Chapter 120: The Communication Snail and the Message
Ten days after the "Night of the Purple Moon," the real Raikage still had not returned.
Miss him, miss him, miss him.
By now, the search party should have at least made contact with his father. But he wasn't the type to just sit and wait to be rescued. He could only pray they hadn't missed each other.
A portable device for the slug was not difficult to make, given the Cloud's current level of technology. Or rather, Katsuyu's clones were just very easy to keep alive. Just three days after he had made the request, Mamoru had sent word that the prototype was ready.
When he arrived at the research base, Mamoru handed him a mooncake-sized snail shell.
"It's made of a mineral called 'Ant Stone,' mixed with metal," he explained. "It's not special, just very durable. But I've added a small mechanism to the opening, so you can open or close it, to protect it from water, fire, or poison in battle. The seal isn't perfect, but it will hold for a short time."
Dana looked at the spiral-shaped shell. It had a watchband attached to it. It was very similar to the Den Den Mushi from his memories, but this one was flat, like a watch, while the ones he remembered were vertical.
"I thought you would make it vertical."
"How could I?" Mamoru said, shaking his head. "That would be a hindrance in battle. It would restrict a ninja's movement and be more easily damaged."
He had to admit, he had a point. The flat design was much more practical for combat. It looked more like a watch.
"See?" Mamoru continued. "This design is much more reasonable. You can wear it on your wrist, around your neck, or even hide it in your arm guard."
Just then, the "door" of the shell opened, and the little slug poked its head out.
"Good afternoon, Yotsuki-kun!" it chirped, its voice filled with excitement.
"A very polite little fellow," Mamoru said with a smile.
If you saw its true form, Dana thought, you wouldn't be saying that.
"The space inside is also spiral-shaped," Mamoru continued. "It's actually quite large for the little slug. It's been setting up its new home for the past few days, moving in some pebbles and things."
The little slug nodded, said hello, and then closed its "door" and went back inside. A faint, scratching sound could be heard.
Dana knew that these little slugs had independent minds, similar to Shadow Clones, but more special. They had their own thoughts but could share Katsuyu's memories, so any of them would recognize him. And Katsuyu could control them or descend her consciousness into them at any time. And they could relay messages to her. He couldn't quite define their relationship with the current understanding of ninjutsu. Was it like a queen and her swarm? That didn't seem quite right.
"If you have any special requests," Mamoru said, "we can customize them. It's not difficult. We could make it thinner, like a badge. By the way, this device doesn't have a name yet. Do you want to name it?"
"How about 'Den Den Mushi'?" he suggested.
"What a strange name," Mamoru said, confused. "There's no 'den' (electricity), and you can't use it to talk. And a slug isn't a 'mushi' (insect)."
"...Then let's just call it a 'Communication Snail'."
He left with a few samples of the snail shells.
He went home and, after comforting his mother, who had been unable to eat or sleep lately, he used the summoning contract to go to Shikkotsu Forest.
Katsuyu, the ruler of the forest, knew he had arrived. Her mountain-sized body slowly moved towards him, and her pleasant voice echoed in his mind.
"Good evening, Yotsuki-kun."
He was always polite to the ever-courteous and good-tempered Katsuyu. "Good evening, Lady Katsuyu."
"Have you come to train, Yotsuki-kun?"
"I will," he said with a smile, "but there's something else."
Her antennae twitched in confusion.
He took out a book. It was titled: From Beginner to Buried in a Wall: The Ninja World's Supernova Teaches You How to Construct a Coordinate System (with Elementary Mathematics).
The thousand-year-old Katsuyu's antennae trembled.
Dana just smiled.
Minato Namikaze's mind was a mess.
The tragedy of the "Night of the Purple Moon" and Kushina's disappearance had left him in a state of turmoil. And when he had gotten home, he had found that his apartment had been destroyed in the attack. He had been devastated. The apartment wasn't his, but provided by the village, a reward for being an orphan with excellent grades. It was only six tatami mats, but it had been his home for many years.
But after the attack, the village had united. Many of the clans had opened up their empty houses to those who had lost their homes. Even the Uchiha, who were usually at odds with the other villagers, had cleared out a number of their empty residences. Minato had been staying in one of them.
After a few days of rest, he had forced himself to go back to taking missions. The village was in chaos, and there was a massive backlog. These missions, no matter how small, if left undone for too long, would damage the village's reputation. He didn't have the skills to help with the rebuilding, so he would do what he could.
But the moment he arrived at the Mission Assignment Desk, he was told that there was a designated mission for him.
This was not unusual. He was known for his good personality, and many of his past clients would specifically request him for new missions. But this client was a complete stranger.
The name was "Akyu," clearly a pseudonym. The mission was simple, a remote commission from the Land of Hot Water. He was to collect the menus of all the best ramen shops in Konoha and send them to him.
He suspected it was a rival ramen shop, doing some market research. The mission was super simple, and the pay was decent. He completed it without a second thought.
The next day, there were two more designated missions. One was from a familiar client, asking him to catch her philandering tomcat, whom he had caught at least ten times before.
The other was strange.
A client from the Land of Waves, calling himself "Ashin," had asked him to collect the prices of various types of seafood in Konoha and send them to him in a spreadsheet.
These simple C and D-rank missions were a dime a dozen in Konoha and attracted no one's attention. But Minato sensed that something was off.
Sure enough, the next day, there was another designated mission.
A client, calling himself "Anai," had asked him to find a red mushroom with white spots in the Forest of Death and send it to the Land of Iron.
He understood. Someone was using these missions to send him a message.
He had thought about going to the clients' addresses to ask them directly, but the locations were all over the place, and clearly fake. And if he left the village, he might miss the next message.
Finally, on the sixth day, he received the complete message.
"Kushina is in the Foundation."
On the seventh day, there were no new missions.
He had never heard of the "Foundation," but his intuition told him that if they had gone to such lengths, this "Foundation" was likely right under his nose.
He began to secretly search for information, but he was getting nowhere.
Finally, he managed to get a small clue from his team leader.
"Others might not know, but the Foundation is a squad under the ANBU. But it's not a good place."
"Senpai," he asked, "can you tell me more? I thought it was an elite squad. I was thinking of applying." He did his best to act like an ambitious young ninja.
"I don't know the details," his leader said, "but you'd better give up on that idea. I had a teammate who was recruited by the Foundation, and I never saw him again. If you want a promotion, you're better off applying to the ANBU directly. They've suffered some losses lately and are recruiting."
Minato nodded. He had made up his mind. He would join the ANBU and find out what this "Foundation" was.