There were those who had studied it and said that the Juubi was not its natural shape or state. That this was something altogether different.
It had been sealed though. One child had gotten the bulk of that sealing, but only so much could be done and it had taken the life of the seal-master doing it.
Three major ninja villages had been destroyed. Some had argued that they were targetted because they were the strongest. In the wake of the Ten-Tailed Beast's rampage the refugees had dispersed.
At first, most had planned on coming back and rebuilding. Most of the ninja of those villages had died though, and it ended up being easier to go with another means of coping with it.
"There is just something fundamentally wrong with ninja being used as monster-hunters and 'heroes'," said Danzo, watching the current Academy Class D in weapons practice.
"But lucrative," pointed out Homura Mitokado.
"Well, I suppose there IS that," admitted Danzo after a brief pause.
Koharu Utatane hmphed. "It also gives us the continuing C-Rank mission for chunin to be observer-responders in villages in several nations. This spreads our forces out dangerously despite the influx from the destroyed villages."
Homura stirred uneasily. "There's talk about re-establishing the destroyed villages, setting up in different locations to better monitor the Rift sites."
Danzo's mouth twitched upward ever so slightly. "If they do, then those will be satellites of our own village at this point."
The three watched for another minute in silence as weapons-practice continued.
"Pah," said Danzo finally. "In OUR day, ninja were assassins who struck in the night. Weapons who lived and died in darkness, having killed their own hearts to be able to strike without mercy."
"Times change," said Homura, "ninja adapt."
"Nine guardians of the Tailed Beast essence," said Jiraiya. "We tested it with that chunin and it works perfectly - giving her the essence of the original Twin-Tailed Cat to draw on."
"What of these others?" asked Shiba Aburame, flipping through reports.
"We've since worked it out and have additional candidates. An Aburame is not suitable, due to their kikai insects interfering with the process," said Jiraiya. "Other than that, there are a few characteristics to look for in a potential host. Once transferred though - it can't be taken back. There will also be some sickness involved while the chakra stabilizes."
"What do you mean, it can't be taken back?" asked another elder.
"Just like the original jinchuriki, once the bonding is complete - trying to transfer the imprint will kill the host," said Jiraiya. "It'll keep things a mite more stable than they are now, but isn't an ideal situation."
Mar 10, year 6:
"Gaara? I'm heading to the Academy!" said Temari, calling out for her brother.
"'Kay," chirped the little boy, waving to his big sister.
Kankuro shook his head, tying his own gear into place. "Stay out of trouble, punk."
"I'm not the one who keeps getting in trouble!" protested Gaara. "Isn't that your job?"
Kankuro stuck his tongue out at the youth before hurrying along.
"Danzo, I found out what you've been up to. You're under arrest."
"What? You can't do-"
"SHORYUKEN!"
Two of the ANBU looked up to see an old man get launched nearly into orbit.
"Huh. Two hours, thirty seven minutes since Ibiki turned in that report," said Duck.
"Yeah. Took longer than I thought." Goose nodded behind his mask. "Look. He's coming down now."
"Yeah, what goes up etcetera," agreed Duck. "Shame we didn't get to go."
"Maybe next time there's someone who thinks he's a Magnificent Bastard and fails to consider the possibility of refugees getting together and comparing notes?" asked Goose.
"Maybe," said Duck, not sounding mollified at all.
"Oh look, the old man's sufficiently ticked off that he's continuing to build up a chakra attack. This'll be good." Goose pointed.
"TILTOWAIT!"
"Wow. Guess Hokage-sama heard that rumor." Duck tsked as half the sky seemed to be consumed in a fireball. "Only thing I can think of that'd get the old guy to unleash like that."
"You mean how Danzo broke underage kunoichi recruits?" asked Goose. "You suppose there's anything to that?"
"FIRE BOMB!"
"I think the Hokage thinks so," said Duck.
Goose considered that for a moment. "Think there'll be anything left for us to stab a few times?"
"Maybe there'll be some holdouts in his hidden fortress, we just have to find it before everyone else does," said Duck thoughtfully.
Orochimaru pursed his lips and considered.
The last tatters of flame that had covered the sky were fading away, and there was a distinct possibility of Danzo having used those grave-robbed Sharingan eyes to try and survive all that.
In which case he'd likely have his chakra network flash-fried, thrown in a particularly small cell, and tortured for every bit of intel that could be gotten from him.
Orochimaru nodded, grabbed his hat and suitcases, and walked calmly away from his labs.
A change of scenery would do him good. Yes, maybe someplace nice and far away. When Sarutobi calmed down he'd likely have a serious case of chakra exhaustion. And if his own name came out during Danzo's interrogation, there could be a rush to see who could gain the old man's favor.
Not that Orochimaru considered anyone in the village his equal, but there were an awful lot of fairly good runner-ups and one of them might actually manuever him into a fair fight. He hated fair fights.
Best to avoid those entirely.
"So, did you hear the news?"
"Which news? Gonna rain tonight, if that's what you mean."
"No, about the Hokage deciding he's going to step down."
"Again? Hope the next Hokage lasts longer. Ol' Sarutobi has been trying to get to that fishing hole for the past year-anna-half."
"Who's he gonna get - that's the question."
"Monsters, yoma, spawn," said Iruka Umino, gesturing at the board. "At each of the villages that were destroyed, the Juubi used its power to rip a hole in the universe itself."
"So why didn't the universe heal when it was sealed?" asked Sakura, hand held high. That she was repeating a question she'd heard her parents ask wasn't immediately obvious unless you knew that a lot of the civilians didn't grasp it either.
"That's because it's like opening a door," said Iruka. "It takes energy to open a door, and it takes as much energy to close that door. Because the Juubi opened those doors, it requires something like the Juubi to close it."
"And the Juubi was killed?" asked Sakura.
"No, it was sealed away," said Iruka. "More information than that is considered an S-Class Secret. Now, back to this. The three major villages destroyed prior to the Juubi Seal were: Sand, Earth, and Cloud. In fact, it looks as if the beast started out in Cloud and then worked its way around. There are still scars in the land where it made its way. The minor villages destroyed were: Shimogakure, Yugakure (though that one was slowly changing to a tourist area as they could make more money that way), Amegakure, Takigakure, Ishigakure, and Tanigakure."
As the map was pointed to, one of the other students shot up a hand.
"Fuu?" asked Iruka.
"Why did it go all over the place like that?" asked Fuu, pointing at the map.
"Apparently the Ten Tailed Beast was able to sense chakra and it went after concentrations of chakra," said Iruka. "Tanigakure was the last hit prior to it coming here, and the ninja tried dispersing through the country to draw it away from their village. Ultimately it didn't work, as it apparently could track the chakra from where it had been used previously. It actively destroyed villages, though this part is a guess, because that would draw ninja to fight it. It wanted to find and slay ninja."
There was unpleasant stirring from that.
"Now each of these holes is called a Rift," said Iruka, quickly making a diagram on the blackboard. "And each Rift has several areas called Spawnpoints where these creatures come through. Some of these creatures aren't always hostile. Some ARE always hostile and will try to eat anyone they encounter. That's why we and the surviving ninja villages get monster-hunting contracts. The rank of the mission indicates the danger level and distance from the village, as well as which type of monster-hunting is required. Hunter-Killer, Negotiation, or Search & Rescue."
"Well," said Kiba Inuzuka. "We know which MY clan specializes in."
"Except your sister Hana is a veterinarian whose medic-nin training makes her ideal for Search & Rescue," pointed out Iruka. "Such as the spider-yoma she went after last year."
"Well, I'm gonna be a badass Hunter-Killer specialist, right Akamaru?" asked Kiba.
"Urf," said the puppy.
"What do you mean you want to try Negotiation?!" demanded Kiba. "That never works!"
"Not true," said Iruka. "Remember that Kurenai Yuhi, a chunin, managed a negotiated settlement between the Three Rivers settlement and a local clan of kappa. Also your sister might have killed the spider-yoma that was kidnapping and killing villagers, but she also rescued several yokai who had also been captured. As a result, Konohagakure has gained the provisional alliance with the Kitsune Tribe."
"Damn foxes, can't trust 'em," said Kiba. "They smell all wrong."
"What they smell like, I can't say one way or the other," admitted Iruka. "However they are experts at genjutsu and may eventually become part of the village. Now, can anyone tell me the difference between 'yoma', 'yokai', 'mamono', and 'ayakashi'? Now I know these terms used to be interchangeable, but nowadays they aren't because we run into one or the other regularly and contracts and legal documents have to be specific. Anyone?"
"Hmph. Humans. They smell bad and they pollute their lairs and they lack any sense," said Gintaro.
"Not all of them are that bad, just most of them," said Haru. "They had the sense to put up strong walls."
"Konohagakure," said Gintaro, looking up at the wall. "Huh. Wards and seals. Well, maybe they've got some sense. It'll at least keep the damn fire-pixies out."
Izumo looked over the two approaching, then turned to the genin who'd been assigned as the guard post's runner. "Tell the Hokage Tower. The ambassadors from Kitsune Tribe have arrived."
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