Inheritance

The Winds Shift

"I did request that you bring no strangers to our realm when I agreed to allow you to hide here, Jiriaya. But I suppose circumstances necessitate me to be flexible," Fukasaku said, voice low and disapproving, though whether that was aimed at he and Jiraiya, or the bound figure at their feet, Naruto couldn't quite tell.

Either way, Jiraiya dipped his head in acceptance of the chastisement. "I can only apologise, Fukasaku-sama. The situation–"

"Oh, please, gaki. Don't you 'situation' us," Fukasaku's wife, Shima snorted. "You and I both know that if things were so dire you weren't able to summon us to ask permission, you would have required the use of Sage Mode. You simply knew we would have told you 'no' had you asked first."

Fukusaku and Shima glared in the silence that fell after. The two were the Great Sage Toads, the leaders of their clan of summons, and in the humid jungles of Mt Myoboku, their word was law.

Naruto kept his face schooled in one of deference. He'd come to greatly respect both of the two toads in his time here. Despite barely reaching his knees in height, the two elder toads were fearsome fighters and masters of Sage Mode, and they had taken him under their wing since Konoha's fall.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, couldn't help the smirk the bloomed on his face. "Well, I wasn't wrong now, was I? We needed to secure him for interrogation, and Mt Myoboku is as secure as it gets. We're not putting your lands in danger—this one's just a tadpole."

Fukasaku shook his head ruefully. "Even a tadpole will consume its brothers and sisters in the spawning pool, especially when desperate. And this is one of Danzou's. There's not a harmless one among them."

Naruto looked down, and the impassive grey of Shimura Sai's eyes met his own. He had to resist the urge to shiver. Even bound, outnumbered and outclassed, his expression was one of consummate, effortless calm. Every glance was one that was weighing his opponents and surroundings, analysing and probing for weaknesses.

The boy had given him the creeps when he'd first joined Team 7, and two and a half years of life under Danzou's rule had not eased the feeling.

"I will take full responsibility should things go wrong, Fukasaku-sama," Jiraiya said, his voice unusually earnest.

Fukasaku regarded him for a moment, before finally inclining his head, and Jiraiya turned to Sai.

"Now then, Root brat, why don't you tell me why you allowed yourself to be captured? What does Danzou want?"

Naruto blinked, but was distracted from the small, unsettling smile that bloomed on Sai's face.

"Good," the boy said, almost happily. "I am glad I do not have to waste valuable time convincing you of that."

"You let yourself be beaten?" Naruto asked quickly unable to help himself.

"Not exactly," Sai said, turning that unnerving smile upon Naruto. "I am not at a level required to best you in combat. My orders were of a different nature. I simply leveraged what I know of you as a person—that you would not respond with lethal force if I did not provoke you with it—to ensure I would be taken alive, rather than killed."

"And those orders are?" Jiraiya probed.

Sai simply smiled and stuck out his tongue.

"Check it, Naruto."

Naruto nodded at his sensei's request and knelt down before the captive shinobi to examine the strange black markings upon his tongue. Three solid lines, and two broken. A hexagrammic sealing jutsu that all the Root shinobi they'd taken alive had upon them.

"Zekka Konzetsu no In (Cursed Tongue Eradication)," Naruto said. "Just like all the others."

Sai shrugged. "Naturally. It will prevent me from actually telling you any of my orders, or divulging any useful information about Hokage-sama or his plans I may have to aid your cause."