"Danzo tried using the seal to force me to answer truthfully but I dodged it with the jutsu you gave me and only told him that you might want to stir up some trouble in the village using the dissent that this new software will create in the village's job ranks."
"So the plan with the Uchiha and the Hyuga is still safe and sound?"
"My lips are sealed." Shikaku nodded, "But it'll be up to you to coordinate with the Hyuga to crush the Jubakuchu in the children's hearts once the Uchiha start moving before you come to kill Danzo…"
"I'll be ready." Kakashi similarly nodded.
"Tsunade-sama will be entering the village secretly soon." Shikaku then informed, "You have to make sure you keep her at your house without letting anyone discover her presence in Konoha."
"Has she cracked the seal?" Kakashi immediately asked with surprise.
But Shikaku quickly shook his head, "No. Not yet. But she has been able to delay the effect of the seal from activating immediately after the betrayal is noticed by changing her chakra for Danzo's. But that should be enough for the Hyuga and by extension us since once Danzo is defeated there won't be anyone to return the seal to how it once was, filled with Danzo's chakra."
"But will the hyuga accept that? Isn't that just changing the masters of their slavery to Tsunade-sama instead of Danzo?"
Shikaku shook his head, "The Hyuga already have a tradition of slavery, this is just another way the world has returned the karma they've accumulated over the years by enslaving their own."
They stayed in silence for a while before Kakashi nodded and left the cabin.
Shikaku stayed behind and watched Kakashi leave before he too left the cabin after a few seconds, leaving Haruto in a daze as to what he'd just heard.
'The Jubakuchu in their children's hearts?'
'What's a Jubakuchu?'
'For it to be inside a kid's heart… it must be small… or is it metaphorical?'
'No Shikaku said that he wanted the Hyuga to destroy it… so it has to be a physical thing… Did Danzo put something inside the hearts of the major clan kids to control the clans? Is this what Danzo is using to control the Ino Shika Cho trio?'
'Is this how he's prevented the major clans from rebelling?'
'But he was unable to put it into the Uchiha clan's kids and that's why they're leading the rebellion?'
'Did I get all that right Grindelwald? Does this count as mission accomplished?'
Grindelwald frowned in thought for a second and then nodded, 'That does count, you don't have anything left to uncover in Danzo's plot Haruto, you've done it! You've figured everything out! Congratulations!'
Haruto quickly used Occlumency to control the memories of the reward he inevitably received to review them later at his own pace before floating back towards his home without even peeking at Danzo working inside his Hokage office.
Haruto entered his home through the walls and positioned himself inside his body, then with a soft almost inaudible click he reset the confines of his soul core into the boundaries given by his body exactly.
But Haruto didn't wake up immediately, instead he first visited the Template Inventory Space.
Inside the template inventory space, Haruto sat down under the tree and no one disturbed him, allowing him to absorb the memories he had received from Grindelwald's mission.
The mission was to figure out all of Danzo's plans for the village and the reward was Grindelwald's mana control skill as chakra control, which was described as high grade by the system.
Almost as soon as Haruto saw the new memories in his mindscape in the form of various books strewn across the floor he picked up the closest one and began absorbing it.
A great deal of information suddenly appeared in Haruto's mind.
Things like chakra control were just the beginning. The chakra control stat in Haruto's pentagram obviously shot up but along with it Haruto gained new memories in both the chakra shape transformation and the chakra nature transformation department.
But since his chakra nature was currently only fire nature, all he received were memories of improving his chakra nature transformation for the fire chakra nature to its peak.
His chakra efficiency in casting fire release ninjutsu would now sky rocket along with his regular chakra usage efficiency in jutsus like the shadow clone jutsu, transformation jutsu and the substitution jutsu.
But that was not all.
Haruto then pretended to awake with a sigh before going to the bathroom for a second. Inside it Haruto opened his palm and held it outwards before focusing all his chakra into his palm while spiralling it furiously.
As a result, the infamous spiral ball jutsu invented by Minato appeared on his palm!
The Rasengan!
'WAAAAA!!!! Haruto!! You did it!! You learned the Rasengan too!!!' Megumin exploded with enthusiasm.
Haruto didn't want to smile but a smile inadvertently showed up on his face anyway.
'Yeah… this puts me in roughly the range of a good chunin with my current set of skills. Especially because of all the training that Unohana-san has put me through…'
'Don't mention it Haruto-kun. It has always been my pleasure to raise the next generation.'
Haruto dispelled the Rasengan and quietly walked back to his bed in the room beside the bathroom and slipped under the comforters.
He was due a good long sleep that had been disturbed for roughly a week now.
'Good night.'
***
Kushina stood with a fierce glare while looking at Hiruzen.
"A Jubakuchu… seriously!? Has Danzo lost his mind!? Infecting children with a life rending parasite just so that he can rule with his inflated ego!?"
Hiruzen, understandably looking down, spoke softly, "It's true… Danzo has crossed the line this time… if I'd been there in Konoha right now I would've disciplined him thoroughly."
"If I were there in Konoha right now he wouldn't take another breath…" Hashirama interrupted angrily.
Tobirama sighed deeply before speaking up.
"Haruto's chakra control has improved again. He can perform that jutsu you invented Minato… the Rasengan…"
"I was about to say the same thing Lord Second… but how did he learn it? After all… I'm here and not there… who in the other room could've possibly taught Haruto the Rasengan? Was it Jiraya-sama? Is Jiraya-sama dead?"
"No… that shouldn't be the case… at least he was alive until I was alive… and there are very few people that can kill Jiraya in the shinobi world…" Hiruzen quickly said.
"Then that still leaves the question… who taught Haruto the Rasengan…" Minato mumbled but it was loud enough for everyone to hear him speaking.
Tobirama didn't know what to think anymore.
Either Haruto had invented that Jutsu on his own, which was impossible since they never saw Haruto even attempt that jutsu even once or someone taught him, but there was possibly no one there to teach it to him in the other room.
"Perhaps it was the Dark God again!?" Hashirama said in a pride filled tone. "Why won't you guys believe me!!! The Dark God is obviously a being that Haruto prays to everyday!! He's truly the one who must've given Haruto that reward!"
Everyone looked at Hashirama for a second and then collectively decided to ignore him for now, causing him to go sit in a corner and draw circles on the floor.
Tobirama on the other hand spoke in a grave tone, "Perhaps there is someone there on the other side that simply gave Haruto the idea for the jutsu after spotting you using it. And then they gave him their advanced chakra control prowess which allowed Haruto to build the jutsu on his own. Especially since we all saw his chakra control stat reach from two(chunin) to six(kage) level instantly which is beyond what is necessary for the jutsu. So the other person must be a Kage that Minato has fought before with the jutsu…"
"Hmm… did I fight a kage opponent in the last Shinobi World war who was killed? I don't particularly remember anyone like that…" Minato shook his head since he truly hadn't killed any kage level opponents before.
***
A/N : What do you think? Should Haruto get wood release or not? I'm leaning towards no since I have these really cool awesome fire release jutsu that he'll invent and reach Hashirama level that way, so he could probably sacrifice the wood release of the Hashirama cells to gain even more chakra and other benefits like high speed regeneration etc. What do you guys think? After all there are several fanfics with wood release as powers...
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