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This made the old Hokage laugh. "Gaining a tertiary chakra nature is a basic requirement for full jonin-rank, Naruto-kun." He chuckled. "I admire your tenacity and ambition, but I would recommend only dabbling in Katon jutsu for now. Focus on solidifying and mastering your natural chakra natures first. It will lead to acquiring your third affinity much faster than otherwise."
"Got it." The boy nodded determinedly.
"Well then, I think we've gone over everything." The Sandaime said with a sigh. "Once again, do not mention your [Gamer] powers to anybody and be very careful to whom you mention your status as a Jinchūriki, as well as those around them. It is your choice to whom you tell that particular secret to so long as they are from Konoha, but I would advise that, for now, keeping your secret a secret is the best plan."
"Gotcha." Naruto nodded seriously.
After discussing Mizuki's latest sabotage attempt (which Sarutobi was not happy about), the two parted, with the old Hokage sighing for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.
'Whatever this 'Gamer' power is, Naruto-kun will use it wisely as a Shinobi.' Sarutobi thought as he tapped a finger on the desk, his eyes absently darting across his reopened status screen, searching for some form of clue. 'What concerns me more is the origin of this strange power. It is unlike any form of Kekkai Genkai I have ever heard of and the fact that it does not seem fuelled by chakra is terrifying in its own way. More so, such a power does not simply crop up every day, nor do I for one moment believe that Naruto's selection as 'The Gamer' is in any way random. Being the Gamer is one thing, being the Kyūbi Jinchūriki is another, but to be both at once…'
He could not help a shudder run across his body. Once Naruto could expand the scopes of his power more freely, Sarutobi had the feeling that the orphaned son of the Yondaime and the Red-Hot Habanero would truly surpass those who came before him.
Speaking of which…
Ending the lockdown on his office, the old Hokage snapped his fingers, causing an ANBU member with a dog mask to appear kneeling before his desk.
"Inform the surveillance teams that they are to step up the level of scrutiny Toji Mizuki is under from Level Three to Level Two." He ordered coldly. Level Three scrutiny from an ANBU team was basic observation of the subject's daily routine, as well as casual background checks of his friends and acquaintances. Level Two was more invasive and less polite, involving the infiltration of his home and all of his scrolls, secret stashes and the like being searched, as well as thorough background checks on not only his friends and casual acquaintances, but his colleagues, family and even his general neighbourhood.
If Mizuki proved to be any more suspicious, Sarutobi would escalate things to Level Zero, bypassing Level One altogether, and have the man interrogated by Mitarashi Anko and Morino Ibiki. He was already guilty of weakening the strength of the village Jinchūriki, a class-A crime in itself. Hatred could make men do reckless, stupid things, but it could also make them become weak-minded as well, leading them to choose options they would not have before they were infected by pervasive hatred.
"Hai, Hokage-sama." Dog replied and vanished in a puff of chakra smoke.
"You had better hope that my ANBU do not find anything amiss with you beneath the surface, Mizuki." The Sandaime muttered before returning to his paperwork. The chunin had already been on thin ice for what Iruka-kun had reported back when Naruto had just gained [The Gamer], but now? One more misstep and the old Hokage would simply make the man disappear.
In any terms of value, Naruto's safety and proper development was now worth far more than a single chunin.
With Naruto
[Quest Complete!]
Grab the Fox By Its Tails: You have successfully confronted your surrogate Grandfather and had the truth, or a large part of it at least, revealed to you!
Quest Rewards: +2500 EXP, +5000 Ryo, [?] Special Status changed to [Kyūbi Jinchūriki], Discovered Perk [Perfect Jinchūriki Host], Reputation with [Sarutobi Hiruzen] Maxed Out!
Hidden Quest: Complete! You willingly revealed your status as [The Gamer] to your village leader with only the gentlest of prodding!
Hidden Quest Rewards: [Bakuhatsu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu] scroll, [Greater Fūjin Haori].
You have successfully maxed out your reputation with a character for the first time! You gain +5000 EXP!
"Wow." Was all the boy could say to that. The EXP and Ryo were nice, but the rest was the real treat. The perk [Perfect Jinchūriki Host] basically stated exactly what his Jiji had told him, that he could have any of the Bijū sealed within him without any negative effects. The [Kyūbi Jinchūriki] Special Status was the one that added to his chakra so much with every level and his heart swelled with pride as he saw that he and his Jiji had the maximum possible relationship.
The two extra rewards for the hidden quest certainly sounded kick-ass too. Another part of the Greater Fūjin set was useful, and the 'Explosive Shadow Clone Jutsu' would be a good addition to his rapidly growing arsenal of techniques. He'd have to experiment with the jutsu to see exactly how good it was.
As the boy set off to his apartment, he had a jaunty step to his walk. Things had gone far better than he would have thought today and he couldn't be happier.
[You have moved more than half a mile from your party member(s). Do you wish to disband the party?]
Y|N
"Will he remember everything I told and showed him?" Naruto wondered.
[Yes]
The boy twitched in surprise as his [Gamer] ability actually answered his muttered question. That was weird. Just about as weird as it telling him about the Kyūbi in what had to be the most irrelevant written tone that he had ever read.
Shaking off the suspicion that something was going on with [The Gamer], Naruto hit the 'Y' button and dissolved the party. He'd figure out what was up with his power later; for now, he had important business to do: lunch at Ichiraku's!
Later
Underground Base, Konoha
Danzō, sitting behind a desk, listening as his agent reported what little he knew about the meeting that had occurred between The Weapon and the old monkey. The defeat of his agents a few weeks ago, with one actually dying at the hands of The Weapon, was a mixed bag of news for the old warhawk. On one hand, The Weapon was now blooded and would find taking a life far easier from here on out. On the other hand though, he was fairly certain that Sarutobi had guessed that he was behind the attack. Plus, losing an agent, even if it wasn't one of his elite operatives, in what should have been a milk run, was not making him any happier.
Ne's rosters were small enough already without losing agents on easy missions. The fact that the old fool would likely now be working to further undermine his organization would make replacing his losses and gathering new 'raw materials' even more difficult than it had been before.
The meeting that had taken place earlier that day between the two people who had irked the Yami no Shinobi for the past twelve years was unusual. Oh, the two met with an irritating frequency, so the meeting in and of itself wasn't unusual, but the fact that Sarutobi had judged whatever it was they were going to talk about to be serious enough to activate Tobirama-sensei's secrecy and privacy seals was worthy of note.
Even he couldn't bypass those seals without Sarutobi realising he had done so. He'd made several attempts at finding a bypass and had some partial successes early on, but when both that fool Jiraiya and the soft-hearted brat Namikaze had gotten involved in updating them, his attempts had become utterly ineffective.
Danzō may have loathed Jiraiya for a foolish wastrel and the Yondaime for his pacifistic tendencies, but not even he could deny their skills with art of Fūinjutsu far surpassed his own.
"Return to your post." The crippled man instructed the agent once he finished his report. "Attempt to discover any paperwork that might give a hint as to the subject of their conversation."
"Hai, Danzō-sama." The man vanished as he spoke.
Danzō leaned back in his seat and pondered the situation. He daren't risk riling up his old rival now that his most overt card had been played, at least not until The Weapon became a Genin and went out on a C-Rank mission. At that point, he could have him tested by hired nuke-nin (using actual nuke-nin this time) to see if the death of his agent had been a sign of The Weapon's strength or the influence of the Higurashi girl.
She had been an unforeseen wrench in his plans, he had to admit. Monitoring a fairly new genin and her normal family, blacksmithing expertise and former Shinobi status aside, was not something he would have thought he would have to do. Evidently he should have kept a closer eye on them, as her presence had thrown his agents off enough to not stick to their script. The reports of her hurling what amounted to an entire armoury's worth of weaponry as a result of what one had said had taken him a moment to believe.
It was at times like this that the warhawk could see why Sarutobi disliked his Ne agents; they had all the imagination and creativity of a concussed lemming outside of combat. Not to mention being unable to sense the conversational landmine inherent in threatening to rape and kidnap a kunoichi, apparently.
Still, they were far more useful in combat than other shinobi (in his opinion at least) and they would -could- never become nuke-nin. Power and loyalty were the two main attributes that he cared for in shinobi. Too much of the former without enough of the latter was a recipe for disaster.
The matter of The Weapon decided for the moment, Danzō decided to head home for the day. He had a nice warm bath awaiting him there to sooth the aches of his battered and aged body.
Age, he mused, was a royal pain.
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