Chapter 200 - My SI Stash #100 - Samsara by Seeker1629 (Naruto) (1/2)

-Recently published SI Naruto fic~ I really like fics where there's not only the MC POV, but the author seems to be experimenting with no MC POV at all or just a fair amount depending on how the story goes! Really refreshing takes on SI fics.

*Old man SI to Naruto. Expect a more-m_a_t_u_r_e and also some Fuinjustu Naruto!

Sypnosis: An old man's life had been defined by deception and death. He had not expected to die peacefully in his sleep at an old age but he had been relieved. Life was suffering. Death should have been the end. An undeserved peace.

It wasn't.

Follow this old man as he lives through another life of violence and grief through the eyes of those whose lives he twists.

Rated: ???

Words: 7.2K

Posted on: forums.spacebattles.com/threads/samsara-naruto-si.829524/#post-65351574 (Seeker1629)

PS: If you're not able to copy/paste the link, you have everything in here to find it, by simply searching the author and the story title. It sucks that you can't copy links on mobile (´ー｀)

-I'll be putting the chapter ones of all the fanfics mentioned, to give you guys a sample if you wan't more please do go to the website and support the author! (And maybe even convince them to start uploading chapters in here as well!)

Chapter 1.1-1.2.2 (exceptional)

”Kurama, Son of Hagomoro Otsutsuki,” said a high pitched voice, ”I have some critical information to offer you.” Kurama opened his eyes and went from lying down to fully alert within a fraction of a second. His chakra flared and the seal containing him struggled against the sudden burst for a moment before it channelled the chakra away leaving Kurama feeling drained.

He had been ignoring the brat. There had been no point in talking to him. The seal had been created four years ago, it had not degraded enough to be destroyed. He stared at the child who stood on the other side of his prison. The floating transparent glass sphere that contained him letting him see the child who stood on top of the massive skyscr_a_p_er.

”How do you know that name?” he snarled. His voice was deep and he felt the whole false sub-dimension that seal created shake. The Nine-tails felt sick at the thought of this human knowing his name. Knowing about father. The young human felt almost no fear. Kurama flared his chakra and slammed his tails against the prison he was in. He ignored the pain and the chakra drain. It was worth the flare of fear and worry that the spawn felt.

Kurama cursed when he felt the flicker of fear vanish.

”Irrelevant.” said the boy meeting Kurama's eyes, his tone calm even after Kurama raked his claws across the boundaries of the prison, ”Simply know that Kaguya has an active agent. This agent has managed to engineer the creation of a Rinnegan and subsequently summon the husk of the Ten-Tails. Sometime during the next twenty years, the nine fragments of the beast are to be collected and used to bring her back.”

Kurama fell silent. The boy wasn't lying. Or at least he believed that he was telling the truth. Kurama had always hated his empathic senses. It rarely told him something useful. What was the point of knowing that humans were nothing more than savage beasts full of envy, hate and fear? But he had never doubted it before this moment.

The boy continued. ”The man who enslaved you and had you attack the village is also a part of this organization and he was nurtured by Madara prior to the man's death. It is highly unlikely that they will stop here. Please be wary.”

Suddenly, he understood.

”You want me to serve you,” he said, his breathing speeding up, tails moved behind him, agitated. ”You've found a way to lie to me and have decided to manipulate me. LEAVE!”

”I will leave.” said the human his tone as calm as before and showing none of the fear he felt, ”But know that I have spoken the truth. Remember that I know your name. I know of your father and Kaguya. Please use your connection with your siblings to keep an eye on them. I believe that they need to seal you last. So if you lose track of them then you can be certain that Akatsuki has started to move.”

He bowed and left.

Kurama found himself staring incredulously at the vacated spot. This four-year-old revealed a secret that no human had ever known...unless one of his idiotic siblings revealed the secret to a human. But that didn't explain why he knew about Kaguya or the Rinnegan. Even his siblings wouldn't tell anyone about that.

For the first time since his imprisonment, after several long decades, he reached for the bond he had with his siblings. Kurama paused moments before he used it.

Kushina's spawn had known about it. Was this all a plot to get him to reach out to his siblings?

The fragment of the Ten-Tails paced within his cage. The sight of the human city, one larger than any he had ever imagined, infested with millions of the pests, something that normally infuriated him was ignored.

Kurama felt like a fool. He should have extracted everything he could have from the brat. He would have to drag the boy back here and then make him talk.

Chapter 1.2.1

”We must act!” said his old friend. His lone eye meeting the others in the secure meeting room one at a time. ”Any weakness we show will only worsen our situation.”

Shikaku's voice was flat, almost distracted as he spoke to Danzo. ”That is precisely what the Raikage wants,” he said, his fingers drumming on the table the four of them sat around. ”We don't have the numbers for a fight against Kumo at this point.”

Danzo scoffed. ”You disappoint me Nara.” he said glaring at the young man, ”remember that we have never outnumbered any of our enemies in decades. Victory is about more than just numbers.”

”Enough.” he interrupted. His tone was calm but silence rapidly filled the room. Hiruzen stared at his advisors. Dragon, the Head of his ANBU divisions. Danzo, his greatest advisor and Shikaku Nara, his Jonin commander and easily one of his best strategists. And they argued like toddlers.

Kumo was testing their borders with increasing regularity. At first, they used proxies, clones and summons irregularly. Mercenaries had been captured and they had led to dead ends as the proxies who had been compelled to hire them via genjutsu had failed to reveal anything useful under Genjutsu. Initially, his suspicions had been on Iwa given that it had been his border with Waterfall that was being tested. For a long time, he had wondered if he would be faced with another war so soon after the Kyuubi attack. Then, Kumo had betrayed their hospitality and had proceeded to attempt to kidnap several Hyuuga children.

Hiruzen had capitulated to their demands. A tentative, unstable peace had resumed and Konoha had spent the past year and a half growing stronger. The Hyuuga were furious even now and he was certain that their support was impossible for him to gain but Konoha was safe from the predations of war.

It should have been enough. It would have been enough if Kumo wasn't so very eager to test him. Slowly the picture had become clear. It hadn't been Iwa or Waterfall or Grass that were testing them. They were mere distractions while the borders of his country were tested, analyzed and torn apart and now they had sent some a couple of teams to settle on their border with the Hidden Sound. Hiruzen found it quite likely that the new country was nothing more than a puppet of the Raikage. It would hardly be the first time and it explained the information vacuum from the country quite well.

”Our response must be measured,” he said, staring at Danzo who suppressed his fury. ”Konoha is not ready for another full-scale war. Should another war ignite it will be our last.”

Shikaku looked surprised and even Danzo was stunned. It was not something he would have admitted to anyone else. It would not do for the Hokage to consider his people insufficient but the cold hard truth was that another war would be Konoha's ruin. They had survived the Third War at great cost. Their recovery had been badly disrupted by the Kyuubi's rampage and the subsequent skirmishes and the five years since had allowed them to recover slightly but it was not enough.

His people might win the first battle but they would lose the last without question. It was not a matter of skill, talent, motivation or morale. They didn't have the supplies, soldiers or allies for total war.

Hiruzen turned to Shikaku and Dragon. ”I believe that you have read the reports as well,” he said, feeling ashamed at his failure. Sensei would have been disappointed. He would have done better. ”We have yet to recover to pre-war status and you can be certain that our enemies would be glad to take advantage of that weakness should another Great War begin.”

Shikaku looked thoughtful. Dragon, whose face was shielded by his mask, revealed his worry through his body language. Danzo was furious.

”We have yet to recover fully.” said Danzo, fury barely suppressed, ”but we still stand above our foes. Iwa was depopulated during the war and Kumo learned that testing us was unwise. They ran from us!”

He sighed as the conversation degenerated. He was honoured by the faith that Danzo had in their village but Hiruzen knew full well that even if they won the war at this moment their country wouldn't survive for long afterwards. Konoha had made a great many enemies in its century of existence. He doubted that it would survive if it was weakened to that point.

”They ran from Minato.” he corrected. ”They retreated in good order and came out of the Third war in a better position than us. Two fully trained Jinchuuriki. More Jonin than we can field and in all likelihood at least twice as many chunin.”

His old friend scoffed. ”You and I both know that most of their shinobi are nothing.” he said, waving his good arm, ”Weak. Unmotivated. Dull. They are a little better than blunt instruments. Our abilities far surpass theirs.” The man smiled. A cold one full of a promise of pain. ”And we have the most powerful Bijuu in our service.”

Anger blazed through him but he let it out with a silent breath. It left and Hiruzen found fatigue catching up to him. It was late in the evening and he had been up from the last seventeen hours. He sent a surge of chakra to reinforce himself further. Clarity returned and for an instant, his aches and pains vanished. He winced at the thought of the pain returning once he reduced his reinforcement.

”Naruto is six,” he said, trying and failing to keep his tone calm, his chakra flared. Shikaku winced and his slouch vanished. It was fortunate that the seals that ensured their security also absorbed his chakra to fuel itself. ”He won't be on the level of Killer B or the host of the Two-Tails for years.”

”He can be,” said Danzo. ”He can already access the chakra of the beast. It is only a matter of training-”

This time he did not try to stay civil.

”Leave,” he said, turning to Shikaku and Dragon with the last of his patience. ”We shall continue this later. Expect my summons in the evening. I expect some solutions regarding the issues discussed.”

Shikaku who was nearly suffocating under the chakra that Hiruzen was releasing bowed quickly. Dragon nodded soon after and led the Clan Head out of the room using the seal on his shoulder as the key needed to leave their secure sub-dimension. Then the Hokage turned to Danzo who looked relaxed. Hiruzen was certain that most would see nothing more than a calm old Shinobi. He could see, feel, that his old friend was ready for a fight.

”I do believe that I was clear that Naruto was not to be a subject of discussion,” he said. Especially when Danzo's shortsighted actions would likely lead to a mentally unstable S-rank shinobi who would have the ability to release the Kyuubi at will. He respected the work that Root did for the sake of Konoha. Few others would even know of their sacrifice but Hiruzen was not blind to how many lives their work had saved. How many wars had been averted thanks to their work but it was nothing more than stupidity to expect such a training process to work successfully on a Jinchuuriki.

Root would allow Naruto to have strength, discipline and skill but it would remove any vestige of humanity from the boy. Already Naruto was cold and obsessed with training. A prodigy, certainly, but much like every other prodigy, he had witnessed he struggled to relate to ordinary people. Sensei, Orochimaru, Minato, Kakashi...time and again he had seen geniuses struggle with their emotions and their relationsh_i_p_s. Sensei had the support of his brother and the Senju Clan. Orochimaru had thrived while Tsunade and Jiraiya had balanced him out and Minato had been the best of them thanks to his loved ones. His successor had even managed to drag Kakashi out of the darkness.

Naruto was shunned to the point that the boy had taken to using Henge from the day he had learned it to hide from the village. He trusted only a select few people and doubted and questioned almost everything even if he was cautious enough to try and hide his thoughts. Hiruzen should not have waited until Naruto had accidentally used the Kyuubi chakra to adopt him. Politics be damned, he owed that much to Minato.

”He is a Jinchuuriki,” said Danzo, his tone cold. ”He must serve and your sentimentality is limiting him. You know full well that he should already be in training.”

”He is training.”

Danzo snorted. ”You call throwing Kunai, chakra control practice and learning some basic techniques training?” he said, scorn dripping. ”He needs to learn to draw on the beast's chakra.”

Hiruzen found his mood darkening. Danzo knew full well the cost of starting such training when Naruto's chakra system was still developing. It was entirely likely that unless he had truly, fully, inherited the Uzumaki chakra from his mother his growth would be stunted forever.

But arguing with Danzo was futile.

”He will do so when it is appropriate,” he said. Danzo noted his tone and understood the dismissal of the subject.

”They are moving forward with their plans,” he said, careful not to specify anything even in this secure room.

The abilities of the Mangekyou were varied and powerful. It would be unwise to assume that the Uchiha couldn't listen in to their conversations.

”Keep me updated,” he said. A warning in his tone. This would be his duty. He didn't want to think about what Danzo thought was appropriate for the Uchiha. ”I plan to speak to their leader soon.”

A nod was all he received before Danzo stood and left.

Hiruzen leaned back against his chair and let go of his reinforcement for an instant. A moment that was less than a tenth of a second before returning it to normal. The pain overcame his fatigue and he was wide awake.

He didn't have time to rest. Not yet.

The old Hokage pulled some of the reports out from the storage seal on his wrist. He had received them from his internal threat assessment team. The Hyuuga and Uchiha were displeased. The Daimyo was eagerly holding his foolish son hostage and his ANBU were so thoroughly gutted by the past two decades that he needed to relax standards to get them up to the minimum required numbers in accordance with his plans.

The Hokage got to work.