"Originally, the tree was a turtle with ten heads. Nine heads where the head of the turtle should have been and one head at the tail end. Instead of having four legs, the turtle had six legs. I had originally cut off the head at the back, but the head began to regenerate back. I attacked some more, but the turtle would not get damaged enough. Its healing factor also increased as time pa.s.sed. Eventually the turtle began to transform into that tree."

"I won't bother to explain its transformation, but when the turtle transformed into the tree, I felt an urge to smell the air coming off of the tree. It wasn't a Genjutsu that was influencing me, but it was my body itself that wanted to smell the air which is why I backed off a safe distance."

While Jiro explained his known information about the former turtle, now a tree, a couple ninja that were listening broke off and immediately went to warn the Hyuga and Uchiha keeping watch over the tree. With Jiro's message spreading out, besides the guards who were still watching the tree, everyone else came back to discuss their plan of action.

"I think that the tree should be kept, but we should designate a guard team to watch over it including an Uchiha, Hyuga, or some chakra sensor."

Some voices agreed with the opinion of the Hyuga clan head while most were silent. Another proposal was brought up by the head of the Nara clan.

"Perhaps it would be best to have a mission be a.s.signed out to genin for watching over this tree. This would be very important in teaching them the meaning of patience, but also show a live demonstration to them that some lifeforms can be just as deadly as other ninja."

Once again, there was a smattering of voices that agreed, but like before, most were waiting for the judgement of the Hokage. Sarutobi was contemplating on the costs and benefits of such actions and ultimately, about the safety of the village. Finally, he turned to the ninja and spoke.

"Do any of us know the actual or potential danger level of the tree? If the tree could move, it could move towards the village. Remember, this tree once had the chakra capabilities of a tailed beast when it was a turtle, but it still managed to hide from us. How can we be sure that it isn't a danger?"

A discussion began once more as the ninja began to talk more openly now that the Hokage had spoken. They were mostly talking about whether the tree was a potential danger or not. Suddenly, one of the Uchiha guarding the tree ran over, with his sharingan glowing red.

"The tree is showing some change in its chakra. Also, the nature of the tree's chakra is similar to that of the first Hokage. Just like how wood style was made up of earth and water, so is the tree's chakra. It is both strong and st.u.r.dy like earth, yet flexible and soft like water."

The rest of the ninja quickly followed him and made note of his message as the tree quickly came into view with its magnificent blooming pink flowers. The pile of animal and insect corpses were much larger than before and the tree was beginning to shake. The thick bark was beginning to form cracks in it and pieces were beginning to fall off.

The radiant pink of the blossoms were fading away and soon the flowers were colorless and just a dull grey. Pieces of bark continued to fall off the tree and a marvelous hue of aqua green was revealed under the dull brownish green bark. The s.h.i.+mmering flow of color captivated the ninja, but it also put them on high alert.

One Uchiha offhandedly remarked.

"The color of the tree bark looks like it is very earthy, similar to its chakra.

A jonin present spoke up.

"The color of the tree's skin after removing the bark looks very similar to the color of some coral that I saw while near the land of water."

Everyone saw the facts click in their mind, but there wasn't enough evidence to suggest that the tree would also change form once more if it gained another chakra type. The flowers were slowly turning a deep blue color and as soon as it finished, lots of mist was released from the flowers. Everyone present quickly noticed that the mist being released from the flowers was putting the tree inside the mist and covering it up.

Still observing from a safe distance, the ninja saw a fog covering the area of the tree's approximate location, but no-one was willing to disturb it except for one person, Jiro. However, his caution still won out over his curiosity so he wasn't taking any hostile action so far.

Once again, the Hyuga and Uchiha were left to watch the tree, but this time everyone was talking while being in an area to openly observe the tree as well. The Nara clan head coughed to get everybody's attention before he began to give his opinion on the matter.

"No behavior of the tree seems to suggest intelligence. It just seems to be doing its own thing. However, it is able to pose some sort of a threat if people move too close to it. It was able to drain the blood and fluid of animals and insects that got too close during its earth form or when it seemed to have the most earth chakra active.

"We can see that during its water form when water chakra is most active, it releases some mist from its flowers which would most likely cause some Genjutsu if someone entered the mist. Lastly, we have no idea what it might do or be capable of when it is provoked."

"I think that is best to leave this up to a Genin team to watch over as part of a mission, but also include a ninja that is able to observe chakra to keep guard over the tree. Lastly, we kind of forgot about the village which is currently in a lockdown. We should send some men back to tell them that it is alright to disengage lockdown."

Sarutobi nodded with a satisfied look on his face. He however was planning on discussing this further with some more advisors when he got back. In the mean time, he was going to have a discussion with Jiro. Jiro was different from many ninja in that he was like a bird that always wanted freedom.

Although he had some concerns, Sarutobi was willing to let Jiro go out on a mission as long as Jiro was part of a team. He had a nagging feeling that if he sent Jiro out on a mission, he would end up being 'distracted' or 'delayed' and end up coming back like a year later or some other ridiculous amount of time.

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

Jiro was on his way home with a dastardly grin on his face. The other ninja had all left except for the watch team and Jiro was walking because Kana had left to fix up her nest. He was recalling the earlier conversation he had with Saurtobi.

"Jiro, you can go on a mission as long as you are able to go with some team."

"Any team?"

"Yep, any team, but they are going to be a.s.signed a mission to watch over you as well to make sure that you don't end up running off."

Jiro knew that he could run off any time he felt like, but he would have to deal with the consequences of being a rogue ninja. Even though he had no problem with being a rogue ninja, he would technically be an enemy of the Leaf Village which would be a problem for his limited friends.h.i.+ps. As such, he had decided to wait around for the perfect opportunity to be free.

This time, the team he chose would have to be his chaperones and keep him from running off. If he does run off, instead of being a rogue ninja, he would be the target of the team and he would be able to go where ever he wanted while forcing the team to chase after him. Jiro's grin s.h.i.+fted from being dastardly to downright s.a.d.i.s.tic as he imagined all the ways to make the lives of the team chasing after him miserable in the most petty and annoying ways possible.

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

Sarutobi was observing Jiro with his crystal ball and when he saw the grin on Jiro's face, he immediately decided to change some of the details about their agreement. Originally Jiro was going to choose the team that would accompany him, but Sarutobi decided that he was going to choose the team that would accompany Jiro.