'Normal Speech'

'Thoughts/flashback'

'Bijuu/Summons/Gamer'

'Bijuu/Summons Thoughts'

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, The Gamer, or any series for that matter. If I did I sure as hell wouldn't be writing fanfiction for your amusement. Another thing to note is that I don't want to spend any of my precious minutes coming up with new creative and funny disclaimers to post here so I'll be copying this one and pasting it on every chapter. I've got better things to do with my time, like reading fanfiction, writing fanfiction, eating, doing work, working out, etc. you get the idea.

Author's Note: I'm sorry for the delay on the final, tenth chapter I promised, but there was a lot going on. Please check out my Bio for a more in-depth explanation. Anyway, I tried to finish up the chapter because as I mentioned before, it was only 75% complete. I hope it isn't too bad and please do check out my profile to find out whats up. I'm actually wondering though, what is the best way to keep you guys updated? I'm not sure if you guys get notifications when I update my Bio, so if you don't please let me know how I can best let you guys know what's up. Without further ado, chapter 10.

Chapter 10

January 1, Year 2008 of the Shinobi Calendar. 12:00 P.M. Council Chambers

Everything was deathly silent, not even the slightest whisper of sound could be heard from the occupants of the room. Everyone's breath seemed to still and there were serious and/or worried gazes on the faces of the occupants. You could tell simply from the grave atmosphere that the subject matter was not at all light.

"You all know why you have gathered here today." The Hokage started, casting his gaze towards all the inhabitants of the council chamber. His gaze lingered on one red-headed individual, in particular, standing in a corner, for a barely noticeable moment before retracting. "Last night an extremely unfortunate event occurred that caused one of our village's prided clans to fall."

Almost everyone took a unanimous glance at the empty council seat where the now deceased Fugaku Uchiha used to sit and at the same time, the atmosphere became even more intense. The Third Hokage interlaced his fingers while placing his elbows on top of the table as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"This was not how it was supposed to happen but there was no other option." He thought as he recalled the report he had received from Itachi after he had completed the deed. Originally Hiruzen hoped to only get rid of the coup leaders as even though this course of action seared his heart, he knew there were few if any, other options, however even this would not have made the situation better.

While Hiruzen had never told Itachi to massacre his entire clan, the old man knew that the boy was smart enough to understand why simply killing the coup leaders would have made the situation worse. As far as the general civilian populace and the other Villages was concerned, the Uchiha clan and Konoha were on good terms as they were completely unaware of the coup the Uchiha had been planning. In this way, it would have made Konoha look bad in everyone's eyes if they staged an "unprovoked" assault on one of their clans.

This would have sent a bad message to the rest of Konoha's clans and most likely the other villages could use this as propaganda in order to keep traders and merchants away from Konoha. If Itachi simply killed the leaders of the coup, however, the Uchiha clan as a whole would most likely (and correctly) assume the village was responsible and tensions would get so bad that civil war would possibly break out the next day.

There was only one course of action that would have not only kept Konoha's image intact but also would have prevented the outbreak of Civil War. That was to have someone murder the entire clan while they were sleeping while under the guise of a psychotic murderer thereby killing two birds with one stone. It just agonized the old man that this task had to be carried out by Itachi, a mere boy, a child and the part that hammered on the old man's will the most was the fact that even the little children and newborns had not been spared. The only consolation that the old man had was the fact that and there were 3 confirmed survivors of the massacre. Two who had been admitted to the hospital on the night of the massacre and one who had been admitted earlier this morning.

However what was done was done and there was nothing the old man could do that would change the past, however that did not mean that he could not change this village's future. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, would not let the sacrifice of such a young promising shinobi go in vain.

Throughout the old man's thought process, the surrounding council members had not uttered a word with the thought that the poor old Hokage had been severely affected by this event and had needed a moment to recompose himself, which was not all actually false. After a moment they noticed the old Hokage's eyes open seemingly done contemplating.

"What saddens me the most..." The Hokage started, his mind and heart aching as he mentally prepared himself for the greatest falsehood he had ever told, "...is that this horrendous act of violence was committed by one of our best and brightest ninja, Itachi Uchiha."

There was a moment of silence as both the civilian council and the shinobi council present decided not to speak. There were only 5 people in the entire room who knew the truth of the matter, Hiruzen Sarutobi, his advisors Homura and Koharu, Danzo Shimura, and lastly Naruto. The first 4 were aware that each of them knew the truth yet they were unaware that Naruto also knew.

The oppressive silence was finally broken as a Civilian Council member could no longer endure, "Then Hokage-sama." The man started, "What are we to do? If and when word of this spreads, foreign merchants and imports will stay clear of the village. Our income will suffer for weeks until this situation clears." The man was of average height and build and was relatively forgetful in the grand scheme of things, but his words carried weight. As far as the trade went, merchants would typically prefer to stay away from a village whose entire clan was murdered by a homicidal maniac, at least until the flames of internal conflict died down.

The Hokage snuck a glance at where he used to put his pipe as he felt a few puffs were well needed. The entire situation had thoroughly ruined his day and would continue to do so for weeks to come. He was having a migraine just thinking of all the paperwork he would have to complete in the coming days and already there was a pile starting to build up in his office.

And with those depressing thoughts, the old Hokage glanced at the man who had spoken and addressed his question with a sigh, "Unfortunately there is little we can do about the spread of the news but we can limit the details like the body count and the gore. All the populous needs to know is that Itachi went rogue. As for the merchants, we can make an assurance that no harm will come to them when they come to trade here as Itachi has already fled the village. There is little else we can do but calm the populous and clean up this...disaster."

The man from the Civilian Council nodded but then glanced over at the corner of the room before questioning, "I understand all of that Hokage-sama but may I ask what...he is doing here? I don't believe it's appropriate for a child to be in this meeting room." Everyone turned to where the man had been looking at and unsurprisingly noted that he had been talking about Naruto.

Truth be told everyone else had been curious about that as well. Currently present in the room were the Hokage's hidden ANBU, the Civilian Council Heads, the Shinobi Clan Heads, Danzo, Homura, Koharu and Kakashi who was an important figure in Konoha as well. All the people attending were either of high status, general importance, and/or served the Hokage directly so it was no wonder some heads were more than curious about what a young child was doing here even if said child was a jinchuuriki.

The Hokage pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about how more chaotic this predicament had become with Naruto in the mix. Only Kakashi, some doctors, Hiruzen and of course Naruto himself knew why he was here, but there was also the more than likely chance that Danzo had done some sneaking and knew as well however that was not of primary importance.

"I swear that kid makes things so much harder for me. Hashirama and Tobirama-Sensei didn't have to go through this shit while they were in office, why the hell do I?" The old man thought with a sigh. After taking a deep breath to recompose himself, he proceeded to explain, "Naruto was unfortunately present during the massacre and witnessed as Itachi struck down his parents."

The old man paused for a moment as he attempted to visualize the pain Itachi must have gone through while completing that task. He then shook his head and continued, "Fortunately he and Itachi's brother Sasuke were relatively unharmed and Mikoto Uchiha was even able to be barely saved though she is currently in critical condition."

The old man sighed again as another piece of information he remembered being given to him appeared in his mind, "The only other fortunate news is that one of our brightest Kunoichi was able to survive the massacre and is currently being evaluated by the psych ward." It wasn't that the Hokage was upset that more people had survived the massacre but it was more so that there were added variables that he now needed to account for and more importantly protect.

The old man had not wanted Itachi to go through with this plan but he knew it was the only real option. What he had not expected, however, was for Itachi to spare the lives of both his mother and Izumi if he had been so dedicated to carrying out this task. "Maybe there are other variables I don't know of." the Hokage thought, but at this point in time, there was nothing he could really do since Itachi had already left the village and the deed had already been done. The only thing he could do now was keep the surviving Uchiha safe and as far away from Danzo's hands as possible.

After gathering his thoughts on the matter at hand, the old man continued, "Now the reason Naruto is here with us is so that he can provide any first-hand information about what he witnessed." What the Hokage and some others truly wanted to know was what Naruto was doing there in the first place but he did not want to feel too direct with his questioning.

Seeing as he was currently the center of attention, Naruto mentally composed himself. It hadn't even been an hour after he had woken up that he was called to attend this meeting, but it wasn't unexpected. For starters, he hadn't really tried to hide when he asked his clones go carry Sasuke's mother to the hospital and even if he had he would have been identified by the mindwalkers of the Yamanaka clan who were most likely spying through Sasuke's mind at this point. Not only that but hiding his identity while bringing a near dead Mikoto and Sasuke to the hospital would have most likely caused unnecessary complications anyway.

With a mental sigh of fatigue, Naruto began, "There's not really much that I can tell you that you do not already know." Naruto stated. "When I arrived at the room of Sasuke and Itachi's parents, I witnessed Itachi kill them. Afterward when Sasuke arrived and Itachi ignored me in favor of his brother, I used that time to do what I could to prolong Mikoto's life and had my clones carry her to the hospital. There was nothing I could do for the Patriarch Fugaku so I left him and then looked around for Sasuke. I found him with a few cuts and bruises so I asked a clone to take him to the hospital while I went back to my place to rest."

Silence descended again as the surrounding individuals took in the information though as Naruto had stated there was nothing new that any of them would glean from it such as possible motives. At least from this, they could conclude that Itachi had simply spared his brother's life.

"Interesting." Everyone heard a voice say. The individuals turned their heads towards the speaker and stared at the bandaged face of Danzo Shimura. Naruto lazily glanced at him with his eyes slightly narrowed.

"Is there something you want to say?" Naruto asked, but it was more of a statement than anything else.

Danzo kept his stoic face intact as he responded, "I just find it interesting that you were at the Uchiha compound that late at night. What could you have been doing there at that time?"

As Naruto had expected such a question to arise, he responded without a pause, "I don't understand what is so interesting about it. I simply went there to visit my friend. I knew he trained late so it was meant to be a surprise and in a way, it was, just not the kind of surprise I wanted."

The story sounded plausible. A kid simply wanted to visit his friend late night and happened to see that friend's entire clan slaughtered, but Danzo's visible left eye narrowed slightly as he lightly tapped his cane on the ground, "I find that hard to believe considering that the ANBU watching over you never reported activity to or from your home."

Naruto's eyes slightly twitched, "I didn't sense their chakra so they must have been further than my detection range." He thought.

"I don't believe 24-hour ANBU surveillance is necessary. I can take care of myself fine enough."

"Regardless, as the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, you are a valuable asset to the village. Having you watched and monitored is for your own safety, we wouldn't want a repeat of what happened 3 months ago now would we?"

It seemed impossible that the already silent council room became even quieter. Hiruzen and Kakashi's faces were as that incident had the most impact on them and the rest of the council members simply pretended not to hear anything. It had been pretty much taboo to talk about that incident especially after how much it had changed the very leader of the village.

"Now that's a low blow." Naruto thought, however since he hadn't technically experienced it personally and had only received the experience and memories from that incident, he wasn't too irritated, that and Gamer's Mind kept his emotions in check.

"Regardless" Naruto started, "If your ANBU couldn't keep track of a seven-year-old, maybe they aren't all that you make them out to be. In that case, they're pointless anyway."

"Listen here boy," Danzo started, his tone severe, "I will not allow you to undermine the competence of my_"

"Enough!" The Hokage yelled, effectively silencing Danzo. He looked at the bandaged man with a chilling glare, "I do not recall placing ANBU near Naruto's residence yesterday or anytime recently for that matter. I believed he had shown enough improvement in these few months for us to trust him to manage himself, but the fact that you used MY ANBU without my jurisdiction is a cause for concern. Do not think I will let all your actions go unsanctioned Danzo, you are walking on very thin ice." As a matter of fact, because the Hokage was aware that a lot of blood was going to be spilled that day, he has positioned most of the ANBU near the Uchiha Residential area in order to prevent people from being near the area during that unfortunate event.

The severity in which the Hokage spoke caused Danzo to reevaluate the words that were to come out of his mouth next, instead opting for silence. He was no stranger to the fact that the Hokage before him was a completely different individual to the one before that incident and while he might take bold and questionable actions at times that usually went against the Hokage, he wasn't an idiot. There were times when it was simply better to keep quiet, lay low, and bide time.

"But if what you say is true…" The Hokage started, mollified by Danzo's silence, "Then that means that the standards of the ANBU have dropped. For my elite group of Konoha's ninja to be unable to keep track of a single individual, a child no less, is a disgrace to not only themselves as shinobi but also to our village. It appears that I will have to personally take part in the reformation of my task force so that an event like this doesn't occur again."

The ANBU hidden on all corners of the room had cold sweat dripping from their faces underneath their masks and even Kakashi almost choked. There was no way that the Hokage before them would let them off easy and all they could do was curse Naruto in their minds for the shit they were most likely going to receive later on.

"Now then, since that is out of the way" The Hokage started, ignoring the looks on everyone's faces, "Let's continue our discussion on what actions to take in order to fully minimize the damage this event has and will continue to cause us." For the next hour or so Naruto zoned out as the council meeting delved into topics he could care less about. He was never one for politics, economics, or anything related to those subjects as they were generally either too confusing or annoying to comprehend. For him, it was better to ignore them and hope that he never had to be placed in a situation where he would have to deal with it.

Now that he had a little mental alone time, he decided to think about what he had gathered about his ability from these past few months. There was a lot he had not known before and it irritated him that he had been so arrogant as to assume he had understood the full capabilities and/or functions that this ability had given him simply due to a few fanfictions. Maybe his higher INT and Gamer's Mind was a big part in helping him think these things through when he would usually ignore them.

For starters, one of the main and possibly most important/confusing parts of his ability was the fact that no one else's INT fed into their chakra the same way his did. Either that or everyone else's INT fed into their chakra at different ratios and this was where it got confusing. His chakra had been increasing at a rate that was not proportional to his original INT:CP ratio meaning that he was either gaining chakra as he grew independent from his INT or that his INT ratio was increasing.

The thing with this theory was that if his INT to CP ratio was changing with time, then it was possible that the stats he saw on everyone else represented a completely different ratio conversion than the one his Gamer ability gave him. But then this begged the question of whether or not people simply had different ratio conversions of INT or VIT to CP or HP respectively. It would make sense in a way as if everyone had a similar ratio conversion to him, then Shikamaru and most of the Nara would be chakra powerhouses which they clearly weren't.

But then this also got Naruto thinking about the stats he had seen for the VIT to HP conversion. From what he could tell, when he used Observe on an individual, his gamer ability pretty much took the opponent's vitality stat, or whoever he was looking at, and multiplying it by 100 to give the HP stat. This was confusing for a couple reasons, with the first and most obvious one being that it completely contradicted his earlier hypothesis that everyone's conversion stat fed into their other stats at different ratios depending on the individual (the only conversion stats are INT and VIT as their numbers directly converted into other stats).

The second reason it was confusing was that this pretty much meant that everyone had a VIT to HP conversion ratio of 100 while he started out at 50. It couldn't be an age issue since he had witnessed this with the clan heirs + Tenten, all who were around his age, and others around the village. Granted considering he only had used a sample size of about 1500, it was statistically incorrect to make the assumption that EVERYONE had a conversion ratio of 100 from VIT to HP since there were hundreds of millions if not billions of individuals spread out in the elemental nations. However, he had observed a vast array of individuals from Old people, to children, to dogs, cats, mice, bears, and even turtles just so that he could understand more about how their stats worked in comparison to his, yet all he found was the same VIT to HP conversion ratio.

This got Naruto thinking about his ability more in-depth and he came to a few conclusions, one of them being very simple and making the most sense. The first conclusion he came to was that his gamer ability could not take into account every aspect of a person's "vitality" when he was observing them. From what Naruto could understand from the few months of having this ability, "Vitality" didn't just encompass how many hits it would take to kill you, but also included other things like your endurance, stamina, and durability. Naruto's running hypothesis was that his ability could not fully calculate other people's conversion ratio between their VIT and HP because there were a lot of variables to consider and it was only able to provide an accurate ratio of his VIT because it was literally part of his body.

This would mean that when Naruto used 'observe' on a person or animal, his ability took as much information it could glean from that being, based on factors that Naruto himself wasn't aware of, and gave an arbitrary VIT value based on those findings. This would account for why every being he had observed had the same conversion ratio for VIT to HP.

The next conclusion Naruto came to appeared to him after he asked the question "If my VIT conclusion is true, then what does that mean for INT to CP?" and the answer to this was quite simple. The thing was that INT had little to nothing to with CP for any normal being so whenever Naruto observed an individual's INT stat, what his ability was showing him was just that: the level of intelligence that this individual had. As he had concluded earlier, INT didn't have anything to do with CP or else the Nara clan, with its many geniuses, would be chakra powerhouses, therefore, it was only logical to assume that other individuals' INT was independent of their CP.

Now if the above conclusion was true, then what did that mean for Naruto? Why did his intelligence feed into his CP while other people's intelligence didn't? And the answer that Naruto came up with was very simple, but at the same time complicated. The simple answer was that because ONLY Naruto was a "Game Character", his stats worked similar to ones one would typically see in an MMO meaning that his INT fed into MP (Magic or Mana points) or in his case CP (Chakra Points). In all honesty, it made the most sense as only Naruto himself was governed by the rules of his Gamer ability as only he himself had this ability. This meant that it was impossible for people who didn't have his Gamer ability to mimic the exact way his stats worked. Essentially Naruto having a body and living like a game character allowed him to work differently than other beings as his "stats" fed into things and worked somewhat differently.

All this was great and the fact that because he was a "game character" his body worked differently than others' made sense, but it was also complicated when Naruto thought about it deeply. The reason being was simple; if Naruto's body worked differently than other people's because of his ability, this thing bonded to his very soul, then that meant that somehow his ability was changing the natural order of his body and making it work in a way that it probably wasn't supposed to. How was it that he could gain an extra few thousand CP if he put all his current points into intelligence or leveled up a few times? Where did this chakra come from and how was it produced?

Chakra simply didn't appear in the body instantaneously as it took time for the body to grow and for an individual to develop larger reserves either through meditation, physical training, or a combination of both. How was his ability giving his body this extra chakra? Where was it even coming from? It definitely wasn't from the environment because Naruto was sure he would have noticed if he was going into Sage mode. Natural energy from the environment was completely different than the chakra produced by the body so it didn't make sense that his ability was giving him chakra from there, so that had to mean that somehow his ability was making his body produce this chakra, or in the case of VIT more durability, in a way that wasn't necessarily "natural". And if all that was the case then how were there no issues with his body? Naruto was an individual who learned a lot about the human body in his past, but it didn't take a genius to understand that changing your body's natural processes in such a drastic fashion was unnatural and bound to cause problems, yet Naruto had never felt any issues and he was curious as to why?

There was no doubt in Naruto's mind that his ability wasn't trying to kill him or screw him over because what would have been the point of giving him this new life just to kill him again? It made no sense plus from the hazy memory he had, he remembered that this ability had "Integrated" with him and it also didn't take a genius to figure out that this meant they were essentially inseparable. Because of this, it would make no sense for his ability to screw him over if it was literally a part of his being. This meant that somehow his ability had found a way to artificially "naturally" increase his reserves without any drawbacks or repercussions and the scientist in Naruto made him want to understand how this was even possible. From all that he learned about chakra from Kakashi and his other mentors, it was unheard of to artificially increase chakra reserves without any repercussions, but maybe they just weren't knowledgeable enough on the subject. "The old man is known as 'The Professor' so he should have more knowledge on this subject than Kakashi and Anko. I'll have to remember to talk to him about this."

…Wow you are actually quite the smart cookie. Of course, it's only thanks to me that you are intelligent enough to even come this far. Well here's +10 INT and +10 WIS for gaining a deeper understanding of your ability.

"What a tsundere." Naruto thought after reading the message, but the bonus stat points was a definite welcome. All in all his observations could be summed up in a few main points. (1) The INT stat observed on other beings had no correlation with their CP stat. (2) Since his body was essentially governed by game rules, only HIS INT directly correlated to his CP stat. (3) His gamer ability was unable to completely deconstruct another individual's VIT stat (except for his own) because of the many variables associated with it (Endurance, Stamina, Longevity, etc.), so instead it gave people a VIT stat that directly correlated to their HP stat at a 1:100 ratio. Pretty much his ability KNEW how many hits it would take to kill someone, but just didn't know how their VIT stat correlated to that fact, so while someone might have a higher VIT stat than himself, it in no way meant that they were healthier or that they had greater Stamina and/or Endurance than him. (4) His ability was able to somehow automatically increase his body's performance when he leveled up without any repercussions.

Wile this summed up pretty much everything Naruto understood about his ability. There were still a few questions such as how was his ability able to measure the abstract stats of other individuals such as their WIS, LCK, or INT. And a few other things, but for the most part, they weren't necessarily as important as the other things he had found.

Naruto looked towards where the meeting was ongoing and realized that it was close to ending. He must have been in real deep thought if he missed the entire council meeting.

"It seems as if this is the best we can do…" Naruto heard the Hokage say before the old man took a sigh of exhaustion, "I'll declare Itachi an S-ranked Missing-Nin and guarantee the safety of the village to all the travelers that go to and from Konoha. It might take a while before the village recovers from this trauma but I believe with everyone's cooperation, we will easily be able to get through this ordeal with minimal backlash. In the end, it will be up to time for this situation to change into more manageable levels. Any final statements?"

The mood in the chamber remained somber as the various Clan Heads and Civilian Council Members kept quiet, unable to add anything more to the Hokage's final statement. The Hokage seeing this lightly closed his eyes and nodded his head, "I see. Then you are all dismissed."

With those words, the Clan Heads and Council Members got up from their position before leaving in relative silence. The repercussions of the massacre were far-reaching and would require a substantial amount of effort and time on the Leaf's end. The civilian and shinobi council members would have to work together to keep the general populous quiet and under control and overall make sure the village continued to run smoothly.

The Hokage sighed tiredly as he watched the remaining members exit the council room. The past couple of days had been stressful and all the old man wanted to do was sleep, but he had to keep pushing on. The Hokage always pushed himself for the betterment of the village, so…

"Danzo, you stay. We have something to discuss."

Now Naruto was still in the room with Kakashi and seeing the atmosphere between Hiruzen and Danzo, he decided that he would be better off in another area of the world.

"Umm do we have to stay here old man? I kinda don't want to be here anymore…"

Hiruzen merely settled a glare at Naruto, who knew he wasn't going anywhere, before looking back at the bandaged man. He looked straight into Danzo's one eye with a severe countenance.

"I have let you gone on for a long time Danzo." The old man said, his voice quiet but humorless, "I've let you run free with your ROOT even after I 'disbanded' it because I was under the impression that everything you do would be for the benefit of the village. I let you run free because I expected you to learn your boundaries and limitations." By this point, the room had suddenly gotten colder and the Hokage's voice had become increasingly harsher, "But it seems that even after all this time you. have. learned. Nothing!"

Danzo could do and say nothing but stand still while holding his cane. At the same time, Naruto, Kakashi, and the other hidden ANBU did their best to learn the invisible-no jutsu.

The Hokage continued to speak disregarding the everyone's discomfort, "Do you think I will allow you to continue your actions when they go against MY explicit directions. ANBU are only to be called upon and directed by the Hokage of which I am currently in a position of, so tell me why were my ANBU spying on one of our Village's future shinobi when they were given explicit orders for a different task that night?"

Danzo knew they ice was getting thinner even as the room was becoming colder, "I merely wanted to ensure the safety of one of the village's most import_"

"It seems you misunderstand my question Danzo." The Hokage stated, cutting off Danzo form what he was about to say, "Why were my ANBU not following instructions explicitly given to them by their Hokage?" The truth of the matter was that most of the ANBU had been scheduled to patrol around the Uchiha residential area prior to and during the massacre in order to "Watch for any suspicious activity" from any civilians around. There was also a group of special hand chosen ANBU that had set up a sound barrier around the Uchiha complex to prevent any sounds from escaping while the massacre was underway.

Seeing as Danzo did not answer, the Hokage continued, "Or is it that those ANBU will follow your orders above mine, the one who leads the village hmm?" There was still no answer from Danzo as there was nothing he could say. Hiruzen was more than intelligent enough to realize that the ROOT ANBU seemed to follow the orders of Danzo above that of their leader.

"I see…" Hiruzen started, already knowing the answer to his question, "As of today you are officially disbanded from the council Danzo. Furthermore, I want a name of every ROOT ANBU member you have under your jurisdiction. I want to know everything about them from their names to their nonexistent hobbies and everything in between and I wanted this yesterday Are. We. Clear?"

For the first time in a while Danzo felt something he had much long forgotten….that feeling that caused his heart to beat faster, breath to quicken, pulse to race, and sweat to drip. That feeling….of fear. With a barely visible trace of sweat on his face, Danzo did not say a word and merely turned around and left.

"I will send my ANBU to check up on you in that underground cave you so like to hide in. I want to make sure that everything is accounted for."

Danzo, with his back to the Hokage and his foot one step out the door, widened his eye and gripped his cane so firmly that his knuckles turned white.

"Don't be surprised. It is my job as Hokage to know everything that goes in and around this Village. There is nothing you can ever hope to hide from me. Now continue, I'm sure you have a lot of work to do."

With nothing more holding him back, Danzo took his leave his hand still gripped tightly on his cane. "Now as for you…" the old man said while shifting his gaze towards Naruto. The boy in question widened his eyes and tried his best to look composed but the feeling he had just experienced made it quite difficult. He wasn't the only one having trouble trying to keep their composure as even Kakashi had sweat dripping from his brow not to mention the other ANBU who had suddenly mastered a level of silence that most could only dream of obtaining.

The feeling Naruto had gotten from the Hokage had been suffocating and felt as if any sudden movement would spell the end...death. It was definitely the most unnerving thing Naruto had ever experienced and was definitely not something he wanted to experience again. "Was that...killing Intent?" Naruto thought. It was now that Naruto really began to comprehend that the Hiruzen in this world was completely different than the Hiruzen in the original Naruto universe. Their actions and demeanor, while in some cases seemed similar, were actually vastly different and though there were some similarities between the two, they were minute and nearly negligible.

Hiruzen started looking intently at the boy, "What type of individual sees a trail of corpses in the village and decides to just follow it? Never mind the fact that you have little training and your story was spotty to begin with."

In hindsight, Naruto should have thought about that little plot hole in his story. He was really just hoping that people bought into the fact that he was really just worried for his friend, ignoring the fact that he waltzed through a trail of corpses towards the direction of a most likely deranged sociopath, but it seemed as if that it was quite difficult to trick the Hokage. In his defense, he had already known the truth of the massacre and while somethings in this world differed from the Naruto story he was familiar with, for the most part, the reasoning for and some of the key events seemed to remain the same.

The Hokage sighed softly before placing his hands on the desk, "Look I don't particularly care how or why you went to the Uchiha compound..." The old man began, "I don't even care that you lied, but what I do care about is your safety. I want to be able to trust that you can take care of yourself, but if your first instinct is to rush into danger headfirst without thinking of the consequences, I'll have to take your safety into my own hands."

A small sigh of remorse escaped Naruto's lips before he looked at the Hokage, "I'm sorry Lord Hokage I wasn't thinking. I….I just didn't want to stand there and do nothing after seeing everyone dead and I didn't want to think of what would happen if someone close to me died, furthermore…." Naruto paused as though remembering something, "I didn't want to be a passerby and run away from what was happening while something worse could be happening to my friend. I didn't want to just sit back pathetically and allow everything to happen as it was. I know I acted rashly and irresponsibly and put myself in unnecessary danger and for that I am sorry"

The old man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose before stating, "Goodness, you are as strong headed as your mother, though your temperament is much like your father's…." He placed his hands down and looked at Naruto, "As long as you promise me that you will not take unnecessary risks and prioritize the safety of yourself and your comrades in a situation similar to this, then so be it. I can't really fault you for wanting to save someone you are close to. If only at that time…." Hiruzen trailed off for a moment before shaking his head as if getting rid of bad memories.

"Regardless just don't act so rash anymore and it'll be fine. Now Kakashi!" instantly the white-haired Jonin snapped to attention. Hiruzen looked at him carefully before speaking, "Make sure Naruto doesn't make the same mistake again. I want you to train him more diligently. Now both of you and the ANBU are dismissed."

With an "Hai Hokage-sama" from the ANBU, they immediately exited the room. Both Naruto and Kakashi gave a bow before making for the exit to the room, but not before Naruto spared a glance at a corner of the room behind the Hokage. His glance intensified for a moment before Kakashi noticed his odd behavior, "Is there anything wrong Naruto?"

Naruto looked at it for a few more seconds before retracting his gaze. There was no way an enemy would have managed to get in here and even if, by some stretch of the imagination they had, Hiruzen would definitely be able to take care of them. If anything Hiruzen most likely already knew that there was someone else in the room which was why he had asked even his ANBU guards to leave. With those reassuring thoughts, Naruto simply shook his head, "No...it's nothing. Probably just my imagination." Kakashi didn't push the subject and simply placed his hands on Naruto's shoulder before disappearing in a shunshin.

As soon as they left, the area behind the Hokage that Naruto had been looking at started to distort and change color before a voice called out, "So that's him…" it said. Hiruzen didn't look back and spoke from his forward facing position, "I see you decided to finally pay Konoha a visit after all this time."

The man behind Hiruzen didn't sound amused, "How could I not? Especially after that letter you sent me. How could something like this have happened? And not only that I come back and hear that the Uchiha clan has been mostly eliminated just the day prior? What the hell is going on in this village sensei!"

"I understand how you feel Jiraiya." Hiruzen stated with a sigh, "but even if I wanted to tell you I couldn't. Ever since I had regained the Hokage position following Minato's death I feel as if things in this village just haven't been the same. It's as if something in the world changed after his death, but I know you must be the one feeling the strongest about it aren't you?"

There was a shadow cast over the man named Jiraiya's eyes and he looked down. At this moment he thought about the little blond haired kid he had trained and how he had grown up. From getting his own team as a Jounin Sensei, to getting married, to even having a child, Jiraiya had watched over him and helped him when necessary every step of the way.

The most prominent thought that plagued his mind, however, was how he had failed to be there when it mattered the most and in the end, he lost someone who he could proudly say was like a son to him.

Jiraiya's face adopted a stony visage as he looked at the Hokage, his mind firm, "We just have to make sure that something like that never happens again...No, I won't allow it to happen again."

Hiruzen didn't reply, instead opting to remain silent for a moment, a silence which Jiraiya shared. It was broken when the old Kage asked, "What of my other wayward students? Have you got any information on them?"

Jiraiya nodded from behind the old man, "Of course sensei, Orochimaru has been slipping on and off the grid for years now, but around a couple months ago my contacts were able to locate him and he hasn't moved since."

"Hmm?" Hiruzen asked.

The white-haired sannin nodded, "I felt that it was odd as well until I came to learn about a month ago that he was starting to build a village North of Fire country."

The Hokage perked up slightly and asked, "Does this village have a name?"

"Not officially at least." Jiraiya stated before he continued, "However, I have heard whispers of it being called Otogakure."

"Village Hidden by Sound...What damning plot are you concocting now?" Hiruzen thought to himself out loud before he shook his head and asked, "What of Tsunade?"

"She…" Jiraiya paused before sighing, "I started an active search for her the moment I got your letter, after all, I wasn't the only neglectful step-parent, however when I found her…"

Hiruzen didn't need his student to complete his sentence, "I take it she's at her same habits?" at Jiraiya's sigh, which was all the answer he needed, Hiruzen continued, "Thus cannot go on, I've let her run free for years and she's had more than sufficient time to mourn her losses, but I suppose I've spoiled her too much." The old man stood up, his figure imposing, "Find her and drag her back to the village if need be and remind her that she isn't the only one who has lost people precious to her." Hiruzen reminisced about his teacher, the Second Hokage, who died all too young, his wife, his lost friends and all those who he had been forced to sever bonds with over the years.

Jiraiya let a slip of cold sweat run down his head as he nodded gravely, "I won't fail you, Lord Hokage."

Naruto looked unfocused as he hopped from tree to tree alongside his teacher. Kakashi, noting his apprentice's lack of attention, spoke up, "You still thinking about the meeting?"

Naruto's gaze instantly returned to focus as he looked at his teacher, "Ah...yeah…"

"It was scary, wasn't it? The feeling that any movement would instantly kill you?" Kakashi asked, eliciting a nod from his student causing the Jonin to continue, "This was also a first time for me as well and even though it wasn't directed towards me, I could still feel that it was much more potent than his."

Naruto raised a brow "his?"

"Orochimaru." Kakashi stated with a narrowed eye, "I've felt that traitor's killing intent before, but compared to the Third's…" Kakashi shook his head.

"So that was killing intent…" Naruto muttered to himself, however, it was still heard by Kakashi.

The white-haired Jonin nodded his head, "Yeah bloodlust or killing intent." As he said that, he and Naruto finally landed on an empty training ground before the copycat ninja turned to his red-haired student, "It is actually a unique way of utilizing the 'Spiritual Energy' portion of your chakra. By releasing your 'Spiritual energy' and imposing it onto an individual, you can dominate their will and cause them to feel intimidation. Certain users can even make their weak-willed opponents see illusions, almost as if they were caught in a genjutsu."

Naruto's eyes widened as he remembered the episode of Naruto in which Sasuke experienced Orochimaru killing intent and experienced himself getting killed in a variety of ways. The red-head looked at his teacher, "How do I learn it?"

Kakashi paused and adopted a serious visage, "Releasing your spiritual portion of your chakra isn't difficult, however, imposing your intent to kill on another individual would require you to have actually killed before. This isn't something you can simply train in as you actually need experience in the intent you are projecting to your opponent."

Naruto gripped his fists, "Could I kill…?" He thought. He knew that from the moment he came to this world, he would have to face that situation one day, but he wasn't scared of taking a life. No, as a matter of fact, Naruto knew that when it came down to it, he would be able to do it with little problem, Gamer's Mind protecting his 21st-century morals from interfering with his duty. That was what scared him. The thought that taking a life would be so easy for him scared him more than the thought of actually taking a life.

The red-haired shinobi felt a hand on his shoulder as Kakashi looked at him with a calm eye-smile, "Mah, don't worry about something like that for now, You still need training before you are ready to be out on the field anyway. Speaking of…" Kakashi removed his hand from Naruto's shoulder before standing up straight, "I suppose teaching you how to release the Spiritual aspect of your chakra will be a decent training exercise for now. With your reserves, even if you don't have killing intent you will be able to at least slow down your enemy."

Naruto sighed before a smile donned his lips, "Thank you sensei."

Kakashi smiled, "Well then, let's get started."