Chapter 42: Naruto : Chapter 42
The Hokage sent his ANBU out of his office and Jiraiya set up his strongest privacy seals. Once that was done, Naruto took off his hood and the mask on his lower face. He had a suspicion what this conversation would be about.
"Okay, Naruto. I would like to know how you could identify the seal so easily." The Hokage asked.
"Okay. Well, it was twofold. The basis of the seal was described in some of the scrolls and books I found at my parents' house. As you know the Uzumaki clan was famous for their skills in fuinjutsu.
The seal was originally used to contain prisoners in Uzushio. I guess that's the reason the Uchiha had that seal. After all they were in charge of the military police. The intention is to keep prisoners weak to control them easier. You have one seal that leeches the chakra off a prisoner and one receiver.
The stored chakra was mostly used to power the electric system of the village. The Uchiha seal though has been modified. First they made it that only the master receiver seal could be seen by everybody. Second, the sub receiver seals don't power buildings, they power people.
"Meaning, if they had gone through with their coup, they could have just leeched off all the chakra from the ninjas and civilians in the village and added it to their own reserves temporarily. But with the probable use of jutsus, that would have been easy to balance out.
The reason nobody ever thought off using the receiver seals that way is that it would overcharge the system and damage the chakra network of a person. They have made the sub receiver locations similar to a device that powers up batteries. With the Uchiha being the batteries.
You can imagine what would have happened if the seals had been activated. The rest of the village would have been too weak to resist and the Uchiha could just have recharged their reserves in their district." Naruto explained.
"Okay, that indeed it very troubling. But you didn't explain your second source of information. I know a bit about the Uzumaki seals from Kushina, that's why I called you all in. I recognized a similarity in the style. But how could you identify the other parts?" Jiraiya asked.
Naruto sighed. That much for keeping his knowledge a secret. But this was a matter of village security. If anybody used the seals in against them it would be catastrophic.
"In the night after the Uchiha massacre, when all the ninjas were chasing Itachi, I sneaked into the Uchiha compound and collected as many scrolls as I could. I also took some weaponry which I could carry in a big sack. Two of the scrolls I found described the seal." Naruto said.
"And you didn't tell me that before why?" The Hokage asked sternly.
"Because I thought that it was my damn right to take reparation for what those bastards did to me until Itachi killed them all. When I heard the Uchiha were massacred, I felt like throwing a party instead of the overall mourning the village did.
Out of hundred attacks on me ninety eight were done by those bastard Uchihas. In my opinion Itachi is a hero, with what we found out today I am only supported in that.
If Itachi hadn't killed his clan, which can't have been easy for him, the village would have fallen into the hands of the Uchiha and I would either be dead, have found a way to run away or be a mindless weapon under their command." Naruto answered glaring at them, daring them to contradict him.
Both men were shocked by the blatant hatred that Naruto showed, talking about the Uchiha. But the Hokage could understand him. Thanks to them messing things up all the time, he hadn't been able to properly protect Naruto.
The Uchiha had had too much influence. And all caught culprits hadn't really been punished as the responsibility for that fell under the power of the military police.
"I understand. Do you have any other important information I should be informed about?" The Hokage asked.
"Besides that I know all the weaknesses of the village's defences?" Naruto asked, shocking the two older men again.
"But how?" Jiraiya asked.
"Being a prankster and playing pranks on the village had two purposes for me.
On the one hand it helped venting aggression and preventing me from going on a killing spree and on the other hand, I trained my abilities in stealth, trap making, infiltration, assassination and information gathering.
I know my only real chance to rise in the ranks is being better than anybody else.
While the other genin of my year are starting to see me as more than an idiot prankster now, the majority of the village is so set in its believes that it would take several large scale actions from me to ever change their minds about me.
So I decided I would train myself to be able to become a phantom. I know that skilled infiltration and assassination experts are rare. So I thought that could be the niche I could fit in. Especially as it seems to be something my ancestors were famous for." Naruto said.
"Yes, the Namikaze were indeed once known as the most feared assassins in the ninja world. Though from what I saw about your skills so far, I wouldn't have assumed that would be the area you'd want to work in." The Hokage asked.
"I tried to get my skills up in nearly all areas of shinobi abilities. But I definitely have the mind of an infiltration and assassination specialist. I have been forced to act from the shadows for years to not be killed in this damned village. So over the years my personality started to think that way.
Do you know how often I entertained thoughts of how easy it would be to just kill some of the more annoying civilian councillors in their sleep and put the blame on ROOT?" Naruto asked.
"You know about ROOT?" The Hokage asked shocked.
"Sure do, I know pretty much everything about them. I know their location, their training methods, how much of an idiot Danzo is, some of their members and in what kind of businesses Danzo is involved.
But as they are not really a problem as long as you can keep Danzo under control, I think they could be put to good use for the village. And I think you are already doing it if the increased presence of them in the village over the last few weeks is any indication." Naruto said.
"That'll be a slap in the face for Danzo that somebody noticed his ninja spying around." Jiraiya chuckled.
"What do you mean about Danzo being an idiot?" The Hokage asked.
"The guy is caught up in the past. While he is still a powerful shinobi, him playing the cripple is more deception than anything else, he is as old as you are and his reserves are decreasing.
It's utterly unrealistic to think he could ever be a good Hokage. The guy has so much information on the situation all around the elemental nations that he could have made Konoha the undisputed champion long ago.
He claims he wants Konoha to be the strongest village, but he doesn't give it his full abilities. I think I should talk with him sometime about it." Naruto mused.
"Do you really think you could change his behaviour?" Jiraiya asked doubtfully.
"I am the great-grandson of the man he admired more than anybody else. And I am quite similar to him as well. My great-grandfather was the one who combined the cunning and sneakiness of a high-class assassin and the power of a combat ninja.
He was the one to found ROOT and put Danzo in charge. And you don't really believe that Danzo doesn't know who I am?" Naruto asked.
Both Jiraiya and the Hokage had to admit that it was nearly impossible that Danzo didn't know about Naruto's heritage. For that he looked too much like Minato and Danzo knew about Minato's heritage.
"Still, if you approach him, be careful, Naruto. Danzo is not someone you want to underestimate." The Hokage warned.
"I know, but the same is true for me." Naruto grinned. "I can be one or three thousand. I can be everything I want to be. A plant, a mouse, a giant. It doesn't matter to me. He'll see what kind of threat I pose if he goes too far. And as I don't have any real attachment in the village that he could go after, well, he can't blackmail me."
Both the Hokage and Jiraiya were worried about that last statement. But it was true nonetheless. The only one Naruto had any kind of attachment to was the Hokage himself and perhaps a little bit to Kakashi.
But both were strong enough to look after themselves. And to have Naruto's potential pointed out like that could be more than a little bit unsettling. It only drove home how much they needed to keep the blond in the village.
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