The fear in the air, mingled with hate, was almost overwhelming. If they'd known how much he could tell about his surroundings, no doubt they would have been even more scared.
"Naruto, do you know why you are here?" asked a voice that could be identified as the Third Hokage.
"I lost control when I saw Hinata dying and in pain," said Naruto. "Something slipped out before I got control again."
"We should kill him right now," said a dark presence nearby.
"Why? I'm getting training to control myself. I didn't like doing that myself," said Naruto. "I didn't even know what a 'genjutsu' was - much less how to defend against it."
Spikes of hate, distrust, cold malevolence spiked across his senses.
Then again, there were other feelings there. Amusement from several of those.
"Five hundred METERS across? Bowl-shaped? Lined with a layer of melted rock? Ranging in depth from ten meters at the center to barely the width of one's pinky at the edge?" asked an unfamiliar voice. "Yes, I'd say lessons in control would be beneficial. On the other hand, before anyone suggests being rash, consider the possibilities of using that. As it is, that training area could be modified quite easily for an emergency water supply. Young Naruto, when you get better control of your abilities, I see many missions for you."
"As a weapon of mass destruction?" said the dark spiky ball of negativity.
"Actually, I was thinking construction," said the one who'd talked about training. "That sort of melted rock is difficult to break with fire or earth techniques. Not impossible, certainly, but at least resistant. Heavens, just turning out slabs of it to use as roofing tiles for public buildings could save us enormous amounts of money."
"You'd trust this demon?" asked Darkspikey.
"Not exactly a demon," said one of the amused. Naruto placed the voice as Kurenai - the woman who was in charge of Team 8. "He came immediately and directly to where he knew help was available to recover his team and get them to safety. As it is, he is already learning better control and how to detect and dispel genjutsu so that this does not occur again."
"Save this discussion for when the accused is not present," said Darkspikey. Naruto cocked his head as a name came from one of the others. Danzo.
Kurenai spoke. "Maybe we can call the lake 'Kakashi's Mistake'?"
"Oh, I like that one, let me pencil it in," said the male voice from earlier. Nara clan?
"Can we save THAT discussion for later as well?" asked Danzo with an undercurrent of frustration.
"Since the boy doesn't actually know anything about the how, the what or the why, wouldn't it be slightly less of a waste of time to interrogate others involved in this?" asked a rough-sounding voice whose own emotional state seemed more amused than anything else.
"Kurenai Yuhi, jonin, genjutsu specialist," the scarlet-eyed woman stated as she stood before the group. Unlike the now-sequestered Naruto, she was not blindfolded or constrained in any way. Even the seals placed around the room had been made inactive. "My first direct knowledge of Naruto Uzumaki came when I was approached about being a jonin sensei to a genin team. As most of you know, I took Hinata Hyuga under my wing - much as Maito Gai has taken Rock Lee as a special pupil."
"Why? Does Hinata show special skills with genjutsu?" asked Shikaku Nara.
"This is beside the point, isn't it?" asked Danzo.
"There was a reason to investigate Naruto based on a connection with Hinata, which enters into my observations later," said Kurenai. "What I discovered at that time was that much of his education was deliberately sabotaged to keep him ignorant. This changed slightly when Iruka Umino became a teacher at the Academy, as he has consistently tried to educate Naruto without mis-educating him. In my investigation I discovered that Naruto was dead last in the class up until last year. His grades had slowly improved to credible if still low over that year. However this is also when his ninjutsu began developing problems related to fire."
"So this has been going on for about a year?" asked Shikaku Nara. "Why weren't more safeguards put into place?"
"At first everyone thought it was merely another prank from Naruto, who has likely been resorting to pranks in order to get some attention," said Kurenai. "He was shunned by most of the village, unable to learn why, and had learned not to trust most authority figures."
"You're getting to the point?" asked Danzo.
"Over the past week, I observed Naruto more directly," said Kurenai. "He has calmed down considerably in some respects. He has severe control problems with his use of fire jutsu. He's much better with wind. I also determined there was something about him that seemed to indicate a danger if one used genjutsu on him. To that end, when I learned he would be under Kakashi Hatake's leadership, I informed him of that."
"You determined 'something'?" asked Danzo.
"All of us who have worked in the field under hazardous conditions have learned to evaluate a number of factors immediately," said Kurenai. "It's a combination of factors, and normally we react to it without necessarily pinning down more than a single specific. My area of expertise is genjutsu, and that expertise was mentioned. Kakashi apparently felt he knew better and used 'Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu' on two of his students. Sakura Haruno and Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura behaved normally as far as I could tell later. Naruto, on the other hand, reacted with the results we're having this meeting regarding."
"The 'Hell Viewing' genjutsu," said Inoichi Yamanaka, "causes one to see a vision of a future one fears. Do you have any idea what Naruto saw?"
"He saw the death of Hinata Hyuga," said Kurenai. "Painfully. With the mechanism of having seen her body covered with knives including her eyes pierced. Since he apparently didn't even know what a genjutsu WAS at the time, he took it rather hard."
"Resulting in his already poor control of fire element to literally explode," mused Shikaku Nara.
Kurenai nodded. "I have sinice interviewed the two genin team-mates of Naruto. Sakura was unconscious following the genjutsu used on her. Sasuke was mostly concentrating on Kakashi's bell test but saw Naruto's berserk button going off."
"'Berserk Button'?" asked Danzo.
"Different terms are used for the same concept," said Kurenai with a shrug. "Many people have a boundary they will normally not go beyond, save when something personal pushes them beyond rational behavior."
"So any enemy who wants to turn Naruto into a weapon only has to hurt this Hyuga girl," said Danzo thoughtfully.
"Possibly, yes," said Kurenai. "I am still investigating."
"So you're Sasuke Uchiha," said the old man in the theatrical outfit. Looked like he'd just stepped off the stage of a Noh play or something.
"Yes," said Sasuke, focussing on the man and shifting on the stone bench uncomfortably. "You get called to this thing too?"
"Yes, I'm here to inspect something about Naruto and report on it, S-class secrets though," said the man. "Jiraiya's the name."
"Ah," said Sasuke, distracted a bit by medications and lingering pain and not making any further connections immediately. "So what was that with Naruto anyway? I'd heard he had been having trouble with fire jutsu before, but that was -"
"Your family has the Sharingan, the Hyuga family has the Byakugan, Naruto has something different," said Jiraiya, neither lying nor giving away secrets.
"I see," said Sasuke, concluding that the "dead last" had some sort of kekkei genkai relating to fire and wind. That made sense with what he'd seen this past week. "And he's just coming into it?"
"That happens with a lot of blood limits," said Jiraiya. "Some are active from an early age, a number only crop up in the teenage years or when they're in their first real battle. How are the injuries?"
"Minor," said Sasuke. "Burns on my back, mostly it was being picked up and thrown by the blast wave. I impacted a tree at one point."
"And your other team-member?" prompted Jiraiya.
"She was prone at the time, under a genjutsu," said Sasuke. "She was pulled out of a tree by the dog-boy."
"You make it sound like it's her fault," noted Jiraiya.
"Rabid fangirl, useless," summed up Sasuke. "So, you can't tell me anything about Naruto? What about my brother?"
"Also secret," said Jiraiya, thoughtfully. Getting someone skilled to stick next to Naruto might be handy, and this was all true anyway. "Though I can tell you something. He's with a group of people now."
Sasuke stared, incredulous. Someone actually KNEW what was going on with his brother? He'd asked the question without expecting an answer at all, just on impulse.
"Remember, we never had this conversation," said Jiraiya with a warning look towards Sasuke. "You're Naruto's friend, right?"
Sasuke would have professed that he liked rabid fangirls and eating toads if it would get him more information. "Well, sort of. He considers himself my rival, I consider him a comic relief sidekick."
"Yes," said Shino Aburame. "We had just completed the teamwork test when Naruto Uzumaki arrived. He was disheveled and his jacket was on fire. He was quite agitated as well. He immediately informed our sensei of the training accident and led us back to where his companions were. From there we went to the hospital where we waited until word of their condition was announced."
"I see," said one of the figures, the area where they were seated darkened now while bright lights shone upon the two genin. "Anything you want to add to this, Kiba Inuzuka?"
"Not particularly," said Kiba. "Though..."
"Yes?" asked another one of those in shadows.
"Do you suppose there's something going on with Hinata and the dope?" asked Kiba, his voice indicating how he thought that unlikely.
"It DID seem that the boy drew comfort from her presence and that she drew confidence from his," noted Shino.
"Yeah! That's what it seemed like," said Kiba, sounding a little less uncertain.
"That is NOT the subject of this inquiry," said one of the men in shadows.
"I dunno, it sounds more interesting than the official reason for this inquiry," said another.
"It has no relevance at all," said the old-sounding voice.
"Look," said a particularly calm voice that Shino raised an eyebrow on hearing, "the evidence has been obvious so far. The problem was a lack of control, and Kakashi apparently disregarding the advice of an expert. Steps are being taken already to rectify the problem, and at the end of that process - can be evaluated for effectiveness at that time."
"I still say we should simply kill the boy," said the voice that had been protesting earlier.
"I disagree, it would be wasteful," said the calm voice that Shino had recognized.
"Shouldn't Kakashi Hatake be here?" asked the protester.
"He's still confined to a hospital bed," said one of the others. "How about we call it Lake Baka?"
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(Posted Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:23)
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