Shinobi of the Force
Introduction to the Leaf Konoha: Late Night
The last few years in Yōsai have been relatively peaceful between the Five Great Nations. No major conflicts have arisen that could even be considered a skirmish, let alone another Grand War in the offing. Still the Five Kage Villages, while not in open conflict are always seeking a chance to gain an advantage over the other villages. Whether through simple espionage, or outright assassination, the ninja villages will take any opportunity to undermine each other.
All of the Great Five villages, are nominally equal in strength, no single village has a clear advantage over the other, when it comes to numbers. Konoha, however, because it has two of the Heavenly dojutsu: Byakugan and Sharingan, living within it, two of the Three Sanin remaining loyal to it, and whether the civilians wanted to admit it or not, the most powerful of the biju living within her walls, is considered the strongest Hidden Village in the Five Great Nations, and thus the strongest on the continent. Konoha has always been the envy of the other Hidden Villages, and has always been coveted for it strength, there have always been those who would seek to weaken it, or strengthen their own village, by stealing from the Leaf.
Naruto's own mother was kidnapped by Kumo ninja, while she was Chunin, so they could use her as a broodmare for the next generation. Incidentally it was what led to her falling in love with Minato, when he used her hair to track her and her kidnappers down. Especially when he told her, he always thought her hair was the most beautiful shade of red he had ever seen.
Tonight, while most of the shinobi force, and even the Uchiha clan, were preoccupied with the Kyūbi Festival, with the influx of guests from outside the village, it had been child's play to sneak away from the diplomatic delegation. He was the leader of a delegation sent to the Leaf from Cloud, they had been scheduled to come here in two more months, but their Raikage was an impatient man and pushed this operation ahead, sooner than they had planned. They came into Konoha with false claims about wanting an alliance, similar to the Suna/Konoha alliance, because it would bolster both villages economy.
It was all a ruse however, because the delegation was under orders, to gather as much intel on the Leaf as they could, and the leader was on a mission to acquire one of the Heavenly dojutsu. They had been here for a few days, and had met most of the clan heads, including the Hyuga and Uchiha, as well as some of their children. It was concluded by the intelligence team, that it would be a waste of time to try and use the Uchiha, because there was no guarantee, that they would ever manifest the Sharingan, and because they were essentially the police of the village, it would be foolish to voluntarily walk into jail.
Therefore, they concluded that the best course of action is to go for the Byakugan, and the best time to do so would be when the village defense force would be spread thin, like during the festival that celebrated one of their hero's greatest victories. Foolish Tree-kissers, don't they know that it is impossible to kill a tailed-beast, the Kumo ambassador/infiltrator thought with disdain, as he made it over the compound wall with his prize, they were the ones that gave us the eight-tails? Surely, they know, the only way to be rid of the biju would be to seal it into a container. A living, human container, now that would be the real prize, if I were able to find out who the current container of the Kyūbi is, and brought the person to Kumo, that would be a boon greater than both Heavenly dojutsu.
The gods must have been smiling upon him, because when he came to the compound to get the Hyuga heiress, he found the guards being lazy at their posts. They seemed to expect their enemies to come at them with a frontal assault, for ninja with far-seeing eyes, it was pretty pitiful how easy it was to slip past their watch. So much so, the Kumo spy was beginning to suspect that the little girl was set as bait for him, when he found her alone sleeping in her house. There did not seem to be any adults in the house, when he entered her room. She was an azunde (blue-hair), with a fair complexion, and when she was not sleeping, he remembered, she had lavender eyes. According to Hiashi, the girl's father, they had only just begun her training, so they would not be getting anything but the Byakugan, which was not really a problem, since her only value to Kumogakure would be in her offspring, not her taijutsu prowess.
He was in her room, scooping her up and into his bag so fast the breeze of his passing finally caught up to him, as he was on his way out. She let out a single squeak of fright and shock, before her entire tiny frame was engulfed by his specially made canvas bag. It was specially made for this kind of work, with silencing seals to prevent any noise from escaping. He was not worried about her moving around, she seemed to be paralyzed with fear for the moment, which was understandable for a child her age. By the time she should be able to get her wits about her, they will be safely in their rooms at the hostel the delegation rented. There, she will be packed into a specially made storage seal, and smuggled out of Konoha when the delegation departs, even if they know for a fact that she is in there, no one will be able to search them, because of the delicate nature of diplomatic issues. To harm a diplomatic delegation, or even detain them, would be a violation of diplomatic courtesy, which could spark an actual war. Unless it can be proven, that the foreign delegation, blatantly violated the hosting entities' trust, and committed espionage or worse while under the protection of diplomacy, the foreign delegation could not be held accountable for anything while under diplomatic immunity.
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In the sack on his back, the little girl was so afraid, she did her best not to move, just like any animal that found itself in a perilous situation. Her mind needed to catch up to her racing heart, her fight, flight, or flee responses needed to catch up to her conscious mind, but really, what could an untrained four-year old do to a fully trained Jonin, or even a half-trained Genin?
She remembered that her mommy had to go to the hospital to get her little sister, and daddy went with her, they told her to be a good girl and stay in bed, until they got home. They said, if she had a nightmare to ask one of the guards, or servants to help her get back to sleep, but she was too excited and happy about meeting her little sister to have any nightmares. Consequently, she had been sound asleep when she was taken, and thinking she would sleep through the night, the branch family members working for the main, felt that they could sneak out to enjoy the festival for a couple of hours, before coming back to resume their posts. The guards had grown complacent in their time behind the walls of Konoha, they believed the Konoha Defense Force would be the first line of defense before they had to perform their duties. Thus, they became lax in their diligence to their clansmen, this careless attitude by the guards, and the dereliction of duty by the servants, would come back to bite them in a big way.
Hiashi has always been a benevolent clan-head, and ever reluctant to use the curse mark on members of his own family, that line of thinking would be sorely tested after this night. He would have to weigh his fatherly anger and fear, as well as the clan, almost losing the Byakugan to a foreign village, against his personal beliefs regarding the Caged-Bird Seal, at the very least, they would all lose their positions in the main house.
None of that mattered to little Hinata Hyuga at the moment, all that mattered right now, was she wanted her daddy, he could save her from the bad man. As she was thinking that, an eerie calm seemed to envelop her mind, she could almost hear a voice in her mind, telling her to breathe a certain way. She did as much, and it made her feel better, she also felt a warming sensation in her belly that made her feel even better. Is this what daddy meant when he was talking about my chakra, she wondered in awe, as she touched the place, just below her belly-button, where the warmth was strongest. As she touched the warm spot below her navel, another picture sprang to her mind, of the time she had watched a flower from her family garden open. She watched the tiny bud open and expand to three times its original size, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in her young life, it felt as if something that was already alive, had been rejuvenated and given new purpose.
Hinata allowed that image to flood her mind, and it seemed to cause the warmth in her belly-button, to grow and expand until it filled up completely. It seemed to go toward her eyes more than anything, then she remembered her daddy, her mommy, and Hiza-oji-chan, making the bird sign with their hands before their eyes changed. Hinata's memory, and the recall that all children her age have, when watching their parents and family members, becomes clear, and remembering her own practice at making that hand gesture at other times by herself, come together to have her make the same gesture. The blood-vessels around her eyes constrict, causing a slight ache, but the adrenaline of her situation allows Hinata to ignore the discomfort. Her vision is different than normal, she cannot see colors, as she normally can, just contrasting outlines of white and black, except for when she looked toward the side of the bag pressing against the bad man's back.
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Naruto and his sisters in all but blood, made it to the Hyuga neighborhood, and found the guards at their posts, but they were standing right next to a torch that had to be killing their night vision. What the Hell are they doing, his mother exclaimed as his tenants looked through his eyes, these guards are supposed to be ninja, they should know better than to make themselves a target?
They obviously expect their enemies to attack them head-on, Mara mused, then added with disdain, which is the sort of thinking an infiltrator hopes for.
The four kunoichi at his back came in sight of the Hyuga compound, and their thoughts ran along the same lines as Naruto's human residents. He was listening to them all, but mostly, he was letting the Force guide his movements, namely his eyes along the outer wall of the compound. Naruto pulled a pair of his new shuriken out of his pouch, as he began a trot toward the rear of the compound, Izumi decided to follow him, while the other three stood vigil, watching the compound the way they would if they were going to infiltrate it themselves.
Naruto felt two other presences, beside his sisters' and the Hyuga guards, in the vicinity, the area of the compound was pretty remote. It was mostly forest-area with only a few neighbors in line of sight, but a little ways away from the estate, the largest structure anywhere close to the area was a small temple, run by monks, it was dedicated to the Will of Fire according to his mother. Naruto's trek took him at an oblique angle to the compound wall, the emotions of the terror-stricken person afflicted Naruto with empathy. He began to send out calming thoughts, to this person he has never met, and like a high pressure front moving into a low pressure area, it allowed him to zero in on where this person was…
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Hinata's eyes seemed to focus on a particularly bright point on the bad man's back, and she remembered her lessons on tenketsu, and the jyūken her father taught her since her last birthday. How some of the more vital ones were on the torso, and that even a novice, if they could gain position on the bad guys could deal devastating damage. He said the way to remember which tenketsu are the most important, is 'when our special eyes wake-up, the brightest stars have the greatest bounty.' Hinata looked at the bad man's back and saw stars, all of them were bright, but she could see a difference in brightness in some of them, the closest, brightest one, was right along the bad man's spine, just below the ribs.
The Hyuga are an old family and were one of the few families to be considered on par with the Uchiha and Senju during the Warring Period. They have been training in the jyūken for as far back as anyone can remember, when something like that is taught for so long it becomes a part of your DNA. Subsequently, the following strike is as much instinct as it is learned behavior. Hinata closes her hand except for two fingers that begin to arc electricity…
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The Kumo-nin made it over the wall of the compound via shunshin, right as he felt a spike of chakra coming from the sack. Just as the Force directs Naruto to throw his shuriken, Hinata unleashes her strike, the shuriken separate into two different flight paths, instead of normal-chakra, the Hyuga heiress subconsciously converts it to raiton-chakra, directing it through her middle and pointer fingers. The Kumo-nin feels the twin shuriken bite into the back of his knees, causing him to cry out, a split second before he feels a raiton-strike slam into his spine, which conducts electricity all over his body. The pain of the hamstring strike is forgotten, as an even greater pain infuses itself around his body, he does not even feel himself fall to the ground.
His fall jolts Hinata free from his bag, and she hears the sound of several feet coming in her direction. It seems the bag's one flaw was that it allowed no sound to escape from it, but plenty of sound waves could enter it. As the Hyuga guards and Naruto's sisters reached the little girl's presence, Hinata was able to open the bag and let herself out, and as she did so, she heard several gasps of exclamation. One of the guards stepped closer to the distraught, little girl and asked, "Hinata-sama," he asked softly, knowing that too much noise, could scare her even more than she already was, still there were tears of fright still leaking down her face, "are you alright, what has happened to you?"
Hinata knew the name of the guard that spoke, because he was always kind and gentle and friendly with her, "Toba-san," she asked in a fearful voice? She was quite literally still standing upon the downed Jonin from Kumogakure. He had fallen unconscious from the jolt to his nervous system. Then she looked around at the guards, at the pretty women, then at the blonde boy that was still approaching her. She even noticed a monk, with his bald-head and light monk's robes, from the temple, approaching with a benevolent smile on his face. She felt safer than before, especially when she looked at the boy, who did not appear to be any older than herself, Hinata was very observant, even for a four-year old. She was, however, still four-years old, and unlike Naruto has known nothing but love and protection her entire life, therefore as she recognized that she was safe once again, she began to cry.
She ran to the only one she knew, the closest thing to family standing next to her, and threw her arms around his neck. Hinata had long since released her chakra, right now, she was not the Hyuga heiress, nor a budding kunoichi, she was a little girl needing reassurance that she was safe. In that moment, the guards knew that they had failed in their duty to their clan, and whatever measures Hiashi-sama would take to punish them, they knew they deserved it. Toba-san returned the little girl's affections, by rubbing her back and whispering sweet words of comfort, he knew what he would have to do, he needed to contact the girl's father.
Naruto looked at the affectionate display with a slight envy, wishing he could have had that sort of comfort when he was little. He did not begrudge or resent her, her family, it was hers and it was her right to get something like that, but it did not diminish his envy. His sisters noticed his naked jealousy and moved over to show him, that there were people that cared about him, even loved him, and gave him their own brand of affection. Izumi being the closest to him in height, just leaned over a little, cradling his head to her bosom and after kissing his temple, laid her head over the top of his. Naori remained standing and placed herself behind Izumi and hugged both of them to her, the Uchiha heiress meaning as much to her as Naruto, meaning as younger siblings, she would unflinchingly give her life for. Yugao knelt in front of him, caressing his whisker-marks, and when he was not closing his eyes in ecstasy from Anko running her fingers through his hair, Naruto and Yugao were lovingly looking into each other's eyes.
The monk was the first to speak of the incident he had just witnessed, "that was an excellent throw, young one," he complimented, "he had only recently completed his teleportation technique, when you made your throw, you almost seemed to know where the suspect would end his travel. How did you know where he would be," the monk wondered?
"That's a good question," came a voice out of the darkness, making all but Naruto, Hinata, and the Monk jump in startlement, "I was on my way to the compound to watch over my niece for the night. When I notice a Jonin of Kumogakure shunshin into the clearing, just before the kid hamstrung him with a pair of shuriken, I've not seen that kind of skill at shurikenjutsu below Jonin." The man was one of the presences Naruto had sensed, as he patrolled the area looking for a threat, nevertheless he sensed nothing from him except curiosity. He had not sensed an immediate threat from this new man, nor did he know whom he was, the Force gives him loads of information, but not a person's identity.
Hinata jerked away from Toba, and turned to the new voice, with a squeal of delight, she broke away from the guard and ran toward it, "Hiza-oji," the little girl cried, as she nearly tackled him! The stern expression on Hizashi Hyuga's face softened momentarily as his niece collided with him, before returning to stare at the women surrounding the young man.
"We were passing through the neighborhood to get away from the crowd near the center of town, when Naruto Uzumaki, sensed a threat here in the Hyuga Estate," Naori explained calmly, "he has a kekkei genkai technique called, the Force, that lets him sense danger from a distance." She figured that was the best way to begin an explanation into what the Force was, enough for her people to understand at least. Telling them right off the bat, that a little boy, whom the whole village has practically alienated, is tapping into the fabric of the cosmos itself, would make even ninja look at them like they were nutjobs.
"It gives him slight glimpses of the future, nothing to allow us to know how any specific endeavor will take place," Anko continued their explanation, "but enough to allow him to anticipate where an opponent will be at a specific place in time."
"Naruto sensed a disturbance here in the Hyuga compound, and immediately came here to investigate," Izumi added, while still hugging Naruto to her well-developed, for an eleven-year old chest, "we arrived here just in time to see the Kumo-nin shunshin in front of us. I guess the Force warned him of where best it would be to throw his shuriken."
"As for where he acquired such skill," Yugao spoke from her position on the ground, though when Hizashi revealed his presence, she immediately wheeled around with her hand on the hilt of her sword, "that was achieved because he really didn't have a choice. Since he's been living alone for most of a year, he's been honing his throwing skill to near perfection in order to feed himself, by hunting."
"My shuriken weren't the only reason the Kumo-nin was taken-down though," Naruto spoke up for the first time, "just a fraction of a second after I winged him, he seemed to go into convulsions and began screaming much louder than a hit like that should account for. I think the girl there did something to him, while she was in the bag," Naruto explained then tilted his head as if feeling for something, "the Force tells me, she may be calm enough to tell her side of things."
They all turned their attention to the girl, who had quieted the longer she was near her closest family member. Hizashi knelt down to eye-level with his niece, "Hinata-mei-chan, how are you feeling?"
Hinata looked back at her uncle and despite the late hour, she did not seem to be overly sleepy, she seemed to be quite tranquil, "I am fine, oji-san," she answered, then thinking it would be rude not to return the question asked, "how are you, and how is Neji-nii?"
"That's good, I'm fine and so is Neji, thank you for asking," he said, his sister in-law was always a stickler for polite introduction and exchanges, and Hinata was at that age where she follows her mother's example, even in extreme situations like this. "Will you, please, tell me about what happened tonight, did the bad man hurt you," Hizashi asked?
"He scared me when he put me in his bag, while I was sleeping," Hinata answered, in a frightened voice, "then I hear a voice telling me to stay calm, and I did," Hinata continued with more confidence, "when I was calm, I felt a warmth in my tummy, and it grew out all over my body. It felt really nice, like a hug from mommy," she said in a blush, then went on, "some of the warmth went to my eyes, and I remembered you, mommy, and daddy making a birdy sign before opening the Byakugan. It opened my Byakugan, isn't that cool," Hinata asked excitedly?
"Very cool, Hinata-chan," her uncle confirmed, "now tell me what you did after opening your eyes."
"Well, I started seeing everything outside of the bad man's bag, like I remembered with my lessons, everything was white and black, except for the blue rivers in the bad man's body." she answered.
"You're a very good girl, for remembering what we've all taught you," Hizashi Hyuga praised his niece, "now what else happened?"
"I wanted to get away from the bad man, and I remembered what daddy said about the jyūken," she pondered, then recited, "even a novice like me could hurt someone with jyūken if I was in the right place. He said when I opened my eyes, that the brightest stars being the most vital, well I saw a really bright one close to me. So, I made the stabbing fingers, and my hand got really tingly, so I hit the bad man in the back. I fell on top of him and opened the bag before, I saw all the people running up to me."
"You did a very brave thing, Hinata-mei," Hizashi cooed to the little girl, "I am very proud of you, and so will your mommy and daddy, and your baby sister, when she learns about her strong, big sister."
Hinata suddenly squealed as she almost forgot something, "when will mommy and daddy be back from the hospital with little sister Hanabi? I can't wait to play dollies with her," she asked in excitement as if she had completely forgotten her trauma from just a few minutes ago?
All of them, even Naruto was admiring this girl's strength of will, at being able to subdue a Jonin, with Naruto's help of course, but still blow it off like it was no big deal. She was only a couple of months younger than Naruto, and this was likely, the first tragic event of her life, and she still had the strength to overcome it, even within minutes of the incident.
Before Hizashi could turn to the guards, and ask how they let his niece, get taken out of her own bed, the man on the ground began to awaken. "Oh, ohm," he was still feeling the effects of Hinata's nerve strike, then he hissed because Naruto's shuriken, were still embedded into the backs of his knees. The blood leaking out around the stars, had diminished to a trickle, it seemed the shuriken were working as a bandage of sorts, keeping him from bleeding to death.
"What happened to me," he seemed to have forgotten what he was doing before he was knocked out?
Hizashi looked between the two groups around him, Naruto's group and the Hyuga guards, and resolutely pushed his niece toward the former. "Stay over there next to the nice ladies and the little boy, they'll keep you safe from anymore, bad men," Hizashi ordered the little girl, then in a kinder, gentler voice asked, "understand, Hinata-mei-san?"
Hinata's uncle was using his ninja voice and she knew, as with her father and mother, not to disobey him, when he used that voice, "Ha… Hai, oji-san!"
Hizashi stood up, casting a baleful glare at the soon-to-be, wishing-they-were-dead, Hyuga guards. He strode over to the downed Kumo-nin and using his foot, pushed him over onto his back, causing another hiss of pain, as the shuriken dug into the backs of his knees. This is when Hizashi starts to recognize the ninja from Kumo, they had met, off and on for the last week, when Hizashi was acting as bodyguard for his brother. It was the Kumo Ambassador, they had just begun negotiations for a non-aggression/ trade agreement, between Cloud and the Leaf. Having him here raised quite a few questions, was the delegation, nothing more than a ruse to allow Kumogakure to gather intel in Konoha? What were the other delegates doing right now, if their leader was trying to kidnap Hinata? One thing was for sure, this was above Hizashi's paygrade, it was even above his brother's as clan head, and councilman, this is an intelligence breach at best, and an international incident at worst, this sort of thing, automatically gets kicked up to the top, to the Hokage.
Hokage's Office
In the office of the Hokage, the Yondaime and his closest advisor, were looking over the clauses that Kumo proposed in their treaty requests. Most of them seemed reasonable, equal rates on import and export duties for non-essential items, like jewelry, clothing/textiles, and weapons, with a practically non-existent amount to be levied on foodstuffs and building material, being the gist of what they were asking for. That took care of the trade negotiations, but the non-aggression parts were worrying, they essentially state that even if Kumo, were to commence hostilities toward any nation, village, or entity, the Leaf could not intervene for any reason. Whether aid of a monetary nature or with personnel, even if the other party to the fight is another ally. That clause was effectively meant to make Konoha look bad, by reneging on promises made to previous, other allies. Konoha's only firm ally at the moment was Suna, thus it meant that Kumo could possibly be looking to the Sand village as a possible next point of conquest.
It was a clause meant to isolate and alienate Konohagakure from their other allies, possibly opening the Leaf up for a joint operation, similar to the way it took three of the Great Five to massacre Uzu. The way this clause read was extremely blatant, Cloud was in no way attempting to hide their purpose, it was as if they never intended for the treaty to be accepted. But treaties are always subject to haggling, and back and forth negotiations, the only time these things were not like that was if one party had won a clearly, decisive victory over the other. Since the previous decades of harassment between us and Cloud, were more of the equivalent of a cold-war, there have been no such victories on either side. Does this mean that they expect to win such a victory against us in the near future, the Hokage wondered in his mind?
The Hokage raised his head to look at the only, visible person in the room, his one trusted advisor who had helped the Yondaime return to prominence after he failed an essential mission, in the last Grand War, by refusing to abandon his teammates. The Sandaime Hokage refused to allow him to be disgraced, by awarding him the medal of Fire, for keeping to the highest principles of the Will of Fire, by choosing to save his comrades over the mission. No mission, however vital is more important to a Leaf shinobi, than the person fighting beside you. Just as a tree needs its leaves to capture the sun's energy and convert it into food, and make it strong, the Village Hidden in the Leaves needs all of its ninja to help keep it strong. The silver-haired, kind faced Hokage would never be able to repay Hiruzen Sarutobi enough, for preventing him from taking the coward's way out and ending his life. Sakumo Hatake, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, known as the White Fang of the Leaf, counted himself blessed to have a former Hokage as his Elder.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage, had survived every Grand War since the founding of the village, relatively unscathed. It was at home, while attempting to capture his wayward apprentice, Orochimaru that gave him his most debilitating wounds, costing him his right-eye, and requiring him to walk with a cane. In his more humorous moments, Sarutobi laments not getting his eye-patch when he was a young man, because it would have made him look roguish to the young kunoichi of his day. Sakumo had been grooming young Minato Namikaze to take his place in a few years, when the Kyūbi was released from Kushina, but sadly, he and his wife perished while trying to beat back the beast. Only their son remained of their family, and he is a hero in the eyes of the Hokage, who was forced to maintain his distance, lest speculation arise about why the leader of the Leaf, was spending so much time around a child.
That does not mean Sakumo and Hiruzen have not been watching over the child. He is the son of Sakumo's son's sensei, and Kushina was Sakumo's own Genin-student, from when he was a Jonin sensei, not to mention, Naruto is the village's jinchuriki, and as much as it pains the Hokage to admit it, the village's last line of defense if the worst should happen. So, mainly using the crystal ball technique, they have kept an eye on the boy, or in Hiruzen's case, gone to visit him when it was feasible for him to get away from his duties. Three-months ago, when the Sandaime went to the orphanage to check on the young Uzumaki, he was fit to be tied when it was discovered that Naruto had disappeared, apparently with everything he owned. He had been missing for a whole three-months, and nobody had any idea where he could be.
The Hokage had to discretely deploy his ANBU units to search for him, they could not be seen to be looking for him, lest any spies that may have been in Konoha wonder what the urgency was. They were methodical in their search. Nobody could remember seeing the boy on the night he was supposed to have disappeared. Hatake-sama spent hours in his office, when his other duties permitted, scrying through the crystal ball, looking for a mop of spiky-blonde-hair. They were finally able to find him, on the same day, he met the four kunoichi at the hot-spring. They found him, just before he began his pursuit of the rabbits through scrying, (A/N: Obviously Naruto's skill with the Force, hasn't allowed him to detect when he is being watched remotely.) and were quite impressed with his speed and endurance, while he was chasing the rabbit, and extremely impressed when they saw how efficiently he dispatched his prey.
They saw the way he met the kunoichi, Hiruzen was knocked out with a nose-bleed, when he saw their initial state of undress, but could not hear their conversation. The suishō-dama kansatsu-jutsu, only allows for visual observation. The Fourth and the Third watched as he showed his new friends where he lived and were surprised about that. Most people living in Konoha, did not even know the Kyūbi resided in the Leaf since its founding, let alone where Mito-sama finally subdued the creature. It was just on the verge of Konoha territory, well outside of even the ANBU's normal patrol routes, very few Konoha residents went out that far. It was no wonder the ANBU never found him, he had been in the perfect place to escape notice for a long time.
Sakumo-sama and Hiruzen debated amongst themselves about whether or not to bring Naruto back to the orphanage. They concluded that each citizen was allowed to live anyplace they wished, as long as it was not already occupied, or reserved by the village, and since nobody even knew of the place, Naruto was well within his rights to live there. They also observed a little known law that stated, if nobody else in the village or the village government itself, held any claim over any piece of land within village territory, it was by rights, claimed in ownership by the first citizen of Konoha to find it. They had to put a name to it that emphasized their ownership of said real property and file the appropriate paperwork. Paperwork which the Hokage had sneakily began, as soon as he heard of the law, it had the date they observed Naruto living there, but the title Maelstrom's Place, until Naruto could name it properly, and sign the paperwork.
They continued to observe the boy while living there, it seemed he had taken up meditation when he was not practicing, some form of stick fighting combat. Sakumo could have sworn he could recognize certain principles of the style, from previous experience, but he could not be sure, because it would not be possible for Naruto to know that style, since the last practitioner of the art, died the night he was born. At other times, the style exhibited by the boy was completely alien to the two most powerful men in the village. Neither of them had ever seen a style like that, it was sophisticated and simple at the same time, as if whatever style it was had taken millennia to perfect.
During the festival tonight, they have not had the opportunity to oversee their favorite blonde for his birthday. Not that they could do anything with the child to celebrate his fifth birthday, for they had been locked within this office all day, carefully reading the demands the Raikage wanted in the treaty to reduce the chances of all-out war. So, it came as something of a shock this evening, when there was a knock on the office door. The Hokage and his Elder advisor, shared a look of bewilderment, the executive office staff had been allowed to go home early for the festival, so there should be nobody in this part of the Hokage Tower. Other parts of the executive building were always busy, most ninja did their work at night, so it was necessary for many parts of the building to be up and running twenty-four hours a day. There were many services available at this time a night, from a commissary where ninja and kunoichi may get groceries for those times when they return from missions hungry, to the dispersing office where those same shinobi may get paid for missions and collect bounties on ninja they manage to encounter and overcome on said missions. Sakumo and Hiruzen continue to look at each other in surprise, until another rap on wood brought them out of their stupor, the Hokage responded with, "Enter."
The door opens and into the office walks a group of people, most were familiar to the two men. Hizashi Hyuga, the head of the Hyuga Branch family, whose son had just begun his training at Leaf Village Academy. Naori Uchiha, Jonin-sensei for team 66, the youngest Jonin to take an entire Genin Team and train so well, they all earned their Chunin vests on their first Chunin Exams. The young man, the Hokage had recently been thinking about, and a little girl, who looked to be about the same age as Naruto, and whom the Yondaime knew should be home asleep, since her mother just gave birth to her baby sister. A few that were unfamiliar to Hiruzen and Sakumo, entered the office as well, Toba Hyuga, Captain of the Hyuga night guards, and one of the Fire Monks at the Temple of Fire here in Konoha.
"Hello, all," Sakumo began as any good host would, "how may the Hokage, serve you this evening?"
In spite of the situation, Hizashi could not help but smirk, at his leader's attempts to put them at ease. "We have a situation that we found necessary to bring to your attention, Hokage-sama," the younger twin of Hiashi Hyuga answered, and at the Hokage's wave to continue, while Hizashi gestured to the little girl, "earlier tonight a foreign ninja, infiltrated the Hyuga compound and attempted to kidnap my niece, Hinata. It seemed Fate was on our side however, because the boy," Hizashi pointed to Naruto, then Naori, "and a few others were near the compound, and through the use of an astounding, sensory technique, were able to predict where the foreign ninja would complete his shunshin technique. The ninja was subdued by separate, yet equally brutal take-down tactics, from young Naruto, and my niece, who had decided to fight back against as she put it, the bad man."
The Hokage was not a foolish man, and neither was the Sandaime, they both turned their heads down to glare at the unsigned treaty on the desk, "and just who was this foreign shinobi," Hatake almost growled?
Naori was the one to answer, "permission to invite a few more people into your office, Hokage-sama," she was already opening the door, before he gave her a perfunctory nod. From outside the office, three kunoichi walked in, carrying a comatose man, Shorin Kobayashi, the Ambassador of Kumogakure no Sato, they idlily noted the backs of his knees were bandaged. "Do not worry, he is alive, I used my Sharingan to place him in a sleeping genjutsu, I can bring him out of it at any time," Naori addressed her Hokage.
Hokage looked with contempt at the unconscious man on the floor, to enter our Village under an olive branch only to trample all over our trust, and try to kidnap a four-year old child, for purposes all too obvious. This Raikage is a villain and a rat, and if it were up to me, I'd head over to Cloud and take his head. Sakumo felt a wave of comfort and confidence wash over him, which helped him pull back from the precipice of anger and hatred, thus allowing him to take a deep breath and pull back from falling into vengeance's trap. He had been looked at Shorin-san while thinking of seeking revenge on Kumo for their transgressions, when he brought his head up and found himself looking at Naruto, who was looking back at him with concern. Naruto may have Minato's hair and eye spectra, but his face was so much like his mother's that Sakumo often felt that he was just looking at a blonde-haired, blue-eyed vision of Kushina.
"We need to move quickly, but discretely over this," Hiruzen advised, "there's no doubt that Kumo violated the rules of diplomacy, but unless we can catch the entire delegation in acts of espionage, Ay can just claim that Shorin was acting on his own and disavow him. It's a good thing we captured him alive, and with an unimpeachable witness to corroborate what we did here tonight," the Sandaime said indicating the monk, "if he were dead, it would just seem like we were just trying to start a war, by killing their ambassador, and claiming he tried to kidnap a citizen of Konoha, and demand retribution."
"I agree," the Hokage nodded, "Inu!" Before Sakumo had even closed his mouth, he was witness to something peculiar, before the named ANBU began moving, Sakumo watched Naruto's eyes follow the shunshin from where it started until it was completed in front of the seated military leader. Sakumo had to wonder about Naruto's talents, not even the Sharingan, with its ability to slow down the perceptions of the mind, could reliably predict where a shunshin jutsu would end, they could guess and try to anticipate it, but the Uzumaki just predicted where it would end.
The ANBU that materialized in front of the desk, was attired in a standard ANBU uniform, with gravity defying silver hair, much like the Hokage's own, and a porcelain, ANBU mask, shaped like a dog, but with one floppy ear, that seemed to hang over one eye. There was a hinge over that eye, to allow the ANBU to flip it, up or down, to choose whether or not to use that eye.
"Inu, I want you to contact the ANBU commander, and have him send a squad of his best personnel, to the house our 'friends' from Kumo are renting and detain them. Take as many alive as you can, but if any resist apprehension, kill them," Sakumo ordered clearly, "we want as many alive as we can get, but it is imperative that none of them escape Konoha with any intelligence they may have collected. Once they are sure to have arrested them all, they are to be taken to Torture and Interrogation, tell them to wring them dry, by the time they're finished I want to know where their mothers hide their money. Understood," Sakumo asked with a bark?!
"Hai, Hokage-sama," Inu answered with a crisp military salute!
"Good," Sakumo accepted while returning the salute from his chair, then gave the execute order, "make it happen!"
Once Dog had left, also via shunshin, the Hokage turned back to the group, and gave his people a benevolent grin, "Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, now if you'll bear with me just a little bit longer, we need as accurate a run down of tonight's events as we can get." He turned to the monk and addressed him, "as you are an unimpeachable witness, monk-san, I'm going to have my top advisor take you and the children into his office, to collect your statements and vital details, we need to wait for one of the young lady's parents to arrive before we can question her anyway."
"Of course, Hokage-dono," the monk accepted, understanding his purpose in these proceedings.
Sarutobi moved forward on his cane, with a grandfatherly smile for the children, "come along, children, I think looking upon a younger generation will do my old bones some good." Naruto looked at Naori for confirmation, who nodded her assent, while Hinata did the same with her uncle.
As the kids and old men left, the Hokage turned to his ninja, "alright, begin the tale from top to bottom, and leave nothing out. The lives of many may hinge upon the meanest detail," their military dictator ordered, thus began the tale of how two children, not yet even Academy students, took down a Jonin ranked ninja of Kumo. There were several times when Sakumo Hatake barely held back his mirthful derision as he heard the story.
The Third Meets the Force
The Office of the Third
Sarutobi, the kids, and the Fire Monk entered his office, which was quite spacious and actually bigger than Sakumo's office. An office that was built to hold three people, will look huge when it is occupied by one person. When Hiruzen became Hokage, he had three advisors appointed by him to help him make decisions, they were meant to act as a Devil's Advocate, an adversarial role to make sure he was making the right decisions for the benefit of Konoha. Over time, that act became a reality, they began to oppose the Hokage openly, going so far as to try usurping his power by making decisions that would normally be his purview only.
At the time, there had been what was known as a Civilian Council, one comprised solely of men and women with civilian backgrounds, even if they had at one time in their lives been ninja of Konoha, they were now retired and had adopted a civilian mindset. This mindset had forgotten what it meant to serve a higher calling than one's own self-interest, they became nothing more than money grubbing parasites and power-mongers, otherwise known as politicians. They cared more about their own interests than what was best for the village, and because most of the ninja personnel were necessary because of the wars, the Civilian Council very nearly supplanted the Shinobi Council in power. It was in this way Hiruzen's Elders almost took control of Konoha, nearly dwindling the Hokage's power down to that of a figurehead, until the end of the last Grand War, when Sarutobi stepped down as Hokage, and handed the hat over to Sakumo Hatake.
Sakumo's early years were marked by his brutality, he began to remind the Council, and the Elders that they served the Hokage, not the other way around. It helped, that almost the entire Shinobi population was behind the Hokage, and those that were not, were sent out on long term missions, effectively silencing their voices. Elections were abolished, now the only way to be on the council was to be appointed to it by the Hokage, and Sakumo began ignoring anything the Elders suggested, unless it was truly beneficial for the village. The last straw came, when the council, leaked the information that Naruto was the Kyūbi to the populace, and that it was an Uchiha that took control of the beast on the night of the attack, something that only the Elders had been privy to. When word got back to Sakumo that the populace were planning to hurt Naruto, he immediately abolished the Civilian Council, and demoted them down to simple bureaucrats, that helped run the day-to-day operations needed to keep a city like Konoha functional.
As for anybody who tried to hurt Naruto, the actual perpetrators were executed, their land and holdings seized, and their family was banished from Konoha. Anybody that even talked about hurting him, were sent to T&I and re-educated on what was appropriate behavior regarding their Village's jinchuriki, and children in general. So, instead of trying to destroy him, the good people of Konoha began to ignore his existence, to the point that whenever he spoke to them, they acted as if he was not there.
Hiruzen welcomed the three into his office, offering them all seats, "I'm afraid all I have to offer in the way of refreshment, is alcoholic beverages, and water, I'm afraid I don't get many visitors who are children. My only grandson is only about a month old," he excused himself.
"I am content, Sarutobi-san," the monk assured the Sandaime, with a sublime smile on his face.
"Me too, ji-san," Hinata returned politely, as her mommy taught her.
"I'm fine, gramps," Naruto answered with an easy smile.
Hiruzen turned to Naruto with a smile of his own, "It's good to see you again, my boy, it's been a while."
"Yeah, it has," Naruto agreed without offering anything else.
"I was surprised, when I went to the orphanage you were living in to find you'd left," Hiruzen admitted, "they told me, you simply disappeared one day with everything you owned."
"Is that what they said," Naruto asked with unveiled disdain, "while I was living there, it sure seemed that was what they wished for from me. But it doesn't matter anymore, I like where I'm living now anyway, I have four older sister-figures, who went out of their way tonight to celebrate my birthday. This little side venture has been pretty fun," Naruto's grin had become gentle when speaking about the four kunoichi that have become special to him, and now has returned to easy when he talked about tonight's festivities.
Hinata stood up to walk over to the boy, there was naked sympathy on her features when she looked at him. "You lived in an orphanage," she asked to his confusion, before he nodded, "that means you don't have a mommy or a daddy, right," she asked again as tears began leaking out of her eyes, he again nodded? "I'm sorry," she wailed when she threw her arms around him, "you're… like… Neji-nii because… he doesn't have a mommy, either," she finished in a rush, with a sob punctuating her words.
Naruto was totally surprised, by her sudden outburst, at first, he was about to rebuff her for pitying him, but then he listened to his feelings from the Force and realized what she was feeling was not pity, but genuine remorse on his behalf. He raised his arms and gathered her against him, "you're name is Hinata, right," to which she nodded, "well, thank you for caring about me, I hope we can be friends. But you don't have to feel sorry for me, I know who my mother and father were, strong shinobi that died while protecting me, and the village, from a monster that was trying to destroy it." By monster, I'm talking about the Uchiha that ripped you from mom's belly, Kurama, not you.
Its okay, brat, the Kyūbi replied, I saw your intent in your mind.
Hiruzen's jaw hung slack, as he just told them he knew about his burden, his mother, and his father, without revealing specifics, that's not the kind of savvy a child should have.
"I also have a surrogate family of sorts, so I do have people who care about me," Naruto assured her, as she came up to look at him. "Not only that, but I have a really strong ally, called the Force," Naruto told her, "I'm learning more about the Force every day, the closer we get the less lonely I become."
It was at this moment, that the monk chose to speak up, "is this force, what you used to know where Shorin-san would end up after his shunshin tonight?"
Naruto simply nodded, "yes, the Force helps me with things like that."
"What exactly is it," Hiruzen asked the boy, "while I understand there are new jutsu created every day, I have never heard of this force thing you're talking about."
"It's not surprising you have not heard of it, because it is not a chakra based ability," Naruto acknowledged, he never intended to keep knowledge of the Force, at least academically, to himself, one does not hoard a friend. Mara has stated that no one on this world except his descendants will be able to use the Force, it felt it best to allow itself to trickle into the population, rather than flood it, "the Force, or the Living Force as its full-name suggests, is an energy field generated by all living things, it surrounds us, penetrates us, it binds the cosmos together. It's to chakra, what your foot is to your hand, a part of you, but has dissimilar functions," Naruto told them.
"It sounds remarkably like senjutsu," Hiruzen mused, then explained to those in the room, "the discipline of gathering nature chakra, or natural energy through a totem, usually an animal spirit. Those that master such are what we come to know as sages, all three of my students have that ability to varying degrees, though only Minato Namikaze was said to have become a true sage."
Naruto listened to the old man as he described nature energy, as his eyes became half-lidded, and felt out through the Force for what he was talking about. There had been times, during his meditations into the Force, when he had felt another power moving around him, it usually only happened when he was utterly still. It seemed to be similar to the Force, it was more chaotic, but also more gentle, wild seemed to be the best way to describe it. Naruto would have to investigate this energy further, but for now, he would concentrate on mastering his chakra, and having a deeper relationship with the Force.
"I can sense it, and it is very much like the Living Force," Naruto told them, "in fact, I'd say it seems as if nature energy is to the Force, what a sapling is to a great tree, or better yet, if chakra is your foot, and the Force is your right-hand, then natural chakra is your left." Naruto stood up, gently moving Hinata back to her seat, before pulling out a kunai, "with the Force, the low-level abilities give me sensory capabilities, it was what allowed me to sense what was happening in the compound tonight. I will be able to perceive other places, other times, in fact it is this ability to perceive glimpses of the future that gives me, what others would see as unnaturally fast, even by ninja standards, reflexes. I'm not any faster in the reflex department than anybody else at my level, I just live in a slightly more accelerated time frame, than other people."
"Through the Force, I have learned many things," Naruto laid the kunai flat upon his palm, "our true form is luminous, we are composed of more than crude clumps of dense matter." As he was speaking, the kunai was lifted off of his palm with nothing but the power of the Force holding it up, he began to spin the knife above his hand in a clockwise direction. "We are beautiful beings, even if we do terrible things, we are still alive to balance those terrible deeds with great ones," the kunai continued to spin in the same direction, then it tipped so that the blade was pointing down to his palm.
"You can tell can't you, that I am not using any chakra," Naruto asked while looking at Hiruzen's slack jawed face, as he practiced his telekinesis, Sarutobi could only nod in his stupor, "good, this is not just a chakra-control exercise, its another form of control. Control of myself, if I didn't have control over myself, then I might lose control of something more vital…" faster than rain falling from the sky, he grabbed the handle from the air, and threw it in the direction of the wall behind, the Sandaime, who had come back to his senses as soon as the kunai tipped to the vertical.
Kunai streaked passed Hiruzen, and into the shoulder of another member of the Kumo delegation. Naruto had added a little power to the flying blade from the Force, which cut through the Cloud ninja's shoulder and pinned him to the wall, as easily as it cut through the air. "Good throw, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen complimented, "I was almost caught by surprise, I guess my senses have dulled more than I thought if this guy can nearly get the drop on me."
"Thank you, ji-san," Naruto accepted.
Hinata was looking at the man in fright, before as quick as turning her head to look at Naruto, she gushed, "wow, can you show me how to throw kunai like that, and shuriken too, I practice as much as mommy and daddy let me, but I still have trouble with penetration."
Naruto looked at her with astonishment, this was the second time in the same night, she has witnessed this kind of drama, and she seems to be able to process it faster than he ever could. She's so much stronger than I am, he watched her in amazement, then remembered what she asked, "I don't know, that'll have to be up to your mom and dad, most parents when they meet me don't like me. I've had parents get mad at their kids for just talking to me…"
"Then perhaps they're not good parents," came a voice from the door, they all turned to the door to see a man standing there, he had a tire, but contented expression on his face, "if they tell their kids to avoid you before they themselves get to know you."
"Daddy," Hinata yelled with an excited squeal, as she ran to his arms, he easily scooped her up and brought her into his arms! He was hugging her extremely tight, and they could all see tears at the corner of his white eyes, and Naruto felt a wave of relief come from the man, as he held his daughter to him like a lifeline. He knelt down and set her on the floor to look at her, and returned her smile of delight, "I hear you've had quite an adventure tonight, my little angel," he praised, "you even managed to subdue a Jonin, you and young Naruto here, before even joining the Academy. Me and your uncle are proud of you, Hinata-tenshi," her father said, "and when your mother hears about it, she will be too." He turned to look at Naruto and the rest, "the Hokage filled me in on what happened tonight, as did the rest of them in the office, it's a good thing I didn't get to him first. My fatherly instincts would've temporarily overridden my duty to the village," Hiashi abashedly admitted.
Hiruzen smiled in understanding, "as a father and grandfather, myself, I completely understand where you're coming from."
Hiashi then turned to Naruto, and smiled, "and I would be honored if you would be willing to tutor my daughter in throwing techniques, maybe if she hears the corrections, she'll be able to grasp it better. It's the one aspect of her skills she's been struggling with," Hiashi admitted.
"I wouldn't mind, Hyuga-sama," Naruto nodded, "but I practice my skills through hunting and killing rabbits. They've been my main source of food for a few months now, that and a deer or two, which is my normal mode of dress," looking down at his finery, "this is just a gift from my kichōna ane, for my birthday."
Hiashi just nodded his head, "its perfect, it'll get her in shape for when she starts at the Academy next year, and since she's pretty advance in her taijutsu, you can spar with her, to help your own fighting skill in that art."
"That sounds reasonable, Hyuga-sama," Naruto accepted with a bow.
At this Hiruzen stood up, "come along, I think we need to conclude our business with Cloud diplomacy, I've already alerted the ANBU to this one in my office, and they'll be here shortly."
"Oh, then let me make it easy for them to take out the garbage," Naruto said as he raised his hand, and pushed it sharply toward the Kumo ninja. The Cloud-nin was suddenly thrown against the wall he was pinned to with such power, that he was rendered unconscious, unfortunately it also left a man-sized dent in the wall behind him. Naruto turned sheepishly toward an unimpressed Sarutobi, "sorry, ji-san, that's what I meant when I talked about control."