BANG!

"So… is everything in place?" – I asked as I looked at Orochimaru.

"Kukuku, indeed. Neji-Kun has already taken care of the first target. Our 'associates' are moving to replace him and with the certified documents they are going to provide we will be able to let my operatives move unhindered and deliver the cargo safely. It might take another year, but I'm confident that we will be able to safely deliver each of them… though I do not understand why you don't just send shinobi, they would be far more reliable."

"Shinobi seek power, be it in the form of wealth or personal prowess. Plus they are bound to attract attention and conflict. Civilians, on the other hand, fear and respect shinobi. They will not pry but will be looked over, especially by most shinobi. Everyone who took part in the trial will simply continue their lives as if nothing had happened, they rarely bother to look at the bigger picture as they are merely a piece of an enormous puzzle themselves."

"Even if they do not remember anything? You still think there is a risk of them remembering?" – Orochimaru inquired.

"There is always a chance of them remembering. Shinobi hold a certain power and so they will be heard, civilians don't so should they speak, they will be cast aside, called crazy, and avoided. A shinobi may remember at any point, due to their developed chakra network they will remember sooner should certain situations arise. Civilians might eventually remember under such circumstances… but nobody will listen and it will already be too late by then."

"Kukuku… Isn't it already too late?" - Orochimaru asked with a twisted smile on his face.

I looked at him, unamused, my face stoic and serious as my Sharingan rotated.

"Maybe, maybe not… so do not open your mouth even when you are by yourself regarding this matter."

"Of course, and in the meantime?"

"We wait, I will continue my duty as Hokage, take care of everything on my end. You'll continue your role as Sasuke's mentor. I need this part to continue smoothly for the payout to be worth it. I've spent too much time with that useless thing for it to not work out in the end."

"I understand, in the meanwhile is there anyone you would like me to collect? Given the fact that resurrecting Tobirama failed and the Yuki clan brat will be here shortly, we might as well start thinking about potential targets. I already have some that caught my eye…"

"And who would these individuals be?"

"I took an interest in them because of their… special abilities. Jugo is able to use sage chakra and transformation, a bloodline limit passed down in his family, while Kimimaro is able to manipulate and harden his bone density and shape, also a bloodline limit passed down in his family. As far as I know, he is the last one of the line and will soon die, due to his disease. I believe it will be best we use him before his time is up."

Looking at Orochimaru inquisitively, I was rather surprised. It seems that Kuro had skipped a few, if not a lot of episodes. But still, if Naruto had to stand still to gather Sage energy and Jugo could passively absorb it as he breathed and walked, it could come very in handy. As for Kimimaru's ability, it sounded tremendously useful… if I was a human, I did not need bones, though I constantly kept my internals appearance as human, they were all biomass, no blood flowed through my veins, they were merely a disguise.

Thinking about how I could use this ability I decided to have Orochimaru keep some samples for me. Better to have it and not need it.

"Bring me both of their DNA. Let's see why sage mode is so important…"

------------------------------

Standing in a half-destroyed office with 4 Hyugas looking at me as if I had grown a second head in front of them… I understood why Sage mode might require a little more training than I originally thought.

Originally deciding to train my sage mode while doing the paperwork, it seemed to have backfired badly, as I raised my hand to pick up a paper at the top of the stack the entire ceiling was blown off. My movement was slow and their Byakugan was activated while being on my protective detail, the saving grace that allowed them to react to the sudden explosion of nature energy.

Now, they were all staring at me as I slowly lowered my hand, trying to better control the energy as the table exploded and cracks appeared all over the floor.

"Hokage-sama… maybe it's better to wait until we call somebody before you move again." – A Hyuga said as he looked at me with a face that said everything that needed to be said.

I decided to stop channeling the sage energy as I lowered my arm in the chair, all the Hyuga's taking a step back and looking nervously around them, one going as far as to close his eyes the moment my arm touched the chair as if waiting for a bomb to go off.

"It's fine, call someone to fix this place up, and feel free to mention this to Hiashi, if he didn't see the roof being blown up that is" – I said as I started to think about the effects of what just happened.

It seemed that while humans are limited by their bodies on how much nature energy they can absorb and release due to their weak bodies, my threshold currently seemed… higher… to say the least. If this was what I could do with the strength of trying to pick up a paper, I wondered what I could do if I punched or kicked at full strength.

As eager as I was to try, I reminded myself that the renovations to my office would come out of my pocket, the paperwork that exploded to smithereens would have to be redone, and Jiraya would definitely feel the sage energy on me when he came back. Maybe I needed a contract summon or something similar to explain this… or just punch him. I don't know but it seemed to work for Tsunade.

As I flexed my hand I could see the Hyuga members flinch and sweat every time.

"BANG!" – I suddenly yelled, making one of them fall and the other jump back with a scared expression on their face.

"Pfffft…" – I laughed as the Hyugas gained a red hue on their face out of embarrassment.

Ah... the joy's of being the boss, meaning I could dish it out to entertain myself and they would have to take it every time. Well, I suppose I could place a bonus for them this month as it was bound to be entertaining doing this every so often... poor Hyugas.