"So that's the latest?" a hushed voice asked, sounding through the thick darkness.
"They won't be moving for a while, I guess you'll have approximately two to three years to prepare and find his body, yes that's the latest. Are you sure that you can go through with the plan at that time, if your ties are too strong it might become a problem,"
"Yes, I'm sure I can do it," the first person answered.
"Well that's good news, why did that baka have to hide the body so damn well," a third voice said, referring to the second person's statement.
"Probably so no one could steal," the second voice said before it was interrupted by a knock on the front door. "Drop the jutsus, no point anymore; it's the kage that's here. The main intelligence was given to you anyway and we covered our plan so you know what's planned for the future."
"So, the marriage is planned to be in a few weeks, how does it feel?" Kai asked as he took a sip of the liquid within the saucer he held.
"Not good, I'm far too young to be married! And I have this nasty feeling in my gut,"
"Here, just have some sake, it'll help you," Kai offered his cousin the jug from which he just poured some more of the clear liquid onto his saucer.
"No thanks, it will just cloud my thoughts and dull my senses. I can't understand why you are drinking it, for one you're underage and secondly it will dull your senses, what if you become drunk and you need to defend yourself, or on an intelligence mission where you slip and say something than endanger the whole thing?" Naruto accused.
"Spot on Naruto, what if that would happen? That's no good, therefore I need to get used to have alcohol in my body, how I move with it coursing through my veins, how to resist to say stupid things while inebriated, that's what this is about. I'm conditioning my body to alcohol, the more experience you have with it the less of a poison it becomes to the body as it slowly accustoms. In other words, this is training. If I can outlast my enemy in drinking there is no telling how much he may accidentally tell me, instead of the opposite. Drinking is a time when people bond and tell stories, sometimes very valuable stories." Kai explained to his cousin while occasionally taking a sip from the saucer and pouring himself another one.
Naruto huffed as he stared at his cousin as he drank of his water, drinking wasn't something Naruto had in his future plans to start taking up. Thinking about it Naruto thought about how lucky he was that only got a minor perverseness from being around Jiraiya for the majority of his life. Kai had seemingly adopted several of his teachers' bad habits. 'Luckily niisan isn't writing perverted books… yet' Naruto thought as he eyed the orange book visible through his cousin's kunai holster fastened to the right thigh.
In an unexpected action Kai jumped from his seat, throwing himself in a direction straight behind him, "Haku-chan!"
Naruto turned around and saw Haku just a few yards away, smoothly sidestepping his cousin. 'How could he sense her?' Naruto questioned as he counted the bottles on the counter by Kai's seat, five in total, 'not even I sensed her,'
"Hello Haku-chan," Naruto greeted the girl cheerily, hiding his morose mood.
"Hello Naruto-kun, Kai-san," the Kiri kunoichi greeted as she sat down on Kai's seat.
"Haku-chan, how mean," Kai wailed as he stood up from the ground, dusting off himself. To his dismay he was pointedly ignored by the girl as she conversed happily with his cousin. Seeing this he made quick retreat outside the stand. 'Hehe, now Naruto will have to pay for the sake,'
"Jiraiya, Tsunade," the Sandaime acknowledged as he watched his old students step through the door to his office. "As you both know I'm old now, far too old to be sitting in my current position,"
The two members of the sannin knew where this was heading, not in the direction they would like it to go. Soon he would ask any of them to take his seat as hokage.
"It is high time that I chose a successor, but until now I haven't been able to find a suitable one within the borders of Konoha," the Hokage continued.
"I'm sorry Sarutobi-sensei but I can't be Hokage, that's too much responsibility, besides I'm out of my prime," Jiraiya said, "Can't you take Yondaime's student, that Kakashi brat as the Godaime?"
"No, even if he have some of the prerequisites that's needed to become the Hokage he just doesn't have the spirit to be one," the Hokage stated 'also he's constantly late,'
"It'll have to be one of you; I know that you as well are past your primes; however your still strong and most importantly you're well-known throughout the lands."
"Sensei, I can also not accept your offer, the burden of a Hokage is too much and I've lost too many because of that cursed title," Tsunade said as she pointed to the hat that the Sandaime wore.
"Please, I only ask for this because of the welfare of this village, you will only be a temporary kage while the true successor fulfills his training to a level where he can wear the burden of the hat," the Sandaime pleaded.
"So who is the one, you have in mind?" Jiraiya asked, suddenly interested, already partly knowing who the Hokage thought to fill his place.
After a lengthy explanation and some chocking revelations from the Sandaime, Tsunade and Jiraiya understood his reasoning. Reluctantly Tsunade accepted that she would take the position of Hokage while the chosen successor still trained. In just two days she would be announced as the Godaime Hokage of Konoha.
A shocked Jiraiya left the Hokage's office, the news of the need of a Godaime wasn't surprising; actually Konoha had been in need of a Godaime ever since the Yondaime sacrificed himself. It was the other information that the Sandaime gave him that surprised him. 'It seems that he still has some tricks up his sleeve, I didn't know he knew about our special mission.' Jiraiya said to himself as he made his way down the stairs. 'But Tsunade as the Hokage, who would've thought that, must be something special if she agreed, albeit reluctantly, to take the hat.'
"Four dragons, spawned out the spiral. The noble white dragon will walk down a road in the shadows, its ambition plunging the world into darkness, the trusted golden dragon will betray the trust it has received, mortally betraying the one who trusts it. The raging red dragon has the power to rule the world, driven y demonic power, strengthening him. The green tranquil dragon can calm them all, bringing an era of peace unless its darkness sets it claws firmly within it, devouring all dragons," the man recited from the aged scroll held in his hands. 'The "Uzumaki" cousins have revealed themselves, but who is the fourth dragon?' he mused in the darkness, his red eyes scrutinizing the text, as if a lead would jump out from it.
A group of twenty persons, male and female walked through the great gates of Konoha, quickly gaining the attention of the villagers that they passed by. Not only was it because the group was, with only one exception, only old people, no it was of the Hitai-ate they wore, adorning the symbol of Sunagakure.
"Temari-san, we expect you to honor all the requests that either the council of Konoha has or the requests of your future husband. You should know that this is vital for future peace between our nations," one of the women in the group said to the only young person with them, a girl who appeared to be in her mid-teens with sandy-blonde hair put in four pigtails.
"Yes elder," the girl said, her voice a dead monotone.
The older woman was about to continue when a yellow and blue blur passed by in front of them, standing still for only a second before he jumped away again. Just a moment after the boy left the ground another boy appeared, his left fist deep in the earth on the spot where the blond boy stood, his right hand holding a long staff with one end covered in a bag.
"Damn, I missed," the dark haired boy muttered just loud enough for the Suna-nin to register what he said, a second later he was gone from their sight.
"That was most… unusual," one of the males of the Suna group said as he looked into the direction where the two boys had disappeared. A sudden rumbling stopped all replies as the ground in front of them started to violently shake, only to explode in all directions, sending earth covering the group from Suna and leaving a deep crater in the road.
"Hokage-same, I've discovered something that you should take part of before what the councils have decided shall take place in a few months actually takes place," Kai said to the Hokage as he bowed before the older man.
"What is this information you speak of Uzumaki-san?"
"My cousin's clan laws," Kai said.
"What about them?" the Hokage asked. Silence was his answer as he was handed an aged scroll. Carefully he unfolded it and started to read through it. After several silent minutes he found what the boy sitting in front of him talked about. "I understand Kai-kun, but this will take some drastic measures,"
"I understand, but I think it would be for the best anyway. However I cannot allow him to be the only one to take up the seat," Kai said, "That was all Hokage-sama, I trust you will make the best decision in this matter as this is fully in your hands,"
The Sandaime silently puffed on his pipe, 'Just what game are you playing Kai? What are your reasons?'
The council of Konoha stared at their Suna counterpart with a look of distaste; they had expected the Suna council to at least show up cleaned for this important meeting. After all this concerned the fate of Suna post their latest conflict. But now standing before them was a council that was covered in dirt.
"So what is the reason why you show up here dirty?" the woman sitting on the Hokage's left side questioned the council.
"Actually that could be explained by me," a voice said coming from the windowsill above the Hokage. Standing there was the same boy that had appeared in front of the Suna group just a few minutes ago. The boy jumped down from the window, dragging the body of an unconscious blond with his left hand while holding the staff they had seen earlier in his right hand.
"Then explain Uzumaki," the man on the Hokage's right ordered.
The boy clenched his teeth and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly before he spoke, "I was shaking my cousin who attempted to escape, it tried to knock him out since he was standing still at the moment and was seemingly unaware of my proximity. I tried to exploit this, however he managed to notice me at the last moment thus I missed as he escaped. I'm sorry for sending the road flying at you, but my cousin's escape was essential to prevent for this meeting to take place."
"You're excused Uzumaki-san, you can leave your cousin with us," the man said. A second later the boy was gone in a swirl of sakura petals.
"This seems to be a suitable match, don't you think Hokage-sama, if it turns out that she was sent here to assassinate her husband then it won't be any major loss. Considering that their Kazekage is still missing she holds no political value so she can be used as an example then," the woman on the Sandaime's left whispered to the Sandaime. The Sandaime's face contorted in disgust at the morbid idea for less than a second but he quickly adopted a neutral face. The Hokage looked at the girl and he saw how she anxiously moved her legs and arms and the fear in her eyes. What the man had described wasn't something unusual, it had happened more than the amount of successful arrangements. Sometimes the new arrival was publicly executed even before he or she was married, just to announce how much stronger a village was.
Naruto started to regain his consciousness and saw that he was within the council chambers, lying on the floor. 'So he managed to get me then,' he concluded. He heard a discussion, something about a tribute to Konoha, for the damage made to the village and its inhabitants.
As soon as he heard the discussion end he heard the Hokage's clear voice cut through the chamber, "Then who is for this agreement and thus the marriage of Uzumaki Naruto and Sabaku no Temari?" there was a moments pause before he spoke again, "No one disagrees?" he heard the Hokage question, "Then I declare it is decided, in three weeks time the wedding shall take place here in Konoha."
Low murmurs was all Naruto heard as the sounds of feet walking on the floor in the direction of the exit. As he say up Naruto noticed that he and the Hokage was now alone in the chambers. He watched in silence as the Hokage walked to the opened doors and took hold of them, closing them. After they were closed Naruto watched as the Sandaime applied a seal that would stop any sound to leave the chambers.
"You should know that your cousin have found a way for you, Uzumaki Naruto, to be excused from marrying the girl," the Sandaime said as he walked towards the smaller row in the council chamber which Naruto recalled as always being empty when he observed the council meetings from his hiding place, the layer of dust upon the row was a proof of that it had been unused for a long time.
"You mean I don't have to get married to this girl?" Naruto asked brashly.
"Namikaze-kun, this row bears great significance for the council of Konoha, unknown to many the ones who sat here were the true rulers of the council, they were the ones to support the Hokage in almost any matter for the greater good of Konoha. They were the shadows of the Hokage, trusted to protect him in his times of need. I believe you know what I speak of." The Sandaime continued, ignoring the blond's earlier question..
Naruto just nodded at the Hokage, "Did you just call me Namikaze, Hokage-sama?"
"Indeed Naruto-kun," the Sandaime said while he lit his pipe and took a long breath from it, savoring the taste. "My will is that you take the seat as the Namikaze clan leader for the next meeting, something that's scheduled tomorrow afternoon. You will no longer have the protection of having the name of your mother, and by default your cousin will lose this as well, but I think that you would prefer avoiding the marriage. However before I can allow you to take the seat of your clan within these chambers you and your cousin must pass a test; if you fail you will be married as it was decided by the council today."
"Why does Kai-oniisan have to take the test as well?"
"As I said, this matter involves him as well, if you are revealed, then he is to be revealed, otherwise it will be too suspicious. Be at training ground seven at dawn tomorrow, there you will be tested if you are worthy, I look forward to it," the Hokage said as he walked out of the chamber, leaving Naruto alone within the room, or at least Naruto thought so.
"So, are you going to accept his offer?" came the voice of his cousin, surprising him.
"Oniisan? How did you get here without the Hokage noticing?" Naruto questioned.
"I didn't get here without him noticing, he knew I was here all along,"
"Naruto, Kai," the Hokage acknowledged the two boys that stood before him in the crisp morning air of Konoha. "Your test will be that of combat, if you can manage to beat one of our most elite Jōnin you will receive the rank of Jōnin,"
"So who are we going to beat?" Naruto asked confidently.
"He should be here any moment now, I told him to be here two hours ago." As if it had been a cue a cloud of smoke erupted beside the Hokage, dissipating quickly revealing a rather tall man with spiky silver hair, his hitai-are covering his left eye.
"Yo," the man greeted the boys and the Hokage, "These are the brats that I should show up Hokage-sama?" he questioned upon seeing the boys. From his assessment they were still at the same level as when he had seen them at the exams, the blond seemed to be a high chūnin while the older boy seemed to be high genin, though illogical seeing the clear age difference that was between them. But as he himself having been far better than his peers at that age Kakashi shrugged it off, at the age of the blond boy he had already become Jōnin.
"We'll see about that 'Copy ninja', do not misjudge us," Kai said, his voice a deep monotone. The Hokage stood in the background observing the word exchange, Kakashi didn't know about the role the two boys had played during the invasion, only he, the Mizukage and the Sannin knew of their involvement in the battle.
"Hatake Kakashi, are you ready?" the Hokage questioned, interrupting any further discussion. Seeing a nod he continued, "Naruto and Kai, are you ready?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama," the replied in unison.
"Then begin!" as he said that the Hokage jumped back, landing beside his two old students as they stood in on of the trees overlooking the training grounds. "You will be their judge as well; if they fail then everything will proceed as the council has planned it.
The two boys both took a quick jump backwards while they put their hands in the ram seal and started to focus their chakra to six points. As soon as the chakra had assembled there it felt as a great weight was lifted of them as chakra started to course through their bodies, enough for the spectators to see a faint layer of chakra cover them for an instant before it receded.
As Kakashi watched the two boys who now had an alarming amount of chakra at their disposal, even more chakra than he himself had, he realized that he would probably need to take them seriously. He moved his hand to his Hitai-ate and lifted it, revealing his crimson eye with three tomoes. "I guess… you're not as weak as I thought you to be," he admitted to them.
"Hehe, correct copy ninja," Naruto said as he gave out a chuckle, "So let's start then,"
The blond started with a low kick, aiming to knock Kakashi of balance but the Jōnin easily avoided the strike and had to use a kunai to block the blade of the Guan Dao wielded by Kai, for a moment Kakashi thought the kunai would actually shatter because of the force behind the naginata like weapon.
Using this time the Jōnin quickly ran through several handseals in rapid succession. "Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu!" Kakashi watched as the giant fireball closed in on the two when the older of the boys ran through handseals at a tempo that nearly matched his own, "Suiton: Suiryū no Jutsu!"
The fire extinguished by the water, leaving a thin layer of mist in the training ground. Kakashi noticed that the mist was thickening much more than it was supposed to do from such low rank jutsus. 'Where are they, I can't see them in this thick mist,' a low rumbling, almost unnoticeable, however alerted him. A quick jump was what saved him from being dragged into the earth. Before he had a chance to send his own attack on the blond that sprouted from the ground he was once again forced to block another swing from Kai, this time however he was prepared. He was starting to see the pattern that they were operating after. With a thrust of equal power to block the blade he managed to wrangle the weapon out of Kai's grasp, sending it flying into the thick mist. 'My time to attack,'
Kai watched as his primary weapon was flung into the mist, the hushed sound of it hitting the waters surface could be heard. He didn't have time to think more about it as the copy ninja slashed with his kunai, Kai narrowly dodging the attack. Next time Kakashi made a horizontal cut, this time the attack made contact with him, cutting through the fabric of Kai's clothing and making a wound across his chest. Kai grunted as the stinging feeling of the weapon piercing his skin traveled to his brain as he continued to narrowly dodge the onslaught of attacks, every dodge taking him to his limit while he received shallow cuts whenever he couldn't get enough distance between himself and Kakashi. It wasn't until what seemed like an eternity for Kai that the onslaught stopped when several shuriken flew in-between Kakashi and Kai.
Naruto watched as Kakashi momentarily stopped, "Fūton: Daitoppa!" directly after sending away his jutsu which cleared the mist in his way Naruto ran towards his cousin and made a hand flip over his cousin's back while he in the process drew the Kodachi strapped to Kai's back.
Kakashi avoided the jutsu with ease and found himself holding Naruto's blade at hold. In the corner of his eye his sharingan registered a jutsu sequence unfamiliar to him. He watched as Naruto smirked at him as Kai stopped the seal sequence. "Magen: Tsuikai"
Kakashi watched as he stood in the middle of Konoha, a Konoha that he wished he never had seen. The streets were deserted, the houses empty. The red orange sky having an ominous feeling to it, the reason to its color wasn't the sunset, no it was in the middle of the night, and the reason was the burning village. Hushed screams of agony could be heard from a distance.
"So this is Konoha?" Kakashi heard a voice question from his right. His immediate reaction was to slash at the boy but he found that he no longer held his kunai and that his fist just went through the boy who seemed to be made out of a mist. "I'm not even corporeal here, so you can't touch me, much less hurt me."
Kakashi opted to stare out over the raging inferno that was his village, ignoring the boy.
"Look, there are you," Kai said and pointed to a boy who ran out of the Hokage tower. Kakashi recalled this as if it had been yesterday. He was running after his last teammate as she was trying to get to the Yondaime and get him to change his mind about his 'brilliant' plan. Kakashi decided to follow his younger self as he ran in the direction of the agonized screams. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kai following, just floating through the air without actually moving.
Kai noticed as they traveled that the terrain looked like a fiery hurricane had swept through the lands, turning over trees and igniting them. The closer they got to what seemed to be the center of the all he also saw it was more common with dead or dying shinobi of Konoha with a few medic-nins jumping from place to place helping those they could, which was only a handful.
In the distance Kai saw something large orange moving 'Kyuubi no Kitsune' he marveled at the sight. The mighties of all the tailed beasts was moving in front of him, and he was going to witness its defeat at the hands of the Yondaime. As he saw something large appear from a plume of smoke he noticed that the young Kakashi increased his speed to what Kai suspected was his highest speed at that age.
The younger Kakashi and his followers came to a stop in the clearing in which the Kyuubi stood facing the large toad summon boss, Gamabunta. Standing proudly atop the toad was the Yondaime Hokage. To Kakashi it looked like the Yondaime and Kyuubi did nothing but stare at each other, however he knew better. The two was locked in mortal battle on a spirit plane.
Kai watched in amazement as he saw that standing behind the Yondaime was a great, sinister figure standing with his arm straight through the Hokage's chest. The hand of the figure was grasping a non-corporeal form of the giant fox and was slowly dragging it closer to the chest of the Hokage. Kai watched as the spirit of the Kitsune struggled against the pulling and occasionally managed to make its way towards its body, only lose twice the distance to the pull a moment later. Kai watched as the first tail belonging to the fox was pulled into the Hokage, the second tail soon following, it took another five minutes but now Kai could only see the head of the Kyuubi being outside the Yondaime. Just then Kai noticed how a girl of similar age of the younger Kakashi made her way over the back of the toad boss summon. He noted that he wasn't the only one to notice this, the younger Kakashi had done it as well and the Kakashi of the present had already been looking in that direction, faint signs of tears threatening to make themselves known present in his eyes.
Kakashi watched as his younger self desperately jumped towards Gamabunta and to stop the girl from reaching his sensei. He felt tears flowing from his eyes now as he watched his younger self slip over the corpse of a Konoha shinobi and fall to the ground, spraining his ankle in the process, unable to continue running the now limping young Kakashi witnesses as he girl reached the Yondaime and only a moment later she and the Yondaime both fell onto the head of the summon in a heap. The summon cautiously put them both down on the ground and just as the young Kakashi reached the spot the summon disappeared. Lying before him was the two last members of his team, neither of them moving.
"Amazing, truly amazing," was all Kai was able to say as he watched the shinigami disappear into the air. "I have to tell the Hokage this,"
"I've failed them," Kakashi said in tandem with his younger self, only now Kai noticed that the two of them was now doing exactly the same actions
'I think this is enough, no need to make him relieve it all too much,'Kai thought as he moved his hands into a special hand seal while he muttered "Kai,"
The Sandaime, Jiraiya and Tsunade all looked in bewilderment as one moment Kakashi stood there holding of an attack from Naruto only to a second later lay down on the ground in a heap clutching his head, and a moment later they saw Kai's body fall to the ground soundlessly.
The three observers were soon standing at their sides, Tsunade quickly using a jutsu to get a diagnosis on them.
"So what happened to them?"
"They both seem to be under the effect of a heavy mental trauma, Kakashi being the one in worst condition," Tsunade said, "Though there is no danger to their person it seems like they've take a mental strain as an effect of the jutsu used by the gaki."
"So oniisan's jutsu backfired on him then," Naruto asked somberly as he looked from his cousin to the Jōnin they had been fighting against.
"We better take them to the hospital and get them some under some surveillance, I can't really say when they wake up, this is something that hangs only upon them, they're both unconscious. I don't know what purpose the jutsu had but it seems to have been something major," Tsunade said urgently.
Jiraiya was quick to take care of the heavier Kakashi while Tsunade carried Kai and hurried towards the hospital with the Sandaime and Naruto in tow. Naruto knew that whatever it was that was wrong, Tsunade would probably be able to fix.
As soon as Kakashi and Kai arrived they were quickly taken to recovery wing were they got a separate room. When the Hokage saw that they were signed in and taken care of he motioned for Naruto to follow him.
"Naruto-kun, I think you understand that whatever jutsu Kai used it shouldn't be used again," the Sandaime said and received a nod from the boy.
"What I could see from your short fight against Kakashi I deem that you, along with your cousin, are worthy of the title of Jōnin, with a small exception. You will not be allowed to go on A or S ranked missions, at least not yet."
Naruto only nodded, receiving the Jōnin rank was more than he expected, judging from how their test went.
"Now, for your first assignment as Jōnin you will take over Hatake Kakashi's genin cell since you along with your cousin was the one who hospitalized their Jōnin-sensei. Also I expect you to come to the on time, Namikaze Naruto." With that said the Hokage walked out, leaving a sputtering behind.
"Tsunade, I trust you to be present at the meeting," the Sandaime said as he walked past the blonde.
"I'll be there sensei,"
"Everyone that's present, this is matter of village security, any information about that one of our best Jōnin is out of action is not to leave this room, if anyone asks for Kakashi you'll say that's he's on a classified mission," with that said the Hokage disappeared using Shunshin.
"Oniisan! Wake up, you got me into this mess, now you take responsibility!" suddenly Naruto could be found on Kai's bed, shaking the older boy while nurses tried to calm down the blond. It wasn't until Tsunade moved the blond from his place that he stopped thrashing.
"Naruto, Kai won't wake up, no matter what you do, he's in a comatose state," Tsunade stated.
"I know he can hear me. You just watch," Naruto said, with tears threatening to make themselves known. "Oniisan, wake up, Haku-chan is changing in here!"
"It seems like he understood the gravity of the situation," Jiraiya said somberly to the Sandaime as they watched as Naruto started to cry in Tsunade's embrace.
"Jiraiya, get Shizune to care for Kai and Kakashi, I'll need to prepare for the meeting." Tsunade ordered.
"Hai Tsunade," in the blink of an eye the gama-sennin was gone.
"Naruto, you will need to prepare as well. I promise you that Shizune will take good care of your cousin in the meantime," Tsunade said soothingly.
The chamber was filled with chatting; the noise was on a level that was highly unusual for the Konoha council.
"So what do you think Hokage-sama called us here for?" a man with long blond hair asked his companions, a man with a rather hefty build and a thick red mane for hair and a man with his black hair tied back forming something that resembled a pineapple.
"It's all too trouble some to figure it out Inoichi," the dark-haired man said.
"Maybe it's about…" the hefty man stopped speaking as soon as the Hokage entered the chamber, walking into the room along with his old student Tsunade and… "Isn't that the boy from yesterday? The Uzumaki kid that's going to marry the girl from Suna?" he whispered to his companions.
"Sure looks like it Chouza," the dark-hared man said. At first glance the boy didn't look anything like he did the day before. Now he stood before them wearing the standard Konoha Jōnin outfit along with a royal blue cloak. Somehow he looked older wearing those clothes and in the back of the spectators' minds they noted that he resembled someone they just couldn't place their finger on.
"I am sure you all wonder why I have assembled you so soon after our last meeting," the Hokage stated, silencing everyone.
"Please enlighten us as to why you called us together, Hokage-sama," the Hyuga sitting in the front row said.
"You were all present here yesterday when we discussed the peace proposal with Suna, I have decided to not accept the terms," the Hokage said. The room erupted like volcano, the council members trying to out yell each other. The Hokage's moved his hand into the air, an action that stopped them all, "The reason is that we cannot fulfill one of the parts of the treaty, with a small adjustment though I will accept the terms,"
"What do you mean we can't fulfill a part of the treaty? We don't provide anything," the Hyuga said, the famous Hyuga calm present.
"Oh, but we do Hiashi-san, we were supposed to present one Uzumaki Naruto to marry Sabaku no Temari."
"And why shouldn't we be able to uphold that? The boy is standing just beside you,"
"No, and this brings me to the first announcement I have, I present to you Namikaze Naruto, the new holder of the Namikaze-clan seat in the council," the Hokage said. "Namikaze-san, you may sit down in your seat now,"
Naruto made his way to the seat indicated by the hokage. It was like the Sandaime had dropped a pile of explosive notes in the room as the chamber practically exploded with yells.
"I know that this might come as a shock to you but the heir of Namikaze Minato survived the events thirteen years ago, and have since then been traveling together with Jiraiya of the sannin," the Sandaime said over the din that was Konoha's council chamber.
"Hokage-sama, this is outrageous, he's not even an adult!" one of the merchant council members yelled.
"He's the sole inheritor to the Namikaze seat, when he became a Jōnin this morning he received the seat as it is dictated within his clan scrolls. This is also why he cannot marry, as a member of the Namikaze clan he's not allowed to marry until he reaches the age of fifteen years."
"Then we need to choose another one!" another member yelled.
"We will do no such thing, we will accept their terms without the marriage," the Sandaime stated firmly.
"Now that you've told us the first announcement you had Hokage-sama, I wonder what is the second?" the ever calm Hiashi Hyuga questioned, effectively silencing the other members.
"I have chosen the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade of the sannin,"
The Sandaime's words were met with a complete silence for over a minute until soft clapping started to flow throughout the chamber along with shouts of approval. Amidst all this the Sandaime noticed that the council had forgotten about the newest addition to the council as he was allowed to sit alone on his row.
Naruto was just walking out of the council chambers when he felt a hand grasp his shoulder, turning him around. "So gaki, you're the new Namikaze clan leader?" the man whose hand laid on his shoulder asked him.
Naruto looked up at the man, he had black hair and a quite visible tan, two scars on the right side of his face and his hair pulled into a pineapple like pigtail. "Yes, so what?" Naruto said defiantly.
"Whoa kid, calm down. We don't want to start out as an enemy of yours, we only seek to know more about the newest addition to the council. So why don't you join us for a drink," the blond man standing beside the one who held him said.
"Shikaku, Inoichi, where are your manners, you haven't even introduced yourself to the boy," the large man standing on the tanned mans other side said, "You will have to forgive my companions Namikaze-san, my name is Akimichi Chouza and they are Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi," the man said, first pointing to the tanned man and then to the blond. "So how about that drink?"
"Well I don't know," Naruto said before he was interrupted as Jiraiya appeared and took him in a chokehold.
"Naruto, never say no to a drink," the gama-sennin said as he released the young blond, "Sure, he'll join you shortly," apparently the gama-sennin decided that he should act for his pupil.
"What the hell are you doing you old pervert? Are you trying to kill me?" Naruto sputtered from the ground.
"Just go along with them, you need to get yourself some allies on the council, even if your clan unofficially holds a lot of power you're acting alone and you need help if you are to have any power at all since you're so young," Jiraiya whispered to his student so that the three men didn't heard him.
"What about oniisan?" Naruto whispered back.
"He won't be moving for a while; it's even a big question if he's going to move. None of the medics have ever seen something like what he and Kakashi suffers from. Now I have to leave, I need to speak with the old man before he turn over the hat tomorrow on the ceremony, I have a favor to ask of him," with that said the white-haired man was gone.
"Namikaze-san, are you joining us then as Jiraiya-sama said?" the blond man asked.
"Yes, I would like that Yamanaka-san," Naruto said cheerfully. Just as the group left the hallway they met a man with black hair and onyx air that gave Naruto a cold glare as he passed by.
"Ignore him, he's Uchiha Shirai, the current leader of the Uchiha clan until Sasuke is considered an adult and fit to take the role.
"I would expect the leader of the Uchiha to be… older,"
"You don't know of the Uchiha massacre?" Inoichi questioned, "Right, you've been away with Jiraiya-sama, I guess he didn't tell you then."
"Seven years ago a majority of the Uchiha was killed by one of their own. The son of the leader and their biggest prodigy ever, Uchiha Itachi. There was only a few of the families that were saved, all thanks to the arrival of several ANBU. The only one that could attest that it had been Itachi who murdered the Uchiha members was his younger brother, apparently the only one who met him and lived that evening. So now there are just five families, along with the sole survivor of the head family Sasuke, living in the Uchiha clan district," Chouza explained to Naruto.
"Well then Namikaze-san, I believe it's time for something to drink," Shikaku said. Naruto hadn't noticed until now but the four of them was now sitting by a table in one of the many small restaurants within Konoha and standing by the table was a waitress ready to take their order.
"Four platters of dango and an equal amount of bottles with sake," Shikaku ordered.
"You were pretty spectacular in the Chūnin exams a month ago, but I never pegged you to be at a Jōnin level, rather I would say you're a high Chūnin," Inoichi said just as their dango and sake arrived.
As the evening continued and the number of bottles standing on the table increased the four shinobi grew louder and louder, and their discussion deviated more and more from matters that didn't need any discretion.
"So Namikaze-kun, you're saying that your cousin is the heir to the Kazama clan?" Inoichi questioned as he poured some more sake for himself.
"Yeah, but currently he can't take his seat because he's lying in a comatose in the Konoha Hospital thanks to a jutsu that he used, he actually managed to get Hatake Kakashi put in the same state," Naruto slurred. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio all whistled at that, managing to knock out the Copy Ninja of Konoha was no mere feat.
"He's the one who knocked out my daughter isn't he?" Inoichi asked.
"Yeah I think so, your daughter is that girl Yamanaka Ino right?"
"Do you think he would like to marry my daughter Namikaze-san?"
"Highly doubt it, my perverted cousin don't like blondes, he seems to favor brunettes,"
"Aw, too bad, having a familial bond with the Kazama clan would be good since they apparently still are alive, say, since you're not marrying the girl from Sunagakure, that means you're free right?"
"No way, your daughter is scary, she's throwing herself at that stuck-up genin with 'formerly-black, now pink' hair."
"What'd you say about my daughter gaki!?" a red faced Inoichi questioned angrily.
"I said she was scary and throwing herself at the stuck up genin," an irate Naruto said.
Shikaku was quick to act even in his slightly blurred state of mind, locking both blonds in place using his Kagemane no Jutsu. "This isn't a reason to fight for, Inoichi as a much older person you should know this very well, and you aren't entirely without blame either. Now both of you sit down and take a calming bottle of sake."
"So Namikaze-san, how do you find Konohagakure?" Chouza asked, steering the topic away from the shinobi related subjects to at least a certain degree; a shinobi was a shinobi village when it all came around.
Kakashi stared in front of him as he watched a young Kai, perhaps nine or ten years old tried to make a shaking Naruto stop thrashing on the floor.
"Jiraiya-sensei, hurry here now!" the young boy yelled.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" came the frantic voice of the Gama-sennin from a distance.
Suddenly the young Naruto stopped thrashing and his limbs limply lay on the floor. Kakashi watched as Naruto opened his eyes, staring up at Kai was eyes devoid of any color, the black diamond shaped thin pupils in stark contrast to the white of the eyes.
"Jiraiya, it has awakened!" Kai yelled.
In the blink of his eyes Naruto's eyes changed from their completely white color to a scarlet red, "Finally, I'm in control," Naruto said. Kakashi noted that the voice was much deeper, sinister even. To Kakashi's shock he noted red chakra starting to flow around Naruto, lashing out at Kai's arm and legs that pinned him down. "Release me boy, you don't want to face the consequences,"
The only response from Kai was a grunt of refusal in-between his groans of agony. The chakra whips started beat at his arms and legs more rapidly, tearing through the fabric of his clothes like it was made of paper and covering his skin with nasty wounds. "I won't let you take control of Naruto, even if I have to die for it you're going back to where you came from, you have already created so much anguish."
"We'll see about that boy, no one have ever stood up to me and lived to tell the tale," Naruto said.
"Jiraiya, hurry here, it's much worse than expected. He's gotten control of Naruto!" Kai yelled. Just as Kai turned his face and stared into Naruto's eyes chakra exploded out from the younger boy, sending Kai flying into the roof. Kakashi watched Naruto jumping up from the floor and trying to run through the door, but just as he reached the door-opening he was flung through the room, crashing into the opposite wall.
"That should do it," said a somber Jiraiya as he walked into the room. Kakashi saw that chakra just disappeared from his fingertips, "How bad was it Kai?"
"Kai? Why are you just laying there?" Jiraiya was now rushing to the still form of the younger boy who lay bloodied on the floor, unmoving. "Shit, shit," the white haired man started cursing as he inspected the boy. "Shit, seems like I have to find her, and quickly. Don't go from me kid, you hear me!?" said the now frantic Jiraiya.
Kakashi watched as Jiraiya took the two boys under his arms and quickly ran down the hallway and exited through the closest window. Kakashi found himself forced to follow the white haired man. He watched Jiraiya summoning two toads and handling Naruto to one of the toads while he himself carefully held Kai in his arms while he rode the other toad. They traveled for that for an hour when Kakashi noted that everything around him started to darken. Not like the darkening that came with dusk, it was more like when one lost consciousness. Before he knew it his vision was completely black.
She watched as the boy started to sweat profusely and for a moment she thought she saw red burn marks appear on his arms. In her mind she was questioning why she was hesitating, here she could kill two birds with one stone, yet she wasn't. Killing both the famous Copy ninja of Konoha, the famous student of the Kiroi no Senkō, and the heir of the Kazama-clan would probably raise her to the heavens back in her home village. Eventually she managed to get herself to move, poising her kunai to strike the Kazama boy in the neck. Just as she was about to swing however the door was opened and quickly she hid her weapon.
Shizune watched the girl leave the room in a hurry just as she entered. 'How did she get in here?' she turned around to ask the girl but when she turned around the girl was gone.
Magen: Tsuikai Demonic illusion: reminiscence