225Hiruzen sat behind his desk while sipping his tea, recent times were stirring long forgotten feelings within him. His last faithful student had just reported of a group of shinobi, all S-Rank monsters that were always headaches to deal with, were making a name for themselves in the underworld by selling their services as mercenaries. They're credited with the assassination of the Daimyo of Mizu no Kuni almost ten years ago. Jiraiya wasn't sure when he reported in, but they were apparently buying information on Jinchūriki, which was never a good thing.
Fortunately for Konoha, only three people in the world knew the identity of the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune. It pained the Sandaime to think about it, but it was truly the best idea to keep their current container in the depths of the village's roots. The attack of the Kyūbi was at the most unfortunate time. Kushina Uzumaki, the container at the time was giving birth to her second child, a girl if he remembered correctly, but the seal broke killing all the nurses, the child and Kushina. The Yondaime, operating on pure shock and duty grabbed the only other newborn capable of holding the beast and gave his life to seal the fox, leaving behind a year-old boy that in the span of two hours lost his entire world. It was easy to convince the world that the Yondaime never had a child, most who knew about Naruto, knew better than to talk about it considering he would be in danger should Onoki get bold enough to attack.
Naruto took after his father in many ways, but they were different in other ways. Naruto was a prodigy, much like his father and both of them climbed through the ranks quite fast. Minato however never went as deep as Naruto into the abyss of Shinobi work. While Hiruzen let Jiraiya mold Minato into a Hokage, the Namikaze wasn't as forward thinking as Hiruzen had hoped he was.
In all honesty, Minato wasn't a great Hokage in the long run. He started the international Chūnin Exams after the war and several other things that helped the village in administrative ways. As well as cleaning up after the war.
But, a good Hokage puts the village first and everything else second. A good Hokage would know his own worth and not have committed suicide when a capable person other than himself was alive and willing.
Had Hiruzen been asked that night he would have given his life to seal the beast himself, the village would keep a young and powerful Hokage and would have eventually recovered from a devastating tragedy.
But Minato didn't have the same level of training in the dark abyss as Naruto, he never had to kill innocents for the sake of the village, only other Shinobi no matter how young, they were always shinobi. He was too much of an optimist and thought that sacrificing himself was the best route, it wasn't, he left his village very weak when other options were available. But the Namikaze wasn't as jaded as he would have had to have been to see the other better options because at the time, they might have been selfish. He was too optimistic and couldn't wrap his head around ordering someone else to do a suicide mission.
That was when Hiruzen decided that he wouldn't allow people that he himself didn't test to be Hokage and that his students weren't necessarily the best pick anymore. However, the final act by the Yondaime was one that Hiruzen acknowledges as the right move- discretely creating a Jinchūriki that had no familial ties, that way nobody would know if they truly had a Bijū or not.
As horrible as it was for the child- codename: Kebi-inu (Guard Dog), Hiruzen couldn't even remember his birth name, his entire life was decided for him since the day of his birth. Danzo's training was brutal but the results spoke for themselves, the boy was a master of Katon and skilled in several areas of the shinobi arts to at least Chūnin-level.
Normally the Sandaime wouldn't let his thoughts wander to Kebi-inu but today marked the first day of his integration into the normal forces. As a Ne operative since birth he was skilled and used to the ANBU protocols and schedules.
Kebi-inu will be integrated into the ANBU Black Ops and specifically, Squad Ro. With the mission to Yu no Kuni to handle the Abelard Clan, they'll need all the firepower they can get, and it will be a good way to test his proficiency in the field.
The country of Yu no Kuni was an ally to Konoha during all three shinobi wars, they were a buffer country between Kumo no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. That was until halfway through the Second Shinobi World War when the leader of Yugakure no Sato and his strongest clan- The Abelard, decided that they were strong enough to be independent. They declared that all foreign shinobi that were caught within their borders were to be captured, interrogated and then killed. No matter of negotiation or threats could release those once they were captured.
The Sandaime Raikage personally lead a force of shinobi into the country to destroy all those responsible for his shinobi's deaths. While the man known as the strongest shield and sharpest spear was tearing through the country in a rampage, the Abelard clan tried to escape out of the western border.
Right into the arms of the Shinobi no Kami, Shinobi no Yami and two dozen faithful Jōnin to assist them. The two legendary shinobi put the entire clan to the sword, while the clan only had twelve members the two highly experienced shinobi had far more trouble than they would care to admit considering they were the only survivors.
When rumors of the clan's resurgence started happening, the Sandaime Hokage dispatched a Jōnin to recon the country. After learning that the rumors were true, the Sandaime sent in ANBU Squad Ro to eradicate the clan lest they make a comeback and threaten the security of Konoha.
Naruto and the rest of Squad Ro were traveling at high speeds towards an ANBU Black Site in Yu no Kuni codenamed: Sweatshop. During the Second Shinobi War, Danzo Shimura and the then top ANBU Captain, now ANBU Commander, created hidden underground bases in every minor country for squads to restock supplies, rest in a safe environment, receive orders and last-minute information.
While they entered the hideout, Naruto looked over their new team member- Kebi-inu. Tora told them that he was potentially their newest member if he works well within Squad Ro. Naruto didn't know why but he was getting a strange vibe from Kebi-inu, not only was that a strange codename but the guy acted like he was constantly on edge. Not to mention that his chakra's aura felt ominous.
Naruto and Katsumi sat behind one of the desks as Tora unsealed a folder and set it on his desk while Kaito and Gorira looked over his shoulder at the contents. Strangely, Kebi-inu was sitting cross legged in a corner seemingly meditating, which was strange to Naruto considering the rookie ANBU looked to be the same age as him and he always felt that meditating was useless. Naruto only did it to feel how he should mold his chakra for the Nidaime's Suiton manipulation and even that was extremely boring.
"What do you think of the new guy?" Whispered Katsumi as she observed the new guy as he meditated in the corner as the others went over some more mission details.
"Not sure yet but he feels strange." Answered Naruto with a slight frown, when he got the chance, he'll try to get to know the new guy after the mission.
"Oi! Love birds get over here!" Shouted Gorira with a chuckle. A blushing Naruto and an irritated Katsumi walked over to the others to hear the details.
Tora cleared his throat when Katsumi started to elbow Gorira to gather everyone's attention. "Now this mission is going to be extremely difficult. The Abelard Clan has started to come back and have been seen conducting missions inside of Yu no Kuni despite the Daimyo disavowing all Shinobi work inside of his country. Sandaime-sama expressed his worry of this clan returning as even he and Danzo-sama were given trouble by the them during the last war."
Naruto frowned but continued to listen, any clan that could give the Shinobi no Kami worry was one to be scared of. Tora continued, "They were widely feared for their Hidden Taijutsu Style, Daha Ken (Breakdown Fist), it's unknown whether or not if it's a Kekkei Genkai but no other shinobi has ever recreated it, so most believe it is. A solid hit from one of them can destabilize a jutsu or destroy anything on the receiving end. Recommended strategies are layered offensives- set-up the Taijutsu with a ninjutsu to set-up a Genjutsu and continue layering, if they catch you, they will kill you. None of you will engage alone, Gorira and Kaito will be a pair while Same and Dokuhebi will be the other, Kebi-inu's with me. Any questions?"
It was a dangerous mission, with high-stakes, one solid hit could kill, and they were apparently bred for shinobi work like the Hyuga and Uchiha, so they weren't to be taken lightly. Needing to know, Naruto stepped forward. "How many can we confirm are there?"
It was obvious that they could have more than what the Jōnin on the recon assignment could have seen so they could only guess the actual numbers.
"Confirmed Number: Four, estimated between seven and nine, however. Although, the higher ups suspect possibly over a dozen." Responded Tora.
Surprisingly Kebi-inu spoke for the first time since joining their team. "Are we capturing the targets or are we implementing Scorched Earth Protocol."
Naruto and Katsumi shivered slightly at the new guys words. Scorched Earth was used to completely annihilate an enemy and destroy any and all possibilities of said enemy ever coming back. Konoha only ever implemented such a protocol when a group was truly too dangerous to exist. Naruto wouldn't sugar coat his thoughts, Scorched Earth was genocide and someone his age was asking whether or not he was authorized to commit it.
This guy was turning out to be a monster and he'd be keeping his eye on him. Naruto believed that history would repeat itself if people ignored familiar signs. Naruto suspected that something like this happened when a certain Uchiha was in ANBU and people brushed it off as professionalism rather than mental instability.
Naruto looked up to people like the Nidaime and Itachi Uchiha for their work ethic and achievements despite the times they lived, but he knew that Itachi was a monster, everyone knows that Itachi is a monster.
But he wasn't born that way, he became that way due to something and Naruto would do everything in his power to make sure that history wouldn't repeat itself, especially by someone in his squad.
Tora thought through his response carefully, "We are removing any and all shinobi of the Abelard Clan. Non-shinobi are to be left alone if they are under the age of six."
Naruto didn't like it but that was how things worked, children age six and over have usually started their shinobi training so they needed to be removed if the objective was to eliminate a clan. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the Same masked ANBU had experience killing those who were young. Sparing a glance to the girl next to him he made a promise that she wouldn't have to do such a thing, she was far too kind to have to do such a thing. It may not be fair to think she was too week to do things, but he wasn't going to fool himself into thinking that she was capable of putting a kunai into a kid's skull, nor did he want to find out.
Naruto gathered his things and went through a mental evaluation of his potential enemies. They were Taijutsu oriented, note from the Sandaime's previous bout with the clan said that they rarely used Nin or Genjutsu but would utilize Raiton if push came to shove. Which meant that he would have to stave off widespread Suiton if he could help it and use Fūton.
Partnering with Katsumi was a plus as they have excellent synergy, she was a decent close-range adversary, but her strength was more supplementary. She had Genjutsu and her clan techniques along with a few Katon jutsu. Meanwhile Naruto was starting to get comfortable with all ranges, maybe he was getting cocky, but he was interested in testing his mettle against the infamous Abelard clan.
The land of Yu no Kuni was mostly desert, mountain ranges and rock formations. Spread throughout the country were large sections of forest but they weren't nearly as large as Hi no Kuni. However, their main attraction was their natural hot springs and healing waters. Small village littered the country as they were built around these natural springs but there was one city at the center built atop the largest natural spring on the continent, it was the capital. Just behind this massive city was the largest mountain in the country and said mountain was the home of the Abelard.
Same and Dokuhebi made their way around the large city to where the Abelard clan claimed their home. It was a very large mountain that overlooked the city but was far enough that from the city the clan's homes were impossible to make out. Both ANBU operatives were approaching the foot of the mountain and paused to plan their ascension.
"We have to assume that the moment we step foot on the mountain we're being watched, or at the very least they know we're there." Katsumi said in a whisper as her mask faced the enormous mountain in front of them.
Naruto was quick to respond, "They are not known for being sensors, but I agree that it would be best to assume that we aren't going to surprise anyone."
"Taicho didn't give us specific parameters on initiation, but we're likely to take advantage of the chaos should someone start first. Standard protocol."
Narutonodded, "Understood."
Both ANBU shot forward and took their first steps on the massive mountain and began their silent ascension toward what would be their toughest opponent yet as a squad. As the moved up the mountain Naruto felt a tingle in the back of his neck, he was being watched.
As he moved his hand to sign his feeling, Katsumishouted out, "20 meters ahead!" Her frantic yell shocked Naruto but he turned forward to notice a blur approaching.
Naruto blurred a set of hand seals and captured the incoming hostile with a Genjutsu while Katsumi released a compact stream of fire that tore through the air toward the individual.
This was a common tactic for Squad Ro whenever Naruto was on the operation, his Shukakutento was the perfect jutsu to combine with a fast moving offensive jutsu. No one has ever recognized the Genjutsu right off the bat nor had someone broken it easily once Naruto caught someone in it.
However, the opponent blitzing toward them didn't even hesitate as their body shown with a heavy and thick white chakra then Naruto felt his Genjutsu shutter for a moment before it was disassembled and destroyed. The thick and oppressive chakra surround the person's right fist that they shot forward and punched the incoming Katon jutsu. Like before the white chakra hit the fire and spread into the jutsu before the fire started to break apart and snuff out.
"Genjutsu," Spat the now distinctly female voice, "Not even layered and a simple frontal assault of fire. I hope you two were intending to die today otherwise I fear for your chances."
As the Abelard Kunoichi approached, she became visible to both ANBU operatives. She was a taller woman nearing 5'9 and had a muscular frame that showed her dedication to physical training. Her clothes were unremarkable, lose fitting green robes tied with a yellow sash. The look on her face was the most stand out feature, her face twisted into a cruel smirk with eyes that promised pain with a hint of excitement as to what was to come.
Naruto breathed in deep and let his eyes take in everything. His mask filtering all the dust and giving him a clear breath of air. The ANBU mask, hardened and enhanced with Fūinjutsu to be a filter to poisons known and countered by Konoha and other airborne particulates and gases like dust or smoke. The seals created during the time of the Shodaime allowed for the masks to completely cover the face but allow full visibility as if it were perfectly transparent. With these factors Naruto was able to center himself with a breath and see Katsumi in the corner of his eye make signs to signal their plan of attack.
Flank movements – You Lead Charge – Long Range Support – Fight to Capture.
Naruto didn't bother nodding or signing back and instead charged forward with an explosive burst of speed enhanced by the Shunshin no Jutsu, no smoke or sound followed his activation of the jutsu to show his mastery and control. Naruto was in front of the kunoichi in less than a second and lashed out with his tanto bathed and humming with Futon chakra.
The woman's eyes lost their amusement and instead hardened dangerously as her hand lashed out with a fist encased in the oppressive white chakra that met the tanto. Like before Naruto received the feeling of his chakra being invaded by the kunoichi's and he felt his Futon chakra shutter for a moment before it was snuffed out and she grabbed the tanto and threw him to the side. In the next instant a dozen shuriken flew at the woman who slapped one away and dodged the rest.
Katsumi with incredible dexterity and chakra control manipulated the shuriken with, rather than steel wire, chakra strings, that completely reversed the momentum and flew backwards without losing a bit of speed or spin.
The Abelard Kunoichi screamed as her back was perforated with four shuriken and she was sliced with the rest. Not down for the count, but hurt and furious, she roared and slammed her hand on the ground. A glowing white web spread through the earth and a moment later the ground shuttered and exploded destroying both ANBU's foothold and forcing them to retreat from the kunoichi who was pulling out the metal weapons from her back with a wince and a scowl.
Naruto had a spark of an idea but before it could properly form, he was forced to jump away as the place he was just standing was shattered under the force and power of his opponent. She didn't follow and instead screamed as she rushed Katsumiwith fury written over her face a blood dripping from her back.
Weaving seals, spreading chakra, folding the chakra, manipulating the chakra. Naruto proceeded to employ the Nidaime's water creation method and created a water dragon that swirled around him and waited for his command.
The Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu was unique in that it was completely under the control of the creator, most created it and sent it forward but masters of the jutsu can control it after creating it much like a puppet. Naruto achieved this mastery of the jutsu even before being able to employ the Nidaime's method.
With his jutsu ready Naruto sent it up and forward. The water dragon, yellow eyes glowing, burst forward with impressive speed for its' size and as the Abelard kunoichi reared her arm back to attack the jutsu to destroy it Naruto cut his control and pulled his chakra back. The water dragon destabilized, and thousands of gallons of water fell a top the kunoichi knocking her off her feet.
Katsumi in the moment that the Abelard Kunoichi was knocked off her feet, threw several senbon and pieced half a dozen pressure points immobilizing the kunoichi ending the fight. The Abelard Kunoichi screamed and roared but both arms and left leg were unresponsive after Katsumi'sacupuncture.
Naruto landed next to their capture and began tying her up with steel wire with Katsumiwatching over.
"How." Hissed the kunoichi, "How did you know you brat?"
Naruto locked eyes with the women before silently pointing to a shuriken embedded into a tree. It was the one she slapped away.
The kunoichi stared at it for a moment before her body started to shake and a loud laughter sprung from her gut.
"You know the old man said Konoha was dangerous, but I never bought it. I was ready to take on anyone that came and was excited to prove him wrong you know?" She said after her chuckles dies out. "Guess we know who was right, huh?"
"What is she talking about, what did you discover?" Asked Katsumi.
Naruto turned to her, "Her jutsu on the surface is unstoppable but not perfect. All of our jutsu were destroyed by her jutsu and her white chakra. But she dodged the shuriken rather than destroying them, and the one she hit didn't return under your jutsu, meaning her jutsu only attacks chakra." Naruto took a breath and turned back to the bound kunoichi, "At least that's what I thought, then she destroyed the ground, but it was more of an explosion that shatters on contact. From there I confirmed that while her jutsu is in fact unstoppable it is instead two jutsu, a physical based one and a chakra based one."
"And you removed your chakra from your Suiton jutsu banking on the fact that it is still thousands of gallons of water falling on her while she was using the chakra based jutsu rather than the physical based one." Finished Dokuhebi with an impressed tone in her voice.
The kunoichi on the ground snorted, "Yes, yes!" she spat, "He's a genius, whatever. Now what?"
Instead of speaking Katsumi knelt next to the captured kunoichi and weaved half a dozen seals before ending on a strange variant of the bird seal. Both Katsumiand the kunoichi slumped forward with Naruto reaching out to capture Katsumibefore she fell.
The Yamanaka clan were masters of all aspects of the mind, in ancient times before the Five Great Nations formation they were on the payroll of most of the powerful political players on the continent in the hopes that the Yamanaka could uncover the secrets of their rivals and enemies. While at the same time the clan sold most of the secrets they learned to the highest bidder, it was this that made the clan one of the most feared, hated and wealthiest of all the great clans. It was only due to the overwhelming power of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha that the masters of the mind decided to abandon their cloak and dagger machinations and align themselves with the two great clans in the formation of Konohagakure no Sato. With the masters of the mind on Konoha's side all foreign shinobi knew that they would need to completely destroy themselves should they be captured as the Yamanaka never allowed death to free their targets from their mind walks.
Naruto watched his teammate do her thing with the Abelard kunoichi twitching every few moments and after five silent minutes both woman's head shot up, one panting and the other glaring hatefully.
"This woman's name is Yu; she is the only active kunoichi in the Abelard clan. There are two more active shinobi, a Ru and Tozen, brothers and older than Yu. There is one more, an old man easily in his late fifties and a survivor from the Second Shinobi War, named Izamo" Informed Katsumi.
Yui snarled as her family was uncovered, "Don't say their names you Konoha whore!" She spat with fury.
Neither ANBU let her words affect them or even acknowledge them as being said.
"Their abilities," Continued Katsumi, "Ru is superior at the physical aspect of the Daha Ken, while Tozen is superior at the chakra aspect. The elder, Izamo, is a master of both and Yu believes him to be unbeatable."
"He is!" Screamed Yu from the ground spittle flying from her mouth, "Izamo-Ji is unbeatable! He's the strongest! He fought the Strongest Shield and Sharpest Spear!"
Naruto gulped and turned to Katsumi who without word lashed out with a kunai and sliced Yu's throat, the kunoichi's eyes turned terrified before collapsing onto the ground. One down three to go.
"If he was there during the Sandaime Raikage's campaign then not only is he experienced but surviving an actually confrontation with him…he'll be beyond all of us." Naruto said despondently.
The Sandaime Raikage wasn't just the strongest Raikage in history but was considered one of the strongest Kage to ever hold the title, mentioned in the same breath as the Shodaime and Sandaime Hokage, and the Sandaime Kazekage and Tsuchikage. The man fought the Hachibi on a semi regular basis as the village of Kumogakure no Sato struggled to find a suitable host. He was said to be nigh invincible and it took the combined efforts of ten thousand shinobi to kill the man.
"This Izamo will be strong and experienced, yes." Nodded Katsumi, "But if the squad were to fight together, we will be enough, you're forgetting one key thing, something you discovered."
Naruto tilted his head and looked at his partner for a moment before realization hit him like a water dragon. The Abelard clan needed to switch between attacking physically or attacking chakra. Naruto took advantage of the physical presence of Suiton that wouldn't vanish after losing chakra like Katon, Futon, or Raiton would, but there was another element that maintained presence after losing chakra, Doton. With that in mind Naruto's realization went to his Squad Captain, Tora, a master of not only Suiton and Doton but of Mokuton, Tora who seemed to be the natural counter to the Abelard clan.
"If we link up with Tora-taicho then we can inform him of our intel and make a plan for this Izamo." Finished Katsumi. "Two more groups of two, Kaito and Gorira, and Taicho with the new guy Kebi-inu."
Naruto took a breath and stretched his muscles; he had used a lot of chakra, but he still had more than three-fourths left and was recovering slowly. But he was an Uzumaki and he worried about his partner's stamina, he and the squad were well aware that the mind jutsu took a lot out of her so he would need to make sure that she didn't get caught before she was recovered.
"I'll take point," Said Naruto seriously, while he had the least authority out of everyone in Squad Ro, he was also aware that Katsumi wasn't a combatant and was more support/intel based. In a mission like this it would be beneficial for him to take over.
Katsumi's body language looked reluctant, but a nod confirmed his idea and he was moving forward in a blur with Katsumi following slightly behind.
Tora was a very experienced shinobi, he was taught the ways of the shinobi from the Shinobi no Yami since he was six, after being taken from Ne he was put under the leadership of Kakashi Hatake and further honed under the leadership of one of the most decorated Captains in the history of the ANBU. For twenty years he's been a shinobi, and for all of those years he's been learning and adapting while watching the rise and fall of legends. Like Minato Namikaze, like Sakumo Hatake, like Orochimaru, like Tsunade, like Itachi Uchiha…there were many. Tora believes that he has been given the honor to not only lead but help hone the next one, Uzumaki Naruto.
Being in the presence of one of these legends was a different kind of feeling than any other shinobi and each felt different. Minato's presence felt like a large hand of comfort rested upon your shoulder. Sakumo Hatake's was said to feel like one was standing behind the largest and most ferocious guard dog. Orochimaru provided a feeling of superiority to his allies as they basked in his powerful presence. Tsunade reassured her comrades as if everything would be fine and if not, she'd make it so. Itachi made you think as if nothing wrong could or would happen as he was more than enough for any situation.
Naruto wasn't there yet as his presence hasn't made Tora feel anything but a small flame of pride at his subordinates' achievements and success, he was on his way but not there yet.
…But.
His new subordinate, Kebi-inu, made Tora feel dread and despair. Not something that a comrade should make another feel. He wasn't radiating power or strength, he didn't reassure or comfort, Tora felt as though Kebi-inu was a dangerous beast barely leashed and could lash out at any moment.
Tora was sure of two things, Naruto was a rising legend in the making and he would do his best to nurture and help along the young Uzumaki, and the second was Kebi-inu would likely be one as well and Tora had a feeling that he wouldn't live to see it.
He just hoped that he did his duty to Konoha if his death were to come. He hoped that his lessons, guidance and teaching were held in the hearts of his subordinates like Kakashi's were held in his. He hoped, that the life he has, one tainted and cursed by the machinations of a monster, amounts to a noble end befitting his life as one of leaves of the great tree.
But it was time to move on, Kebi-inu just finished burying the two Abelard brothers that rushed them, their bodies burned and smashed under the ferocious power of their new recruit.
Authors Note:
Here we are, the first chapter of the Abelard arc, not a super long one but an interesting one that will be used to introduce Kebi-inu the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi. At this point canon has just begun and Team Seven has just passed their Genin test if you're looking for timeline, Naruto's 12 and has been ANBU for a bit over a year. I'll do better to give you a time frame but think of this as the first arc and everything else a very detailed prologue.
We will not be following Canon too closely but some events will happen either in the background or as a side note, unfortunately the Chūnin Exam is the only one that has to happen as it is a set up for a lot of things, not that Naruto will be in it or anything like that, it will just be a big event pushing things around.
Thank you for all the reviews and continued interest in the story! Reading the new reviews for a story that was untouched for so long gave me push to continue writing it and I will keep that momentum! So I'm uploading a bit before my desired 200 reviews because why not.
As always give me some reviews of your thoughts and I'll make sure to respond.
Original Jutsu:
Shukakutento (Reverse the order of Importance) B-Rank: The user sends a steady stream of chakra to the intended target that manipulates their vision and motor function into operating in the opposite fashion than desired. The affected target will want to walk forward but will instead walk backwards, the affected target will see something coming on the left and respond in the opposite direction completely. Masters of the jutsu can completely invert all vision making the target even see everything upside down.
Here are some Review responses:
Reemikz: Glad you liked the story, but your point on Jiraiya attacking Hiruzen for sending Naruto on the Kumo mission doesn't really make sense. First Jiraiya wouldn't ever know about the mission and if he did somehow, he wouldn't know who was on it. Next he is a veteran of two wars, he knows the darkness of the world better than most even if he's against it and last Hiruzen is in charge and Naruto isn't Jiraiya's responsibility nor is he even there to look after him, so his opinions and concerns aren't really a factor. Also, Kushina barely has a profile on the wiki so really, we don't know how she'd respond, a lot of people give her a headcanon personality and traits while canon Kushina was barely in the story.
Yamajiji: Thanks for the reviews, Danzo and Hiruzen I feel always work together but the Uchiha situation was a very decisive one and no answers were easy or right, so they clashed hard. But other than that, they have worked together for decades so I feel like they would have deep respect for each other. Also, yes Danzo was given the Jinchūriki as he isn't the son of the Hokage or any clan, so he was able to disappear from the world.
Treeko313: Yeah, the passage of time wasn't really that well explained but that was mostly because Naruto wasn't doing anything but quick missions and training. Now that he is on bigger missions and the first arc started the timeline will become much easier to follow.
Awesomeace18: Yeah, Naruto's relationship with Katsumi was laid out in chapter 5 where she explained her worry about his mental health for being so young. She is there to make sure he keeps his humanity.
Zabzab: Thanks for the review, glad the reread was an improved one. You're welcome for the allied Danzo and Hiruzen muse although I said earlier my thoughts on that. More character interactions are coming as I think of the first 6 chapters as a long and very detailed prologue and this is where the story officially starts, kinda sorta, so it will slow down and everyone will develop more.