Ch. 17
Fracture
Hiruzen called an emergency meeting with the clan heads at his home, making it clear that it would be done so in secret. Before long, everyone besides the Hyuga Clan was present. A few Clan heads looked around, noticing this as they settled around the table.
"There is a matter of great importance that we must discuss. This meeting is S class," he said causing the clan heads to look around in surprise.
"Does this have to do with the events of yesterday?" asked Tsume as the clan heads shared interested glances. The smoke curled from Hiruzen's lips as he sighed.
"In a manner of speaking. Hinata Hyuga was apprehended before reaching the scroll. The girl was frantic to get it and her loyalty to the village was in question. She seemed to think if she didn't get it her clan would kill her. Since she is a clan heir, and there were alarming circumstances, it was decided to take the humane option and we did a mind walk," he said. The clan heads drew back in shock at the news.
"It was discovered that her academy instructor purposely failed her on her genin exam, having seen signs of abuse on the girl and after learning of great strain in the Hyuga clan. It had been made clear to her that failure would mean death. Her instructor, Mizuki, told her that getting the scroll was a makeup test and used a series of manipulations to ensure the child's compliance.
"We also discovered that tensions have hit a peak in the Hyuga clan and that one of the main branch elders used the caged bird seal to kill an active-duty branch member a week ago. The main branch of the clan has covered it up, sending an imposter on a mission this week so that the branch member can be listed as KIA. As it is, the clan is on the brink of civil war and genocide," he said as murmurs of shock and outrage filled the room. He raised a hand to halt the chatter.
"Hinata recalled the body being sealed. We have one of our best stealth operatives retrieving it if they have not already disposed of it. The mission to capture the traitor was a resounding success, and he played right into our hands. The Hyuga clan head made it clear that Hinata should have died when given the chance when Hiashi was brought into my office regarding the events of yesterday.
"I made it clear that Hinata coming to harm would be met with the full weight of the law since she is now one of my ninjas, that if he could not contain himself then to give her to the village. He was adamant that she be sealed before being cast out of the clan, and I had him sign the paperwork that in exchange for her eyes being sealed once, she would be cast from the clan." he said to increased sounds of outrage. Inoichi slammed a hand on the table as he stood, looking murderous.
"Do you know what abuses have been heaped upon that child?! And you let them put that abomination on her?!" he yelled as a few more clan heads nodded voicing their dissent. At the sly grin and twinkle in the old Hokage's eyes, Inoichi paused.
"The paperwork stated only one seal could be used on her, and it never said it had to be the caged bird seal," he pointed out to the shocked faces. Hiruzen began to chortle deeply.
"We have two seal masters in this village who already sealed her yesterday. Her clan can no longer touch her," he said with a sly look as the others began to laugh. As it settled down, they grew grim once more.
"How are we going to handle this?" asked Fugaku quietly. Hiruzen sighed another gust of smoke.
"If we do nothing, we could lose over eighty active-duty shinobi from the village with a powerful doujutsu. That's not including the sealed children and noncombatants," he said quietly causing a wave of disrest to sweep over the table.
"If we do nothing, the likelihood of one of the branch family going rogue and killing the main branch in their sleep is fairly high." Quiet mutterings started up at his words.
"We all knew that this could potentially become a problem. We have been seeing the silent hostility in the clan for years," muttered Fugaku and a few other clan heads nodded.
"Is there anything we can do without this turning into bloodshed?" Tsume asked as the group delved deep in thought.
"Jiraiya and Moriko Uzumaki are working on a seal that will remove the Caged bird seal and have already created a new seal to protect their doujutsu from theft. Fugaku, I understand that Itachi has been studying seals on his own for years? If he wishes to help with the project, send him here, they are working out back," said Hiruzen before a muffled explosion came from the backyard, startling the other clan heads. Hiruzen merely sighed and rubbed his face.
"I fear my gardens will never be the same again," he said as the group suddenly broke into laughter at the unexpected quip at such a serious time. Fugaku sent the Hokage a nodd.
"I'll let him know." Hiruzen nodded and Shikaku leaned forward, head resting on his hands.
"So we need a way to incapacitate all main branch members and remove the seals from the branch clan without raising suspicions," He said slowly as the group around the table nodded.
"What if we claim disease?" Inoichi suddenly piped up and the Hokage leaned forward with interest, gesturing him to continue.
"We can quarantine the village and clans to their compounds, claiming that some of the team members from the mission the Hyuga staged a death with caught a highly contagious disease, something rare that has to do with destroying their chakra networks. Patients will be seen individually at the hospital in private rooms. This will allow us the time to individually remove the seal and see each member without arising suspicion," He said slowly causing happy mutterings. Shikaku nodded grinning widely.
"The Hyuga clan will be clamoring to be seen first, if only so they won't be quarantined with one another with tensions so high. If we manage to pull this off, the branch clan is going to need somewhere else to go. I don't foresee our meddling going down well, and there might have been branch members that were only refraining from revenge because of the seal and what it could do to the rest of the branch clan. Either way, both sides of the clan are going to be hostile to one another, the main branch first and foremost to the rest of the village for taking away their servants," he said as the Hokage nodded thoughtfully.
"Do you foresee defection?" Hiruzen asked and Shikaku grimaced.
"It's a very likely possibility," Inoichi murmured and the group traded looks. Hiruzen sighed, looking down.
"Then we should have precautions in place," he said quietly as the rest of the clan heads shared uneasy looks.
"What kind of precaution? Why? Because having defecting Hyuga with village secrets should not be allowed." stated Shibi as a few others nodded. Hiruzen sighed and nodded.
"True. Very true. I will have to ask the seal masters if there is anything that they suggest."
"Hokage-oji! We did it!" cried Moriko as she burst into the room looking triumphant as she madly waved around a piece of paper practically dancing. She paused, face turning red as the people in the room started chuckling at her antics. The increasing red of her face as she stared at them prompted more laughter and the old Hokage gestured for her to take an open seat to his left.
"That didn't take long," he said with a grin as Moriko smiled widely.
"It's amazing what you can do with shadow clones. Want to see the removal seal in action? We managed to get our hands on the cursed seal so I can demonstrate outside," She said as the group shot each other interested looks. At the Hokage rising from his seat, the rest followed going into the back gardens. Hiruzen paused to marvel at the glow of the backyard as the grass, trees, and bushes seemed to be encased in it. He gently probed the grass and found that it had give but not as much as normal.
"What is this?" he asked marveling at the yard.
"A barrier seal to protect the yard after the first explosion. Our one and only fatality," Moriko said as she pointed toward a darkened clump of grass. The hokage began to laugh heartily as did a few clan heads.
"The Hokage thought the backyard would be ruined," Shikaku said with a wide grin. Moriko shot the Hokage a highly affronted look.
"But I love the back gardens!" The group devolved into further laughter before the Hokage gestured for her to continue. She went into the backyard where Jiraiya was sitting next to a pile of wood blocks the approximate size of a head, scribbling hurriedly away at something. He looked up to find the clan heads approaching and grinned widely.
"You guys are going to love this! Moriko, do the thing!" he said excitedly as he pointed at a wood block. Moriko shot him an unamused look.
"Really sensei, we need to explain first or they aren't going to be able to fully appreciate this," she chided before touching her finger to a block of wood, a seal appearing. She created a clone and she picked up the block of wood.
"Now this is the cursed seal. When a foreign chakra is introduced into it it does this," she said throwing it to the clone. It hopped away from them before touching the seal and tossing it. After a moment the wood block exploded. The clan heads shared startled looks, Moriko's expression grimly pleased.
"They didn't want anyone to be able to study the seal so they built in a booby trap," she said before picking up another block, placing a seal on top, and placing the curse seal on the block.
"This is what happens when the person dies," she said stabbing a kunai into the first seal. Suddenly the wood began smoking before she dropped it. It split open in charred pieces as the clan head's eyes went wide at the charred and smoking remains of the block.
"The seal targets the brain, not the eyes. It just happens to burn the eyes out as a side effect. When it gets activated by a Main branch member, that is what is starting to happen in the other person's head," she said causing the group's eyes to go wide in horror.
"I might be sick," Tsume muttered as Shibi's coat began to buzz in agitation as Moriko picked up another block putting another seal on top before applying the curse seal on it.
"Since we were able to study the seal blueprints, we were able to come up with a counter seal," she said as she focused her chakra before a seal appeared on top of the caged bird seal. It faded away leaving the wood block bare. She stabbed it and nothing happened. She moved a bit away from the group before drawing her katana and slicing through the wood block with wind chakra to find it perfectly pristine.
"Now that we are sure this will work, we need a trial run, preferably with humans since the chakra in animals is different to humans, but we can still test animals first to be sure," she said as the group traded thoughtful looks. She turned to the Hokage.
"Do you have any inmates that are on death row?" she asked as the Hokage nodded. She nodded before chucking the wood block and resealing her sword.
"This is the new seal that we made for Hina-chan," she said as she grabbed another block, placing a seal at the top before using a light touch to place two seals on the front, and finally the new seal. She focused and it condensed into a small red diamond. She stabbed through the seal on top. There was a light fizzle where the two seals on the front were before it stopped. She handed it over to the Hokage to observe the two spots that showed only light burning.
"What were the extra seals for?" asked Fugaku.
"That is part of what took so long. We had to create a seal that mimicked life enough for the wood block to 'die' so we could check if it worked. The other seal was to mimic eyes to make sure that the curse seal targets eyes specifically, not just where they might generally be located." she said as the Hoage continued to examine the block.
"The burning here is minimal," he said and she nodded poking at the burned area to show the burned wood further back.
"Just enough to make the eyes useless but far enough back that it's not very visible. No one wants to see their loved ones with burning holes where their eyes used to be," she said. Hiruzen felt emotion rise up at the consideration as he patted her shoulder. Fugaku was frowning thoughtfully at it.
"What's to keep someone from pulling them out while they are still alive?" he questioned and the young woman grinned, placing the seals on another woodblock before tossing it to him.
"Try." With a quirked brow, Fugaku pulled out a kunai and tried. An invisible barrier sprang between him and the wood block that encircled the back under his hand from what he could feel. He placed the kunai back in his pouch as the slight ripple of the barrier disappeared before trying to pluck the 'eye' with his fingers. The invisible barrier appeared and forced his hand away.
"Now kiss the eyes," she said with a grin as the man shot her an incredulous look. After a moment he huffed and did so to the rest of the clan heads' amusement. Nothing happened.
"Now get your teeth close," she said. His face was pushed back by the barrier and he shook his head.
"Now watch this," she said as she took the block back. She raised her finger to touch it and it suddenly pushed her hand away. She rested her hand on the block and suddenly her hand was pushed away.
"I just tried to put a seal on it. It's made to repel as much as I could think of at the moment," she said before offering the block to anyone who wanted to test it.
"Can they breath inside the barrier?" Shibi asked as he handled the block, letting some of his bugs out. They were repelled when it got close to the 'eyes.'
"Yes. It also stores oxygen and is activated if harmful particles are detected like dust, sand, water, or poison," she said, picking up a handful of dust and sand from a bag on the ground before letting it fall on the block. It fell over the barrier and immediately cleared from the eyes and mouth area.
"This is amazing," Shikaku said as he took the block to examine it. When he let his shadows creep toward the eyes, the barrier pushed them away.
"We worked pretty hard on it, knowing that this is what would be keeping Hina-chan safe," she said with a pleased smile as the other clan heads traded looks.
"This could just work," Shikaku said with a growing smile. Hiruzen turned to the young woman and Jiraiya.
"I have something more to ask of you two," he said as the two grew serious.
"We need safeguards for if the Hyuga main branch defects from the village." Jiraiya and Moriko traded a look.
"I've got a few ideas, what about you Sensei?" she asked as the older man shot his leader a look. Hiruzen stared back.
"Same. How bad are we talking here sensei?" Jiraya finally asked. Hiruzen puffed out a plume of smoke.
"Nothing lethal." He finally said and the two relaxed. Moriko grinned.
"Why not a reverse summoning seal set to a specific location? Maybe rooms with chakra suppression seals that snap to the people inside if they have that specific summoning seal and an alert seal to let you know the room is in use?" Moriko recommended. The group seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at the bloodless solution and Hiruzen patted her head.
"If you two could start working on that, I would be highly grateful. I will get a cell in one of our prisons set up," he said.
"Hinata-chan has a little sister. Could you get something set up specifically for her since she's still a child?" she asked. The old Hokage paused before nodding thoughtfully.
AN: Yo! Moriko has been training for over 96 years with the use of shadow clones, so if her skills seem a bit high, that's why. Most people in Naruto have been training at most ten to forty years off and on but it's a very small number.