The Jinchuuriki Guardian
Chapter 3
Tsunade paced the floor of one of the many meeting rooms in the Hokage tower. She waited nervously for the reaction of the two elder advisors of Konoha Koharu and Homura. Homura sat in silence as she thoroughly examined the so called note from the Fourth Hokage, claiming that Kimiko had adoption rights to the villages' jinchuuriki. Koharu had his firm gaze fixed on the blonde Sanin.
"So, Mahatori finally returned eh? She's classed as a missing Nin Tsunade; we can't just welcome her back with open arms. Besides, she's still wanted for questioning, we can't trust her," he stated, Tsunade narrowed her eyes at this, she was ready for anything they threw at her.
"Questioning? What on earth for? I agree she should be punished for leaving the village but surely-"
"You obviously aren't aware of her family's dealings Tsunade, her parents were under suspicion of human experimentation and we're almost certain young Mahatori here was also a guinea pig for their tests. When ANBU went to bring them in for questioning, she fled the village and her parents burnt the house down and vanished. I don't know about you but that spells out guilty with a capital g," he cut in, Tsunade glared at the old man before slamming her hands down on the table they were sat at, cracking it.
"Why wasn't any of this in her file?" she demanded, it was then Homura looked up from the letter.
"There was no solid evidence that we could find, only theories that Jiraiya and Minato were trying to piece together. They had their suspicions and so did Sarutobi. Of course with her mothers' talent with the Sharingan, I wouldn't be surprised that the girl had no memories, so yes we had no proof. It wasn't until she lost it after Minato's death that we had something to go on. And I believe this letter is a fake, why would she present this now and not sixteen years ago?" she spoke up.
Tsunade grounded her teeth together and rubbed her temple. She was just about to protest when another voice decided to join in the argument.
"That would be my fault," everyone spun around to see Jiraiya grinning at them from the window ledge.
"This meeting is private Jiraiya, leave now!" Homura yelled as the white haired Toad Sage leapt through onto the floor, his gaze fixed on Tsunade now who was looking hopeful at him.
"But since this is about Kimiko, I'm already involved. So she's back then? It's about time I thought I was talking to a brick wall with that girl," he declared, Homura didn't like this.
"Wait a minute, you've been in contact with her this whole time and you didn't even think to mention this to anyone?" she demanded, Jiraiya frowned at her, folding his arms – his happy mood gone now.
"Of course I was reporting all this to Sarutobi Sensei; it's not my problem if he doesn't involve you in every little tiny decision he has to make. It's only been the last five years anyway, it's not like I've been following her the whole time she's been gone from the village. I've been working on getting her home, in fact if she hadn't have come home by now I was planning on bringing her back by force. We need her now more than ever," he explained seriously.
"That doesn't explain this letter, no one was informed about this," she screamed, slapping the note on the table in frustration, Jiraiya simply nodded.
"No one but me knew about it and I was waiting to see how the case against her parents came out. I would have issued the letter then but they escaped and she left so I decided Naruto would be better off in the orphanage. I would have taken them both in if I had to before you go arguing about leaving Naruto with a twelve year old Genin," he replied firmly. Homura threw her hands up in frustration and jumped up, glaring at Tsunade.
"Fine, do what you want, but she is not to be released until she is medically checked-"
"Which is what my assistant Shizune is doing right now as we speak," Tsunade cut in, fighting the urge to grin at the triumph she was sure she now had.
"And the ANBU have to question her. Then I want her under surveillance for two months; then we have a retrial. We'll alert the head of the clans, you can decide who she lives with, and it's not the jinchuuriki," she shot back before storming out the room. Koharu sighed loudly before getting up and following her. Tsunade let out a low sigh before turning to Jiraiya, a grin now spread on her face.
"Thanks, I owe you one. Now just to figure out whom she could stay with," she said, leaning against the desk. To her surprise though, Jiraiya shook his head frowning in thought.
"We're not in the all clear yet; the elders still want to interrogate her knowing they'll bring up something about her parents. Kimiko knows absolutely nothing about their supposed scheming and she has denied any involvement. If her memories had been tampered with and something does surface, it might not be pretty. Plus on top of that, I'm sure you've noticed the difference in her chakra. She was always telling me, when we met, that she had to get strong enough to protect Naruto. It's like she's done something abnormal to herself. Not exactly a Sasuke case but still… does Naruto know about this?" he asked, Tsunade closed her eyes and nodded her head.
"Yes," she mumbled, "he even found out about Minato being his father. As you probably would have guessed, his reaction didn't exactly go so good,"
"Well how would you react if you were in Naruto's shoes? Minato was my own student and even I don't understand why he sealed the nine tailed fox into his own son. Well I guess he was bound to find out sooner or later. Now, presuming the elders will be happy to release her from the hospital, who are you planning on having her stay with?" he questioned, the slug Sanin simply smirked at this.
"Kakashi; they knew each other back when they were both Genin, I know they didn't particularly get on then but they're now both adults who can be civilised. I gave Shizune the order to start all of the medical tests when they got her to the hospital but now I want to be there before she wakes up so we can talk. No doubt you'll want to be there too am I right?" she asked, turning to her team mate. Jiraiya nodded.
"Of course I want to be there, I want to know what dear little Kimiko got up to for all of these years," he replied, Tsunade smiled.
"Good, Naruto and Kakashi should be with her now, you're welcome to join them but say nothing until I get there. Let me know when she wakes up, I have new paperwork to do," she replied leaving the room. Jiraiya just sighed before he disappeared into smoke.
Over at the Konoha hospital, Naruto was staring at the beeping of the heart monitor Kimiko was attached to whilst Kakashi was leaning against the wall, his "Make out Paradise" book out in his hand. Shizune was drawing several syringes of blood from Kimiko's left arm.
"She won't be out for much longer Naruto, now I've got to get these to the lab and then I'll be right back alright?" she soothed, placing a gloved hand on the teen's shoulder before exiting the rom. Naruto just let out an exasperated sigh and buried his head in his hands, causing Kakashi to chuckle lightly.
"I told you not to get yourself involved in this, I did warn you," he stated, snapping his book shut and making his way over to the bed. Naruto lifted his head and fought the back the urge to glare at his Sensei.
"Why wouldn't I want to know who my father was? And the fact that he did leave me with someone to look after me but the village wouldn't have it. They were too busy hating my guts," he hissed.
"You were a newly sealed jinchuuriki, Kimiko was a twelve year old Genin who barely had any mission experience, was soon to be an orphan herself and had no way of looking after you. The Third must have had his reasons just like Kimiko must have had hers for leaving too. I know this is a lot for you to take in right now Naruto but I'd bet Minato Sensei would be happy you finally knew the truth," he stated, at this Naruto's frustrated look turned into one of shock as he stared stunned at the Copy Nin.
"Minato Sensei?" he asked, Kakashi grinned under his mask and nodded his head.
"That's right; your father was my Jounin Sensei when I was a Genin. The bell test for teamwork was a method I actually got from him and let me tell you, if he found out how you managed to get them from me the last time, I'd bet he'd find that hilarious," he replied, this got a small smile out of Naruto who then turned back to Kimiko's form on the bed, frowning now.
"So how come he done it? Why did he seal the Nine Tailed Fox into me?" he asked quietly, Kakashi sighed at this, knowing this question would eventually come out now that he knew who his father was. He settled for ruffling the boys' hair, much to the blonde's annoyance.
"I really don't know Naruto; all I do know is that he wanted you to be treated like a hero; not the way you grew up. We all failed him there but now look at you! You've grown so much; you're powerful, stronger and wiser. You really have come a long way since that little kid you were had back when I was first training you," he said softly. A groan could be heard as Kimiko slowly opened her right eye.
"Oh man, it's been a while since I've passed out like that. I'm at the hospital right?" she asked no one in particular before her eye fell on Naruto. She let her head dropped, too ashamed to look at him and she was really surprised when he started laughing.
"So, you were meant to be my guardian huh? I take it you knew my parents pretty well then," he declared, a small smile graced Kimiko's lips as she looked at him and sat up, ignoring the spinning room.
"I was blessed to have your father in my life. He was there for me when my best and probably only friend died on a mission. I was particularly close to your mother too. When she was pregnant with you, we would spend hours' baby shopping and decorating the nursery! They were good times. No one expected the fox to show up and ruin everything. As you probably would have guessed by now," she sighed, Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You'll find that Konoha is a very different place to the Konoha you grew up in," he said. Kimiko was about to reply to that when the door burst open causing her to jump off the bed getting into a fighting stance, on her guard - until she then saw who the visitor was.
"Grandpa Jiraiya!" she squealed, running over to him and tackling him into a hug. The toad sage chuckled as he was knocked into the wall behind him.
"It's about time you came home young lady, I was about to go find you and drag you back. Now you owe us a huge explanation," he was trying to sound stern but his grin was letting him down. Kimiko rolled her eye and went back over to sit on her bed whilst Jiraiya joined Naruto and Kakashi at her bedside.
"Yes, I'm sorry about not explaining a lot every time we met, but I was barred from telling outsiders of the Village. I'm strong enough now to be of some use to Konoha, I'm no longer a burden," she answered him, somewhat grinning herself now, until pain flashed through her eye causing her to wince and grab it.
"What happened?" Kakashi asked, leaning forward and slowly prising her hand from her bandage covering the left eye, which now had a large patch of blood seeping through. Kimiko lifted up the bandage and blinked out the fresh blood that was in her eye allowing it to flow freely down her face.
"I had a run in with Itachi, he's after Naruto. Him and his partner; who I never got a name. I won't let them get him," she declared as Kakashi got a wipe out of the cupboard next to her bed and began cleaning around her eye.
"Don't you think we already know about the Akatsuki's plans? Itachi Uchiha and his partner Kisame; came after Naruto three years ago. He's in safe hands Kimi. Now before you go into detail about exactly what you've been up to, I need to tell you what's going to happen once you've been let out of here," a new voice called from the doorway. Everyone looked up to see Tsunade just as Shizune appeared her too.
"Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto declared; the Hokage glared playfully at him before entering the room, dragging another chair across to the bed.
"Shizune, what have you found?" she asked looking over at her assistant, everyone's eyes fell on the dark haired medical ninja.
"Well, Kimiko's physically and mentally fine other than that eye wound of hers. No matter how much we try to heal it, it just opens up again. That and the second chakra she now possesses," Shizune reported, Tsunade frowned knowingly before her attention was turned to Kimiko
"You say Itachi done that to your eye?" she asked, the young girl jumped slightly but nodded.
"Yes, on my way to Konoha, about a week from here. With my Sharingan I somehow read into his memories against his will. He didn't like that so he tried to take out my eye. Literally," she answered, Tsunade scowled slightly before leaning over and placing her hand over Kimiko's eye.
"I see what he's done, yes only Itachi Uchiha would do that against a Sharingan wielder. I don't understand why he didn't try and take out the other eye too," she stated, Kimiko bit her lip at this.
"I'm only able to have Sharingan in one eye. My left one ironically enough, I'm guessing it's because I'm a half-breed," she sighed, glancing over at Kakashi before Tsunade pulled her face back towards her own to continue analysing the wound.
"Hm, that is an interesting theory. Of course I think you're the first half blood Uchiha Kimiko so I guess anything could be true. Now I kneed to know the truth alright, no skipping major details on me. What happened to you? What's this second Chakra that we can all sense?" she stated seriously now as everyone leaned in, eyes fell to the brown haired girl now. Kimiko sighed quite loudly.
"After leaving Konoha, I found a small village that allowed me to live there. The elder monk there sealed a demon into me. I was then trained for twelve years hidden away in a temple," she admitted, Jiraiya widened his eyes at this and grabbed the top of her arms.
"Are you out of your mind? This is your vow to get stronger? Turn yourself into a Jinchuuriki? If you needed to get stronger that bad you should have sought me out and I'd have trained you. Do you have any idea what you've done?" he yelled, Kimiko growled at him.
"So it's alright for Minato to turn Naruto into a Jinchuuriki but it's not alright for me to save an entire village by becoming one. I've been trained to communicate with my bijou and now I'm actually strong enough to help Naruto control the Kyuubi! Like it or not the Akatsuki has collected more than just the one tailed Jinchuuriki. You may not agree but Naruto is going to need the power of the Kyuubi to destroy the Akatsuki. The power of a Jinchuuriki is amazing and you now have two on Konoha's side!" she screamed.
"Ok calm down the pair of you. Kimiko, I think it's a bit rash to have gone down that road but I think if what you're saying is true than your abilities would become useful against the Akatsuki and I'm sure Naruto would benefit from the training you're offering. I still think you should have thought about what you were doing, being a Jinchuuriki isn't child's play; people will be out looking for you. You will be targeted probably for the rest of your life," Tsunade sighed, prising Jiraiya from Kimiko.
"I don't care, I'm strong enough to do the job I was asked to do 16 years ago, and that's all I'm bothered about," Kimiko huffed whilst Jiraiya glared at her, Kakashi stared at her in shock whilst Naruto just looked dumbfound.
"You became a Jinchuuriki just to protect me? Why? What's so special about having a demon stuck inside you? Having the Nine Tailed Fox in me has ruined my life! What could you possibly want with a life like that?" he demanded, everyone remained quiet whilst Kimiko sighed.
"Look, yes being a Jinchuuriki could be a curse, but I see it as a great way of protecting the people you love. I believe that's why your father sealed the fox inside of you. I believe that he knew you could do great things with its power. And from what I heard, you have certainly have become quite a legend already. People watched you in the Chunin Exams from my village, your battles against Orochimaru," she turned to Jiraiya, expecting his shocked face, "yes I have my contacts too. They figured it was good for me to know about other well known Jinchuuriki's whilst I was training. Little did they know about my relationship with Naruto; so I was able to get some relief that he was doing ok," she replied. Naruto looked away from Kimiko.
"I guess I never thought of that…" he muttered, Kimiko leaned over and grabbed his hand, smiling.
"From the way you were brought up I'm not surprised you never thought of that. I knew straight away when I was trying to get access to you how the village were going to treat you. I guess I wasn't strong enough for you. But I am now and I wish to make it up," she replied sadly, Naruto lightly punched her shoulder.
"Stop apologising would ya? I forgive you, least you're here now right?" He laughed, Kimiko just grinned at this.
"Yup, I'm not going anywhere this time," she replied.
"I know you're not because you'll be under supervision for the next two months at least," Tsunade cut in, she was smiling but making it serious. She didn't have time for this reunion; she still had her stack of paperwork to get back to.
"What?" Kimiko cried glaring at Tsunade.
"You're technically a missing Nin Kimiko, as nice as your intentions where I have to treat you like a returning missing Nin. And the least you have to do is have two months under constant supervision," Kimiko sighed; she was expecting this.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll still be allowed to see Naruto right?" she asked, Tsunade nodded.
"Yes, but the agreement was you're not to live with him, yet. I've decided that Kakashi should be the one to take you in-"
"What?" both Kakashi and Kimiko yelled in unison before staring at each other, Jiraiya grinned knowing exactly the reaction the pair would make.
"Lady Tsunade, I must insist, I don't think this arrangement would work. I have no room in my apartment for Kimiko," Kakashi protested
"No buts Kakashi, she's to stay with you. You're both adults now, you can be civilised. I will be placing Kimiko on your team anyway so it'll be a good way to get to know each other properly. Since she's still technically a Genin, she and Naruto can enter the Chunin exams together. Naruto here has been working on his own Jutsu, maybe you can train together as soon as ANBU are done with you," Tsunade said, turning to Kimiko.
"What do the ANBU want with me?" Kimiko asked fearfully, Tsunade sighed.
"It's part of the process for a returning missing Nin, supervision and ANBU interrogation. You'll be under hypnotism anyway so you won't remember a thing," she stated, Kimiko nodded.
"Don't make them ask me what village I was trained at, I can't tell anyone that," she stated, Kakashi frowned.
"Why not?" he demanded, Kimiko undone her gloved hand and presented her palm, on it was a circular seal, the word "Village" inscribed in the middle which was crossed out.
"Not allowed, it was part of the deal of making me a Jinchuuriki. No one knew about me becoming one, I agreed if I wouldn't tell anyone who the village was. To make sure I kept my side of the bargain, I was branded. Besides the village got wiped out about five years ago by the Akatsuki so it's not like it matters anymore," she replied, Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged looks.
"I'll be overseeing the questioning, so I'll make sure they ask the correct questions. Until then, you're to rest here tonight, after you're done with the ANBU, I'll take you to Kakashi's. Is that alright Tsunade?" Jiraiya asked; Tsunade nodded.
"Yes, it'll give Kakashi time to arrange some furniture. Alright everyone we'll leave Kimiko alone now, she has a big day ahead of her and heaven knows I have a tonne of new paperwork now. Thanks kid," she moaned playfully, Kimiko chuckled at this.
"I'm sorry Lady Tsunade, I'll gladly help out after I'm done tomorrow if you want," she offered, Tsunade shook her head and grinned.
"It's alright; it's nothing I can't handle. It's worth it to see you safe and sound back where you belong," she replied, getting up and starting towards the door.
"Hey Kimiko, if you're up for it, we can go for ramen tomorrow night, to celebrate uh, you being back," Naruto offered, Kimiko smiled.
"I haven't had ramen for years, I'd love to have ramen with you, is Ichiraku still here? I used to go all the time with your father, he practically lived at that place when Kushina was on missions," she answered.
"Like father like son," Kakashi muttered, Naruto simply beamed.
"Of course it's still there! It's the best place ever! Alright it's settled-"
"Hey if I'm stuck babysitting you, you'll have to check with me first before you start arranging dinner dates," Kakashi interjected, Kimiko groaned.
"They're not dates, and you're welcome to come too Kakashi," she sighed, Naruto nodded his head over enthusiastically taking this as another opportunity to try and look under his mask whilst Kakashi was shaking his head.
"I don't know Kimi-"
"I'll be happy to join them for ramen Kakashi, she'll be in safe hands," Jiraiya thought he'd better cut the copy Nin some slack. Kakashi let out a sigh whilst Kimiko smirked.
"Ah, it's the thought of us seeing what's under the mask; huh Kakashi? I was right, you haven't changed one bit! Well I'm living with you now so you'll hafta show me what's under there!" she declared.
"Don't count on it," Kakashi shot back glaring at her.
"Well I hate to break up the love fest but I'm out of here, I'll see you tomorrow Kimiko," Tsunade stated before leaving with Shizune following, Kakashi got up himself.
"I have an apartment to fix up. I'll see you tomorrow," he stated before turning to Naruto, "your training is still on tomorrow. I'll see you at the grounds at eight am," he added before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Eh, I'll get there at ten," Naruto waved his hand, Kimiko giggled at this. Naruto and Jiraiya stayed a while longer before being told they had to leave, Naruto reminding Kimiko about their ramen the next day. Naruto returned to his apartment a lot happier now than he had been for a long time. Things were looking up, he just knew it!
