"Hiruzen, you only enjoy this because it does not concern you. The day Kushina turns against you, you will regret it!" Danzo said angrily.
"Why would she turn against me? I did nothing wrong" Hiruzen replied with a smile, still not taking it seriously.
"You know what you have done. Do you think that if she ever manages to capture me I will say nothing?"
"And who would believe you? Kushina would not, certainly."
"Hiruzen, you... fine then, help me with something" Danzo said, trying to calm down.
"What do you want?"
"I need you to help me investigate something. If I move Root I fear Kushina will become suspicious."
"Oh? Is it that important?" Hiruzen said with curiosity. "What do you need?"
"I told you what happened earlier at the port. Kushina talked about events that did not happen as if they were real. It could just be a mistake, but so far Tasogare seems to know everything about the ninja world, including the secret jinchuriki of each village and even their location. I suspect the reason for Tasogare's strength, besides their knowledge, and perhaps even their objective, is that they have knowledge of the future."
"And I already told you that is madness, remember? You cannot take a single phrase and build an entire theory."
"Hiruzen, it is impossible that such a powerful force appeared out of nowhere. How do you not understand that?" Danzo said impatiently.
"Fine, keep believing your strange theory. Better tell me what you want before I regret this" Hiruzen replied indifferently, deciding not to bother.
"You! Fine. There are rumors that a city in the Land of Wind is developing in an abnormal way. They say they have knowledge ahead of their time.
If there really is someone with that kind of knowledge, it could have something to do with the origin of Tasogare and the source of Kushina's power."
"And you do not think Tasogare could be there?"
"Impossible. I already investigated that place before because of its power sources."
"Oh..." Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at Danzo's words and understood everything.
There was probably nothing there related to Tasogare. Or if there was, even Danzo did not know. The only certain thing was that there was something Danzo had set his sights on, but something changed and that object was no longer available to him.
Most likely Danzo now intended to use Konoha to deal with the problem, claiming they were enemies, before recovering whatever it was he wanted.
"Alright. I will call Shisui and Minato, they are the most reliable" Hiruzen said.
Danzo becoming active again was convenient for him. The sooner Danzo left this world, the sooner his own image would become completely clean.
At the same time, whatever Danzo wanted would most likely end up in Kushina's hands. Danzo underestimated Kushina far too much. In his eyes she was still a foolish girl, just one with too much strength.
---
Weeks later, Minato and Shisui stood in front of Roran, the place rumored to possess knowledge of the future.
"Is this it?" Shisui asked.
Shisui was an Uchiha, and the Uchiha had many problems with the village. Most people did not view them favorably because of their reputation and their arrogant personalities.
However, Shisui was different. Since he was young he had been raised with the idea of wanting to reunite the Uchiha with the village. He even knew Hiruzen and Danzo since childhood, having his mentality shaped from a very early age.
In other words, he had been brainwashed since he was young to consider the village the highest priority of his clan and act as a spy within the Uchiha.
"It is here" Minato replied, somewhat surprised.
The place in front of him was completely different from any ninja village he had ever visited before.
There were buildings with strange shapes. The houses were not made of wood, but of blocks. The streets were not made of dirt, but of a dark and hard material. And people moved around on strange two wheeled vehicles.
Not only that. As they walked around the place, Minato and Shisui encountered various strange businesses they would never have imagined.
"That... a bookstore? Paper is expensive, how can they sell books so cheaply?"
"Public baths? What is the need for something like that? It is a waste of resources."
"La-un-dry... what is that?"
"Telephone booth? Communicating across great distances? Impossible, if something like that existed it would change wars as we know them."
"What are those spinning machines? They are making those blocks."
"Why are there cables everywhere connected to those strange crystals?"
"And that..."
"Be quiet. We look like foolish tourists" Shisui said with his usual seriousness to the surprised Minato, who was looking at everything around him, sometimes with disbelief, sometimes with confusion, most of the time with disdain or simply thinking it was impossible or a waste of resources.
"I am sorry, but... is it not impressive? Perhaps Lord Hiruzen is right and they really do have knowledge of the future" Minato said, unable to hide his disbelief.
"For now let us try to find the origin of these inventions" Shisui replied without deciding to believe anything yet.
"I will stop someone."
Minato approached a nearby person who was eating a strange dessert made of balls on top of a cone, sitting in front of a white shop with glass doors.
"Excuse me, can we ask you a few questions?" Minato said as he sat beside him.
Fortunately, the resident seemed quite sociable and did not get scared by the sudden conversation. Instead, he nodded enthusiastically.
"Of course. Tourists are always surprised by everything, so go ahead."
"My name is Minato, it is a pleasure. I was surprised by all this and wondered if it has always been like this" Minato introduced himself politely.
"I am Koji. And no, this place started changing a few years ago, when a merchant company came and built a building. At first many of us thought it was strange, a building made of blocks and glass, who would do something like that? But later we not only got used to it, some even tried to imitate it."
"I see, external interference."
"However it was not that easy. Luckily the merchant company signed a partnership with the queen to share their knowledge. Before long it was not only the buildings, but the entire kingdom that was changing.
It was strange at first, yes, but the comforts it brought soon silenced the critics."
"Incredible. Just a few months and they already did all this. That company must be famous, right?"
"Well, I am not sure. After settling here and signing the partnership with the queen they changed their name and became a remodeling company, so nobody knows exactly what they did before."
"Is that not strange?" Minato asked.
But Koji did not seem to think the same.
"Is it strange? Roran offered them a constant source of money and they adapted. I think any merchant would have done the same" he replied with a shrug.
"True. Then, do you know how all this technology works?"
"No idea" Koji replied. "But there is nothing new, everything was made with our own resources. The company simply provided the knowledge."
"Incredible... it is as if they know how to use resources in a better way, as if they had more experience," Minato said while analyzing his words.
"Exactly!" Koji nodded enthusiastically. "Especially chakra."
"Ch-chakra?" Minato said in surprise.
"That is right. Most of this technology uses chakra."
"Impossible... this amount of chakra..."
Minato used his senses to perceive the surroundings more carefully and realized that chakra was indeed distributed across most of the kingdom.
Especially through those strange cables running across all the streets, which seemed to transport chakra everywhere.
"To do something like this they must have an enormous source of chakra. Why would they waste it like that?"
Although Minato thought his words sounded normal, Koji felt offended.
"What do you mean waste? How can improving everyone's quality of life be wasting chakra?"
"No, that is not what I meant..."
"Then what should chakra be used for? To kill people?"
"I did not mean that."
"I know, I know. It just bothers me when tourists say that."
Koji pointed at a nearby booth.
"Do you see that telephone there? Every time someone sees it they say the same thing, this would change wars. Why do they always think about war? They could use it to contact distant relatives, to make friends in other towns, to confirm someone's safety, and many other things. But they always think about how to use it to kill better."
"I am sorry, I did not mean that" Minato apologized, realizing he seemed to have touched a sensitive point.
"It is fine, I exaggerated a bit too.
But I recommend you do not say things like that here or you might anger a lot of people."
Koji smiled before continuing.
"Do you know how they built these streets so quickly?"
When Minato shook his head, Koji explained proudly.
"It was because ninjas who use earth and wind release helped. With their help it was much faster."
"N-ninjas using ninjutsu to build streets?" Minato was so surprised he could barely speak.
For him, a ninja trained to complete missions. Becoming stronger meant being able to kill faster or, failing that, protect yourself better from those who wanted to kill you or your loved ones.
"That is right. That mentality has spread across the kingdom during the last few years, so I recommend you do not say strange things or things might go badly for you."
"But the ninjas... with their pride... how could they accept something like that?"
"At first they did not accept it. But once they saw that it worked, why would they refuse? Earn money without risking your life, receive the gratitude of the people and enjoy the comforts you helped build yourself. Does that not sound perfect?"
"I... I suppose?... I think I should go now," Minato said as he stood up and walked away with his mind full of thoughts.
"How did it go?" he asked when he reunited with Shisui, who was hiding nearby.
"He told the truth the whole time" Shisui replied, just as surprised as he was.
______________________________________
Hey, I just published the first chapters of a new fic: To Love Ru: Chaos.
If you're interested or want to support me, go read it and leave some Power Stones.
But it's literally the complete opposite of this series, so I recommend reading the 'Before You Read' section to see if you'll like it.
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)