Naruto trembled with fear. His body shook like a leaf in the wind and his mind felt like it was on the verge of jumping off a cliff.
He made eye contact with Kakashi and was surprised to see Kakashi attempting to smile to ease him into it. Only, Kakashi's expression marred with blood now looked like the devil's face to Naruto.
He shivered as a chill ran down his spine before looking at Haruto for help. But Haruto only stared blankly at him, as if confused by his apparent hesitation.
"Kill… me…"
Eventually it was the words of their prisoner that snapped Naruto out of his indecision.
He looked at the kunai in Kakashi's hands and felt his vision blur.
Tears slid down Naruto's cheeks as he walked forwards.
He gripped the kunai from Kakashi's hands and followed Kakashi's directions, "Stab him here… that'll put him out of his misery quickly."
Naruto gulped and pressed the kunai against the prisoner's neck, only for some reason the kunai wouldn't penetrate no matter how hard Naruto pushed.
"Harder… it takes a little effort to break the skin." Kakashi gently reminded Naruto to sob harder but silently.
'I'm sorry!'
'I'm sorry!'
'I'm sorry!'
Naruto's sobs broke into quick gasps as he tried to suck in some air into his burning lungs.
He pushed harder, with all his body weight and suddenly felt the kunai give from underneath him.
PUCHI!
Something warm spurted all over Naruto's face causing him to have to quickly shut his eyes to avoid getting it into them.
Naruto stepped back slightly, bringing his hands to his face. He felt something slick coat his finger tips as he smelled the metallic smell of iron linger on his lips.
Opening his eyes Naruto thought he saw a sea of blood.
'What have I done-'
His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he collapsed onto the floor.
Kakashi saw Haruto staring at the prisoner as he took his last breaths and spoke in a commanding tone, "Pick up Naruto and leave him in his home, the two of you are dismissed for the day. Come back here at 10 am tomorrow."
Haruto nodded once and bent low to pick up Naruto. He propped him up on his back and began to walk out of the cell as if he hadn't just taken part in the madness that had occurred.
***
Kushina and everyone in the enigmatic room stared silently at Haruto's point of view.
They stared at Naruto with his face covered in blood and couldn't even begin to form words or curses.
Minato gripped his three pronged kunai and finally asked Kushina a simple question, "Was it wrong to turn Naruto into the nine tails Jinchuriki?"
Tears slipped out of Kushina's eyes, she couldn't bear to watch any longer so she buried her head in Minato's chest and sobbed uncontrollably.
"Danzo needs to be taken out…" Tobirama murmured but in the silence his voice was especially loud and everyone agreed with his conclusion but none of them could find a way out of the mire that they seemed to have gotten stuck in.
"Can I give Haruto-kun my wood release through the link between us?" Hashirama asked causing Tobirama to shake his head, "While you could give Haruto the exact formulae to create wood nature chakra by combining the Earth, Water and Yang natures, he wouldn't be able to do much of anything with it because he lacks your chakra amounts brother."
"Forget it… I was only being wishful…" Hashirama relented.
It was at that point that Mito stepped in, "For now we need to first break Haruto out of the cursed tongue eradication seal… if we don't we can't even guarantee that he won't reveal to Danzo about the thoughts we're planning on feeding him."
"I agree… only then will we be able to free Naruto-kun from that hell." Kushina said with a prominent frown on her face.
***
Haruto was back in his home, he had delivered Naruto to his home and written him a note to wake up early the next morning so that they could go meet Kakashi at ten in the morning once again.
Not wanting to strip the boy and clean him up of all the blood and gore on him, Haruto simply left him on the floor.
Once in his home, Haruto quietly took a shower before resting on his bed even though it was only afternoon.
It was time to address the relentless and incessant shouts that plagued his mind.
One second Haruto was staring at the ceiling of his bedroom and the next he was on the rolling grassy hills in the Template Inventory Space.
"Haruto!!!!" Megumin rushed up and jumped onto Haruto, grabbing him by his shoulders and pinning him to the floor before pulling out his tongue.
"Wa bwa gugu gaga." Haruto said as Megumin manhandled his tongue while trying to smile.
"Where's the seal? There's nothing on your tongue!" Megumin said with surprise and since she released Haruto's tongue he was finally able to speak. "This place gives me immunity from any mind control jutsu, remember Hiruko's attempt?"
"So you're finally free of Danzo's mind control attempt!?" Megumin asked excitedly.
"I'm afraid not, young girl… if I understand this right it means he's only free while inside the template inventory space and still controlled by him once he steps back outside to go into his body." Grindelwald said softly, his face was etched with a natural frown and his hands were holding each other, his fingers taping the back of his hand as he pondered deeply about Haruto's current situation.
"Any idea how I can break free of all this Grindelwald?" Haruto asked with an expectant look.
Grindelwald shook his head, "We will first have to test the limits of the seal placed onto you. Will it automatically activate if you attempt to do something against Danzo… if not then we have some wiggle room, else, it'll be hard but we'll have to wait for someone else to get rid of Danzo's reign."
"How do we test if the seal will trigger without me dying to it?" Haruto asked again, with worry etched onto his face.
It was Edward who spoke this time, "A seal like that should have some warnings in place to remind you not to cross your limits… you should be able to skirt the full activation of the seal that way."
"Are you sure Edward-san?" Haruto asked but Edward shook his head, "Without seeing the seal to study it myself, I can't guarantee it, but I doubt Danzo would want to lose his most capable soldiers for a reason as simple as the seal malfunctioning or misidentifying an act as betrayal."
Grindelwald spoke up again, "Edward is right, but we can be surer, didn't Danzo tell you that you had to circulate your chakra into the tenketsu in your brain… perhaps that's the key to the jutsu… it depends on your own brain identifying if you stand opposed to Danzo or not."
Megamind raised his hand at that moment to interrupt, "...what about shadow clones? Maybe your shadow clones will be immune to your seal? If they are not, you can test Grindelwald and Edward's hypothesis by making a shadow clone. If the shadow clone can perform certain actions without being restricted by the seal, then you can perform them too."
"A shadow clone! Why didn't I think of that! Brilliant!" Haruto nodded. "Then I'll immediately make a shadow clone to see if it can withstand betraying Danzo!"
***
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