Nindō 0042: The First Attack (2/2)

The following morning was a Sunday, supposedly a holiday for the village. But it was anything but free for any of Konoha's higher-ups, who had lost their oldest and most respected council members. The duo comprised the only shinobi in the village who had been alive and in power since the Second Hokage's generation, personally trained by the man alongside the Third Hokage in a three-man cell.

Naruto peacefully went to his office after dropping Himawari at the academy. She didn't have normal classes since it was Sunday, but instead, she came to the academy for a special event for her class. Moments after Naruto sat down in his comfortable chair, Shikamaru burst in.

"Why are you sitting so peacefully after all that's happened?" The man asked Naruto with a raised brow.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked with a raised brow.

"What happened? The two High Elders have been confirmed dead. There's a conspiracy going on about the construction company who made their new house sabotaging it and the daimyo wants to meet you." Shikamaru spoke with a mildly aggravated tone that perfectly conveyed how distressed he was.

Naruto showed a serious expression, "I'll meet with the daimyo, Shikamaru. First, we must perform the last rites of the elders. It's good that the man is already in the village. He can pay his respects to them. They contributed their entire lives to the village and didn't even leave any competent descendants to inherit their wealth. We must honor their legacy."

Hearing Naruto's words, Shikamaru had the feeling that something was fishy with the situation but didn't have the time to delve into it. He nodded and started contacting the necessary people to execute Naruto's orders.

"The weather's a little gloomy today," Naruto looked at the sky through his window. "I guess it's going to rain."

…

It indeed rained.

Many shinobi and civilians of the older generation of Konoha arrived to pay their respects to the departed elders. Almost the entire council was present except for one or two people from the Civilian Council. The daimyo himself gave a eulogy about the departed elders and wished them peace in the afterlife.

Once everything was done, the sun had already set when the daimyo sat in Naruto's office to talk about some important things.

"Hokage," Lord Ikkyū Madoka, the daimyo of the Land of Fire spoke up. "First off, I would like to express my condolences for the loss."

Naruto nodded with a serious expression, "We have lost two great pillars of the Land of Fire today."

"I hope you can capture and punish the culprit of the incident in time," The daimyo expressed his wishes.

"You can rest assured of it," Naruto said. "We've already narrowed things down to the most likely suspect. The elders moved into their current residence only recently, its collapse has been analyzed and we have concluded that there was some internal tampering during the construction of the mansion. It was made by the Civilian Council Chairman's Obayashi Construction. He has already been apprehended for questioning."

"That's good," The man nodded, "You work fast, Hokage. As for —" He was interrupted by a knock.

"My apologies, this must be my disciple," Naruto smiled with a hint of embarrassment on his face. "I'll introduce you to her. Come on in, Sarada." The daimyo nodded at Naruto's words and the girl entered the office before freezing in her spot. "Come here. Greet the daimyo of our Land of Fire." Naruto said.

She quickly snapped out of her reverie and walked stiffly to the two most powerful authorities in the Land of Fire. "Greetings, Daimyo-sama."

The man nodded to her and turned to Naruto. "I haven't heard about the Hokade deciding on a candidate for his successor already."

"Stand beside me, Sarada," Naruto said. "I only announced her apprenticeship in yesterday's council meeting. It's a shame that the elders weren't able to relay the news to you themselves."

"A shame indeed," He nodded. "Are you planning to retire already? I think you still have a good number of years in you."

"Oh, I'm not retiring for a while. I merely feel that she is a strong candidate for the position and have made the decision to start nurturing her early."

"Understandable," The daimyo said. "On another note. I must thank you for saving my son from the Mujina bandits. If I had paid their ransom, it would have set an awful precedent, encouraging many others to act the same way. Tentō told me all about how the ninja bodyguard you assigned to him saved him even though the mission had been marked as completed."

"It's nothing," Naruto said. "Your son was kidnapped within the bounds of Konoha, it was our responsibility to save him anyway. I've read the report, my son Boruto, along with his cell, played an integral role in capturing the leader of the Mujina bandits."

"Yes, I remember Tentō telling me that three of your ninjas protected him." He nodded.

"In fact, one of the three is standing right here," Naruto looked over at Sarada with a little smile, almost teasingly. The already tense girl froze in her spot, speechless.

"Oh?" The daimyo raised his brow, "It seems that you truly have a competent candidate to take your place in the future. I look forward to your prospects, Sarada."

"T-thank you very much, Daimyo-sama," She bowed to him as sweat dripped from her brow.

"Finally, Hokage," The man turned to Naruto once again. "Since the elders are gone, I want you to assign someone reputable to take their position in the council. While their loss is immensely grief-striking, I have a nation to run. I will give your candidate my direct line of communication so that they can keep me in the loop of the events in the village and express my will when it comes to certain decisions."

"It shall be done before your departure," Naruto nodded as the man stood up.

"Oh, and also," He turned to look at Naruto again. "I hope that Sasuke Uchiha will be leaving the village soon?" The tone may have been questioning, but it was a statement from the daimyo. The moment the words reached Sarada's ears, she felt her heart lurch to her throat.

"He's leaving tonight for his next mission," Naruto said. "You don't need to worry."

"Good," The man nodded and left the office as Sarada looked at Naruto.

"Master …" She hesitated, not seeming in the best state at the moment.

"Don't hesitate," Naruto said. "Ask away."

"W-what was that about my father not being allowed to stay in the village?" She asked while feeling like her head was burning.

"Calm down first," Naruto said as he noticed her swaying a little. "You're about to have a panic attack," He stood up and hugged her, passing his chakra through her body as she started shivering, unable to even raise her arms to hug him back. Despite the immediate calming sensation that ran through her body with Naruto's chakra, Sarada whimpered. She felt like her heart was about to burst but couldn't really do anything about it. All she could do was lean on the only source of comfort as he slowly calmed her down. Slowly, her arms seemed to involuntarily move as she wrapped them around Naruto, burying her face in his coat.

It took almost ten minutes for the girl to calm down from her attack and even then, she didn't seem to want to let go of him.

"Come here," Naruto said, leading her to the couch while still hugging her. He sat down as she still refused to let go of him, sitting in his lap with her face hidden in his clothes.

"What–what was that about my father, Master …" Her muffled voice came from Naruto's chest, where she was hiding her face. Naruto gently caressed her short hair, running his fingers through her locks.

"You see, Sarada. I may have gotten your father a good reputation publically among the younger generation and the civilians, having them call him the Shadow Hokage and all that. But in truth, he was the man who almost destroyed the world as we know it. It was only when I beat him that the world was saved. You are aware of the story. I have done as much damage control for him as I could, but the consequences of his actions are still apparent despite how much things have changed. No one in the older generation of the village truly trusts your father. Hell, they are downright scared of his presence. This is the real reason that he has never been home. Not because he didn't want to, but because he was forced to by the circumstances."

Naruto's words left Sarada at a loss and she started shaking and sobbing once again. He merely let the event pass, allowing Sarada to go through her motions while comforting her by caressing her hair and rubbing her back.

When she finally recovered enough to speak, "I-I don't know why … I can't understand why it felt so horrible. I don't have any control over it either. It's so horrible." She was in a very weak place mentally.

It took Naruto an entire hour of silent comforting before Sarada's condition normalized and she registered her state for the past hour.

"What was that …" She mumbled to herself after awkwardly letting him go and sitting beside him on the couch.

"You had a panic attack, an especially bad one at that," Naruto said.

"I feel that it would've been better if–if daddy was gone voluntarily. At least I could've been mad at him in that case. Who do I be mad at now?" She mumbled, making Naruto smile a little.

"You can still be mad at him. If I didn't beat him to his senses, he would've kept the entire world in the Infinite Tsukuyomi. You can be mad at him for that."

Sarada suddenly got desperate to change the topic from her father to something else. "Why did you have me meet the daimyo, master? You could've told me to wait outside with the telepathic ability that you have. How does it work anyway?"

"One question at a time, Sarada," Naruto said. "I had you meet the daimyo because I wish for the higher-ups of the village to be aware of your status as my disciple. And after me, the biggest authority in the village is the daimyo himself. You will definitely require his support if you wish to hold on to power."

"What about your telepathic ability? I always forget to ask you about it. It's not a jutsu like the Yamanaka clan's techniques, right? What is it?"

"Chakra, my dear disciple," Naruto said, "is much more than mere energy to fuel your jutsu. Let's go over the basics first. What is chakra made out of?"

"Uh …" Sarada thought to herself, "L-life energy? We learned this in the first year of the academy, I don't remember."

"Chakra and life energy are interchangeable terms. It doesn't tell me the composition of chakra. Think harder."

"Uh … Physical energy?" She asked.

"Close enough but not quite," Naruto shook his head. "Chakra comprises our own physical and spiritual energy. Revise the basic concepts of chakra when you have the time, okay? Now, for my telepathic ability. It's simply because you have a part of my chakra in you. With enough control over my spiritual aspect, I can directly converse with you."

"Is that even possible?" Sarada asked, confused.

"The best example of this is that of the tailed beasts. Once a tailed beast gives you their chakra, you have a spiritual connection with them, allowing them to communicate with you whenever they wish to. This is because of how high their spiritual prowess is." Naruto said.

"How is spiritual control different from Yin Release? Isn't Yin Release essentially manipulating the spiritual aspect of chakra?" Sarada asked.

"So you do remember your academy education," Naruto smiled.

"I-I just needed a few seconds to remember," Sarada blushed. "I studied very hard in the academy."

Naruto answered before smiling, "Yin release is the utilization of jutsu to manipulate the spirit. But spiritual control or prowess is the basis of the technique. For example, using chakra to directly manipulate fire or performing a jutsu to use fire in a specific manner. Do you understand?"

"I get it … At least I think so. This means that you are good enough with your spiritual aspect that you can converse telepathically with anyone who has your chakra?"

"Exactly."

***

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