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If Sarutobi had wanted to squish Kyukon between his fingers, she felt that right now he could actually accomplish this with ease. His glare had her feeling that she was less than an inch tall, and weaker than a blade of grass. It wasn't even her fault, but she took the brunt of the ire since she was team leader, and she could at least spare them this part of the duties. Debriefing the commander was never fun. "And that is how it happened sir... I apologize for not protecting our existence more, but offer no excuses beyond the lack of time to do so. I believe that our hosts remain a secret, but it would be easy to figure them out as only they are the only recent graduates."
Instead of chewing her out, or telling her off, or any number of things, he simply studied her silently, forcing her to remain at attention as he silently deliberated. When he pulled out a pipe from his drawer, she almost shrunk away fearing it to be a weapon, instead she watched as he casually lit it and took a few light puffs before taking a long, slow draw of the tobacco filling the bowl. Releasing the smoke in a neat little ring that drifted away from them he sighed heavily. "It is not ideal, but I believe we might just have just gotten the best public exposure of your team possible."
At the obvious stumped expression that crossed her face, the Hokage chuckled softly as he took another draw from his pipe before continuing. "Consider this Kyukon, in my employ I have five beings of unknown powers and origins. Konoha is among the largest and most prosperous nations, so the likelihood of you five remaining secret is extremely limited, if possible at all. "
"I had not considered that Commander sir..." Kyukon admitted as she scratched herself behind the ears. "I would not wish to cause a war between the over us..."
"I do not doubt that you do not wish such a war, but it is possible if we utilize you exclusively..." Sarutobi explained while pulling out a map from the shelves behind his desk. Spreading it out, he indicated where Konoha was in relation to the other nations, pretty close to dead center of all the other nations. "As you can see, Konoha has always needed to be strong due to its position, but we do not actively seek war."
"To do so would likely court destruction..." Kyukon answered as she traced a clawed talon over the borders carefully, as though mesmerizing the lines. "I believe that is possibly what happened to our previous society... they showed too much of their strength, too often and others united against them..."
Sarutobi took a chance to examine the expression of the fox-woman standing opposite him. He'd seen her shift through expressions many times, but this one was one he'd only seen when talking about the past, when they lost a war that killed their creators and previous hosts. Nodding his head silently he leaned back and sighed as a stream of smoke plumed out of his mouth. "Konoha tries to find a peaceful solution, if it comes to it, may I ask you to consider testing outsiders into the knights?"
Kyukon paused before answering, her face showing a good deal of surprise at the question. She hadn't thought he would consider such a suggestion, and hadn't even thought about it herself. But it could be a way to find the missing knights. It would also serve to limit the threat to Konoha, but building an international organization would cause some nations to reconsider attacking them, especially if their people were still there.
This seemed like too major a decision to make without asking the others of the team first, for as much as they might seem to have the military hierarchy in place they were still pretty much all of equal rank. In fact she only got nominated for being the leader so that everyone else didn't want the title, and she was just half a second slower than they were. Beyond that there was the matter of Konoha's politics to consider, and the hosts themselves. Could they really be an international force?
Why couldn't she think of the previous leaders so she could try and find them to ask these questions to?
"Commander... I mean Hokage-sama... I do not believe that I am ready as a leader to make this choice on my own..." Kyukon stated calmly while lowering her head and ears in submission before the older man. "If... If I might have time to discuss this with the others..."
"Perhaps a wise choice in and of itself, I presume by others you mean hosts as well as the other knights, correct?" Sarutobi mused while taking a calming puff on his pipe. After a moment he continued. "Yes, I will give you a week to discuss this matter with the others before hearing your answer. Now... about these enemies that assaulted you..."
"From what our memories can form, the first creature is known as a golem, a construct of inert material brought to life by bonding to a host in much the same way we knights do as well, though not nearly as strongly..." the vulpine explained while straightening up in a proper lecturing position. As she paused to consider her next words she wondered about the questions it raised. "It would seem from the host of Enganxa... Hinata if I remember right... that the bonding process removed a binding seal of their clan..."
"Sensible, since they wouldn't want an enemy or other force an opening to control or kill the host inside..." Sarutobi mused, before stopping at the wide-eyed expression on Kyukon. "Did not Hyuuga-san explain what the seal does?"
"No, she did not... and I know why she withheld it, Enganxa would find that abhorrent and barbaric, much as I dare say many of us knights would..." Kyukon answered sharply, her tails slashing behind her as more red slowly crept along their lengths. "By the All-Mother herself, I cannot believe that humans would do this, especially to their own kin..."
"You will find that Hyuuga-san herself, and I believe her sister as well, find it exactly as such..." Sarutobi cut in while wondering just what the creeping red meant. But something else had caught his attention that he felt should be mentioned. "Pardon my ignorance, but All-Mother?"
If there was a way to derail the vixen's rant, this seemed to be it, as her ears flattened down barely hiding the tiniest hints of reddening insides. Her gaze shifted down, and her forefingers began their claws together. "Err... that is... difficult to explain sir..."
Sarutobi didn't speak, didn't move, didn't seem to react all, instead chose to let her explain in her own time. A few puffs of his pipe later seemed to be all the time she needed, as she began explaining. "Many of us knights were of average or higher intelligence, and began to wonder who we were in the grand scheme of things. Not knights created by mankind to serve them, but as sentient beings. A scientist overheard us debating one day, and began to explain religion to us."
"At first we considered worshiping our creators, but something did not sit well with us on that concept. Instead we began researching what they worshiped, until we could find one that we ourselves could follow..." Kyukon continued a slight ripple in her fur around her neck caught Sarutobi's attention. "That turned out different than our expectations however, as upon finding a common themes, we began forming our own version of one of them. The All-Mother is a being similar to beings named Gaia, Toci, Danu, or the Mother Goddess in that she is the creator of all things, the mother to all life. The Earth Mother if you will..."
Finally the rippling of the fur stopped, and a small symbol could be made seen hanging on a fine chain. It was a simple circle of silver that formed into a perfect sphere. "She is without ending, without beginning, she is always and forever. I believe that it was Zahva who created this symbol, that we felt was an ideal representation of our belief... Eventually we all had one that we could wear, but the scientist that created us began to frown upon us bearing these symbols openly. It was shortly after that we absorbed them into us, ensuring that the All-Mother would always be with us..."
The wizened Hokage nodded slowly as he studied the necklace in silence a couple minutes more before leaning back and letting out a large stream of smoke out of his nostrils. "Most curious... you are of course free to worship as you and the other knights see fit Kyukon. We do not have many religions as shinobi tend to trust in their skills and weapons more than beings they cannot see. But I see no harm in following a religion. Are there any tenants I should be aware of, such as holidays, restrictions, or other matters that may cause problems with your duties?"
"No sir, the religion formed around our duties as knights, and as such I am afraid there is no real organization to it..." Kyukon explained while reassuming the embarrassed pose as Sarutobi had dubbed it.
"I see no harm in continuing to develop it if you wish Kyukon, it might be good for you as a species..." the old man mused before sighing and shaking his head slowly, "but we digress...Your report stated something about a... giant red man with horns and no sense of public decency from your past?"
"Correct Hokage-sama, I believe it is one of the lieutenants of the creatures that killed our creators and previous hosts... Akki was the name that he claimed to go by, and Shiroshika confirmed that he had faced and defeated those commanded by him in the past," Kyukon explained while projecting an image of what she'd seen of Akki's arrival and proclamation into the Hokage's mind.
"I see... that is... certainly cause for concern, and you say that he commands and creates these 'golems'?" the Hokage asked, taking the proffered crystalline being and looking at it with a curious expression.
"Yes sir... we captured this one, and could have scanned it back then for more information... but..."
"You lack the devices necessary?" Sarutobi surmised while handing back the crystal, watching it disappear into a ripple of fur silently. That was certainly a most useful storage method, but he feared it would be impossible for a human to learn.
The leader of the knights nodded solemnly at the admission of failure on her part, knowing that as the designated field captain of the nights, she should have realized this oversight prior to such and incident occurring. 'Yeah, how dare you not plan for the coming of things you thought were long dead and buried...' Naruto argued with her mentally, surprising her at having learned to use sarcasm so perfectly.
He was correct however, she and the other knights had never considered it possible that their enemies of old were still alive now. So the computer would naturally have fallen to the bottom of the list, compared to learning about their new bodies and the world the knights now found themselves in. Even now, she couldn't divert the resources to find a compatible match for the technically inclined knight. Partially the fault lay in that she couldn't remember anything about them, save for the fact that they were gifted when it came to technology.
Not that she was blaming herself for that, since she never really had many dealings with the tech group outside of dropping off crystals. But it would be helpful to be able to know the names at the least. 'Can't we scan the orbs with our cool mind reading powers?' Naruto asked from inside her again, provoking an instinctive negative response, until she really thought about it. There wasn't any reason she couldn't read their inactive consciousnesses... was there?
"It would seem that you have much to consider Kyukon-san... perhaps you and Naruto should go and talk with the other knights, they are probably thinking I'm tearing you apart..." Sarutobi joked lightly, giving Kyukon the much needed opportunity to leave and discuss this with Naruto and the others more.
"By your leave Hokage-sama..." she intoned softly before disappearing into the bracelet and leaving Naruto standing there blinking in confusion.
"Eh... Hey Ji-san..." Naruto stated while trying to figure out why Kyukon had just dumped him out like this.
"Greetings Naruto-kun... have you been well?"
While Naruto and Sarutobi held polite conversation, the other knights had assembled in an abandoned room of the tower to get away from the mob of shinobi trying to view the new addition to their village. Professional curiousity was the reason for most of them, however at least one wanted to speak with them.
Iruka Umino was many things in the village hidden in the leaves, an academy teacher, mission desk clerk, chuunin, and right now the most important was as a brother figure to one Naruto Uzumaki. He could understand keeping things secret from him, so he wasn't worried or pissed about that, instead he just wanted to make certain the young blonde was being treated well by this new group.
In order to accomplish this, he had set up an 'abandoned' room after hearing of their arrival in the tower, and carefully herded the main group of them into it, where he could observe them silently. If they could find him, then he would accept his punishment as it may come, but if they didn't he wouldn't trust them any farther than he could throw the Hokage monument.
Maybe that was unfair, but he had to know if they would harm Naruto. And so he was set to observe them, keeping notes for the good of Konoha as well.
"I'm telling you Zahava, he holds a grudge against me..." the white stag muttered while looking around the room suspiciously. "I do not remember if we fought directly before, but I would say he would probably prefer that."
The metallic female draped in a layer of chains that Iruka guessed was the thusly named Zahava, sighed and put her hand on the stag's shoulder gently. Once she had his attention she began speaking in a soft, low metallic voice. "Easy there Shiroshika, we all probably have enemies from the past. All-Mother herself knows that I have made plenty of my own... We thought them dead, but now we are forewarned. And as such we are forearmed."
"I know that, but it's frustrating to have our memories being so incomplete..." Shiroshika answered with a grunt and a stamp of his foot. This seemed to get the cheetah looking one's attention.
"Shiroshika,itistroublingusall," Iruka blinked as he heard the speed with which the cheetah talked. "EspeciallyforLadyKyuko."
"She feels the need to be better than our leaders of the past," the so far quiet other female answered while settling into the nicest of the chairs in the room. "We put her on the spot as the leader, but she lacks the training the leaders of old had..."
"Battlefield commissions do that to a person Enganxa..." Shiroshika answered with a heavy sigh. "But we do not even know if she had training or not, none of us can remember much of our past."
This caught Iruka's attention, these beings were talking as though they had been displaced from their own time. A time in which they were a formal military force of some sort. Listening closer, he wondered what other secrets these... people... were keeping.
"How is your host holding up Enganxa?" Zahava asked the watery female being gently, kneeling in front of her so that they were eye level.
"She... is withholding information about the seal that she explained to us... but I will not pry. Beyond that, her relationship with the man in question was a distant one at best," Enganxa explained quietly, putting her head into her hand gently. "It is not the host that is pushing her limits... but I."
Iruka was ready to attack them at this, however he held back from the beings that had captured humans to use as host bodies, pushing them to their limits before probably tossing them aside like garbage. No, he would not allow Naruto to associate with them... as much as he might try to enforce that at least.
"Go ahead and revert, all of you... we're still young to this process, so we don't want to push it... we're already over an hour now..." Zahava ordered, before turning to look directly at where Iruka was hiding. "You may come out now... our hosts declared you a safe person..."
Blinking at being directly addressed, he sighed and opened the false wall before walking out with his hands exposed to show he wasn't a threat. Another shock was waiting for him, as the instant he stepped into the room proper, the four beings disappeared from in front of him, revealing four former students of his. Four students he had passed personally not too long ago.
"I believe we have much explaining to do Iruka-sensei..." Tenten stated shyly while scratching the back of her head. Iruka's nod was enough to make her sigh and wave to the chairs. "Let's get comfortable... this is going to take a while..."
In another area of the Hokage tower there was a black haired, black eyed genius of his academy year that was fuming angrily at the interruption to his monthly well-being interview with the Hokage. These freaks were attacked, and they defeated or drove off the other freaks that had assaulted them in the village.
It was still not enough that he should be forced out of his interview, so that the Hokage could have a private meeting with the ringleader. A dirty, filthy, nine-tailed fox. As if they hadn't done enough damage to the village.
Just as he was going to go onto another silent rant about the injustice of it all, the Hokage's office doors opened up and instead of that white vixen walking out, it was Naruto Uzumaki and the Hokage. So the dobe hadn't actually killed the Hyuuga, the Nara, and two older students before running away from the village after all, huh? Guess that was another thing the rumor mill at the academy got wrong.
"Bye Ji-san!" the offensive blonde called out, causing Sasuke's blood to boil, as he realized that he had to be the white fox that he'd seen walk into the office earlier. How dare he cause such a ruckus and then be so informal with the Hokage. It was unforgivable.
As he prepared a scathing remark that would put the idiot into his place, he noticed that he wore a hitai-ate. The idiot was a ninja? HOW? Had he truly surpassed the Uchiha, despite his proclamations to the opposite?
No, it had to be because of that alternate form he'd walked into the office wearing. If the lowest of the class could gain such power by obtaining such a form, then just imagine what an Avenger like Sasuke could do with it.
He had to have that power...
And nothing would stand in his way.