Chapter 4 – Half-truths.

The right choice of words and of tone with which you say them can make a big difference.

A thunderous explosion sounded out in the clearing as Hinata's and Toraku's techniques collided, enveloping the entire area with a thick cloud of dust, gone almost as quickly as it appeared.

Hinata had long ago shut her eyes, expecting horrible pain before she was killed, but as time ticked by, she felt nothing happen. At first she may have thought that by some miracle she hadn't been hit, but a wave of fear washed over her as she began to wonder if it had already happened, and her spirit had already passed on.

She cracked open one eye, before both of them shot open when she saw Naruto standing in front of her, staring at her with such intensity that it might as well have been right through her. His face was of pure disbelief, but this quickly evaporated, replaced by pure joy.

At first Hinata foolishly believed that she was simply a spirit, and had remained on the earth for some unknown reason, but the more the blonde stared at her, it became evident that he was looking at her, not through her. She raised a hand up to her face, and upon closer inspection, was shocked to find out that she was in fact alive and well.

Naruto seemed to fully realize this at the same time she did, because in an instant, his arms were around her in a tight hug.

"I thought….I thought you had died again…" Naruto managed to spit out, his breath itched in his throat. "I don't know what just happened, but I don't want you to ever do something like that again!" His tone was scolding, but Hinata could see that he was smiling, and she melted into his arms, though she was finding it a little hard to remain conscious at the moment. She felt her eyes grow slightly damp at the realization that she wouldn't have to leave Naruto, but their little moment was about to be ruined by a very upset Toraku.

"You stupid, stupid girl!" he screamed, stamping his foot much like a spoiled child would when they didn't get their way. "Tell me, why did you have to get in the way and risk getting killed, all for the sake of that idiot! I wasn't planning on even touching him, I would have been satisfied to see that he was scared, and would have stopped before the technique hit him. But because of you, you two almost died!"

He began to quickly stride across the clearing, deactivating his Sage mode and putting a three-pronged kunai in one of his weapon pouches. Once he had gotten close enough, completely ignoring the intimacy, Toraku delivered a resounding smack to the back of Hinata's head, more intended as a sign of anger than an intention to hurt. Hinata leaned onto her knees, rubbing the sore spot that was quickly growing into a sizeable lump.

"Oww…it h-hurts…" she muttered, gingerly touching the injury.

"That hurts a lot? How about getting hit with a Rasengan 10 meters across!? How do you think Naruto here would have felt if you have died protecting him? Did anyone you ever care about die; die because they were trying to protect you?"

His voice had lost that angry tone, replaced with one deadly serious. He lowered his gaze, staring into his own hands.

"You feel like you were the one who killed them... with your own hands." He sighed deeply, his eyes locking with Hinata's for a brief moment. In that time Hinata could see a large amount of sorrow in Toraku's eyes, which quickly evaporated once he caught her staring at him.

"Consider yourself lucky that I was able to throw a kunai far enough to teleport the attack away to a safe distance. The next time you decide to do something so stupid, you might not be so lucky."

Naruto had remained silent during the entire exchange, surprised by Toraku's strange behavior. His mind slowly began to digest the information in front of him, that his enemy had just struck Hinata, and that it made him angry. He quickly appeared in front of Toraku, eyes blazing.

"Don't you dare hit her like that again, or I swear I'll kill you!" he said with a growl.

Toraku, despite the situation, gave his opponent a smug grin, believing he had come out on top in their little fight. "Yeah, I saw how well that was working out for you…if I hadn't used the Flying Thunder God Technique, you would have both died. If I hadn't been in full Sage mode, I wouldn't have been able to execute the technique in time!"

'I was so close to breaking my promise….I have to be more careful from now on…' Toraku thought to himself, his smile disappearing.

Things had become so odd, that the three teenagers hadn't even noticed the arrival of the small group of adults, who were now gathered around them. Kakashi and Mitzuru were present, looking thoroughly disappointed, but it was Shiku and Tsushika that looked ready to kill their own son, their faces bright red.

"TORAKU!" they both shouted in unison, finally making their presence known. Toraku froze, and slowly turned around to face his parents.

"Uh…yesss?" he asked softly, trying to look as innocent as possible. His face was full of fear, and he had turned as white as a sheet. He had been right to be afraid, because both of his parents drove their fists directly into his skull, much like he had to Hinata not moments ago. Toraku shot into a squatting position, massaging his quickly bruising head as he tried to keep tears from spilling from his eyes.

"How dare you hit a kunoichi of your own village! Apologize to her immediately!" Shiku scolded, not caring that they had quite the audience.

"What did you do with those two chūnin guarding the gate?" Tsushika added, putting her hands on her hips. "First you jump into a fight with them, and now you're fighting with Naruto? What on earth were you thinking?"

Toraku huffed a stray piece of hair out from his face, giving his parents his 'blameless' eyes as best he could. "It's not my fault! I got bored when dad was reporting in, and I wanted to explain what happened to those two guards, so I took them outside so we could talk in private. But I ran into this girl here, and Naruto as well, and they wanted to know what I had done to their friends. Before I could even explain what happened, Naruto attacked me, and challenged me to a fight! It would have been impolite for me to refuse, so I accepted his request. We took it out here to make sure no one was hurt, and that's what's important…right?"

"My fault!?" Naruto growled, starting towards Toraku before Kakashi stopped him. "You lying asshole, it was you who wanted to fight me!"

"Yes, I wanted to fight, but you are the one who suggested it." Replied Toraku with a smug tone.

Shiku nodded in Naruto's direction, before turning back to his son. "I agree with him. I know you better than that, brat. You just had to go looking for trouble, and the moment you find some, you jump in without thinking about any of the repercussions. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

"Someone's a little touchy tonight…" Toraku grumbled, still rubbing the sore spot on his head.

"What was that?" his father spoke up, his tone low and dangerous. Toraku caught onto that, and promptly shut his mouth.

Throughout the entire exchange, Tsushika had been staring at Naruto, carefully studying the boy as the resemblance to his parents hit her full force. It was like looking at Kushina with blonde, spiky hair, and she could feel the sadness overcoming her once again, though this time it was for Naruto. She felt a great feeling of pity wash over her as she imagined how lonely it must have been for him to grow up without either of his parents. She wanted to run up and hug him, tell him who she was and tell him that everything would be okay, but her devotion to her mission held her back. There were most likely people who didn't need to know about their mission's purpose, at least not yet, and so Tsushika reluctantly kept her mouth shut. She would have to wait a few days to speak with Tsunade who was the new Hokage, but Tsushika would wait as long as it took to get a meeting with the woman, and request that she be able to reveal the truth to Naruto. He deserved to know.

Shiku and Toraku picked up on her change in mood, and upon realizing that it was her seeing Naruto for the first time, began to study the boy more closely themselves. Toraku merely shrugged his shoulders, having already become 'acquainted' with the boy, but Shiku's reaction was much different from the others.

'Would you just look at him…' he thought to himself, smiling softly, 'He looks so much like his father, yet I can easily see his mother in that face of his…it almost gives me the chills. Still, I can't help but hope he's a little different from them, and if he's even inherited Kushina's tic, I just might go insane!'

And in the middle of all of this, Naruto was hopelessly lost. His eyes jumped frantically from person to person, hoping to gain some sense of the situation. The people who arrived seemed to be familiar with Toraku, almost as if they were family or something. Even Kakashi seemed calm about the whole thing, hands idly in his pockets. Maybe that story that Toraku had told him earlier was…true?

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on!?"" Naruto finally demanded, no longer able to take being out of the loop. "Just who are these people, and how does this kid know how to use the Rasengan and Senjutsu like I do?"

Kakashi scratched his temple, trying to find a way to tell Naruto without him…overreacting.

"Uhh…well Naruto, you see….they're uh…their names are…"

"We are old friends of your parents, Naruto." Shiku interrupted, coming to the rescue. "It was he who taught me how to use the Rasengan, and I in turn passed the technique to my foolish son, Toraku." He clapped his boy hard on the back, making Toraku stumble forward.

"This is my wife Tsushika, and this young woman here is Mitzuru Uchiha." he continued, gesturing to the woman scowling slightly over a ways away.

Tsushika bowed graciously, giving Naruto a brilliant smile. "It's truly wonderful to meet you, Naruto. Your mother and I were very good friends, and helped your father develop several of his techniques, including the one you saw Toraku use." To help demonstrate what she was talking about, Tsushika snatched away her son's three-pronged kunai, holding it out for Naruto to see the seal inscribed upon it.

If Naruto was confused before, it was amazing that he was even standing at this point. These people…knew his parents? They were friends with his parents? His mind was spinning, wondering where these people had been for so many years, and why they just came out of nowhere. To make matters worse…

His eyes flashed to Mitzuru, eyeing her carefully. There was another member of the Uchiha clan? If they had been gone from the village for so long, maybe she didn't know about what's all happened with them? Naruto shivered; he couldn't help but worry about how she might take the news, as she had a look in her eyes that Naruto had often seen in Sasuke's.

Kakashi noted Naruto's body stiffen at the mention of Mitzuru's name, and his mind began to race. If he didn't act quickly, Naruto's natural curiosity could make a disaster out of the situation. He had to find a way to satisfy Naruto's questions without revealing the truth about the Uchiha to Mitzuru, as well as keep Tsushika and Shiku's mission hidden until Tsunade could hear about it.

"Naruto, these four are shinobi of Konoha that had been on a mission for quite a long time, over 17 years in fact, and it's kept them completely isolated from what's happened in those years. They weren't aware of what had happened to the Fourth, and so their little 'joke' of assassinating him was just that; their own way of greeting their old friend. I had just finished explaining the situation to them when we noticed that their son Toraku had gone missing. Hinata came bursting in not minutes after, and informed us that you and some boy named Toraku were fighting at one of the training grounds, and so we tracked him down to find you here as well. I know you probably have a lot of questions…"

"Damn right I do!" Naruto grunted loudly, folding his arms. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Kakashi-sensei!"

The jōnin nodded, breathing deeply. "I know, Naruto. And there will be a time for that later. Right now we need to -"

"Later, my ass!" Naruto interrupted, growing angrier. "I think I have a right to know why these people knew my parents, and why that lady doesn't know what happened to Sasuke and the rest of his clan!"

Kakashi froze. Naruto shouldn't have said that, even though his anger was justified, and he could feel the aura around Mitzuru change drastically. She casually approached the group, eyes not giving away any emotion.

"As I was saying," Toraku spoke up, "I was just curious about how strong the son of the Fourth Hokage was, and I -"

"What did you mean by 'rest of my clan'?" Mitzuru interrupted, her voice quiet. "Choose your words carefully."

Naruto began to sweat, scared by the woman's tone. Thankfully, before he put his own head on the chopping block, Kakashi spoke first.

"As you are aware of Mitzuru, the second Hokage gave the Uchiha clan the power of policing the village as a sign of good faith."

Mitzuru nodded silently, giving him the signal to continue.

"However, there were those who thought that it was actually a way to keep tabs on the clan, and restrict their actions within the village. This feeling grew as time wore on, until eventually the clan was considering a coup, and to overthrow the village."

The newly revealed Uchiha again remained silent, but Naruto noticed her body tense up slightly, before relaxing again.

"In order to protect the village, one of the village elders, Danzō Shimura, ordered the execution of the entire clan, against the wishes of the Third Hokage. He had been hoping to solve the problem diplomatically, but all efforts had failed, and eventually the other elders agreed with Danzō's plan, and accepted the mission. They had been using another member of the clan, Itachi Uchiha, to keep tabs on the clan for months before the coup was decided, and it was he that was ordered to kill his clan, which he did."

Mitzuru's eyes hardened, and her hands curled slightly into themselves, forming light fists. Kakashi couldn't stop, though. She needed to hear this.

"Itachi loved his village, and so he accepted the mission, and assassinated every one of them, excluding one. He could not bring himself to kill his younger brother Sasuke, and left him alive so that one day he could go after Itachi, and avenge the clan. It was recently discovered that he was aided in his mission by a masked man who claimed to be Madara Uchiha, the leader of the clan back in the days of the First Hokage. It was he that helped Itachi recover his Mangekyō Sharingan, and he that assisted Itachi in his mission. Sasuke was made to believe that Itachi murdered his clan in cold blood, keeping the truth from him in hopes that it would keep him from placing the blame on the village. This backfired when Madara revealed Itachi's true reasons for attacking the clan, and Sasuke grew to hate the village, and seek revenge for his brother. Until you returned the village, he was assumed to be the last member of the Uchiha clan, as we can no longer affirm 'Madara's' identity."

Naruto lowered his head, looking to his hands as they clenched into fists.

"I don't know how many times I tried to convince Sasuke to come back, to give up all that hate he held for the village. He never listened to me, and during the war, we eventually had to fight. He ran before we could settle things, and I was left to fight the fake Madara. It was the hardest I ever fought, but I eventually beat him. He took his own life before we could find out who he was, though, so now I have no idea how to find Sasuke again. I don't care if it takes me a thousand years, I will bring Sasuke back! I won't become Hokage until I do!"

His eyes flickered with his fierce determination, but Mitzuru hadn't even been paying attention to him, focusing her eyes on Kakashi.

"Who was the head of the clan during the planning of the coup?" she asked with a dark voice.

"Uchiha Fugaku, husband of Uchiha Mikoto and father of Itachi and Sasuke."

Mitzuru lowered her own head, masking her face from the others.

"It was to be expected…" she muttered to herself, almost too quiet for anyone else to hear. "Once Minato and Kushina were gone, there was nothing and no one to stop him…"

"Mitzuru?" Tsushika piped in, uncertain with how to comfort their friend. Mitzuru was reacting to the horrible news very strangely, and she couldn't help but be worried.

"Fugaku was aware of our mission as well…" Mitzuru revealed, to the surprise of the others. "Though not to the extent of the Fourth."

Everyone fell silent, and even though Hinata and Naruto had no idea what they were talking about, they could tell how serious the situation was, and remained silent.

"A few months before our mission began, Fugaku had already begun planning the coup, but his plans were revealed by both I and Mikoto. She felt that it was a betrayal to Kushina if they went through with it, and I did it because…" She paused for a brief second, as if she was trying to remember. "…I thought it was the right thing to do."

"Fugaku remained unaware of this, and had thought that he had been discovered by the ANBU. Minato too attempted to reason with Fugaku, and unlike the others, succeeded. Fugaku gave up his plans, convinced that it would only lead to unnecessary bloodshed of the clan. I was included in this mission as a sign of good faith between them, even though Jiraiya had been asked to go at first. After had left, and The Fourth had died, Fugaku must have thought that he could continue with his plan, now that there was no one there to stop him. A fitting end to the lot of them, I suppose."

Kakashi felt a cold shiver run up his spine. Mitzuru's voice was filled with contempt, yet she didn't seem angry with anyone but her own clan.

"Wh-what do you mean?" Naruto asked. "Aren't you mad for what happened to your clan? Your family?"

Mitzuru shook her head. "Only the elders and Fugaku are to blame; to hate the village for a crime they didn't commit is foolish."

She gritted her teeth, trying to calm herself down. "There was no one in the clan I considered family other than my brother and my parents. My brother died more than twenty years ago, and when my parents passed away as well…I grew disillusioned with the clan. I hated them, for how petty and angry they had become, willing to blame all their problems on everyone but themselves."

"Why? How could you hate your family so much?" Naruto pressed, unfamiliar with such an idea.

"I have no obligation to tell you anything." Mitzuru replied evenly, folding her arms. "My feelings for the clan however, did not extend to those born after I had left for my mission, as well as those who were only children. All those lives wasted…if only I had been there…"

"If you had been there, it might have been you ordered to kill the clan." Kakashi replied. "Danzō and the Council-"

"I despised them, Kakashi. I would have never accepted such a barbaric solution to a problem. I would have done everything I could to help the Hokage settle it peacefully."

She sighed heavily, taking a few steps back. "These words are empty. That is all the past now, and no matter how much I want to, there's nothing I can do to change it. The only thing I can do now is inform Tsunade-sensei about our mission."

Kakashi nodded. This wasn't something that could wait until she got back, and he immediately began assembling the necessary team to escort Mitzuru to the summit of the five Kage.

Meanwhile, Shiku had put his arm around Naruto, escorting him a little ways away from the group.

"Naruto, earlier you talked about a war going on. Could you be a little more specific?"

Naruto's jaw hung open. Sure, they had been away for a while, but Naruto was sure that they would have at least heard of a war involving the entire shinobi world. Before he could answer, Kakashi stepped in once again, not wanting Naruto to accidentally reveal any details again. He took his time explaining everything that had happened in their absence, from the movements of the Akatsuki and Pain's invasion, to the meeting of the Kage and the war.

Finally, Kakashi finished his tale, rubbing his now-sore jaw. Shiku nodded sagely, turning towards the village.

"Let's head back to the Hokage tower. Mitzuru can stay with us tonight if she wishes." He felt the words harder to form than usual. He had missed so much, could have prevented so much, that there would most likely be little sleep for him this night.

Kakashi shook his head. "Unfortunately, it was destroyed during the Kyūbi's attack, as well as your…as well as the Fourth's home. For tonight you can stay in the Hokage residence; it has plenty of guest rooms."

He turned to Naruto and Hinata. "Can you two go and explain the situation to Chōji and Shikamaru, as well as Ino? I think they might need some clarification. This excludes what you've heard about the Uchiha clan, Hinata. You must keep that to yourself."

Hinata nodded, but seemed unsure. "Of c-course, Kakashi-sensei, I understand…b-but…"

"But what?" The jōnin asked lightly.

"I kn-know it's a secret to preserve the honor of the Uchiha clan and th-the village, but if everyone were to know the truth, if everyone knew that Itachi-san was only acting on o-orders….maybe people would be willing to understand Sasuke-san's feelings and learn to f-forgive him?"

'Naruto-kun cares for Sasuke-san, and even if I can't forgive him for what he's done to the village and to Naruto-kun, I can't help but understand his pain.' Hinata thought to herself. ' If I met the one responsible for my mother's death, I…I don't know what I would do.'

"I think Hinata's right, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto added in. "It needs to be known that it was the council's decision!"

"I'd be lying if I didn't say I agreed with you Naruto, but this issue is very delicate. We don't have any evidence to support this, apart from the stories of two people labeled as enemies of the village. Moving to release that knowledge publicly without any evidence is not the best move right now. I've explained the situation to Tsunade-sama, and when she gets back she will look into taking care of it, but for now we have to keep this between us, and behave as if nothing's changed. Do you both understand?"

Naruto and Hinata considered it for a moment, and after a brief exchange of glances, nodded. They had faith that Tsunade would come through.

"Good. Naruto, I'll need you and Ino in the Hokage's office as soon as possible. There's an new mission waiting for the both of you. So it's better if you and Hinata head to the park immediately."

"I'm going with them!" Toraku interjected. "I haven't apologized to…Shikamaru and Chōji, was it?"

Naruto shot Toraku a dirty look, as did Hinata, though hers was a bit more subdued. She didn't have anything particular against Toraku as of right now, but some alone time with Naruto would have been nice.

Tsushika waved her son off. "Fine, but you better stay out of trouble this time. There's not a person in this village that can save you if you disobey either of us again."

Toraku gulped loudly, and nodded quickly.

And so they dispersed into two groups. The adults headed towards the Hokage residence to get them settled in for the night, while the teens headed to where they had left Shikamaru and Chōji, who were just waking up with a splitting headache.


Author's note.

Hi everybody, sorry for the long wait, but I was on vacation and I hadn't an internet connection... that and the fact that I wanted to wait for Naruto's chapter 598, before publishing this.

Just to make clear how the events occurred, for what concerns the war:

They happened same as the manga as it is at the ch 598, then Tobi temporarily retreated, then Naruto fought with Sasuke, who then run away, then Naruto and the rest of the allied army fought with Tobi and Madara.

For those who wonder why the team 0 didn't know about the war, even when they traveled back to Konoha... Due to the secret nature of their mission, they had to avoid every town and roads, so they didn't meet anyone until they reached Konoha.

Namikaze's family is very particular isn't it?

An Uchiha who isn't completely obsessed by hate and vengeance, is it even possible?

And if you are wondering why Kurama didn't tell Naruto anything about Shiku and Tsushika, you have still to wait for the answer, but don't hold your breath, I can't really have all those lives on my conscience.

Thanks to everyone for reading this story, and if you can, please leave a review.

Even more special thanks to my wonderful Beta, who recently re-started writing his/her fic, I would tell you the title, but then you'll understand who my beta is, sorry maybe in the future he/she will change his/her mind.