Disclaimer - I do not own Naruto.
Chapter 4 - Revelations and Plots
Jiraiya had returned the night before. It had been about a week since Kaosu's appearance in the Hokage Office and Tsunade was anxious to talk to Jiraiya about recent events. Finally, the self-proclaimed super pervert enter the Hokage's Office. Both Tsunade and Shizune were waiting for him.
"Hello, Tsunade-chan, Shizune-chan," Jiraiya said cheerfully. "How are you two lovely ladies doing today."
"You seem awfully cheerful after you left Konoha three months ago, Jiraiya," Tsunade pointed out. Jiraiya sighed, "I'm trying to forget about the fact of how far I'm am from locating Naruto. It's probably already too late."
"It's not. Naruto is alive and well."
Jiraiya head shot up in surprise, "Wait, you mean you know where the gaki is?! Where is he?! Let me at that damn fool of a kidnapper!"
"Jiraiya," Tsunade said with the slightest bit of steel in her voice. "Quiet and I will explain."
Jiraiya shut his trap and nodded. Tsunade sighed, "Now I want to inform you that the supposed kidnapper visited me and a few jonin last week while in this very office."
"What?!" Jiraiya shouted only to be reply by a bash on the head from the female Hokage. "Quiet, pervert."
Jiraiya quickly managed to recover, "But if that's true, why didn't you stop him? Interrogate him?"
"Because one, Naruto is unharmed and two, the man revealed his name was Mahotsukai Kaosu, the Harbinger of Yami himself."
Jiraiya was quiet for a moment. Tsunade counted down in her mind, "5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1. . ."
"WHAT?!" Jiraiya's shout echoed throughout Konoha.
Naruto was busy training with his own father, Namikaze Minato, the Deva Path, when they heard a faint 'What?!' off in the distance. They looked at each other.
"Sounds like Ero-sennin," Naruto shrugged. "Eh, must be the wind."
"Ero-sennin?" Minato asked raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah. He's your sensei, Jiraiya no Gama Sennin."
There was a moment of stunned silence from Minato. Then Naruto noticed him struggling to hold in a laugh and it just got more and more obvious until. . .
"AHAHAHAHAHA!" Minato broke down laughing. "Oh, Kami-sama! That's the perfect name for him! I wish I had come up with it!"
Naruto just gave his father a very strange look just as Kaosu and the other paths peaked around a nearby corner to see what the hell was going on.
"You mean that guy serves a god?!" Jiraiya shouted in disbelieving tone. "Are you kidding me?! How is that possible?!"
"He visited us for the soul purpose of letting us know that Naruto is okay and is training to become stronger," Tsunade answered calmly. "He says, however, we won't be able to see him for two years."
"Two years?!" Jiraiya said astonished. "How did you let that slide?!"
"He present many points that made sense and he held an air of honesty to him. To be completely honest myself the way he spoke and presented himself made me want to believe him."
"Not to mention that he did say that in two years we'd see him again," Shizune pointed out. "And that'd he be more powerful than ever before."
"Did he say where we were to see him?" Jiraiya asked suspiciously. Tsunade nodded, "He said that if we wanted to see him after two years to go to the ruins of Uzushiogakure."
Jiraiya blinked in surprise then his eyes narrowed, "Uzushio? How did he manage that? The place is crawling with seals and traps everywhere. Seals that I would never be able see all of before it was too late. Naruto isn't skilled at Fuuinjutsu and I doubt this Kaosu could teach it to him, especially that fast. Only an Uzumaki would be able to remove those seals."
Tsunade blinked, "Are you saying this man is an Uzumaki?"
"Could be."
"Or," Shizune interrupted earning the two old teammates' attentions. "He was telling the truth and he really does serve Yami."
At the stare she got, Shizune decided to elaborate, "Twice he has appeared and once disappeared without leaving a trace is but a split second. Last time I checked, only the Yondaime could do that, and he had the Hiraishin to boot. I noticed that he appeared from the shadows when he revealed himself last week. Obviously, this is a trait many could associate to Yami."
"Also, Shizune and the other jonin could probably vouch for me on the fact that the aura he seemed to have around him was dark and powerful yet he came off as a normal person," Tsunade continued. "What does this tell you, Jiraiya?"
Jiraiya put his hand on his chin in thought, "It does bring the situation to light a bit more if he was."
"How so?"
"It means that it was most likely divine intervention that Kaosu went to Naruto."
Tsunade and Shizune blinked. They hadn't even considered that. The Harbinger of Yami, a God from the Sacred Realm, saving Naruto. Shizune tried to think of another scenario, "Maybe he did it out of the kindness of his heart? I mean Naruto was seriously injured."
"True," Jiraiya answered. "But remember, so was Sasuke. And don't you think it that was the case he would've brought both of them back to Konoha. They were both wearing Konoha hitai-ites. You'd think someone who served a god would know the Konoha leaf symbol in a heartbeat."
Shizune put hand to chin. Jiraiya held a strong argument. "Which begs the question: 'Why did Yami of all people want Naruto out of the village?'."
Tsunade thought back to what Kaosu had said earlier. She remembered him saying something as to why he took Naruto didn't he?
"I wouldn't exactly call it a kidnapping. I like to call it necessary intervention."
"Naruto is fine. In fact, the boy's better than fine. He's improving by leaps and bounds since I picked him up."
"Naruto is doing very well, however, due to recent events he can't reveal himself to you just yet. Believe me, he wants to but he knows now is not the time."
"Um. . .Tsunade?" Jiraiya voice came, snapping the Hokage out of her thought process. She looked up at him with an annoyed 'What is it' look.
"Yes."
"You blanked out for a second. What is it?"
Tsunade sighed, "I've been think back at what he said."
"And?"
"There's a couple things he said that stuck out to me. One is that he called his taking Naruto as a necessary intervention."
Jiraiya's eyes raised at that. So it was something that was planned by someone other than Kaosu if that was the case. Kaosu was probably just following orders, and if he was telling the truth and he was following Yami's orders then they were in some serious trouble.
"Also, he mentioned that ever since he took Naruto that he's been improving by quote unquote 'leaps and bounds' and that also Naruto does want to see us again, but he knows that now isn't the proper time."
Jiraya's eyes definitely widened further, "So he's not only training Naruto in some way but. . ."
Tsunade nodded, "Yes, one of the gods, Yami or otherwise, has given Naruto some form of duty and Kaosu, Yami's Harbinger, is training him to be ready for it."
There was a long pause in the room before Jiraiya spoke, "You said they were in Uzushiogakure?"
Tsunade blinked, "Yes, that's what Kaosu mentioned. I was going to send a message to the Daimyo telling him what's going on and asking if I can take the Konoha 11 and their senseis to see see him after two years is up."
"You do that. I, however, am going now."
Jiraiya turned to leave, however, he was stopped. "Jiraiya!"
Jiraiya turned back to his teammate/Hokage and blinked once before asking, "Yes, Tsunade-hime?"
"He said Naruto would be ready in two years and Naruto agreed as well. Honestly, I think if Naruto was in any danger the Kyuubified Naruto would have already gone on a rampage by now and we'd have been notified. We haven't, however, and I am willing to trust Kaosu with Naruto's training for now. We will get him back in two years. I am willing to wait."
"But I am not, Tsunade," Jiraiya said more aggressively. "I failed Naruto as a godfather for his entire life. I am not going to let some man claiming to be the harbinger of a god train him without proving to me directly that he's trustworthy. Good day, Hokage-sama."
With that, Jiraiya shunshined out of the room. Tsunade sighed aggravated, "Baka, I hope he knows what he's doing."
"I doubt it, Hokage-sama," Shizune sighed as well. Tsunade shook her head, "I need some sake."
Danzo sat in his office within his ROOT Compound when an ANBU appeared before him. The ANBU knelt and said, "Danzo-sama, I bring news. Jiraiya of the Sennin has left again to confront the kidnapper of Uzumaki Naruto head on."
Danzo 'hmmed' to himself before dismissing the ANBU. That ANBU guard for the Hokage had been Danzo's spy and informant for neigh on ten years now. He was the one who had overheard the Sandaime talk about how the poor Jinchuuriki was in an orphanage and that was all he needed to gain more of the civilians to he side and increase his power. He used the boy as a scapegoat and every civilian and many shinobi respected him for revealing the 'demon incarnate' to them after hiding in their village for so long. And under the guise of a young Yondaime wannabee no less.
Still, karma seemed to have come back and kick him in the ass due to their predicament. The Daimyo was insanely furious at the kidnapping of the brat. He and his fellow elders and councilmen were now forced into heavy taxes due to this. Still Danzo had managed to get an foothold still in authority and amplified that. Despite their losses, the elders and the civilians held just as much power, if not more, than before. And even though Konoha lost its edge over the other villages in the Jinchuuriki department he was sure he could get Sasuke to the level of a jinchuuriki. This would be especially so when he pulled all the strings to fulfill the requirements to unlock Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan.
With Sasuke backing him up, it would be easy to convince the council, which the civilian side of was bidding for more and more power over Konoha's daily rituals, to make him Hokage when he convinced Tsunade-hime to retire.
Then, of course, there was the most recent issue that had appeared. The supposed kidnapper who went by the name of Mahotsukai Kaosu had appeared in the Hokage's Office without either the Hokage, her assistant, the ANBU, or the three jonin trained in tracking knowing he was there until he wanted them to. This posed a serious problem, which only grew more serious with the man's claim of being Yami's Harbinger.
"The boy is being trained by someone so skilled," Danzo thought as he looked over the situation again. "He will no doubt become much more powerful. And with him wanting to become Hokage and having the backing of the shinobi council AND the Daimyo makes this very dangerous ground we are treading. Especially since that with this man training him claiming to be a servant of Yami makes the situation worse if he were to go against us. He seems to be on the same side as that demon brat and with him on the Hokage's side we'd best not let ourselves get discovered."
However, the recent news of Jiraiya ending off to where the two were seemed promising. Hopefully that bumbling fool Jiraiya will be able to convince the demon to either leave his sensei or convince them both to come to Konoha. The latter was better because Danzo could then use his sharingan to attempt to control the demon. With the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki under his control and with the Harbinger of Yami likely to follow his lead no matter what he and Konoha would be unstoppable.
"And even if Jiraiya fails," Danzo thought evilly. "I will worm my way into the group that heads out to meet them and then that brat will be easy pickings."
Danzo chuckled darkly to himself before he walked out of the hidden compound to prepare for tomorrow's council meeting.
Hinata was training by herself in one of the more isolated training grounds of Konoha. She had promised Naruto not to reveal the technique he had given her to practice and she was determined to not let anyone find out what she was practicing. She always had her Byakugan active to keep a lookout for those coming to the training grounds; that was good training in itself. She could hardly believe the technique she had been given to her by Naruto. And he had trusted she could understand the instructions of the technique and could do it herself only made her feel happier that her new boyfriend believed in her so much.
"Boyfriend," she thought blushing. "I feel a pleasant shiver going down my spine every time I say or think that about Naruto."
Her friends had seen that she had been in an oddly good mood lately. She passed it off with a half-truth that she had gotten a new technique to practice and it was a very good one. She never told what is was and she had been training with a second new technique to show them if they asked so that she didn't have to reveal the technique Naruto had given her.
Speaking of the technique Naruto had given to her, she had made very good progress on that technique. No where near as fast as Naruto had done on the technique. Hell, he had gotten it down by this time. However, she reminded herself she wasn't practicing it as often as he did nor was she the great achiever of all things impossible that he always seemed to be either.
Despite it being slow, she was excited to learn this technique. Only a few people had learned it up to this point and she was going to be one of the maybe six people who had this technique in their inventory of techniques. And since Naruto loved using this technique she was excited to get to know it as well.
She sighed as she kept trying to complete her task. It was proving more difficult than it seemed, "How can something so simple on paper be so difficult in real life? Come on, pop!"
As if on cue, the object in her hand popped, spraying water all round. She gasped and then, after a pause, jumped for joy. She was now reassured that Naruto's belief in her was not in vain. In that one instant, whatever lack of confidence she had all but vanished all thanks to Naruto and the technique she'd been given, "Yes! That water balloon finally popped! Finally!"
Hinata took a deep breath of relief before she commented to herself, "I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow I'll get the rubber ball!"
Hinata calmed down slowly and thought, "Naruto, I'm getting ever closer to mastering the technique you entrusted to me. I swear on my clan's honor that I will not let that trust be for nothing."
"Kakashi-san."
Kakashi had been walking down the streets of Konoha with his normal orange book in his hands when had heard his name being called. When he had turned to whomever had called his name he saw Kurenai walking up to him.
"Oh, hello, Kurenai-san," he greeted casually. "What do you need."
Kurenai looked at him for a moment before saying, "Mind walking with me. I need to ask you something."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow before nodding his heading putting his book away. As they began walking Kakashi asked, "So, what is it you need?"
"It's about Hinata."
Kakashi raised an eyebrow again. He knew Hinata had begun to train the hardest of the Konoha 10, or 11 as it would be in a couple months, due to her crush on his old student. He had grown to respect the no-longer-so-shy kunoichi for her ignoring the demon inside of him and just seeing the boy who kept the biju at bay. Curious, he asked, "What about Hinata?"
"You know she has been practicing a lot, mainly by herself, after team practice is over, right?"
Kakashi nodded.
"Well, ever since last week, she's been a little. . . she's been very happy for someone so determined to get Naruto back after his kidnapping."
Kakashi almost flinched at the word 'kidnapping' since he was now convinced by the man that this wasn't true. He had come to realize that during their first encounter, the reason the man, now named as Kaosu, gave him that no-contact blow was because he had no time to sit and try to reason with him since the other members of the Retrieval Team would've arrived by that time. And that was something Kaosu probably didn't want to deal with. Still, he knew Kurenai was right. Hinata hadn't been happy nor did he think she would be happy until she was sure Naruto was safe.
"What's her excuse?" Kakashi asked.
"She says she's got a very good new technique she's been practicing, but the fact is she's as happy as Naruto is after learning a technique. I don't think she'd be that happy until after Naruto was safe. Something is going on and she won't tell us."
Kakashi 'hmmed' before asking, "And what do you want me to do?"
"In your years as a shinobi you've been on many missions I'd imagine with Hyuuga clan members," Kurenai began. "Much more experience than I. I was hoping you could try to see what technique she's practicing."
Kakashi thought about it for a moment, "I don't know. If she's that intent on making sure the technique stays a secret I don't think there's much I can do. Besides, who's to say she won't tell us eventually? Maybe this technique she got from someone could really help us and she wants it to be a surprise. Trying to worry less Kurenai. If she starts to get really strange, let me know."
Kurenai seemed dissatisfied but knew that was probably the best she was going to get for now and nodded. As she walked off, however, Kakashi began to think.
"Last week. . . that was when Kaosu appeared to us in the Hokage's Office. Is it possible that he visited her as well? Or is someone else involved?" Kakashi paused a moment before a thought struck him. "Someone like Naruto. . ."
The more Kakashi thought about it, the more it made sense. Obviously Naruto had trained under Kaosu for three months and his new sensei's skills at hiding in the shadows were just incredible. Added to the mix Naruto's unimaginable ability to make the impossible possible and there's a good chance he mastered some of Kaosu's stealth abilities. While Kaosu was here Naruto could have very well had come with him. He remembered Kaosu's words about Naruto wanting to come back but knowing now wasn't the time. It's quite possible he eavesdropped on them to see how they were doing.
"And it also probably means," Kakashi thought. "That if he overheard them talk about her he'd have learned of Hinata's feelings for him."
It was true, with Hinata's new found resolve due to her feelings for the blonde the Konoha 10 had begun to talk about her alot. Mainly in an respecting and dare he say admiring way. If Naruto heard that he had been oblivious to such things for so long it was obvious, despite knowing he probably shouldn't, would have gone to see her. If that were the case, they probably had become good friends very fast with that. It would easily explain Hinata's sudden change in character.
"But that still leaves the issue of the technique she was given," Kakashi thought. "If my theory is correct, it probably means the technique was given to her by Naruto. But what technique could it be."
Kakashi, still in deep thought, decided, "I need to discuss this with the Hokage. She'll want to know about this. . ."
With that, the Copy Nin shunshinned away.
Tsunade sat in her office dealing with what she called the Hokage Infinity Paperwork Curse. It never seemed to fricking end! She took another swig of her sake before she heard a knock at the door. Eager for a break from her paperwork, she called out, "Enter."
With that, the door opened as Shizune let Kakashi into the office. Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "What do you need, Hatake?"
"Earlier, Kurenai came up to me and asked me to watch one of her teammates due to a major change of character. I told her if it worsened I'd investigate but it was something she mentioned during the conversation that brought my attention. I thought it necessary to come talk to you."
"Oh?" Tsunade asked curiously. "And who is this student of hers?"
"One Hyuuga Hinata, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise. She knew Hinata had been in love with Naruto and had been the most determined out of all the Konoha 10 to train to fight Naruto's 'kidnapper', "And what is wrong with her."
"Kurenai-san mentioned that she had been unusually happy. As happy as Naruto would've been after mastering a new technique or getting a free stash of ramen. A happiness she thought she'd never see from Hinata unless Naruto had been brought back safely."
"And what did Hinata tell her?"
"That she had a new technique that she was excited to learn."
Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Hinata isn't a person I'd consider getting that excited over a technique."
"Me neither."
"So what got your interest in this whole thing?"
"The fact that apparently this all started last week."
At first it didn't register in the Hokage's mind. Then she thought about it. Last week they had received a visit from the man who was Yami's harbinger.
The same man who took Naruto.
"Your suggesting Kaosu visited her as well?" Tsunade asked curiously.
"I thought that at first."
"At first?"
"Until I thought this up. Naruto has obviously been training for the past three months with Kaosu, right? The man is a espionage genius in his own league. He snuck in and out of a shinobi village and snuck into and stayed hidden in the Hokage's Office for our entire meeting while three tracking experts were present in there. Naruto is amazing for being able to pull of the seemingly impossible. We considered Kaosu's ability of stealth impossible. Do you not think Naruto would learn some of this stealth as well?"
Tsunade stared at Kakashi in disbelief, "Are you trying to say that Naruto was here?!"
"Kaosu said that Naruto wanted to visit but knew now was not the time. However, that does not mean he didn't drop by to hear how we were doing. With how much the Konoha 10 has been talking about Hinata's feelings for him, I have no doubt he would have heard about this and sought to fix the mistakes he had made."
Tsunade leaned back, "He's making some very good arguments here. Was Naruto here is the village when Kaosu was present. I do recall Konohamaru and his team mentioning that the gate guards has seen a suspicious young man with long black hair and a younger boy with a bandanna and shades. Could that have been them?"
"There's more," Kakashi continued getting Tsunade's attention. "I believe the technique she is learning might have been from Naruto if my theory is correct. It's probably why she hasn't revealed what it is yet."
Tsunade nodded understanding, "Because Naruto asked her not to."
There was a silence before Tsunade spoke, "Well, whatever it is, we won't need to worry about it."
Kakashi's eyes widened and Tsunade laughed, "What? Did you expect me to order you to spy on her to figure out what the technique was or if it really was Naruto who visited her? If it is true, and it was Naruto, I see no reason having to worry about it. She'll reveal when she's able to. Two years from now all will be revealed Hatake Kakashi. I trust you can wait if I can."
Kakashi hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, "Hai, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade returned the nod, "If that is all, you may leave."
"Hey, otou-san."
"Yes, Naruto?" Minato asked, looking at his son.
"How did you and okaa-san meet?"
Minato and Kushina looked at each other. The recently reunited family were sitting in a small living room in the recently rebuilt Uzukage Tower with Kaosu and the other paths. The group had decided to bring Uzushiogakure back to its former glory and though they were prepared to start building the old fashioned way, Hashirama provided the solution with his Wood Release and, with his wife's and Kushina's guidance, were able to resurrect Uzushiogakure back to the way it was before it was attack. It was truly a stunning sight to behold. The city was very beautiful now that it had been raised from its ruined ashes like a phoenix.
"Well," Minato said thinking back at old memories. "We met at the Konoha Shinobi Academy. She disliked me at first but after I saved her after she was kidnapped by Kumo shinobi she fell for me. I eventually returned her feelings and we were married."
"It was mainly due to him proving to me he wasn't a wimp and him liking the one thing I hated about myself," Kushina said adding her own two cents.
"And what was that, okaa-san?"
"My red hair."
"Why did you hate you hair? I think it looks pretty cool."
"Thank you, you're the second person to compliment it. The first was your father. Everyone else made fun of me for it."
"Isn't love grand?" Mito commented as she lovingly held onto her husband. Then she got a mischievous smirk that made Naruto sweat a bit, "Isn't that right, Naruto?"
"Oh man, not this again!" Naruto yelled, his face turning red with embarrassment. "It's not fair! It's seven against one here!"
"Don't you mean eight against one, kit?" came Kurama's snickering voice from Naruto's mindscape.
"Shut it, furball!" Naruto screamed mentally. Naruto then heard snickering and turned to see Kaosu holding back his laughing, "What's so funny, Yukai-han-sensei?"
"Nothing, lover boy," Kaosu grinned. "It's just that I think seven. . .no, eight on one is completely fair."
"So you think you can stand against myself, Kurama, and my paths," Naruto grinned. Kaosu shrugged, "Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that all is fair in love and war."
"Ain't that the truth," Kushina giggled and passed an mischievous glance at Minato, who sweated a bit.
"Why are you all teasing me about this?!" Naruto asked frantically waving his arms.
"Because you make it so easy, lover boy," Kaosu smirked.
"Yeah, I don't know how it's easy for, Yukai-han-sensei. You've obviously never loved someone."
Silence flooded the room as Kaosu's smirk almost instantly vanished to a frown. He tilted his head down so that strands of his hair covered his eyes.
"What did you just say?" Kaosu asked in a forced whisper. The Paths instantly saw the area around him slowly grow darker but Naruto took no heed of these warning signs."
"I said you obvious have never loved someon-" CRUNCH!
Naruto flew back into a wall at lightning speed after a massive blow practically shattered his skull. Naruto held his face in pain. He looked up enraged, "What the hell was that for you bas-"
Naruto stopped dead. In front of him was Kaosu, however, the background behind him was obviously much darker than before. A black, fiendish aura danced around his body and his midnight blue eyes were slowly turning crimson with rage. Even the six paths in the room couldn't help but be a little afraid of the aura coming off of him.
"He certainly lives up to his title. The sheer power and intimidation radiating off of him is insane," Hiruzen thought. He, along with the other paths were worried about Naruto. While they knew Naruto had gone to far, they weren't expecting this reaction from the usually calm, happy-go-lucky guy he usually was. They prepared themselves to step in if necessary.
He bent down to Naruto's level and used his hand to force Naruto against the dent in the wall.
"Listen here, kid, and listen well," Kaosu said in a dark voice that threatened Naruto with extreme pain if he dared to speak. "Don't you EVER say that to me again! Do. . . I make. . . msyelf. . . clear?"
Naruto, shaken by his old sensei's sudden actions, could only nod, "Hai, Mahotsukai-sensei."
With that, he let Naruto go and left the building leaving his comrades wondering why that one phrase pissed him off so badly. Naruto got up. He looked sad. He had upset one of his friends and now he was going to fix it. Naruto began to walk towards the exit.
"Naruto-san, where are you going?" Tobirama asked though he already knew the answer.
"To find him. I need to apologize."
With that, Naruto left the room. His paths followed.
Naruto and his paths found Kaosu on the roof of one of the western most buildings in the village. He was holding a picture in his hand. Upon closer inspection Naruto noticed that there were two people in it. One was Kaosu himself though not dressed in his normal black garbs but in a more regal black and gold haori and armor. The woman seemed a little younger than he was. She had bright blue eyes which also seemed to have a touch of gray in them. Her hair was also an odd color. It was snow white. Her hair was shorter, only about shoulder length, and she wore a nice gray and blue kimono. They were both smiling in this picture. Naruto also noticed that Kaosu's hand was on her far shoulder and they were very close together.
Naruto sadly looked at his sensei's state. It was easy to tell the young man was trying to hold back his tears but was only moments away from breaking. Naruto paused a moment before speaking, "Who was she?"
There was a very long pause before Kaosu sighed, "Her name was Mahotsukai-Shinko Yasana. She was my wife."
Naruto and his paths tensed. Naruto felt really bad now for what he said. But he also heard him say was as well. Naruto swallowed, "What happened to her?"
There was another long paused before Kaosu answered through sniffs. The phrase he spoke hit a cord in all of them.
"I failed."
With that, Kaosu broke in sobs. Naruto had never seen him like this. Minato and Kushina looked at each other. Having lost the other before because of the Kyuubi attack they knew what it was like to lose their spouse as did Mito when Hashirama died. They knew that that experience was outright spirit-breaking and filled with sorrow. They wouldn't wish such sorrow upon even their worst enemy.
Slowly, Naruto walked over to him and put a hand on his ex-sensei's shoulder in a comforting manner. The paths soon joined in.
And that's a wrap. I literally let out a tear as I wrote the last part. I have a good imagination and I also tend to feel the emotion I'm writing. I do believe those are good traits as a writer if I'm no mistaken. Anyway, as for words: Shinko = Faith and Yasana comes from Yasashi, which means kindness. In the last part, I added quite a bit of symbolism in the last part. If a review can point out a symbol, I will mention them in a separate portion of 'Response to Reviews' next chapter. Whether you guess it or not I will still tell you the symbolism in it. Thank you for reading and please review!
~Teddypro
Response to Reviews
{TAKCH1} - Interesting story I must say and better than wackos current fic IMO. I do wonder what naruto gave Hinata though.
{Shadowraven15} - nice story...much better than wacko's...the only question i will ask is when will you update..is weekly or where will you want to write?
Answer: Okay, I'm breaking the 4-only rule because the first part is exactly the same and I just want to say "SORRY, WACKO! I FEEL SO BAD!" Anyway, now to the other part. TAKCH1, well, now you have a pretty good idea. Shadowraven, I'm trying to keep updates daily but that will NOT last for too much longer I'm afraid.
{Jubi 67} - Make sasuke and sakura death very torturous like have sakura look in the mirror and have it break due to her "uglieness" or have sasuke's "penis" explode due to it's small size shrinking more
Answer: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dear God and I thought I was sadistic.
{Peter Kim} - There is no redemption for Sasuke Uchiha ever since such thing will end up having this fic losing alot of readers. Will Naruto tell anyone that Uzushiogakure is back and have all the remaning Naruto's clan return to Uzushiogakure?
Answer: Okay. 1) That first sentence sounds like a threat to me. 2) I still read fanfiction even if they have a particular element that I don't really like. For example, Naruto: Nine and Seven, I don't like the whole idea of Hinata becoming this evil, obssessive girl for Naruto after she finds out he's with Fu, but I still read it. So, honestly, you should like a story for just that, the story, and really focus too much on one element and let it ruin it all for you. You can hate the idea, that's fine; just don't tell me I'm going to lose viewer if I do decide to go that route and that is if I decide. Because that makes it sound like that if I do decide to eventually redeem Sasuke, and it just might due to this being a PEACE challenge, that you are going to flood me with hate mail and have your buddies do it too. You can have your opinion; I can perfectly respect that; just don't shove your opinion down my throat or I might just go that route just to spite you. Anyway, rant done. Next part of review's answer = undecided.
{senjuuchiha} - Wow aw man i love this book this by far the best rinnegan naruto ever keep it up bro you doin a great job
Answer: . . . Okay, I won't be a Grammar Nazi this time. I'll be here too long. First let me just say that I am flattered but I'd prefer if you said it was the best Rinnegan Naruto fic you had ever read not just ever. That implies that it is fact and it isn't. It's just your opinion. Just food for thought. And thank you.
