The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #4

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Land of Fire

–Kenta Akimichi–

He took in a deep breath, somehow struck with emotions as the sight of Konoha assaulted him with past memories, memories he had spent the past 15 years dealing with. It was a little different, much bigger than it was when he last stepped foot in it, and there was now a new addition to the Hokage Rock.

The fall of the Yondaime was a big surprise to him, the seemingly infallible man to fall, not against an army with multiple S-class shinobi after him but due to a fight inside the village, which was another surprise to him.

He was surprised as to why he was called, only after the fight had ravaged part of Konha. After all, Sarutobi had assured him multiple times that the only reason he was never used, never given any mission, was because he was to be the trump card of Konoha, one of the last defenses, to be the ugly surprise for any enemy dumb and powerful/lucky enough to reach Konoha.

The kunai was enough of a marker to showcase authenticity and the letter was authentic. He still had no idea what had happened but last he heard, Konoha was thriving, the Yondaime had a flee on sight order and Konoha was the mightiest Village. 

Taking a deep breath, he jumped, high up, and exhaled as a moment of stillness was all that was necessary for markings to appear on his face, for his presence to fade around the world, as if he was just a part of Nature and not another individual entity.

He heard the ANBU gasp behind him, probably recognising the marks of a Sage, as Jiraiya’s facial changes and his dislike towards them were a well-known phenomenon in the shinobi community. It was good that Jiraiya was a formidable shinobi even without tapping into his Sage Mode, else people might have targeted that slight vulnerability.

The moment he opened his closed eyes, his senses exploded, taking in data a dozen times faster than before. His eyesight marked by someone standing on top of the Hokage Rock, looking straight at him. He smiled slightly as his form blurred, bypassing the village entirely before landing right behind Hiruzen Sarutobi, kicking a cloud of dust, lightly throwing the shinobi behind him.

The ANBU landed lightly on his feet before turning around and kneeling in front of his Kage, reporting the success of his mission. He did no such thing as Sarutobi waved off the ANBU, leaving just the two of them on the Hokage Rock.

Both of them said nothing as he walked next to Sarutobi, joining him in looking over the village, the village that was the dream of the Shodaime Hokage, the dream that was successfully executed by the Nidaime Hokage.

He just never expected someone to have the nerve or the audacity to ever reach the hearts of Konoha and use that to assassinate their Kage. Even now, he could see the efforts being taken to restore and rebuild the demolished parts of Konoha.

He could see large holes in the ground, with multiple shinobi working to excavate the remains of a bunker from the ground, to presumably rebuild or relocate the bunker somewhere else because that location was now exposed.

“Is that the Nine Tails?” He asked, pointing at the southern corner of Konoha.

Hiruzen regarded his face, specifically the Sage Markings on them but instead of commenting on them, simply chose to answer his question, “Yes, that is where the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails lives. I must warn you, though, the identity of the Jinchuriki is a forbidden secret.”

“I see. Much weaker than I thought. Nowhere near as strong as the Eight Tails Jinchuriki, though the well of chakra is as unfathomably deep as he expected it to be.”

Sarutobi sighed and deflected the topic, “I am glad to see you back in the village,” After taking a beat, he continued, “I never knew you were capable of tapping into Sage Mode.”

“The Yondaime knew. He helped me progress further, though I am far from reaching even Jiraiya’s level, let alone Yondaime’s.”

“Ah,” Hiruzen said before turning back to look at the village once more, “Figures. It would take a Sage to recognise another Sage.”

He did not bother correcting the man. The truth of the matter was that neither he nor Jiraiya could actually be called Sages, not true and complete ones anyway. The Yondaime was the one who had gotten closest, if his theory was correct but the man was ripped away from them before he could become a Sage and an even bigger problem for the other Great Villages.

The only one he could call a True Sage would be Shodaime-sama, Hashirama Senju, his distant relative. The ability to tap into Natural Energy, in an instant, whilst having normal mobility and the ability to continue tapping into said Natural Energy for extended periods of time without any ill effects.

That was someone who could be called a True Sage.

He and Jiraiya both had incomplete parts of the same puzzle. He could tap into Natural Energy in an instant, but for that to happen, he needed to be absolutely still, even if for only a moment, drastically reducing its usability in prolonged combat.

Jiraiya could tap into Natural Energy whilst moving, but only with the help of the Frog Sages, increasing his combat usage. Jiraiya could maintain his pool of Natural Energy for much longer while he could not. He was making steady progress but he estimated that it would take him decades more to match Jiiraiya’s current duration.

3 minutes. He noted mentally, as the Natural Energy slipped away from his chakra network, returning him his regular senses and with it, a lethargic feeling that was swept away in an instant, by the chakra properties of the Zero Tails.

“So, how did the Yondaime die? Inside the village no less? What were you all doing?” There was definitely a note of accusation in his voice. While he knew that there was no future in sight that would have him return home, he was happy enough with the fact that with Minato at the helm, Konoha would remain at the top for a generation or two at the very least, which was ample time for multiple powerhouses to emerge from Konoha’s clans.

Konoha has never had a lack of talented powerhouses. No other village had the sheer number of powerful shinobi as Konoha did but now?

Yondaime was gone. Sakumo Hatake killed himself. Tsunade was all but a deserter. Jiraiya was busy with his spy network. Orochimaru had turned traitor. That left only a single powerful shinobi in the village, the Third Hokage.

“So, I assume Tsunade rejected your request to come back?” He said out loud as both of them jumped from the Hokage Rock, heading to the Hokage Tower for the next part of their meeting, the part that could not be said in the open.

“Sadly, yes.” Hmm. That confirmed things.

Still, he had some questions. Questions that arose from his sensing abilities, amplified manifold when he tapped into Sage Mode and he was not sure if he would like the answer to some of them.

___xx___

–Hokage Rock–

“The Yondaime died sealing the Nine Tails?” He scoffed openly at that, drawing Sarutobi’s ire. Before the Third Hokage could explode on him, he explained.

“Listen to me. I know that the Nine Tails is strong, stronger than the rest combined. Even so, it should have been child’s play for Minato to remove the Nine-Tails from the Village and then eventually wear it down long enough for Minato to seal it safely. There must be something else that had bogged him down for the backlash to kill him.”

Sarutobi’s mouth clicked shut as he explained his reasoning, which was completely sound. Unless it was someone, and that someone would have to be very powerful to become a useful distraction for someone like Minato, he would not have had to resort to forbidden jutsus to seal the Nine Tails.

It was common sense. He was not lying when he claimed that with Minato at the helm, no one, no Jinchuriki, perfect or otherwise, no Kage, nothing could come in his way. The man was a monster, a monster of their own.

Realising that hiding stuff was not going to work on him, Sarutobi opened his mouth and laid down his suspicions as to what could have happened that night.

“Sharingan?” He mused out loud, closing his eyes, drawing in Natural Energy in that single moment of stillness. He did not need much, just enough to sense something.

With his eyes closed, he declared decisively, “I can tell you with absolute certainty that the strongest Uchiha in the village is in that direction,” He pointed towards the shinobi, likely the clan head, “And even then, he is not strong enough to do what you said he did. For someone to put the Nine Tails in a genjutsu... that is said to be the stuff of legends. The last one to do so would be–”

“Madara Uchiha, yes, I know. The person you probably sensed was Fugaku Uchiha, the Clan Head, and yes, I don’t believe he was the one responsible for the mess but you have to understand, everyone has seen the Sharingan in the eye of the Nine Tails. The people demand answers.”

“Then give them one. Tell them that if someone as strong as Madara wanted to attack and destroy Konoha, they would need very little effort to do so because as strong as we think we are, we are no match for someone who regularly fought the Shodaime on equal grounds.”

Sarutobi sighed but he could tell that the man was not convinced of his reasoning. Oh well, he was the Hokage and his word was law.

“We will talk about this later. For now, I want you to ingratiate yourself with the village. We will be announcing your return to the shinobi community tomorrow and to the wider world, after the State Funeral. It has been a long time since you’ve been home, I hope you will like it.”

He nodded, “Thank you.” And took the dismissal and left the Hokage Rock, not satisfied with the half answers he received. He needed more and he had a hunch that he was not going to get them until he met Jiraiya, who was coming to the Jounin meeting tomorrow.