Tales of the Jinchuuriki

Chapter III: Of Materia and Demons

--The council chamber of the High Demon Ruling Council, Two Years Since the Sealing of Kyuubi--

"You asked for my presence?" Sarutobi asked as he walked into the darkened chamber. Unlike almost any other human, Sarutobi didn't even feel the need to shudder, this wasn't the first time he had been called beffore the Yokai council and he doubted that it would be his last.

"It has been some time since we have last called you to these chambers, Sarutobi. We had hoped that the years would have been kinder to you." a feminine voice belonging to a tiger-like demon to Sarutobi's left, seated behind a rather large table, commented.

"Being forced out of retirement into this troubling era would not be kind to anyone in my position." Sarutobi responded. "I do, however, thank you for your concern."

"It isn't often that one of your kind reaches your age and level of wisdom, so you should be able to understand our concern that we don't wish to lose one such as you." a wolf demon to Sarutobi's right retorted.

"Now that you have arrived, Sarutobi, we wish to ask you a few questions regarding the two new jinchuuriki that reside in your village." the entire chamber fell silent, at these words from a large pheonix at the table, obviously the chairman of the assmebled council.

"Oh? What sort of questions do you have in mind?" the elderly Hokage asked, almost wishing he was allowed to smoke in the council chamber.

"Mainly, we are interested in their well-being. Those two are in a rather unique position, unlike other Jinchuuriki they have actual families that are willing to claim them. Also, they are in a position were their respective demon clans are willing to claim them as their own."

"The demon clans are willing to claim their Jinchuuriki? Then why haven't their representatives come to claim the nine yet?"

"Unfortunately, we cannot reveal ourselves in any force at this time." the wolf replied again.

"Why not, you have done so in the past?" Sarutobi questioned.

"We have lost all but two of our human-based organizations, forcing us to use methods that could possibly break the treaty we hold with the human Daimyou's. While this normally wouldn't be a problem, there seems to be a new organization roaming the world, with the intention of unsealing him, the one to whome we give no name." the pheonix answered.

"I hadn't realized that most of the other organizations had collapsed, who else remains, besides Konoha?"

"SOLDIER, and it's sub-organization, the Turks. They have been looking in to what happened to the other organizations, we hope that their investigations will turn up something useful." the tiger demon answered. "We know that you have had greivances with their commander in the past, so we are not asking that you join forces with them, but we do ask that you not interfere with each other."

"This I can do, what do you need from me and my village?"

"We ask that you continue to watch over the Jinchuuriki until a representative from their clans can come to retreive them." the pheonix responded. "It would also be appreciated if you could find accomedations in your village for the other five as well. We wish to keep the holders of the keys as much out of reach of this new organization as possible."

"What you ask should be simple enough, once the other Jinchuuriki have reached Konoha. However, I harbor some doubts as to whether their respective villages will allow them to leave or not."

"That is a task that we must leave in your hands. you know of our laws regarding interfering in human government."

"Yes, that Yokai shall not meddle in the affairs of Human and Hanyou Governments. Sometimes, i wish that we hadn't made that treaty." Sarutobi mumbled under his breath. "It would make dealing with some o fht eother hidden villages that much easier."

"Be that as it may, the treaty is still in effect. I can offer you no more than an admonishment for good luck."

"Arigato, Fenikkusu-sama. With your permision, I must take my leave." Hearing no objections, Sarutobi bowed before walking out of the council chambers. This is going to get interesting, it's going to take all that we've got to hold the world together as it is, we won't have a chance if he's revived. Naruto, Yuay, a lot is riding on your shoulders. For all of our sakes, I hope your up to it!

--Uchiha compound, Council chambers, present day--

How do I keep winding up stuck in these dumb council chambers? The first thing I'm doing when I get back to the office is making a law that makes it illegal to hold a non-sensitive meeting in a windowless room! Sarutobi ranted in his skull, disliking the stuffy council chamber that the Uchiha clan preferred to hold their meetings in.

"Now, the next order of business is the proposition of adoption presented by Uchiha Fugaku regarding one Kazama Uchiha Naruto." The council spokesman, an elderly Uchiha with gray hair,wearing formal robes, announced.

"Kazama Uchiha Naruto? I was under the impression that we didn't know who the vessel's parents were." another councilman asked, looking at Sarutobi accusingly.

"It is true that I intentionally held back that information from the public, but I am sure that you are all aware of the mairrage of Kazama Arashi and Uchiha Keisha five years ago. The birth of their child was kept quiet, lest some old enemy of Arashi's might use the situation to there advantage. However, let there be no doubt that the information sitting before you now is indeed completely accurate." Sarutobi replied, striking a match to light his pipe.

"This being the case, I could not, in good consience, allow my sister's son to be raised outside the Uchiha family." Fugaku stated, staring down the council member who had raised the question.

"That stated, what is the likelyhood that the child could develop the Sharingan? After all, it would be completely unfair to bring the child into our clan, raising his hopes that he could use an abbility only to find out that he never even had a chance of doing so later." A third council member, an elderly woman, asked.

"There's every chance that he has the potential to awaken the Sharingan, but we have no way of judging the liklyhood until he actually does or does not awaken the eye. The odds that he does so is roughly the same that every member of the Uchiha clan has at birth." Fugaku replied, grateful that he had at least a somewhat sympathetic ear on the council already.

"If that is the case, then I see no reason to deny Fugaku his right as uncle and closest living relative of the child to adopt this child and bring him into his proper position in the Uchiha clan, a position that he should have had already." the councilwoman stated gently.

"That is all well and good, but I think you are missing an important detail, the child is the vessel of the Kyuubi! What's to stop him from murdering us all in our sleep?" another councilman asked.

"Sarutobi, how strong is the Yondaime's seal in that regard?" the council head asked.

"The 'Death Seal' cannot be broken by Yokai demons, all the Kyuubi can do is make vile threats to Naruto, who as jailkeeper can shut him out. Also, I believe that the way the Shiki Fuujin is designed is that the demon's power can be drawn upon by the Jinchuuriki without the seal being damaged, weakened, or unraveled." Sarutobi replied.

"Is this information you found out after the fact?" the councilman who had interrupted asked.

"No, Arashi showed me the design long before that fateful night, some of the information I did have to retreive from his notes, however."

"So, there's a chance that the seal might not functioned as designed?"

"That's a risk that everything has." The council woman noted. "Furthermore, the matter shouldn't even be open to deliberation. The Kyuubi has been sealed by the Yondaime, one of our most accomplished seal masters to have ever lived. If he believed that the seal would work, then there is no need to worry."

"This being stated, if there are no other objections, then all in favor of allowing Fugaku to adopt the child Kazama Uchiha Naruto as his prerogative as uncle and closest living relative, raise your hand." the council head called for the vote.

The vote was nearly unanimous, with only two of the ten assembled councilmembers voting for. The meeting was adgourned shortly after, the only remaining item being the announcement of the time for the next meeting.

"Where is Naruto at the moment?" Fugaku asked as he and Sarutobi walked toward the Hokage's tower.

"Right now? Probably just sitting down to dinner." Sarutobi answered, looking up at the town clock tower.

"Just now? Does Jiraiya normally keep him up this late training?" Fugaku asked.

"Not quite, you see, Yuffie decided that a trip to Wutai was in order, to show Naruto and Yuay a different shinobi village." Sarutobi answered, enjoying the late evening breeze as he puffed his pipe.

"So, Yuffie is training both of them. I had my suspisions as much when Itachi and Sasuke met them running on the village walls a few weeks ago."

"Right, Yuffie was rather insistant that they take the trip to her hometown, personally I think she was just more than a little homesick and wanted them to see a new place." again Sarutobi puffed his pipe, thinking of Yuffie inevitably led his thoughts to Jiraiya's team, who had become like his own children to him, as much as his own son, Asuma. There were still days when he woke up, fully expecting to see Arashi in his office, with Cloud and Tifa with him, waiting for him to arrive so they could all go out for lunch at Ichiraku's.

Perhapse that's the way it should be. Sarutobi thought as he entered the Hokage's tower. I don't ever wan't to forget their smiling faces, and their legacies are my responsibility at the moment. Reloading his pipe while thinking, Sarutobi climbed the stairs to his office, where a stack of unsigned paperwork still awaited him.

--Wutai, Kisaragi family compound--

Yuffie held a small, glowing green orb up in front of her students. "Alright, pay attention, this is called Materia, and it's a very special gem. It allows you to use a power called 'magic' and do things that you couldn't otherwise."

"Demo, doesn't that make it like jutsu, they let you do things that you couldn't otherwise?" Naruto asked, Gamakichi perched on his usual spot on his head.

"You're on the right track, but Materia lets you do things that even jutsu can't accomplish. For example, there isn't a jutsu that lets you manipulate gravity, but there are gravity-based spells. Also, spells don't use up any of your chakra." Yuffie continued her explanation.

"If spells doesn't use up chakra, what does it use? It has to use some form of energy to work, doesn't it?" Yuay asked, Mirror wrapping himself loosely around the boy's shoulders.

"You're right, you can't use any type of art, Alchemy, jutsu, spells, or anything else, without an expenditure of energy. However, spells and jutsu work of two different energy systems. Magic uses Manna, spirit energy, to power spells. If you drain your Manna reserves down too far, you won't be able to cast spells, and if you somehow mannage to completely drain your reserves of any form of energy, you will die. Chakra, unlike Manna, requires two different types of energy to be present to be produced, physical energy, ki, and mental energy, chi. By combining the two, you produce a new energy, called chakra, which can power many different things. Just like with manna, if you completely drain yourself of chakra you will die, do not pass go, do not collect 200 ryou."

"Are there other ways of casting spells and jutsu, without using your own energy?" Yuay asked, tilting his head slightly to one side.

"What you're talking about is a weapon called a 'caster', and it is possible, but I'll come back to it in a minute. Back to Materia, there are five major types, Green allows you to simply cast a certain range of spells, Blue enhances your abbility with your current spell set, Yellow will allow you to use a physical ability that you couldn't normally, Purple materia will increase a specific abbility, and Red materia gives you the abbility to cast summoning magic. Of course, like everything, there are advantages and disadvantages to using different types of materia, for example, equipping Green materia generally increases your manna reserves, but decreases your stamina, with me so far?" getting a double set of nods, Yuffie continued. "Alright, back to Yuay's question on casting spells without using any of your own manna, you need a weapon called a 'caster'. There are several different types of casters, but the most famous type is the gun type. To use a caster, you need a 'shell', which is basicly just a high-level spell that has been packed into a projectile. After loading the caster, you can only use the shell once, and then it's used up for good."

"Wouldn't it be easier to just carry a caster, then? It sounds like even someone who doesn't have any aptitude at all for magic and jutsu could hold his own if he had a pocketfull of shells." Naruto asked.

"Some people think so, and it really all comes down to personal preferance and how willing you are to spend money on shells to use. Make no mistake, shells are not cheap, and you only get one use out of them, but materia you can use over and over again. The choice on which to use is up to each person, personnaly I would base my choice on how much aptitude I have for using Materia. Almost anyone can use materia, given the proper equipment, but not many have a natural gift for using them." Yuffie answered.

"Can we try using a spell?" Yuay asked, his pupiless blue eyes begging, forming the classic Puppy-dog eye no jutsu.

Must, Resist, Evil, Cuteness! "Alright, I'll let you guys try to use a 'Cure' materia, at least that way you won't hurt yourselves." Yuffie succumbed, handing a green orb to each boy. The four year olds cheered and ran over to the Kisaragi family training grounds, trying to figure out the nuances of magic. Yuffie stood up from the cross-legged sitting position she'd been holding on the lawn for over an hour, trying to teach her young wards about different styles of abbilities. Before Yuffie could follow the pair of troublemakers to the training grounds, three figures entered the compound. All three figures wore Western-style business suits and dark sunglasses, making it difficult to distinguish gender at a distance, but after walking several feet toward the trio, Yuffie realized that she knew all thre of them from her former job at SOLDIER. The three were Reno, Elena, and Rude, better known as members of the Turks, their job was to gather information, including information on possible new recruits into the SOLDIER organization, and they were allowed to use any means they felt necessary to accomplish their objectives.

Oddly, they were also some of Yuffie's closest friends from that organization, since their job discriptions were very simmilar to hers.

"Long time, no see guys. Whay brings you all the way to Wutai?" Yuffie asked, holding her right palm out in greetings.

"It seems both business and pleasure, and it has been a long time." Elena replied taking off her dark glasses. "We were sent here to investigate a new organization that seems to have sprung up. Getting to see you again is an added bonus."

Yuffie shook Elena's hand and motioned for the three to follow her further into the grounds. "Can I get you guys anything to drink?" Yuffie asked. Even if she wasn't very traditional, she did treat her guests in a traditional manner, which meant that no guest entered her home without the offer of refreshments.

"I don't believe you have the time for any such thing, First Class Kisaragi Yuffie." a voice from behind the business-suit clad spies stated.

Reno spun around, his elecro-rod in hand. "Just who the hell are you?" he asked the two cloaked figures who had snuck up on the group.

"Who we are is unimportant, whome we represent is." The taller of the pair stated. Both figures were clad in black cloaks with red clouds embroidered on them. The taller of the two had blond hair tied back in a simple pony tail, while the shorter of the two wore a mask that obscured most of his head, save his eyes.

"Oh, and just who the hell do you represent?" Reno asked again, smiling as he slid the power indicator on his rod from 'high' to 'overkill'. Rude and Elena both made a mental note to wash Reno's mouth out with bleach after this.

"We represent the Great One, the One whome all must fear, and whome all shall respect. He has asked us to come to you and extend an invitation, to join us in our effort to free the Great One from his unjust imprisonment to take back this world and to reshape it in his own image. To those of us who help him, he has promised unimaginable power, power beyond anything even the Council of Yokai could possibly possess. What is your answer?" the taller figure continued.

"Here's my answer, go to hell!" Reno swung his rod at the smaller figure, catching him off-guard. The rod connected with the figure's head, knocking off the wide-brimmed ceremonial hat. Before Reno could retreat, a large tail appeared from under the cloak, smacking Reno into Rude, who assisted his comrade back to his feet.

"You would do well to think this over before making that your final answer." The smaller figure stated, completely uninjured by Reno's hastily swung attack. "We do not force any to help us, but if you become an obstacle we will remove you. We will give you three days to decide."

The smaller figure then used his tail to retreive the dropped hat before following his partner away from the Kisaragi estate.

"That, I would assume," Yuffie stated, watching the retreating figures. "Would be what you would call a lead."

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, my writing habits have become rather eccentric of late. Due to circumstances outside of my control, my laptop went belly-up, taking three nearly-completed chapters down with it, including the pilot chapter for my new story. Partialy due to that problem, the release date for my new story has been pushed back, and my updating speed for my first story 'The Chronicles of Naruto and Tsunade', will decrease a bit.

Not a lot of action in this chapter, but there will be a major fight scene in the next one, I promise! Thank you, everyone who reviewed, please keep them coming! Polling for the third slot on the team is still open, and I am close to deciding all of the major pairings. Pairings that are possible are listed below:

Naruto/Temari

Naruto/FemHaku

Naruto/OC

Yuffie/Kakashi

Yuay/Temari (No overlap with Naruto/Temari)

Yuay/FemHaku (No overlap with Naruto/FemHaku)

Yuay/OC

Jiraiya/Tsunade

Sasuke/Sakura

Shikamaru/Ino

Elena/Tseng

Zack/Aeris (Yes, they will be appearing and they are very much alive)

Rock Lee/Sakura (No overlap with Sasuke/Sakura)

If anyone has feelings for or against a particular pairing please tell me in review and give me a reason why. This is not so much a poll as it is a measuring stick for me, so anyone just telling me 'I like this pairing' without giving me a reason why will not be given much weight in my final decision. That said, any and all constructive criticizm is always welcome, flames shall be noted, laughed at, and added to my nest. This is your ever burning author, Shining Pheonix signing off.