Mokuton Root Agent #15

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Mokuton Root Agent

Chapter 15

Konoha Military Garrison, smoked Crater

–Choza Akimichi–

He was supposed to be at the clan compound, with his wife and family, reassuring them and resting for the big day tomorrow but sleep was the last thing on his mind.

For some reason, the scene of carnage that greeted him when he stumbled on Minato’s and Kushina’s corpses came to his mind. The Sandaime was already there and cradling little Naruto when he arrived at the site with one of his arms missing and the other one having its wrist cut off. Holding off the Kyuubi until it was taken out of the village had taken its toll on his body, necessitating amputating an entire arm and the wrist on the other arm.

He could have taken a rest when he had become successful in actually pulling back the Kyuubi at the right moment which made sure that it didn’t trample that young shinobi who was protecting an old couple but he had refused to do so. Even when his body started shutting down due to the overdose of their own pills, his mind kept going.

On that day, as his body finally gave out and he fell to his knees in front of the crying Sandaime-sama, he vowed to never let something like that happen again. He vowed to never be so weak so as to be caught so off guard that the only thing he could do was hold back the enemy long enough to save a few people and then lose his precious friend and leader.

Ever since then, he had been training so hard. Tsunade’s temporary return to the village allowed him to have one arm back to full functionality and he had learned to make do with a prosthetic for the other arm but even then, after all that training, he had yet to make the leap into Kage level shinobi territory. Even after exhausting his body and going through all the means possible, the best he could do was fight on the level of an Elite Jounin without possibly dying due to the overuse of the 8 Gates Technique.

The only way he could fight off a Kage-level shinobi right now is by opening the 7th or the 8th gate and even then he was not sure that he would survive opening them, let alone fighting off somebody while concentrating on keeping his chakra stable. No, the honor of being able to fight while maintaining the technique goes to Gai and Gai alone.

So, even after all that effort, not being able to help protect the village when the time came was disheartening. Even more disheartening was the fact that Fugaku managed to make the leap and become a Kage-level Shinobi before him. Sure, their vaunted Doujutsu probably helped but he knew many Uchiha who had fully matured Sharingan but were stuck at the Jonin level.

So, there he was, standing on the edge of the hole that the explosion that made in the earth.

It was honestly very deep and the thought of something like that exploding in the middle of the village or Sage forbid, in the middle of a clan compound would surely spell the end for that clan. Danzo sure had a twisted way of safeguarding his equipment.

He didn’t think Danzo would live long once Sandaime-sama gained consciousness. He often said in their meetings that the son he was proudest of was Shinnosuke, the strongest member of their clan after him. Losing his wife and then losing his son would surely drain whatever patience Sandaime-sama had with Danzo.

Sighing, he extinguished the cigarette he was smoking and was about to head back to the clan compound when he heard a faint whistling sound coming. It was accompanied by an echo of some sort. He could also hear faint screaming coming from the crater.

His eyes widened immensely when he recognized the voice and without a moment of hesitation, he jumped into the incredibly deep dark hole but not without sending a signal for Inoichi and the others to follow.

As he was falling down, he saw a faint white light followed by the sound of something hitting the ground with a thudding sound.

As he neared the ground, he saw something in the shape of a person groaning in pain. Whatever it was, it was smoking. Seeing the hitai-ate on the person’s forehead only made him work faster to get the person out of the hole.

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–Jiraiya of the Sannin–

He had been having an ominous feeling for the entire day before he was reverse summoned by Fukasaku to the Mount Myōboku. He was already on his way back to the village due to the ominous feeling but he was never reverse summoned to Mount Myōboku unless it was important so he allowed the summoning to take him.

With a flash and a disorienting feeling he had long learned to shake off, he turned to Fukasaku who was looking at him with an intensity he had never seen before. The dread in his stomach intensified at that.

“Come, the Great Sage is waiting for you.” Yeah, that did not sound ominous at all. With a heavy heart, he entered the vaunted chambers of the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku, Fukasaku remaining outside as only the ones invited were allowed inside.

Fukasaku stood guard outside not because it was needed as anybody foolish enough to strike in the heart of the Mountain would find themselves swiftly dead but because he had never seen the Great Sage look that distressed and he had especially never heard of him calling for a shinobi of all people to meet him urgently. It was a regular morning as he had just finished eating the tasty maggot breakfast that Shima had made for him when he felt the signal that the Great Honourable Geezer used whenever he needed something or other brought to him. He had gone into the chamber expecting another alcohol order only to come face to face with a visibly distressed Great Toad Sage who kept asking for Jiraiya boy again and again. His distress sent his stress levels rising and he immediately went outside the chamber and reverse summoned Jiraiya boy.

As he was lost in his thoughts, Jiraiya exited the chambers of the Great Toad Sage and the foreboding depression on his face only served to increase the dread he was feeling inside.

Just what had the Great Toad Sage told Jiraiya for him to become this tense?

“Pa, I’ll be heading out. Something important is happening in Konoha and my sensei is going to need me.” he told Fukasaku and without listening to his reply, immediately reverse-summoned himself out of Mount Myoboku.

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–Fugaku Uchiha–

Sitting on top of the Hokage Monument, he had an eagle-eye view of the entirety of the village. Doing so while being on the outskirts of the village allowed him the mental headspace to think and process all the events that happened today.

He knew it was inevitable that he would have to tell someone about his Mangekyou Sharingan but he just thought that the first person he would be telling about it would be his wife, Mikoto. Oh god, Mikoto was going to kill him when she found out that he told somebody else before her. Nara Shikaku truly was a smart man. He had figured it out before he could even come out and say anything. The events of the night had left him feeling utterly drained as he had felt a roller coaster of emotions after learning of Sandaime-sama’s actions and then the direct consequences of his actions that led to the loss of Shinnosuke. Honestly, the only reason he was not on his way to Danzo’s prison cell to execute him was he knew that the only person who had the right to do so now was the Sandaime-sama.

Shaking his head to get rid of those thoughts, he looked over the village horizon as the first golden rays of the sun peeked through the clouds, signalling the beginning of a new dawn for the village hidden in the leaves. A Dawn that could, depending on the news he would receive through the course of the day, herald a new golden era for his clan or signal the untimely decline of their beloved village. Preferably, the first option.

As he was about to head back to the clan compound to explain the situation to Mikoto and freshen up for the many many meetings he had ahead of himself when a small fire jutsu sent up an arrow-shaped fire construct into the air just above the hole that the explosion had made.

He narrowed his eyes in confusion as his Sharingan activated. A moment later, he was gone, leaping from the Hokage monument on his way to the garrison, the ANBU hot on his trail.

“Get a medic there, ASAP,” he ordered one of the ANBUs following him who nodded and left towards the medical ward of Konoha. Meanwhile, “Call for Nara Shikaku and Inoichi Yamanaka immediately. Also, have the barrier corpse Fuinjutsu Captains meet me at the explosion site,” he ordered the rest of the ANBU who were following him. He did that because through the Sharingan, he saw Choza leaping down the hole, and at the bottom of the hole, he saw an extremely weak chakra network. A chakra network he was intimately familiar with.

The chakra network of Shinnosuke Sarutobi, the Monkey Butcher of Konoha.

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Word Count - 1606