Battle readiness within the Sarutobi Clan

The wind on the Ninja Academy's training ground was colder than it had been in the classroom.

The children had been taken behind the equipment room by Konoha Jonin and teachers, and medical ninja were examining their injuries. Iruka sat on the steps, bloody marks from the sealing rope still around his wrists, but his eyes never left Naruto.

Naruto stood in the middle of the training ground, holding the half-dead Sarutobi Muneyoshi.

In the distance, the three red signal flares over the Sarutobi Clan Compound had yet to fade.

Those were not calls for help.

They were a clan battle readiness signal.

They meant the Sarutobi Clan's armed ninja were assembling, and at least some of them intended to treat tonight's events as an attack against the Sarutobi.

The Third Hokage watched those three flares, all color draining from his face.

After so many years as Hokage, what he feared most was not an enemy village attacking.

It was the clans within Konoha taking up arms.

Worse still, the ones taking up arms were his own clansmen.

Jiraiya stepped beside him, lowering his voice.

"Sensei, you need to bring the Sarutobi Clan Compound under control immediately."

The Third Hokage nodded, but before he could give an order, Naruto spoke.

"No need."

The Third Hokage looked at him.

Naruto threw Sarutobi Muneyoshi to the ground.

"Let them come."

Kakashi frowned. "Naruto, these aren't just a few Root remnants. The Sarutobi are a major clan in Konoha. If this conflict escalates, the entire village will get dragged into it."

Naruto looked at the distant signal flares.

"It already escalated when they kidnapped children from the Ninja Academy."

Kakashi had no answer.

Iruka braced his hands against his knees and stood.

"Naruto, the children are safe now. Leave the Ninja Academy for now. Let us teachers and Lord Hokage handle things here."

Naruto finally glanced at him.

The anxiety on Iruka's face was genuine.

This man truly was worried about him.

But Naruto also remembered that sentence in the Growth Intervention Contingency Plan:

"Arrange for designated Ninja Academy teachers to provide benevolent guidance."

Was Iruka's kindness genuine, or had it been arranged?

There was no answer to that question yet.

Naruto would not brand Iruka an enemy over a single contingency plan, nor would he let tonight's debts go over a few words of concern.

"Did you know I was the Fourth Hokage's son?"

Iruka froze, his face paling.

"I... didn't know."

Naruto stared into his eyes.

Iruka did not look away.

He truly had not known.

Naruto withdrew his gaze.

"Then look after the children for now."

Iruka's throat tightened.

There was no warmth in those words, but there was no hostility either.

For him, that was already far better than the worst possible outcome.

Sarutobi Muneyoshi coughed up blood on the ground, then began laughing in broken bursts.

"Why are you still putting on this touching teacher-and-student act? Naruto, do you think these people will really stand by you?"

He raised his bloodied face.

"They're just afraid of you."

Naruto walked over and planted a foot on his chest.

"Thanks for the reminder."

"That's why I don't need them on my side."

He looked down at the old man.

"I just need them to stay off yours."

Sarutobi Muneyoshi's expression stiffened.

Just then, a flurry of footsteps sounded from the end of the street.

The Sarutobi had arrived.

There were more than twenty ninja, ranging in age from twenty to fifty. Those in front held swords, while some in the rear formed hand seals. Their orderly formation made it clear they were no hastily assembled rabble.

The moment they saw Sarutobi Muneyoshi on the training ground, anger flared in their eyes.

Their leader was a tall, thin, middle-aged man with an old scar on his cheek.

"Release Elder Muneyoshi!"

The Third Hokage stepped forward, his Hokage hat casting a shadow in the firelight.

"Sarutobi Sōgo, stand down."

The tall, thin man gritted his teeth.

"Lord Third Hokage, tonight someone broke into the Sarutobi Clan Compound, ransacked the Old Storehouse, and beat our clansmen. Now Elder Muneyoshi is being trampled under a jinchūriki's foot. If you won't seek justice for your clansmen, we can only seek it ourselves."

Those words carried tremendous weight.

He was publicly accusing the Third Hokage of failing to protect his own clan.

The Third Hokage's gaze turned cold.

"He kidnapped Ninja Academy students and attempted to destroy evidence. This is no longer an internal clan matter."

Sarutobi Sōgo looked at Naruto.

"Evidence? Who knows whether the Uchiha and the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki fabricated it?"

Uchiha Tekka sneered and drew his sword.

"Say that again."

The ninja behind Sarutobi Sōgo all formed hand seals.

The Konoha Military Police Force arrived from outside the Ninja Academy as well, their Sharingan a sea of scarlet.

In an instant, the training ground became a powder keg.

Jiraiya raised a hand, the two toads on his shoulders already preparing to summon reinforcements.

Kakashi positioned himself toward the children to keep the battle from reaching them.

Naruto watched it all without a trace of impatience.

He lifted his foot and kicked Sarutobi Muneyoshi toward the Sarutobi.

Sarutobi Sōgo immediately ordered someone to support him.

Muneyoshi coughed up blood, yet still pointed at Naruto.

"Kill him! What he revealed tonight will destroy the Sarutobi!"

The looks in the Sarutobi's eyes changed.

Naruto spoke.

"Did you hear that?"

His voice carried across the training ground.

"He didn't say I fabricated evidence."

"He said the evidence would destroy the Sarutobi."

Sarutobi Sōgo's expression changed.

Naruto continued, "You want justice? Fine."

"First, explain why the Sarutobi Old Storehouse contained routes to the delivery room from the Nine-Tails' Attack."

"Second, explain why Sarutobi clansmen went to burn Root's records tonight."

"Third, explain why this old bastard took Ninja Academy students hostage."

With every sentence, uncertainty flickered in the eyes of some of the Sarutobi.

Not all of them knew about these things.

Many young Sarutobi ninja had simply received the clan's battle readiness signal and assumed an outside enemy had attacked the compound.

Naruto raised his hand and tossed the ledger he had taken from the Sarutobi Old Storehouse into the middle of the training ground.

"If you want to fight, read it first."

The ledger hit the ground.

Sarutobi Sōgo did not move.

He knew he could not read it.

Once he did, the Sarutobi would no longer be the wronged party tonight.

Naruto looked at him.

"Too afraid?"

A vicious look flashed through Sarutobi Sōgo's eyes.

"Take him down!"

The Sarutobi ninja attacked at once.

Fire Release, shuriken, and a Binding Technique closed in on Naruto from three sides.

The Third Hokage roared, "Stop!"

No one listened.

Naruto stood where he was, Nine-Tails chakra suddenly unfurling behind him.

Three tails swept across the training ground.

The Fire Release was swatted apart, the shuriken melted into molten iron, and the Binding Technique was shredded by golden seals before it could even reach him.

The next instant, Naruto charged into the crowd.

His first punch shattered Sarutobi Sōgo's ribs.

His second strike, a kick, sent a ninja forming hand seals flying.

A third chakra arm slammed all six men in the rear into the ground.

He killed no one.

But every one of them lost the ability to fight.

Only then did the Sarutobi realize that their so-called clan battle readiness could not even buy them time against Naruto.

Naruto grabbed Sarutobi Sōgo by the collar and dragged him over to the ledger.

"Read."

Blood trickled from the corner of Sarutobi Sōgo's mouth. He gritted his teeth and refused to look.

Naruto gripped his head and shoved it straight down onto the open ledger.

"I said, read."

The accounts the Sarutobi Clan least wanted to face were finally laid bare, page by page.