Interlude: Sarutobi
There were a lot of things Sarutobi wished he didn't have to do as the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha. The first was stepping out of retirement after Minato had died. Minato had only been Hokage for a year before forces conspired against him and he had to sacrifice his life to seal the Kyuubi.
The second was giving in to demands of foreign nations. He had expected the Kumo-nin to pull something when they had their ambassadors come for peace talks. He just hadn't expected them to go for Naruto as well as the Hyuuga heiress. And yet, if he didn't wish to plunge Konoha into war again, he had to give in to their demands. Their ninja were dead. Even if Konoha had good reason to kill them, Kumo was demanding recompense while they played innocent.
Konoha was not in the position to enter another war so soon. They're economy was still recovering and they had taken a serious blow when the Kyuubi was released and put upon the village. They had lost too many good ninja. He had no choice but to allow the Hyuuga clan to take the fall, though it pained him to consider. They could not have war.
It was this he was thinking of as he chewed on the end of his tobacco pipe in this office. It was well into the night already and he had given up on the idea of retiring to his rooms any time soon. It was a bad habit, and his wife would scold him if she knew he was smoking in the main office again, but there was nothing better to soothe his nerves than tobacco. He thought it could be excused given how the village had almost lost Naruto tonight.
He didn't like having to see Minato's son as an asset to the village, but he was Hokage. They only had the peace they did after the Kyuubi's attack because they still had Naruto in the village. Even if he was barely five years old, the threat of the nine-tailed jinchuuriki was enough to keep most villages from trying anything against them. If Kumo had succeeded in stealing him, or even killing him, their tightly held grip on their village's status as a superpower would fall. And the people would suffer for it.
The night wasn't all bad, however. There was one good outcome from this. Sarutobi had known about the new friend Naruto had been able to make. His anbu regularly gave reports about the boy's situation. He just hadn't expected this level of loyalty between the two already. Most kids their age wouldn't be able to handle a life or death situation. Had it been any regular child, he would have expected them to run.
And even more surprising, he was an Uchiha. Well, former Uchiha. A full background check had been done on the child the moment he started interacting with Naruto and it was a surprise to know the Uchiha clan disowned one of their own. Given the reports from his anbu however, he could see the reasoning behind it.
Born on the day of the Kyuubi attack, Toji was one of the children that had been a part of the first wave of casualties. Infant's chakra systems were incredibly delicate at the time of birth, as they were still forming, and the maternity hospital was well away from the center of the village because of it. Too much of a shock to the infant's circulatory system and the still forming chakra veins would tear and rip, resulting in a chakra bleed that was usually too severe to recover from.
Toji had been one of the children that was in the new infant ward the night of the Kyuubi attack. And the only one to survive. From what records show of the night, the hospital had been one of the first buildings to be crushed under Kyuubi's massive body. That Toji had survived at all from the falling debris was a miracle in itself.
The second miracle was that Toji's chakra reserves were massively huge, even as an infant. The hospital records recorded after he was found theorized the only reason he had survived the destruction of his circulatory system was because his body produced more chakra than it lost.
The infant's body had even adjusted to the wound to his chakra heart. Consecutive scans over the months he was kept in the ICU showed his body absorbing the chakra that leaked from the heart. Instead of dissipating out of the tenketsu points like a normal child, the chakra was reabsorbed into the flesh. His tenketsu points were severely damaged, and while it was theorized he could eventually have some use out of them, it would never be enough to form ninjutsu.
It was a surprise to learn the Uchiha clan had disowned the child. But with the parent's dead and the clan unwilling to admit a weakness in their numbers, it wasn't outside the realm of believability. He didn't know how the chakra's circulatory system affected their doujutsu, but their clan was incredibly secretive about its inner workings. Sarutobi wouldn't be surprised if the child was never able to fully activate it. Hence the clan's disowning of the child.
Sarutobi took another drag from his pipe and would have continued his line of thought if there hadn't been a knock on his office door. "Hokage-sama. Ryoma-sensei from the hospital has a report to give."
"Let them in."
Ryoma Sakuma was the current head medic-nin at the hospital. If he was here to report something it was bound to be interesting.
Ryoma was a tall man with a thin build. With brown hair and black eyes, he didn't look too remarkable. And that translated to his humble way of dress, with the standard shinobi pants and turtleneck. The only thing that gave away his position as head medic-nin was the white doctor's coat with his name and rank stitched on the breast pocket.
"Ryoma-san. You had something to report?"
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Ryoma had a clipboard in his hands and walked over to Sarutobi's desk to hand it to him. Sarutobi glanced at it and saw that it was the little Toji's medical file. "I was not head medic when Toji was first brought in as an infant, but I did look over the initial report of his circumstances. His case would have been filed away into the records but one of my nurses discovered something about him that I thought should be brought to your attention."
"Oh? Go ahead."
"Toji's ribs were cracked and he had a severe gash on his face. The nurse assigned to him was administering the treatment when she noticed an abnormality with his chakra system. The doctor's assigned to him as an infant rightfully believed his circulatory system would reform, though at a reduced capacity, as that is what the body remembers. However, that is not what was found today."
Sarutobi took a puff on his pipe as the doctor continued.
"It is as if…the chakra system has mutated. A circulatory system never formed. His chakra heart still exists, but it has somehow hardened. It still leaks chakra at an alarming rate, but it is somehow controlled. And the boy's body is drenched in it. His bones, muscles, even his blood, have incredibly high chakra readings."
The Hokage looked over the clipboard provided. Indeed, there was a rudimentary diagram of what the boy's chakra system now looked like. A chakra heart in the center of his chest and the body around it full of chakra, like a lake full of water.
"Hokage, I have done biopsies on animals with chakra abilities. Summon beasts are said to be similar in biological make-up to their more mundane cousin's and it has been a subject of my study for years. This boy's body, his mutations…is strikingly similar to that of chakra beasts."
"Is it now?"
It was an interesting fact indeed. He wondered how the boy's mutation could have come about. Would any child, if in the repeat circumstances and with a high enough chakra reserve, develop the same mutation? Or was it a wild fluke?
"Thank you, Ryoma-san. Was there anything else?"
"No, Hokage-sama. I just thought you should know."
"Of course. You are dismissed."
Ryoma bowed before leaving the room. Sarutobi chewed on the end of his pipe as he looked back down at the copy of the disowned Uchiha child's medical records. This had potential. If nurtured enough, the child had the potential to become something truly fearsome. Something to rival even a tailed beast perhaps. If he could assure this child's loyalty to the village as a ninja…it was worth investing in.
"Hmm…perhaps it is time to pay Naruto and his new friend a visit."
A/N: The chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I thought it would be good insight into Toji before I move forward with a good time skip. Hope you enjoy the brief explanation.
