Konoha Children's Crusade Chapter 25 part 1

Konoha Children’s Crusade: Book Three

Chapter 25: Fallout

Naruto rubbed his eyes and sighed deeply at his son. “And what happened after this masterful display of athletic prowess and clever one-liners that no one else who was there seems to remember?”

Jiraiya picked idly at the plaster bandage on his cheek and shrugged nonchalantly. “Well, after I made my cat-like landing, the creepy white lady, the one that Hishyota was telling you about, said she was going to suck out all my chakra. Despite what certain relatives of mine might have told you,” he said making a face at Hishyota, “I did not wet my pants in sheer terror. However, during my valiant struggle, the rest of the air tags and the rat tags went off. That kind of distracted her.”

“Distracted her how?” prompted Shikamaru.

“She ran around for a bit yelling ‘get them off of me!’ before she got really pissed. Our epic battle continued, and I was just about to hit her with my super secret jutsu... When Choji-san appeared and punched her in the face.” Jiraiya rubbed his nose and continued in a bored voice. “After that the jonin corps showed up and we were all forcibly evacuated. Speaking of which,” Jiraiya paused looking around the room, “I want to lodge a complaint against this one jonin - Big guy, black hair, scar right here under his eye. He was quite rude. He wouldn’t even give me the time to salvage what was left of my kite.”

“Would this be the same kite that you were using to spy on the outdoor hot springs in the bath house?” Naruto’s voice was getting a dangerous edge.

“That’s beside the point,” said Jiraiya haughtily. “I only needed the smallest moment to collect my things.”

Naruto sighed. He turned to Nokito, who was standing at parade rest. “Captain Nokito, do you know this jonin Jiraiya is talking about?”

Nokito gave a curt nod. “It sounds like Gorou. He was in that sector.”

“Tell him the Hokage commends him on a job well done of taking his idiot son out of a battle zone.”

“Hey!” yelped Jiraiya.

“Tell him the Hokage begs his pardon and promises to do a better job of teaching his offspring that there is a time to pick up your toys and there is a time to run away. I will try harder to teach my son that the best indicator of such a time is when you are outnumbered by enemy shinobi who are threatening to kill you.” Naruto sat back with a scowl.

Jiraiya glared up at his father. Very gently Sasuko pulled at his hand. “I think Daddy’s mad at you,” he whispered.

Naruto tilted back the Hokage’s hat on his head and surveyed the audience hall. All of his children were there. All of Sasuke’s children were there. All of the Naras the Akimichis, the Hyugas, Shino’s kid, Tsudemi - All of the children were all right and all accounted for. That was the only thing that had gone right in this botched kidnapping attempt that had turned into a full blown battle. Once again, he had messed up beyond belief. When he thought about the fallout that was going to come crashing down on his head from this latest mess, he was sorely tempted to head back home and curl up in Sasuko’s newly finished fort.

Naruto took a deep, calming breath. His son was now refusing to look at him. Naruto had a sudden heart pang. Jiraiya didn’t deserve that. He shouldn’t be taking out all his frustrations on an eleven year old.  “I’m sorry for yelling at you like that Jiraiya. But I need you to realize that people are more important than your toys.”

“Those were not toys, “ insisted Jiraiya with a huff. “That was expensive equipment.”

“You were using it to run a pay for peeping scheme at the women’s bath!” Naruto exploded. He glared at his son. “I hope you learned your lesson.”

“Two lessons,” said Jiraiya testily.

“What?”

“I learned two lessons today. First,” he held up a finger, “I learned to always make a last minute check before you put a plan into action. Secondly, I learned that if plan A fails, you should always try to make a profit on plan B. Do you know how much money I was offered by various kunoichi if I could get uncle Konohamaru to run naked through the plaza again?”

There was an uncomfortable pause. “You didn’t happen to get the names of these fine ladies did you?” asked Konohamaru innocently.

Jiraiya smiled his greasy smile. “600 ryo each.”

“Shut up the both of you,” said Naruto crossly. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head to clear it. Three hours ago, the only worry on his mind was making sure that Sasuko didn’t get paint in his hair... again. Then Ookami had called that emergency meeting about a potential threat. It sounded like this latest crisis would easily suck up the remainder of his afternoon. He made a snap decision to slip away for a quick picnic lunch with Sasuko. Without telling anyone they headed out to the pond by the old Uchiha compound. It was their favorite getaway spot. Sasuko splashed happily in the mud trying to grab the frogs. Naruto had no idea anything was wrong until he saw the smoke. By the time he found a safe place to leave Sasuko and arrived at the scene, the fighting was over. And now...

He reached out and picked up one of the shuriken that the attackers had left behind. It was cheap iron and hadn’t aged well. It didn’t have a clear ring as he bounced it absentmindedly off the table.  

And now, the main audience room was packed. As much as he wanted to do differently, he couldn’t let other things distract him now; he had to play the part of the Hokage. Naruto sat at one end with his inner council. The floor was filled with witnesses. All the jonin, ANBU, citizens, parents and anxious children who were present during this latest attack were waiting there... which led to quite a few... awkward moments.

Ino had her son and daughter, Inoji and Chodu pressed in the far left hand corner of the room. In the closer, lower right corner Temari stood, with a possessive hand on Karua and Shikasu. Between the two women was a palpable wall of icy disdain.

If that particular threat of trouble wasn’t enough to convince Naruto to wrap things up and clear the room, Sasuke’s behavior certainly was. His five children were huddled in a tight circle, eyes downcast, in the center of the room. Sasuke paced around them like a tiger, one hand locked tight around the hilt of the katana in his belt. The threat was obvious to everyone else in the room. Several jonin and ANBU were slowly making their way between Sasuke and the rest of the crowd. Many of them were looking anything but sympathetic.

While the threats of the Akimichi/Nara feud and Sasuke losing his temper were the main problems in the short term, Naruto knew his biggest issue was going to be the council. Their seats were empty now, but once he opened the doors, they would line the walls looking superior and self-important as only they could. councilor Akihiro was going to be beside himself with self-righteous glee. Naruto could almost make out his ranting from out in the hallway. “Did you hear?” the smug bastard was probably muttering to his cronies. “I warned everyone that allowing the Uchiha to stay would come back to punish us one day! But did the Hokage listen to me? Oh no! In fact... where was our glorious leader in our hour of need? Oh! He was off having a picnic!”

“God... I almost wish the battle was still going on,” Naruto thought to himself. “I’d rather be fighting for my life than dealing with snide comments and shady deals in dusty hallways.”

Naruto squashed his self pity and turned to Shikamaru. “Do you think we got a good enough description of the attack from the witnesses? I’d like to air out the room before we let the old geezers in.”

Shikamaru rubbed his chin and made a curt nod towards the door. “I’m not so sure it’s a good idea. Anyone we let go, they’re just going to want to call back. You know what their opinion of you is, do you honestly think that they’ll take our word for anything? Once you let the rest of the council in here, there’s going to be a lot of cross examining going on.”

Naruto frowned. “Really? You think that they’re even going to want to cross examine the kids? We’ve had them here for over two hours. Could we at least send them home?”

Shikamaru smirked at him. “If we do, the council will make a stink about it.”

Naruto shook his head. “The council can kiss the Hokage’s ass.” Shikamaru snorted a laugh quietly through his nose.  Naruto continued, “Come on... No one is going to be that big a jerk. These kids have been through a lot.”

“It will be Akihiro who insists,” muttered Shikamaru smugly, leaning back in his chair and stretching. “If you don’t believe me... go ahead and see what happens.”

Naruto sighed and stood, holding up his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Honored citizens... I think we can release the majority of you back to your lives. We can continue this discussion amongst ourselves. I apologize for requiring so much of your time.” Naruto cleared his throat. “I’d like to express my most sincere thanks to you all in defending our village and its people. I hope that any of your friends and loved ones who were injured in the attack will have a speedy recovery.” He nodded his thanks particularly to Ino. She hadn’t wanted to come. It had taken all his persuasion to even get her to be in the same room as the Naras.

“Nokito-taicho,” Naruto called out to the jonin captain, who came to attention, “If you would be so kind as to request that the elders of Konoha patiently wait little bit more for the room to settle before joining me in this emergency meeting? Thank you.”

There was a short rumbling that spread through the crowd, followed by the rustle of movement. Nokito nodded to the pair of jonin standing guard in front of the main door. They cracked open the double doors and were promptly pushed aside.

“What is the meaning of this?” councilor Akihiro’s reedy voice cut through the hall. “I was always under the impression that the elders had some sort of say in the governing of Konoha. Has martial law been declared?”

Naruto shot Shikamaru a scowl. Shikamaru gave him a shrug in return. “Councilor Akihiro,” he said in an exasperated voice. “We were just talking about you.”

“Were you now?” He stuffily forced his way into the room, his retinue elbowing people aside. “What a surprising coincidence. The rest of the council and I were just talking about you! We were were just happening to discuss how tragic it can be when the heavy burden of being the Hokage was laid on the shoulders of someone so young... and inexperienced... like yourself.”

Naruto narrowed his eyes. “What are you implying?”

Akihiro scowled. “The sixth Hokage... The real sixth Hokage was a man of great intellect, wisdom and cunning. He would have never turned a blind eye to threats against Konoha.”

That did it. Naruto sucked in a deep breath and placed both hands on the table in front of him ready to spring from his chair and unleash a vicious verbal diatribe. Before he could reply Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder and gently applied pressure to get him so stay seated. “Councilor,” Kakashi said calmly in his smooth voice. “We are just trying to make the room ready for the official half of our meeting. Please accept our deepest apologies. We will send for you when we are ready. It shouldn’t be much longer than half an hour.” Kakashi snapped his fingers. Two platoons of ANBU appeared in a puff of smoke and gently cleared the protesting councilor out. Most of the witnesses followed. Ino began to pull her children towards the exit.

Naruto felt Kakashi’s eyes on him, but he refused to look up. “Thanks Kakashi-sensei,“ he murmured. “I need to control my temper better. The Hokage can’t afford to lose it in front of his political rivals.”

“Actually, all I was going to say was that you’ve been the Hokage for ten years now. You need to stop letting that idiot get you all riled up over that ‘real sixth Hokage’  nonsense.” Kakashi smiled at Naruto under his mask. “No one disputes that you are the Hokage. Don’t be afraid to let those old men know it. Just... try not to let them know by ripping their heads off... It’s bad diplomacy.” He gave Naruto a reassuring pat.

Shikamaru cleared his throat and leaned forward. “Did you happen to catch what the good councilor said? He dropped a clue about where he wants to steer the meeting.”

Naruto thought. “Threats to the village?” he asked. Shikamaru gave him a pleased nod. Naruto looked back out over the crowd. “So...  they’re going to use this as an excuse to attack the peace accords again. We’re going to have to run damage control before we let this session get started. I swear it’s like a broken record with these people.” Naruto sighed again, his head was beginning to hurt with the realization of all the politicking he was going to have to do in the next few hours.  “Does anyone have ideas on how to provide a united front?”

Kakashi toyed with his cane. “Let me talk to the the smaller clans. I’m pretty sure I can bring a few of them to our side of the table.”

Naruto nodded. “Thanks Sensei. Konohamaru I’m going to need you to see what some of the larger clans are going to require to be on our side. Check up on the Sarutobi clan as well. Your family has been good about supporting the Leaf peace initiatives so far, but I don’t want any more surprises... not today.”

“Aww man,” muttered Konohamaru. “I hate talking to the clan. Aunt Rika has been pestering me forever about settling down.”

“A very wise woman,” said Naruto somberly. He ignored the look Konohamaru gave him, and instead watched Ino push her way through the crowds towards the door. “I wish there was some way we could get the Akimichi clan to weigh in on this vote, but Choji’s been keeping quiet on all village politics for years now.”

“Akimichi-san!” Naruto turned at Shikamaru’s voice. So did Temari. Ino stopped her exodus, but did not turn around, or look back. There was a brief pause in the meeting hall. “I just wanted to let you and Choji know that the Leaf Village’s emergency damages fund will be covering any repairs you might have to make to the Emporium...” There was a long pause as Ino stood there. “I... uh... you know... In case you were worried about the destruction.” Ino’s head dipped once in acknowledgement and then she double timed her son and daughter out the door.

Shikamaru’s eyes followed her out. “There,” he muttered to Naruto, “we’ve just ensured the support of the Akimichi clan and some small fraction of the Yamanaka clan.”

When he turned his head back Temari was standing in front of him, hand on hips. “I trust everything is alright... my husband?” she asked pointedly.

Shikamaru held back the urge to roll his eyes. “Yes. It’s just politics as usual. Everything is fine... troublesome woman.”

“Really?” Temari leaned her head forward and hissed. “And do you think that it’s going to stay that way?”

“Temari! Shikamaru! Knock it off, there’s been enough fighting today. And don’t go anywhere, I have to ask your opinion on something vitally important to the Leaf and Sand villages!” Naruto called out. Temari gave her husband a ‘this isn’t over by a long shot’ look and walked over to Naruto.

Naruto went back to bouncing the shuriken off the table. It made a little clink with each tap. The room was starting to clear out, but several of the children were just milling around in the center of the room. He didn’t need them underfoot when he let the village elders back in. If for no other reason, Sasuko didn’t need to hear any of the bad words that were going to be tossed back and forth.

He glanced down the length of the table. At the same time he had no desire to let his kids out of his sight. He wished he could be like Sasuke right now. Naruto wanted to give in to his primal instincts, beat his chest and scream that no one could even think of touching his children.

The Hokage couldn’t afford to be that way though. He had to be calm and cool and look like everything was completely under control. No matter how much he wanted to go out there and destroy something.

He could bet that the rest of the remaining parents in the room were feeling the same way. If he wanted to have a productive meeting right here, he’d need to remove the kids from the equation. They’d need to be taken somewhere unquestionably safe, somewhere nearby.

“Chirosu, Hebisu,” he called out quietly. The Hatake twins stopped their surreptitious shoving match and snapped to attention. “I’ve got a special A-rank mission for you. I’m going to need the pair of you to watch the door to my office.”

The twins exchanged a glance. Hebisu cautiously raised a hand. “Excuse me Hokage-sama, you want us to watch it? Watch it, like how? Do you mean stop people from going in?”

“I read the ANBU report of your mother’s little field trip to that slaver camp... I want the pair of you to do to anyone who tries to force their way through that door, what you did in that camp... times ten... Do you understand?” Both girls nodded. Chirosu looked a little worried, but Hebisu was grinning ear to ear.

Naruto nodded and picked more faces out of the crowd. “Karua, Ichisui, and Hishyoni. I hope that the three of you are well enough for a little B-rank mission. I want the three of you to take everyone younger than you to my office.”

“I don’t need a babysitter dad!” grumbled Jiraiya loudly.

“Make sure no one gets into trouble,” Naruto continued, ignoring him. “Also, make sure that Jiraiya stays out of the locked filing cabinet this time.”

“Hey, that only happened once!” snapped Jiraiya indignantly.

“Hishyota and Hana, I think that they might need  the both of you to help as well. I’ll call it a B-ranked mission for the pair of you, how’s that?” Naruto gave both girls a smile. “The pair of you will even be on the same team for once. Won’t that be great?” His smile faded as Hishyota gave Hana a very dark look as they were sent away. “That was weird,” thought Naruto. Normally the two girls were best friends. Naruto shook his head and muttered a frustrated “teenagers” under his breath as they walked on down the hall.

Ichisui was not his usual self either. He was very distracted. He stood by idly while Karua and Hishyoni ran about the meeting hall herding children into a large group. He didn’t seem to do anything other than stare at his feet. “Ichisui!” Naruto prompted. This time Ichisui jumped and looked up. “You need to help watch the other kids,” said Naruto. “Get going.”

Ichisui bowed. “Yes, Hokage-sama.” As the large group started moving out, Sasuke started to go with them.

“Not you Sasuke, I’m afraid I’m going to need you here for this... discussion,” said Naruto quietly.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. For a second it looked like he was going to refuse, but then he nodded. “Ichisui!” he called out after his son. Ichisui turned and looked. “Fourth rule,” he said simply. Ichisui’s face turned pale, but he nodded and headed out the door after the rest of the children. The door closed with a click.

Naruto sat back and surveyed who was left in the room. Nokito and a few jonin. Ookami and a pair of ANBU. Temari, Sasuke, Kiba, Shino and of course The Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf village and his small council. It would have to do. “Before we open the doors, let the village elders in, and start playing politics as usual, I thought it would be good to hear everyone’s thoughts on the attack one more time... and let’s not kid ourselves... that’s what this was, an attack that caught us all with our pants down.” Naruto picked up the shuriken, held it by one point on the table, and flicked it with his other finger, making it spin. “As soon as those doors are opened, the rest of the council is going to stomp in here, making wild accusations against other villages and demanding retribution. Before all that happens I want to make sure I have all the details as best as we can determine them. The smallest clue you remember or the tiniest idea you have could be vitally important for the future of our village. ” Naruto paused and looked each person in the eye. “From what I can tell, sixteen unknown shinobi managed to infiltrate the Leaf village. They ran round my village undetected. They tried to kidnap children from the major political families. They were strong enough to hold at bay the entire jonin corps and two platoons of ANBU, and yet somehow they were weak enough to have their kidnaping attempt foiled by a handful of genin and academy students.” The spinning shuriken wobbled and fell to the table. “Finally, just when we were just starting to launch a counterattack, they all suddenly and very mysteriously vanished without a trace.” Naruto picked it up and gave it another spin. “Am I forgetting anything? Feel free to speak up. I don’t want to be formal here.”

“I think you’re leaving out the part where the attackers told everyone I was the new head of the Kurokaze clan and I was taking my revenge on everyone in Konoha,” Sasuke said bitter, resigned voice.

“Yeah... that,” Naruto scowled and turned to Shikamaru. “Any ideas where that could have come from? The Daimyo's aides said almost the same thing yesterday.”

“It’s one more mystery to add to the list,” said Shikamaru grouchily. “We have many pieces of the puzzle but none of them are matching up right now.”

“Well... let’s start off with the obvious questions,” Naruto picked up the shuriken and held it out on his palm. “Temari, can I get you to take a look at this? It has your village’s stamp.”

Temari stiffened. “Impossible. Gaara would never do anything that would harm the peace between the Leaf and the Sand.”

Naruto sighed. “I’m not accusing Gaara or Suna of anything. I just want you to confirm that if came from the Land of Wind.”

Temari briefly inspected the shuriken. “It’s from Suna, but that means nothing. Weapons can be easily bought or stolen.”

Kakashi leaned forward. “All of the weapons recovered from the attack have Land of Wind markings on them. Can you think any groups or organizations inside of the Land of Wind that might have orchestrated such an attack?”

This time Temari hesitated before answering. She shook her head slowly. “None that I am aware of. I could send a letter off to Gaara with a request if you want?”

Naruto nodded. “Please do so... and send it via any private channels you have.”

Temari frowned. “Private channels? Why?”

Kakashi sighed. “Well, I hate to admit it, but we are definitely having a problem with messages here in the Leaf. It’s looking more and more like we have been infiltrated at some level.” He nodded to Ookami. “There were several requests for back up sent during the conflict that quite ominously disappeared.”

“Is it possible that the attackers were exploiting this breakdown in communication to maintain their invisibility?” asked Shikamaru thoughtfully. “It would be a lot easier to hide from everyone that way than to use some sort of cloaking jutsu.”

Ookami stepped forward and saluted. “There were experts at masking chakra among the attackers, I can attest to that.” She paused and shifted awkwardly. “Hokage-sama, I am less concerned with how they managed to infiltrate us and more concerned with what they wanted.” There was a silence of a few breaths. “They were after your children,” she finished quietly

“It seems fairly obvious to me,” said Shino. “They wanted hostages.” His finger pointed around the room. “Uzumaki-Hyuga, Hyuga, Nara, Uchiha. If you control those children you command the attention of the leadership of the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand... This was a power grab... Nothing more.”

Ookami glanced over at Shino. “With respect Shino-san, when the Black Wind attacked, I was one of the few people who heard them speak. The only thing the Kurokaze expressed an interest in was taking children.” She looked back to Naruto. “I was with... your wife that day three years ago. “Give us the children,” they demanded. “They are ours.’” She turned quickly and made a short bow in Sasuke’s direction. “I am not trying to suggest that you were involved in this attack in any way Uchiha-san, but this is the second time today I have heard of parties trying to acquire children.” The wolf mask turned to Kakashi. “I have also heard rumors of the Black Wind’s potential return. Is there any truth to this?”

“Well...” Naruto started nervously.

“We have also heard these rumors and are investigating them,” Kakashi interrupted. “Unfortunately we have no information at this time.”

Shikamaru was shifting through a sheaf of papers. “The second time? Was the first with that smuggler?”

Kiba stepped forward. “Yeah... the guy from the Hidden Cloud. Some mystery man offered him top coin for young shinobi. He was thinking about cashing in his neice.”

“It could have been slavers,” interjected Konohamaru.

“No slaver is going to try hold shinobi. They’re more trouble than they're worth,” said Kiba with a nasty smile. “Just ask the fang twins.”

“There was no way these fools were Kurokaze,” snapped Temari. “I fought the Kurokaze three years ago. Sixteen Black Wind shinobi should have torn the jonin corps apart. It is not possible true members of the Kurokaze would have been beaten by a bunch of genin.”

“Ichisui said the red haired attacker said something about wanting them for a purpose ‘too terrible to mention,’” Sasuke’s voice rose up from where he was leaning against the wall. “I agree with Temari, if they wanted him, no Kurokaze would have stopped to have a chat with him when they could have grabbed him outright. That also doesn’t sound much like hostages to me.” He frowned and pushed himself off the wall. “What has really been bothering me are the powers some of these shinobi were displaying.” He pointed up to Naruto. “This winged kunoichi with the scales and the lightning. I can think of one shinobi who was experimenting with things like that. Kabuto Yakushi.”

“Kabuto’s dead Sasuke,” said Kakashi quietly. “I’m certain of it.”

“How certain?” Sasuke spat back. “Because my son just gave me a fairly convincing description of his handiwork. She had animal characteristics and was able to use her lightning jutsu without the need for any handsigns. That sounds like she was a chimera cooked up in a lab. Trust me, I should know. I’m also quite sure that my family would be on Kabuto’s short list for revenge.”

“There is no way it can be Kabuto, Sasuke,” said Kakashi firmly. “He’s dead. Trust me. Anko cut off his head, while I raikiri-ed his heart. Then just to make sure, she poisoned his corpse with three separate poisons of her own devising, chopped up his body into little, tiny pieces, doused them in oil, and set them on fire. She was hoping to gather what was left of his ashes and dump them in a volcano, but there wasn’t anything left other than a greasy stain on the tunnel floor. My wife wanted to be very thorough.”

“There’s no way someone like the kunoichi Sasuke-san described came from the Hidden Sand village,” mumbled Temari. “There’s now way any of them did. No one from the Land of Wind has jutsu like those. Maybe the weapons came from Suna, but the shinobi certainly didn’t.”

Kakashi cleared his throat. “Let’s leave the topic of the weapons for a moment and continue talking about the abilities of the attackers.” He flipped through his notes. “We have the pale woman, referred to as Shiro, the skinny strongman, Ao, the winged kunoichi, Murasaki, and the mystery man, Aku.” He put down his papers and looked up. “Let’s start with the kunoichi called Shiro. Both Hishyota Uzumaki-Hyuga and Hana Uchiha testified that she used some sort of mind control jutsu. Ino Akimichi testified that she sucks out chakra, and Jiraiya Uzumaki-Hyuga also said as much.”

“Personally,” said Shikamaru shifting in his seat, “I was much more concerned by the part where Hana Uchiha said she shoved a genjutsu strong enough to kill someone three times over through her skull and she just got up and walked away.” He leaned over the table, glanced at his wife, and then looked at Kakashi. “If you combine getting up from things that should have killed you with constantly spouting religious stuff like that skinny guy was, I begin to worry about Jashinists... I’d hate to think that cult has reformed.”

Kakashi made a note on his paper. “There were no rituals, and no Jashinist symbols seen anywhere on the attackers, but it might be worth looking into.”He pulled out a fresh piece of paper. “Regarding the Shinobi known as Ao, everyone who fought that thin shinobi agreed that he was very strong.” Kakashi paused and leaned towards Shikamaru. “I even have one report here that says: ‘His strength was at least at level 9000! Maybe even higher,” he said with much amusement.

Shikamaru sighed and covered his eyes. “I’d apologize for my son, but I know you are all secretly enjoying this.”

Kakashi coughed politely. “Anyway, thankfully he was strong, but not very skilled in taijutsu. Might Guy was easily a match for him. With Ino Akimichi backing him up it wasn’t even a contest. However both Ino and Karua Nara indicated that he recognized them and taunted them with information that only someone who lived in Konoha could know.”

“Yeah, there’s a shock. They’re spying on us too,” grumbled Konohamaru.

“Lastly there is Aku. Our red haired mystery man who has sealed so much chakra inside himself,” Kakashi stopped talking and looked up expectantly at Ookami.

“The man was immune to every form of taijutsu, weapon and ninjutsu that Hishyoni Hyuga, Ichisui Uchiha, Sarutobi-san, and myself threw at him,” Ookami said quietly. “He could move faster than almost anything I’ve seen. The amount of power he had inside him was awe inspiring.”

Silence settled over the hall. “Has anyone heard of anything like that?”  Naruto called out. “Anyone?”

“I have,” called out Konohamaru in an amused voice. “Maybe he’s a jinchuriki like you boss!”

“Don’t be stupid Konohamaru,” groaned Shikamaru. “There are only two of the tailed beasts left. Both Naruto and Bee-san are accounted for. You can’t make jinchuriki any more if there are no more tailed beasts!”

Naruto glanced up and over at Sasuke, who was studiously trying to avoid his glance. “That... might not actually be true,” said Naruto slowly. A cold silence wrapped around the few remaining people in the hall. “Well, the beasts themselves can’t be killed, so after we defeated the Ten tails it could be possible their chakra will re-from, and then ‘hey presto’ they’ll be back again.”

“Is that what the Nine tails said would happen?” asked Konohamaru.

Naruto hesitated. “Kurama... doesn’t... know what will happen. Nobody does. This sort of thing hasn’t ever happened before.” Sasuke looked up at Naruto and then quickly looked away.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a moment He had to think of the best way to get his point across while skirting the truth... Well two truths really... The first was that Kurama hadn’t spoken to him once in these past three years. The second reason was that there might actually be more jinchuriki...  But he and Sasuke agreed never to speak about that.

The Sixth Hokage took a deep breath. “I’ve seen other beasts sealed within people before.” He waved a hand in Sasuke’s direction. “Both Sasuke and I encountered someone who had a spirit sealed away inside them during that Land of Sky attack. It doesn't necessarily have to be some sort of tailed beast. In fact, I really hope that it isn’t.” He opened his eyes. “However, since this guy does seem to be awfully jinchuriki-like, we should probably prepare for the worst and treat him as such.”

Shikamaru shrugged. “Okay, if you insist... but it’s only going to make things more of a drag for us though.”

“What do you mean?” asked Konohamaru.

Shikamaru sighed. “Do you know how much chaos the emergence of new jinchuriki would cause in the Five Great Nations? Right now we’ve got to deal with saboteurs in the Hidden Leaf, attacks by unknown assailants who may or may not be attached to a dead Kabuto, or Jashinists, or rogue elements from the Hidden Sand village. If you add in a possible new jinchuriki, everyone is suddenly going to get anxious that one of their neighbors has tipped the balance of power. It will sow suspicion and you’ll see a lot of other preparations for war ’just in case’. This in turn will spiral into even more warmongering.”

“Don’t forget those mystery tags,” interrupted Kiba. “They’re what called this meeting together in the first place.”

“Right... the tags,” groaned Naruto. “Any progress on those?”

Kakashi flipped through his briefing. “Nothing new. They are still a mystery. The best guess the analysis team has is that they are an incomplete summoning tag.”

“I guess we’d better go solve some mysteries then,” said Naruto. “It sounds like we have a lot of work to get done.” He stood.

“After we finish the meeting with the council,” reminded Shikamaru.

Naruto cringed and sank back down into his seat. “Dammit,” he murmured. “I almost forgot about that.”

“You want me to wait before we open the doors?” Shikamaru asked. “We could stall the meeting for a little bit longer if you need it?”

Naruto briskly rubbed his hands and stood again. “I’m as ready as I’ll ever be to meet up with that bunch of jackals. Let them in. The less time we waste on this garbage now, the more time we’ll have to do important things later on.”