The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #5

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!

Hokage Rock, Konoha, Land of Fire

–Kenta Akimichi–

With nothing else to do, he came back to the one place with the best view of Konoha. Sitting cross legged, he ignored his ANBU tail and slipped back into Sage Mode, a picture of perfect stillness combined with calm breathing, resulting in Sage Markings appearing on his face and his chakra network fading into the background, indistinguishable, unless you had a Doujutsu or were a high level sensor.

His sensory range, already above average before he ended up becoming a host of the Zero Tails, had now grown exponentially, and Sage Mode only amplified that. So, it was not an exaggeration to say that he could cover most of Konoha with his sensory range. Granted, he could not perceive every single thing at once, no, that would require the brain of a clan a dozen times better than the best Nara’s.

What he could do however, was scan the village for anomalies. The strongest chakra signatures popped up on his network easily enough, with most of them surrounded by moderately strong Chakra networks, with some surrounded by Chakra natures of the same flavour.

It was easy enough to recognize clusters of different clans, with the Uchiha clan’s fire nature being pointed out more aggressively by his senses. But that was not something that was new. Clans have always had independent compounds, and a certain proclivity towards chakra natures.

No, what interested him the most was something else. The Hokage Tower, being the former seat of power of Minato, the Fujinjutsu expert of Konoha, was unreadable to him, even with his Sage sensing. That was to be expected, as was the same unreadability from the Hyuga clan compound.

Their Doujutsu being what it was, it was expected for them to have something to block Peeping Toms, though it was nowhere near as opaque as the wall around the Hokage Tower. T&I chambers, along with the hidden ANBU tower, also had the same restriction but none of them were stronger than the one on the Hokage Tower.

What he did not expect was another chamber, hidden deeper underground, more than he would have expected it to be, covered in a barrier that made it just as opaque as the one in the Hokage Tower, which made him very curious to be honest.

Maybe some sort of secret experimental hub for the Kage?

Shaking his head, he moved on, to the next target of his search.

The Jinchuriki of the Nine Tails.

He was not a fool to blindly follow Sarutobi’s orders. Minato had died sealing the Nine Tails, meaning the last Jinchuriki was dead and the chakra signature he was getting was the new Jinchuriki.

With what he knew about the Nine Tails and its sheer corrosive chakra, the Nine Tails had to be sealed into a much younger shinobi, a necessity, because older people with completely developed chakra networks would not be able to sustain the Nine Tails’ chakra.

What made him curious about the whole thing was the weakness of the chakra. Peering past the overbearing chakra of the Nine Tails, he could see the underlying chakra, protected by the seal, being very weak. 

Weaker than even an academy stu–

His eyes snapped open, his gaze wide eyed as he looked at the southern part of Konoha, stunned at what he was sensing. Not wasting any time, he leaped off the ground so hard it cratered a bit, soaring through the sky as he headed to the location of the Jinchuriki, Sarutobi’s orders be damned.

Using the Nature  Chakra, he could remain buoyant in the air for a while as he reached his intended location. The second he lightly landed on top of a power pole, an ANBU flashed next to the rooftop, already warning him.

“Cease this course of action! Leave the location. I repeat, this is a S-class secret, and failure to comply,” He side eyed the ANBU and his eyes widened a bit as he saw the signature white hair peeking out of the head of the tiny ANBU. 

He waved him off, “Leave me be. I have no intention of doing anything, just observation. Also, tell Sarutobi that we need to talk.”

He could tell that Sakumo’s kid, Kakashi, if he was remembering correctly, wanted to say more but thought better and left with a body flicker, leaving him alone as he watched a blond kid, born with far too much responsibility in this world.

Minato, what have you done?

_____xx_____

It was night now, and he was in the same position as before, keeping a watch on Minato’s kid, because who else could it be? He had discreetly looked through the records and found out that the kid's name was Naruto Uzumaki. He did not have red hair but there were records of Uzumaki who did not have red hair, so he could see how Naruto would be Minato’s kid.

The last time they met, Minato was in a long term relationship with a pure blooded Uzumaki girl, and connecting the dots, he could tell that the previous Jinchuriki was Minato’s wife, Naruto’s mother.

He sighed, sagging at the shittiness of the whole situation, so much so that he didn’t even reach much when Sarutobi appeared behind him, on the rooftop. “Done observing?”

Instead of answering, he presented his thoughts, something he knew Sarutobi must have thought about a lot as well, “So, Minato could have done everything without dying?” 

People become fools when they are in love. Love that can easily turn into rage and resentment, clouding their judgement at the time. Minato did not seem like the type of person who would easily lose his temper but if the situation involved his dying wife and newly born son, well, he could see the man taking rash steps to win at all costs.

Sarutobi sighed, the weight of all the responsibility falling down on his shoulders at an advanced age was evident, “Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know for sure. As far as I can tell, Kushina, the previous Jinchuriki, was dying and Minato could have done something else but that would not have guaranteed a new Jinchuriki for Konoha.”

The distaste was clear as day in his voice, a sharp contrast to the darkness all around them, the street lighting not yet  cleared properly for this area, “So he chose his own son?”

Sarutobi sighed and didn't even bother defending him, or calling him out on how he got the information that was supposedly S-class secret. “I have no answers for you, Kenta. The best I can do is keep moving forward. The village doesn’t have the capacity to get to the root  of this and work on mending the damage done.”

He nodded as that was true. “Very well. I will look into it. Arrange a meeting with the Uchiha Clan Head soon, then, we can get to the bottom of the mysterious Uchiha strong enough to control the Nine Tails. Because if someone like that exists and has an agenda against Konoha, we must know and prepare for them.”

Sarutobi nodded as he flashed out of the area, into the woods. He did not have his own quarters assigned yet, and to be honest, after over a decade of living in the woods, he felt more at home in the woods than in houses.

More and more information was being revealed to him about that ugly night and it only left him with more and more questions instead of answers. 

One thing was for certain, though, Konoha had never been as weak as it was today, with the Jinchurki, usually Konoha’s biggest deterrent, a mere babe only days old.

A show of power was looking more and more like a necessity, just like Saruobi predicted.

He might just have to don the Senju Last name as it was the best way morale could be uplifted across the village. The Senju name still carried a lot of weight with it and if Tsunade refused to come back, even during such a crisis, the onus fell on him to do the needful.

He sighed and lay down on the ground, just outside of Konoha’s walls, looking at the clear night sky. Out of habit, he stilled for a moment, Nature Energy seeping into his body and began doing a clean sweep of the surroundings around him, freezing slightly as he felt something or rather, someone sneaking through the underground passages, with a rather unique chakra signature.

Smiling slightly, he let the Nature Energy bleed away, dulling his senses as he rolled around and went to sleep.

It would seem that Tsunade Senju was not a worthless shinobi just yet. Though the weaker chakra signature, around that of a Chunin, made him curious.

Questions for tomorrow.