Forgotten Story

Chapter 3 - A Glimpse of the Cut

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked over the visitor who obviously in a henge; assessing him with a sharp gaze. He could tell that something amiss. He took a long drawl from his pipe, giving the visitor one last glance. "Who are you? And what has brought you here? Tell me the truth. I know you are not a mere traveler."

The indigo eyed-man looked at the old Hokage right in the eyes without faltering,"Hokage-sama." He then bowed formally to him. 

The henge dropped, and a tall, slender-framed blonde hair in tattered clothes stared back at the third Hokage. Akira watched the Hokage with wary eyes, hoping that he didn't notice that the henge didn't fully drop. His eyes were still indigo colour and his whiskers remained hidden.

The third Hokage was a bit shocked seeing the condition of the man in front of him. However, he immediately composed himself again, while the ANBU practically gazing at Akira. They watched Akira's movement carefully; one single threatening move and they would get rid of him. 

"Sorry for not appearing properly. Let me introduce myself, Hokage-sama. My name is Hasegawa Akira. I am a traveler that picks up skills here and there for traveling alone can be dangerous so it was more like necessity for me,"explained Akira. 

Not fully believing his words, the old Hokage narrowed his eyes dangerously to him. "What was your past affiliation?"

"I have none. I'm merely an apprentice ninja who fortunately got picked up by my master who apparently also had no affiliation to any villages."

Not knowing the past tense the man used, Hiruzen asked him, "Where is your sensei now?"

Akira's indigo eyes darkened. "He died a few years back. His wish was for me to travel around and finally settled down. That was when I heard about Konoha and decided that I will settle down here."He let out a dry chuckle in the end. 

The Hokage knew that the man was not fully telling the truth, although he sensed that the man was really looking for affiliation; to honor his sensei's dying wish. However, as a Hokage, he couldn't stop there so he asked again, "What can you do to make me believe that you mean no harm to this village?"

"Information. As I mentioned you before, I have been travelling to a lot of places so I have information that you probably need."

The third Hokage raised one of his eyebrow, took another long drawl from his pipe, and motioned Akira to continue. 

"Four and Five bound to the stone,"Akira said slowly. "Three and Six may and may not be well hidden in the mist."

Hiruzen listened carefully to the man's words knowing that there was a hidden message inside. 

"And Nine...I think you know better than me about it,"ended Akira. 

The third Hokage was a bit startled hearing all of the information shared by the man in front of him. He quickly pulled his thoughts together as he studied Akira. 

He finally waved his hands at the ANBU, ordering them to leave ignoring the silent protest from them. "I can handle this. That includes you, Kotetsu and Izumo."

Reluctantly, the ANBU, Kotetsu and Izumo withdrew; leaving the old Hokage alone with Akira. They were confused as why the Hokage trusted this man as to want to be alone with him. Was it because of the information that was shared? They couldn't understand the far hidden meaning with the information. 

Not long after that, Hiruzen activated the silent seal then faced Akira sharply.

"Where did you get this information? A mere traveler will not know the location of the jinchuuriki. You even got us a new information which we didn't have,"stated Hiruzen.

The indigo eye-visitor tiredly answered,"I get it through all the conversation from the people I met in a lot of places. Then, I just line it together." He stopped for a heartbeat before continuing, "People always love to have a conversation. By controlling the flow of conversation, we actually exchange information. It was as easy as that."

The third Hokage nodded in agreement and felt that he gained a new insight from him. "Then, do you know in whom all these jinchuuriki reside in?"He asked.

Not wanting to give more information than he already had, Akira answered,"Just a few."

"Alright. I've decided to give you a chance, under few conditions. One, you will have a probation time for 3 months. With this information, I cannot fully trust you to let you become our citizen. Should you do something atrocious, we will get rid of you,"declared Hiruzen. "Second, your movement will be monitored by our shinobi. Third, we want to know your rank so we'll put some test for you later on. I believe you don't come here to become a simple civilian."

Akira nodded understandingly. "Anything else to add, Hokage-sama?"

"Last, go to the hospital. You look really horrible with all the wounds you tried to hide. And get two artificial arms immediately,"spoke Hiruzen. "We'll put the bill in your tab."

Hearing it, Akira's eyes softened before quickly turning back to his emotionless gaze.

'Means he actually believes you will pass the probation time, right? The old man really has his intuition,'Kurama suddenly spoke inside Akira's mind.

'He's the old man after all,'replied Akira softly.

Akira bowed and was about to leave when the Hokage stopped him by throwing a key. "One of our shinobi will escort you to your apartment. He will pick you up in the hospital. Now go, I need to finish my paperwork." He then deactivated the silent seal.

Akira bowed one more time before heading straight to the Konoha hospital; one of the places which he loath; the place where he saw all of the fallen comrades died. 

As soon as he was out of the room, the ANBU came in, and sent the Hokage a questioning look through their mask. 

"I give him 3 months probation where we will monitor his movement. One wrong move from him, then we'll get rid of him. Now, send one of your man to keep an eye on him,"said the Hokage."Oh, I also has sent one of our jounin to monitor him too. He will pick Akira up at the Hospital."

The ANBU nodded and one of them shunshinned to start monitoring Akira, while the rest returned back to their original position.