Beta-ed by Stalker I'm not Telling, to make sure I can update faster I am working with several betas and working on 24th chapter... but I am planning to split chapter 22-23 because... it gets too long. So maybe I will cut down each chapter worth by half after chapter 21. What do you think?
EDIT 23/7/17: A BIG MISTAKE on my part... I accidentally upload unedited chapter!
20th Legacy: Kaleidoscope Eyes in The Dark
" Definition of talented in Fuuinjutsu is basically how good you're at making your failures count and turn it to success… so most of us,
seal masters are sore loser who loath to leave failure as failure…"
Uzumaki Naruto
Kurenai felt sorry for the jinchuuriki, just that and no more. Sure, her father was killed in the line of duty that night, and she still felt hints of hidden painwhen recalling the last time she saw him. But she was grateful, unlike the fools in Konoha who couldn't see Uzumaki Naruto as a human first, a comrade second and a jinchuuriki last.
When she saw the young jinchuuriki with his Uchiha teammates, Kurenai could faintly guess why they were with him. She didn't think they were using him though. She had heard whispers of the Uchiha being responsible for the Kyuubi attack, but she knew it was unlikely to be true. She had seen the Uchiha police force guiding civilians to shelter that night; the men had protected the fleeing civilians with their lives, not hesitating to throw themselves at pieces of flying debris if it could save even a single soul.
The Uchihas were a tight knit clan, they wouldn't let their clansmen die if they truly staged the attack.
So that left one alternative, they were in his team to keep him, and his tenant, in line. Such was the life of jinchuuriki, involuntary jailors who spend their days shouldering burdens that shouldn't be their's to bear, all while being imprisoned by the very people they are forced to protect. He was just nine years old, a chuunin at nine during peaceful times . Even Kakashi was only promoted to chuunin because of the war. Even clan children, aside from the main family, had the right to choose between being a civilian or shinobi, this boy, however, had that right taken from him the night he was forcibly deemed a jinchuuriki.
Still, does the boy have it in him? The skill of a chuunin? She could tell that other than Iwashi-san, not a single chuunin here was sure of Naruto's skill.
Whoosh!
CLANK!
With a single hit, any doubt Kurenai had for the kid's strength was knocked straight out of her. She had tried to sneak behind the boy with her favorite genjutsu and aimed to knock him out of the game, but he quickly noticed the genjutsu But instead of disturbing his chakra flow like normal shinobi would, he unleashed a large wave of chakra with enough force to push her ten feet away. Then, before she could recover, he closed the distance in a flash, their kunais meeting in a series of consecutive sparks.
"Kuh!" Kurenai gritted her teeth. 'What strength…' It was unnerving to see those warm blue eyes shift to a colder steel like shade. Aoba silently appeared not far behind him, and his eyes shifted slightly. 'He's a sensor?'
Without a warning, a chain of chakra shot up from his back and Aoba was forced to back away, just narrowly avoiding a whip to the face, but Aoba was unaware that he was being led straight to Uchiha Shisui. The Uchiha, however, didn't move from his perch on the tree. Sharingan spinning lazily, Aoba suddenly collapsed on the ground, desperately clutching his head to stave off ripples of pain.
"Aoba!" Kurenai cried.
Then, suddenly she felt a light tap on her neck and everything went dark.
When she woke up, she was awakened to the sight of her teammates groaning while vigorously rubbing their heads. Iwashi was shrugging while the Kotetsu-Izumo combo stood with a look of pure confusion. Kurenai guessed they were also victims of Shisui's, or perhaps Itachi's, genjutsu.
She sighed wearily, Kurenai prided herself as an expert in genjutsu but compared to Uchiha Shisui, nicknamed the 'Shinkirou', she was hopelessly outclassed. Still…
Shisui made a peace sign at her, grinning widely. 'I admire his skill but he is so annoying…' Clenching her fist, Kurenai returned his grin with a strained smile.
Looking at Shisui's innocuous smile, Itachi shook his head exasperatedly while Uzumaki Naruto… The boy was holding onto her team's flag. As Kurenai looked for her own teammates, she couldn't help but notice Iwashi with a faraway look she couldn't quite comprehend. Naruto looked like a child for once, twirling the flag idly as if he couldn't decide what to do with them.
Kotetsu, one of the Chuunin, approached the jinchuuriki. "Oh yeah, about the Gogyou Juujika Shuriken I used, why did it fall apart when you guys targeted the center?"
The blond perked up, "Ah, that… since there isn't a hole for us to place our index fingers, we had to compensate by making the layer of metal thinner and curved in at the center." He laughed sheepishly, "So when pierced with a chakra enhanced weapon of the opposing nature, the stabilizing layer kicked in."
"It has that kind of weakness?" Izumo whistled, "Still, can it even be called a weakness?" He pointed at the center part of his shuriken, "It's so small and each projectile would be moving at high speeds… while it's hard to dodge the elemental attack, it's still easier than aiming at such a small target."
Shisui tilted his head to the side in confusion, "Really? I find it easier to aim at its weakpoint… more stamina efficient for me."
"I think so too." Itachi chimed in.
No one bothered to point out that it was only easy for them because of their Sharingan.
"Naruto-kun, you know quite a lot about this shuriken." Kurenai herself liked the seal enhanced shuriken because it was efficient and versatile. "Did you assist the seal master who designed it?"
Blue eyes blinked at her in confusion. "Eh?"
Uchiha Shisui answered her, "It's Naruto's design… and that's why we know about the weak point in the center, we're the ones who tested it after all." He sighed dramatically, "And what a painful and long test it was… you take such a damn long time to decide on the final design. It'll be a loooong while until I deign to help you with any weapon enhancing seals again, it's so troublesome."
"To be fair, it's more expensive than the usual seal because the traditional shuriken design needed to be modified. We have to worry about weight, durability and aerodynamics…" He huffed indignantly. "But I agree… I won't be designing another seal like that anytime soon." He muttered weakly, recalling the process of redoing the shuriken designs and safety mechanisms so it wouldn't blow up in their weapon pouch by accident.
Kurenai was amazed, after all Gogyou Juujika no Fuuin was the most widely used seal since explosive tags and storage seals were invented. The only drawback was how it took a while to get used to , the invention was heavier than normal shurikens, this minor difference in weight would throw off their muscle memory by a bit. It was also very expensive, three times the price of a normal shuriken.
"Naruto-kun." Iwashi called the younger shinobi who had been spacing out for quite a while. "Good fight, your teamwork is as impressive as always."
She admitted Iwashi was right, at first, they seemed to be all over the place. Regardless, as the battle progressed, the team was somehow in sync. Their strategy was, although unorthodox, very efficient, she had never seen kawarimi used in tandem with kage bunshin so effectively, nevermind being mixed with a subtle genjutsu to ensnare them into a trap.
"Ah, thank you Iwashi-san."
"By the way, you should be trying for Tokubetsu Jounin soon, right? You already have the skills to be one."
Tokubetsu Jounin? Already?
The blond just laughed sheepishly, "Ah, about that, Hakurei-shishou hasn't given his permission yet."
"Eeh? Why? Is it because he thinks you're too young? Hakurei-sama wasn't against you getting promoted to Chuunin before." He inclined his head towards Itachi and Shisui. "And you guys too, it's just about time you guys get promoted to Jounin… especially Shisui-kun."
He shrugged, "Maa, since I am a specialist in an obscure art like Fuuinjutsu… rank doesn't matter much if some mission requires my service."
Iwashi nodded sagely, "Ah, right…"
He smiled at Iwashi, a seemingly genuine smile, but Kurenai couldn't read him at all. "I will earn my promotion when I deserve it."
Sealing Tower
He didn't know when he could first feel the subtle hum of chakra in their surroundings. The so called nature chakra, energy that has been floating around since the Rikudo Sennin era, both abundant and free. He wasn't conscious of it all the time, but the absence was prominent when he was inside a chakra-sterile barrier like this. The air felt lighter, empty and cold…
Lifeless…
He was told 'his awareness' meant he had a natural aptitude to be a sage, a lot of his clan members were sensitive to natural chakra. Which explained a lot, it was genetic heritage. Though he wondered if his chakra leaning heavily towards Yang natured chakra -which explained by his crappy affinity for genjutsu- was another genetic quirk of the Uzumaki clan. Yang chakra,was a warm energy that breathed life to form.
"Young master, relax…" Shion's calming voice snapped him back to reality, "We're crafting a seal that is connected to your chakra path, so we need you to be calm and relaxed."
He must have been scrunching his face just now, which was why Shion was worried his mind was troubled or something. "Naah… just thinking about my strong affinity for Yang chakra. I can't help but wonder if it's really a genetic quirk common in my clan or-"
Shion coughed, "Actually young master… while I was born in Konoha, I am pretty sure that vegetable and crops in Uzushio never tried to escape us from harvesting them."
"I wonder if in spring, our cabbage will fly somehow…"
Shion sweat-dropped, "While I am glad you're not thinking about anything stressful, young master… I don't think we want to see flying vegetable."
Hakurei snorted, "Why not, it would be a good workout."
He tuned out their argument, eyes wandering over the circular room where the seal formula had taken over the entire chamber. Because of his position, lying in the center of the room, he could only see part of the seal. 'Huwaa… some parts of this seal are using glyphs based on Sanskrit from Rikudo Sennin's era…'
This was the first time he saw a seal with a composite glypt, in which the larger seal was composed of smaller seals that used a different writing system,adding more complexity and stability to the mechanism. Like a machine with parts made of different materials best suited for each component.
For example, the Nidaime's hiraishin used sanskrit like Kuchiyose, but his father's version was pure kanji. Which was a strange way of recreation, to start all over using a completely different glypt. Though, from war stories he heard from Hakurei and memories of his father, there didn't seem to be any significant differences between the two versions.
He really had to study other glypts, not just standard kanji characters. While kanji was the most common and stable form of writing in Fuuinjutsu, there were other kinds of glypt, less common but with its own versatility. He was getting the hang of sanskrit, and considering the third glypt, itcould help him to finish that seal he wanted.
But which? There was no point wasting time learning a new writing system if it got him to nowhere, right? "So… I am thinking to add another writing system to my repertoire after sankrit, maybe Nüshu?"
"While it's good to distract yourself because you're bored." Like all people would when laying on the ground half-naked while seal masters around you were busy. "Naruto-sama, thinking about stressful things like work is not something I recommend you to do."
Yes, remember Naruto, you can't stress yourself out until this seal is finished. He was very tired of getting the same warning over and over again, he was fed up. Though, he finally got an explanation of what this Satori that Hakurei was fretting about was.
Not that Hakurei had a choice but to spill.
Flashback to the day before…
It was just another day, or rather, it felt like it. Though, to be honest, he had an unusual start to his day, he felt exhausted. Being both an Uzumaki and a jinchuuriki gave him seemingly unlimited stamina, but as proven countless times, he still had his limit. For the first time that month, he had exhausted himself, three straight all-nighters on attempting to create a teleportation seal was draining even for Naruto.
The seal was perhaps too advanced for a 5th Dan seal master, but he figured the need to be able to get out of his stickiest situations was a pressing need for him. As pointed out by Shisui, strategical retreat was important, and in Naruto's case, he had to work harder to survive because of his unique status. Especially since as much as Naruto prided himself for his accomplishments at the tender age of nine, he had a very long way to go to survive against Madara or whoever it was who managed to fight on equal grounds with his father that fateful night.
So far he had met more trouble than ever, and even more failures were to come on the road. It made him realize that he had overestimated the amount of effort he put in so far, that while… yes, he was a hard worker, but he was also a very talented hard worker. In comparison to other seal masters, he hadn't worked nearly as hard as they did to achieve the same results.
So for the first time, he had hit an invisible wall and he didn't how to scale it. It was stressful and he was tempted to pull his hair out or something equally painful to alleviate his frustration. And also the headache… it started to become a routine. Kurama was also getting frustrated because according to the bijuu, he was not sick and that headache was just a headache, so Kurama couldn't help him.
He did nothing of sorts that would stimulate premature balding, he had an image to keep. Besides, he kinda had to wander around the tower a little to show his face. Because as much as he liked his privacy, his subordinates would start asking if he didn't show his face at least once a day. So he would just grin and bear it, literally. Although it would cause a nastya headache, it wasn't worth worrying the people around him to death just to avoid a minor annoyance.
All he needed was to catch some snooze and he would be as good as new. Not now though...
"Naruto-sama! Hurry!" Seven years old Atla squealed in a high pitched voice, almost making him grimace in pain. It wasn't that Atla's voice was abnormally high, but his headache made it unbearable to listen to.
"Slow down Atla…" He let the two young boys drag him outside. "The field isn't going anywhere, and I am sure we planted plenty for everyone!"
The Sealing Division might be the smallest shinobi division in Konoha, but due to the Uzumaki clan's status rivalling that of founding clans like the Uchiha and Senju, they received a larger than necessary plot of land in Konoha, which was why they had their own training ground and field to grow crops.
Mu, the youngest Shiomitsu at the age of three held his hand in iron grip. "But sweet potato' ll go somewhere! Naruto-sama's seal made them run!"
In hope to increase the quality of their crops, Naruto proposed that they should use the same seal he used on his garden.
Some seal masters were worried but they supposed the crops wouldn't be as active as Naruto-sama's plants, maybe wiggling a little from time to time, but in their profession, it wouldn't be the strangest thing that's ever happened. So why not let him do it? It was needless to say that the results exceeded all expectations?
Sure the taste and health of the crops increased exponentially, and nowadays, they didn't even need to care for it too much. There was just one tiny little problem. Apparently, because Naruto didn't take care of them personally and most seal masters only tended to their field as some sort of hobby, the plants didn't love them. So whenever it was about time that the crops were ripe for harvest, the vegetables would try to flee.
As if saying 'Like hell, we'll let you eat us without a fight.'
It seemed today the of sweet potatoes had uprooted themselves from the earth, roots and everything, before hopping out their field. They managed to erect a barrier to stop their crops from going too far but it seemed the crops wouldn't go down without a fight.
"Atla! Mu!" Yuzuriha shrieked in horror as the one tough sweet potato attempted to strangle the boys.
"Someone! Kill it!"
Naruto looked around him, frowning when he realized there were a lot of civilians today. All of them were also refugees from Uzu, some were married to the Shinobi part of Tower's population but the majority stayed civilians and tended to their fields and other jobs so sealmasters could focus on their job and maintain the Tower's self-sufficiency.
He rarely saw them though, considering his living quarter was at the highest level of the Tower, which was off limits to them. Maybe he should say hi, or something.
"Naruto-chama!" Mu called him. "This is so fun!"
He only took his eyes off of them for a second and Mu had already gotten himself hung upside down by a sweet potato plant. "That's called dangerous, not fun, Mu…" One of these days he really should teach the kids how to tell 'dangerous' and 'fun' apart. "How did you get yourself up there?" He wondered as he stomped on the wriggling plant and cut the vine tied around Mu's waist. Mu giggled as he wrapped his arms around Naruto's neck before the blond set him down.
The sweet potato even tried to strangle them when they attempted to harvest the root. It had been a common occurrence, as just last summer, the tomatoes, while not trying to run, decided that their farmers would make good target practice. And the corn tried to flatten them with fruit like it was the Uchiha's standard police stick.
They let the seal be though, since strangling those crops was, surprisingly, a good exercise. A small comfort was, no matter how lively, dosed with Yang chakra those crops would never develop ability to scream. Thankfully, plants have no vocal cords.
Naruto's argument to that, 'Even if pigs squeal, I don't see it stopping you from butchering them.'
'This is so fun.'
He blinked owlishly, looking around only to see Mu and Atle tackling a plant and squealing as they tore through the root for their prize. Yuzuriha and Tokusa were pretty far for him to hear them saying anything. But just now… he rubbed his ears, it felt like someone was whispering and giggling to his ears.
Yuzuriha approached him, carrying a huge basket of sweet potato. "Naruto-sama! Look!"
"Ah, they looks tasty indeed."
Yuzuriha raised an eyebrow, "Then-"
'Naruto-sama looks unwell today? Perhaps he is already hungry?'
Naruto blinked again, confused. "I am not hungry." It was unusual of Yuzuriha to be so forward. "But thank you for your con-" He paused, Yuzuriha was blushing.
"I… I didn't say anything like that, Naruto-sama! Am I that obvious?" She stuttered.
"What? But you did-" Naruto began.
'Kyaaa! Kyaa! So embarrassing! Naruto-sama can read me like an open book! By Rikudo Sennin's beard, he didn't realize my feeling yet, I hope!'
The blond covered his ears, just now it was so loud. Since when Yuzuriha scream like that at him?! "You don't have to shout Yuzuriha… I can hear you just fine. Since when you're using Rikudo Sennin's name like that, and what feeling?"
At this point, Yuzuriha had turned as red as tomato, the basket of sweet potatoes fell to the ground and her legs were shaking. "I didn't say anything!" She wailed as she ran away, leaving behind a very confused Naruto.
"Yu… Yuzuriha! Wait!"
'I never thought we'd have to strangle a plant to get to our food.'
He whirled around only to see the two Shiomitsu boys piling purple sweetness on their basket, and they were singing something about sweet potatoes and baking them with butter. "Na na na~"
"Erm… Mu? Atla? Did you say something?"
Twin pair of purple eyes blinked at him innocently, "No, we didn't…" Atla answered and Mu quickly added. "Naruto-chama, you don't like digging sweet potato?" Looking at his empty hands.
Naruto laughed nervously, "Ah… I think it's fun, I will start right away."
"Naruto-sama." A muffled voice called him, and Naruto turned around to see Tokusa with a masker over his mouth carrying a huge basket full of sweet potato on his back. "Isn't that Aneki's basket? Why did she leave it here?"
Oh right, Tokusa was still recovering from his cold.
He smiled sheepishly, "Well… I think I made her upset for some reason, where is she?" He had no idea what was going on but Yuzuriha was upset so… "I should apologize."
Tokusa snorted, "Nah… don't worry, Aneki's mood swing is like a pregnant woman's sometimes. Just leave her be, later she will bounce back on her own. If anything, she should be sorry for making you worry."
'I will never do that to Naruto-sama! After all I'm your most loyal vassal, as loyal as a dog.'
"There you go again, I told you comparing yourself to a do-" He stopped on his track, clamping his mouth shut in instant. 'Just now…. Tokusa's voice wasn't muffled but he was still wearing his masker? So what the heck did I hear just now.'
"Naruto-sama?" Tokusa asked in worry,
"You're getting pale… maybe you should take a nap."
'How strange… Naruto-sama never got sick.'
He rubbed his ears, he must be hallucinating or something. Tokusa's voices were overlapping and yet his mouth didn't match the voice echoing in his mind. "My ears feels strange…" Or rather his head to be exact.
"Naruto-sama?"
A group of civilians carrying their crops approached them, "Ara… what's wrong with young master?" A middle aged woman asked. 'He looks pale, cold perhaps?'
"Should the young master even do this kind of menial labor?" Someone from the crowd asked. 'It's not proper.'
"Tokusa-san, perhaps the young master needs some rest." 'Such a young boy shouldn't be outside when he is not feeling well.'
'This morning.' 'So tired' 'Who said just yesterday.' 'Our harvest this year' 'Don't play with-' 'Heavy' 'Some- bring- -that-' 'Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- ' Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- 'Di- bla bla- see- bla bla- '- bla bla- see- bla bla- 'No- bla bla- see- bla bla- ' bla bla- see- bla bla- ' Bla bla- see- bla bla- 'Bla bla- see- bla bla- 'Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… But he- Pst- pst… Pst- pst…' Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…' Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Naruto-sama… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…' Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Oi! Someone! Pst- pst…' Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… What the~ Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst… Pst- pst…'
He began to sweat, the echoing voices in his head was getting louder. There were so many whispers he could barely make them out, they were just spiraling in his mind nonstop, and now, he couldn't even hear what they actually said any longer. Tokusa's mouth was moving and he looked paniced as he reached out for Naruto.'Why do Tokusa… Mu and Atla looks so-'
'Naruto!'
"NARUTO-SAMA!"
"Medic! Someone call our medic!"
"Inform Hakurei-sama right away!"
He was still conscious, but his head was buzzing with noises. Why he couldn't move? There was no pain or anything that stopped him from moving, but his body won't listen to him. He was awake but his body was not, why?
Why?
Kurama! Kurama! Help!
"Hurry! Shion you slowpoke!"
"I just arrived, Otou-san! Give me some time to prepare!"
His eyes were unfocused, all he could see was the blurry image of someone with greying hair -Hakurei- looking down at him. "Sleep! Sleep Naruto-sama…"
Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla Bla
Sleep sounded like a good idea, but Hakurei… it was too noisy here… make these noises stop!
"You should make it stop!"
His eyes snapped open and he was greeted by a familiar cage and flooded sewer that was his mind-scape. "Kurama… what-" He coughed, spitting water on his mouth. "Haa ah… " Kurama was here, he got through Kurama! He was not alone.
"Don't you Kurama- me!" The nine tailed fox snarled, "If there is anything good about this cage, it's quiet and my limbs are quite free! Now it's the noisiest place I have ever been for the last ten centuries!" The fox growled, holding his long ears down.
"Huh?" Naruto was greeted by sounds of whispering and disembodied voices echoing in the sewer, it was not as loud as before but still annoying and disorienting. "What the hell? What's happening? Kurama?!"
"You tell me!" Kurama pointed a clawed finger at him, "Which idiot botched ninshuu like you? You freaking opened your mind to people's thoughts without proper practice, and now all these random thoughts have flooded your mind!"
Naruto belatedly realized the water was deeper than usual, considering how it was usually knee length and now he could barely see the bottom. It was so deep that he could actually swim in the sewer. "I botched what?"
"Ninshu."
That was a familiar term, oh right… Rikudo Sennin's religion. "Since when can I do Ninshu?" He couldn't help but wonder. "And since when did Ninshu cause people to hear voices? Am I going mad?!" He wondered with a touch of hysteria in his voice.
"Other than the crazily brilliant trait you inherited from your clan, I am pretty sure you're very much sane. So no, you're not going mad…"
Typical of Kurama to insert sarcasm even when comforting someone.
"No! It's not like I am comforting you or anything! I am merely stating a fact!"
What was the term Shisui mentioned about this kind of routine again? Oh yes, Tsundere. "You just hate being honest about your feelings, Kurama… that's why we love you." We as in his team.
"RAWR!" Kurama roared at him, and he was almost washed away by the mini tsunami the fox made, thank God for water walking. " I am not this tsun-whatever! I am not! I am not! Baka Naruto!"
Amazing how Kurama was reduced to calling him baka instead of making witty and sarcastic remarks when embarrassed. "Hai hai… enough teasing, back to the matter at hand." Thanks to Kurama, his panic episode ended as quickly as it came. "I am pretty sure I don't know how to practice Ninshu, his descendant or not."
"That jerk Indra botched Ninshuu magnificently the first time around…"
"I get it already! All I know about Ninshuu is from you and you're very stingy to share about it!" Naruto stuck his tongue out. "Anyway… a certain someone has warned me that hearing voices is not a sign of insanity."
That tanuki-uncle of his was really… and he wondered why Benitora was still in his rebellion phase and pulling the home-runaway routine at the age of nineteen.
"Don't care… just stop the noise, at this rate, I am going to contemplate killing us all by breaking the seal before I go mad!"
Naruto couldn't help but agree, these noises were driving him up to the wall. He closed his eyes and when he opened his eyes again, he was back to real world. Hakurei were not far, gulping nervously. He didn't fail to note he was inside a barrier that block chakra from outside.
He glared at Hakurei, "I think you owe me an explanation about Satori you have delayed for too long to my liking, and I doubt enlightenment consists of hearing voices in my head." Hakurei opened his mouth but was interrupted by Naruto. "I am not questioning my sanity, thank you for the warning, but I want an explanation so you better start talking, now."
"Naruto-sama, I don't mean to-"
"Now , Hakurei."
End of Flashback
And that's how he knew Satori, which as Kurama said… was some sort of botched Ninshuu.
Satori was a mystical phenomenon in which a person directly experiences their own higher consciousness, and in that moment of heightened awareness, one is directly open to the energy generated by all living things, the sum of all creation and its flow in the world. Giving the possessor of the Satori the ability to see through a person's heart. Even without speaking aloud, the user's able to know what any person is thinking. However, unlike the Yamanaka clan, rather than penetrating a mind, it's actually more like naturally receiving thoughts.
While Hakurei revered his ability, he had his own thoughts about this so called bloodline limit, or was it affinity? Defect? Why did he have to inherit such a troublesome thing?! It couldn't even be turned off! He couldn't tell actual speech and thought apart! It was out of control all the time and gave him an immense headache in it's awakening phase!
Even Kurama was sorry for him, 'Sounds like an uncontrollable practice of Ninshu , what the heck did your grandfather do to himself?'
The sage exemplified his teachings by distributing chakra meant to " connect " people's spiritual energies with one another. It would allow people to understand each other without communication and pray for one another's safety. So like Kurama said, Satori was basically a botched Ninshu, because while it enabled him to hear whatever a person is thinking of saying as actual speech, it was a one-way thing.
It was also a shallow ability considering the user could only know what a person is thinking on the surface but they can't hear anything deeper than that. Strong thoughts are like shouts, unfocused ones are like whispers. Not everything is sent over, and in the end Satori, as ironic as its naming was… it didn't help users understand each other, and if anything, was invasive.
So was it useful? Considering that one time he accidentally overwhelmed himself with negative thoughts and had a panic attack, scaring Itachi and Shisui in the process…
HELL NO! If anything, it was a pain in the ass, and Kurama's natural detector of negative intent on top of it was not helping. "We don't know how effective Muramasa's seal for you, Naruto-sama… considering your jinchuuriki status and Kurama-san's latent ability."
Even if the seal to control Satori's ability to receive thought worked on his grandfather, it might not work properly on him. "I get it… I get…"
I am worried about Naruto-sama…
Is he alright?
"Erm… you guys know I can hear you, right?" He pointed out, wincing.
Hakurei chuckled softly, "Ah, We let our minds wander… it's alright Naruto-sama. Satori can't hear everything… and most experienced ninjas naturally develop a mind that can prevent the Satori from invading their thoughts."
Badump!
"Ah yes… nothing to be scared about." He lied through his teeth.
"Damn it Naruto! Calm down, you're stressing yourself out again!" Kurama snarled in the depth of his mind, "Thoughts can't hurt you! Don't think that they can harm you! I won't allow it! Get a hold of yourself."
'Yes… I know Kurama…' It was a lie to say he was not scared at all, after all he always thought the villagers could hate him all they wanted and that they couldn't hurt him more than they already did. But Satori made that pain became more real to him, to the point that he couldn't ignore them any longer.
'Young master… we're activating the seal now! Brace yourself." Shion said as he hand Naruto a stick wrapped in a towel to bite on.
When a seal that iss connected to your chakra path is activated, the chakra of the seal master would invade your system and unlike medical chakra, it would be painful.
"Kurama… don't resist it, alright?"
" Yeah, yeah… I know~ let the chakra inside no matter how uncomfortable and keep the amount of my chakra in your system at bare minimum so I don't accidentally wash the chakra out~" Kurama was totally rolling his eyes, Naruto knew he was.
Clap!
"Let's begin." Hakurei gave him a nod and Naruto braced himself for the pain. " Tenpōrin'in no Fuuin! Hatsudou!" Then the Shiomitsu channelled the chakra, and the whole room lit up.
Naruto bit down a cry, the pain was worse than usual because the seal was also touching the tenketsu and chakra path on his head. Pain was pain but the worse part was feeling something foreign invading your body, it was not pleasant.
"It's done, young master…"
Naruto opened his eyes, looking up in hope he could see the seal. Shion approached him and gave him a hand mirror. His reflection staring back at him, in his forehead was a compressed formula in the shape of the seal that reminded him of lotus, or was it a sun? For his manly pride's sake, he hoped it to be the latter.
"Oi, Naruto… there are lotus flower growing in the water now. I have not been informed you're going to decorate my place."
Naruto took a quick look at his mindscape and to his horror, in front of Kurama's cage, and some even pass the bars, were lotus flowers growing all over the flooded sewer that was his mindscape. 'To be fair I have no plans of decorating, but hey! At least it's an improvement for your living place!'
Kurama eyed the white flower -thank Sage it was not pink at least- that had washed into his cage. 'Rather than flowers… I want an open sky and the cool earth.'
'I get it! I get it! I will think of some way to take control of my mindscape!' Kurama had been in a very sulking mood lately. He looked down on the mirror, and to his surprise, his forehead was seal free, it was fortunate Tenpōrin'in no Fuuin was the type that could be hidden.
Hakurei cleared his throat and waited.
Naruto blinked owlishly before saying, "I can't hear you."
He beamed, "It's a success! Then, Naruto-sama… would you like to try to loosen the seal so you-"
"Absolutely not." He refused, tying his headband. "It's been a month and the headache has finally stopped, I don't feel like hearing voices whenever I go!" Yesterday it had been bad, he was helping other seal masters harvest the sweet potato and he learned his fellow seal masters were very creative when it comes to revenge.
They didn't even care how sweet potatoes have no pain receptors, the things he overheard yesterday were disturbing. Especially the part where Kagari was planning to roast a sweet potato and make the plants watch as he eat it. He knew it was normal to eat them, but the thought of how it was like letting someone watch you eat their toes didn't leave him.
The following headache felt like it was going to split his head open. Thankfully Itachi and Shisui were on a mission so they didn't know, and he didn't need them hovering over him because of this. He would tell them about it later of course, after informing them it was under control first.
"Hakurei, do I have anything to do today?" He wanted a distraction, the sooner he could forget ever having this troublesome bloodline limit the better. While he respected his heritage, the Satori was more troublesome than its worth.
Hakurei blinked, "Eh… I believe you've been invited to Nara clan's compound for tea. No specific date, but we have been requested to send a reply on when it's convenient for you. The Aburame clan did too…"
Nara and Aburame, what could make them- Oh shit.
"I should have kept my mouth shut… maybe, or maybe not." Naruto grumbled, at the questioning looks from Shion and Hakurei, he added. " No, I am not sure they're happy or unhappy with us."
Hakurei was giving him an odd look, "Pardon me, young master but what did you do to make Aburame Shibi and Nara Shikaku to feel the need to invite you for tea?"
He shrugged, "I guess it's something to do with me honestly answering Nara Shikamaru's question whether or not it's possible to replicate his clan's Hiden (secret tradition) with Fuuinjutsu."
"Young master… that's-" Shion trailed off.
"I know… but if this Nara child planning to learn Fuuinjutsu, he will find out sooner or later that yes… Fuuinjutsu could replicate most ninjutsu, even Hiden…" and elemental bloodline limits to an extent, "He is a Nara and Shikaku-dono's son. Don't you think hiding this fact is going to backfire in the long run?" Naruto droned on. "Beside… our rules make it very clear that replicating Hiden is plagiarism and a heresy."
Hakurei smiled at his young charge, such insight was indeed worthy of the heir of the Uzumaki clan. "I suppose you shall attend this matter personally?" Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "I suggest you do, young master…"
Naruto sweat-dropped, Hakurei had thrown subtlety out of the window and outright suggested that he should strengthen their alliance with Aburame and Nara clan. "I get it, I get it…"
Well, he was still stuck on the latest seal formula he was trying to design. So perhaps he's better off making himself useful out there rather than pulling out his hair over the fifth failed design for this week alone. Also, it would take his mind off of the Satori.
Nara Clan Compound
Unlike the Uchiha clan, the Nara's main family house was modest and if not for the address, Naruto wouldn't be able to tell it apart from other houses in the compound. Though the most surprising part was… "Here we are, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."
Why was the Nara clan head picking him up from the entrance personally again?
Not to mention, "Ah, hello Uzumaki-kun! It's been a while!"
His whole team was here, which was not too strange. He had met Inoichi before, the Yamanaka clan head owed them a favor and agreed to evaluate his psych on Hakurei's request. While Inoichi didn't know about his contact with Kurama or his glimpse of his parent's memory, the older blond was well aware of abnormal maturity he developed.
"I am Akimichi Chouza, nice to meet you Uzumaki-kun!" He gave Naruto a hearty handshake. "So young and already a Chuunin and formidable seal master, really impressive, kid."
Kid? It had been a while since he was last called a kid.
Then the last person greeted him, if not for the strange chakra of this person Naruto would have a hard time to spot him. "Aburame Shibi, it's a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-kun. Why? Because we have so many things to discuss, especially about our children."
So a meeting with four clan heads at once, but in comparison of meeting with the Hokage and his advisors -which were occurring a bit too often for his liking- or getting personal lesson from Tokugawa Ieyasu… it felt surprisingly mild in comparison, especially since the clan heads were all trying to be as friendly as they could for some bizarre reason.
"Well then, excuse me for a moment." The blond boy cleared his throat before a small puff of chakra smoke formed beside him and a perfect replica of him appeared.
They couldn't help but look at the visible hands on the table, and back to the boy who was politely ignoring their stares to pass a note to his clone. They couldn't help but think. 'He is their son, alright.'
"So the children interested in joining our Foundation class are… Nara Shikamaru-kun and Aburame Shino-kun, right?" The clone was writing it down. "But not Akimichi Chouji-kun or Yamanaka Ino-kun."
It felt so strange to hear a boy who was younger, by a few months too, than their own children talk to them like that.
Nara Shikaku frowned, 'Is this boy really nine? And his manner… Inoichi wasn't kidding when he told me how this boy is mentally older than his body.'
'It's been awhile since the last time I saw him, and it's good to see him start growing again.' Inoichi was sure that if he didn't know the boy was his daughter's age, he would have thought the younger blond was at least twelve years old. 'Though as usual… he acts like a de-aged adult.' Uchiha Itachi, Fugaku's and Mikoto's son, was just as bad and it was no wonder the two were good friends.
Chouza was perplexed by the enigma sitting across him, 'He is nine right? Chouji's age?'
'What a mystery.' Aburame Shibi thought.
"We have distributed guide books to Academy students regarding our program, most of the basics are in there but if you have any questions not covered yet in this book." He held up a plain book with the Sealing Division insignia printed in the front cover. "I will answer it to the best of my ability."
Shikaku couldn't help but feel that being the target of a business smile aimed by a nine year old was, to put it lightly, a surreal experience. Though the strangest thing was how unflappable the boy was to find not one but four clan heads waiting for him. He wasn't intimidated at the least by their presence, and professionally accepted their request to enlighten them about the Sealing Division's latest program.
"So… would there be a problem if my son, Shino, was to join this program. After all, Aburame clansmen have unusual bodies and chakra?" Shibi asked, adjusting his sunglasses.
The boy pondered the question for a moment while his clone kept taking notes in. "Unlike other Shinobi arts, Fuuinjutsu require chakra molding outside of our body within the seal formula… as for the nature of chakra, as long as it's not corrosive in nature, there shouldn't be a problem." He assured the Aburame, "Though when he is studying inside the tower, I would like to warn your son not to let his kikaichuu wander outside of his body for various reasons. They're chakra eating bugs after all…"
Shibi nodded, "I understand, you don't need to worry. Why? Because I have utmost faith in my son's ability to control his kikaichuu."
Chouza beamed at the stoic Aburame, "Good for you Shibi!"
Shikaku smirked, "So Naruto-kun…" Casually changing the way he addressed the blond, "Shikamaru believes that when you were teaching his class, you implied that Fuuinjutsu can replicate our Hiden, and rest assured, we of the Nara clan are not offended but rather curious of how?"
Shikaku pointedly ignored the horrified look on Inoichi's, quite frankly, scandalized face of Chouze, seriously… he wasn't being mean here. He was well aware of Inoichi's intentions of strengthening clan relations with the Tower, and in turn Uzumaki clan, and that his clan and Chouza's would, sooner or later, follow. However, before that could happen, he wanted to get to know the heir of the Uzumaki clan better, what kind of person he was? And what better ways to show someone's real nature than cornering them?[3]
"How." Uzumaki Naruto echoed him and Shikaku was tempted to smirk again when he saw hesitation in the young boy. Naruto's eyes shifted from a warm shade of blue to a hardened steel like glint, one he had seen commonly in the boy's father. "As far as I know… your shadow technique falls under Y Inton , which is based on the spiritual energy that governs imagination, it can be used to create form out of nothing… which gives me a basic idea on where to start."
It was amazing how quickly the boy was thinking up a solution on the fly, but Shikaku knew his father, and this quick thinking was the reason why he and his clansmen thought so highly of Minato.
"There is a property of movement and propagation in your Hiden so using sun and cloud characters are a given…"
The boy was off to his seal-lala land, and Shikaku wondered if he had even noticed that he had been talking non-stop for over an hour about seals.
"And that's basically how in theory… but I am sure once we get down to it, there would be a lot of hitcheswe need to work out."
Shikaku was amused, "So no kidnapping and dissecting our clansmen?"
"Shikaku!" Chouza hissed.
"A chakra sample would be helpful but your Hiden has nothing to do with your body, it's not a bloodline limit. So what's the point?" He cockled his head to the side, "Not to mention we have our own rules on research that limit it to be as humane as possible. Sure, going as far as necessary would yield more results… but from our experience, those inhumane seals, more often than not, give us more trouble than they're worth."
"For example?"
The Uzumaki heir laughed, "Niidaime-sama's Edo tensei for example. Call us paranoid, but ever since its creation, we, the Sealing Division, have had this unshakeable feeling that we will, eventually, end up regretting its existance."
Shikaku had to admit, you didn't have to be a seal master to have a that feeling, a technique to raise immortal zombies was bound to bring trouble one day. "Troublesome indeed."
He chuckled softly, "So, are you satisfied with my answers so far? Shikaku-dono?"
He nodded, "More than that… thank you for sating my curiosity, but again… about my son." The Uzumaki nodded, "While he has his own reason to be interested in your art, my wife believes it can be a good motivator to convince Shikamaru to pick up some slack at last. Do you think learning Fuuinjutsu would be good for my son's motivation?"
He got his answer in a heartbeat, it was almost like the Uzumaki didn't even need to think. "I have heard of people motivated to learn Fuuinjutsu for various reasons but I never know it works the other way around, in fact, it's widely believed that Fuuinjutsu is good at discouraging people to learn it. Especially since it's a given that you will see more failure throughout your journey to master Fuuinjutsu than success." He said with a completely contradicting smile, as if he had informed them of good news rather than a grim prospect of their son's future as a seal master.
Silence…
'He is definitely not lying…'
'Why did he say it as if it's a good thing?'
"Even for someone as talented as you? Naruto-kun?"
Naruto blinked while pointing at himself, "The definition of talented in Fuuinjutsu is basically how good you are at making your failures count." Which mostly depended on surviving the seal formula exploding, and not giving up in the face of countless failures. "And turn it into success… I don't know about getting motivated, but most of us seal masters are just sore loser who loath leaving failure as failure…"
Shikaku grinned, "Well, you're good at making your words sounds inspiring… I believe you have a lot of academy students convinced to try learning Fuuinjutsu."
"So far, we have over twenty students applying for the class, but it's not like all of them would make it." Because of the harsh selection. "All of them are assessed on their hand-eye coordination and we require students to be at least passable in mathematics, but by the end of the first semester, we predict around half would be washed out of the program."
Inoichi frowned at that, 'As I thought… the Sealing Division has little resources and a workload that could rival the medic corps, I'm surprised they're even considering the recruitment academy students.'
'Which makes it logical for them to be very selective, and their graduation percentage could be lower than the genin exam's 33%.' Shikaku thought. "Very well then, let my son join then. It will be a good lesson for him at least."
The Uzumaki blinked, "We, of course, welcome everyone to the program." While at the same time welcoming anyone to drop out, was not said but clearly implied. "But what kind of lesson do you think we will teach your son, other than the obvious?" He couldn't help but ask.
Shikaku grinned, "One lesson that… no matter how intelligent you are, sometimes you need more than just brains to help you bypass an obstacle, even if it is troublesome."
He sweat-dropped, "Ah I see… then I will put Nara Shikamaru-kun's name on the list." This must be another father who enjoys baiting his son like Hakurei to Shion, in which he should just let them go at it and move on. "So, is there anything else you need from me? If not, I-"
Shikaku's grin widened, "One more thing, would you mind coming once in awhile to play shogi with me? I'd be more than glad to teach you how if you don't already know..."
"I know how to play Shikaku-dono." Like any prominent clan head would, "I don't mind playing with you, it would be my pleasure." Seriously, why do all intelligent strategists love to play Shogi?
At least he just had to play, he didn't have to overturn the board to prove a point.
Few days later… Tokijikuin-Timeless Palace
"So after seven weeks… the Uchiha clan head is still tip toeing around his clan to get the new policy gradually approved, and in your end, the induction of new recruits is still in progress..."
Naruto struggled to not flinch under Ieyasu's gaze, "Yes."
"Not bad, but aren't you being too timid in your move?"
"To be fair, it's getting restless in Konoha now…" The specific details were classified so he had to phrase it vaguely. "That our security is compromised, and our investigation on it isn't going so well…" They were just too many things at hand.
Ieyasu sighed, "So in short, your division and the Uchihas are too busy with the matters at hand to concern yourselves with a revolutionary change."
Naruto glanced at Itachi and Shisui who were sitting in seiza a few steps behind him, Itachi tilted his head. "Well, it's slow but we've managed to keep it moving forward. In fact, we've taken advantage of the current situation to get the KMPF to cooperate more openly with the Sealing Division."
Which made it also openly clear to the Uchiha clan that the Sealing Division had faith in them, and their alliance was real.
"All things considered, I suppose you've managed to get some things done." Ieyasu admitted his future son in law and friends were doing quite well, even though they had their hands full with several complications. "Still, I couldn't help but wonder why Hiruzen-dono is keeping that Danzou around? I'vve been watching that old crone out for years, and I have to say, he doesn't seem to be worth all the trouble he's made to be kept around." Then he added, "And that's me being generous."
They could agree on that, "Sure, that would be true if just carelessly eliminating him didn't mean airing our dirty laundry for the world to see." If there was one thing Danzou was irreplaceable for, it was his ability to keep their skeletons in the dark closet.
Ieyasu sighed again, "My father must be rolling in his grave by now since he let the Sandaime convince him to turn a blind eye on Danzou's crime."
It didn't surprise them that the equally crafty father of Ieyasu was tempted to end Danzou. Especially since some of his more shadier schemes could threaten their country, and not just Konoha. "Does that mean we have your blessing to plot his demise?" Naruto couldn't help but wonder in a hopeful voice.
"Don't get too eager to end Danzou, you have more pressing matter to deal with. Besides, not even I can order his execution… but I suppose you have my blessing if the opportunity were to arise."
"Thank you very much, Ojii-sama."
Ieyasu scoffed, "Still… the three of you should go to see Tatara, he will foresee your lesson for today. If my hunch is right, Danzou will prepare something nasty for you the moment you return to Konoha." The man would want to confirm their loyalty again in fear they were going to change allegiances.
The three young shinobi sweat-dropped at that, "Why are you giving us an ominous premonition like that?"
His grin said, he just loved messing with them.
After the week was over, the team returned to Konoha. They learned a lot of things in the capitol, especially about HOMRA and their lord. Like how Totsuka Tatara was an angel faced demon who took joy in teaching them lessons ranging from the dirtiest tricks in politics, to sweet talking an ambassador to give up their organs. Mahiro disliked them on principle, but she hated Shisui even more for some reason, much to the Shushin expert's disappointment. Benitora had a habit of going missing in order to get away from his father, which made them wonder if the name was jinxed considering a certain cat who belonged to Benitora's aunt, sharing both his name and habit.
He had also learned that going back and forth from the capital was exhausting, and he still had no clue why, up until now, he had yet to meet his fiancee. He wasn't too concerned, but he couldn't deny that he was worried his fiancee had the same habit as her brother, that couldn't be the reason why they weren't introduced yet… he hoped.
He was too afraid to ask.
Then, like a charm, Ieyasu's prediction became a reality. It turned out, Danzou really did prepare something nasty for them, just waiting for the moment they stepped two feet in the Hokage's office.
Konoha
It was another mission with Team Ro, or rather given to them under Team Ro's name. In which, rather than the whole team, the mission was only assigned to Naruto, Shisui and Itachi. The mission was tailing a jounin who was a suspected Kirigakure's spy. Naruto didn't even bat an eye at the revelation that they had a traitor in their midst, but he was surprised that Kirigakure had a spy in Konoha. Shouldn't they focus on their own ongoing civil war instead of spying on other hidden villages? Kirigakure was doing so well these days, in sprouting missing nin after missing nin. So the idea they turned another village's shinobi to their cause was baffling to Naruto and his team.
Then again, Naruto had no idea what was going on inside Yagura's head.
Going homicidal after being treated like crap by your village? A classic story of their life as jinchuuriki. Choosing self-exile rather than dealing with a village that treats you like weapon of mass destruction rather than a human? If not for his parents and friends, he would be very tempted to follow Roushi's and Han's example. But he didn't get why the bloodline purge was passed by Yagura. It was strange to fear bloodline limit holders, considering he had a three tailed bijuu sealed in him. So it was highly probable that Yagura really had lost his mind like the rumors said.
But then, how had a Mizukage who had lost his mind, been able to plant spies in their ranks? Still, regardless of his doubts, a mission was a mission. So being the good loyal Shinobi that they were, all they had to do was follow instructions without questioning the detail. Which was a very tempting thing to do, considering Danzou was the one who briefed them about this mission.
Why the heck had this bastard been the one who gave them the order? While Hokage-sama was still in the room, no less?
"Considering your talent in stealth you showed at a very young age…" Danzou frowned at him disapprovingly, clearly showing his opinion about what he thought of Naruto's pranking days. "You will stay in the shadows while observing your teammates and target. You can hide from the ANBU, and I'm sure you can do the same against a jounin, especially with your teammates' assistance."
A business smile bloomed in his lips in respond, and he knew that it irritated Danzou to no end judging by the deepening frown the war hawk made. "Of course, councilman Danzou. I will do my best to accomplish this mission."
He definitely was not trying to be subtle on what he wanted from Naruto and his team. He was testing Naruto's skill for covert missions, as well as his decision making skills when his teammates were in danger.
"As for you two, Uchiha Itachi… Uchiha Shisui, both of you will be placed in Kohinata Mukai's team. You shall observe his movement and decided when to assassinate him."
Naruto couldn't help but frown at the copy of Kohinata Mukai's profile. 'This person has permanent teammates.' He would get suspicious if Shisui and Itachi replaced his teammates all of a sudden for one specific mission, an important one to boot.
Unless…
Danzou, you bastard!
By the next day, he confirmed their suspicions by requesting Ten'itsu, one of the seal masters who specialize in medical seals and a qualified medic, to check hospital records.
"That bastard!" Naruto slammed the medical records Ten'itsu had passed to him on his desk. "He deliberately planned for Mukai's teammates to be out of commission!"
Shisui was gritting his teeth, "I knew he was a shady character, but for him to deliberately injure innocent Konoha nin just to make spots for us to spy on Mukai…"
"An accident in their previous mission, it said…" Itachi noted the reason for their hospital admissions on paper. "Are such drastic measures necessary?"
Hakurei sighed, "Not really, Danzou is just too used to using unscrupulous means to get what he wants to the point that he's forgotten there are more civil ways to achieving the same result." Like simply assigning other pressing missions to Mukai's teammates.
At that, the three young Shinobi cringed in unison, 'So it's merely out of habit?'
"I know it sounds dumb, but this habit of his is why Danzou is so dangerous." Hakurei droned on, "He is a warmonger through and through, and even though our Hokage is well aware of Danzou's shady way of working in the dark, by now, he still believes his childhood friend is not that far down there yet. Hiruzen believes in Danzou's devotion to Konoha first and foremost, but… it's still very hard for him to believe his childhood friend has become a monster."
Naruto could understand the old man's sentiments, after all, even now Hokage-sama still held a faint hope that the blond was still his bright and adoring surrogate grandson. A hope Naruto was breaking without mercy behind his back.
"Still… an assassination mission." He looked at the mission brief again.
Hakurei's gaze softened, "For all of you, this is the first mission that specifically targets someone's life."
This was true for all of them, while they already killed, their mission never specifically consisted of taking someone's life as it's main objective. Contrary to popular belief about Shinobi, assassination was a rare mission to be carried out, especially in Konoha. It had nothing to do with Konoha's notoriety as a soft-hearted village or keeping their good image to civilian clients.
It was simply because targeting a specific person's life, more often than not, could carry future possibility of beginning a never ending cycle[4] [5] e was a risk not worth taking. Once, there was an assassination mission carried poorly by a Konoha chuunin, around the eve of the third shinobi war. There were witnesses and the chuunin was recognized by the wife of the target as a Shinobi from Konoha. Revenge was a fearsome thing and not even a month later, a request to assassinate that Chuunin came to Konoha. And the same request was also sent to all Shinobi villages, much to their horror, the reward being the entire fortune the wife inherited from her late husband.
It was not the most noteworthy turning point in history, but that act of revenge raised the tension and got the ball called The Third Shinobi War rolling in their history. The poor chuunin didn't even survive past the first year of war.
"Technically he is a traitor and one of our own, so rather than assassination, it's more like an execution." Itachi concluded. "However… if he is suspected to be affiliated to Kiri."
Shisui frowned, "Nowadays, Kiri is unpredictable, with the civil war and everything. They don't have a long standing grudge against Konoha like Iwa and Kumo but…"
"This mission reeks of trouble, more so than simply executing a traitor." Naruto finished. "I have no doubt Danzou is setting us up for more trouble…"
Seriously, Danzou seemed to have unexplainable grudge against them. Not to mention back in their briefing… the way he looked at Itachi and Shisui, while he knew he was being looked at in the same way, he didn't like way Danzou stared at his friends, there was an unmistakable lust for power that gave Naruto the to mention, according to rumors, Hatake Kakashi was recruited by Danzou himself to ANBU. Hakurei also implied Danzou had an issue with his late teammate, Shisui's father. Although Danzou was suspicious and unnaturally wary of the Uchiha clan, it didn't mean he was ignorant of their power, so perhaps…
It was decided, for Konoha's sake, he would let Danzou live for as long as necessary, but the moment he reaches his dirty grubby hands out for Itachi and Shisui… He wouldn't give a damn about secrecy, he would eliminate Danzou, even if that meant tapping into Kurama's forbidden power to do so.
"Naruto? What's with that scary look on your face?" Shisui asked.
Realising his slip, Naruto quickly curved up his lip to a wan smile. "Nah… it's nothing, just think how life would be easier if we could just get rid of Danzou, ha ha ha…" He told Shisui's what's on his mind jokingly.
"Is that so? You have been warned by Ieyasu-sama, you know~ it's tempting, I know."
"Right?"
It was not a lie but not the truth either, for once, there was one dark secret he kept for them, how far he would go for them, that is…
Mukai Kohinata, graduated at the age eleven as part of an acceleration program at the end of the second Shinobi war. He was promoted to chuunin at fourteen through a field promotion, and jounin at twenty three after two failed attempts at the jounin exam. He was a Taijutsu specialist with average scores in ninjutsu and bukijutsu, he had no aptitude for genjutsu but adept enough to dispel them.
"He has a rather lackluster career for a Shinobi who's survived til his thirties." Shisui commented on the profile of their target. "Not to mention he is a taijutsu specialist..."
Taijutsu specialists have a very short range of attack, Mukai Kohinata had to be especially formidable to survive a war as one, but his record said otherwise. "Hm... his mission record is... over two hundred D rank, 56 C rank, 65 B rank and 3 A rank..." Pretty normal record but slightly below average for a jounin. "Huwaa… on the next page are missions he failed at, over ten B rank and A rank… no wonder he is not trusted with higher rank missions even though he is a jounin."
Why had he failed them? He used to be in ANBU too. Though Naruto supposed it was right to suspect Mukai Kohinata, his mission record reeked of sabotage. Especially the part about his mission percentage dropping after he quit ANBU, or rather he was dismissed.
"Hm? The Mukai family is… distantly related to the Hyuuga?" He read out, "A vassal family, like Shiomitsu is to mine…" That explained the kanji that made up Mukai's name.
Shisui cringed, "Eeh… this is not going to get us in trouble with the Hyuuga, right?" He asked hopefully.
Itachi shook his head. "I don't think so, his family descended from a minor branch of the Hyuuga clan…"
He could see the parallel between the Shiomitsu and Mukai family, but it seemed the Mukai separated themselves completely from the Hyuuga. "And the split from the Hyuuga was many generations ago, so even though the Mukai clan retained some of their proficiency in the gentle fist, they don't have the Byakugan anymore, and unlike Shiomitsu… they no longer have ties to the Hyuuga."
Which meant that if Mukai Kohinata was indeed a traitor, he would have no political protection whatsoever from the Hyuuga clan. Still… even if the Hyuuga weren't going to interfere, the mission still stank of trouble.
Akai Tavern
Naruto found it pretty funny that civilians believed the colour of one's clothes could affect a Shinobi's ability to be stealthy. There was a good reason why instructors in the academy never made a big deal about fashion, as long as their clothes didn't hinder their movement, it would work. Which was why no one commented on the Aburame's choice of fashion, or the Hyuuga's fondness, or was it obsession, for white and lavender.
If clothes became an obstacle in your journey to becoming a ninja, you shouldn't even graduate from the academy. Besides, contrary to the civilian's belief, ninjas didn't have to hide in the shadows all the time; their stealth, if anything, was tested on how well they could keep their cover under the unlikeliest situation.
Naruto, however, was just naturally gifted at stealth, or rather, it was a skill he had developed instinctively on the course of his childhood. Naruto blamed it on a child's moodswing, he had an impressive one back then. Sometime he wanted to be seen so badly, he made himself an eyesore so people couldn't ignore him. However, when he wanted to be alone or to escape from scorn, he found it very easy to be unnoticeable.
Using a henge, he altered his appearance slightly, using as little chakra as possible. Dark hair and a slightly lighter shade of skin, then wearing a plain brown coat over his equally plain clothes. In short, wearing something everyone in the surrounding area tended to wear, which contrasted from what he usually wore. That alone was enough to make him unnoticeable, because they couldn't relate his current appearance to Uzumaki Naruto.
Then the easiest part was acting natural, be as quiet as possible while blending in with the crowd. It was an easy thing to do in a crowded bar, a civilian bar that charged cheaper than one targeted for ninjas and full of woozy, oblivious drunks.
"One more round! Give me another glass!" Crowed a dark haired male in a standard jounin uniform, though unlike the regular long sleeved shirt, the man was wearing one with wider sleeve.
'So this is Mukai Kohinata...' He had opted to spy on the man by himself tonight, so he could get a reading on what kind of man their suspected spy was. Looking at the empty bottles and metal ashtray full of cigarette butts, Naruto could tell Mukai Kohinata was a heavy drinker and smoker. 'He is drunk... this is already his fifth bottle.' And tomorrow this man had an important mission.
Shinobi or not, he couldn't be at full health tomorrow after excessively drinking like this.
" I don't get humans or ninjas most of the time, but I am pretty sure getting that drunk before a mission can get him killed, right?"
What did that say about Mukai if even Kurama, a bijuu, knew getting drunk outta your mind was not the smartest thing to do before going on a mission,'Well...there are ways to sober up, but he's already passed the point where he can be fixed… I doubt this guy can even go home on his own after this.' There was no way Mukai wouldn't suffer a hangover tomorrow. 'Kurama, make sure to always get rid of anything alcoholic from my system, drunks are dumb and I refuse to be reduced to that.' He mentally pointed at the grinning Mukai who chugged glass after glass of alcohol.
'As if you would even think to touch anything alcoholic... seriously, you're so proper about the strangest things.' Naruto could imagine Kurama was shrugging now, 'As for that dumb human, it's a good thing that you and those Uchiha friends of yours don't plan to keep him alive...'Kurama snickered.
Naruto scoffed to his drink, he had swapped the content with water so he didn't have to worry about getting drunk. 'We still don't know whether our suspicion is correct or not...' Leaving Mukai's character aside, Kiri gained nothing from spying on Konoha. Seriously, why the heck did Kiri pick a fight with Konoha while their own domestic affairs were in disarray? And even if there was some sort of hidden objective in spying on Konoha, why Kiri?
'Why are you' getting fixated on making sense of this human's betrayal? Are you a stranger to traitors? "
'Because Kurama… If you just look away and turn your back on those you don't understand, you'll regret it someday...if by the next few days we confirm he is indeed a traitor and eliminate hm, the fact remains that the investigation isn't going to end with his death… besides,I am interested in Kiri's current situation…'
Kurama quieted down at that before asking, 'Isobu's and Kokuou's prison… the current leader of Kiri is Isobu's vessel, right?' Naruto have Kurama a mental nod in response, eyes straight at rows of colorful bottle of spirits, but in the corner of his eyes, he kept watch of drunk Mukai.'Hm… I don't know it's relevant or not but before your birth… Isobu reformed once.'
'Reformed?' Naruto echoed mentally, 'How did that happen?And when exactly?'
'I can sense when it happens, but I wouldn't know how it happened to Isobu… as for when… I am incapable to relate to human's sense of time but I am sure not long before your birth.' Kurama grumbled, 'Less than a year perhaps?'
So around ten years ago, if he wasn't mistaken, was not too long after Yagura's ascent to the Mizukage's position. He didn't do anything noteworthy in the first few years of his reign, and only continuing ongoing traditions made by predecessors. So perhaps Isobu's reform was not related at all.
' Maybe it's irrelevant… but Kurama, does this person reek of ill intent?'
'He is drunk… his mind is a jumbled mess, I doubt he even remembers his name~ Why the heck did you ask me?'
'Right, dumb question.' He sighed as he watched Mukai grumble some nonsense to a drinking buddy of his and the civilian suggested someone had to bring the drunk jounin home.
He was really feeling sorry for Itachi and Shisui, they had to go on mission with this drunkard tomorrow, never mind their main objective was to assassinate the drunk man.
The next day, Konoha's west gate
Naruto had warned them that last night, Mukai Kohinata had foolishly compromised himself with his excessive drinking, but it was still shocking to see a completely hung over Shinobi dragging himself to their meeting point.
"Erm… Mukai-san right? I am Uchiha Shisui and this is my cousin, Itachi." Mukai had the gall to look down his nose on them.
Shisui suppressed his urge to scowl, "Mukai-san, are you feeling unwell? Perhaps you should stay at home?" Shisui asked because it was basic courtesy and ignoring Mukai's state would be suspicious.
Mukai snarled, "Shut up brat! I am a jounin, a headache won't stop me from going to my mission!" Then he stomped away from the Uchiha cousins, grunting about idiotic brats who should pay him proper respect instead of getting on his case.
Shisui couldn't help but thought that perhaps, by the end of this mission, he wouldn't feel even a speck of guilt about killing this bastard.
Itachi on the other hand, was very worried about both their cover and real mission, because jounin or not, going on a mission in less than fit condition was dangerous for both himself and the team who went with him. In worst scenario, Mukai would get himself killed before they could even confirm his status.
Not far from the gate, a small puff of chakra smoke erupted, and Naruto, who was already miles ahead of the team cringed. He had been watching and while it was not far from his expectations, Mukai showed up with a hangover and was an overall pain in the neck, he was still shocked by the man's stupidity to show up on a mission in that condition.
'That's not a good start…'
'Can't you just lie to that old Hokage and one eyed cripple and get this mission over with? I will bet my tails that somehow we can get this little spy issue tracked down to that shady looking old prune.'
Naruto snorted, 'We wish… Kurama, I know it's boring and troublesome but this job have to be done properly.' He pointedly ignore Kurama's meh~ and added, 'As for Danzou, well… I admit it's almost funny how more than half of our problems seem to be related to him one way or another... And that's a fact, not a bet.'
'Meh~'
Konoha Military Police Force HQ
"The Barrier Division must be messing with us." Uchiha Yakumi stated with notable ire in his voice.
Takigawa Houshou, a 7th Dan sealing master and member of Sealing Division nodded. "I concur, Yakumi-san." He had met more than one Uchiha these days, so calling them by surname would cause unnecessary confusion. "How long have we been at this again?"
"Three freaking days… you guys from Sealing Division have been checking all anchor and pillar seals in every corner of this village and have found nothing. We from KMPF have been patrolling and dispatching the best sensors and glaring at the sky with our sharingan in hope to see chakra ripples in the barrier indicating that someone has infiltrated Konoha…"
"And still nothing." Mikumo Osamu, a younger seal master finished.
A long haired Uchiha named Inabi scowled, "This is ridiculous, we have better ways to waste our time than looking for a nonexistent threat."
By now, they could really sympathize with each other for the pain of defending Konoha from the inside, and got endless complaints for doing their job. Seriously, why didn't someone start complaining to the sentry in the outpost, since if someone were to get this far, that meant they didn't do their job correctly. But no, it was their fault.
Yashiro the most senior Uchiha present sighed, "Stop complaining and just do your job. Still… while I have faith in your seal, especially if it's made by Uzumaki Mito." She was a legendary figure that was overshadowed by her husband, but the fact that Konoha's defenses were never breached until now spoke a lot of her prowess as a seal master. "Traitors like Orochimaru of the Sannin for example must have a way to get inside Konoha undetected somehow…"
Houshou nodded, "Yeah… as much as we have faith in our barrier, there is no absolute defense that will stay absolute forever… it has been decades since Mito-sama's era after all. But it's odd this intruder is detected and then left just like that…"
Mikumo frowned and then asked, "Any notable incidents lately? Something missing or anything?"
Yashiro shook his head, "Aside from a few bar scuffles and minor civilian crime… nothing." He waved his hand in negative.
The 7th Dan seal master sighed, "Still… even though nothing has happened, I think we should be really worried if someone really can just waltz in to Konoha as they please, detected and not caring because we can't catch their tail at all…"
That was a chilling thought.
The dark haired seal master dug deeper, "Could it be they found some clan's secret passage and used that to bypass our barrier?"
Houshou waved his hand in negative, "Mikumo-kun, perish that thought… no clan is dumb enough to not put a blood seal keyed in their secret passage."
Yashiro nodded, "Right, and for your information, most prominent clans had keyed the blood into the main family and it's updated in every generation… besides, just finding a secret passage wouldn't make this infiltrator quick enough to get away after he or she is detected."
Mikumo perked up at that, "Then… doesn't that mean our infiltrator can go in and out of Konoha, get detected by the barrier, but get out before our patrol squads could track him down?"
"..."
"..."
"...That sounds about right… but then who's the culprit? Risking their life to infiltrate a hidden village and then leaving as soon as possible?"
"Other than to mess with us?"
"To be a pain?"
"A prank?"
"To give us a bad name?"
The last wild guess stopped them in their tracks, after all, they were very aware that both of their organizations, by reputation, haven't been doing so well for the last few years, not to mention that their effort to recover was slow going. This case while seemed menial at first glance because so far there was no damage done to Konoha, it seriously put their competence in question.
Houshou cursed, "Crap, this infiltrators did some damage after all…"
Not to Konoha but to them.
Somewhere in Hi no Kuni
How unusual, the jinchuuriki was not around Itachi and Shisui, he had thought the three prodigies were joined at the hip nowadays. Arguably, Uzumaki Naruto was the weakest jinchuuriki due to his young age and nonexistent mastery over his jinchuuriki power, but he was also the hardest to get because of all those guards he had around. Itachi and Shisui in particular hardly left his side.
However, he saw no merit to make a move to capture the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki now.
He had been reckless to go after the Kyuubi that night, but in the end, he managed to eliminate the Yondaime and his wife so it was not a useless endeavor in his part. Still… it would be a waste to leave them be.
"Hm…"
It seemed Itachi and Shisui weren't too far after all, so why had the jinchuuriki gone ahead on his own? Typical of Konoha, teamwork was their core and yet… once the team separated, they would fall apart and Konoha never learned.
So maybe this time… they would learn, it worth of a try, right?
"After all! Tobi is a good boy!"
Back with Naruto and Kurama
Badump!
Naruto covered his mouth, his heart pounding. "Just now…"
"ll intent… but it only or a brief second, why has it gotten you so worked up?" Kurama felt it, but it was so brief it wasn't worth their attention.
'I am not sure myself… but I think for a moment the seal is loosened, and I can feel a very…' The intense thoughts hit him hard like a merciless torrent. The sharp pain in his head was subsiding but the phantom pain was still there. The seal was like a dam that blocked thoughts from flowing through, but just now, the thoughts were so intense that it reached the point where some spilled into him.
"I… have a bad feeling about this."
"Che… it can't be a good sign when both of us feel it…"
Whose thoughts were they? So deep and dark like bottomless well… pain and pain, hollow…
' Itachi, Shisui… be careful.'
I will upload edited 19th chapter later... it seems we can't go through the plan of skipping to canon timeline. There would be too many hidden secret pertaining how Uchiha Revolt would end in this story. Loads... and I can't live with hiding all of them.
ANYWAY... what do you think on introducing Naruto's fiancee later? I had a hard time designing her character but by the end of the day this story isn't focusing on romance and I definitely not going to write a mushy one for this story. Especially since Naruto's engagement is purely political and I am still pondering on the dynamic between Naruto and the girl in question.
THe plot of this story also getting more convoluted than my initial plan, especially after reading Shoukoku no Altair, Arslan Senki and other war series. Damn politics and military theory inside is corrupting me!
Anyway... I will also uploading next chapter soon.