A/N/: Yo! Ohaiyo Mina-sama! How are you all? This is my first fanfiction, I hope you like it! I do plan on adding more chapters. Advice and inspiration is gladly accepted! Constructive criticism too. Hope you enjoy it! Please let me know about any mistakes, or ways to make it flow better too!
Edited : 3rd January 2016
A/N/: To all my readers. I am sorry for not updating these past few months. I have had quite a few problems going on... Other then school, they should all be dealt with now. Once more, I am sorry for not saying anything, and hope my actions aren't too unforgivable.
I have put all of my current work into this one "mega-chapter" which I have also edited and improved. If you'd be so kind as to re-read it, as some things might have changed. I will update again before the end of the month. Thanks for remaining awesome and reading my fanfiction!
Disclaimer: I own nothing... Not even a bar of chocolate! How will I survive?!
Voices.
I hear then every day, night and every second.
Whispers.
Murmurs.
Background noise.
Hushed words.
I hear them calling to me yet not to me. Sometimes to no-one at all. But it's always there. I've heard them for as long as I can remember. I thought it was normal, the same for everyone. I thought that they all heard these voices that I couldn't evade.
I was wrong...
thump... thump... thump...
My hearts beating...
thump... thump... thump...
That means I'm still alive.
thump... thump... thump...
I need to get up.
thump...
But I ache all over... It hurts! I can't move...
thump... thu...
"Back up people, he's a-coming around!" a female voice yelled.
Voices flood my mind... I wake up with a jolt, sensations rushing to my limbs and I am suddenly very aware of a rough blanket covering me, yet I chose to stay lying down. I didn't recognise any of the voices.
"At last! How long has it been? Three days? Four?" a masculine voice replies.
What happened? Where am I? Gordon Bennett I hurt!
"Shut up and just give 'im some room. Look at 'im, he must have been scared an' hurt. I wonder what happened to 'im before we found 'im," the male voice calls out again, likely in response to the murmurs I hear.
"Hello?! Can you hear me? Naruto? Wake up already!" A different female voice calls, shaking my shoulder gently as my eye lids flutter open against my will.
"Urgh... Where... Where am I?" I finally stuttered.
"Everywhere. Nowhere. Dead. Ramen? I like Ramen! Look at 'im! He's al- I wonder if anyone's hungry? -l beaten up!"
Great. There's like, what 4, maybe 5 people here, and the voices are so annoying! I want to go back to where I was. Where was I anyway? It was white, and calm, and I saw something... red?
"Thank Kami-sama, you're okay Naruto! We've been looking for you for so long! I knew we'd find you when we destroyed that Hebi-teme's village!" said a loud voice. She was obviously excited, if her tone was anything to go by. She was hugging me so tight, I couldn't breathe! My top was getting wet from... tears?
"Thank Kami-sama he's okay! I wonder if I should ask if he want's some ramen?"
"Now Naruto's okay, what will we have to do now? The mission is complete, we should get to Konoha as quickly as possible."
"Err... Hi? Would you mind getting off me? And whats ramen? And where's Kono-" I stopped myself right in my tracks. The sound of startled feet that just froze in place echoed across the room. I could feel their eyes boring into my head. No-one said anything about ramen, or Konoha... It was another voice. I was too late. They already knew. I shouldn't have said anything... They'll send me back to that dark place! I can't go back. I can't!
"Naruto?!" said someone, shaking me from my path to hysteria. "What do you mean 'whats ramen'? Choji, go an' get some, maybe we just need to jog his memory. You're joking though right? Naruto?," a pink haired girl said, almost hopefully.
I looked around the room I was in whilst this Choji fetched the ramen. Whoever else who was in here with me had also left, apart from the girl at my side, the voices fading ever so slightly with them. It was a long, plain room, with the plaster falling off the walls. I was on a camping bed wrapped up in a red blanket that felt quite starchy. I felt that I still had my worn combat trousers on underneath and saw that I was in a deep blue top. I liked blue but I don't remember putting it on, besides, orange was way cooler. At the end of the room, where was a yellow camping stove and some bundles which I presumed contained the other blankets, clothes and the like. Next to me sat a tall woman in her teens. She had bright pink hair and a light complexion. She was dressed in a scruffy red dress and a white cloak, concealing two pouches at her hips. Perfectly normal. Then I looked at her eyes.
They were both mesmerising and scared the living daylights out of me. They were of the purest green, brighter then the grass. However, hidden behind that beauty, I could see a sad story. She had faced many worries and battles, and had lived to tell the tale. Funnily enough, I recognised her eyes, they reminded me of my own, haunted by the past. It took me a moment to realise that she was still talking to me.
"Huh?" I said, so eloquently.
"I said I healed you, so you should be thanking me!" Healed? Thank her? Is she a doctor?
"I... I don't know what you're on about." I said. My mind went completely blank for once. Even the voices stopped. That scared me, they never did. It felt like several sets of eyes stared at me as if I had just screamed something blasphemous.
I saw that someone had placed a ramen bowl on the floor next to me – probably this Choji that the pink haired girl was on about. I reached down and engulfed it hungrily. I hadn't eaten in days, or so my stomach told me. This is ramen? It tasted amazing! How come I haven't eaten this before? This... This is Kami-sama's gift! I hurriedly shoveled the rest down.
Sakura spoke to me whilst I ate.
"I'm a healer." She repeated. " And I'm a shinobi. Just like you, Naruto! We were on team seven together! Baka. Naruto, you know jutsu too, don't you? Maybe you're just tired. Well, I'll remind you. Choji specialises in his clan technique, along with Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, Neji, Shino and Hinata. Lee is a Taijutsu specialist, since he can't use chakra. Sai is... well, Sai. Tenten specialises in Bukijutsu – the art of the weapon. Remember what yours is?" The pinkette spoke fast, as if a kunai was held to her throat and she had to prevent that person from killing her with information.
I spat out my mouthful. "My speciality? I don't know. I'm not strong enough for Taijutsu, I think?" I glanced at the muscles on my arms, not that any could be seen. "I don't think I have a clan, and I don't even know what chakra is! I'm just... just... me." I tried to explain. What's this power thing about? She couldn't mean... No! That's just stupid! She couldn't know... Unless she did... Besides, who was I?
"Danzo-sama said to keep an eye on him. But what for?"
"Listen to him! Chakra? Ha! Bet he's only got a civilians level!"
"I sensed something from him, if only Sakura let me look at him."
I may as well say something about the voices, but how? I know...
"Why don't you ask that person in the other room to have a look at me? They could tell you."I barely whispered, hoping that Sakura might not hear. Too late. Her face filled with confusion. I focused on her, and her voice became clear.
"How did he know? Can he sense others chakra types? But his name... Naruto. He has to be the same one from back in team seven. But he's different! Maybe he's just out of it and not fully recovered from... from what happened. In fairness he healed incredibly quickly, he should have been out of it for a month! Unless... No, he can't be. Not possible. He should be dead if that's the case, or at least caught by now. He can't be much older than 16. I wonder... Could it be him? It has to be, after all, look at where we found him..."
"Naruto. That's your name isn't it? What is your last name again? It might give us a clue to what you are." She acted too innocent, I knew that she knew perfectly well who I was. She was acting. "My full name is Haruno Sakura. I come from a civilian clan, with no special techniques. Choji – who brought you the ramen by the way – is called Amakichi Choji. So, what's your name?" Her eyes looked curious. Wondering, thinking. Almost pleading to find out.
"Uzumaki." I mumbled. "Uzumaki Naruto." Her face froze, and I heard something break in the other room. "Oh Kami," I thought, "What has my name got to do with anything?! It's not like I am anyone important. Or am I? I can't remember much after all..."
Then her face flooded with emotion. Relief danced on her eyes, shock made her mouth a little "o". Happiness and sadness clashed on two fronts.
"What about it?" I said. "What does my name mean?" I was worried now. I focused and listened.
"Uzu- Uzumaki. No. He's lying. Not possible. Definitely should be dead. D. E. A. D. Gone. Bye-bye. There's no way the Yondaime's son is still alive. But then again, only a few days ago we all believed that it was him. Why doubt myself when we have all already agreed it is him?"
"Uzumaki Naruto." Sakura said in the most quiet voice. Her eyes glanced down to her hands. She was acting once again. I knew that she knew who I am, she was trying to make me trust her by acting like we were strangers. "Y-you are a ninja, like me. You were... You should be dead... Where have you been all these years?" Her mask cracked. "You haven't been with us since after the Chunin exams! Since Sasuke left! What happened to you?!" Sakura yelled out. She was beginning to panic. I was beginning to panic. Who was she? Did she know my past? Why can't I remember anything!?
Seeing the distress on my face, she quickly mumbled something and left, probably to talk to the others. "Stay... here." Sakura said, waving her hand over where I was sat, then she upped and left, hurrying away as if she saw a ghost. She probably did, if what she said was true.
What was she on about? Ninja?! Worst joke ever. And who is this Yondaime's son she mentioned? Why are they holding information back from me? I needed answers. I listened to the noise in the other room.
"Uzumaki?! He can't be the one that we were told about. He ate my Ramen! And he is the Yondaimes son! Cool! Ramen! That'a show 'em! We beat 'em to it. What are we gonna do? No wonder Sakura was curious about him... He's an awesome ninja!"
"Uzumaki Naruto, huh? No way he'd compare to Sasuke-kun!"
"Troublesome..."
I had enough listening. I couldn't get any answers this way. I got up as silent as I could and found some sandals tucked underneath the bed. I slipped them on making as little noise as I could with the zip. I tip toed across the room to where the door should have been (there was a hole in the wall instead), grabbed the nearest cloak and poked my head around the corner.
What met my eyes was a group of people of about 11 teens, a dog and 5 adults, two of which were well past their prime. All, for some reason, I knew were ninjas. Did that mean that they all had this chakra? Shoved against the plaster walls were many camping beds just like the one I was on, all with a blanket laid out on top. A counter stretched across on half of the room, coated with various foods, mostly dried and vacuum packed. Bags were dumped on top of each other around a makeshift table, on which laid a map secured with a few kunai. Most of the people were dressed in dull colours, making Sakura's red dress stand out. The girls all had their hair cropped short or tied back. They all, however, shared one common thing. They were all hiding something. I could tell that some were hiding weaponry, others were hiding scrolls. Their eyes hid the most, however. Each pair was hiding a dark secret, telling of a bad and lonely past.
"... child of prophecy"
"There is no prophecy, dumb ass!"
"...whiskers?"
"...he looks abnormal..."
"...lot's of chakra. He could play lead..."
"Too risky, he might be caught by..."
"... what should we do about him?"
"...no choice..."
"...I think he's here..."
Then what felt like 10,000 eyes turned to me.
"Err... Hi?" I said it like it was a question, hoping that they'd just look away and go back to their conversation. I hoped that I could just turn invisible...
And no sooner had I thought that, had I regretted it. My skin turned transparent and as I looked down at my hand, I saw the blood stained carpet beneath me, not the tanned skin that should have been there! I couldn't see my clenching fist and hoped that this was all fake. I realised that my clothes too were becoming clear and soon it was like I wasn't even there. I felt myself to make sure that I was there and then felt a cold tingling on my neck. I looked up to greet those eyes, piercing into me and felt something drawing as my foot, pulling it from beneath me. A claw from some beast had wrapped around it. I started to try to shake the thing off but it only gripped tighter. I followed the claw with my eyes till I was staring into the eyes of a dog.
"Hi!" it said.
And that's when I screamed.
"Whoa, whoa there! I'm Kiba. Chill out dude! The dog is called Akamaru. He won't harm you!" And then the claw released, and I backed away swiftly. The teen with red fangs on his cheeks held the dog back.
"Now... how's about you let us see you then?" He said in the most friendly tone I ever heard. I listened and found that his voice was the same.
"I hope he's okay, it's not my fault but I hope he's fine. I mean what is he? But that don't matter now."
"H-hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto" I said, and to which many people turned their head to and looked startled. It was obvious they already knew. They were faking, probably to try and be reassuring as I didn't know them, so it would be easier if they didn't know me. They were just making it awkward. "Sorry I screamed, you scared me. I- I didn't know..." I curled into myself, ready to shield myself from a possible outburst.
"He's so different from before, almost humble!"
"S'okay, just turn un-invisible now." I tried. I focused on people seeing me, being noticed, heard and wanted. Slowly my blue top came back and as did my worn trousers. Last to appear was my face, starting at the neck and slowly revealing itself crawling up my head and down my hair.
"I... I don't know how I did that."
"What? He doesn't know that he just did a sealless ninjutsu! Who is this guy?"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, fine"
"You look pale..."
"Fine, I'm just fine. Totally... Fine" Then I began feeling dizzy.
"Okay, you're not fine. Sit down. What you just did?... Don't do it again." said an old man with blood tears.
"'Kay..." I sat down. I felt better the moment I touched the floor, even if it was covered with blood. I had no idea what just happened but I knew that that must've been my chakra. But then what about the voices? I don't understand! I lent against the wall behind me and put a hand on my forehead.
Sakura and an older woman came over. The dog moved to sit behind me, almost as a reassurance, which I was immensely grateful for – before I realised I don't know him, or Kiba, at all, and he could be the enemy. I suddenly didn't feel so secure anymore...
Sakura began to speak. "Hello again Naruto, this is Tsunade. She was the one who wanted to examine you?" She looked over to Tsunade to confirm before continuing. "She will just scan you, I promise it shouldn't hurt. It's like getting an x-ray, only a little more dangerous."
"Lets get this over with, shall we?" A tired voice spoke. The woman who I presumed to be Tsunade was definitely female, however her voice screamed that she didn't get enough sleep. She had no distinguishing features, almost as bland as wallpaper. However, she did have a diamond on her forehead, and a chest that was easily as large as a couple of watermelons. It took me a second to realise that her hand movements were signaling for me to lie down again. Quickly following her commands, I was once again lying on the camping bed, with Tsunade looming over me.
"This shoudn't hurt a bit," she said.
"Shouldn't?" I was curious. Does that mean that it could? I'm really over-thinking things...
"Well... I haven't ever tested my abilities on someone quite like..." She paused, searching for the right words . "Well, you before. Lets hope it all goes well!"
"Well, not in a long time anyway, when he helped me beat Orochimaru and Kabuto! I haven't seen him since he fought Sasuke and he di- No! That's changed now." Tsunade thought.
She did some hand signs, none of which I recognised, before running her had over me. It didn't hurt, just tingled. As soon as it began, it was over, and Tsunade was looking into space.
"What's... wrong?" I asked. Is it the chakra thing they keep going on about?
Snapping back into reality, she looked over to me.
"Nothing's wrong, Naruto. If anything, everything is going to be okay. However, I need you to come back to Konoha with me."
"Konoha?" Where was this place? Someone had mentioned it earlier.
"Yup! Now lay down and get some rest. You'll feel better soon." No sooner then she had said that, I began to feel drowsy and heavy. My eyes quickly snapped shut, and I heard her leave the room.
Third Person
Back in the other room, Tsunade walked in with a somber expression. Quickly sitting down, she looked around, looking at each person in turn.
"So, who's gonna ask first?"
Shino quickly spoke up, drawing attention as he rarely spoke, let alone first.
"Is it really Uzumaki Naruto? Why, you ask? Because if he is, then he is the Yondaime's son, and we must return to Konoha immediately." Many nods showed that most people wanted to ask this.
Tsunade looked around the room once again.
"Yes, he is."
"And has he really lost his memories?" Tenten asked, almost pleading for it to be wrong.
Tsunade sighed deeply, knowing what was coming. "Yes... he doesn't remember a thing..."
The room broke out in pandemonium. Everyone was talking and things were getting shoved around. Food went flying, the neatly stacked bags where strewn across the room. Beds were broke and the noise echoed through the abandoned house.
"...so he really is!"
"What will Yondiame-sama do?"
"... he doesn't remember us!"
"...Naruto-sama lives?"
"...I call dibs! He's on my team!"
"Nuh uh!"
"The most logical choice would be to ask him."
"Who asked you, Shino?!"
"Troublesome... The Yondime's legacy lives..."
The rest of the night continued with similar arguments and cries of success, whilst a semi-conscious Naruto listened on.
The next day, all the ninja were up and ready to go before dawn, whilst a certain teenager slept in...
"Naruto! Wake up!"
"Gimme a minute..."
"Naruto, wake up, or Kami-sama so help you!"
Naruto continued snoring.
"Shanaro!" A fist backed up with chakra promptly slammed into Naruto's stomach. If he wasn't awake before, he definitely was now.
"Maa! Sakura! What did you do that for?!" Naruto quickly backed away in case another fist flew his way.
"It's time to go! We wanted to go hours ago! But no! Kakashi-sensei said to let you sleep... Baka!" Sakura quickly stormed off, leaving Naruto to his own thoughts.
Naruto's Point of View
Man, that Sakura is mean! What did she do that for?! Funny... My stomach doesn't actually hurt. Huh... Go figure. I wonder who this Kakashi is... Oh well, better get ready or Sakura will get angry again. There's a good point... Do I have anything to pack?
I quickly snuck over to the hole in the wall dividing me from the other people. I needed to talk to Sakura, but to get to her, I had to go through everyone else... I jerked away from the wall quickly as I saw someone approaching.
"Hello?" I asked as a head poked around the corner.
"Hiya Kid! It's Jiraiya, can I come in?"
"Err... Sure." I stepped to one side to allow the man entry. He was the man with the blood tears from yesterday. He stared at me, as if expecting me to say or do something...
"So..." he started. "How are you?"
"... Fine?"
"Don't sound so sure about that, do you kid? How are those memories of yours?" What?! Did he know?! How did he know? I don't know him, can he read minds or something with that chakra thing? Apparently my shock showed on my face.
"So, I've hit the nail on the head, haven't I, Gaki?"
Crap. Crap. Crap! What do I do now? Should I lie? Make a break for it?
"Now, don't you start panicking there, Gaki. I'm here for you. I am the Gallant Jiraiya-sama! The toad sage of mount Myouboku! Teacher to the Great Yondaime Hokage and one of the Legendary Sannin!"
I just stood there staring...
"O... kay..." I began to back away. A hand caught my collar yanking me back, right into the toad sages face, and a fist flew to my stomach. Last thing I saw was the look of mirth in his eyes.
Third Person
"Man, that was harder then I thought it would be for someone who can't remember anything... At least we know it's true now, and he is powerless. What if Itachi finds him?" thought Jiraiya, hauling Naruto's limp form over his shoulder. Walking back into the main room with his load, he received a few shifty looks.
"Well, he can't run like a ninja now, so it'll be easier this way." he said dismissively.
"What do you mean he can't run like a ninja? He is one, isn't he?" Ino asked patronisingly, as if she forgot she had two Sannin and the copy ninja in her midst.
"Well, Naruto isn't quite as you know him. He's... forgotten us."
"Forgotten?" yelled alt least five voices simultaneously. The rest just looked on, they already knew. It wasn't like they were told that Naruto forgot his memories yesterday, or anything... Oh, wait, they were...
"Yes... Something has happened to the Kyubi, causing Naruto's mind to go on the defensive, and to protect him, he has forgotten." Jiraiya reminded the more... uneducated ninjas present. "With that in mind, I haven't even bothered to check if he still has the seal or not..." Jiraiya mumbled, half to himself. He quickly laid Naruto down with care reminiscent to that of a father. Gently pulling up his top, he applied chakra to Naruto's stomach...
Shout out to cthulucoon. Thanks for my first review!
"What's going on? I added chakra, didn't I? Maybe I should do it again... Okay, definitely not me that's causing the problem. Why isn't the seal showing! Hebi-teme didn't... No! He can't have done! If the Kyubi's gone, Naruto should be dead! Or it's not Naruto! What's going on here?!" He turned to face the rest of the room who were all trying to look over his shoulder to see Naruto's seal. Unfortunately, they didn't have much to look at, or fortunately, depending on your point of view. He sighed, and pushed himself up from the floor he had been kneeling on. Jiraiya's eyes revolved around the room, looking at nothing and yet everything. Sighing once more, he looked into Tsunade's face and nodded. Her eyes widened in shock before she quickly looked away. She hadn't known the boy as long as everyone else had, yet his impact upon her was huge. From what she had seen and heard, Naruto reminded her of Dan and Nawaki, especially in his fight against the snake. Jiraiya once more looked around the room.
"So?" Kakashi asked. Being the Yondaime's student, he was worried for Naruto, as well as Naruto being his ex-student. The two were like brothers.
Taking a big breath, Jiraiya began to speak. "The seal isn't there. Kyubi's gone."
"What?! I thought the Yondaime-sama's seal was infallible!" Tenten cried out.
"It seems like the Kyubi is less youthful then we thought." Gai-sensei said.
"Yosh, Gai-sensei! I swear that I shall always be more youthful then the Kyubi! If I fail, I will run around Konoha 5 times on my finger tips!"
"Lee-kun! If you fail, I will join you, and then run a further 10 times!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee-kun!"
Everyone looked away as the men embraced each other before an ocean. Or should I say tried to. They were all trapped in the genjutsu, even Kakashi had his sharingan out, trying to free himself, but was forced to suffer and memorize the terrible image.
"Kami-sama... Help... Us..." Tenten muttered before she passed out from youthfulness overload. Luckily, the genjutsu disappeared before anyone else fell unconscious.
"Troublesome... Now we have to carry two people." Shikamaru wasn't pleased. "I hope I don't have to carry one of them... It's too troublesome... I just want to watch the clouds."
"Maa, maa. Can't have anyone else asleep, can we? Hinata, can you rouse Tenten? Everyone else, back into teams so we can head off. I want teams Gai and 8 on either side of Jiraiya. Hinata! Eye's forward, Neji! Watch our rear. Team 10, take the front, Ino can alert us of others if she scenes anyone ahead. Lets move out!" Kakashi said, strangely authoritative for once. Tenten soon awoke, and joined the youthful duo and Neji whilst the other two teams immediately split up. Team 10 left to check the coast was clear before leaving the grotty building they had claimed as a base. Before going, Asuma shared a silent conversation with Kakashi before heading out too. Jiraiya once more hauled Naruto over his back, before leaving with the two remaining teams and their sensei's headed out. All that remained was Team seven, Tsunade and Kakashi.
"Sensei? What about us?" Sakura asked. She didn't want to be left out, and not too far from Naruto either. They had just got him back.
"We have got to destroy any evidence of us being here, then catch up with the rest." Kakashi said, before flinging out his orange porn book he loved so dearly. "Get to work."
Sakura and Sai quickly set about laying explosive notes around the building before heading out to meet Kakashi in one of the trees. They were currently near Oto, and wanted to leave quickly. It was late in the day, the sun was already high above their heads and a few birds could be seen flying overhead. Sai raised his hand in a silent signal, and the building was engulfed in an explosion. Trees shook, and even Kakashi had difficulty holding on to his book.
"...Oops?" Sakura offered. "Maybe we used a little too many..."
"You think? No wonder you're titless." Sai commented, only to have to duck quickly to avoid the fist flying at his head.
"Why you?! I'll have you know! I have tits! Why, I outta kill you for a remark like that! You can't say things like that to a lady!"
"What lady? I don't see any. They have tits, unlike you."
"Shanaro!" A chakra enhanced fist flew towards Sai, making him soar into the sky. Kakashi ignored their antics. It was a daily occurrence after all.
Meanwhile...
Jiraiya was hopping from tree to tree, Tsunade only a few paces behind. He could sense the other teams circulating around them. He shifted Naruto. "The gaki is too light, what did they do to him? Starve him?" He didn't know how true his thoughts were.
Teams 10, 8 and Gai were slowly coming closer and closer to the center group. They didn't want to be too far from the friend they thought they had lost for good. Only three years ago Naruto went missing. He had been sent on the rescue mission to retrieve Sasuke from the Oto-nin. He was last seen by the rest of the rescue team sent with him, as he was sent ahead to fight Sasuke himself. The fight that ensued must have been huge. There was craters and rocks everywhere. The river which was once straight was now bloated at the base of the two damaged statues before smoothing out again further down stream. Kakashi was the last to have actually seen Naruto. He had arrived at the base of the waterfall in the Valley of the End and saw Naruto laying on the stone. The rain had coated him, but not as much as the blood had. There was no sign of life, and the likely cause of death was the huge chidori wound in his chest. Kakashi made the decision to continue on to the borders of Hi no Kuni in search for Sasuke. Upon his empty handed return to Naruto, the body was long gone. Only a few strands of hair and his hitai-ate was left in a pool of Naruto's own blood.
All of his friends tried to find Naruto, praying that he was alive. Any leads they found led to dead ends, false trails and no where to continue searching.
But then, three weeks ago, they finally had gathered enough information to lead an assault on Oto. Unfortunately, the base had long since been abandoned, but a few prisoners remained...
Flashback no Jutsu!
Teams 7, 8, Gai and 10, plus Jiraiya and Tsunade walked through the underground base in Oto, hoping to find information on Orochimaru - as the mission dictated, but all hoping to find clues on Naruto's whereabouts. They were walking through the prisons, and stared at the captives within. Many were just shells of bodies, no soul remained inside. Tsunade and Sakura had long since given up trying to heal them, and found it more merciful to help them find a peaceful, pain free end. Each had suffered horribly from Orochimaru's experimentation's, and hardly any person remained in the body as a consequence. They were the walking dead. They were nearly ready to return to Konoha, with just one more room to search.
It was different from the other rooms, in that it was buried in seals. It took Jiraiya over three hours to break them all, and what was inside was even more worrying. On a single metal table laid the body of a teenager. Pale yellow hair dusted the top of his head, his skin a deathly pale. He had many machines connected to him, screens beeped and buzzed, the only indication that he was indeed alive. He had many open wounds, blood seeping onto the floor. If not for the rise and fall of the chest, they'd all have thought the machines were connected to someone else. The room was silent as they gazed at the body. They were startled by a sharp intake of breath, followed by much hacking and coughing. Tsunade went into overdrive, she had to save this person. No-one deserved to die by Orochimaru's hands. Her own hands glowed green as they quickly worked on closing any wounds.
The boys eyes flickered, revealing a startling blue underneath. Tsunade gasped as the eyes stared at her. She recognised them! It was Naruto!
"Na... Naruto? Naruto! It's him! It's really Naruto! Oh, gods! What has been done to you? Sakura! Ino! Snap out of it! He's dying! Get your asses here so we can save him!" That was all Tsunade needed to say before once more the Konoha ten erupted into business. The senseis led people to find bandages and medications, others remained in the room to search for anything that might help save their friend. Even Sai, who had never met the blond knew of his importance via Danzo, quickly set to work. Ink mice were scurrying along, searching the smallest crevases for anything of use. Sakura and Ino jumped up to help the legendary healer straight away, anything to help their friend. Their past rivalry over Sasuke forgotten as they worked.
Soon, everyone was back in the same room. Bandages were piled up next to one wall, and medications were on a table to Sakura's right as Ino was on her left. They fell into silence, and watched on as wounds closed.
"I need... more... chakra! I have to do... this! I... Must... Save... Naruto-kun!" thought Sakura as sweat poured out of her. She was neatly in tears. "It's my fault he's here. He went to bring Sasuke back to me. I begged him to do it! I sent him to his death. I'm so... Useless! I need to do something! If I have to, I'll use that jutsu Chiyo-baasama used!"
"Na- Naruto-Kun... Please... Bre-Breathe, f-f-for m-me! I... I l-l-l-love you, Naruto-kun!" Hinata collapsed onto the floor in a mumbling heap, crying her heart out. Kiba and Akamaru sat with her, holding her, with Akamaru acting as a body warmer, and providing lots of licks. Team Gai looked on. They hadn't known Naruto too well, but Neji remembered his strength back in the Chunin exams. Naruto didn't deserve to die here if he was that strong.
The only noise was the laboured breaths of Naruto as blood filled his lungs, and Hinata's crying. Ino had collapsed from chakra exhaustion long ago, and Sakura was wobbling. Suddenly, his eyes flicked open, shocking most of the group, and Hinata particularly, to the core. Those eyes weren't the blue of Naruto, but the red of the fox. They had all been told of Naruto's jinchuriki status, but seeing it was different.
"So, you all want to save him now, don't you you? Ha! Stupid humans... He is beyond rescue now. After all, I'm not really here anymore either. Lucky for you! Or you'd all be devoured!" the monstrous voice of the Kyubi echoed out of Naruto's lips.
"I will save Naruto. He is my precious person. He has to live! I gave him my necklace too! He can't die... not like Nawaki and Dan did..." Tsunade's voice faded out. What was a strong stand against the Kyubi became a mumble of self pity, only for her to be snapped out of it by a response form the fox himself.
"Bah! You humans are so stupid! Don't you know what happens when a Biju is removed from their host?! That's the face I wanted to see! Ha! There it is! The fear, terror! You can't save him, and you know... it. Grr... Stupid Hebi-teme... Stealing my... Chak... ra... This isn't... the end... of... me!" Kyubi bellowed before his red glow shimmered from existence. The red left Naruto's eyes, and his body collapsed against the metal surface.
Sakura and Hinata were among the first to return to Naruto's side. Hinata grabbed his hand, collapsing onto her knees once more at his side. Sakura run a diagnostics jutsu, checking him over.
"Tsunade! I need your help! His heart is failing!" Sakura yelled, tears making her eyes sparkle, wide in fear.
Tsunade was on the floor, crying openly. Tears streaked her cheeks.
"No... not him too... No! I can't loose another!" Tsunade was in hysterics. Images of the last two she bestowed the cursed necklace upon flashed before her eyes. Jiraiya approached her, and promptly slapped her.
"Tsunade! We don't have time for this! If you don't get up there and help him, we'll loose him for sure! Tsunade! Move it! He's my godson too..." Jiraiya's manly, carefree facade slipped, showing how much he cared.
"That's most unyouthful, Tsunade-sama..." Gai belittled.
"I can see his chakra system failing. Tsunade-sama, do something!" Neji reported.
"But how? What can I do now?" Tsunade cried.
"Tsunade-shisou! Do anything! He is dying! Help me!" Sakura was openly crying now. Her face was covered in the tell tale rivers that tears leave behind, and the top of her dress was soaked. Tsunade stood, stumbling slightly, and leaning on Jiraiya for support. Slowly, she made her was towards her godson, Jiraiya in tow.
"Sozo Saisei, Shosen Jutsu." Tsunade spoke out. She put the last of her chakra into the technique, spirals - the symbols of the sealing jutsu being released - encased her form. The chakra in her hands increased, coating Naruto's entire form. Tsunade put her heart and soul into the jutsu.
"Naruto... You have to survive... For your father... For... Me..." Tsunade mumbled, mostly to herself, but her words were heard by everyone in the room. The beeping machinery had begun to flat line.
"Naruto! Stay with me, Naruto!" her form collapsed over Naruto's, her jutsu not letting up once. "Naruto, please..."
A sudden beep, accompanied by many more echoed through the room. Naruto's chest rose suddenly, a sharp intake of breath was heard, his back arching up from the flat surface. Relief flooded into her eyes. Gai and Lee hugged, Neji let a smile loose. The girls broke into tears whilst the senseis looked on, both in shock and relief. Kiba and Shino remained silent while Choji and Shikamaru slumped against the wall. Kakashi walked up to Tsunade, a rare tear in his eye.
"Tsunade-sama... Thank you." was all he said, and that was all Tsunade needed before she fell into the blissful world of unconsciousness. Jiraiya grabbed Tsunade's falling body, and carried her bridal style.
"We have all we need from here, lets move before something else goes wrong." Jiraiya spoke out. He summoned a toad to lay Naruto onto, and stashed some of the documents they uncovered into some seals. Not wanting to be there any longer, they all rushed out. They went in with eleven students, four senseis, two sannin and one ninken, and left with one more.
Flashback no Jutsu: Kai!
Shrugging off his thoughts, Jiraiya noticed that the other teams were all within hearing distance once more, and team 7 had caught up.
"Oi! If you're gonna stay so close, you may as well be where I can see you!" Jiraiya yelled out. He hated having people where he couldn't see them... (Hypocrite!)
"Troublesome..."
"Yosh! Jiraiya-sama! We hear your call!"
"Alright!"
"Arff!"
All the teams flashed into view, and Jiraiya signaled to stop up ahead. They all landed in a small clearing, surrounded by the trees they all knew so well. They were in the Land of Fire, and only a half a day from Konoha, yet Jiraiya thought a rest was in order. Even though Naruto was quite light, it was awkward carrying him and running. Laying Naruto on a mat under one of the trees, he walked to the group huddled in the middle of the clearing.
"Why have we stopped, Jiraiya-sama?" Sai asked. Root training demanded that they head to Konoha as quickly as possible.
"Yeah, Jiraiya, why are we here? We aren't that far out!" Kiba bellowed, a bark following him.
"Letting Jiraiya-sama speak my be the most logical thing to do. Why? Because then we can find out his plan of action." Shino said.
"Shut up Shino-baka!" Ino was't one to like being told what to do.
"Thank you, Shino. I wanted us to stop because I need to talk about what we plan to do with Naruto." He stopped, taking in their reactions. Hinata moved closer to where Naruto lay, whilst the three remaining girls all hovered in her general direction. The remaining males just looked around, debating what to do themselves.
"Wha' do ya mean, 'do with him'?" Kiba asked. He was slipping into old habits, showing his concern.
"Well, he doesn't remember us, so what are we going to do about it? We can't exactly continue as if we know him if he doesn't know us, can we?" Jiraiya received many nods at this comment.
"W-w-we could-d-d try t-t-to be fr-fr-friend-d-ds with him ag-g-g-again." Hinata offered, speaking up for the first time since seeing her childhood love nearly die.
"Hinata-sama, what good will that do?" Neji asked.
"W-we can-n t-t-try like b-b-back-k-k in the ac-ac-acdem-my." Hinata replied.
"That's a good idea, Hinata! I shall entice him into friendship again with my Flames of Youth!" Lee yelled. "And if I can't I shall run 100 laps around Konoha! And if I can't do that, I shall double my weights! And if I can't get used to that, then I shall topple 1000 trees!"
"Yosh, Lee-kun! If you can't do that, I will challenge Kakashi again! And if I don't win, I shall run 200 laps around Konoha on my hands!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee-kun!"
"Gai-sen-" Lee got cut off when a boot collided with his face. The boot was attached to a foot. The foot was attached to Tenten.
"Don't go there! No more! Or I'll slice you!" Tenten threatened. Lee backed off when her eyes glinted in excitement and deadly sharp kunai appeared between each knuckle in each hand, poised to throw.
"Praise the Holy Tenten! Defeater of the Horrible Genjutsu of Embracing Men!" voices echoed out, bowing to Tenten in honour.
"Hehe... You don't have to do that! Someone had to do something!" Tenten replied. She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.
"So... Back to the point here... What are we going to do about Naruto? Hinata's idea was a good one, any others?" No-one else spoke up. "Let's go with Hinata's then."
Unknown to them, Naruto had awoken and remained laying under the tree. He had heard their entire conversation, but just remained there.
Naruto's Point of View
I wonder what I should do now. It's obvious I'm just a burden to them. They're discussing what to do with me, like I'm some object to be stored away or mended and to go onto a shelf. I should just leave them, but when? It would be too obvious with them just sat across the clearing. I should wait till it's dark. My stomach still hurts, what did that man do to me? Maybe I should rest a while longer...
(Few hours later)
It's cold. Where am I again? Oh, yeah, a field. What was I going to do again? Oh, right... Leave... Best get going then! Looks like everyone has settled in for the night. Their sleeping bags were all laid out around a fire, only three were empty. I couldn't see who wasn't in them from here. Looks like I missed a meal too, from the packets around the fire. I should probably leave before whoever is gone gets back. Pushing myself off the mat, I leaned on the tree and balanced myself before continuing on. I rounded the tree, and spared a look over my shoulder. They hadn't noticed me get up. I walked straight, avoiding trees and other animals.
It was dark out, no moon and the stars weren't visible through the trees. I stumbled on despite of this. I heard a howl, probably a wolf, and I continued on. I walked into another clearing, this one had a river streaming down the middle of it. I walked upstream and found its source, a tall waterfall with oddly shaped cliffs on either side. Rocks were everywhere, craters and ditches. I recognised this place. I recognised this place! Images flashed though my head, a man with black hair, a bright light, I remember screaming Rasengan. What's a Rasengan?! Pain. Pain! I felt lightening tear through me! What happened here? Why did I fight this boy? He was important, very important, and he was hurting someone important to me. I remember that. What was she called? What was the boy called?
Third Person
The three not in their sleeping bags had just returned from their night shift monitoring the surrounding area. They were Kakashi, Sakura and Hinata. As soon as they got back, they noticed something was off. Something was missing. Sakura looked over to the tree Naruto was under to check he was okay. Only he wasn't there anymore.
"Naruto! Where are you?!" Sakura yelled out, waking a few and making those already up stare at Naruto's previous position. Sooner then later, everyone else was up, and running around.
"Naruto?!"
"Naruto? Get your dick-less self out here!"
"Uzumaki Naruto! Stop playing games!"
"What if he has been taken?"
"By who? Itachi? Orochimaru?"
"How could they have gotten past the barriers?"
"Maybe they don't know he doesn't have the Kyubi anymore!"
"I have his sent!"
"Arff"
"Quick, Kiba! Lead the way!"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" a scream echoed out. It wan't anyone in the group. Their heads all swung towards the source, instincts kicking in.
"That's coming from the Valley of the End. Kiba! Let's go!"
And they all ran off towards the valley where Naruto was last seen, and where he would later be found.
Kakashi, Sakura, Hinata and Kiba were all in the lead, with Akamaru acting as point. They quickly took to the trees, hoping to get to their friend faster. Akamaru howled, signaling to Kiba that something wasn't right.
"Akamaru says that only Naruto is in the valley. Why would he be there then?" Kiba was worried, he wanted to know what had happened to cause Naruto to scream.
"What do you mean? There has to be a reason that he screamed, what reason could there be if he was all alone?" Sakura asked.
"I don't know, but lets find out." Kakashi said, as he applied more chakra to his feet increasing his speed.
The group sped up, and light appeared in front of them, the moon was breaking through the leaves, showing that they were arriving at an open space. Team seven pulled ahead of everyone else. They recognised that scream, it was Naruto's. They knew they had to get there fast, their friend was in danger.
Naruto collapsed onto his knees. His head was abuzz with images, thoughts, nothing that he recognised. Suddenly, a name appeared before him. The duck butt had a name.
"Sasuke!"
Kakashi heard Naruto's cry, and sped up further, easily overtaking everyone. He wasn't the Copi-nin for nothing! He landed in the clearing, falling ungracefully from the tree to the ground. The sight before him was almost more horrible then finding Naruto in the Hebi's base. Naruto was on his knees before the river, staring into his reflection. His face was that of torment and inner turmoil. He was clawing at his chest, cutting himself deeply. Blood gushed out and into the river, staining his reflection an eerie red. Whatever he was thinking of was scaring him greatly.
Kakashi heard the others land behind him, and he heard their shocked gasps and choked breaths. They couldn't bear seeing Naruto like that, what had caused him to to do this to himself? Kakashi once more pushed forwards, approaching his lost student as fast as he could, which only took a second. He knelt beside Naruto's injured body and held him. He just held Naruto tight, not letting his hands get to his body to cause himself more harm. He began rocking as Naruto cried out in torment.
"Naruto, I need you to calm down, please Naruto!" Kakashi began to plead. He was beginning to worry that Naruto was more worse for wear then they thought.
Naruto's Point of View
I heard the mans pleas, but they still held no meaning, made no sense. Why was a stranger trying to help me? I recognised him now. He was Sasuke's teacher. He taught that monster! How could he just sit there trying to help me when he taught the one that tried to kill me!
More images flashed through my mind. I saw Sasuke in the dark place. He tortured me. I remember all the places he hurt me, when he poured acid on me, beat me and used me to practice his ninjutsu and genjutsu on. The Tsukiyomi was the worst. I remember him forcing me to watch as I slayed all my precious people with my own hands. I can't remember any of them now.
So, why was that man trying to calm me down?! It made no sense! What's going on?!
"Naruto, breathe. You're starting to hyperventilate. You need to calm down. Please, Naruto!" I could hear the emotion in the man's voice. Was he acting? I heard more people a little ways off. Were they concerned too? Or were they just watching because they thought it was fun? If I calm down, would he let go? Would he just continue holding me? Why is he doing that anyway? It's not like I am anyone special...
"Naruto! Please!" He was starting to panic, what could I do? I was panicking, wasn't I? I needed to breathe! Salt water got into my cuts making me howl in pain, it wasn't as bad as what that Teme did though. I needed to breathe! I panicked more when I heard others coming nearer. Who were these strangers? I began to struggle in the hold, making my cuts open more. The man's hold got tighter, it was hurting! I saw another man enter the corner of my vision. I began to push away from them. I didn't want them near me! What if they were like the Teme?
I heard the sound of something whooshing, and once more the world went blank.
Third Person: Just before the second man arrived in the corner of Naruto's sight.
The rest of the team watched on as Naruto cried out and Kakashi tried to calm him down. They were all devastated. What could have happened here? The adults all shared a knowing look. They knew this was the place that Naruto vanished, his final battle at the Valley of The End. Fitting, really. However, they didn't know what brought this state on.
Jiraiya had enough. He couldn't bear to see his godson like this. Pushing a hand into his kunai pouch, he grabbed the blade that was only to be used in emergencies. This kunai had three prongs with a seal wrapped around the handle. He threw it straight to the left of Kakashi whilst running to his side himself. Just as he arrived, with the rest of the team following behind him, a golden flash was seen and the Yondaime Hokage stood before them all in all his glory. Jiraiya chopped the back of Naruto's neck before Minato could react.
The Yondaime looked on in both horror and relief. His son was right before him, yet he was severely injured and obviously tormented. He fell onto his knees beside his son and took him from Kakashi. The Konoha nins looked on in tears at the father-son reunion. They slowly made their way over to the three huddled around Naruto and they too knelt down and stared at their friend. Sakura began to heal his wounds. They weren't healing as rapidly as before, which worried her, but she was filing that away for later. The green glow the jutsu gave off illuminated the sad face of their strong leader. He was crying. His long thought dead son was in his hands, yet he wasn't the same as before.
Minato couldn't believe what had occurred. He was summoned away from his paperwork by an emergency kunai to find his son bleeding and crying out beside a river from where he was last reported seen. He couldn't take it, he was slowly beginning to realise that this was indeed his son in his arms, and that the very team that he had sent out to destroy Orochimaru's village hadn't reported his son found. Not releasing his son, Minato looked to the group with fire in his eyes. All shied away in fear of his wrath.
"Jiraiya, Kakashi, Tsunade, Asuma, Gai. What is the meaning of this? I send you out to find and eliminate Orochimaru's village, only to be summoned to find my son like this! What happened?! Why didn't you send a message as soon as you found him? Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi, you had summons you could have used. And I know very well that all of my Ninja have one of my kunai, so anyone could have summoned me! What. Happened." Minato wasn't pleased.
Kakashi looked to his sensei, knowing how disappointed he was. "There was a lot going on, none of us thought to send for you. We were all too worried to think about summoning you."
"There was a lot going on so you didn't think to summon me to see my son who has been missing and believed dead for THREE YEARS?!"
Kakashi just nodded meekly.
Minato looked to the rest of the group and saw the guilt in their faces. "I am going back to Konoha. Tsunade, I am taking you with me. The rest of you! I want you in front of my desk with a detailed and full mission report each by noon tomorrow! Move out!" He grabbed Tsunade's shoulder before she had a chance to protest and then Naruto, Minato and Tsunade vanished in a flash of golden light whilst the remaining group stared at their previous position.
"We should head straight out." Sai spoke, his monotone voice snapping some out of their stupor.
Kakashi sighed. He knew they were all in for hell now. "Sai's right, let's pack up and move out." Kakashi began to head back. He was still in shock and upset about his sensei's reaction and his students state. He wanted to get back to Konoha quickly to find out what was wrong. "Looks like I won't have any time to read my precious for a while..." Kakashi thought whilst touching his book in his kunai pouch.
About half an hour later, everyone was packed up and moving out. They all had depressing thought on their mind.
"I h-h-hope Naru-ruto-k-k-kun will b-b-be ok-k-k-kay... Yond-d-daime's-s-sam-m-ma will b-b-be hap-p-py he is-s bac-k-k-k." Hinata thought.
"Troublesome, just plain troublesome. What will we have to do know? Knowing Hokage-sama, he will be disappointed we failed to contact him over something this serious." Shikamaru thought, although he was also concerned about Naruto's health, he was lazy to the core and didn't want to have to do more then necessary.
"We should move double time. We all have reports to write up in the next fourteen hours, and it will take twelve of those normally to get back to Konoha." Asuma spoke out, in an attempt to make people move faster and to break the depressing silence they had all fallen into as they moved along.
Meanwhile - Naruto's Point of View
It's dark. Where am I? I got up off the wet floor and looked around. Almost in a response to my thoughts, the room got lighter. I could see many pipes twisting and turning around. They were dripping, probably what made the floor so wet. I walked forward. It looks like the room is more of a corridor, but where does it lead? I could see an opening up ahead. Should I go through it? May as well, I can't see or hear anyone else. Going through the opening I looked around. I could see that this room was huge, I couldn't see the top at all, and the length and width were easily large enough to fit several skyscrapers - like the ones in Ame - in. Separating half of the room from the other was a fence - or was it a gate? The tall and thick metal bars looked like they could stop anything. However, they were broken, like something was forced out. The bars were snapped and I could see claw marks.
I heard a rumbling sound around the corner. It steadily got louder and drew closer to me. I looked away from the bars to see a massive wall of water heading straight for me. I ran away as fast as I could, hoping to out run the colossal tidal wave. I wasn't so lucky. It swallowed me whole, making me turn and twist as it pushed forward. Water began to fill my mouth and nose, making it impossible to hold any breath. Darkness danced at the edges of my vision, closing in. Before the darkness claimed me, I heard a voice, growling and blending in with the rumbling of the water
"You will come for me... Boy. If you ever want to remember anything again, find me and kill the snake."
Third Person - Konoha Hospital
Minato watched as his son tossed and turned in his sleep. He was covered in bandages and he wasn't healing as fast as he used to. It was slow even for a normal human. His body wasn't accepting any aid from medical jutsu, rejecting the foreign chakra. His blonde hair fell in front of his eyes, covering the sadness in them.
A knock on the door jolted him out of his thoughts.
"Namikaze-sama? It's Yamanaka Inoichi. Can I come in?"
Minato waved a hand to signal entry, only to realise that Inoichi wouldn't see it.
"Enter, Inoichi-san. Thank you for coming so quickly at this late hour."
"It's fine, Namikaze-sama. I heard that your son was found, so I came here as quick as I could."
"No need to be formal to me, Inoichi-san, it's far too late for that. Lets skip the pleasantries and get to business, shall we?"
"Of course. What do you need me for?"
"I'd like you to check my son's mind, if you will. I want to know what he has had to endure and what his current mental state is."
"I will begin right away, Namikaze-san." Inoichi spoke. He went through a few hand signs before placing his hand on Naruto's forehead. A few minutes passed before anyone moved. Inoichi lowered his arm with a grim expression on his face.
"Inoichi-san, report."
"Hai! Naruto doesn't seem to remember anything other then the Uchiha's betrayal. I found that he awoke two days ago with no memories. He was quite calm, all things considered. He was then knocked out and escorted, presumably to Konoha. They had stopped near the Valley of The End, where Naruto awoke once more to hear the team discussing what to do with him. He left, thinking it would be easier to be less of a burden to them, when he stumbled across the Valley. He seemed to remember fighting Sasuke there, and each time Sasuke tortured him. He can't remember anything else. He isn't in a good state. He needs someone to be strong for him, help him out."
"Thank you Inoichi-san..." Minato said. He was once more upset that Naruto was found but couldn't remember anything, and then to find out that his son was tortured by the traitor.
"Erm... Namikaze-san?"
"Is there something else, Inoichi-san?"
"Well... It seems as though... Well, how to explain this... Naruto seems to have been experimented on. He can hear peoples thoughts, from what I have gathered. There were moments where he distinctly remembers people not saying anything, but he can hear what they were thinking as if they had said something. Also, I have found no traces of the Kyubi."
"What? Explain."
"For example, when he woke up originally, he remembers someone wanting to examine him, although only Haruno Sakura was in the room with him, and Haruno showed shock when Naruto said about it. And further on, he remembers someone talking about ramen and Konoha, only no-one had said anything. Also, about the Kyubi? I couldn't find any traces, no red chakra, malevolent feeling or red imagery."
"Really? I'll have to check the seal then. For now we should let him rest. I'll have to check what the team found about the mind reading. I think it's just too late to worry about such things. We should just enjoy the fact that he is home." Minato spoke. Inoichi silently dismissed himself, leaving the father and son alone once more. He knew how hard this would be for Minato, he couldn't imagine how he would feel if Ino went missing.
"...remember anything... kill the snake..." Naruto mumbled, shifting in his sleep. Minato looked at his son in shock. "What did he just say? Kill the snake? What was that about?" Minato thought.
The night eventually drew to a close with Naruto mumbling the same thing over and over in his sleep, and Minato not sleeping at all.
Shout out to flim2010! The only one to offer advice for how to continue this! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and any future advice is gladly accepted.
Meanwhile...
The group had arrived back in Konoha and had four hours till their report was due in. They all checked in with the eternal gate guards and headed home to rest and recuperate before heading over to the Hokage Tower. As they parted ways, they all noticed that Konoha was filled with more activity then usual, especially at eight in the morning. Thinking nothing of it, they headed home, preparing for their report at home.
Minato finally stood and stretched. He had been sat in the same chair by his sons side all night, and his body was aching and stiff. The doctor had already come and gone, claiming that Naruto wouldn't awake till the next day - judging by the rate of his healing, which was still minimal. Being Hokage, he had work to do, but being a father left him worried and too stressed to work. He just couldn't bare the thought of leaving his son alone in his current state.
Coming to a decision, Minato clicked his fingers, summoning an ANBU.
"Inoshishi. I need you to keep an eye on my son. Alert me if anything happens - and I mean anything! If he so much as twitches a finger, I want to know! Got that?"
The ANBU, now identified as Inoshishi- or Boar - knelt down, with one fist on the floor and the other resting on his bent knee.
"Hai! Hokage-sama!"
With that, Minato Harashin-ed home to wash and change before going to the Hokage Tower.
The group from the Naruto rescue mission met up once more outside the Aka Doragon - or the Red Dragon - before going to the Hokage Tower together. The last to arrive was Kakashi - as usual.
"Grrr. When will he get here! If he doesn't hurry up, I swear! We'll go without him!" Kiba yelled. Akamaru barked in agreement.
Sakura was leaning on the wall, pretending not to know him, whilst Shikamaru walked over to her.
"You know he is probably just as annoyed as we all are, right? Its so troublesome... At least he vocalises his issues." Shikamaru said. Sakura just sighed and kicked off the wall, putting space between the rest of the group and herself. Sakura had been moody and quiet ever since Minato took Naruto to the hospital. She didn't want to know what her Sasuke-kun did to Naruto, but was also upset that Naruto was hurt.
"Hey! Look who finally showed up!" Ino said. Kakashi had just turned the corner.
"Maa. I was just helping this old lady carry her shopping, but she left a bag behind by accident, so I had to go back and get it for her, and I thought it would be a good idea to grab my bag too, so I headed to mine first, but when I picked up my bag, I realised I had the wrong one, so I went to the Dango hut to see if mine was in the lost and found, which luckily it was, so I headed off to get the lady's shopping for her again, but on the way a kunai fell out of my bag and turned out to be a Decepticon, to I had to find an Autobot to kill it, only to realise that it was a Transformer cosplayer. I then started to head here, but I had forgot about the lady's shopping, so I had to go all the way back and give it to her before coming over."
"- and that was when I jumped up and slapped him one!" Tenten said, to which everyone laughed. Kakashi looked around, and no-one had listened to him, all gathered around to hear her story.
"Oh, Kakashi? Are you done now? I'm pretty sure that Hokage-sama was very adamant that we all had to be in his office by noon!" Kiba said. With a wave of Asuma's hand, the group headed into the dragon's den - better known as the Hokage Tower. Each had their report ready, and were all prepared for the worst.
Finally, after passing all the security checks, they reached their leaders office. With a nudge, Kakashi was nominated to knock as he was Minato's student. Hesitantly, he did so.
"Enter!" Minato shouted.
The group swarmed in, easily filling the previously empty space. Book shelves lined two of the walls with two soft chairs and a table in the corner left of the door, between the two. On the right hand side, the wall boasted the pictures of the previous Hokage, each with one of their most famous quotes underneath. There was a second door next to the Sandaime's picture, heavily sealed. At the head of the room was a large desk with a chair behind it, along with a few piles of paperwork around it. Behind that was a large window, stretching the whole length of the room. Minato was currently walking out the second door, which an ANBU sealed behind him, reading rather deeply into a file. Making his way to his desk, he sat down, finished the file and then looked to the group before him.
A smile graced his lips.
"Ah, Kakashi's group. How are you all doing? I trust you all have the reports I asked for, right?" Minato spoke, his words coated in honey, burying the negative emotions he had were yet to unveil themselves.
"We all have them, sensei." Kakashi said, whilst placing the pile on Minato's ever growing pile of paper work. The Hokage quickly summoned a few Kage Bunshin to read them over whilst he looked at the group.
"Does anyone have anything to say or ask?" Minato said, the too sweet smile still on his face.
Hinata was pushing her two index fingers together, but took a step forward, keeping her head down.
"I-I-I'm ver-r-r-ry sorry, Hoka-ka-ka-g-g-ge-sam-ma. I should-d-d hav-v-ve done s-s-somethin-g-g."
"You're forgiven, Hyuga Hinata. I am aware that some of the more responsible members of the group should have done something, you couldn't have been expected to act."
"Thank-k-k you!" Hinata spoke, taking a step back to the group.
"Anyone else?" The Hokage asked. A few more apologies were made by Neji, Sakura, Lee, the Ino-Shika-Cho, Kiba and Shino. The only ones remaining were the five adults.
"Those who I have already spoken to are dismissed!"
"Hokage-sama?" Sakura asked.
"Haruno." Minato acknowledged.
"If I may ask, how's Naruto doing?"
Minato sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I take it all of you want to know?" Everyone nodded. "Naruto is... Unwell. He seems to have regained his memories of Sasu-"
"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted.
"Genin Haruno Sakura! You would do good to not interrupt me when I am doing you a favour!" Minato exclaimed, his sugar sweet facade was falling. He blasted her with some Killing Intent to make his point clear.
"S-s-s-sorry, Hokage-sama!"
Minato nodded and continued. "As I was saying. Naruto has regained his memories of Uchiha Sasuke. As it turns out, he decided to leave the group when you were sleeping as he thought you saw him as a burden. He wandered into the Valley of the End, which some of you may know is where my son fought his final fight with the Uchiha, before he vanished. It seems that him being there triggered some memories for him. However, it also brought back memories of when the Uchiha... tortured my son. We found out that he no longer has the Kyubi and was also experimented on. He can now hear peoples thoughts. He is currently healing, although slower then a normal human, and is due to wake up tomorrow."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"Now, you're dismissed!" Minato said, as the younger generation filed out. "As for you..." He said as he looked as Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Gai and Asuma in turn. "I want to know what on Earth possessed you to not tell me when my son, who I was thought dead, was found! If he was your son, wouldn't you want to know? At least be told that he was alive? To know that he was alright? So, why didn't you do this for me!? I know I have ordered all of you, along with any other shinobi to tell me as soon as any information on my son is found! Explain yourselves!" He blasted them with killing intent so strong that even Jiraiya was shaking.
"We were overwhelmed ourselves! Think rationally, Hokage-sama. We found your son in the Hebi's village, dying! We wanted to make sure that he was okay first!" Asuma shouted.
"Fair point, so why didn't you afterwards?"
"... It slipped out minds?" Jiraiya offered.
"It slipped your minds. It SLIPPED YOUR MINDS?! What kind of poor excuse is that?! I expected better from you! Especially you three, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Kakashi! Kakashi, your my student, you helped to baby-sit him when he was young! You're practically his brother! Tsunade! He rescued you from depression and helped you get back home! Jiraiya! You were my sensei! That should tell you enough about what is important to me! And you're his God-Father! You three have NO EXCUSE! DISMISSED!"
"Hokage-sama!" An ANBU dropped down from the ceiling. Minato narrowed his eyes.
"Report!"
"Hai! Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto is reported to be waking up."
"Thank you, Inoshishi. Dismissed." The lion masked ANBU left, before Minato Harashin-ed to his son's side.
Naruto's Mindscape
Where am I? It's that wet place again... I hope there isn't another wave like last time. It's so calm. I want to stay here for ever.
"Leave."
What was that? I thought there wasn't anyone here.
"LEAVE!"
Water crashed down on me once more, covering my vision, and pushing me out of the wet place.
"Naruto? Can you hear me? Wake up please." Minato spoke. Naruto lay still on his bed, for the first time in the last twenty-four hours. The ANBU reported that he was waking up, but now he looked deathly still.
"Shizune, you said he was waking. What's wrong?" She was stood behind Minato, looking on. It was true though. Naruto showed signs of waking, so she sent the ANBU to notify the Hokage. Why was he still now?
"I'll check him again..." She said before moving round to his other side to scan him. The green glow encased him once more. She raised an eyebrow after a few seconds. "He's fine, Hokage-sama. He s waking though, just wait for him to come around. He has a lot of mental stress, so just let him take his time."
True to Shizune's words, Naruto shifted in his sleep. His faced screwed up in thought, before he took a deep breath and his eyes flickered open. Naruto went to sit up, but winced and fell back again. Shizune placed a hand in front of Minato, stopping him from going to his son. Naruto tried to sit up once more, and successfully pushed himself against the back board. Finally, he looked around the room he was in, and spotted the two people at his side. His eye's widened, and he tried to shuffle away.
"Woah! Naruto! Calm down. It's okay. We aren't going to hurt you. We promise." Minato said. He tried to reach out to Naruto to get him to be still. Naruto just flinched and moved out of his reach. Hesitantly, Minato lowered his arms.
"Who... Who are you?" Minato tried to hide a wince at his sons words. He was hurt that he could be recognised by millions of shinobi, but not by his own son.
Faking a smile, he replied, "Hello, Naruto. I am Namikaze Minato, Hokage of Konoha." Naruto just looked at him, processing the information.
"Ho- Hokage? So you're the leader, Hokage-sama?" Minato winced visibly this time. He never wanted his own son to call him that. It felt so cold and distant.
"That's right, but you can call me Minato. Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?" Minato asked. He decided to call himself Minato, instead of Dad, as he thought it might be too much for his son to handle right now. He would tell Naruto once he got better.
"I'm okay, Minato-sama. My chest is sore, but I am fine." Naruto wondered what the Hokage wanted with him. Was it normal for the leader of a village to check up on everyone who was ill?
"Well, you'll heal soon, and please! Call me Minato, just Minato. No honourifics or anything please." He said whilst looking at his son. Minato then turned to look behind him where Shizune was dealing with Naruto's file. "Shizune-san? How long till Naruto can leave?"
Shizune looked up, and then glanced through the paperwork again. "By all accounts, he can leave with you now, if you wish, Hokage-sama."
"Thank you, Shizune-san. Naruto? Would you like to come with me? I want you to stay with me for a little while."
"Why?" Naruto asked. He was beginning to freak out a bit. First the Hokage paid him a personal visit, and then he asked Naruto to call him by his name as if they were best friends. Now, the Hokage wanted Naruto to stay with him? What was his game?
"Well... It would be a... Good idea to have you stay with me for a while. You know, while we sort out this whole memory problem of yours. Are you okay with that?" Minato didn't want to pressure his son into something he didn't want to do.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Naruto said, smiling.
Shout out to AngeDREAMS! Thank you for the review, and as you suggested, in this chapter we should begin to know a little more about the three year gap - either about Naruto or his friends. Enjoy!
Naruto had finally made it to the Hokage Tower. The building was huge, easily one of Konoha's tallest. On the front was the kanji for fire, and within it was like a labyrinth. Minato and Naruto had passed many check points and were just about to go through to Minato's office.
"Look! Naruto-sama has returned!"
"Why is Hokage-sama with hi- Wait! It's his son!"
"Finally! The Hokage's son has returned! What happened to him?"
"Why are they saying I'm Minato's son?" Naruto thought.
"Minato?"
"Hmm?" Minato replied, half paying attention as he unlocked his office and signaled for the ANBU to vacate.
"Why was everyone looking at us like that?"
"Like what, Naruto?"
"Like... I don't know. Like we were something really special." Minato looked at his son and sat on one of the chairs on the corner. He patted the other one as a signal for his son to sit on the other.
"That's because we are special, Naruto. I am the Hokage, so everyone sees me as important and special as I help to protect them and lead them. They look at you that way as you're like that too." Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"How am I like that?"
"Well... Before you... Erm..." Minato stood and began to pace. He didn't know how to phrase it without freaking his son out. "Because before you lost your memories... You were very important to... this village." "And to me..." He wanted to add on. "And as you're back, they're all happy."
"Oh." Naruto looked down. He could tell that there was more that the Hokage wasn't telling him. He could also feel the tension in the air, and felt that a change of topic was in order. "So, Minato. Weren't we going to go to yours?"
"That's right! Come over here please!" Minato said. He was rather excited now, and pleased his son had just accepted his answer. Although his son had already seen what was to come, Naruto didn't remember it. "Naruto, please move the picture of me." He said, pointing to his framed Hokage portrait on the wall. Naruto moved the picture, and revealed a seal array underneath.
"Huh?" Naruto recognised it, but he couldn't understand it. Minato, not knowing if Naruto could remember how to use chakra, walked over to the revealed array and applied his own. Upon his touch, a blue glow encased the array and then spread out to engulf the wall. A blue shimmering covered the wall, reminiscent to the ocean, yet it remain horizontal and didn't flood into the room. Naruto looked amazed. He couldn't comprehend what stood before him. Tentatively, he reached out to the ocean wall and as his fingers touched it, his hand went right through.
Minato just watched his son experiment with the wall. It was almost just like how he acted when he was shown it for the first time, back when he was just a toddler. Naruto had just poked his head all the way through.
"Minato! This is amazing! What is this? It looks like a trans-dimensional seal linked with a reverse pentagram seal! This is so advance! Wo-" Naruto began to wobble on his feet, and he raised a hand to his forehead. Minato rushed to his son's side and sat him down.
"Naruto? Are you okay?" Naruto nodded.
"Just a little dizzy. That's all."
"How'd you know that though? How did you know what the seal was?" Minato had never explained anything about seals to his son, despite being a seal prodigy himself. His son had never shown an interest before, so he hadn't bothered teaching him. That's why when Naruto - who had originally looked at the seal as though it was scribbles on the wall - began to talk about seals, Minato had been a little shocked.
Naruto raised his head to look at Minato. "I... I don't know."
"Well, lets go home then." Minato just wanted to get Naruto better. All these weird moments where Naruto was showing that he knew more then he was letting on was beginning to annoy him.
Minato picked up Naruto, who was far too light for a fifteenth year old, and stepped through the portal.
Shout out to Yoshuco! Thank you for doing all four! What a surprise I got when I woke up this morning to find that you followed and favourited both me and the story!
When the two stepped through the portal, they were first blinded by a bright light. Naruto raised his hands to cover his eyes, to which his father smiled at. He didn't need to worry about the light any more as he had grown used to it.
"Naruto, you can look now!" Minato said. The light was gone, so Naruto trusted Minato and removed his hand from his face.
Naruto looked around in pure shock.
Before him laid a large mansion. It was easily four stories tall with the typical Japanese tier roofs with what appeared to be a garden on the top. In front of the mansion was a beautiful stone garden with flowers lining the paths. As Minato carried Naruto closer to the door, Naruto began to notice more subtle features bout the house, like although it was Japanese, the mansion had doors swung out instead of sliding in. Also, there were no windows, or at least no glass ones - they were all just empty holes, although they did have curtains and blinds.
Minato put Naruto down and opened the door. He then walked in whilst Naruto stood in the doorway.
"Whats wrong, Naruto?"
Naruto looked down. He felt that he was intruding on the Hokage's home by entering. He didn't feel like he belonged.
"Minato? Are you sure that it is okay for me to stay here? What about your family? Don't you have a wife and children to share this mansion with?" Naruto asked. Minato flinched at the mention of other family. He was an orphan himself, and his beautiful wife was long dead. She died bringing their son into the world and from the extraction of the Kyubi, fifteen years ago. Also, his son was stood there before him, not that Naruto knew.
"I'm sure they'll be fine with it. I only have one live relative after all."
"Oh. Sorry."
"It's okay, you didn't know. Come on in then!" Minato waved a hand, encouraging Naruto to step in. Naruto removed his shoes at the door and stepped on the wooden floor and moved to Minato's side.
"So? Do you like it?"
"It's huge! How can only two people live here? It's easily big enough for ten families!" Naruto bellowed. He had decided to explore the house, and came across nearly sixteen bedrooms, four offices, at least three bathrooms on each floor, two kitchens and about seven living rooms, along with a library, dinning room, storage rooms and a hatchet to the basement which seemed to be larger then the bottom of the house.
"You can have the third floor. Pick any room you want." Naruto looked at Minato completely shocked. His own floor? The third floor had about five bedrooms, four bathrooms, two living rooms and access to the library below with two offices in the two largest rooms.
"My... My. Own Floor. You're letting me have... My own floor?" Minato nodded. "I'm going to pass out... My own floor. I have the entire third floor. House Party!" Naruto yelled out. He began to jump around in excitement, he couldn't wait to personalise the floor. Obviously, a new coat of paint wasn't needed as the previous inhabitant of the third floor had great taste. Orange was the coolest. That was final. He ran up the staircase to pick a room for his own, ironically it was the same one he used to sleep in, just all of Naruto's old clothing was moved out because it wouldn't fit him any more. Minato made a note to buy some more.
After a while of letting Naruto settle back into the room, Minato called him back to the second floor, on which there was Minato's private study and the library. They chose to sit in one of the smaller living rooms on the floor, and Minato and Naruto drank some green tea and made small talk.
"So, Naruto. How is Konoha?"
"It's... Big. Many of the people I have seen look happy, and that's all that matters really." Naruto didn't want to say anything bad about the Hokage's village.
"It is quite large. Do you think you will want to stay here?" Minato prayed that his son would stay with him, but also wanted whatever made his son happy.
"I think it would be a good idea to. Besides, I don't know where else to go."
"Do you know how old you are?" Minato moved onto some more serious questions, attempting to find the extent of his sons memory loss. Naruto screwed his face up in thought.
"I think I am... Not ten. Erm... I know I am not twenty, I don't think I am any older then seventeen, but I am definitely not younger then twelve. So... Somewhere between twelve and seventeen? Why?"
"I'm just trying to find out a bit more about you. You know, to help find out who you were." Minato hoped his son took the bait.
"Oh. I'll help as best as I can then."
"Thank you. Now, Do you mind if I ask some more... serious questions?"
"Erm... Sure." Naruto wondered what he wanted. For some weird reason, he couldn't hear the Hokage's voice. It was worrying his that he couldn't hear what he fondly chose to nick-name as the Truth that people didn't want to say.
"Is there anything weird going on?" Minato knew about his sons gift for hearing thoughts, but didn't want to openly bring it up in case it panicked him.
"Besides the fact that I can't remember much?"
"Yeah."
"Erm... Not really. As far as I can tell, I am fine." Naruto, not being able to remember how life was before, didn't know that the Truth was uncommon and that not everyone heard it.
"Well. Can you do things that others can't? What about being able to see things that no-one else can, or hear things that aren't spoken?" Minato really wanted Naruto to bring up the telepathy so Minato didn't have to.
"Well... I... Erm... I can hear people talking when they haven't. Like in the abandonded house."
"What happened there, Naruto?"
"Well, someone said something about Konoha and ramen, but they didn't say anything. But isn't that normal?"
"No Naruto. Hearing people's thoughts is really unusual. It's not normal. How long do you remember hearing thoughts?"
"Is that what the voices are? And I thought that everyone heard them."
"Yes, Naruto. And no, you seem to be one of a kind. Is there anything else? Anything you haven't told me?"
"I can't hear your... thoughts. And I know things that I don't know how I know them. And when I walk through certain places and see certain people or things, my head hurts and I don't know why." Naruto thought it was best to say everything that was going on. After all, this man was the Hokage, so he could help, right?
"Well... That's different. Do you know why you can't hear my thoughts? And don't worry too much about the rest, it's quite normal when you forget your memories." Minato was some what relieved that his son couldn't her what he was thinking, especially after how often he has called Naruto son in his thoughts.
"I don't know... Minato. I'm tire-" Naruto fell out of his chair. Minato flashed to his son and caught him before he his the floor.
"Naruto? Naruto! What's wrong?" Minato tried to shake his son to wake him up, although Naruto didn't respond at all. "ANBU!"
Three ANBU dropped in from the ceiling. They all knelt and awaited their orders.
"Get me Shizune-san. Now."
"Hai! Hokage-sama." With that, all the ANBU shunshined away. Minato picked his son up and carried him up to his room. A knock on the door alerted him to Shizune's arrival.
"Enter."
"Hokage-sama, you called?"
"It's Naruto. We were talking downstairs and then he suddenly said he felt tired, and he collapsed. I haven't been able to rouse him, and it's only three in the afternoon, so it's not like he should be overly tired!" Minato began to pace from the stress.
"I'll check him over." Shizune's hands began to glow green and she walked up to Naruto and scanned him for any noticeable changed or anything that could have triggered his sleep. "Hokage-sama, it seems as though Naruto was put through a lot of mental stress. If I may ask, what were you talking about before he collapsed?"
"I was asking him about himself, about his abilities to hear thoughts."
"That might have triggered this then. He likely felt stressed from you quizzing him and not knowing how to respond as he didn't know anything himself. You made your son panic, Hokage-sama, and as a reaction to it, his mind went on the defensive and he passed out. In addition, the mental stress he has built up over the past three years, along with anything else that happened to him, you made him go into overdrive - effectively making too much happen in a short time and he couldn't handle it. If you want my advice, just bring Naruto to trust you, in return he will tell you things and come to you for help as he sees he can. Also, make sure that you have lots of people he got along with come over to visit. But under no circumstances, is anyone to bring up anything that he doesn't remember or ask about anything that has happened when he wasn't with us."
"Okay, thanks, Shizune-san. Thank you for helping. I'll take your advice, and hopefully we can make Naruto better faster." Minato looked relieved knowing that his son wasn't ill.
"If that's all, Hokage-sama?"
"Of course, thanks once again. Don't be a stranger, you know he saw you as a sister."
"I'll be by next week to see how he is doing." Shizune dismissed herself, leaving Minato to his thoughts.
For the rest of the evening, Minato busied himself with paperwork and had the ANBU bring it over and deliver it back at the office so he didn't have to leave his son. Eventually, Minato called it a night, and went to bed. Naruto hadn't awoken, and considering the time, probably won't wake till tomorrow anyway.
"He's asleep."
"Yup!"
"So... do we do it now?"
"Nope!"
"Aww! Why not?"
"Give it a second!"
"Huh?" And sure enough, the body they were watching began to move. "So, is he sleeping still?"
"I dunno!"
The body rolled over and a face was now visible in the light of the moon.
"Shame they don't have windows. It was a good idea to find out how Hokage-sama got here, I don't think we would have found this place if we hadn't seen the seal!"
"If I'm honest, I am surprised he didn't sense us!"
"I know, so much for the great and powerful Yondaime Hokage!"
"Makes you really doubt him, doesn't it?"
"Shame his son is just as bad..."
"Hey! We can blame Orochimaru-sama for that! He chose the brat, and then he played with him."
"True, true. So... Can we complete our mission yet?"
"Yup! Move out!" Four bodies disappeared into the night, straight into the Hokage's mansion, and straight into Naruto's room.
Minato jolted awake as he was alerted via seals to a breech in his home. Looking over to the seal matrix on his far wall, he saw a flashing red light over his sons room.
"Crap!"
Minato Harashined to his sons room, hoping what the intruder was just an animal. Although it wasn't common, it had happened a couple of times.
As Minato appeared in his son's room, he noticed a distinct absence of his son. The blanket was thrown across the room, the chest of drawers was knocked over, and the curtains were billowing out. Rushing to the window, he saw a shadow against the moon. Deciding to find his son first, he used the Harashin that was on the back of his clothes, only to appear in the garden.
"What?" Minato tried again, and didn't move. He looked down and saw his sons shirt on the floor.
"Crap! I have to catch up, at this rate, he'll be gone! ANBU!" Minato cried out as he broke int a sprint, many of the ANBU he summoned had trouble keeping up with him.
"Hokage-sama?" The captain, Inu, asked.
"My son is missing! Find him! I am pursuing the enemy now! How did they get in my home anyway?!" Minato fumed. Some of the ANBU split off to get back up, others to use their summons to track.
"We don't know, it seems as though they were ANBU." Inu replied.
"Well, find my son!"
"Hai!"
Minato rushed through the trees outside of his house. A yell from a summon alerted them all that they had a trail to follow. Gaining speed, Minato easily overtook all the ANBU and the summon. He paused for a moment to let the others catch up, but to primarily to activate his sage mode. It would help him track better too. Just a minute had passed, and the ANBU caught up, and Minato was in sage mode and off again.
Once more, Minato began to overtake the others, and finally managed to catch a glimpse of the enemy. Stark red hair was visible, and it reminded him of Kushina. She was dead though, so it had to be someone else. He could see three others too, and noticed that there was nearing the sea. Making a Kage Bunshin, he continued on as the clone guided the others. The enemy finally stopped on the sand by the shore, unsure of how to continue in Minato's dimension.
"Give me back my son!" He growled when they all skidded to a halt in the sand. Regrettably, Minato was still in his pajamas. The four shinobi turned around and laughed.
"He-he-he! Why would I give experiment 49 back to you? Orochimaru-sama said that we must return him at all costs!" the one in green with yellow hair said. The one with orange hair came out from behind, showing the bundle he was carrying. A tuft of yellow hair was seen, but nothing else was visible. Naruto - or what he presumed the bundle to be - was wrapped up tight in a cloth with rope around his ankles, knees and arms. A bulge was seen where presumably his hands were tied together beneath the cloth. Minato also guessed that Naruto was gagged and blindfolded, as that was normal procedure for kidnapping a shinobi - ex-shinobi or otherwise.
"He isn't an experiment, he is my son!" The ANBU had caught up and landed around Minato, waiting for their superiors orders to act.
"Yeah, well, he is an experiment now. He may look like you, but he isn't anything like you any more!" The one with red hair yelled. Looking at her from the front, the red head was definitely a girl but looked nothing Kushina, thankfully.
"What would you know? What does that traitor want with Naruto?"
"You'll see, Hokage-sama!" She mocked. As soon as the sentence was over, Minato waved his arm as the silent signal to charge. The ANBU launched into action, ready to attack and rescue the honourable son of the Hokage. However, the four bodies - or five if you count Naruto's - vanished in a puff of smoke, and the bundle fell to the ground, revealing that it was a doll all along. Minato ran up to it, checking to see it what he saw was really there.
"Hokage-sama? What are our orders?" Minato looked at the ANBU with a forlorn expression.
"I want to know how they got in, how they got away, and where they went. And, I wanted to know ten minutes ago!"
"Hai! Hokage-sama!" The ANBU lept away whilst Minato trudged back to the mansion.
He opened the door, and went into the first living room.
"Minato, what's wrong?"
"Nothing Naruto. You're just missi- Naruto?!"
Shout out to Hanhannie! Thank you for reading and following!
"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" Inu shouted as he attempted to wake the sleeping Minato. One minute, the Hokage was in his pajama's, leading the assault on the people that kidnapped his son. The next, he passed out on the stone garden, cracking his head on the rocks and seemingly dead to the world. The criminals also seemed to have managed to escape.
"Inu, what's going in with the Hokage?" Shishi - lion - asked.
"I don't know... Get Shizune back here, if not to find out what happened, but to at least heal him."
"Hai!" The ANBU raced to the end of the garden where the other seal was located for the return back to Konoha to retreive Shizune. Inu laid the Hokage out, not willing to move him too far in case he had a serious injury
"Inu!"
"Report Buta!"
"Hai! Naruto-sama is missing too." The pig masked ANBU replied to the captain.
"What? I want teams three through seven searching! I want to know how this happened! Get me codename: Tenzo now!" The sound of an affirmative signaled the ANBU's dismissal as Shizune arrived back through the portal. She was made aware of the situation on the way.
"ANBU-san, please move out of the way." She said. After a moment of mopping the blood of Minato's forehead and healing the initial damage, she failed to find a reason why he was unconscious. His brain showed signs of activity, and yet the Hokage was out like a light. "I suggest you get Tsunade-sama too as this looks serious. I'll transfer him to the hospital. Please let me know if you find any way to explain this." Shizune made a few seals and then placed a had on Minato's shoulder. A second later, they were both gone.
"So, Aki. Now we have experiment 49, where to now? The place is swarming with ANBU and it won't be easily to relocate." A tall man with orange hair said, whilst shifting a large bag over his shoulder.
"I don't know yet! Dipstick. We have to wait till Leader-sama comes near here to pick us up." A female with red hair spoke, now identified as Aki. She rolled her eyes. She hated being paired up with people, preferring solo work, and she hated waiting. Not long after she had spoken, a man with long black hair and a black cloak jumped into the area, shortly followed by a man with white hair and wore near to nothing.
"Leader-sama~. Can we leave now?" Aki asked. She was bored and tired and wanted to eat some yakisoba.
"We head north, our master is waiting there for us." The black haired man spoke.
"Finally! Eh, Shi? Orochimaru-sama will be pleased with this!" The orange haired one spoke, hitting the bag roughly and receiving a muffled groan from within.
"You did remember to gag, blind fold, tie and put a genjutsu on it?" The white haired man asked.
"Of course I did. Seriously, Fuzen, do you really believe that I am that incapable?" Fuzen said nothing.
"Let's move on." Shi spoke, before he sprinted off. The others followed blindly behind.
"Tsunade-sama? What's wrong with Hokage-sama?" Shizune asked. Tsunade had finished her examination at the hospital and was thinking about what she had seen.
"It looks like he has been put in a Genjutsu, similar if not the same as the Tsukiyomi."
"Can't you break it then?" Tsunade sighed deeply.
"I cannot. It's not the Tsukiyomi, I haven't come across it before and I don't know how to deal with it. We will have to wait till he gets through it on his own."
"So we can only keep him alive this side then?"
"Yes, if we're lucky enough. Minato is strong through, he'll pull through." "I hope..." Tsunade added in her head.
In Minato's genjutsu world, Naruto was right in front of him, and both of them were sat in the first living room.
"Naruto? Are you okay?"
"Of course I am, Dad. Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto replied, showing his biggest smile. Minato was confused when Naruto called him Dad. His son shouldn't remember that.
"Well... I was just wondering. Naruto. I seem to have gone senile for a moment! I can't remember what we were doing!" Minato said. If this was real, best to play it off that way. If this was fake, he needed to make sure that it looks like he has completely fallen for it.
"You're old, Dad! We were going to play Shogi, weren't we?"
"Oh... Of course! Set up the board then for me. I'm going to grab a drink." Now Minato knew something was really wrong. He son wanted to play Shogi! This must be a genjutsu, his son hated Shogi, and he was certain he hadn't just dreamed up the chase with the kidnappers, but how to break it? It felt so real though. It was nice, to just stay at home with his boy, play some games together and just chill out. It would be great to make up for all that lost time... No! This wasn't the real Naruto! The real Naruto was else where! However, the Naruto in the other room knew that he was his father and had all his memories... But the real Naruto was different! He had the real experiences!
"Minato? Come and play with our son already!" Minato froze. He knew that voice.
Slowly, he turned around to gaze upon his goddess. Kushina stood before him in all her glory. She was dressed in his favourite blue dress with the white blouse beneath. Her long red hair still as beautiful as the day they met. "No! Kushina is dead. This isn't the real one! I can't stay here! I need to go back to my son!"
"Minato-koi. Won't you come and play Shogi with your own son? If you do~ there might be a treat for you later~!" Kushina breathed out.
"Erm... I... I'm sorry... Ku-Kushina. I have to go back... to the office. Yes, I have to go to the office. I left my... Errr. I left my Shogi hat there."
"Oh? Did you?" Kushina pouted. "I guess you'll have to go and get it then. Hurry back now then, won't you?" Kushina looked adorable! "No! Not the same. Have to go. Damn the bastards that made this genjutsu! Showing me my dead wife and happy son. I'll kill them for this!"
"I'll be back soon!" Minato shouted as he sped back to the office. He knew that in his office he had placed a special seal that helps to distort chakra. As genjutsu was an attack of chakra on the brain, it made the victim witness what ever the caster wanted them to. By distorting the chakra, it would give his own a chance to over power it and release the jutsu. And as it seemed that this Genjutsu focused on making Minato's near perfect reality, the seal had to be in the office still! He could use the seal, but he had to be fast enough to make sure the wielder of the Genjutsu didn't discover his intentions.
As he arrived in his office, he rushed to his desk, toppling several piles of paperwork along the way. Yanking his draw open, he placed his hand on top of the first sheet of paper and applied chakra. The effect was instantaneous. The fake world flashed before his eyes before he opened them to a white tile ceiling.
Just as the group of four shinobi arrived at the northern forest, a snake slithered out of a tree. The group ground to a halt and bowed before it.
"Orochimaru-sama, I have it, just as you asked." The leader of the group - Shi - spoke, presenting the bag before the snake.
"Kukukukuku! Very well. You may return to my village. But if I find out that you're lying... Well, let's just leave it at that, shall we?" Orochimaru's voice spoke through the snake. Without warning, the ground beneath them crumbled and fell in, engulfing the four shinobi whole. When the looked around, they noticed that they were in a room.
"Leader-sama? Where are we?"
"Shut it, Aki. As if he knows..."
"I wasn't talking to you, Hotaru! I was asking Shi-sama! Not the orange haired idiot you are!"
"Hey, you take that back! Your hair is red, only a shade darker then my own! By insulting me, you have insulted yourself!"
"Have not!"
"Have too!"
"Not!"
"Too!"
"No-"
"Silence!" Shi bellowed! He couldn't stand those two. "If we don't know where we are, and thus possibly in enemy territory, is it really a good idea to yell your stinking heads off at each other and alert them to our location?!" The two in question just shut up and sulked in the corner. Hotaru dropped the bag, receiving a pained moan, before he kicked it to Shi.
Shi carefully opened the bag, revealing a head. Blond hair was pulled back by the black blind fold, along with a lot of duct tape keeping it in place and covering his mouth. Shi removed the bag from around him, showing that he was tied at the ankles, knees, elbows, wrists and had a chakra suppression tag attached to his stomach. His clothes were dirty, although not highly noticeable as he wore navy blue trousers and a black top, but the patches of blood and bruises from struggling were. Shi removed his blind fold and forced one eye open. Dull blue stared back.
"He is still in the genjutsu, that's good. I might reinforce it though, as he still manages to respond to contact." Shi thought before rolling through some hand signs. When he was done, the dull blue eye was nearly black. Shi was pleased as it meant that his charge was deep in the genjutsu, and without access to his chakra, there was definitely no way he could get out now.
"Shi." A commanding voice spoke as the wall opened up, revealing Orochimaru. The group knelt down seeing his arrival.
"Hai! Orochimaru-sama!"
"Bring the boy here." Shi complied to the order before slipping back into place at the head of the group. "You did well. Dismissed. The village is through that wall." Orochimaru said, pointing in the direction he had came from. He stared down to the boy at his feet. "We're going to pick up where we left off. Right Sasuke-kun?"
"Hai, Orochimaru." Sasuke said.
Shout out to bcasuna! Thank you for following the story and myself! Your continued support is very much apretiated!
Caution! This story will have some disturbing scenes for some viewers! If you don't like it, it might be an idea to skip the flashbacks. However, you might also miss out something important!
Oto
Naruto opened his eyes to a large field. Flowers coated the ground, making the grass seem to be flecked with colourful polka pots. A stream ran down the far side, with a forest opposite. The sun was high in the sky, and the weather was just right. Naruto laid down in the grass, content and comfortable. He looked to the sky to see the butterflies and birds fluttering above. He rolled onto his stomach, careful to not crush any flowers, to watch the animals jumping in and out of the forest.
A large fox appeared at the edge of the wood and crept closer to the still form of Naruto. It sniffed the hand that Naruto held out before curling up at his side. Naruto felt something familiar about this situation, but couldn't grasp what. Naruto just chose to snuggle up to the fox and promptly fell asleep, dreaming of foxes ans snakes fighting.
Naruto awoke once more, however this time it was to a dark grey ceiling. He presumed that it was night time, hence why it was so dark. Strangely, he felt quite comfortable, resting against the hard surface beneath him, something he couldn't quite see restraining his movement...
"Wait... What?! Why can't I move? Where am I?"
Naruto began to struggle, pulling at the restraints in an attempt to get out. He didn't like being restricted and he didn't want to stay there. He felt something he didn't recognise bubbling up inside him. He didn't like it. It made him feel uncomfortable, and the need to get out increased. Naruto fell slack in the restraints as he grew exhausted from struggling to no prevail.
"Minato?" Naruto asked, hoping that he could hear him. "Minato?" He called out once more. He didn't gain a response, only helping to solidify the uncomfortable feeling in his chest. Something at the back of Naruto's mind told him not to shout. Wisely, he obeyed. Naruto stayed laying against the hard surface for quite a while, calling out every now and then. He had no way to measure the time that passed. He had attempted counting, but once he reached thirty-four thousand, six hundred and twenty-four, somehow he lost count. Be having counted that high anyway, he estimated that about 8 hours had passed since he woke up. His stomach agreed with him. The counting helped to calm him down, but it didn't make him forget the questions running through his mind.
The grating of a door against the floor alerted him to someones arrival. Praying it was Minato, somehow he knew it wasn't.
"Well... The dobe is up. What are we doing this time, Orochimaru?" That voice. Naruto knew that voice. He recognised it. It was the same as that person he remembered from the Valley of the End. Sasukat... Sakuse... Sakura... No. It wasn't a girl... He thought, I mean, he was quite feminine, with his duck-butt hair and his smooth face. Sasuke, that was it!
"Well... I thought that we could... test his pain tolerance. We don't know how weak he has become during the time he escaped us. Let's bring him back up to par. Can't have a weak solider to be, can we, Sasuke-kun? Kukukuku..." Orochimaru spoke, taking too much pleasure in naming the torture that Naruto would be put through.
Naruto still couldn't see them yet, as they were hovering over the other side of the room, with the sound of clattering equipment and the chinks of glass. Naruto couldn't turn his head to look at his captors, and didn't want to speak up either. Eventually, the long-haired, feminine shinobi that was Orochimaru came into view.
"Sasuke-kun..." Orochimaru vocalised, "Bring the injection over here. I want to administer it myself..." Sasuke complied with his request. A fairly large needle was visible in the dimly lit room, a dark green liquid inside. "Hello, Naruto-kun... It's been a while. Do you remember me?"
Naruto looked between Orochimaru and the needle repetitively. "N-n-no..." He mumbled out.
"Ah... Too bad. We'll have to reacquaint ourselves, won't we? If you survive, that is!" He said, plunging the needle into Naruto's inner arm, injecting the fluid and sealing the entry mark before it could seep back out. Sasuke and Orochimaru looked on sadistically, as they could visibly see the fluid enter Naruto's blood stream due to the thickened blood vessels.
Naruto couldn't see where he was injected. He just felt an increasing heat on the inside of his elbow. It began to spread, slowly at first, seeping down the rest of his arm and to his fingers. The warmth was almost comforting. Then it got hot. Unbearably so. Naruto began to pant. The heat had reached his shoulder, and then exploded out like a fire. It ran down his legs, expanded over his chest and ran down his other arm. He had to clench his eye's shut as the burning sensation reached them, in fear that if he opened them, they would be melted by the fire that traveled his body. If not for the lack of flickering flames, he could have sworn that he was doused in petrol and lit on fire. His panting increased as the fire seemed to consume his oxygen supply and restricted his airway.
Then it got even worse. A scream tore it's way out of Naruto's lips, his back arched away from the surface beneath him. The fire was nothing compared to this. He could swear that someone had taken a saw and was hacking of his limbs one by one, and then had taken a senbon and had decided to play pin the tail on the donkey in his brain. With another scream that shook the foundations, Naruto finally fell into the blissful land of unconsciousness.
Naruto's Mindscape
Naruto wondered down the halls that was his mind. Along each of the halls were many, many doors. He couldn't count them of these doors were a bright yellow, blinding in contrast to the dim and dreary brown halls. Others were red, some were green, there were a few pink ones, and many orange ones. He could even spot a couple black ones, and that was only from where he stood. There were probably a great many of other doors with many other colours down some of the other hallways. Deciding to open one of the doors, he walked up to the first one on his right. The door was black and looked quite old. On second thought, nearly all the doors he looked at were old and worn. Naruto pushed the door open and stepped inside.
Once his foot entered the room, he was blinded by a bright light for a second, before he was stood in a dark room, not unlike one of the ones he was in before the fire thing. He looked around, walking over to the shelves along one wall, and trying to identify the contents. The light was only bright enough to make out varying shades of grey. Walking away, he took the four steps that lead him to his original position. Looking around, he could see a raised surface, with something on it.
Turning around when the door he didn't notice opened, he saw a boy with black hair walk in, holding a box and a stick thing. He put the box down and opened it to reveal many cylinder shapes. He put a few of these around the room before bellowing out "Katon: Gokyaku no Jutsu", the fire ball lighting the room for a moment, as well as showing the cylinders to be candles. With those lit, they were spread out, and used to light more. Once there was enough light, Naruto looked back to the raised surface, and saw the figure on it to be himself.
"Huh? How am I there?" He wondered.
"Naruto." The intruder spoke. Naruto could now clearly see that it was Sasuke. "This is going to be... fun!" he smirked.
"No! You Teme! Let me go" The Naruto on the surface thrashed against his bonds, a look of horror on his face.
"Ha! Naruto, you really are that dumb, aren't you? Why would I do that when you'd just run to your Hokage and get rid of my only way to power?" Sasuke spoke, moving over to where he put the stick down.
"If you let me go, I won't tell them where this place is! Please! Sasuke! Let me go, you could come back with me! I can help you defeat Ita-" The other Naruto was silenced by a slap. Sasuke stared down at him with a stare so intense, cement would crumble.
"Don't you dare try to think that you are worthy of assisting me to do anything. As if I even need help. I am an Uchiha! Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted out, releasing a single small fire ball from his mouth. The flame engulfed the stick he rose. Unfortunately, it wasn't a stick at all. It was a poker.
The other Naruto thrashed some more, realisation dawning upon his face. The current Naruto froze too. He knew what was going to happen. He was going to be burnt, torched, branded. The poker glowed white hot in Sasuke's hands as he stalked closer to Naruto. He took pleasure is seeing the horror on Naruto's face. The current Naruto ran to try to knock Sasuke off his path, but he fell right through as if he wasn't even there. He tried again, only to yield the same results. Naruto stuck his arm out, trying to grab Sasuke's arm. His hand just faded right through. Naruto felt helpless. He couldn't do anything. He could only watch as Sasuke brought the poker down upon the other him's skin. He could only watch as the other him trashed and screamed in an attempt to get away. He could only stare as Sasuke laughed manically from the pain he gave Naruto. He could only sit back and watch the scene play before him, unable to even comfort the other him.
With one last scream from the other Naruto, the scene ended, and Naruto was back outside the black door, as if nothing had happened. He fell to the ground and cried. He may be a fifteen year old boy, but he cried. He bellowed out, with tears running down his face, banging on the floor before him.
"Why? Why?! Why couldn't I do anything? Did that really happen? Was it a memory? Did Sasuke really do that to me? Why, God-dammit!? What have I done to deserve this!?"
Eventually the sobs lessened, and Naruto fell asleep where he was sat, slumped against the door.
Konoha
"Hokage-sama! You're up!" Shizune said, her voice filled with relief. Minato sat up slowly, a palm resting on his forehead.
"Shizune, Tsunade, what happened?" Minato asked. He could remember that he was seeing Shizune off, and then he remembered that he had a weird dream where Naruto was captured by four people in cloaks, and then he remembered seeing Naruto and Kushina in the mansion. Something there was wrong, and he prayed that all of it was.
"Well, you were seeing Shizune off when you passed out. You were caught in a Genjutsu, and have just woken up. Around seven hours have passed." Tsunade replied.
"And how's Naruto?" Minato asked. Tsunade and Shizune looked at each other before looking away, neither wanting to be the one to break the news to the Hokage.
"Well... You see..." Shizune began. She took a deep breath before plowing on through. "He has been kidnapped..."
"What?!" Minato leapt off the bed he was sat on and began pacing the room. "What do you mean he has been kidnapped? And he hasn't been found yet?" Minato pressed.
"We don't know. The ANBU are looking for clues. He just... Vanished. They lost track of him shortly after you passed out." Shizune spoke once more. Tsunade had chosen to stay quiet in case she angered the Hokage again. She already felt guilty for her last mistake.
"ANBU!" Minato bellowed. An entire squadron landed before him. "I want all the news possible about my son on my desk. Now! And I want him found! Send squads thirteen and fifteen to search my mansion for clues. I want Squads one to four looking for Jiraiya and getting him on the case! Squad six, summon the Konoha Eleven to my office, immediately! Go!"
"Hai! Hokage-sama!" And with that, they all Shunshined (or Harashined in Minato's case) out.
Ten minutes later, a stack of paper appeared next to the desk, with the Hokage sat behind it and the Konoha Eleven before it.
"Hokage-sama, you summoned us?" Sakura spoke. Everyone looked anxious to know what the Hokage wanted after they disappointed him last time.
"Yes, Sakura. You and the rest of the Konoha Eleven are accompanying me to rescue my son."
"What?!" Kiba barked out. The rest were also wondering what the Hokage meant. Hadn't they just rescued him?
"Mind your tone, Inuzuka." Minato said. He was annoyed and upset and wouldn't stand for any insubordination at the moment. "And yes, you all heard me correctly. I was showing Naruto home and he seemed to have settled in. Later on - I am not exactly sure when it was - Naruto was taken by someone and the ANBU and I gave chase. I was put in a Genjutsu and didn't awake till seven hours later, so we're presuming that the incident occurred at around eleven yesterday. I need you all to accompany me in searching for, and resc-" Minato was interrupted by a loud bang from outside.
"What was that?" He said. Minato turned to look out of the window, looking for the source of the explosion. Suddenly, a very recognisable, old and white haired man appeared plastered to the window. "Jiraiya, get your sorry backside in my office immediately!" Jiraiya just squeaked in response before Shunshining inside.
"Hokage-sama, you called?" Jiraiya asked. Amazingly, he didn't look like he was just slammed into a window at all.
"I need you to use the tracking seal we placed on my son when he was in the hospital. I need to find my son!"
Jiraiya pulled the scroll off his back and opened it up. A seal was revealed, to which Jiraiya applied chakra. Minato signaled for the other occupants of the room to move out of the way. The seal released a large map of the Elemental Nations. Currently, there was three red dots visible, all three in Konoha. The red dots were to show where those with the seal were located. Minato, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Naruto all had the seal so they could be found in an emergency.
"Jiraiya, it's missing a dot." Minato said. The Konoha Eleven looked at the map, wondering what it was.
"Hokage-sama? What is this?" Choji asked, munching on a packet of crisps.
"This is a map of the Elemental Nations. Each dot you see is where Jiraiya, Tsunade, Naruto or myself are located." Minato said absentmindedly, he was too focused on looking for the fourth dot. Shikamaru then noticed a faint orange glowing dot north of Hi no Kuni, in Ta no Kuni.
"Hokage-sama? Why are there three red dots and one orange dot?" Shikamaru asked.
"An orange dot? Where?" Jiraiya asked. Shikamaru pointed to Ta no Kuni, where - true to his word - a faint orange glowing dot could be seen. It was flickering and slowly getting fainter. Minato stared at the dot for a moment before leaping into action.
"Jiraiya! Get Tsunade and meet me at the North Gate in the next half hour. Konoha Eleven - pack enough tools for a three week mission, but don't worry much about the rest. North Gate in thirty minutes. Go! ANBU! Call off the search at my mansion and return to regular duties. I want an extra squad to figure out how whoever kidnapped my son got in, and then find a way to prevent it! Alert the council to my absence. I will be gone for a while." Minato yelled out, prompting everyine into action. Each respective party leapt away to fill out their orders before heading to the North Gate.
Once everyone had arrived, the large group set off in pursuit of the orange dot.
"Hokage-sama?" Hinata asked, hopping over the branches to get closer to the Hokage.
"Yes, Hinata?" He replied, glancing back to the Hyuga. Hinata, to his surprise, wasn't fidgeting at all.
"Erm... W-w-why was Na-Naruto-kun's dot orange?"
"The redder the dot is, the stronger their life force. The closer to orange, the closer to death. My son's dot was orange and flickering. That means that my son is in danger. His dot should be red like the rest of ours, but it's not. We need to get to him and fast." Minato replied.
"Erm... Hokage-sama? Does that mean that... that if it stops flickering, and the orange fades... Naruto-kun is..."
"Yes Hinata. If the flickering dot fades out, my son is dead." Minato said. A stray tear wondered out of his eye, trailing down his cheek before falling off his face and onto the foliage behind him. Minato didn't look back once. Darkness descended swiftly, the black, inky sky encasing the previously blue one. No stars were visable as clouds rolled in, hiding all light from view. Minato called a halt to the group, and set up camp for the night. They couldn't travel on a night like this, they could barely see the hand in front of their face, let along incoming branches or other ninjas.
Well... That's it for now! Next update due by the end of the month! Again, sorry for not updating. If you'd like me to remove the "shout outs" send me a message and I'll do so!
As always, please review, follow and favourite!
TFenn