Сhapter 30

- What did you call for, old man? - Swaggering into Hokoge's office, without any further preliminaries, I turned to Hiruzen... While outwardly I tried to be as relaxed as possible, letting out only a drop of interest about the reasons for my appearance here. At the same time, an inner shiver ran through me from fears about this meeting ... At the same time, my fears were not based on nothing, because the Hokage had never called me to his carpet before. Usually he himself came to me under one pretext or another.

So the sudden notification from Iruka that already today we had to visit one overly remarkable old man, somewhat alarmed me. At the same time, I did not see any really weighty reasons for such actions on the part of Hiruzen. He had already congratulated me on entering the seventh year, and in general, we had crossed paths quite recently and everything was relatively normal.

- Naruto! Be a little more polite in the presence of the Hokage. - Iruka-sensei pulled me back, which is what I brought the old man to me, leaving no chance of escape. Although, I did not think to run away from this meeting ... even if I was frankly afraid of such a sudden order to come to the office of the Hokage, but I could not do anything about this meeting. My unwillingness to meet the Hokage could only lead to sadder consequences, and therefore I just had to pull myself together and continue to play the chosen role.

- Sorry, Hokage-sama. I was too worried. - I apologized with a little dissatisfied shake of my head. Having squinted at the same time an offended look in the direction of Iruka... thereby forcing the man himself to roll his eyes a little at my antics. I certainly understood that I could behave seriously and collected, just, often, and I don't want to do it.

- Nothing, Naruto. - The old man easily smeared his hand, watching our silent skirmish with the teacher. - I understand that I invited you to my place somewhat unexpectedly… But try to get a little better. I have a serious conversation with you. - At once turning from a "good grandfather" into a real ruler of the village of elite assassins and mercenaries, Hiruzen asked me… After that, I really couldn't play my role of a carefree boy anymore.

- I'm listening to you, Hokage-sama. I squeezed out, straining my whole body. My face at the same time, against my will, froze in a grimace of an emotionless brick, and I myself stared with interest and some concern at the little old man, who with his next actions could seriously complicate ... or make my life easier. And this uncertainty only scared and worried me more.

- Well ... - the old man nodded in my direction with a slight approval. - Then I'll start right away with the main thing... Naruto, I'm concerned about some medical indications from your last physical examination. - The old man stunned me. It seems that I even lost control of my own face, making the most incomprehensible, and then worried grimace. The old man's words were too sudden for me, pressing down on my strongest, deepest fears.

- But the doctors said that everything was fine. There were no negative consequences from my training. - I drawled, somehow lost, trying not to succumb to very gloomy thoughts ... it didn't work out very well. Yes, and Itachi with his illness, damn him, very conveniently surfaced in my memory. But the idea that too active exercises with the chakra at an early age can lead to not the best consequences, even at the very beginning of my training, visited me…

- Don't worry so much, Naruto. Nothing fatal has happened, and physically you are completely healthy. - The old man tried to calm me down… Forcing only to strain harder. After all, if the disease is not related to the physical body… Ahem, you need to calm down a little, throw away unnecessary thoughts and speculation. Hiruzen will tell me everything now anyway, and after that I will think what can be done with the new information... Mmaa, it's easy to say, but it's hard to do. The adrenaline has already entered the bloodstream, making me literally go crazy from the internal tension… But I was still able to collect my thoughts, calming down a little. Although the anxiety still did not leave my face…

- Is there something wrong with my chakrosystem or tanketsu? - Still, I couldn't resist asking, succumbing to my own anxiety... At the same time, which is indicative, Iruki-sensei's hand somehow even squeezed my shoulder too hard. The teacher, apparently, began to worry about me himself. He understands, apparently, that poisoning chakrosystems is much more difficult to treat than ordinary wounds. Only the best iryenins, like the same Tsunade, can work with someone else's chakra system. Although, even they can heal far from all injuries of the chakrosystem…

- Not really... ahem, Nartuo, speaking in general, your health is in perfect order. Your chakrosystem and body are developing much faster than usual, but there are no problems with this. Your training is good for you, in one way or another… But... - Obviously not knowing how to express his thought, the old man pulled… But his words still had a rather calming effect on me. - Naruto… Tell me, do you know anything about such a concept as "Jinchuriki"? - The old man asked me in a dry tone, knocking me out of the rut for a moment… But the old man had already noticed this hitch in any case, and therefore it was too late to act out complete ignorance.

"Are you saying that I am a Jinchuriki... of the nine-tailed?" I asked the old man almost in a whisper, trying with all my might to track the reaction to such news from Iruka… And he, apparently, already knew that I had a fox demon sealed in my belly. Well, at least, the words of the Hokage did not cause much surprise in the man. I understood this without even looking at the man himself. And the fact that he was even present at this conversation also says a lot. I think Iruka definitely has some confidence on the part of Hokage. And he is still privy to some of the "secrets" of the village…

- Naruto ... - the old man exhaled heavily, slowly extending his hand towards his smoking pipe… Which was already lit up very soon, and the old man himself took a long drag, trying, apparently, to calm down a little. - I didn't want to tell you about it ahead of time, but your assumption is correct… Almost ten years ago, during the Kyubi attack on our village, the Fourth Hokage sealed a nine-tailed fox in you. That's what the circumstances demanded, and you turned out to be the best vessel for the beast. Hiruzen answered honestly, following my reaction to his words too closely… And something told me that it was definitely not worth lying under such an attentive gaze…

"I... suspected something like that. - After some hesitation, I exhaled softly, somehow even going limp in Iruki's hand. He was still holding me by the shoulder, which is why, most likely, he could fully appreciate how much my body relaxed after this confession. - Too often the villagers called me a demon, the rebirth of a fox and other... epithets. So I was interested in why exactly I can be called that… Correlating the information from the scrolls with the words of the shopkeepers was not so difficult. However, I still wasn't sure of my own conclusions. - I honestly confessed, remembering that I was really looking for information on jinchuriki and the demon fox in general. Yes, and in the history of Konoha, the jinchurki managed to be noted.

About the same Mito, the wife of the first Hokage and the first Jinchuriki of the nine–tailed, several chapters were written at once in the history textbook. And I, although I did not like this subject, but due to circumstances, I learned it very well…

- Well... I didn't expect something like this. But I'm glad you're okay with this information. - The old man drawled with a slightly relaxed smile. At the same time, the smoke from his pipe finally reached me, informing me that it is not tobacco in the tube itself now… Most likely, some herbs of local origin. Perhaps even a banal sedative or something similar… The smell, at least, was quite pleasant and unobtrusive. - Now, it will be much easier to explain the essence of the problem to you ... - Immediately becoming much more serious, the old man added, forcing me to return to the previously received information about my health problems.

Which, even if they didn't scare me so much, because my body and chakrosystem were healthy, but since it came to the fox… At the same time, Hiruzen himself still decided to tell me about him, apparently earlier than planned, then something really out of the ordinary happened… And it just couldn't help but bother.