interaction. He wasn't entirely sure why it called to him, but he turned his focus to the small child that was being bounced on the older girl's knee.

He didn't know their name, and it didn't matter. He started with the cherubic face, beginning with the coal black eyes, tiny nose and smile that showed no teeth. Continuing, he drew out the blonde hair that crowned the baby's head. Finishing with the baby's outfit quickly, he mentally shifted his perspective and focused on drawing the same scene from a slightly different angle, layering his work on top of each other, over and over, until he was finished. It didn't take long, such a simple image was easy for him.

He finished the painting, put his brush away and looked up at Jiraiya, who was practically drooling.

Jiraiya watched with interest at first once the picture was started. The boy was obviously a talented artist. Even in just black and white, he was already able to convey a very accurate representation of the subject he was targeting.

When he coated the first layer with chakra and started to brush ink on top is when the toad sage was fascinated though. It was a simple technique, but ground-breaking for his own thought processes.

For all the decades that he had learned, it was always taken for granted that these seal arrays were often huge and space-taking, meaning that their viability in combat to produce new seals was usually difficult. Enemies didn't often give you much space or room to draw out a big sealing structure during a fight, after all.

Every single person that he had taught or learned from had always tried to same work-around. Write the characters as small as possible, to fit as much into a space as you could. It worked well enough, you could squash some character down to what looked like basically squiggly lines, which could reduce the space needed an order of magnitude or two.

The drawback was that writing characters that small and precisely took specialized tiny-tipped instruments that were usually fragile, and extra time to ensure that you wrote it properly. And this drawback further hindered usage in battle, as extra time and fragile items were not things well-suited for ninja combat.

With this technique though, a normal wooden brush could potentially layer a custom seal, character on top of character, all within the same spot. And being able to do so could mean holding an object and drawing a custom seal while on the move.

The more that he thought about it, the more practical applications this had, from being able to put seals in incredibly small objects, to condensing massive room-sized arrays into a portable creation, to decreasing the chances of making tiny, unseeable mistakes. Heck, with the correct application of chakra, you might even be able to slide a character out of a seal, and push a new one in, altering the seal while it stays in place. It might even be able to make a fully modular sealing system, creating interchangeable parts for a mix-and-match system!

Jiraiya noted the boy staring at him, more specifically staring at his mouth. He felt the wetness growing on his chin, and quickly wiped away the offending liquid with his sleeve.

"That's a pretty interesting system you've made there. In fact, that might be the most useful thing I've seen all year. I'd love to learn it. Could you teach me?"

The pale boy seemed to visibly get more pale as more attention was put on him, his mouth flapping open and closed without much coming out aside from the occasional stuttering and gulping sound.

During this action though, Jiraiya noted something unusual. It looked like there was black ink on the back of the boy's tongue. The toad sage hadn't seen the boy put his brush anywhere near his mouth, nor was there ink anywhere else around his mouth. He peered closer at the black splotch as the boy continued to fail to speak.

A moment later, a familiar shape caught his attention, and several things clicked together into place.

Back when he had demonstrated sage mode, he had sensed a boy with a bunch of seals inscribed on him but had been too distracted by the explosive tags in the walls to ever bother to follow up on it. This must be the same boy. And the seal that he caught a glimpse of in between speaking looked like some version of a privacy seal. Since it was hidden on the tongue, this meant it must be used to hide spoken words. And there were only two groups in Konoha that would ever brand a ninja with a secret privacy seal. ANBU was one. And the other was…

Jiraiya's demeanor quickly shifted. "It's okay, you can show me another time. I just remembered that I need to go and meet with the Hokage. Why don't you two run along and go out to a training ground? Naruto, if Sai is open to it, have him teach you that technique." He knew that the chance of both training and learning something new would get Naruto out of the house quickly without asking too many questions. He wanted the boy out of the house, because if his suspicions were right, it was possible that everyone inside was in danger if he wasn't there.

After ensuring that the boys had left the compound, he went over to Shizune.

"Hey Shizune, I'm going to head out now, but I need to tweak the compound's security seals. Please keep an eye out, in case Naruto comes back with his friend."

A questioning gaze from the girl lingered for a moment, before she seemed to accept that he was going to do whatever it was anyway whether or not she said anything. Which was true, it wasn't the time or place for being lax, considering what he believed to be going on. He quickly got up, grabbing the scrolls he had been looking at, as well as the crystal ball within the purple cloth. Exiting quickly, he left a somewhat confused Shizune behind.

Jiraiya made haste to the Hokage Tower once he made the appropriate changes to the compound, breezing past the administrative section and walking right up to the Hokage's office. Stopping only briefly for the ANBU officer to identify him, he entered the office to see Fugaku sitting behind the mahogany desk, finishing on some paperwork.

Jiraiya quickly had the attention of the Uchiha leader of the village, who had turned as soon as the toad sage had entered.

"Fugaku, we have a problem."

The eyes of the Uchiha flickered red for a moment, seemingly activating something or signaling someone, as the door immediately slammed shut behind Jiraiya. The visitor to the office could feel the familiar sensation of the privacy seals activating around him.

"And what is that, Jiraiya?"

"You remember that you asked me to find members of ROOT? Well, I think I just discovered a lead. Though I have one question that I need to verify first. Did you assign a young ANBU agent to Naruto's classroom to keep an eye on something?"

"I haven't ordered such a thing, no. What happened?" Fugaku's eyes were narrowing, suspecting something major about to be revealed.

Jiraiya continued, "Naruto brought one of his classmates to the compound just a short while ago. While talking with the child, I noticed that there is what looks like a seal on the back of his tongue. If you haven't assigned an ANBU agent, I think we may have found our first ROOT agent."

The Hokage's response was terse. "On the tongue. That explains a lot. We only ever searched the skin for any markings regarding ROOT. We never thought to check inside the body." Fugaku's eyes narrowed even further. "That old man, planting a child spy amongst my son. What is he planning?"

"I haven't found anything additional yet, I only just made the discovery. I came directly here after making sure the compound was safe and secure."

"Tell me everything you do know." Fugaku ordered.

Jiraiya spent the next couple minutes recalling every bit of information he knew about the boy, which was minimal. The two of them pondered how to best use this information and decided that a direct confrontation would not be the best approach at this time. It was time for research, and sadly, not the type involving watching women. He ended his impromptu meeting with the Hokage, with the promise of digging up new things following this discovery.

After some thought, he realized that he was going to need a change of location. The gallant toad sage decided that the best place to quietly observe the boy through the crystal ball would be the Sarutobi estate. The item itself was to be kept as secretive as possible, and the target he was observing even moreso. He was sure that Shizune or Tsunade would become very curious as to why he was watching a boy, and he didn't want to reveal any additional information that wasn't necessary. And if Naruto noticed, he was certain that would be a conversation he didn't want to have yet. Best go someplace where prying eyes couldn't see.

Before he went to that particular residence, he did want to check with his former sensei on using it as a hiding hole first. As he walked towards the Academy, where he was sure the old man would be, he thought about what this could mean. ROOT agents were like ghosts from what he could tell, blending in perfectly with the ninja population to the point where they couldn't be discerned from normal ninja. If they were able to hide in the Academy, then they could even be within the civilian populace too.

That thought disturbed him more than he would have liked. If Danzo had control over sleeper agents mixed into the people of the town, any potential conflict with him could end with hundreds or thousands of civilian deaths, hostage situations, or even complete extermination of all non-ROOT members.

There was a silver lining though. Now that he had discovered a possible agent, he could use that information to watch the boy carefully. This could reveal new information that might shed a light on the mysterious organization. By identifying the sealing matrix on the tongue, they might be able to use that to identify more agents, assuming that it was used on not just the one.

He approached the Academy, greeted Mebuki and entered Hiruzen's office.

"Greetings sensei."

"Ah, hello Jiraiya. What can this old man do for you?"

The toad sage took a moment to collect his thoughts. He gestured towards the door, which was closed, and asked "Do you mind?"

Sensing his intent, the Sarutobi acquiesced to Jiraiya placing a security seal over the area.

"I have a question. About one of the students in Naruto's class. Might I be able to see their enrollment papers and other information that they have provided. I have a reasonable suspicion that the boy might be a ROOT sleeper agent."

Hiruzen looked surprised for a moment, and then the cold, hardened battle visage appeared on his wizened face. Standing and walking over to a cabinet, he asked, "Which student?"

"Goes by the name of Sai. Very pale skin, dark hair. Naruto introduced me to him this afternoon after returning home."

Hiruzen started to dig through the files until he emerged with one. Grabbing the papers that resided within the folder, he spread them out on his desk. There was a picture of the boy, with information scrawled underneath, as well as official paperwork that had been filed during the school years. Hiruzen held up the one with his photo and started to read.

"Name: Sai Kazaha. Sponsoring Ninja: Shin Kazaha. Registration Number: S01467. Birthdate: November 25, Year 64 AK. Entered Academy in Year 70. First Year assignment primary teacher: Mikoto Uchiha…"

As they perused the folder for the information contained within, they came across nothing unusual or interesting in particular. Jiraiya piped up with a question.

"Who is Shin Kazaha? Not a name I'm familiar with."

"I'm afraid I don't know offhand either. If he was a student within the past few years, I might be able to find his records. If he is older than from when I started keeping my own records, then we would have to find it in the Hokage Tower."

After a few minutes spent searching through the rest of the files he kept, the two older ninjas completed their search without success.

"Well, this is at least a lead. More than I had yesterday." He paused and straightened up from the stooped over posture he had taken while looking through the paperwork, several vertebrae cracking during the movement. "I had one more question for you, too. Would you mind if I used your compound as a safe place to use the crystal ball? I don't want Naruto to see my spying on one of his classmates."

Hiruzen nodded, but then appeared to re-consider. "I'm afraid that my compound may not exactly be a quiet respite for you. Masuya and his little one have been staying there a lot."

Jiraiya looked confused for a moment before putting the pieces together. "You're a grandpa now? About time ya old fart! Congratulations!"

The headmaster accepted the plaudits with a big smile on his face. "So long as you don't mind a little one yelling up a storm, Masuya can be perfectly trusted with anything you may have going on. Sometimes Asuma shows up as well, but he usually sticks to his own apartment area these days rather than using the main house. You can always retreat to my personal office for a while if needed, as well."

Jiraiya nodded in agreement, that seemed like an optimal solution to him. While he hadn't had many run-ins with his sensei's boys, he definitely knew them. He trusted Hiruzen implicitly and the old man hadn't raised fools. And it felt unlikely that Danzo would have got his hands on someone so close to a former Hokage. They should be able to be trusted with not blabbing on him.

He bid his former sensei farewell and left in the direction of the monkey summoner's compound. After several minutes of walking, he arrived at his new hideout. Gaining entrance easily from having been granted access there hundreds of times previously, he plopped down on the comfy padded couch of the older man's living room.

Pulling out the crystal ball, he started the ninja technique to bring the viewable target's image within the orb. A picture of the almost monochromatic boy slowly coalesced into focus. He peered at the image, watching intently for any details that he could pick up. "Alrighty boy. Let's see your secrets."

Author's Note:

And the first strings of the ROOT problem begin to come unraveled. How far will they go? Hope everyone enjoys the chapter, and as always, constructive criticism is welcomed.