He did not, however, immediately act. Someone watching very closely would have seen his eyes flick and a few other "tells" that would indicate he was not engrossed in his current paperwork.
Considering that the paperwork in front of him dealt with an assessment of tariffs on metal goods out of Wind Country - a subject which he had no particular interest in - nobody who knew him would be fooled.
He frowned ever so slightly as details began accumulating. Clock stopped, the pendulum in mid-swing. A glance out the window revealed a songbird stopped in mid-flight. The clouds didn't move either.
"KAI!"
There were four other genjutsu-breaks that he could perform, some subtle. He went through them in order. Not a genjutsu then, or if it was - one beyond his solving.
The only thing that seemed to be moving besides him was some black cat regarding him from a shelf.
"So what did you want?" the Hokage asked, settling back at his desk.
"Hmmm. Interesting," said the cat. "You're not like most others around here. I would have expected half of them to try throwing one of those mortar-trowels at me."
"Oh, far more than half, I'm sure," said the Hokage, tapping his pipe thoughtfully. "And they're called kunai."
"I find it slightly amusing that a multipurpose tool designed for brickmasonry is now solely considered a ninja weapon," said the cat. "In any case, since we're having this conversation, here."
POOF!
"What is THAT?" asked the Hokage, looking at the large metal drum with an odd machine at the top.
"It's called an 'industrial paper shredder,'" said the cat. "When someone brings you paperwork that serves no purpose other than wasting your time, you can put it in that slot and it will make all sorts of interesting cutting and shredding noises as the offending paperwork becomes itsy bitsy pieces."
"A fine gift," said the Hokage. "Why?"
"This is not only your office but your home, so bringing gifts is the custom from what I understand," said the cat. "As to why I am here - it is a boy named Naruto Uzumaki."
"Oh?" asked the Hokage.
"Oh, and yes. I know. I know he's the son of the Fourth Hokage. I know he's the container of the Ninetailed Demon Fox. I know his mother was from the Uzumaki clan of the Whirlpool Village. I know how he was treated by the villagers, and I know why you made those laws," said the cat. "However, I also know the Future That Was."
"Oh?" asked the Hokage. "And what was that?"
"This," said the cat, waving a paw.
The images flashing across the windows were too quick to tell much. Giant snakes and a sand monster assaulting the village. An older Naruto walking alongside Jiraiya. The village a giant crater as some girl with the eyes of a Hyuga stood in front of Naruto and prepared to defend him from someone with a dark cloak that had red clouds on it. A man whose mask bore circles and tomoe.
"Death, destruction, sadness," said the cat.
"You called that the 'future that was'?" asked the Hokage, trying to memorize those images in order to properly analyze them later.
"It's changed already," said Toltiir. "Naruto is the agent of that change."
"I know that whatever-you-are, you're powerful," said the Hokage. "Yet if you've harmed him, I WILL kill you."
The cat regarded him briefly but merely shrugged. "When you see him next, he will have been granted three wishes. They were: 'to be able to escape a certain prison whenever he wanted', 'to have a powerful kekkei genkai that couldn't be stolen by things like the Sharingan', and 'the power and intelligence that he'd need to be able to defeat an entire clan of powerful ninja'."
"Oh?" asked the Hokage.
"The Hyuga clan," said the cat. "All three wishes were granted. All three were combined into a single thing. He currently wears a bracer on each wrist. He cannot take those off."
"If he has an ability through an item, it is not a kekkei genkai," said the Hokage. "It is an artifact then."
"It can be," said the cat. "All I'd have to do is link such an item to his bloodline. Then summoning or manifesting that item becomes a mark of that bloodline. No, far better is what these bracers actually do."
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(Posted Sun, 10 Oct 2010 06:02)
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