A Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 25
Later that same day, Jiraiya wasted no time in calling in his councilors, and when he saw them, it went off quickly.
The air in the office room was a level beyond stifling. It was almost suffocating, like a scorching summery day. All the Godaime Hokage's doing. That alone was a bit amusing to the Senju woman. After all, Tsunade was usually the one giving people killing intent, especially perverts like Jiraiya who got too bold for her liking. Like that one time, he caught her in full nudity in a hot spring. She beat the absolute shit out of him that day.
This time, however, Jiraiya was producing a dense aura of killing intent. A rarity. One could easily forget Jiraiya's veteran status and service history due to him acting buffoonish on his best days at work, and one would be a bigger fool than the Toad Sage. And the people who were receiving this nasty amount of killing intent were the Konoha Council.
Homura and Koharu looked, for lack of better words, like they were shitting themselves. Homura was sweating up a rainstorm and Koharu kept licking her wizened lips as if she was trying to keep them from chapping up. They looked like Jiraiya was stabbing them with his glare alone. If Tsunade herself was a person of weaker constitution and mental fortitude, she would be having all the classic symptoms of a person experiencing an intense level of killing intent like them.
Tsunade watched it all, silently. Jiraiya started showing some stuff. A paper tag with black-inked kanji, reading "Listen." It had played the entire conversation they had at Danzō Shimura's house a few hours ago. It acted like a discreet tape recorder that could be on Jiraiya's person at any time, without notice. Hell, Tsunade didn't know he had that one.
The soon-to-be ex-councilors didn't air any sort of denials. Maybe it was just the killing intent that acted like a truth serum, but they confessed to everything. How they worked with Shimura behind the Sandaime's back. How they cornered Itachi Uchiha and brainwashed him. How they cornered any Uchiha clan member that had a mission outside the village and had them deal with an Itachi who now acted as their boogeyman. How they commanded Itachi to slaughter every Uchiha they lived in Konoha, whether it be man, child, woman, old, retired, or ailing. It was all to spare the village a coup d'état, they claimed. And they had to do these things because not even the Sandaime Hokage was willing to deal with the situation "properly." Koharu, ever the smart one, added that part.
Tsunade knew that being the Hokage had to come with some unpleasantries to deal with later in the future, and she wasn't even sure whether or not the genocide of the Uchiha Clan was a necessary evil. But they went behind the Hokage's back and Jiraiya was keen to call Homura and Koharu out on their bullshit.
"So, besides Sasuke, who Itachi didn't kill for what seems to be unknown reasons, you decided to slaughter everyone in the clan? People who were retired, too young, too old, or too sick who couldn't possibly take part in this plot the Uchiha cooked up? Innocent children, who weren't even privy to the clan's intentions with Konoha, you slaughtered? All without the Hokage's consent."
"We had to do what was necessary, Hokage-sama!" Homura started in an appeasing tone, somehow finding his voice. Tsunade scoffed, knowing where this was leading. They were about to prattle about, just like Danzō, how they were being "patriots" to the village.
Koharu continued, sounding just as desperate. "P-Precisely! We were tasked to do this to save Konoha. For years we had suspicions that the Kyūbi's attack had been brought about by a Uchiha. No other people could control the bijū like a Uchiha Sharingan user can. One of our agents in their clan even confirmed they were planning to overthrow us."
"-An agent you ended up double-crossing and killing anyway, if I remember correctly," Jiraiya snarked.
"What would you have us do? Sit and wait until the things happen? Hope to the gods that the Uchiha had a change of heart? We dirtied our hands so no one would get hurt. We did things that even Hiruzen wouldn't even do!" The old woman nearly shrieked.
Jiraiya gave them both his nastiest sneer. "You never thought that not everyone in the clan might have thought it was right to overthrow Konoha's leaders? Were you that worried about Konoha, or were you more worried about your positions in the village leadership staying intact?" Tsunade noticed the councilors flinching. "What about the people who could be scared into submission? What about the children who could have grown up to be fine, loyal ninjas in our village?"
The councilors floundered as if they didn't consider the problem with just going down the "Kill 'Em All" route to dealing with the near-extinct clan. Tsunade wanted to simultaneously throw her head back in laughter or smack it in frustration. She did neither to keep up appearances.
"Konoha hadn't even recovered from the Kyūbi Attack and you decided to destroy an entire clan of our people just because you were afraid." Jiraiya pointed at them. "You didn't even bother with peace talks, allow the Hokage to make the move first. You trusted that power for yourself and for that, you cannot be forgiven. From this day forth, the Konoha Council is to be absolved."
Himura hung his head as he gave a limp nod. He knew it was over. Koharu however didn't, and looked like she swallowed something sour. She tried, "M-My lord, surely we can talk-"
"Utatane, be silent. This meeting was, in the end, going to result in your removal from your position anyway. Even if it hasn't happened yet, I couldn't possibly have someone in my cabinet going behind my back to do things. You were to be the Hokage's advisors, nothing more, nothing less. Perhaps Sarutobi-sensei allowed you some power, but I already let it be known that you would get none of that here. You two, and Shimura, have set us back. We could have used the extra manpower for Orochimaru's invasion. We could have used the extra manpower for the days to come with the Akatsuki, the same group of missing-nin that has a member who knows the ins and outs of this village. And he's not even loyal to it any further.
"You heard my conversation with Shimura on the tape. Let me remind you again that the Akatsuki is a group of S-rank ninjas who plan to hunt down the jinchūriki and capture them. If they can do so, which I am inclined to believe due to the recent reports of Kirigakure losing their jinchūriki, then Naruto Uzumaki and the rest of the village are in danger. Not to mention we have Itachi Uchiha's last relative here in our village. Sooner or later, Itachi will show up here with the Akatsuki for Naruto and even Sasuke.
"Then we got another issue of another person, or faction, who may even be aiding the Akatsuki. Someone out there, who is a danger to our village, helped Itachi break the Kotoamatsukami and allowed him into the Akatsuki. And a Uzumaki at that. And you have no idea who, do you?" Silence was his answer. The Hokage shook his head. "They're a threat to this village all the same. For all the trouble you created to prevent a potential overthrowing of the village, you three have only succeeded in weakening our village and helping our enemies. Danzō is already suffering. You two still want to be a part of my cabinet?"
Koharu now looked down, giving the Godaime Hokage the same limp nod that Himura had given before. The old woman queried, "What will our punishment be?"
"I have half a mind to send all three of you to Hōzuki Castle." Homura and Koharu's eyes bugged out, and they both started sweating again. "Fortunately, I'm not about to pay Kusagakure's absurd price of keeping you all there for years to come. You were already retired ninjas as it is, so as far as I'm concerned, I don't need to strip you of your ranks. Until the day you die, you'll be on house arrest."
Jiraiya snapped and two ANBU-type ninjas. "Now, I'll have ANBU escort you to your homes. Good evening to you, civilians."
As they disappeared, Jiraiya and Tsunade were alone in the office. A silence began between them before Jiraiya brought out a bottle of alcohol, chilled sake to be more precise, and two cups. A poof of smoke and a simple wooden chair was summoned into the room. "Grab that seat, will you?"
Tsunade did just that, almost slamming her ass down as she grabbed for the cup and the bottle. After a "Cheers!" from both of them, a silence began between them.
"Well, that ended well."
"Naturally," Tsunade returned. She quickly downed her drink before commenting, "You know, Mitokado and Utatane probably should have been dealt with a worse fate than being sent home, Jiraiya."
"Oh? What were you thinking?"
"Spot execution? They just admitted to treason."
"Hm." He swallowed some of his drink, sighing in pleasure. "…Tempting, but Mitokado and Utatane don't seem like they will be problems. Danzō said they might have men loyal to them, but that suspicion needs to be explored more, instead of the little time we have been given..."
"Hmm, I guess," Tsunade allowed, although she didn't sound all too convinced.
"Plus, if they are out there, and my former councilors decide to bring them out, we'll deal with them," the Godaime finished his point confidently, grabbing his cup for a drink.
Tsunade nodded eventually, understanding his logic: wait until they attacked, if they ever were going to attack. She just didn't agree with the leniency for the two former councilors entirely. Either way, she and the Hokage would have enough time to come up with a contingency plan if it came to that. "You think those two have a formidable force that will retaliate?"
"Maybe but I don't know the numbers. I have a squad to watch their moves already. I don't believe Danzō entirely when he made it seem like he and the former councilors didn't have much contact over the years. If anything, all of those loyal to Mitokado and Utatane could be carryovers from ROOT. However, he didn't seem especially loyal to them, so I don't think we have to worry about them. We'll take care of them as they come.
"I'll be honest though: I doubt they even have that kind of pull anyway. Unlike Danzō, I can't see the… charisma, I suppose that's an apt word for it. Yeah, I doubt they have the 'charisma' to have many people follow them. They truly are just two retiree shinobi with fewer resources than Danzō ever had, besides their political power."
"Power you just removed."
The Hokage nodded at Tsunade. Before taking another sip of his sake, Jiraiya paused to stare out his window, watching as the night overtook Konoha. "The calm before the storm. Can you feel it, princess?"
"Yeah," Tsunade replied, half-distracted, as she already was pouring herself a second shot. After a bit, she gathered her thoughts and commented, "All and all, this went smoothly. Too smoothly."
He gave her a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "Still worried, even after I gave that entire speech? Bah! I should worry about all of that. Not my new, sole – and might I add, gorgeous – advisor."
The Senju heir rolled her amber-colored eyes but still couldn't hide her small smile. "If you say so. Although, as your new advisor, I'm going to worry about future events. Like about our former snaky friend's followers. I know you aren't just waiting for them to come through."
"Maybe we are." Jiraiya shrugged, finishing his first cup. He started to pour another one. "We're on lock here. Beefed up security. We've got most of our border watch on the Hi-Oto border. ANBU scouring Hi no Kuni looking for any sort of them hiding. Other than that, we've been doing some raiding of Orochimaru's former hideouts, but a lot of them are abandoned."
"Hideouts?" Jiraiya's advisor blinked. "I thought Orochimaru started up a village in Oto no Kuni."
"From what I gathered about Otogakure, Orochimaru's little village was more sort of a ragtag type of group. Not a huge militia in a centered village, but groups of people in several locations in Oto no Kuni. From what I gathered just recently, his reach even stretched outside Oto."
"Oh?"
"Yeah," Jiraiya started to explain, putting his cup down on a saucer. "Every location was like a base. The bases were small and you couldn't house an entire shinobi there. Not like here. The largest base ANBU has uncovered in Oto no Kuni was confirmed to be a place Orochimaru liked to frequent, as well as it housed a large amount of his shinobi. They were dealt with. But that was just a major base, not his main one. That one remains to be seen. So far, all we've found and destroyed were smaller ones. A lot of those bases were already abandoned, so most of the Oto ninjas there either ran away, knowing we were coming for them, cut ties with Oto altogether, or they're hiding out in between the countries.
"But they're like rats, Tsunade. They turn up soon, and they will either end up dead or wishing they were."
"No one fucks with Konoha?" The Hokage's teammate raised her cup at him.
"No one fucks with Konoha," Jiraiya confirmed, clinking his glass with Tsunade.
A silence began between the two. They quietly drank the alcohol and relished the taste. It was soon broken up with the Toad Sage's contented sigh. "…Well, at least today went off just fine."
Jiraiya woke up the next morning, feeling the opposite of what he felt. Yesterday, he felt he had been the champion of this all. He got all the information he wanted, learned of a newer enemy in the hills, and got rid of two annoying bumps that were on his backside.
Today, he was reminded that there was still the issue of Otogakure and some boogeyman that Orochimaru was soon to unleash in Konoha. Maybe along with Orochimaru's militia – one Konoha did not want to fight when they were still licking their wounds from the invasion. Worse, outside of the Orochimaru "saga," he was reminded that there was some unknown Uzumaki that may want to cause harm to Konohagakure in some sort of fashion. Or at the least freed someone who might wanted to – Itachi Uchiha. And that wasn't even counting the problem with the Akatsuki, who were looking to snatch up the jinchūriki.
Then he got some more troubling news.
Later in the day, Tsunade handed the Godaime Hokage a letter. "Came straight from the Konoha Aviary Station. Letter to you, stamped." He checked the stamp and saw the symbol was the familiar insignia of his spy network.
Jiraiya tore into the letter, and read up the person who sent it to him. It was from Agent Kurokuma, one of his spies with activity in the western part of the continent. This month, Kurokuma had been in Kaze no Kuni, keeping tabs on Sunagakure. The man had written in very few words but it painted a very (albeit dramatic) vivid picture.
"Suna-1 attacked at Dawn. Dawn failed. Three of them. Two of Strange Blood; one of seal-working from an old clan. Konoha-9 safe, however; wasn't their initial target. Dawn retreated to the Kaze-Ishi border."
"Suna-1" meant Gaara. Not the most original codename for the jinchūriki, but it worked all the same. The name of his village – Suna – and the 1 in the codename meaning his tailed beast, the Ichibi. Every one of the identified jinchūriki got aliases like that; something he had cooked up decades ago.
So, of course, Konoha-9 was a no-brainer of who that was. Jiraiya rubbed the bridge of his nose. 'Of course, of course, Naruto got involved. Damn brat! I got him out of the village to keep out of trouble.'
"Dawn" was an easy one. That meant the Akatsuki – as their name meant literally 'Dawn.' "Strange Blood" was a dramatic way to say Kekkai Gekkai, which had Jiraiya roll his eyes. Not his codeword. Seal-working meant a fūinjutsu user, and context clues gave him the impression the "old clan" part was a reference to the Uzumaki. It made sense because the Akatsuki were already employing an Uzumaki, so more showing up didn't sound too weird. A team from the Akatsuki made of Uzumaki sounded especially dangerous for a tailed beast and its vessel.
However, the fact that Kurokuma said there were "three of them" was the odd part. The Akatsuki always paired up, never having a team of three. Although they could easily change up their formula, especially if they wanted to capture a tailed beast, a feeling that there was something else at play here that Jiraiya could not shake off. A three-man cell didn't sound like Akatsuki, and they weren't the only band of high-ranking missing-nin out there that could cause trouble…
'Ugh, what an annoyance,' Jiraiya inwardly complained, which soon was audibly displayed with a groan.
"What happened?" Tsunade queried.
"This letter was from one of my men out there."
"Spy? What did he report?"
"Suna got attacked. To be exact – their jinchūriki was attacked."
"And not ours? Naruto was on that mission to Suna, right?" Tsunade frowned, her brow raising.
"Their target wasn't Naruto. He's safe." Jiraiya assuaged, but then gave her a wry smile. "Still, he got himself involved; it seems he decided to help Gaara."
The Senju woman sucked her teeth, seeming to figure out what that meant. "That moron."
"That's what I said to myself too, but, still, at least he's safe." The Hokage gave her a grin. "I'll give him a dress down or something when he gets home."
"That seems to be the usual these days…"
"Still," Jiraiya continued, placing the letter on his desk. "Akatsuki is getting bolder. I wasn't expecting such an attack so soon from them. Especially not with some weird three-man cell."
"Three-people team? What's so weird about that?"
"They usually run two people per cell for a job. Them going out in this style just doesn't make sense."
"Is it that strange?" His advisor shrugged. "They changed it up this time, so what?"
"Might just be me since I have watched this group for years now," he admitted. "Sarutobi-sensei had me keeping tabs on that group for a while. We already have spying networks centered around our rivals and their name kept coming up. One big village that likes to use them is Iwagakure. The Tsuchikage loves employing these guys to do things he doesn't like his shinobi doing, and they usually get the job reliably with reasonable timing and prices. It always worrisome for a group of missing-nin, one so unchecked like this, to be operating, especially for our enemies."
"That doesn't mean much."
"It just doesn't fit their past course of structuring a team. Again, that just might be me." The Hokage shrugged, a frown forming on his face. "Itachi and Kisame, when they showed up for Naruto, they were a duo. The teams I personally saw in action were duos. Hell, even the off-duty Kakuzu and Shiro were a two-man team. This team wasn't wearing the colors of the Akatsuki and there were three of them."
"Even if I could see about the three-man cell thing being weird, I don't think them not wearing the Akatsuki colors means anything. If we were in a group with some notoriety attached to our name, we probably wouldn't flag my colors either. Maybe, it was some sort of team affiliated with them." The newly made advisor of the Hokage placed a hand on his desk and leaned forward. Jiraiya probably would appreciate the view more if he wasn't still buried in thoughts. "The way you're making it sound like it's as if these shinobi aren't from the Akatsuki."
"That's exactly what I'm getting at. If the Akatsuki are brazen enough to think they can capture the jinchūriki, what makes you think there can't be other groups who think the same? And if they got someone like the Uzumaki Clan in it, that group can surely get it done. Something to think about but," Jiraiya paused to sag into his chair with a deep sigh. "I got not a single shred of information to go on."
"And that's where you stop that train of thought. No sense in worrying about it until we know for sure," the Senju scion allayed, seemingly seeing the cogs running in her former teammate's head and trying to shut down the machine.
"…Fine, but I just can't shake the feeling that the three-man Akatsuki team sounds wrong. In any case, you're right. Things worked out just fine. Naruto and Gaara are safe. Still a bit worried since another Uzumaki showed up."
"You didn't mention that, you moron." That gave Tsunade some pause. "You think this Uzumaki-"
The Hokage gave her a deadpan. "Didn't you just say not to think about things I have no information to go on?"
"Forget it." The Senju scion shook her head, looking a bit embarrassed. "Wait, how come the bird got here first and not Naruto? Even how fast these messenger birds fly, Naruto's team should have been back here about an hour or two behind, right?"
"Knowing how terrible Suna's weather can get quickly, a sandstorm hit the area, I gander?"
"Actually, yeah, that makes sense. Well, if we're lucky, we can gleam some more information from him and Asuma when they get back."
"Hopefully."
They had escaped Sunagakure and Kaze no Kuni with their lives. This was Karin' first real mission in a major enemy territory. Suna's ANBU chased them to the Kaze-Ishi border, and only the cover of the sandstorm that moved in the region by the afternoon of the next day helped them. Since they had traveled north into Ishi no Kuni, they hadn't had to worry about the storm but their pursuers had to. Luckily, the dust storm had started to cover the south of Kaze no Kuni first, meaning Sunagakure wouldn't be able to easily pursue them.
They hadn't had to travel all in one session either. After resting inside an earthen construction conjured up by Tatsuya, and Karin making sure she used a seal that acted much like her chakra suppression technique, they weren't detected by ANBU and had gotten some well-needed rest. The escape out of Kaze no Kuni had been more pleasant then. They had made it into Ishi no Kuni without having to fight.
Traveling a bit into Ishi no Kuni until it was the late afternoon, and making sure they weren't too close to Ishigakure or some other shinobi village to be detected, Karin's team came to rest near a large stone.
"Karin-sama," Tatsuya started, briefly scratching his short blue hair. "Call Yui-sama."
The female Uzumaki nodded, unbuttoning and rolling up the right sleeve of her lilac blouse. Drawing chakra to her arm, a black-inked tattoo appeared. Two spirals surrounded a single black kanji symbol, reading 'Contact.' Another application and the symbol glowed blue. All three of them touched her arm seal and raised their hands to their temples.
A few seconds later, an older female voice spoke, "Karin-chan, so good to hear from you again. I hope things went well."
"It did not," Karin responded flatly. "We failed to capture the Ichibi jinchūriki."
"Ah, but I see you are still alive, despite not having Gaara with you. I heard he liked to maim people, but it sounds like you have all your parts with you. I assume Yumi-chan and Tatsuya are fine too."
"Were you expecting different? How macabre, Yui-sama," answered Tatsuya this time in a similar deadpan to the Uzumaki women. "We called to update you and find the quickest way home. As much as we would love to keep chatting with you, please, point us to where can we meet one of your sigils."
"Where are you?"
"Somewhere in Ishi no Kuni."
"The closest one I would recommend to you all is in Kusa no Kuni – nearing the Taki-Kusa border. Karin should be able to sense it." Karin flinched at the mention of Kusa.
"Alright, speak to you soon, in another day or two." Tatsuya removed his hand from Karin's forearm and patted her on the shoulder. "We shall be okay, Karin-sama. We will try to avoid Kusagakure altogether. I promise you that. For now, let's try to take things slowly."
"Yes, Tatsuya-sensei."
A/N: Yo, it's been a while. I know, I know. "Damn, dude. You took so long to pump this out. Where the hell have you been?" I can say life, the fact that COVID, deaths in my family, general Writer's Block, and my current life at home just sucks, but yeah, you ain't came to hear allat.
Just wanna say, thanks for sticking with me for 8 years. I know progress has been slow, but I am hoping I can get back to it on a regular basis. I got a few more chapters already in "beta," so they should be up shortly. This chapter and the next are being released at the same time.
I got some ideas with the Uzumaki in this world. Stay tuned for more.