The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #9

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed

Disclaimer - I don’t own anything. As the corporations say these days, you will own nothing & be happy. I don't, and have never claimed to, own Naruto or any of its characters. With that out of the way, let’s goooo!

Konoha, Land of Fire

–Kenta Akimichi–

He stood right behind Sarutobi, as the man sat on a chair that was akin to a throne, waiting for all the Jounins present in the village to shuffle in. Most of the Clan Heads were already present, and seated, with Jounins from all clans as well as civilians slowly shuffling in.

Everyone, including the Clan Heads, shot curious glances at him, no doubt wondering who he was but considering that the Hokage himself was not addressing it, they probably let it all go.

Their plan was to introduce him as a  Senju who went into hiding right after the destruction of the Land of Sky, with the excuse being that he had to go into hiding to learn Sage Mode. Learn was going to be the operative word here because he had not mastered Sage Mode in any meaningful way.

Any questions about his prolonged absence in Konoha, and all of its shinobi circles would be sidestepped by the fact that he was naturally a recluse and would go out of his way to reduce any interactions. 

Everyone in the room would know that they were lying and there was some other reason for his absence but realistically, the Jounins were not going to care about that, as long as it was someone vetted by the Hokage and was strong enough in this trying period.

After all, despite Konoha’s approach of the Hokage being approachable and agreeable to most of the people’s worries, Sarutobi was the Kage and his word was law, however reluctant the people might have been.

He noted the lack of Danzo, or any of Sarutobi’s advisory council that held more power than some Clan Heads in the meeting and wondered if they perished in the battle against the Nine-Tails?

As if a hidden alarm had rung, the doors to the meeting room closed with an air of finality as the room was now sparsely occupied with Jounins. The Nine Tails attack really did a number on the village's forces.

Konoha never really had the raw numbers to compete with the other villages, instead focusing on quality over quantity, usually. That got them more S-class nins than every other village, sometimes combined even. Alas, that also meant that far fewer shinobi had to die in Konoha, than in Iwa, for the Village to become significantly more vulnerable than before.

Counting the number of people here, he could only see about 70 Jounins here, with maybe 30 more on long term missions, giving Konoha a grant total of about 100 Jounins, which also involved all the Clan Heads.

Give or take, about 30 more Special Jounins.

Great.

When he left, Konoha had about 200 active Jounins with about 50 more Special Jounins. 

He was brought out of his reverie by Sarutobi who began the meeting with a sigh, and said, “Does anyone know where he is?”

___xx____

Apparently, Hatake’s brat was late, on purpose as the meeting finally began after everyone was in the meeting hall.

Saurotobi began the meeting with a heavy note, pointing out the casualty figures, the inevitable retirement of shinobi because of heavy wounds, property damage and loss in revenue, along with mission losses due to shinobi being recalled from their missions.

Then, the State Funeral for next week was announced, along with a welfare program for the children or the family members of any shinobi who died on duty, and more. Even for civilian deaths, something was there. 

As he added benefit after benefit, he was standing there left wondering about how the hell Konoha was going to afford all of this? It would only be a realistic promise if the Daimyo just outright granted the village any funding that they asked for, which would be a fool’s errand because if the Daimyo were known for one thing, it was stinginess when it came to money and control using money.

The concept of control using power did not register in their mindset because according to all Daimyos, their Hidden Village and their Kage was theirs to control, not realising that their ruling structure was only enforced by a loose agreement about Kage not touching the Daimyo.

Once that was done, Sarutobi moved onto the next piece on the agenda, “As many of you might have seen that day, the Nine Tails’ eyes had–”

His neck snapped towards the door as it was snapped open, with Danzo standing at the door. His gaze narrowed as it was attracted to the bandages on the man’s right arm and his right eye. 

He didn’t want to be inappropriate and draw Nature Energy right now but his sensory skills told him absolutely nothing about what was under those bandages, as if it was completely blocking out everything.

Something was wrong with that arm. He resisted the urge to still and enter Sage Mode because of his curiosity.

Everyone looked at Danzo, with Sarutobi’s displeasure not hidden at all by the interruption. The source of the interruption however looked straight at Sarutobi and began walking towards them.

“I apologise for my tardiness,” Danzo began, “Somebody forgot the invitation to the Hokage Council.”

He saw Sarutobi’s fists clench at the brazen barging in but apparently, the man was softer than ever, because he let Danzo’s slight go, as the man stood to Sarutobi’s left as Kenta stood at the right.

Sarutobi exhaled before continuing, “As I was saying before….”

Meanwhile, he was trying to see if he could get anything from Danzo’s arms in close range but the result was the same. It was some sort of advanced fuinjutsu that blocked any sensory measure.

While Sarutobi was sitting and speaking, his hands caught on his hand, which gave him hidden instructions.

“The reports of a member of the Uchiha clan being responsible for the attack are unverified and they should be taken as such. We have already begun investigating the–”

Danzo opened his mouth, likely to retort or interrupt Sarutobi but his jaw clicked shut as he exerted pressure on Danzo, a jutsu or rather a natural technique of the zero Tails he had mastered.

The ability to press down using the weight of negative emotions on a single shinobi. It was very accurate in close range so Danzo was currently feeling all sorts of negative emotions the Zero Tails had eaten in the past decade and a half that he had it.

He side eyed the man who was suddenly covered in sweat before letting the pressure go, making Danzo glare at him with his one good eye. He did not rise to the bait as he kept his attention on the Uchiha Clan head, who was actually just a Jounin, with his chakra levels staying otherwise.

Not Kage yet but most definitely Elite Jounin levels. Even if the clan head had three tomoe Sharingan, the man should be able to fight most S-class powerhouses to a draw, provided they were not the Kages.

The Uchiha were never really chakra powerhouses, so a Senju and a Uchiha with similar chakra reserves would never be the same strength level, especially if the Uchiha had already awakened the Sharingan and progressed it to higher levels, not without employing special techniques created by the Nidaime Hokage made specifically to counter the Uchiha’s Sharingan.

The Uchiha Clan head was obviously relieved, immensely so, to be temporarily absolved of all blame, until the investigation is complete.

“With all of that said, I would like to add that the only known historical record of someone else controlling the Nine Tails was Madara Uchiha.”

The name was uttered with a slight awe and reverence to it, which was warranted. After all, the man was the only known shinobi in Konoha’s history to have awakened the Nine Tails and to have fought the Shodaime Hokage with it, pushing Hashirama-sama to use the highest level of Sage Jutsu.

“I would like for everyone to keep in mind that there is no such individual with that level of strength in the Uchiha Clan, no, in all of Konoha. If someone of that strength were to target Konoha, believe me when I say this, no one other than the Yondaime would have had a chance of escaping alive.”

There were whisperers in the room, obviously, with curious glances shot at the Uchiha Clan head who remained silent and calm under the stares, only briefly nodding at the Hokage who returned the nod.

Sarutobi, ignored the whispers and continued, “Now that the bad news is out of the way, I would like to move on to some good news. Let me introduce or reintroduce you to Senju Kenta.”

Wow, just like that? No explanations? Nothing?

He took a step forward, nodded at everyone and stepped back.

He did not have a speech prepared and if he tried to speak, he would just insert awkwardness in the situation so he might as well keep quiet.

Sarutobi cleared his throat before continuing, “He has been on a long term mission for the past 15 years, so most of you might now know him but know this, he is a dependable shinobi and will be of immense help to Konoha, especially in the current trying times.”

The Uchiha clan head was eyeing him with curiosity, and he wondered if the man had tried to take a peek with his Sharingan. The Yondaime had checked for the need of a seal on the Zero Tails but had concluded that haphazardly doing anything now would just complicate stuff, especially since he was dabbling in Nature Energy at the time, which complicated everything.