hotmtlnovel 77. Clan Moot
77. Clan Moot
It’s the second day post-Konoha Crush, after the Hokage’s funeral. It’s raining outside.
I’m sitting at a round table with my father, Shibi, and my retainer Imomushi standing behind me. Sitting on my left is Tsume Inuzuka with Hana standing behind her. To my right is Inoichi Yamanaka with Santa (not the jolly one) and Ino behind him. You don’t typically bring a Genin to a meeting of this level, making my own presence almost laughable, unless there are extenuating circumstances. Imomushi has long since filed the paperwork for my ascension to clan head (including Choko’s abdication signature) and got everything squared away in advance so as not to surprise anyone with my appearance here.
On the opposite side of the table are Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Hiashi Hyuga, Asuma Sarutobe, and their entourages. There are other clans in Konoha, but most of them are too small or wield too little power to make an appearance.
It’s a room full of Jonin, up-and-comers, and people with political influence in the Village. Then Danzo walks in.
He’s playing the part of a frail, old man with an x-shaped scar on his chin, walking with a cane he doesn’t actually need. Black, shaggy hair pokes out the top of the bandages covering his forehead and right eye—concealing a stolen Sharingan underneath. The black robe he wears partially covers his white shirt, left arm in the open while his right arm hides in the folds. I know his right arm is bandaged and covered with three large metallic braces to keep his abominable secret… an arm injected with the First Hokage’s cells, Hasirama’s face protruding from the shoulder (that’s the kind of shit I don’t want happening to my girls), and ten more Sharingan taken from bodies found after the Uchiha massacre embedded in the flesh of his forearm.
I keep my mouth shut, as what he’s doing isn’t precisely illegal, just distasteful. He can justify it all day by saying he’s making a ‘sacrifice’ of his body for the Village to use in dire emergencies. Nevermind he got the Wood Release injection from Orochimaru and didn’t use any of those trump cards during the Konoha Crush, but the one whose clan is facing censure!
Behind him are Torune Aburame and Fu Yamanaka, Danzo’s elite bodyguards. Torune doesn’t even meet my eyes despite me being his brother by adoption into our family. Damn, that dude must be thoroughly brainwashed by now.
“Now that the Shimura clan head is present, we can begin,” Shikaku Nara announces. Thankfully, I’m not as surprised now as I was a few hours ago when Imomushi gave me my pre-meeting briefing, giving me time to prepare. She’s a great secretary. “The purpose of this meeting is to determine the fault of the Aburame clan’s lack of participation in the recent attack on Konohagakure. If fault is established, the Aburame clan will offer reparations to the clans who shouldered that burden in their place or face censure.”
This goes back to the founding of Konoha. To cut a long story short, the Senju and Uchiha clans entered a mutual defense pact, thus forming the first shinobi village. When other clans saw they had a sweet thing going, they either joined in that same pact or formed their own alliances elsewhere (forming the other Hidden Villages). Naturally, it’s easy to see why there’d be consequences for not abiding by that pact.
“The Aburame clan admits fault,” I say when everyone turns to me. Regardless of my personal involvement, I’m taking responsibility for the previous administration. Imomushi circles the table to provide Shikaku with a stack of documents to be shared with the other clan heads detailing Choko’s misdeeds. It’s nothing they haven’t seen before since I gave everything to Kakashi earlier, but this is the ‘official’ submission of the articles.
Danzo’s power and connections allowed him to shrug off whatever connections to my clan’s illicit acts I was able to document without forcing Konoha to execute my stepmom. It didn’t help his bid to become the Fifth Hokage, though, judging by the sour expression on his face and the glares in his direction from around the table.
Shikaku flips through the pages quickly before nodding, “Everything seems to be in order. How will the Aburame clan offer compensation?”
Usually, a kerfuffle of this magnitude would bankrupt a clan, or we’d be forced to make any number of secret jutsu public knowledge—essentially gutting the clan’s source of strength. We might offer the services of several Jonin on a contractual basis, which would also ruin us since they bring in the most money and prestige in the form of completing A and S-rank missions. There is one thing, however, that a clan guards even more fiercely than their resources or jutsu…
“We’re prepared to offer each clan a Kekkei Genkai Bloodline of their choice from the following selection…” I lay my cards on the table. “Sharingan, Ice Release, Magnet Release, Amalgam, or Macabre Bone Pulse.”
While it’s true the Magnet Release belongs to Sunagakure, stealing Kekkei Genkai the ‘old-fashioned way’ is a classic kunoichi move that nobody present will bat an eyelid at.
The Byakugan, on the other hand, is proprietary. It’s one thing to marry Hinata and have kids with her, but I’d be offending the Hyuga clan by offering it to the other clans like I’m giving away candy on Halloween. Also, the Dormant Lesser Wood Release plus Hashirama cells culture is way too dangerous to spread around. I don’t want to have hundreds or thousands of deaths by tree-cancer on my head, so best to keep that one close to my chest as long as possible.
Every set of eyes besides those on my side of the table bulges almost out of their sockets. I can see each of them doing mental calculus to determine which bloodline would go best with their clan’s jutsu. I guess Danzo has a good poker face, but even he looks incredulous underneath the stony façade.
“Is that really possible?” Shikaku asks the obvious question.
“It is,” Tsume responds instantly and without reservation. We won’t have absolute proof until my offspring are born, but she at least has become a true believer and put all her trust in me.
“There’s an abstract outlining the Aburame clan’s re