"You cannot be serious," said the man sitting in the chair beside the desk, staring at the reports in his hand. They said things that...well, he'd been doing his job for several years now and seen some very odd things, but this was just unbelievable.
"I swear to Izanagi it is true," said the other man, and everyone in the room nodded gravely. They knew Itachi, knew he wasn't given to exaggeration. Worse, they had the word of Mizuki, and the students to confirm it.
"Shadow Clones who can bleed. This technique would render a single ninja into an army," said Ibiki at last, continuing to stare at the reports in his hands.
"Worse, Heero seems to have chakra reserves on par with a Kage. He's ten," said Kakashi, reminding the gathered men of that fact as well. It seems the two had really been doing some sharpening over their summer break, and had both come into power that would make any of the men in this room jealous.
"He'll be eleven in a month," countered Sarutobi, a bit of worry creeping into his voice. He knew of course that it wasn't much of a counter, but one had to work with what they had.
"Does Danzo know yet?" asked Ibiki at last. The man, a power within the village that even the Hokage sometimes had trouble keeping in check, might have done something drastic if he knew just how much power two young boys now held in their small bodies, with their very easily manipulated minds.
"No, I ordered the students not to speak of the matches to anyone, saying they needed to be kept secret for my little contest. I then impressed upon their parents that if they spoke of it, any information was to be considered an S Ranked Secret," said Itachi, and everyone nodded. Only the Hokage could actually declare something to be that level of Secret, but if someone as respected as Itachi said so, most people of the village would give up their life before revealing it.
"Good, that's one problem nipped in the bud then. What about the larger issue of the boys though? More importantly, what do we tell their 'big sister'?" asked Kakashi, and all the men in the room shuddered a little bit. They weren't responsible for this, and in reality this was a fantastic development, but the training required to get the boys to this level so quickly? It had to have been dangerous, more than likely life threatening, and none of them had even known about it, let alone tried to stop it. The Mistress of the Mind would not be happy with Kakashi, but would like as not spread her anger around to both the Hokage and Itachi.
"For now, that problem can be put on hold. I sent her on an extended mission to the Land of Grass. She should return in about three months, if all goes well. In the meantime, perhaps we should consider withdrawing the boys from the class, maybe even graduating them to genin," the Hokage offered, but Itachi and Kakashi both shook their heads after a moment's thought.
"No, it wouldn't be prudent to do that. If for no other reason than Kurenai wishes to be their jonin sensei herself. There's also the fact that, as of now, the students know of their skills. To withdraw them would only risk spreading that information farther," said Itachi, and Kakashi nodded his agreement.
"We're just lucky no one noticed them at the training ground when they were practicing these things. If Iwa or Kumo had learned of this, we'd already have at least a dozen Hunter-Nin in the village aiming for the boys' heads," added Kakashi to the mix of statements.
"How did they hide that, anyway. I thought you were keeping an eye on them for their big sister, Kakashi-kun?" said Itachi suddenly, and one could see a sweat drop rolling down the Copy-Nin's face as he scratched at his cheek in embarrassment.
"I'll admit, they were a bit more devious than I thought. I came by once a week, every Wednesday, but never saw them do more than taijutsu or henge practice. To know they were literally doing this behind my back is actually another point in their favor," admitted the one eyed man. This seemed to be the truth enough so that the others turned their minds to other things, though each didn't truly believe Kakashi had put forth his best effort in his role as observer of the two.
"What protection do the boys have as of now?" asked Ibiki suddenly, causing the other three to turn to him, before Kakashi produced a little book from his back pocket.
"I picked out three teams of my most trusted ANBU operatives to take a round the clock guard duty for them, just in case something did get out about their abilities without us knowing about it. I trust all nine of them with my life, and so I told them what they would need to look out for, and to stay out of the boys' way for now, just to make sure they're safe," said Kakashi, looking over the list of names again, before putting the book back into his pocket, as if reassuring himself of his faith in those men and women.
"Perhaps we should have been doing this all along," commented Ibiki, more to himself than to those in the room.
"It is possible, yes. But I felt it best to keep eyes away from the boys. Their lineages would make them a target, and the best way to keep a secret like this is to make sure no one knows there's a secret at all," said the Hokage in response to it. Ibiki nodded at that statement, but still felt that he should have pressed the issue.
"So we have two Academy trainees that should be at least Chuunin now, if not higher. They aren't slacking off in their training either. I watched them in their basement, and saw Heero fighting against five different Narutos, all of which took hits that would have broken any Genin in the village," said Itachi, flashing his red eyes to show how that might have been accomplished. It caused the other three men in the room to fall silent.
"For now, we shall do nothing more than what we have. The ANBU teams will continue to guard the two boys, make sure no one suspects how powerful they already are, and hopefully we can keep others from spreading this news too far, for now. If there's any change at all in the situation, I want to be informed immediately," the old man finally said, and three heads nodded in unison.
"Hai, Hokage-Sama," said the voices, before they each left the room, allowing the old man a private moment. Looking after them, he turned his head to a set of pictures hanging on the side wall of his office, several of his old teams, and of the friends he'd know in his life. One in particular caught his eye now, of a man wearing his official robes, his yellow hair seemingly almost electric in the light of the picture, while next to him stood a silver haired man with purple eyes, the two smiling as they made faces at the camera.
"You two knew this would happen, didn't you? That the boys would beat against each other, pushing themselves harder and stronger, to surpass both of you. I think this qualifies as the greatest success of your lives, not counting our Konoha's safety ten years ago," said Sarutobi, and opened a draw in his desk, out of which he pulled a small bottle, which he saluted the two with, before taking a long pull on.