A New Path

'Natural energy. Find it, and guide it.' Jūgo had been meditating for an undetermined time at this point. He was sitting inside the hall with birds flying over his head, and some of them sitting on his shoulders and knees.

Dragon had explained to him that he now had an extra space inside his body that stored natural energy at all times. All the energy that he took in would gather in that space and it was now his turn to master the manipulation of natural energy.

'Find it, and guide it.' When he mastered this, he would be able to enter a safe transformation at any point in time. Dragon explained to him that when mastered, he could transform into virtually anything thanks to his kekkei genkai and it would all be perfectly under his own control.

"Jūgo, It's time for some ramen!" Naruto came down from the stairs in a hurry and flew past him at incredible speed.

"Naruto, you need to stop being up so late, this is the third time you overslept this week." Jūgo said and Naruto stopped in the doorway and turned around.

"Then start waking me up already. You're home, so why not do me a solid and wake me whenever i oversleep." Naruto complained with a pout.

"Dragon said you would never learn if you didn't suffer the consequences." Jūgo said apologetically.

"Whatever, now let's go. I need ramen before going to the academy." Naruto rushed out the door, and Jūgo stood up and sighed.

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In another part of the village, or more accurately slightly outside the village. A big compound that housed an entire clan was located. It was the Uchiha's and right at this moment they had a very secret meeting between the elders underneath the main branch household.

"Lord Fugaku, there is no stopping it now. You know it's just a matter of time before Danzo makes his move, you know how much he despises us."

"And let's not forget how much he yearns for our eyes." The Uchiha were standing on their last legs and the coup was now impossible to stop. It was either them or the village. Someone was about to act and they wanted to be the first ones.

"We should act as soon as possible, before the Hokage and Danzo has a chance to prepare proper defensive strategies against us. With the Sharingan we can end this quickly." All the people present in this room might have slightly different views on how to do this, but they all agreed that it has to be done.

"Put the plan in place. Let's strike fast and quick. With our police force we can avoid too many innocent lives being sacrificed." Fugaku sat in the center most position around the table and he had been struggling with this matter for years now. He wanted a better standing for the clan, but this was not the ideal way to get there.

"What if i can offer you a better way out?" A m.a.t.u.r.e and monotone voice rang out from the corner.

"Who is it?"

"[Space Lock]" The man in the corner made a one handed hand seal and every person in the room lost the ability to move. Some of the elders in the room were forced to a stop in the middle of standing up.

"WHO ARE YOU?" An Uchiha elder roared at the person covered in darkness. He was the most aggressive out of all the elders, so his response was easily predicted when trouble would come his way.

"Don't worry, i am a friend to the Uchiha clan." The man now walked out from the darkness, and the people in the room saw the mysterious individual was wearing an anbu outfit without the mask on as a sign of trust.

"We can't trust him, let's work together to take him out" Another elder said.

"He has seen this room. He can't leave this place alive." Another elder activated his sharingan and glared at the intruder.

"Enough!" Fugaku roared and the other elders calmed down the one elder deactivated his sharingan.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" The clan leader watched the individual with cautious eyes. The intruder had taken away their bodies freedom and stopped them from moving. But that didn't mean he was helpless because they all still had control of their Sharingan's.

"My name is Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Please call me Ryu. My master has some information for you. Will you stay quiet and listen so that this doesn't have to get ugly." Ryu said and released them from his space lock with another one handed seal.

"Speak!" Fugaku had been a soldier all his life and clan leader for many years. Unexpected events is nothing he hasn't encountered before. It would be embarrassing if he lost his cool in this situation. Losing your cool is how you die in this world, and he knew that very well.

"Thank you. There is an attack planned on the Uchiha clan by Danzo Shimura." Ryu said and this didn't really surprise anyone. What took them by surprise is the fact that this unknown person and his master had knowledge of such things. Everyone knew Danzo was very hard to deal with.

"Do you happen to know when this will happen?" If what Ryu said was true, then things might actually turn for the better. A powerful ally is exactly what his clan needed at the moment.

"Yes. in eight days."

"What's the catch? Assuming that this information is accurate, then what does your master want in return?" Fugaku knew that nothing was free in the world, and that is especially true when it comes to information.

"Loyalty. My master is someone with the capabilities to unite the world. And that is what he plans to do. He wants your clan to be apart of the empire that he is creating.

"Empire? Who is he? We should know of someone that has the supposed strength to unite the world." An elder asked Ryu in skepticism.

"When you have the strength that my master has. Staying unknown is not that difficult. His empire will unite the world and this is your chance to save your clan."

"We will stop this attack regardless of your answer, but as long as you stay within the borders of the village, another attack will happen eventually. We could relocate your clan to a place where you'll be safe for many years to come." Ryu said with a very emotionless tone.

"Can you guarantee that nothing like what happened to us here will occur within your empire. The Uchiha can't take the oppression again." Another elder asked.

"As long as you follow the laws of the empire then every clan has the opportunity for growth within the empire. Loyalty goes a long way when it comes to my master. Nothing escapes his eyes, so if you agree to this, you leave any scheming behind or your clan will meet a tragic end at my own hands." As Ryu said the last part a terrifying killing intent assaulted the Uchiha's inside this secret bas.e.m.e.nt room.

'W-What a powerful intent..' Fugaku was on the ground shaking in fear the moment Ryu's intent showed itself.

'If this is a subordinate, how strong is the actual emperor himself?!' Fugaku asked himself while trying to not fall down completely.

"Now. What is your answer? Ryu said and withdrew all his killing intent so that the people in the room could stand up again.

"If you can promise safety and protection for my clan inside your empire. Then i agree."

"Lord Fugaku. We should talk more about this. It's to rash to accept this without all the details."

"We don't have time for our talks. I am only thinking about the survival of our clan. I am the clan leader and i believe that this is how we survive in the long run." Fugaku said in a harsh tone. Being clan leader means that you have to make impossible decisions and this falls right into that category.

"Good! All you have to do now is sit tight until i contact you again." Ryu snapped his finger and a portal appeared underneath him and he fell right into it.

"Lord Fugaku, are you sure about this? You don't think you just doomed us all?" An elder said while wiping sweat from his forehead from that intense killing intent.

"You felt his killing intent and his powerful aura. None of us can muster that, even if we work together. If we wanna come out of this alive, i believe we should put our trust in that empire. I can't explain it, but i just get a good feeling about that boy."

"Hope your right about this, Lord Fugaku."

"Ye, i hope so too." The people all sat in silence and thought about what lied ahead of them. What is the future of the Uchiha clan, none of them knew the answer to this question.

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End