Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fuinjutsu ❯ Worries ( Chapter 3 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Eleature
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Drama / Supernatural | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 03.04.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 12.0K | Visits: 406 | Status: Work In Progress

Chapter 3.
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Konoha Shinobi Library; First Keep, Level One; 10:00 GMT.
Naruto yawned as he finally rose from the chair he'd been sitting in to stretch. He'd been working for hours now, pouring over some of the less restricted information that could be found in the shinobi library.
He'd decided to start small in his investigation. At first he planned to only access the less restricted parts of the library. Doing this, he'd get the other shinobi who frequented the library to get used to him. Then, he'd gradually start to enter higher restricted areas.
He had to make himself a persona for the benefit of the other shinobi in the village. Shinobi were a suspicious lot - the more so in times of conflict - and Naruto couldn't afford to be scrutinized too closely. As much as he hated to admit it, he had to do a Kabuto; meaning that he had to create a persona for himself that was anonymous, trustworthy and completely unobtrusive.
Naruto shuddered.
Ugh! Kabuto…
He'd decided to go for a persona that would depict him as quiet, intelligent and completely consumed by written knowledge. He'd talked it over with the Hokage, and he'd agreed to help this charade along by publicly using Naruto as some kind of personal researcher/secretary.
Mentally, Naruto groaned at what he'd gotten himself into. He may have had an unnaturally great interest for fuinjutsu, but he still loathed to spend his time reading. He was much more of a “hands on” kind of guy. Still, he sighed, desperate times called for desperate measures.
Glancing at the scrolls he'd been studying, Naruto wearily ran his hand through his hair as he sat down again.
He was reading up on Konoha's history at the moment. He needed to figure out the background of the village, her clans and the past relations with the other great shinobi villages before he did anything else. On top of that, he still had to figure out exactly what he ought to do now that he was in the past. He'd already decided to change what he could for the better, but to do that he needed even more information about the current events in the world.
It seemed to him like a never ending circle of evil paperwork.
Rolling up the scrolls he'd finished reading, Naruto rose again as he went to put them back in their rightful places.
Naruto felt bone weary for once. It hadn't taken long for him to realize that reading was a lot more work than, say, sparring with Sasuke in a bad mood. His respect for Sakura's book smarts had risen exceptionally in the short week he'd lived in the village since his arrival in the past.
Other than reading old parchment covered in years-worth of dust, Naruto spent what little free-time he had in various training fields.
He had to figure out what level he was at now that he didn't have proper access to his own chakra. When he'd done that, he had to train himself to a higher level, preferably one where he'd be able to beat or - at the very least - come to a standstill with Konoha's elite.
It wouldn't do for him to figure out who all the spies were and then be killed before he could inform the Hokage simply because he was a bit inconvenienced by his own seal.
The spy he already did know about - or at least strongly suspected - would probably prove too powerful for him anyway.
It was a frustrating thought that had had Naruto banging his head against a wall on numerous occasions in the last week.
Fucking. Asshole.
Naruto groaned aloud at the thought of all the obstacles he was up against as he started to bang his head against the table he'd been sitting at the whole day.
He'd placed the scrolls he'd read back in place and found new ones to read through before he called it quits for the day; new scrolls that were now in danger of being squashed as he continued his self-induced abuse.
“Hey, hey, hey, now! I'm sure the scrolls started it, but you can't beat up things that are smaller than yourself.”
Naruto jerked upright in surprise at the new voice as he turned around frantically in an attempt to pinpoint the source.
Inwardly, he cursed himself for not paying attention to his surroundings.
Turning around fully, he finally identified the person that had spoken and he had to tell himself mentally to continue breathing.
She was stunning.
Maybe a little short, but still… stunning.
A petite, slim body, nice curves and a stunningly bright smile was crowned by hair the colour of crimson blood.
Naruto swallowed reflexively.
“Uh… hi.” He said.
She giggled.
“So, do you have a habit of attacking things smaller than yourself,” she enquired jokingly.
“Uh…”
She didn't seem to notice his non-worded response as she babbled right on.
“If you do, than I really need to take you to either a shrink, or the police station. We don't tolerate violence against the helpless in this village. Say… Are you a new chuunin? I've never seen you before. Hey, I know! You're Hokage-sama's new Paper-Pusher. Rei-san, right? Hokage-sama mentioned you to me yesterday, he knows I need help finding my way in the library and he said for me to talk to you.
“You're gullible too aren't you? To take the job as Hokage-sama's new researcher I mean. He always gets the newbies to do his dirty work. Last year it was this arrogant twit named Shirohoshi or Giromoshi or something like that. I can't remember, but he was a total asshole about it, going around and bragging about being the Hokage's little Lap-dog. Can you believe it? And then he went and got himself captured by the enemies because they thought he was privileged to some really restricted information, I mean, as if the Hokage would ever be dumb enough as to let an inexperienced chuunin have access to really dangerous information.”
She shook her head at the folly of both the enemy and the mysterious former Paper-Pusher before she continued her long and convoluted litany.
Naruto stared.
It was like watching Anko go all out in a fight. It was terrible to see, but you couldn't keep your eyes off it.
“…And then she said that I was too small and weak to be any good and Minato was all like; you don't know what you're talking about. And then I kicked her ass and it was great because I'm the best kunochi ever! Minato took me out for ramen, and I…”
Naruto blinked.
“…And shrimp ramen. And beef ramen. And vegetarian ramen. And…”
Naruto felt something inside of him break into really tiny pieces. A smile began to lighten his features.
“…And those are all of my favourite ramen flavours. Incidentally, did you know that there's a new ramen-stand in the village? It opened last week and it's called Ichiraku's. The young man running it has the best ramen ever. You have to try it out. Say, do you want to come with me? I was heading that way right after I finished my business here. My name is Kushina by the way, and yours is Rei, I knew that.
“So, do you want to come? And do you know where this scroll is supposed to be? It's why I came here. To return the scroll I mean; not to ask you to eat ramen with me …Though ramen always tastes better if you have company. Don't tell Minato I asked you out, he can be really jealous if he thinks someone's hitting on me. Men, you know! Impossible to live with, impossible to live without.
“Anyway, about that ramen,” she smiled, “my treat.”
Naruto could pinpoint the exact moment that all his inhibitions fell away.
“You… you…” He stuttered. “You're a fellow believer!” He cried out, finger pointing at her.
Kushina blinked.
“Huh?”
“Of the Ramen-Gods!” Naruto exclaimed joyfully as he elaborated. “You're a worshipper of the heavenly morsel known as ramen. And…” he added. “You're my new best friend. Come!” He said as he pulled the scroll out of Kushina's hands and threw it carelessly at the table. “Let us go pay homage to our gods.”
Kushina smiled brilliantly as they linked their arms and made their way towards the ramen stand. “And afterwards,” the spirited redhead added as they stepped outside the building, “lets do something to liven up the village a little. It's been too depressing here lately.”
Naruto smirked conspiratorially, “I know the perfect way to fix that problem, but come, let us talk it over as we eat.”
Kushina smiled delightedly and pulled Naruto along as she sped up.
It was the beginning of a long and terrible friendship that would last the rest of their lives.
Far up in the Hokage-Tower, the venerable leader felt an ominous chill of foreboding skitter along his spine as he glanced in the direction of the shinobi-library. Somehow, he simply knew that it was caused by the worst troublemaker in the city, Uzumaki Kushina. After all, he'd never met a clan as prone to chaos as the Uzumaki clan, and he thanked the Kami daily that the fiery redhead hadn't gotten around to procreating yet.
Kami only knew what would happen if there ever lived more than one of the Uzumaki clan in the village at once.
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Konoha Proper; Ichiraku's; 11:15 GMT.
Sitting at the counter at Ichiraku's, Naruto laughed heartily at something Kushina had just told him about her fiancé Minato.
It seemed the fiery redhead knew a lot of embarrassing stories starring the future Hokage. Naruto couldn't help but feel privileged to hear them, and in return he told her stories of his own team's mishaps - with-holding the fact that they were a shinobi team at all, and alluding to them only being mischievous children.
Kushina had obviously relished his own stories and was as caught up in laughter as he was.
Naruto had to admit to himself that he had needed the opportunity to relax and joke around with someone. His own quest for knowledge and the Hokage's mission had had him strung tight in agitation for the last couple of days. It was a blessing to be able to forget his own worries for a brief moment.
“And who do we have here?” A voice Naruto recognized broke into their chorus of laughter.
Turning away from the counter, Naruto carefully kept a blank, but still curious expression on his face. He had to keep in mind that officially, he'd never met the person in front of him before.
Kushina was more forwards and open in her greeting.
“Minato!” She cried, launching herself towards the tall blonde in front of her.
Minato's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly brought his hands up to catch her.
“This is Rei, he's Hokage-sama's new Paper-pusher. The poor guy was totally swamped in paperwork when I gallantly swept in to save him from the evils of the written word.
“Rei, this is Minato; my fiancé who I told you about. He might look intimidating, but he's really just a big teddy bear.” Kushina smiled brilliantly at both of them.
Naruto stifled a laugh, resulting in a barely disguised cough as he met Minato's eyes.
Personally, Naruto would've never found the tall blonde to be intimidating unless he'd seen first-hand how fast the jounin was. It also helped to know that this would be the person who single-handedly faced and sealed the great Nine-Tails. With that in mind, Naruto would always be plenty wary of facing the future Yondaime in an all out battle.
…Still, he couldn't help but find it both amusing and reassuring to hear the petite redhead describe the legendary Yondaime as a teddy bear.
Naruto stifled a laugh again.
The future Hokage looked less amused as he scowled at the small woman still in his arms. Finally, after a drawn out staring contest with said female (which she won), he sighed and released her carefully.
Kushina's smile widened, confident in her ability to cow the male-race.
Naruto briefly looked away at the scene, not at all confident that he would be able to keep from laughing if the red-head continued to put the blonde in his place while Naruto witnessed it.
Sighing again as he realized that he'd never get his way when it came to the person he loved above all, Minato finally gave up with a shake of his head. Then he turned his attention to Naruto.
“Hello Rei-san. I'm Namikaze Minato, but from what Kushina indicated, you probably already know more about me than I'm comfortable with.”
Naruto smiled disarmingly as he bowed politely to the blonde. “Mumei Rei; newly promoted chuunin,” he introduced himself. “I'm at your service if you ever need help finding your way in the library.”
Minato bowed back, warily keeping part of his attention on the red-head bouncing at his side.
Kushina seemed to find the formalities both unnecessary and boring as she jumped in to shift the males' attention back on herself.
“Pleasure, I'm sure. Listen, Minato, could you help us with something?” She interjected.
Minato felt a chill run down his spine as he recognized the mischievous glint in his fiancé's eyes. Getting a terrible feeling of foreboding, he briefly glanced at Rei, one thought running through his mind; Surely, there couldn't be two of them?
Recognizing the identical glint of mischief in Rei's eyes, Minato realized with sudden dread that; Yes. Yes there could.
Konoha was doomed.
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Konoha Shinobi Library; First Keep, Level One; 22:00 GMT.
Naruto was back at the library, this time with a significant lift in both his working-morale and his mood.
Pulling a good prank and spending time with people he could come to treasure and love did a great number on his self-esteem.
It hadn't been easy for Naruto and Kushina to secure Minato's help in pranking the village. In the end Naruto had to promise to spar with Minato at his first moment of spare time. Naruto was a bit wary of how the spar would go considering his own lack of conventional chakra, but still considered it to be a small price to pay for what they'd done to the village walls with the help of Minato and his Flying Thunder God Technique.
He snickered privately to himself as he heard traces of agitated voices reaching him in the stuffed air of the library.
The shinobi of the village would have a hell of a time straightening out who owned what of all the objects decorating the outer, protective wall of the village.
Kushina and Naruto hadn't pulled any punches when they brainstormed over what they should include in their prank.
Fastened to the outer wall with various kunai, senbon and shurinken, were personal objects belonging to both civilians and shinobi ranging from underwear to cooking utensils and private collections of the infamous Icha-Icha-Series.
It had amused Naruto to no end that he'd even found one single copy from the orange book-series carefully hidden under the pillow in Kakashi's apartment. Well… he'd considered.Boys will be boys after all. Still, it was a bit disconcerting that his silver-haired sensei had started his perverted habits when he was still only ten years of age.
Shrugging off how creeped-out he was by Kakashi's reading habits - though he supposed he couldn't judge, he'd personally betaed some of Jiraiya's future volumes - Naruto turned his mind to what he had gleaned after studying Minato's repeated use of the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He found the technique completely fascinating. It hadn't taken him long to realize that Minato used some form of dimensional seals combined with a blood contract to achieve the instantaneous teleportation that the technique produced.
Naruto wasn't completely new to the concept.
He knew for a fact that both Sasuke and Jiraiya had been known to use their summoning contacts to teleport long distances by somehow entering their summons, leaving the know reality and then - by travelling through the dimension of the specific summoned creature - reappear somewhere else in the mortal dimension nearly instantaneous.
Still, he found Minato's technique to both be more useful and all around more effective. For one, it used less chakra, most of the required chakra already having been stored in the seal used for the technique. This resulted in the technique only needing the minimal chakra required to ignite and release the seal and its' effects. In the field, this meant that Minato would be able to use his technique nearly infinitely as long as he'd made the seals beforehand.
Second. The technique was a lot faster than using summons for teleportation.
Third. The technique was a lot more precise. From what Naruto had gleaned, the seals would bring the user within centimetres of the area where the seal was located. Teleportation by use of summons could be off by as much as a mile if the user didn't have proper time to prepare before using it, or alternatively, if he didn't know the area well enough to pinpoint the exact location he would appear back in the mortal dimension. Naruto knew that Sasuke cheated by having allies releasing specially grafted seals to act like beacons for the summoned creatures to hone in on to guide their reappearance in the mortal realm.
The only drawback to the technique that Naruto could see was that it needed the seals to function, meaning that the technique wouldn't be effective for infiltration, or long distance travelling unless Minato had managed to get allies to plant seals beforehand in the areas Minato wanted to appear in. But then again, from what Naruto knew about how Minato used the technique, it had been created simply as an offensive technique.
And as an offensive technique to use in battle against a large number of assailants, it was flawless.
Still, for all that Naruto had managed to find out about the technique, there were still details to it that he couldn't even begin to imagine the answer to.
For example, how did Minato actually activate the seals?
Naruto had watched how the future Hokage had used special three-pronged kunai grafted with the teleportation seal. The blonde jounin had thrown a lot of the special kunai towards the wall and even before the kunai had hit, he'd been in motion.
It had been a treat to see and Naruto very much doubted that he'd ever have been privileged enough to get to watch the technique used fully out first hand unless Kushina had talked Minato into using it.
It seemed to Naruto that the future Yondaime could somehow control which seal to activate, and when to activate it. Exactly how Minato managed to do this, Naruto hadn't the slightest clue. It made him realize that the blonde jounin might actually be leagues above himself.
Minato seemed to be in a class of his own. It was no wonder that he'd been lauded as the greatest genius ever produced by a Hidden Village.
In addition to all this, Naruto had noticed that every time Minato activated a seal, he could feel it at the edge of his consciousness as a slight pull on his own awareness.
Noticing that no one else seemed to feel or sense this, Naruto had decided to not mention it to either Kushina or Minato. Who knew what either of them could glean from such an admission? No, it wouldn't do for Naruto to release any information about himself unless he understood and could predict the results of his actions and words.
The sound of a door opening to Naruto's section of the library revealed that Naruto had company and he started to organize and archive the mess in front of him.
It was about time for him to leave the library for the day anyway and he really didn't fancy the idea of others finding out that he was reading about Konoha's Ruling Three. If word got out about Naruto's interest in such information, there'd be a whole lot of mess to clear up. Even if he was currently reading the least restricted of it.
Stashing the last of the documents he'd been reading back in their proper place, Naruto passed the two shinobi who had entered as he made his way towards the door.
He managed to catch some of their conversation before the door closed behind him.
“…And I heard that Hokage-sama's viewing-ball and his pipe was found pinned to the main gate of the village.” There was admiration in the speaker's voice. “I wonder who's behind. No doubt they'd be assigned exclusively to the night-shift for a year if the Hokage ever finds out.”
“You think that's impressive?” The other one interjected. “I heard that Tsunade-sama's bra was found tied to the flag-post at the Registration Office. I didn't even know she owned one. Forget Hokage-sama's punishment. Think about what the Hime will do if she ever finds the perpetrator.”
They both shuddered in sympathy and horror.
Naruto grinned.
The door slammed shut behind him.
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Hokage Tower; the Hokage's Office; 23:30 GMT.
The elderly Hokage steepled his fingers as he regarded the ANBU standing at attention in his office.
No matter the insecurities regarding the higher-ups in his village, he trusted this particular ANBU Commander implicitly.
“So,” he started. “What impression do you have of the chuunin Mumei Rei?”
The ANBU barely shifted, but it was enough to bring the person out of the shadows of the room and into the meagre light produced by a sparse scattering of lighted candles.
The warm yellow light from the candles, illuminated a blank white mask, the only mark on it was the leaf of Konoha. It was the mask of a Hunter; an ANBU belonging to the Hunter and Retrieval Division.
“Mumei Rei seems to be genuine in his wish to find the traitors in the village. He works diligently and with as much discretion as he can manage. Still, he is an intelligent person and a great actor - as his name indicates. For now I believe him to be trustworthy.” The Hunter concluded.
The Professor's eyes sharpened but other than that he gave no sign that he had heard the report.
“Trustworthy?” He repeated back to the ANBU.
The ANBU kept silent, knowing that the question was rhetorical at the moment.
“On what do you base this impression?” The Hokage finally asked.
The ANBU's head tilted sideways, giving the impression of some sort of curious strange ghoul or animal.
The Hokage barely suppressed a shudder. Those masks were made to be intimidating and disconcerting and they certainly did their job.
“Mumei Rei is in the possession of a sense of humour. It has long been established that people striving for undue power over others take themselves and everything else too seriously.”
The Hokage nodded, already knowing this. Then something occurred to him. “Do you mean to indicate that Mumei-san was behind today's occurrences at the great wall?”
The Hokage couldn't help but feel that there was an undue amount of amusement behind the reply he received.
“Amongst others.”
Was the damned ANBU laughing?
Secretly disgruntled, Sarutobi decided to let the matter lie as he unobtrusively straightened the newly returned viewing-globe on his desk. The village wide prank had not been malicious after all, and it had distracted the civilians from the tense atmosphere saturating the village the last few months.
What really put him off was how the prank had been pulled. How had the perpetrators managed to break into some of the most guarded offices and apartments in the village without getting caught even once?
The Hokage vowed to increase the security in the village proper.
“Still,” he couldn't help but add. “His apparent sense of humour is not enough to validate him as completely trustworthy. All who have evaluated him has already claimed that he is a great actor. It is difficult to separate truth from lies when it comes to our new chuunin.”
The ANBU didn't comment and Sarutobi continued. “I want you to continue your observance. Be as unobtrusive as you can. As you said, he is intelligent. There's no need to alert him to my lack of trust.”
The ANBU bowed. “As you command Hokage-sama.”
When the ANBU didn't immediately leave after that, the Hokage knew that the Hunter had something to ask.
“You wonder about something?” He asked, allowing the ANBU's breach of protocol.
“Yes.” Was the short reply.
The Hokage nodded for the ANBU to continue.
“Hokage-sama. Please forgive me for asking, but aren't there others more suited for this mission? Mumei-san seems very social… His interaction today with Namikaze-san and Uzumaki-san seems to indicate that he-“
The ANBU stopped talking at the Hokage's raised hand.
“I know that this mission may seem demeaning to your station and skills Commander, but you are the only one I trust to perform it. The other ANBU Commanders may be implicated and thus their subordinates too. And I dare not reveal the possibility of traitors to your own subordinates, not only may they be at risk, but they are also a lot less experienced than you. You must understand,” he said. “I place a lot of trust in you by revealing even a small part of what I suspect.”
The ANBU kept silent for a while before finally nodding. “Of course Hokage-sama. Please forgive my insubordination and doubt. It is not my place to question you.”
The Hokage waved the response away. “There is nothing to forgive.”
The lights didn't even flicker as the ANBU left.
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Konoha; Naruto's apartment; 01:05 GMP.
Naruto stared blearily at the parchment in front of him. Aware that it was probably too late for him to even attempt to make any sense of the scroll he'd received from the Hokage.
-For this jutsu to work properly, the user must be willing to endure excruciating pain.-
Excruciating pain? Naruto didn't really like how that sounded, but he kept on reading.
-In addition, the user has to have a source of chakra far outstripping that which is considered above average in the shinobi world. Be advised that very few jounin have ever completed this technique to its perfection. The technique requires…-
Chakra far above the average? Well, I've got that at least. Naruto sighed to himself as he tried to look on the bright side.
The jutsu he'd received from the Hokage was insanely complex, but when completed perfectly, it would be invaluable for Naruto's use.
Not only did the jutsu require insane amounts of chakra, but it also demanded that the user had an intimate knowledge concerning anatomy and perfect concentration skills.
Well, I guess that means even more studying. Naruto couldn't help but feel that someone was out to get him by ways of cramming his head so full of information that eventually it'd explode from the overload. Or, alternatively, the reading would bore him to death.
Naruto sighed again. This time; heavily.
Finally deciding that he wouldn't get more done this night, Naruto put the jutsu-scroll away and went to bed.
Tomorrow would undoubtedly turn out to be another hectic day.
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Naruto's days continued in a pattern much the same as his first week in Konoha.
He spend his mornings in the training grounds, attempting to make up for his lack of chakra. He'd taken up intensive taijutsu training again in addition to accuracy in use of projectiles and had even managed to con a jounin by the name of Gekkou to teach him the basics of kenjutsu.
The man; Tansen Gekkou was training his own young son; Hayate Gekkou in some form of kenjutsu as well. Naruto was polite enough to not ask about it. The Kenjutsu was obviously a family secret and it wasn't Naruto's place to learn it.
He had to admit that the child was uncommonly good though. He seemed to have been born to the sword, flowing nearly flawlessly from stance to stance and he was still so young that most children were only playing at being shinobi.
What surprised even more was the sickly state of the child. Hayate was often wracked by terrible coughing fits and Naruto thought him to look incredibly worn out and tired what with the large dark bags decorating Hayate's eyes.
Naruto couldn't help but feel both pride and pity for the boy. He tried really hard, but would probably never achieve more than chuunin if his health didn't improve.
As a thank you to the boy's father, Naruto agreed to act as the kid's sparring partner while they both trained. It often led to rather humiliating defeats by a kid shorter than the average six-year-old. Frankly, Naruto couldn't even figure out how the short brat managed to hold a katana.
In the end it was Naruto's hope that he'd manage to use the basics he learned to develop a kenjutsu-style of his own. With the access he had to the shinobi library, it shouldn't be too hard for him to find inspiration when the time came for him to expound on his learning.
When he was done training for the day Naruto entered the library where he studied diligently `till the evenings unless he was interrupted by either Kushina or a missive from the Hokage.
His studies now were quite varied, lending credence to the idea that Naruto was a researcher for the Hokage. It was a well known fact that Konoha's Kage was obsessed when it concerned the gaining of new knowledge. No-one would be surprised that the village leader ran his personal paper-pusher ragged with all his demands.
In addition to studying about Konoha's Ruling Three, Naruto also read up on the basics of human anatomy and the beginner's guide to sealing.
He had already passed the beginner's stage while studying with Jiraiya, but Naruto figured that it couldn't harm him to get a refresher. Sealing was one of the few areas of expertise that could really capture and hold Naruto's attention when it concerned reading.
In the evenings, Naruto went home to meditate and relax. Sometimes, he read from the Hokage's scroll, but mostly he just spent the time to assimilate what he'd done that day and what he had learned.
If the fancy struck him, he spent time on the seals he'd started to construct before the insane time-travelling had even occurred. It was both therapeutic for him to do, and it gave him ideas for the future if he never managed to get back to his proper time by unconventional means.
Presently, he mostly figured that the safest route of returning was to take it a year at the time, like everybody else did. Still… if even a slightest possibility existed for speeding the process up…
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Konoha Shinobi Library; First Keep, Level Two; 13:47 GMT.
-The Triangle of Command, popularly referred to as the Ruling Three are the three ruling forces in Fire Country and Konohagakure. The three ruling forces are made up of three `seats' or institutions meant to balance each other out in the governing of the Country of fire and the Hidden Village of Konoha. The Ruling Three are:
The Daimyo - The Lord of Fire Country
The Hokage - The Lord of Konohagakure
The Council of Fire - A governing institution made up of inherited and selected seats.
As noted before, the Triangle of Command is meant to balance each other out so that none of the governing forces holds too much power at any given moment in time.
The Daimyo governs the areas and the subjects pertaining to civilian life. This includes trade, agriculture and enforcing laws not pertaining to military activity. The Daimyo may force the Council into action if it pertains to civilian matters or if the Council cannot reach majority in their votes concerning a specific matter. The position is hereditary.
The Hokage governs the area and subjects pertaining to military life. This includes the governing and running of Konohagakure, the shinobi living in or visiting the Country of Fire and the enforcement of military and martial law. The Hokage may force the Daimyo to act after the Hokage's wishes if the matter pertains to military activity. The position is elected on the basis of combat skill, leadership skill and organisational skill.
The Council is represented by both civilians and shinobi and is supposed to act as an advising organ to the Hokage. In addition the Council functions as a link between the Daimyo and the Hokage, wherein the Council has the task of governing the Daimyo's areas of expertise within Konohagakure proper. The Council may force the Hokage to take specific actions if the Council has a clear majority of 4/5 in a specific matter. The Council consists of Clan Heads (hereditary), ANBU Commanders (appointed by the Hokage) and Elders (elected).
For more information concerning the Triangle of Command; see Konoha Shinobi Library; Third Keep, Level Three and Level X.-
Naruto rolled the scroll closed as he tipped his chair back to stare pensively on the table in front of him.
It seemed like he needed to access even higher levels to get the information he needed. Ha had hoped that Level Two would be enough to enlighten him to the identities of the higher-ups in the village, but it seemed he was out of luck for the moment.
True, he now knew that the Clan Heads were included in the Ruling Three, in fact he'd known that beforehand so it didn't exactly help. What he needed to find out was the exact identities of all the Clan Heads, the ANBU Commanders and the Elders…
Information like that didn't exactly grow on trees.
If he asked around carefully he shouldn't have too much trouble in getting the names of the Clan Heads and the Elders. The ones difficult to identify would be the ANBU Commanders.
Secret identities were bothersome, Naruto finally decided with a tired sigh.
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Konoha Proper; Shopping District Five; 21:06 GMT.
“Mumei-san, wait a second!”
Naruto stopped and turned at he familiar voice.
Minato was walking leisurely towards him, his team trudging faithfully behind him like ducklings behind their mother.
Naruto covered a grin at the mental image.
“Yes?” He asked when Minato had reached him. “And please call me Rei, using my surname makes me feel old.”
Minato smiled, “of course. And you may call me Minato.”
Naruto nodded, acknowledging the right given to him… again.
“I don't believe you've met my team yet.” Minato said as he formally introduced his team again.
The genin and the single chuunin nodded in greeting, none of them showing signs that they'd met Naruto before. Naruto was secretly impressed. At the age of ten, he'd never have been able to show the restraint that these particular children did.
“So,” Naruto said once the formalities were over with. “What brings you to my corner of the village?”
Minato grinned impishly as he began to walk beside Naruto, his team now trailing behind both of them, desperate to hear some gossip.
“You still owe me a spar.” Minato said.
Naruto chuckled nervously. “Heh-heh… I guess I do.”
He really didn't want to fight the blonde jounin, after all, he'dseen what Minato was capable of when he used his teleportation technique.
Minato glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “Still busy in the library then?”
Naruto sighed and nodded morosely. “It's a nightmare I tell you. Without Kushina's timely interference I'd be driven crazy within the first month.”
Minato chuckled. “Most would worry about Kushina driving people crazy.”
Naruto blinked. “Whatever for? She'd the most awesome person I've ever met.”
Minato's eyes sharpened, but his tone filled with amusement. “Don't tell me I need to start chaperoning your encounters?”
Naruto grinned impishly. “Nah… If you do, we wouldn't be able to do what we both love and live for.”
Minato shuddered and Naruto couldn't stop the laughter from escaping as he noticed the terrified gleam in the taller blonde's eyes. “Don't tell me Tsunade-Hime is on to us?”
Minato scowled. “Don't joke about it. If she ever finds out that I was in on it, she'd skin both me and my sensei.”
Naruto waved his hand reassuringly. “Relax, your secret's safe with me. Besides if she'd skin you, she'd probably castrate me if she ever found I helped to talk you into it.”
Minato nodded, somewhat reassured. “True. So, about that spar?”
Naruto frowned and looked away. “I could probably manage to meet you in a training field tomorrow morning.” He finally said.
Minato brightened up. “Seven?”
Naruto shrugged. “Sure.”
“Great! I'll see you there. Come along ducklings!” Minato directed the last part at his students as he sped up down the street, leaving Naruto's roaring laughter behind them.
Naruto couldn't believe that the blonde jounin had said that, but it certainly made his day.
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Hokage Tower; the Hokage's Office; 23:01 GMT.
The ANBU Commander appeared without a sound only alerting the Hokage by a deliberate shift in chakra.
“Yes?” The Hokage asked as he rearranged some of the documents on his desk.
“Mumei-san is showing signs of exhaustion.” The Hunter said without preamble.
Sarutobi frowned, but is was unknown if it was because of worry or irritation.
“The cause?” He finally asked as he pulled out his pipe and began to stuff it with tobacco.
“He doesn't sleep nearly enough and he uses every waking moment of the day to either train or study. In addition I have noticed that he only leaves the library to eat if Uzumaki-san comes to distract him with ramen. Other than that, he only eats a small breakfast and a quick meal before bed.”
The Hokage nodded as he put his pipe in his mouth.
“Anything else?”
“He made a deal to spar with Namikaze-san tomorrow morning at seven. If you wish to learn more about the chuunin's abilities, I would advice you to watch.”
The Professor raised his eyebrows in surprise as he nodded to the suggestion. “Maybe I will, if work allows it.”
Mumei Rei's abilities were still mostly a secret when it came to combat abilities. Even the Hokage hadn't managed to glean more than the barest of generals concerning his ghost's abilities. Mostly he'd let it pass because he knew that Rei was still settling into the experience of not being able to properly use chakra. It would be enlightening to see what the blonde would be able to do with his handicap.
But first, first things first.
“I will talk to Mumei-san concerning his eating and sleeping habits. His mission is important, but he will not be of any use if he is too tired or hungry to think properly.”
The ANBU Commander shifted. “As you say Hokage-sama.”
The Hunter was about to leave when the Hokage spoke again. “I believe Mumei-san to be trustworthy at the moment. You may stop the twenty-four-hour surveillance, but I still wish you to check up on the chuunin once in a while. Give me a report monthly about his progress.”
“As you command, Hokage-sama.”
The office was empty once again of any mask wearing ANBU.
Sarutobi tapped the ash out of his pipe as he turned to regard the night-sky outside his window.
Mumei was becoming more of a mystery by the moment, but he was also working with all he had to better serve the village and the Hokage. Sarutobi couldn't help but be both impressed and worried.
What were Mumei's motivations? What pushed Mumei to act beyond his own limits?
Shifting his gaze to the documents stacked at a corner of his desk, the old Hokage couldn't help but feel apprehensive about what was to come in the future.
One of the papers on his desk was a report from the border patrol. It seemed that the nin captured by Minato and his team had been assassinated yesterday. The report had been sent by pigeon - the quickest way of communicating over long distances that the shinobi had.
And the plot thickens… the Hokage privately thought.
Exactly who would have the resource and the opportunity to assassinate the captured nin? Were Konoha-nin even behind it? Couldn't Iwa-nin have decided to silence one of their own if they believed him to be a threat.
There were too many questions and uncertainties and not nearly enough answers.
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