There was an uncomfortable look exchanged between the various nin involved. Nobody seemed to want to go first.
"Iruka Umino. You were present?" prompted the Hokage.
"Sir. I was present during the event. I just don't understand it all," admitted Iruka.
"That's fine. Just report what you observed," stated the Hokage, who had noticed how nervous and unsure all of those present seemed to be - including the three ANBU.
"School was out for the day, a bit earlier than usual due to Mizuki sneezing while demonstrating proper kunai skills and accidently driving a kunai through his own foot."
"He shot himself in the foot, okay," said the Hokage, understanding that a ninja's life was often hazardous. Even when being a teacher, which was one of the generally safer specialties out there.
"Mizuki went to the clinic. Several of the children were socializing while waiting for parents or guardians to arrive," continued Iruka. "Fairly normal. Many of the children went straight home. Shikamaru Nara found a table to cloudwatch. Choji went to the vending machine across the street to buy chips. Naruto was excluded from the game the others were playing, which is the one based on the northland deer."
"So Naruto was not allowed in on the Reindeer Games, yes," said the Hokage.
"He has been excluded most of the time, due to parents instructing their children to avoid him," admitted Iruka. "During their play, something odd happened. I checked for genjutsu, but it was over very quickly and I'm afraid that my reactions weren't quite as fast as they should have been."
"Dormouse? You were present?" asked the Hokage, switching his gaze to one of the ANBU.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Dormouse, her voice soft. "There was no genjutsu. A pillar of light came from the skies, hitting Academy student Uzumaki directly. Music played, sounding like one of those brass instruments that one occasionally hears at the Capitol during special events."
"It's called a 'trumpet'," said an ANBU with a parakeet mask.
"Ah," said Dormouse, nodding slightly. "There was a voice that spoke afterwards. It was odd. I could not determine if the voice was male or female, nor the direction of the voice. The voice mentioned 'child of the Toad Prophesy' and that the device was to assist him in the days ahead."
"Exact wording?" asked the Hokage.
"That's part of the oddness," said Dormouse. "In comparing notes prior to your arrival, Hokage-sama, we determined that each of us heard different words. The meaning was essentially the same, it's just the phrasing and intonation differed."
"I see," said the Hokage, thinking that WAS odd. "Detail it in your written report. Which children were present during this?"
"Shikamaru Nara, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuga, Ino Yamanaka, Kasumi Tenshin, Ayane Tenshin, Tobio, Kiba Inuzuka, Shino Aburame," stated Parakeet.
"They have been cautioned about revealing secrets?" asked the Hokage.
"Yes, Hokage-sama, as well as informed that you may be interviewing them later," said Dormouse.
"What of the Device then?" asked the Hokage.
"It is a bracer, locked in place around Uzumaki's forearm," stated Dormouse. "He is in the next room should you choose to check it yourself. He was able to transform to one of the ten settings, at which point the display shifted to red and then began to change slowly back to green. Observation was that Uzumaki was able to transform back immediately upon trying, but could not activate the device again for one hour. At which point he used the second setting, and the process repeated."
"These transformations?" asked the Hokage.
"The first form was overall size doubling and Uzumaki seemingly transformed to solid metal," said Dormouse. "Strength and durability extremely high. At which point it was noted that he couldn't eat his ramen like that - at which point he transformed back."
"I see," said the Hokage.
"The second form was likewise indicative of a particular role," said Dormouse. "While the first form seems to be a straightforward combat mode, the second is more along the lines of speed and mobility."
"So the extrapolation is that of the ten settings, each fits a particular role," added Parakeet. "Strength, speed, so there's likely a form for sensor, another for stealth, and so on."
"Can the device be removed?" asked the Hokage.
"Without removing Uzumaki's arm? Apparently not," said Dormouse. "If his arm is amputated - yes."
Hiruzen Sarutobi was the Hokage, his first priority had to be the safety of the village. "Contact Jiraiya. We'll hold off until he's had a chance to examine it."
Jiraiya held up an odd device.
"Ah, so you did have to," said the Hokage.
"No, Naruto still has both arms," said Jiraiya with a touch of anger. "I asked him to try and remove it. He did. It only locks in place when someone ELSE is trying to remove it."
"What?"
Jiraiya looked very unhappy as he set the device in front of the Hokage. "How many times have you been advised to just cut it off?"
"Since I called for you? I lost track of the times that someone has either been insinuating or demanding or even just asking about that."
Jiraiya nodded. "Who? I need to have the gravestone made."
"If I can't just go off and kill citizens, then you certainly can't," said the Hokage.
"Look at the bottom," said Jiraiya.
Hiruzen Sarutobi blinked, then turned the device over. Then he spent a minute just staring.
"Yeah. It comes with a FREAKING MANUAL!" Jiraiya practically growled at that. "All someone had to do was ASK Naruto to remove it. Then - in the most logical place for something you wanted to protect from prying eyes, you have a MANUAL on the limitations and abilities of the thing!"
"I see, and the little arrow keys go to different pages of this manual," said the Hokage.
"Uhm," said the Hokage.
"What?" asked Jiraiya.
"Did you go past the title to the index page?" asked the Hokage.
"No, I came as soon as I found it," said Jiraiya.
Frowning, the Hokage reached out and lightly touched the number eight on the display.
Jiraiya read it, handed the device back to his Hokage.
"Well?" asked the Hokage.
"How are we going to know who these people are?" asked Jiraiya. "After all 'scheduled to die'?"
"Do you have any idea how this device could even possibly work?" asked the Hokage. "Changing physical forms through a henge is one thing, but this?"
"I don't kn-" began Jiraiya just before someone crashed through the roof and landed atop of him.
"Asylum! Refuge!" said the woman. "I surrender!"
"Uhm," said the Hokage.
"Okay," said Jiraiya from somewhere under the section of roof and the woman. "Maybe there's something to this after all."
"So I get to use it after all?!" queried Naruto. On seeing the Hokage nod, Naruto proclaimed this all cool.
Hiruzen Sarutobi left the child to experiment on his own.
And maybe after Jiraiya got out of the full body cast, he would be able to help train his godchild. Had to do light activities while recovering after all.
Sakura wasn't sure WHAT to make of things.
The light, the voice, the gadget, the transformation, the ANBU showing up, the threat of DIRE consequence if she should say ANYTHING to ANYONE, the little accident she had when it seemed like she was about to die in an extremely painful fashion.
Followed by one of the other ANBU slapping the threatening one in the back of the head and pointing out he was about to scare an eight year old girl to death.
The rushing home afterwards to change her panties. And most definitely NOT say what had just happened.
Nobody had forbidden her from THINKING about it though.
That boy hadn't bothered her too much. He was a little annoying though. But he was supposed to be some sort of hero in the rough or something?
Very rough. Very very very very VERY rough.
She'd have to keep an open mind though. Just in case.
Naruto had begun calling the forms available to him by what they were best at. Setting 1 was now "Tank Mode" as it was very hard to hurt. He was tall and metallic and very strong in that form and had initially started calling it "Assault Form" because he had thought that sounded cool. Unfortunately, Sakura had pointed out that everyone else would shorten it to "Ass Form" and he'd decided that wasn't going to work after all. Setting 2 was now "Speed Mode" and was kind of insectile in appearance. "Bug mode" had drawn a frown and complaint from Shino, though it was really hard to tell about the frown. So anyway - it was "Speed Mode" until he could come up with a better name.
Setting 3 was "Ghost Mode" as the initial name of "Sneaky Mode" had been laughed at. He was mostly transparent and able to move without a sound in Ghost Mode. He was NOT able to walk through walls though, to his great disappointment. Maybe it was something with those "unlocks" that Jiji had talked to him about. Maybe not.
It wasn't until one of those present when he got the thing became a friend when he unlocked Setting #4. Which was:
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(Posted Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:47)
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