Authors note and a rant: So I've been reading through the Naruto universes history and a portion of the Third War confuses me. Konoha was fighting Iwa, Kiri and it repeatedly said light clashes from Kumo. Now Iwa surrendered shortly after the Kannabi bridge and that left Kiri and Kumo still fighting. Madara kidnapped Rin making it looked like Kiri did it and Kakashi went after her. At this point Obito come along and seeing Kakashi stab Rin with a chidori goes murder happy and kills all the surrounding Kiri ninja. He then goes and hypnotizes the Kiri leadership into a civil war and surrendering to Konoha. From what it said in the wiki Kumo continues to fight skirmishes until 3-4 years later when they ended it during the Hyuga incident. Then it said that Hiruzen backed down because he didn't want a war with Kumo. That is what I believe happened but correct me if I'm wrong.
Now the rant which you can skip if you want.
So my understanding from Danzo's philosophy is that he was portrayed as how ninja used to be during the Clan Wars. Yet in the actual show almost everything bad that happens can be laid at his actions during his command of Root. It portrayed him as some kind of incompetent ass that goes around causing trouble and not cleaning up after himself when he does cause trouble. That's fine, well not really, if the Hokage acted like a real ninja but that is not what happens. Hiruzen is portrayed as a kindly old man that will forgive everyone and just wants to sit around and smoke his pipe. That's where I call bullshit. He lived through all three shinobi wars and rose to the top on a mountain of his enemies corpses. He's not called the God of Shinobi because he ran around shouting "Believe it," and punching people until they liked him or, and this totally bugs me, calmly talking to the man who wiped out your village to death. I believe both Hiruzen were meant to show two sides of the village but Hishimoto took it to the extreme. Okay rant on Hiruzen and Danzo done next one coming right up.
Kakashi and Rin's pointless death when he went to save her.
Your teacher has an ability to instantly teleport to your location. He has given you one of his special kunai to use before, see Obito's death, yet you didn't know what it did and now you do.
Squads of Kiri jonin and ANBU are after you both. Where the F are your squad mates? Did you just leave the village without informing anyone?
Oh, you have a tailed beast inside you. Well let's just call our teacher a known seal master or his teacher also a known seal master since you know he can teleport to us instantly.
Rant over enjoy the story.
~Interlude~ Hiruzen
It had been a good week I thought. With the destruction of Kannabi Bridge the Iwagakure forces in Kusagakure were trapped without a decent supply line. Minato slaughtering more than a 1000 of them in one battle helped immensely as well. His body grumbled at him for sitting in a chair all day and I shifted slightly to alleviate it. I sighed internally as I felt my advancing age. Soon enough though I could pass on the burden of leadership to another.
I tapped against the folders opened before me. The pictures of Minato Namikaze, Fugaku Uchiha and Orochimaru lay before me. All three were strong shinobi capable of handling the stress of being Hokage. All three had pros and cons though. I looked at the photo of my long time student Orochimaru. Normally choosing between the three would be simply yet recently the vibes I had gotten off of my student had set my hackles on edge.
He seemed to be losing sight of his duties and spending more and more time searching for immortality. I had to snort at that. Why would anyone want to become immortal? Just being this old made my bones ache in the morning. What would it be like being 500 years old? No, I would prefer to stay mortal thank you very much.
I moved the file over to the side and focused on Fugaku's file. He had led his clan and the ninja under his command loyally and successfully. He also had a prodigy of a son as well if the reports were anything to go by. The Uchiha were also founding members of Konoha and the people would love an Uchiha Hokage. The only reservation I had about it was that he would have to balance clan politics and Hokage duties as he was the current head of his clan. I set the file to the side for the moment.
Minato Namikaze. His recent success during the war would make him massively popular with the people. He had no clan obligations to tie him down and while the loss of his student Obito Uchiha was regrettable if it didn't affect how he carried out his duties it was inconsequential. In addition he was a genius that was trained by my old student Jiraiya as well as the husband of the current Jinchuriki Kushina. Just like the first Hokage I mused as I stared at his photo.
Making up my mind I signaled for one of the ANBU waiting within the room. Tora knelt in front of me. "Bring me Minato Namikaze at his earliest convenience." He bowed and left while I tapped on Minato's picture. Yes I think he will do. Tora and Minato both reappeared in my office.
"Lord Hokage how may I serve?" Minato asked.
I leaned back in my chair regarding him as I relit my pipe. "I asked you to come here to answer a question of mine. What do you believe is the main job of the Hokage?"
He looked confused as I asked the question but responded. "I believe that the main job of the Hokage is to bring peace and prosperity to the village even at their own expense." Hmm, a good response. It was similar to my own when Lord Tobirama asked me the same question. Now if only he had a darkness to his light. Shimura really needs to find a successor soon.
"How would you bring about peace?"
"If necessary I would sacrifice myself to attain it." I would prefer if our enemies were the ones making the sacrifice but that's just my opinion nowadays. Before I could question him further I felt Shimura's chakra pulse out an urgent news code. Mouse opened the window as Shimura and 3 of his Root agents jumped through the window to kneel before my desk.
Immediately he asked for the room to be sealed for an S rank secret. I wanted to groan in frustration. I can't ever have purely good news nowadays it always has to have something problematic pop up. Minato and the 4 ANBU members had left through the window as soon as I motioned them to leave and the seals in the office went up as the last one left.
I listened as the medic ran through what had happened to Shiro and how he used an untested jutsu that could seemingly return limbs to people. My thoughts ran away from me for a moment as I imagined all the wounded veterans brought back to full health to fight again. I disliked the limited use of 3 per day but if it isn't a bloodline ability and anyone could learn it that limit wouldn't be such a bit deal. I immediately called for a wounded ANBU to be brought forward. They were the only ones I could trust to keep this quiet until it couldn't be contained anymore. God if this is part of his bloodline I'll have to keep at least two ANBU agents with him at all times.
Tora brought back, Senjo, a wounded ANBU agent that received his injures 5 days ago. Of course I informed him of the experimental nature of the jutsu and of course he accepted. Why wouldn't he? It was a chance to regain everything that he had lost.
I watched amazed as the legs grew from seemingly nothing. The flow of chakra around them was turbulent and it felt vaguely familiar but I couldn't place it at the moment. Once it was done Senjo stood tall once more and we all politely ignored the tears pouring down his face. Ordering Shiro to prepare for one more use of his jutsu I let Tora back into the office.
It was funny seeing the naked shock in his body language as he looked at his reformed squad mate Senjo. He was a fully-fledged ANBU though and he overcame it quickly enough after he had checked to make sure that it wasn't a genjutsu. Ordering him once more to bring an injured ANBU he leapt through the window. Shiro went into some kind of meditative state and started regenerating chakra at an astounding rate. Tora brought back Kona, former Neko, and carefully laid her down as Shiro finished regaining chakra.
Once more Shiro's miracle jutsu worked perfectly and she was restored to full health. It did seem like he was telling the truth about not being able to perform more than 3 per day as he apologized and then immediately fainted even though he had more than enough chakra not to be exhausted.
The Root medic immediately started checking over Shiro and announced he was merely unconscious. Both Root agents were dismissed with instructions to get Saiko and Shiro checked over more thoroughly back at base. Senjo and Kona were also dismiss and told to check back to the ANBU base for immediate checkup. Needless to say they both knew that the news would get out. It's kind of hard to keep the fact that someone was able to regrow limbs. What we could keep secret is his identity.
The office resealed itself once more and I was left with Shimura. He was the one that started off. "This is a major boon for us Hiruzen. If we could replicate this technique…" He trailed off lost in thought.
"We could seal Konoha's dominance for as long as only we had it. I doubt it will be easy though. I recognized what he was using the second time he used his jutsu. It was Natural chakra."
"What!? How is he not dead or turned to stone?"
"I do not know." How that irked me not knowing. I'm not called the Professor for nothing. "I do have a theory that he was not actually mixing Natural chakra within his own body. Unfortunately while I do know about Natural chakra I am not a practitioner of it. We will need to recall Jiraiya and have him bring out his summons for more detailed information. I will send for him as soon as we are done." I pause for a moment in thought. "Maybe Tsunade as well. She would return if we told her we have someone able to regrow limbs with medical chakra."
Shimura's eye narrows at that. "I still do not like how much leeway you give her."
"You also know we can barely touch her with her status as the last member of a founding clan. You also know she still does missions for Konoha from time to time."
"Yes when she needs drinking or gambling money." He mutters and then sighs. "I get it and while I do not like it we are getting off topic. We can brush off old arguments over drinks after we are done with our duties."
I gave him a bemused smile. "We are never done with our duties."
"I know." We both chuckle at that then got back to it.
"As tempting as it is to just let Shiro make use of his jutsu if he is indeed using Natural chakra we must test it to make sure there are no real complications first." I said.
"Agreed. Until we get more people who can use the technique we should also limit it to twice a day. We have no idea what toll it is taking on Shiro's body and if this is a result of his bloodline we need him to survive and father more children. On the other hand we cannot just let his potential go to waste for fear of losing him. I propose we let him continue on C and B rank missions that are closer to Konoha to allow him to be able to provide healing as necessary."
I agreed and we went from there. The meeting took a while and as we finally hashed everything we wanted out I started on a new topic.
"Old friend I want to ask if you've found a suitable heir for your position as the shadow?" He leaned back in his chair and let out a sigh.
"It is frustrating but no I have not. Have you found an heir for the light then?" He inquired softly.
"I'm thinking of Minato Namikaze." I watch him closely as I said that.
His eye closed in thought and then he spoke. "Married to the Jinchuriki, Kushina, mentored by Jiraiya one of the sannin. Has an up and coming prodigy Kakashi as his mentee. Although Kakashi recently lost his eye which was replaced with a sharingan. His wife is the master of young Shiro. He has many allies and friends within the clans yet has no true ties to any making him neutral. Recently he killed 1000 enemy shinobi single handedly." He finishes his recital and ponders.
"I think he would be a good replacement for you." He said it slowly and surely. Good. Once last thing then.
"Are you going to have Shiro fix your eye?" His hand reaches up and absently strokes the bandages.
"No. I'm too old for the field work nowadays. Let those who are younger than I am go first. I've lived without for this long and I can live with it for longer." I nod at that and the room unseals as he leaves. Looking down at my desk I saw to my horror that not an inch of space was left uncovered by mounds of paperwork. It had even spilled over onto the floor on either side of my desk. Even as I watched more sheets seemed to pile up around me.
Dear God its breeding.
~Interlude End~
Ding! Chakra and Health are restored to 100%, all status affects are removed.
The pop up was the first thing I noticed when I woke up. The second was the feel of a hand running through my hair and soft humming. "Hello Saiko."
"Shiro you're finally awake." She didn't stop running her hand through my hair and truthfully I didn't want her to. It felt nice. "You've been asleep for 2 days now. People were starting to get worried. I'm glad you're up though."
"Two days." I mutter. That's quite a while for using Angel's Breath to the limit.
"How do you feel now?" She inquired.
I gave myself a mental once over and found nothing abnormal. Well except for my new and improved memory. Ever since the skill photographic memory was learned I could remember everything since that moment. Everything from before it activated was still normal though. It was an odd dichotomy to compare the old and the new side by side. I realized I had been silent for a while and spoke up.
"I feel 100% ready for anything Saiko." A nod was her response and her hand withdrew from my head. I wanted to sigh at that but held it in.
"Good." She pauses for a moment. "I thanked you before but I want to thank you properly for giving me my life back." She rose from her chair and bowed to me. "Thank you Shiro. If you ever have need of a boon you need but ask and if it is within my power I will grant it." My eyes widened at that and I sat up straight in bed. To deny her boon would be like saying her favor is worthless to me and I will not have that.
"I thank you for offering your boon to me and I accept it with honor. Know though that I would have done the same even without it." I was able to accept it without offending her and tell her that I still valued her more than her boon. I sometime hate how backwards political niceties can be. Oh well, when in Rome and all that.
She straightened from her bow and smiled at me. Then her face turned serious. "You do know that if word of who is healing Konoha ninja or who invented your jutsu gets out you will be listed on every single other hidden village's Bingo book for either capture or kill, right?"
I repress a sigh. I knew something like that would happen if I did this. I'll just have to get strong enough that it won't matter. "I know that Saiko sensei."
"Then you should know that you are not allowed to use that jutsu outside of approved areas where we will work on a disguise for when you heal two patients a day. In addition it has been decided that the best defense for you will be counterintuitively a lack of focus instead of surrounding you with ANBU. You will also need to learn how to dampen your body's natural emissions."
I tilt my head at that. "I thought that skill was only taught to jonin or above?"
"We're making an exception for you. This means you WILL NOT teach anyone else and you WILL remember that this doesn't mean people can't find you." I nod at that. I can vaguely sense that there is something there now when I actively use my chakra sense nowadays and I remembered Fumi tracking those two genin down like a dog.
Saiko was silent for a moment as though testing my sincerity. "Good. Now the technique is both hard and easy. It is hard because it forces you to create a thin layer of chakra that is barely over your skin at all times when it is active. It is easy because it costs almost nothing in terms of chakra expenditure. It is for those two reasons it is considered a jonin level chakra control exercise as well. Now watch closely."
Her right arm was suddenly engulfed in blue chakra. A shield seemed to form over it and tamed its wide fluctuations. Then it started to retract into her arm until I could not sense any chakra flowing from her body.
"What you just saw was a larger scale of what is going to happen when you create the thin layer of chakra. Now you try. If you can't get it I have a scroll with the technique which you can 'eat' and no I won't just let you use it. I don't want you to be reliant on your bloodline to learn new things."
That makes sense I suppose. I began to flare my chakra outside of my arm in preparation for the technique.
Ding!
Learned Chakra Emissions Dampening (Active 10(8.125)/min) LVL 1 – 0%
Decreases the amount of chakra that your body naturally emits by 10%.
"Good you've partially got it. Now you just need to work on it until you don't emit any chakra that you don't want to. Of course you'll need to drop the technique if you want to use a jutsu." She motions me to get dressed and follow her. I quickly get dressed and set my mask firmly in place before she leads me out of the room and through the base.
"We're going to one of the ANBU bases within Konoha where we will meet some people who want to study your jutsu." We stop at the exit to the base and she turns to me. "Henge into an older female and take off your mask." I do so and she studies me critically.
"Make the hips a little wider and the breasts bigger. Your face is good for now. Try walking." I do so and she makes a tsk sound. "You walk like a male. Can't be helped though you're not trained for infiltration. We'll work on it later. The people we're meeting can keep a secret and all your patients will be unconscious for added security. Put your mask back on and follow me."
She led me to an older laundry mat and after giving some type of signal to the older lady in back we walked through the back door that said employees only. There were more machines in back but Saiko ignored them and tapped three times on a specific tile. The floor opened up and a set of stairs leading down into the ground. Saiko confidently led the way and as we went down the stairs the floor closed behind us. Intermittently Saiko would flair her chakra in a code as we walked through the tunnels and finally arrived at a nondescript door.
Opening it up I saw 3 people of which I only recognized 1 of them by sight and the other two by reputation. Jiraiya was here and he was hitting on an older blond haired woman with the biggest pair of breasts I've even seen. Seriously she must have serious back pains carrying those things around. She was wearing a green jacket with the kanji for gamble written on the back and grey clothes underneath. I also noted a violet diamond that seemed to be embedded into her forehead.
Standing next to the two and looking amused was the whitest looking man I've ever seen with golden eyes that seem snake like almost. He was wearing grey clothes and a thick purple rope around his waist with long black hair running down his back.
"Lord Orochimaru, Lord Jiraiya, Lady Senju I have brought the creator of the jutsu you were informed about here for you to witness it in action."
"Kuhuhu, a child is the creator of this astounding jutsu?" Wow I'm getting major creep vibes from him.
"Brat I knew you were a genius but this is a whole different level." He glares at me. "I still have to pay you back for setting those kunoichi on me." I got instantly pegged by Jiraiya.
"This better be everything that I was told or I'm going to smash you brat and I'm sure you deserved it you pervert." She seems kind of drunk right now which is kind of sad because it's early afternoon right now. Still are my disguise and acting skills so bad that they could see through them instantly or are they just that good?
"I'm not a pervert I'm a super pervert." He cries out and then ducks a punch from Lady Senju. "Careful there princess I need to be in tip top shape for this." Her only response is a glare and he chuckles nervously.
"Right, let's get this show on the road then." Jiraiya made some hand seals and with a cry of "Summoning Jutsu," a cloud of smoke surrounded him. When it cleared there were two frogs sitting on his shoulders.
"What did you call us for Jiraiya?" The male one with eyebrows and a beard asks. Which is truly strange looking if you ask me. "Something to fight?" The female toad with purple hair and purple lipstick asks.
"Ma, Pa I brought you here to look at a jutsu that we think is using Natural chakra and we wanted the advice from the experts."
"Oh, that could be dangerous then." Pa said.
"Let's see it then." Ma demanded.
Saiko gestured to a door on the far side of the room. "Right this way please." We all went through the door and found an unconscious male who was missing his right leg on a bed. Next to him on another bed was an unconscious female who seemed to be missing both eyes and her left arm. "If you would." Saiko motioned me forward.
Alright I can do this. 240 hand signs were formed and with a mutter of "Angel's Breath," the jutsu hit the male. I couldn't see what their expressions were because I was giving my full attention to the jutsu and by the time I had finished their expressions had settled. Although Orochimaru was giving me a hungry look that was creepy as hell.
"Amazing," Pa said. "He's using his chakra as a net and gathering Natural chakra before he directs it into the patient."
Ma took over. "From there the Natural chakra stimulates the body and heals it. Only the recipient is in any danger of turning to stone if his control slips."
"Then once the healing is done the Natural chakra is withdrawn from the body and let go. It almost seems cleaner somehow." Pa mused. He looked at me and seemed to be studying something. "Please use the jutsu again." Pa hopped off Jiraiya's shoulder and onto my head which broke my henge.
I really don't know why I even bothered to try to disguise myself. Everyone seems to see right through it and even the talking toads know I'm a guy. Letting out a mental sigh I move over to the sleeping female and perform Angel's breath again.
"I see. His chakra is acting as a strainer and removing any impurities from the Natural chakra before it is entered into the patient's body. Other people could learn this but it would take months or even years to do it properly. I have no idea how he is doing this so instinctually." Pa said from atop my head.
"His body is somehow naturally in tune with Natural chakra even though he has never used it before 2 days ago. You ninjas still completely amaze me sometimes." Pa jumped from my head back onto Jiraiya's shoulder.
"Is there a limit to how much you can use this technique?" Ma inquired from Jiraiya's shoulder her voice thoughtful. I looked over at Saiko first and she nodded so I answered.
"I can only perform this jutsu 3 times a day before I fall unconscious. Afterwards I slept for 2 days apparently."
Both toads nodded at that. I could see Lady Senju behind Jiraiya looking both angry and sad at the newly healed ninja. I have no idea why she would have those two emotions together unless she lost someone she loved that could have been saved by my jutsu.
"So is it safe for others to learn then?" Jiraiya inquired.
Ma gave a shrug. "I think so. As long as nobody tries to fuse the Natural chakra into their bodies while they are casting the jutsu they should be fine. Like it was said before though the real one in danger is the recipient. They could turn to stone if you misstep at any point in time."
"What about the people who are healed using the jutsu? Would they be affected by Natural chakra flowing through them?" Lady Senju spoke up.
"No. There shouldn't be any complications from the Natural chakra flowing through them. I suppose they could not fully lose control of the jutsu but allow some of the Natural chakra to slip free of their control. That would probably make some portion of their targets body turn to stone." Pa said with a shrug.
"Call us again if you need us. Right now we have to go back and inform everyone else of this jutsu." Ma and Pa disappeared in a puff of smoke.
I saw Lady Senju running her glowing green hands above the newly regrown leg. With a grunt she moved onto the lady and did the same thing with her eyes and arm. "I can't tell if there is anything wrong with the newly grown tissue and I'm willing to trust Ma and Pa's expertise in the manipulation and dangers of Natural chakra. What do you think Orochimaru?"
"Kuhuhu, I believe it is an excellent jutsu. I'm sure it will be placed in the Scroll of Seals because of its inherent danger to the target. I would be curious if I would be allowed to study it more in depth later?"
Saiko's hand lands on my shoulder and she gently leads me out of the room. I reapply my frankly worthless henge and we left the base. Behind me I could hear the three of them arguing about something as we left. After we left the base Saiko led me to the Hokage's tower and into his office.
We knelt in front of his desk and Saiko gave a detailed report on everything that had happened during the examination. Once she finished talking Lord Hokage gave me a considering look and then dismissed her leaving me 'alone' with the Hokage.
"First off you can drop the henge now." I did so. Frankly I was surprised I was even allowed to enter the office with it on. "Shiro your actions have given us something that is nearly invaluable. Something that the villages would happily go to war over." Fuck.
"We will try to protect your identity as much as possible but in the mean time you will have to grow strong enough to protect yourself for when the information does get out. For now I want you to write everything that you know about your jutsu and write it down here." He tossed me a scroll and a brush.
I unrolled the scroll and started writing everything I knew about it down. It took a while and once it was done I handed it back to the Lord Hokage. He gave it a once over and then took out a huge scroll out of nowhere. Laying them side by side he gave me a wink and then performed some type of technique that caused the words I had written to float above the large scroll and then sink into it. 'Stupid ninja bullshit' I thought.
"Now I would recommend that you go see your sensei Kushina. I've been told that she was worried sick after you disappeared for 2 days. Dismissed." I felt a bead of sweat run down my back at his words. An angry Kushina is a scary Kushina. I bowed and took my leave.
Ducking into an alleyway some ways away from the Hokage's tower I took off my mask and threw it into my inventory. I also reapplied my Konoha headband to my left arm. Before I made my way to Kushina's house I stopped by Ichiraku's for 3 bowls of miso ramen to go. Hopefully my appeasement sacrifice will save me from her rage.
I got close enough to the house that I could sense Kushina's chakra inside. Stealthfully I took out a bowl of miso ramen and after knocking on the door knelt holding the bowl out as though it was a tribute. Which it was in this case.
"Shiro, where have you-" Kushina slammed open the door and I could see her hair floating in 9 distinct tails behind her. "Is that Ichiraku's ramen? No, I'm still mad-" another bowl appeared in my hands next to the first.
Her hair was calming down now. "You can't just show up here and tempt me like that. I'm supposed to be mad at you." Another bowl appeared carefully balanced on the other two. There was a moment of silence and then Kushina whined. "Fine be that way." The bowls vanished from my hands as she took them and placed them on the kitchen table.
The next thing I knew I was off the ground and being pulled into a hug. "I was so worried about you. All they would tell me is that you were in the hospital but they didn't let me see you and they didn't tell me why. What did you do?"
I made to tell her I couldn't tell her but she just kept talking. "Never mind if they didn't tell me it was probably important and you couldn't say anything about it. Just don't worry me like that again." I could only nod against her chest.
"Now come in. Mito will be happy to see her big brother." And just like that I avoided the wrath of Kushina and everything continued on like nothing ever happened. At the end of the day I still thought creating the jutsu was worth it even though the Hokage himself had warned me to become strong quickly. I just thought of it as added incentive.
Name: Shiro
Age: 4 year - 0 months
Title: Rookie Root Shinobi
LVL: 14 - 4% to next LVL
HP: 690/690
Chakra: 22,806/22,806
Elemental Affinity: Water
STR: 79(86.9)
VIT: 69
END: 75
DEX: 92(101.2)
INT: 100(104)
WIS: 80(83.2)
LCK: 15
Points: 8
Money: 74,540
Chakra Emissions Dampening (Active 10(8.125)/min) LVL 1 – 0%
Decreases the amount of chakra that your body naturally emits by 10%.
Angel's Breath ( S+ Rank Active(10,000(8,125))) LVL 1 – 0.2%
Restores the target to optimal health. Cures wounds and regrows limbs. Cannot be used more than 3 times per day. Cannot be used on self.
Decreases casting time by 1%