Chapter 52: Fear or Paranoia?

The final assessment of days of work was harsh. More than half the population of Suna had perished. The rest had been saved and fixed back up more for the most part. As it stood Sunagakure was no longer one of the Big five shinobi villages. That was a heavy blow to stomach. Temari was still in charge and her leadership had maintained unity in this moment of grief and despair. She hid it well but she felt just like her country-men. Kankuro had been found dead, crushed by a ceiling that had fallen down on him and Gaara was in Akatsuki’s clutches. Karin’s seal on Gaara was thought to break but not unbreakable. It was only a matter of time before the Ichibi would be extracted from him and die.

With the situation as dire as it was, Temari requested asylum from Konoha. For her people. That was six thousand people, nearly half of the leaf’s population. Of course it wasn’t possible so she asked only for the civilians. The shinobi would make do outside the village in the meantime. She also asked for Suna to be part of any attack against Akatsuki that Konoha would launch.

With her diplomatic message in hand, Riku left with any non-essential shinobis. In other words, any tracker or member of the security group. They went straight back to Konoha in record time. Riku dismissed everyone and went to make his report to his mother. He left no details unsaid, from Suna’s current situation to Iwa's very short foray into the Land of Wind. Once done he gave her the scroll containing Temari’s message.

“You’re dismissed.” she simply said once he was done.

“Sensei?” he asked, confused.

“You’re dismissed.” she repeated. “You did an excellent job, now go home and rest.”

“B-..” He was about to protest, wanting to talk about what they were going to do but it wasn’t his place to ask. He nodded and exited Tsunade’s office.

“How bad is he?”

“I don’t know, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi said as he entered through the window. He had been listening the whole time, waiting to make his own report. “He… seemed distressed for a moment right after, then he soldiered on. Made no mistake in his work, never raised his voice or acted or reacted violently.”

“You think he pushed everything down and didn’t process it?”

“Possibly. That or he processed it faster than he dealt with Iwa’s forces.”

Tsunade let out a long tired sigh. It was one thing to kill another shinobi in the middle of the action, in the middle of a war but what Riku did was mass slaughter. It was a whole different matter altogether. The burden was greater even more so in this case with how fast and more importantly how easy it has been for Riku to do it. Riku could completely break down or become so desensitized to killing that he would feel nothing about doing it anymore. And zero qualms about doing an action becomes often the first solution that comes to mind. That wouldn’t do. They couldn’t let either happen.

“Should I force him to go see a therapist?”

“Hm… I don’t think so. He’ll go but I don’t think it would be useful for him. Maybe even counterproductive if Inoichi is the one.”

“I’m not daft, Kakashi. I won’t send him to his girlfriend’s overprotective father.”

“Minato-sensei may be the best to deal with this.”

“Maybe.” she said with hesitation. “It’s worth a shot. He’s at the Academy. Should be on lunch break soon.”

“I’ll pay him a visit, Hokage-sama.”

“And how are you?”

“Me?”

“You witnessed it. Don’t tell me it didn’t affect you.”

“... It horrified me. I’m glad my sharingan was covered. It wasn’t just a cut and a spray of blood then a body falling to the ground. It was body exploding everywhere. And he just… touched them. He didn’t punch. He didn’t kick. He didn’t slice or stab. No. He touched them, for less than a second. A blink. And they all exploded in a shower of blood and  gore. Half a minute, Hokage-sama. In half a minute a thousand people exploded and died. It was like… a sick festival of blood and carnage. No one should be able to do this and I’m glad that the one who can is on our side.”

“Maybe you should reconsider therapy?” She tried but was turned down flat.

“Mah~That’s not necessary Hokage-sama. I’ve got my family back and that will provide all the healing I need.”

It went out the window and disappeared in a swirl of leaves only to reappear outside the Academy gate.

“Kakashi-san?”

Turning to his left to have a look he saw Iruka carrying a few dozen books.

“Iruka. How is it going?”

“Great, thank you for asking. Do you need anything? It’s unusual to see you here.”

“I’m waiting for Minato-sensei to have lunch together. We didn’t really have the time to catch up since he came back. Too busy with Naruto, which is understandable.”

“Oh! Well, you better come in because Namikaze-sama eats with the students.”

“Telling them stories, I suppose.”

“Yes.”

Kakashi followed Iruka inside up to the teacher’s lounge. He didn’t have to wait long for Minato to show up to put his teaching stuff on his desk.

“Kakashi, you’re back!” the man greeted with a jovial tone.

“I am and so is your family.”

“That’s great news! I’ll go home for lunch then. How was Suna?” Kakashi felt sorry that he was about to sour his sensei’s mood as they walked out the teacher’s lounge.

“Bad. They’re seeking asylum from us at least for the civilians but that’s not the  worst part.”

“No?” Minato asked, stopping in his tracks with a frown on his face.

“No.”

At the same time at the Senju Manor, Riku had made as many shadow clones as he could. He had them all work double time on new seals that would allow the village to be protected in case Akatuski attacked like they did for Suna. The whole village. That means every person living in it needed to be evacuated faster than the snap of a finger. That meant dealing with the barrier. He had taken a good look at it when he went to visit the barrier department and noticed two things. One, Uzumaki Mito was truly a barrier genius, two, he could not modify the existing seal matrix itself, but he could add to it. Of course the seal to add was the Hiraishin since he wanted to bail out people. That wasn’t the main problem, just a minor one. The real problem was where to relocate them? He couldn’t teleport them in the wild. There were old people and babies in the mix. Even with help from others that wouldn’t be a good situation for them. He backtracked a bit his thought. Yes, adding the Hiraishin to the barrier was easily doable but he also needed to put the seals on people. All people. 15 thousand of them.

‘The place and space, I can create them. There are plenty of deep underground tunnels thanks to Danzo and his Root. I will have to seal every wall and expand the shit out of them. Or I could ask Yamato to make a big wooden cabin. Or multiple? No, it would be too complicated to teleport people into many different locations. They will all have to be gathered. It’s not like they would stay there for long anyway. If they did then it’s because Akatsuki won and they’re all doomed anyway. How can I do this? How can I teleport them all at the same time in the same place? Basics. Let’s start with the basics. What do they all have in common? They’re human, no, alive. They’re living beings. Just like dogs and cats, so that won’t do. Or may that would. The Inuzuka and their ninkens and the Aburame with their insects. They all have chakra so maybe latch the seal onto anything with chakra? No, no. Trees have chakra. But Nature chakra! That’s it! I need to create a seal that would detect and teleport anything that has normal chakra and not the other. I don’t need to put the seals on people themselves. The barrier would just do, it’s a close space. Man that’s one complex matrix seal. I’m going to need help with this. Preferably Karin or Kushina.’

“...KU!”

“Whaaa!”

Riku fell from his chair to the side at  the sudden scream in his ear. Looking up he saw Minato on his feet.

“What was that for?!”

“I’ve been calling you for a minute and you didn’t answer.”

“You couldn’t… I don’t know, wave a hand in front of me?”

“I did. You didn’t even notice.”

“... Well, shit sorry.” the dirty blonde said while standing up. “What do you need?”

“To talk.”

“About?” he asked his father for more detail, hoping that the conversation would be quick.

“What happened with Iwa in Suna.”

“I killed them all but one. What about it?” He picked up his pencil and began to write in his notebook, not really paying attention to Minato.

“You…’re not affected by what you did?” his father asked in worry.

“Nope. They were enemies of the lowest order, coming to scavenge what was left of Suna or finish the job then scavenge. I don’t feel an ounce of remorse or regret about it. Sure the idea wasn’t pleasant before I did it and I didn’t want to do it but I needed to do my duty and so I killed them all but one to send a message. The only thing I felt was disgust at the result. I had no relation to them, they were hostile strangers and that made it easier. You had the same experience, no? Why are you so surprised?”

“I was sad when it was over. So many lives wasted.”

“I’m not. They were not innocents, their intentions were not good. I wouldn’t go and say good riddance or that they got what they deserved because I’m a shinobi too but it's just life and life goes on. It is pointless to feel sad for them when I have more important things to do.”

“That’s a very rational answer.”

“If you wanted an emotional answer you asked the wrong son. Look…” he began and turned to look at his father. “It happened and nobody can do anything about it. What I can do is work so what happened to Suna doesn’t happen to Konoha. It’s been two weeks. It’s more than enough time for Akatsuki to prepare another assault and I have to write seals to counter a Jutsu that can destroy an entire village in a blink of an eye. My emotional and mental state are secondary to the lives of the people and I will worry about and deal with that later.”

The words made sense but the calm with which they were spoken worried Minato even more than he had been at the start of the conversation. He let the subject drop, not like Riku would have listened. He was already back to scribbling on his notebook. Sighing, Minato left the Botib to join his family for dinner. His down rotten expression was noticed by his wife.

“What happened?”

“I went to talk to Riku about what happened in the desert with Iwa.”

“He didn’t take that well, I gather?”

“If you’re referring to reaping a thousand lives in a flash, he’s not affected at all by it or so he says. What has him on edge is me trying to talk to him about it because I was bothering his research. He’s scared of what Akatsuki did to Suna, happening to Konoha.”

“I can’t blame him for thinking that way. One jutsu destroyed a village the size of Konoha, Minato. One. Had I not been busy trying to find and save survivors, I would have had nightmares about that knowledge. And it was a human that did that, not a tailed-beast.”

“Kushi-”

“Helloooo~~”

The voice of Jiraiya coming from the entrance put a stop to the conversation the married couple were having. 

“That place didn’t change one bit in forty years.” he said as he took a chair and sat down. “Where is the kid?”

“Naruto is cooking dinner tonight.” Kushina replied.

“AH! Ramen on the menu then.”

“Actually, no. It’s chicken breasts with salad.” Minato replied.

“He’s been making an effort to eat something more nutritious than ramen.”

“Good. Maybe he’ll grow a few inches out of it.”

“Does Tsunade know that you’re here, sensei?”

“As if! If she did, she’ll-”

“What?”

The toad sage froze on the spot and his face paled. He didn’t dare to move hoping that his teammate’s vision was based on movement.

“Hm? I will what?”

“Kick me out?” he tried.

“... I’ll let it slide this time. Still, I’d like to know why you’re here.”

“I wanted to tell Minato and Kushina that I will be taking Naruto to Mount Myoboku to start his sage training.”

“Already?!” Minato exclaimed.

“Yes. He’s old enough and… well.. Training him in using the Kyubi’s chakra has proven unfruitful. He can’t go beyond three tails of chakra or he’s overwhelmed by the fox. We tried for years but… Now don’t misunderstand me, I don’t blame the kid. Not one bit. I watched him try and try and try until he couldn’t stand anymore. He did his best but unfortunately it’s not enough. And with Itachi and Kisame paired to counter the Kyubi… I was thinking sage mode would be a good alternative to up his arsenal. Give him an edge.”

“He’s been working on the rasengan.” Minato said.

“Adding elemental nature to it, I know.”

“No, he succeeded in that. The problem is the rasengan itself and how to use it.”

“What do you mean?” Tsunade asked before Jiraiya could.

“The whole point of the rasengan is to compress chakra as much as possible to greatly increase the damage it does. The normal orb is just not enough. Riku shrunk it down to a marble size and the power was devastating. Which leads to problem number two: We can’t actually use the rasengan in close quarter combat, we would only hurt ourselves. Especially with elemental affinity involved. The one incomplete wind rasengan that Naruto made…Thousands of very tiny blades swirled around so fast we could barely see them. Can you imagine what will happen to your hand if it explodes when you hold it?”

“Shredded at best, no hand at worst.” Jiraiya answered with a frown.

“The compression is not a priority, Naruto has more than enough chakra to never run out, it’s the throwing part that is.”

“Maybe taking a break from this problem would give him a fresh perspective when he comes back to it?” Kushina suggested. “Sage mode will also bolster his defense, not just his offensive power.”

“You think we should let him go?”

“Minato, Naruto is 18, he doesn’t need our permission to do anything.” she said softly to her husband before turning to Jiraiya. “I want news of my baby every day! Got it, pervert?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Naruto chose this moment to enter the dining room with dinner in hands. So did his clones. Tsunade, seeing the Botib on the patio, sighed and went to fetch her son. The murderous look he gave her slid off her shoulders effortlessly. She didn’t care one bit if she was interrupting something. He has been away for two weeks and he will eat dinner with her. Then afterwards would be cuddle time and she was looking forward to it.