Chapter 4
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Chapter 4


Ken walked up to the stairs to the Hokage's office with an intense expression on his face. He waved to the secretary who smiled and nodded saying, "Hokage-sama is free at the moment. You may enter."

"Thank you, Yuki-san," Ken replied politely. He pushed open the door and walked into the Hokage's office. "Jiji!" Ken called out with a smile.

"Ah, Ken-kun. What brings you here?" asked Hiruzen with a grandfatherly smile on his face, hiding that he was truly grateful for the break from all this thrice-damned paperwork. Ken smiled a bright smile.

"Well I had a little problem with a jutsu, but before that, how are you doing? You look pretty tired from doing all that paperwork. Ready to hand over the hat to Naruto?" he asked, jokingly.

"Haha," the Hokage laughed, "these old bones still have some juice in them. Now tell me, what were you having problems with?"

Ken sighed. "The Bushin. Naruto and I have very large chakra reserves for them and I don't think either of us could manage to create a Bushin without having Tsunade-level chakra control. And without the Bushin, we might as well fail the academy. I can put chakra restriction seals on us both but that would be detrimental to our growth. Can you please help us, Jiji?" Ken pleaded.

"Hmm…" Hiruzen looked up and seemed to be thoughtful for a second before nodding to himself. "Very well then. You have brought up an excellent point. Uzumakis usually do have problems with chakra control because of their sheer capacity," here Hiruzen put his face in his hands and sighed. "I guess this is for the best. After all, one of the reasons my sensei created this technique was so that the Uzumaki could also use Bushin."

Ken went wide-eyed. "Really. Jiji? You… You're not going to ask for anything in return from us?"

Hiruzen raised an eyebrow. "Now why would I do that, Ken-kun? You are Naruto are my grandchildren in everything but blood."

"R-Right… of course… ehehe…" Ken sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. It was still hard for Ken to break his habits from his past life. On Earth, no one ever gave something without wanting something in return. This world was truly amazing.

"Ken," the Hokage started. "You have to understand that not everyone you meet has ulterior motives. Especially your own comrades."

"You're right Jiji, but… better be safe than sorry, right? After all, that's what it means to be a shinobi," Ken finished with a toothy grin.

"Hmm, that's very smart of you my boy. Now, how about we get to learning this new jutsu then?" the Hokage prompted.

It was an hour later that Ken walked out with a newly learned Kage Bushin no Jutsu under his belt. He started planning for his education while walking home.

Well, all the academy kids have their clan jutsus and everything and Naruto has an overgrown furball in his body while I have nothing, he mused. Guess I'll just have ot make up for all that with knowledge. Thank god I had massive chakra reserves though. And now with the Kage Bushin in my jutsu repertoire… Merry fucking Christmas to me. It transfers memories to me also, huh? Man, I wish chakra existed in my past life. Productivity level: Over 9000!

"I'm home!" he called out as he walked into the apartment.

"Welcome back, Nii-san! I made us both some ramen!" Naruto called out as he ran over and glomped Ken.

Ken chuckled, and once again rubbed Naruto's hair. "Thanks, Naruto. Let's get started on dinner, shall we?"

With an enthusiastic "Hai!" from Naruto, both brothers were seated on the dining table eating their ramen. Naruto was talking animatedly about his day with Ken listening attentively and adding a few comments here and there when Naruto suddenly stopped talking and snapped his fingers. "Oh, Nii-san!"

"Hmm?"

"There was a lady here to see you today. You weren't there so I told her to come back later," Naruto said.

"A lady or a girl?" Ken asked as he started forming a mental picture. Old habits die hard.

"A lady," Naruto answered

"How did she look?" Ken asked immediately

"Uhh…" Naruto scratched his head trying to recall what she looked like. "She was sort of tall and… pale."

"Stop Naruto," Ken said raising his hand. "Let me teach you how to describe a person. This will also be a useful skill in your shinobi career. Now listen very carefully. Ready?" he asked.

"Uh-huh!" Naruto nodded and listened intently.

"First, gender. Male or female. Then, you go on to describe their race." Ken explained thinking back to his RCMP days.

"Nii-san, what's race?" Naruto asked curiously

"Like… y'know, if they're… oh shit. Hmm… their… skin colour, okay?" Ken corrected himself, realizing that there were no continents in this world.

"Oh! Alright," Naruto nodded again.

"Next is their age. Use approximation like 10 to 15 or 20 to 30. Like that. Then describe their height. When doing that also take a note of what footwear they have on." So far, Naruto was soaking up all the knowledge like a sponge. "Then would be their build. For example fat, skinny, muscular. After that, comes the face. Describe it in the order I tell you. Ready?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Hair, forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks, ears, mouth, chin/jaw, neck, facial hair, and any tattoos. Now, go ahead. Describe that woman."

"Ok… uh… Female with a little pale skin. Maybe around 15 to 20 years old. Height would be around… uh… one and a half MEs,"

"Hold up, what?" Ken looked at Naruto confusedly. "The hell does one and a half MEs mean?"

"No! Not one and a half YOUs! One and a half MEs!" Naruto repeated.

Ken looked at him weirdly and slowly his mouth formed into an 'O' as realization dawned on him. "AHAHAHAHA! MEs! Oh, don't kill me! Oh, that was too cute. Ahaha!" he laughed for a good two minutes before explaining. "Naruto. You can't say 'one and a half MEs'. You're supposed to say, 'one and a half times my height' or '1.5 times my height'. Anyway, continue."

Nodding as he filed away that information in his brain, Naruto continued. "She was wearing black shinobi sandals. For build… uh… I guess just like any normal shinobi woman. Her face was really pretty. Her hair was purple and shoulder length, the forehead was about…" Naruto put up four of his fingers and showed Ken, "this wide. And her eyes were a bit narrowed with a beauty mark under her right eye. Her nose and mouth were also small, and her lips were just a bit bigger than normal. Her jaw was very sharp and her neck… uh… there was a small bump on it in the middle. And the last thing was pretty weird. When she was talking, there was a black line in the back of her tongue."

Naruto's whole description was a wild ride for Ken and he was just barely containing his laughter, but as soon as he said the tongue part, Ken jumped right into his commander mode. Naruto dubbed it his 'Hokage mode' since it looked so much like when his Jiji was serious.

"What happened, Nii-san?" Naruto asked, concerned.

"You said a black line in the back her tongue, Naruto?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What was her name?" Ken asked with piercing violet eyes.

"She didn't say. She only said that she'll be back later." Naruto said, questions upon questions on the tip of his tongue but he knew he shouldn't disturb his Nii-san when he was thinking.

A few minutes later, Ken looked up. "Naruto, it's time to go to bed. I want you to go to sleep, but also keep a kunai with you." Ken stood up and put his fingers in the oh so familiar cross sign and whispered, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu". Immediately two clones popped up. Ken turned to Naruto. "I learned this from Jiji today. Since we can't do normal Bushin, he said we could use this. I'll teach it to you tomorrow. For now, these two will keep watch over you. Also, take this seal," Ken reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper with an intricate seal on it. "If anything happens, channel a small burst of chakra into it. It'll let me know right away."

"N-Nii-san? What happened?" Naruto's curiosity got the better of him.

"Haahh… "he sighed. "You know when you said that thing about the black line?" Naruto nodded. "Well, I read in a book once that some shinobi have seals put on them to prevent leakage of information. Usually, it's on the back of their neck so that if they ever leak any secret information about their village, the seal cuts off their nerves form the base of the neck, which kills them. The less dangerous version is the one that's supposed to be on the back of the tongue. It only burns out your tongue so that you can never talk again. I know for a fact that Jiji doesn't do that and wouldn't allow that so that means that that woman was a very dangerous hostile shinobi. Now I'm just trying to decide whether I should try to get away or infiltrate them. If they came at the apartment, it means they know where we live. But that also means that they don't want to kill us right away." By this point, Ken was just talking to himself, but Naruto was also listening with rapt attention and was secretly impressed by how amazingly experienced his brother was. "I can't go back to Jiji since they're probably keeping watch…" Ken sighed, "Man, I haven't had to make such a hard decision since Benghazi."

"Since when?" Naruto asked, not sure if he heard right. Ken jerked his head up while mentally berating himself. It seems he had lost his touch. Back on Earth, he'd never have let so much slip.

"Ah, forget it. I'll put you to bed now Naruto," Ken guided Naruto towards their bedroom and tucked him in. One clone stood guard outside the room, and the other sat on Ken's bed, keeping an eye on Naruto and the surroundings. Ken was about the leave the room when he came back and gave Naruto a big hug with a kiss on the forehead. "Naruto. I love you, and I always will. I just want you to remember that."

With that last statement, Ken was gone, leaving behind a confused and sleepy Naruto.


Ken stepped outside the apartment and walked towards the Hokage tower he could feel the shinobi following him. He kept walking until finally a woman in ANBU gear appeared before him. Her mask was different than the usual masks that ANBU wore. It didn't… look like an animal.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Ken said nonchalantly. "What do you need from me?"

"Ken Uzumaki. You will come with me. An important person has requested your presence," the ANBU ordered.

"Requested?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, but you do not have any say in the matter. You will appear before him," the ANBU said stoically.

"Ah, so it's a male," Ken deduced out loud just to rile her up. There was no outward reaction, but by the movement of her iris through the eye holes, Ken could see that he had gotten to her. "Whatever…" he yawned, "I'm sure the Hokage doesn't know about this, but I sure as hell am curious so let's get this over with, shall we?" The ANBU placed her hand on Ken's shoulder and disappeared with him in a shunshin.

A few minutes later, Ken found himself sitting in front of a man with bandages covering half of his face and one of his arms in a cast. "Danzo Shimura," Ken said. He had read about him in one of the history books. He used to be a teammate of the Hokage. "This is certainly surprising. What would you possibly want with little old me?" he asked with amusement in his voice.

"Ken Uzumaki," Danzo said slowly. He was about to say more when Ken cut him off.

"Yeah, that's me. Now listen, I know you're going to talk to me in some ominous kind of way, but can we skip all that? I'm sleepy and want to get back home. Let's go straight to the point. I don't know why you want to talk to me, but whatever it is, it can't possibly be approved by the Hokage, which would make in insubordination at best and treason at worst, so let me ask again: What do you want with me?" Ken spoke without a break.

One of the muscles on Danzo's face twitched very slightly, but apart from that, there was no indication of the irritation he was feeling. Ken mentally scoffed, Heh, amateur… Ken had conducted mission under deep cover, sometimes having to kill his own agents even and still hadn't ever so much as twitched when pulling the trigger. He had looked them in the eye – people he trained, fought, and laughed with – and without a hint of remorse, put a round through their skull.

He didn't like it, but it was for the greater good. Compared to Ken, Danzo was but a child.

"Very well," Danzo spoke filling the room with killing intent. "I want you to join my personal ANBU. We protect Konoha form the shadows and," once again he was cut off by Ken.

"One, no thanks. I still have to take care of Naruto. Maybe I'll consider it in the future. Two, what did you just do? It's like it just got so much easier to breathe in here," Ken said curiously as to why it felt like breathing in his past life.

What he didn't know was that In Ken past life, the whole world was filled with so much malice that even a fifth grader subconsciously exuded killing intent on the level of an experienced elite ANBU… That was why when he came into this world, this whole time, he was so uncomfortable while breathing. When Danzo focused all his killing intent on Ken, he felt like he was breathing similar to back in his old world, but the air was still too thin.

Danzo gulped and receded his killing intent and spoke once more, "I'd like you to at least take a look at how strong our warriors are. Your goal is to protect your brother, yes?"

"Yeeeeah?" Ken narrowed his eyes. Anytime Naruto got involved in dangerous shit, Ken's defenses automatically went up.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be impressed with how strong my ANBU are at such a young age even. By completely removing emotions, we can send," and Danzo was cut off once again.

"OOOHHH MYYYY GOOOOOSHH! Did you say you remove all emotions?" Ken asked, bewildered.

"Yes. Why would you find that so surprising?" Danzo asked indignantly. Ken was under the special protection of the Hokage and was a Sealmaster. Danzo had to tread lightly, lest he scared the Uzumaki off. With Ken under his thumb, Danzo could possibly improve the strength of his ROOT by a large factor. That was why he was letting this child be so disrespectful for now.

"No, well I don't find it surprising, so much as stupid," Ken answered genuinely concerned. "Don't get me wrong, I know what you're trying to do. Remove all emotions and make them so fiercely loyal that they'd never betray you. Yeah, well, guess what? Don't ask me how, but it doesn't work. Making them emotionless just makes them empty, waiting to be filled up by something or someone. The moment they find something better, they'll switch sides. Emotions are what make people strong!" he exclaimed. "That's why, you don't erase their emotions, you MANIPULATE them!" Ken finished.

Danzo's eyebrow rose. There was logic in what the boy was saying, but… he was after all just a boy. How and why would he know this? Danzo made to speak again, but Ken waved raised his hand, stopping him before he even began. This surprised Danzo very much. The amount of authority the… human in front of him exuded so naturally only came with decades of experience in leading armies. Yet this boy… Interesting.

"Stop," Ken continued. "I know what you want to say. You don't believe me, so I'll give you a scenario. Exhibit A," Ken said, lifting his left hand with the palm facing up. "You have a shinobi in front of you that's trying to destroy your village. You send in three of your best trained emotionless shinobi. What do you think will happen?"

"My operatives will plan and take out the threat with precise coordination," Danzo said confidently.

"Ok. Now you have Exhibit B," Ken said, raising his right hand with the palm facing up again. "You have a shinobi in front of you that's trying to destroy your village. You send in only one of your best-trained man, but he was brought up his whole life made to think that the shinobi that is his target is the one who murdered his precious people. What do you think will happen?" asked Ken with a small smirk on his face. When he saw Danzo contemplating the scenario, Ken couldn't wait. "You know what will happen? That one operative alone will take out the shinobi. Why? Because he has something the other three didn't. Determination for revenge. The other three, if it gets too difficult, will make a rational decision and retreat, but that one guy: he will overcome the odds with pure determination and go down fighting like a true warrior. That is how you make truly strong shinobi. You use their emotions to manipulate them into staying loyal forever."

To say that Danzo was stunned would have been one of the biggest understatements of the year. This child has completely destroyed his reasoning with proper plausible facts and everything. Truly, Ken Uzumaki will be a force to be reckoned with, Danzo thought to himself that night as he ordered Tsuchinoe, the operative who brought him there, to drop Ken back at his apartment.


It was a week later that Ken had finally finished his revolver prototype. It was basically a snub .38 with the design based off of The Colt Cobra. It had a six-chamber cylinder which held only bullets that were all precisely made by a weapons shop owner (they were extremely cheap since it was literally just drops of metal in a dye). The only difference here was that the chambers weren't open at the back. Instead, they were only open in the front, where the bullets went, and on the inside of each chamber was a seal which released an enormous amount of hydrogen that had been collected by another connecting seal on the base of the grip and a small spark. Together, this created a big explosion. Exactly what he needed for his bullets to travel fast.

The seal on the bottom kept collecting hydrogen 24/7 and the seal on the inside of the chamber transported a specific amount of that hydrogen to itself and then released it. It had taken a long time for ken to finally get it, but finally, the testing day was here.

Ken and Naruto were currently standing in a clearing in a training ground. Ken was pointing the revolver towards a target that was 100 meters away.

Ken took a deep breath. "Hundred meters. Firing in 3… 2… 1…" he pressed the trigger.

There was an explosion and a blood-curdling scream. When the smoke cleared, there on his knees was Ken, cradling his right hand which was miraculously still intact but badly burned and bloodied. Off to the distance was the revolver… at least what remained of it.

Naruto was by his side in less than a second. "Nii-san!" he screamed and ran to check the damage that had been done, but all he found was an unconscious Ken. A few more seconds and three ANBU appeared. Two of them immediately grabbed Ken and Naruto to shunshin to the hospital, while the third stayed behind to survey the damage.

The ANBU walked up to the target that Ken had shot at. From the front, it didn't look any different except for a tiny hole in it. But when the ANBU circled to the back, her mouth dropped, and her eyes became the size of an extra-large ramen bowl. "Holy shit…" she murmured and shunshined away to report to the Hokage.

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