Chapter 5: Major Changes

Opening the letter from Kumo Hiruzen, I gulped down the building saliva, already thinking that Kumogakure would likely dent the request. Upon looking at the contents of what was written, the pipe that was originally in his mouth fell to the ground, not expecting such a response from such a prideful nation.

Dear Hokage

We of Kumogakure truly apologise for what has transpired in your village due to one of our own, and to remedy any future conflicts between our villages, we have decided to accept the terms and conditions you ask for. The Nibi Jinchuriki and another young academy girl will be sent at the end of the month.

Hiruzen couldn't think of any reason as to why they would suddenly accept what he had asked for, considering that they were also the same bunch that denied any responsibilities from what their ambassador initially did, framing the Hyuuga as savages who should be killed, resulting in Hizashi's death.

But never the less, the surprise only lasted a few moments until Hiruzen was able to gain his bearings as he signed the documents once more. Seeing that this was a good time to try and execute some of his plans, he called for his secretary and summoned all available ninjas within the village; immediately, tens, if not nearly a hundred, appeared.

"I will be frank with all of you, how many here are Jōnin?"

Only five raised their hands, with Maito Gai being one of them. This has made the Hokage more disheartened at how low the village has started to become.

"All chūnins raise their hands"

Just to be sure no Genin was apart of this meeting, he looked at all the remaining hands being raised. A little more happy at the fact that no one was a Genin anymore, he took a pile of scrolls.

"This here's pile is very important missions, every and all places are to be monitored, no one is to be detected not by each other or anything, this is a very important missions to secure the safety of the village, every scroll here has a specific location, and within those locations are meant to be monitored, again you are not allowed to be detected, if you feel that your detected then you either kill yourselves or you kill the one who detected you, I would recommend being away from the place by a hundred feet, or atleast how far until you can no longer properly look at the passing anbus"

The shinobies looked at one another thinking and to why the Hokage suddenly issued such a rushed mission, until one of them raised their hand.

"Yes you"

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect if the anbu are using this routes why would we need to monitor it? And why would we have to kill the ones who detect us, are they not fellow Konoha Shinobi?"

"It's both a test to how stealthy you guys can be, and how good the anbu are to be detected, and normally an anbu is wearing a mask, with how tense the outside world is becoming we cannot allow the internal part of Konoha to be breached, so while this mission is to test both you and the anbu, we also use this as an excuse to see if there is a traitor among us, it's extremely difficult to differentiate from friend to foe so every friend would have to say the safe word, that is within the scrolls and if they don't say it then they are actively a spy that needs to be killed"

The Hokage tried his best to explain it whether they believed it or not is up to them, after awhile majority has already taken their scrolls and went away, leaving only Kurenai in front of the Hokage, but before she could take the scroll she was stopped.

"This mission isn't going to be for you, Yuhi-san. As I have already told you, you are one of my investments. I need your strength to grow as fast as possible. Please tell me the jutsu you already know, the extent of your training, and your specialty"

Kurenai was surprised at this; she never expected that despite her need to grow stronger, her ability to take on missions would be affected, at least not to this degree.

"Do not misunderstand Yuhi-san; it's not anything about you; it's about the contents of the mission. As I have already explained right now, this mission will be long or time-intensive. I expected you to join in, but with the amount of time we have in our hands, it's better if you sit this one out, by the way, cat"

Suddenly, an anbu operative appeared near the Hokage kneeling.

"Take off your mask; at this moment, you are no longer an anbu; you will be given the title Jonin effective immediately"

Again, Surpsied was shown to Kurenai; things are moving too fast for either one to comprehend; not once did they think that this mission that will be given to them would be this important. Yugao Uzuki, also known as Cat, removed her mask and gave it to the Hokage. Seeing her expression, the Hokage simply patted her head.

"This is not dismissing you; this is an extended vacation of sorts. Take this time away from the anbu to hone your skills. Now tell me what I need to know so I can properly support you both"

A moment of silence descended on the people in the room; even the anbu that would normally be hidden had sweats forming. Knowing the Hokage, there have to be reasons as to why he's doing what he's doing; it's just that none of them understand, but after a while, Kurenai stood up.

"Yes, my name is Yuhi Kurenai. I am 16 years old. I specialised in Genjutsu. I have learned the clone, shunshin, substitution, transformation, and tree-binding death"

This time Yugao stood up, looking at the hokage.

"I'm Uzuki Yugao, 15 years old, I aspecialize in Kenjutsu, I haven't learned any advance sword style outside the standard Anbu style, I have also learned Clone, Shunshin, Substitution, and Transformation"

A sigh left the Hokage as he realized just how much work has in order for them to reach the level that he was satisfied with, but never the less he took out the scrolls that he hid underneath his desk.

"This here are scrolls of Jutsus I picked out from the the scroll of seals, this will help you in improving yourselves faster"

As the Hokage divided the scrolls up he gave Yugao 2 scrolls while giving Kurenai 4.

"Yugao what contains within those two scrolls are both the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu and the Getsuryū Kenjutsu that kenjutsu was lost to time, only ever recorded by the nidaime hopefully your going to be able to learn and master it, while Kurenai knowing that your specialty is Genjutsu I specifically put the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, the Magen: Hiiro no Hana no Seijaku, Kokuangyo no Jutsu, and the Kashokugyo no Jutsu"

"But Hokage-sama, why give us the Shadow Clone Technique, it's not something we can use as of now"

Yugao certainly raised a good question, despite it's versatility none of them can even summon one without passing out, how could they use something that can turn into a liability.

"You'll understand when you read that Yugao, and besides I don't expect you to be able to perform the Jutsus I give you immediately, for example your Kenjutsu would be nearly impossible to master, but I know you will try your best to master it giving me hope you will one day, it's an S rank Kenjutsu style afterall"

The two looked at each other and nodded, upon thanking the Hokage they went out and gone their separate ways, thinking how they can maximize their training in order to get the quickest result.

-Hokage Office-

Hiruzen didn't know what to do at this point, he had set up majority of what he needs in a way that it'll take months if not years to properly execute, and even then he would need further time to properly finish. Looking at the village he could only smile sadly, the feeling of seeing the families were rather bitter sweet, knowing that people such as him and Naruto were not privy with having a family with his wife dying at Naruto's birth, with his only son alive not even coming back, and with his grandson being so young he couldn't truly take care of him, and what happened to Naruto that night being one of his greatest failure.

A sigh left him as he stood up, trying to get the scroll of seals and preparing more Jutsus for the two kunoichi to learn once they learned the initial ones he gave.

'I should also try and give them training partners, Gai should be good to go? I mean he can probably strengthen them greatly something that Kurenai would need considering her specialty will lead her to under develop her stamina and strength'

-Naruto-

After a week passed, nothing changed much, Naruto himself tried to start conversations with his friends, which they reciprocated happily, socially Sasuke, while none of the others tried to get close to him, that didn't really bother him that much, outside of the occasional teacher trying to get him out of the class, but every time a teacher tried it Sasuke being the most vocal would try and question the reasoning which wouldn't be said but would make the teacher stop.

Atleast for the time being as whenever it was going back from the academy the teacher would actively harras Naruto for being what they would call a demon, while Naruto was desensitized with what they say or do, that didn't stop him from being really annoyed at the fact that he couldn't have a single peaceful day.

Coming back from school Naruto opened up his apartment, seeing the state it was in as it was once more ransacked by some villagers, he would have to repair everything again, he took a breom and started to sweep, this has became a routine of sorts for Naruto, someone would occasionally break something and leave the room ransacked, he was only lucky that no one would go to his bed. Despite the rare occurance of the trespassing, it's starting to become more and more frequent, in the past it woukd only ever haooence bi monthly and now it's happening every week, but then again the teachers grew extreme around this times aswell chich was weird.

-Jiraiya-

Having been following the the trail of Tsunade he was naturally speeding towards her destination, atleast that was true until a toad suddenly appeared in front of him, stopping at his tracks he looked at the scroll that the toad was carrying.

Dear Jiraiya

Would I have to bring Tayuya again? I mean won't she be a bad influence in little Naruto? I can see why send Kiryu and Asagi but I fail to know why her? She has yet to master her abilities, and that is already to what she knows, introducing her to toad Genjutsu would be very difficult we need more time, just send those two first then we'll bring Tayuya once she's ready or less feral.

Pa

A sigh left Jiraiya, he knew that what he was asking for was impossible, specially after finding Tayuya first before Orochimaru he would have expected that she would need years just to get down the basics, but her talent shown that her gift for genjutsu rivaled if not surpasses that of Kurenai, someone that he himself would not like to fight when it comes to a battle of illusions, but has he truly overestimated Tayuya? Or did he underestimate the art of Toad illusion? He could only give Pa and Ma so much time, and at this point even if she only knows the basic is more than enough, Naruto would need a playmate right?

Taking out a scroll and a brush, Jiraiya started to write a letter or more specifically, a request that allowing Tayuya to master the basics would be more than enough, training her in Toad illusions doesn't assure success nor does it bode well if it takes too long, sending the messenger toad back, he onces more started to go to where Tsunade was once more located.