Chapter III:

Uzumaki and Kaguya

When Kakashi got to the Hokage Tower, the Sandaime's secretary said he was in a reunion with his advisers Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu and asked for him to wait.

Kakashi was tempted to break the door and barge in the office nonetheless, but decided he should calm himself down at least a little before questioning the Hokage, what if he had a good reason for that? So he just asked the secretary to warn Hokage-same that he needed to speak urgently with him about something involving Uzumaki Naruto.

Immediately after she complied, Kakashi was called to the office.

A little earlier...

Sarutobi Hiruzen was preparing himself for a reunion he most assuredly wasn't in the mood of having even if he knew it was unavoidable; to be honest, this reunion was supposed to have happened yesterday, but he managed to postpone it until today and that was the best he could do.

The subject of the discussion in itself wasn't usually something unpleasant, but Hiruzen was sure this time he would end up with a lot of headache after it was all done. The subject was Naruto.

After he finished his paperwork for the day, which for the first time in his life he was grateful for (though he would never admit it out loud) because it allowed him to postpone the meeting for a few more hours, Sarutobi sighed, pulled his favourite pipe, put his favourite brand of smoke in it, sat in the most comfortable position he could find in the chair, ordered some green tea for the reunion and finally allowed his council to enter in the room so they could finally discuss the future of an Uzumaki Naruto who may no longer be considered Uzumaki.

"Don't waste our time, Hiruzen", was the first thing his old team mate Homura said when he entered the office, "You know as well as we do that we have more important matters to attend to than discussing a Genin's clan allegiance".

Sarutobi let a frustrated sigh escape his mouth after hearing that. His friend wasn't usually like that, but sometimes he ended up in a terrible mood, which was specially common when they were going to discuss something Hiruzen wanted to avoid, like this reunion.

"He's right, Sarutobi", said the old woman who was another old team mates of his, "Even if this meeting is about such a valuable asset to our village like the Jinchuuriki, we are still responsible for many other roles in the Village, like supervising our Economy and the Civilian's Quality of Life. Even though we all know this is something you would rather not deal with, it was still terribly rude of you to make us wait for so many hours in the waiting room".

After sighing once more, Sarutobi Hiruzen replied:

"I'm sorry for making you wait, but this is something that will only upset me - and by extension you - and which I simply don't believe will have an effect in anything".

"You can't know that, Hiruzen!", retorted Homura, "We're talking about a bastard offspring from the Kaguya in our midst"!

"I will NOT have you talking about Naruto like that!", reprimanded the 'God of Shinobi' in such a frosty voice you could almost swear it was snowing there, "You two know very well who his parents are and the sacrifice they made for Konoha! I would kill anyone who disrespected their sacrifice, even my friends! In fact, right now I have half a mind of taking this pipe in my mouth and throwing it through your throat in such a way that it would pierce your brain. And you know I would hit the target".

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, I phrased it wrong. I meant no disrespect towards their heroism, what I intended to say was that we have a child that has the blood of this extinguished clan which was never claimed by them", bowed Homura, not very troubled by the death threat from his old friend (even if he knew Hiruzen would be able to do that) because he agreed that the way the words came out was highly disrespectful towards the Yondaime Hokage and his wife's sacrifice, a fact that if it was truly what he meant, this punishment could even be considered light.

"You're excused, my friend, just be careful to not let your bad mood result in such misunderstandings again", nodded Hiruzen, knowing that what Homura said now was exactly what he meant and not the blasphemous remark he made before, "That been said, I still am not sure I know what the problem is, so, please, could you tell me what worries you that much about it"?

"While it is indeed true that the... Uzumaki child being a Kaguya isn't a problem in itself, what worries me is how Kiri will react when they discover that there's still at least one survivor of the Kaguya, because the battle and the losses in it are still fresh in their mind and they did lose some ninjas during it".

"So, basically, you're afraid Kiri will resent us for 'givinig asylum' to a member of the Kaguya and that this would make our relations with the Country of Water even more unstable"?

"Basically yes, Hiruzen", told Homura, this time with his temper a little bit more controlled.

"I don't think you need to worry about that, Homura. The Kaguya were an independent clan that didn't follow the orders of anyone so we could just say it was a decision the clan took on their own accord and that we had nothing to do with that, which is true", replied the Hokage, much more patiently now, "Or we could just make it another S-rank secret. Naruto already has so many around him another wouldn't really change anything. Besides, we could use it as a fail-safe in case someone decided to investigate about him, this way potential spies would get away with something but the things we actually want to hide wouldn't be found out".

"This... could actually work", considered Koharu, "Of course it isn't perfect yet, but we could explore these options. Indeed, a 'bait' of sorts could be very useful, we just need to mould it better but"...

"Yes this sounds like a good idea, Hiruzen", agreed Homura, "If we"...

"Hokage-sama, Hatake Kakashi claims he has something urgent to speak with you", told the Secretary through the intercom, "It seems to involve Uzumaki Naruto".

"Oh, it seems everyone wants to speak about Naruto with me today", chuckled Sarutobi, "Send him up, we can talk with him now".

"So, Homura and Koharu, hold your suggestions for a bit, I'm sure Kakashi-kun will be able to give some valuable insight".

"Yes, Hokage-sama", answered both advisers at the same time.

After waiting for a few moments, the door was knocked and the Sandaime said "You may enter".

"Good evening Hokage-sama, Mitokado-sama, Utatane-sama", bowed Kakashi, who waited for the Hokage's permission to speak.

"What is the problem Kakashi-kun? You said it was urgent", allowed the Hokage.

"Sir, I was talking with my potential students when a most serious matter was brought to my attention", began the youngest ninja in the room, "Sir, it seems our genin aren't learning about the Uzumaki".

"Are you sure?", frowned Sarutobi and his advisers.

"Yes sir, when we were presenting ourselves, Uzumaki Naruto said one of his wishes was to learn more about his clan. It was then that Uchiha Sasuke said something I thought strange: he said there wasn't any Uzumaki Clan".

At that, the Hokage and his advisers frowned even more and Kakashi continued:

"And then, to my complete surprise, when I mentioned our Eternal Alliance, neither of the three seemed to know what I was talking about. But only when Haruno Sakura told me that neither the teachers nor the textbooks said anything about it I decided to come and warn you about this most serious lack of information".

The room was silent. Uzushio and specially the Uzumaki had being the greatest allies of Konoha through the whole history of the village, until the day their village was destroyed and their members scattered across the word. The failure in protecting Uzushio was still a sore point for the older ninjas in Konoha, but it was an important reminder of the things they could lose in this job and how fiercely they should protect those important to them, not to mention an example of what could happen in a battlefield because of a tactical error, for it was a tactical error that made Konoha get to Uzushio too late to save them.

If the Uzumaki and Uzushio were forgotten, the ninjas in Konoha wouldn't learn how they should always have at least two backup plans in a war in the case the main plan failed or took too long to be completed, or how alliances are important in the ninja world because after Uzushio's destruction Konoha almost lost the war and only survived because of luck.

"This is indeed a really urgent matter, don't you agree, my friends?", contemplated Hiruzen, turning to his advisers.

"Yes, Hokage-sama", said both in unison.

"It seems our discussion about Naruto's ties with the Kaguya will have to wait a little, don't you think so, Homura, Koharu"?

"Yes, Hokage-sama", said both in unison once again.

If they couldn't even solve this issue with Naruto's Uzumaki side, how could they solve the issue with his Kaguya side? One clan at a time. And even if they tried to deal with the Kaguya matter now they wouldn't be able to concentrate on it due to the revolt they were feeling about this omission of such an important part of the ninjas' formation.

Sarutobi called his secretary through the intercom and ordered her to reschedule his next appointments because an urgent matter came to his attention and told her to summon the publisher responsible for the Academy textbooks for a discussion immediately.

"Koharu, Homura, we will decided what to do with Naruto's ties with the Kaguya at a latter date after I solve this issue with the Uzumaki. Kakashi-kun, if Naruto joins your team before this indefinite date, I will want you in the reunion as well for your input will surely be useful".

"Yes, Hokage-sama!", told the three of them.

"Also, Kakahi-kun, you may tell Naruto a little about the Uzumaki, but I'll leave what to your discretion".

"Yes, Sir"!

"You're all dismissed".

And they left.

After puffing his pipe a little, Hiruzen sighed and massaged his temples. He knew he would have a headache after that meeting, he just didn't imagine the reason or the severity of it before.

"Now, to wait Haruno-san to get here".

And now, turning back the time back to just after Kakashi leaving Team 7 in the rooftop...

There was an awkward silence after Kakashi left.

No one knew what to say after the revelations the jounin made. Sasuke didn't seem like he wanted to say anything, but he also didn't leave his spot.

The truth is that Sasuke was starting to sympathize a little with the Dead-last, now that he knew the idiot didn't just mention a clan in another attempt at calling attention to himself like he used to do in the Academy. And by the way their potential sensei reacted when the Pink Annoyance told him they never heard about it, it was supposed to be quite a respected clan. Maybe in the Uchiha Library they had something...? No, those two were just obstacles in his path to kill Itachi.

"... Sooo...", 'pinkie' broke the silence, "an Eternal Alliance, eh"?

"Yeah...", told the idiot, still in shock. The three fell in a uncomfortable silence again.

"Did you mean the Uzumaki when you said you would like to know more about your clan, Naruto?", tried again the fangirl.

"No, I didn't even know there was an Uzumaki Clan before, I was talking about the Kaguya".

"Kaguya? Never heard about it", admitted the pink-girl.

"Never did I before I discovered I was one of them", confessed the imbecile. How he could not know about his clan?, "But it probably isn't so surprising, considering the Kaguya were killed by Kiri".

What? So he wasn't the only heir of a dead clan? This made Sasuke feel some kind of kinship with the other boy, maybe they could... ? No, he was a Lone Wolf, an Avenger, he shouldn't let stupid things like feelings or friendship get in the way of his obsession...

"And now I discover I'm from another forgotten clan", snorted Naruto in a self-deprecating manner, "Heh, it's just my luck"...

… But again, he wouldn't kill ITachi today so maybe he could help another fellow dead-clan-heir to find something about himself. Besides, if they were going to be a team maybe they should work together to take the most out of the training... Yes, perhaps they could even help him kill the bastard in the future, after all He could very well create an organization full of canon fodder and it would be a waste of Sasuke's energy to fight the endless waves of meat shields Itachi would send to weaken him before their Final Battle, so this way he could save his powers to kill the traitor. Yeah, he sould just keep telling himself that...

"The... Library of my clan may have something on the Uzumaki and Kaguya", suggested Sasuke suddenly.

The other two stared at him, making him uncomfortable. He knew he shouldn't have opened his mouth, but he already did. What could he do? If he was in the idiot's... no, Naruto's place he would feel the same way.

"Are you... offering to help me, bastard?", Naruto asked for confirmation.

"Don't insult Sasuke like that, idiot", said Sakura with no real intention of scolding him. It was probably just out of habit she did it.

"... Well... not really...", stammered Sasuke, disparately trying to maintain his image of cold and uncaring lone wolf and failing abysmally, "It's just... we're going to be team mates, which means we will fight together... and if you end up discovering some technique from your clans, you won't get in my way... Yeah, I'm just doing it so you won't become a liability in the long run, that's it, I'm not offering my library so you can research about your clans because I can imagine I would feel the same as you, no, not at all".

Naruto just stared at Sasuke. Sakura was just turning her head between the two and trying to make sense of Sasuke's words, when Naruto smirked at him and said:

"How did you become a ninja by lying so badly, Sasuke"?

"I-idiot, I'm not lying or anything! I'm just making sure you won't kill us all"!

"Suuure you do!", teased Naruto, "I didn't know I was so awesome even you would feel like that about me, Sasuke"!

"Shut up! Are you coming with me or not!", replied Sasuke, his cheeks red.

It was then that Sakura (mis-)understood everything and flew to the floor with such a massive nosebleed that looked like she had just being affected by the Sexy no Jutsu.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stared at her as she twitched with a happy, dreamy and scary grin in her face.

"Wow, I didn't know she was such a big of a pervert!", finally remarked Naruto after spending a few minutes staring at the perverted smile in Sakura-chan's face...


Author's notes:

12/03/2012: And... CUT! That's it for the third chapter. Sorry, I couldn't resist making the yaoi joke in the final of the chapter after making Sasuke act like such a Tsundere, but those who don't like NaruSasu, don't worry, this is not going anywhere except as a possible running gag. Those who like NaruSasu, I'm sorry but I'll just be using this as nothing else other than a joke.

Now, about this chapter: I intended to make this chapter a little longer but when I got to Naruto's remark I just knew the chapter should end there.