20 Greatness From Small Beginnings Part 1

Shiki now stood face to face with the Third Hokage, Tsunade and Shizune.

"Thank you for coming Shiki!"

"Well as an aspiring shinobi of konoha I can't just go about and ignore the hokage's summons."

"Hmm, I know you're not fond of ceremony, so I'll go straight to the point. I've heard about your solution to Anko's problem and from her description of the event I've drawn my own conclusions."

'Well, can't really blame her for telling since I forgot to request that the process remain secret. She probably saw no harm in it considering she was only telling the Hokage himself. Still, I should avoid making such stupid mistakes since I'm sure swearing her to secrecy would be enough. Let's see if this situation can be profited from.'

"Enlighten me old man."

"From Anko's description I recalled a jutsu of the Uzumaki clan that I learned. The Reaper Death Seal."

Tsunade and Shizune were slightly alarmed by the ominous name but said nothing.

"Although I'd love to inquire why such an important forbidden jutsu of my clan would be known by you, I'll reserve judgement for now. As for your suspicion, it was indeed the Reaper Death Seal."

"I thought the Reaper Death Seal came at the cost of the user's life!" The Hokage exclaimed further alarming Tsunade and Shizune.

"It's my clan's jutsu, I naturally know its ins and outs better than you including how to avoid such a steep cost."

"Mhm. That being the case it's safe to assume you know at least of of the lost arts of the Uzumaki, yes?"

"Sure. What about it?"

"Could you contribute those skills to the village?"

"Depends on what you have in mind, old man."

"Your basic ability as a shinobi his already edging on the level of a jounin at the very least while your skills with fuinjutsu are probably among the best in the village. Thus I'm officially offering you a position in the village's Anbu."

"!" 'I've got to admit, I wasn't expecting that! Depending on what my duties would be and my degree of freedom this is a wonderful opportunity.'

"I'll admit I'm interested what do you have in mind for my duties as such?"

"Rather than putting you in the regular forces I'm thinking of having you report directly to me. I would be mainly sending you on missions where fuinjutsu expertise is required but I'm sure there are a lot of abilities you're keeping hidden, Tsunade also refused to share any observations regarding your prowess without you being present."

"So you'd like for me to share some of my abilities so you can better decide what type of work to give to me."

"That's right!"

"Fine! I guess I can share a bit. But first!" As Shiki said this he took out a paper tag that started slowly burning when he put chakra into it.

"So long as the tag is still burning it's impossible to spy what is going on in a radius depending on how much chakra I've inputted."

This was one of the many creations of Shiki's soul clone that was in charge of supplies. He still used his Mind's Eye of the Kagura and Byakugan to check the room and its surroundings just to be safe.

"That's an interesting tool, very interesting." Affirmed the Hokage.

"You have no idea old man." Replied Shiki as he took out another tag and laid it on the Hokage's desk.

"This is a Pact Seal Tag. All parties drop a drop of blood onto the tag and then settle on the terms. After that, the tag quickly burns up and enforces those terms with a soul binding curse seal, from which even death does not release you."

This was something Shiki prepared for when he would want to make certain deals in the future, he had made some special modifications to it too but he didn't expect to use one of them so soon.

"This particular one has a special effect that if we do not reach an agreement, all memories of this conversation will be wiped." The Hokage wanted to interrupt but Shiki stopped him and continued to explain.

"I'm going to offer you a deal, old man. The conditions are mostly non-negotiable. Should you accept the Pact Seal Tag will bind our agreement so that neither of us will renege. If you refuse, you'll forget all the information I will reveal to you as part of the offer."

"For Tsuna-nee and Shizu-nee all you have to do is swear secrecy and to not hamper either of us in the execution of the terms of our pact."

"Fine!" Said Tsunade and dropped some blood on the tag and swore on the two terms. It looked like the previous events had led to her developing a trust in Shiki that needed no explanation.

Shizune hesitated a little, mostly due to the unexpected seriousness of the situation at hand but eventually did the same as Tsunade.

"Very well! I will hear this offer of yours!" Declared the Hokage as he too dropped blood on the tag.

'Truthfully the Soul Substitution Jutsu allows me to violate whatever terms I agree to so even if somebody manages to find a loophole I can break from the contract to stop them. The best part is that even if I do this, all other parties are still bound! This is something I can never reveal though otherwise nobody will enter these pacts with me.'

"First of all, to me getting information from the dead is far easier than doing so from the living so for example, the circumstances surrounding the Uchiha, I know them." Started Shiki shocking everyone in the room.

"Secondly, I'm a sensory type with a range large enough to cover the entire village along with its surroundings. If I focus I can determine chakra natures, emotional state and whether someone is lying. I can also map locations using my sensory ability and by integrating my fuinjutsu skills with it there are very few things that can escape my notice. I can also completely hide myself from other sensors" Shiki's audience became more and more shocked but Shiki wasn't nearly done.

"Thirdly, I have a very effective means of infiltrating various places and creating an intelligence network."

This is one of the plans Shiki started in the last two years. One soul clone travels to any location of interest. They use superior goods created with Uzumaki seals to gain influence and then utilize the Wraith Creation Jutsu. This jutsu creates a sort of golem from the element of the soul used.

They can blend with their element and use it to attack, defend and rapidly heal but are extremely weak to attacks from their elemental weakness, with Ying Wraiths being capable of casting genjutsu but being the most fragile of them all and Yang Wraiths only being capable of physical attacks but having unmatched recovery and healing capabilities.

The wraiths used for the intelligence network are different however. Created from Pure Souls rather than an elemental one, they are fundamentally unable to affect anything but they are untraceable, undetectable and can transmit information back to their creators instantly.

This creates a networks that is both fast and efficient. Shiki has one soul clone that is completely dedicated to sorting the info received although the number may increase in the future. Using the knowledge extracted from the souls of various merchants and such found in the Konoha Cemetery integration into the business world was nearly seamless. From there, it would be eventually, shinobi villages, criminal organizations, etc.

"Are you all following so far?" Shiki asked and they all nodded absentmindedly, utterly shocked at the thing being revealed.

'Just how much has this little kid been hiding!?' They all thought.

"Now that you know the basics let's get on with the main course!"

"BASICS!?" They all shouted.

"Well, I said it was an offer. I haven't offered anything yet, just explained a little of what I can do."

"A LITTLE!?"

"Well I can't totally ruin the mystery! It would reduce my charm!" Said Shiki completely serious, leaving the three stooges speechless once again.

"So anyway! Let's continue!"

It was from this moment, that Shiki's path to the top would finally start to take shape.