Sure enough, the clan heads all sucked in sharp breaths when they saw Naruto's bizarre ability.
"'Purpose' isn't quite the right word, uncles."
Back when Minato had been in office, these clans had already begun to rise to prominence, and they had been staunch supporters of Naruto's father.
Besides, Naruto got along well with their children, so calling them his uncles was perfectly natural.
Yet that address made everyone frown.
They still had no idea who the person standing before them actually was.
"I don't know what makes you think you can call us your uncles. Who exactly are you?"
Inoichi Yamanaka's voice was cold.
"If you want to talk, why keep wearing a mask?" Shikaku asked.
Naruto smiled and nodded. "All right. Since you want to see my real face, I'll show you."
With that, Naruto took off his mask.
His hair and eyes were black now, and he had a Spore Clone back in Konoha, so even without the mask, none of them recognized him.
Everyone searched their memories as they studied Naruto's true face.
But even after thinking long and hard, they were certain they knew nothing about this person.
"Now that we're speaking face-to-face, why don't you tell us why you brought us here?"
Shikaku spoke up.
"It's simple. I invited you here to ask one question: faced with the destruction of your clans, would you choose to perish alongside Konoha, or would you choose me and preserve some of your clans' seeds for the future?"
The atmosphere immediately turned icy.
Clan ties ran deep in the shinobi world.
Some clan members were even willing to die for their clans.
In the original story, for instance, Danzo had initially wanted to recruit Shino into Root and brainwash him, using him as leverage against Konoha's clan heads.