"Hiashi, he might become a threat!"
Everyone became serious. A betrayal from any Hyuga was unacceptable. If anyone dared to do it, they would only have one fate, that is, death! However, Hiashi said, "That's understandable. He is young and becoming strong quite rapidly. Being discontent about the seal is rather natural. Were any of you different when you were that age?"
Hiashi's question made the Elders quiet. In the Hyuga clan, only the Clan Leader and his/her successor wouldn't have the Caged Bird Seal. Even though they were called the Main family, in reality, there would be less than five people in the Main family at any point.
The only members would be the current Clan Leader, his/her children and any previous Clan Leaders if they were still alive. Currently, Hiashi, Hinata and Hanabi were the only members of the main family. Everyone else, including the Elders, was from the Branch family!
Of course, the Elders understood the importance of the seal and no longer hated the Main family or viewed it with contempt. They trusted the Clan Leader completely and hence didn't mind the seal. However, it was true that they too hated having the seal in their youth.
Hiashi added, "He'll mature with age. If needed, we can include his father in the Elder council. That would reduce and later eliminate any resentment he feels."
None of the Elders opposed Hiashi. However, if they knew that Hoka asked Fujin to find a way to remove the Caged Bird Seal, their reaction would have been very different! Hiashi said, "Anyway, that's enough discussion. It's time to begin preparing for a war!"
Everyone nodded. Just like the Senju clan, the Hyuga clan began preparing. Neither Suna nor Orochimaru was aware that the two largest clans in Konoha had begun preparing. Of course, they weren't the only ones.
Hiruzen met up with Shikaku and informed him about Fujin and Kakashi's clash against Kabuto and Orochimaru. In the end, he said, "It's time to eliminate the spies inside the village. What do you think?"
Shikaku thought for a few minutes before sighing. He muttered, "Another troublesome matter. It never ends."
He looked at Hiruzen and said, "You're right. Eliminating the spies would be helpful. We haven't done so for a while. Not to mention, we also have an excellent opportunity."
Hiruzen replied, "To verify Fujin's strength… The spies would go to investigate the location of Fujin and Orochimaru's battle even though the risk is high."
Shikaku nodded and added, "Yes. We can lay a trap there and secretly restrain everyone who shows up to check that. Once we catch the spies, we can read their memories and then make every village pay dearly."
Hiruzen nodded. Installing spies inside Konoha carried a severe risk. Decades ago, Tobirama had exploited it and made every village pay dearly for doing so after they tried to do so following Hashirama's death. It was why the other villages were extremely careful while doing so.
It was only after Hiruzen took a step back during the Hyuga incident and displayed Konoha's weakness that the other villages dared to place more spies inside Konoha. Even though Konoha eliminated the spies they identified, Hiruzen didn't use the same tactic as Tobirama due to Konoha's weak situation as that would have offended the other villages a lot and irked a response he didn't want to face.
However, Konoha had now recovered. They had recruited thousands of young ninjas to compensate for the huge number of deaths in the Third Great Ninja War. The power vacuum created due to the deaths of Veteran Jounins during Kyubi's assault and the Uchiha Massacre had been filled by hundreds of ninjas accepted by Hiruzen into the Anbu advancing to Anbu Captain rank.
Even the top-level combat ability had recovered with the likes of Fujin, Guy and Kakashi replacing Minato and Orochimaru. Konoha's lone Jinchuriki had become a ninja as well. Now that Konoha was no longer weak, Hiruzen was about to remind the other villages of how terrifying Konoha was for the spies!
Hiruzen commanded, "Implement your plans quickly. This time, no one shall be spared."
Seeing Hiruzen's seriousness, Shikaku nodded and immediately got to work. Hiruzen also asked him to start preparing the Nara clan for war and pass the same message to Inoichi and Choza. Hiruzen passed the same instructions to the other clans in Konoha as well.
Within the space of an hour, every major clan in Konoha began preparing in secret. The Anbu under Hiruzen's command began preparing as well, though they weren't told the reason for the same. As for the normal civilian ninjas, Hiruzen didn't inform any of them to prevent any spy from realizing that Konoha was preparing for a war!
Unaware of any such developments, Naruto rushed to Fujin's house and met with Fujin's clone. He said, "Fujin! Kakashi sensei said that you'll be overlooking my training for the next month!"
Fujin's clone replied, "Yes, Naruto. But you are worn out right now. Rest for the night. We'll begin your training tomorrow morning."
Naruto was about to pester Fujin's clone to start right away when he noticed a smile on his face. Fujin's clone added, "Rest well, Naruto. The training we'll start tomorrow will make Kakashi's training seem like child's play."
Naruto involuntarily shivered due to his tone. He thought, 'Okay, maybe this wasn't such a good idea!'
Without bothering him anymore, Naruto left. As night fell, the clan ninjas intensified their preparations under the cover of darkness while others fell asleep. A long distance from Konoha, Fujin was still in his base, his hand resting on the head of Kabuto's corpse! Some distance away were 6 Shadow Clones, who were writing in a scroll. On the table in front of them were 42 scrolls, each one completely filled!
Fujin sighed and muttered, "He didn't know how to perform the Edo Tensei jutsu… Oh well, I should have expected it. He has been spying inside Konoha for 4 years. Meaning, he was only 15 years old when Orochimaru placed him here. He wouldn't give Kabuto such a deadly jutsu back then. I guess he would have learnt it soon in the future and improved it after Orochimaru's death."
Even though Fujin didn't get what he wanted the most, there wasn't any sadness on Fujin's face. On the contrary, a smile could be seen despite his earlier sigh. Why was he smiling? The reason was rather obvious.
Fujin looked at Kabuto's dead body and muttered, "Even though I am an acceptable Medical Ninja with very good healing capabilities, I have to admit that I am nowhere near his league!
His talent in Medical Ninjutsu and human biology was inhuman! If Tsunade had taken him along with her instead of Shizune, Konoha would have had a terrifying Shinobi! To think that a talent of this level was forced to betray Konoha due to Danzo…"
For someone who claimed to only work for the well-being of the village, Danzo was the biggest threat to Konoha's rank S ninjas. His actions caused Shisui to commit suicide, forced Itachi to act as a rogue ninja and made Kabuto into a terrifying enemy!
Fujin thought, 'If Danzo didn't exist or if Hiruzen had not been soft and eliminated him, then perhaps Konoha might have had three terrifying rank S ninjas among their ranks at this moment. And, all three of them would have been fiercely loyal to the village.
It's so absurd that Konoha would become the laughing stock if this information was spread around. Not to mention, this is just the information I am aware of and after Minato's death. Who knows how many such promising ninjas were ruined by Danzo when he was at his peak?'
Fujin stored Kabuto's body back in the scroll while thinking, 'Oh well, that's none of my business. If they were in Konoha, then it would have disturbed my plans. Regardless, time to focus on the main thing.
Even though I didn't get Edo Tensei jutsu, Kabuto was a treasure trove of information! His knowledge of Medical Ninjutsu is several times better than what Yoshi and others taught me. Though I need to practice, I'll be able to improve quite easily with time.
As for his ability to study dead bodies, that might be comparable or even superior to Tsunade's. It might even allow me to study Zankoku's body and get some hints about how those seals have fused with his body. So, I might have some hope of learning it even without reviving that Bishop.
However, reaching Kabuto's level of mastery will need some time and a lot of practice. Perhaps several months or even a year with the help of my Shadow Clones. A better option would have been to recruit him into the Phantom Haven and put him in charge of the Medical Division or perhaps even the whole branch. A shame that he was so loyal to Orochimaru.'
Fujin created another 6 Shadow Clones who began writing down the information he obtained from Kabuto's memories. While they did so, he began removing all traces of him and Kabuto from the base.
Elsewhere, a ninja was stealthily moving towards the Forest of Death using the cover of the night!
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