Ok this is chapter 2.5/3.5 I guess you could say. It's to follow what Shikaku, Inoichi ,and Tsume did near the end of chapter 2 and in chapter three. Shout outs to everyone who has favorite and/or alert listed this story. Also everyone, I'd love reviews even if it's just to say that you like the chapter. Also constructive criticism and things I need to edit are always a boon.
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Naruto cause if I did Naruto wouldn't be stupid and most of Canon would have happened very differently.
Interlude 1: Shikaku's Rage, The Clan Head Trio's promise, And the Sandaime's Resolve!
Nara Shikaku sat on a bench outside of a certain ninja supply store waiting for his two colleagues and family members to arrive. He thought back on what happened yesterday when the two caught up with him after he left the Tetsuro Armory.
-Flash Back-
"Shikaku! Wait up!" Inoichi called. He had never seen his old friend this angry. He and Tsume had to actually put on some speed to catch up to the normally lazy man.
"What's wrong with you?" Inoichi asked. Shikaku looked back at his two fellow clan heads.
"You know my cousin and adopted sister Akiko? The one my parents raised when her folks died during the second ninja war?" he asked in a short clipped voice. Inoichi nodded as did Tsume.
"Didn't she marry into a non ninja family that fled here during the third war?" Tsume asked.
"Yes. She married a young smith whose family fled here from grass during the war. Her husband's name is Goro." Shikaku said in a barely audible and incredibly tense voice. Tsume and Inoichi's eyes widened.
"You mean…" Tsume started but stopped and just growled when Shikaku just nodded.
"It gets worse." Shikaku said agitatedly. "Kushina and Minato helped him start that shop the bastard!"
Inoichi looked stunned and Tsume just growled. Shikaku who had still been walking while they followed stopped outside a bar all three of them were known to frequent. The three went in, sat down, and ordered sake.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Tsume asked quietly. Shikaku just shook his head.
"I don't know about you two but this is twice as personal for me. So tomorrow I'm going to their shop and confronting Goro and Akiko for selling our nephew that orange monstrosity as ninja wear." The Nara clan head said resolutely. Tsume quirked and eyebrow and she grinned at him.
"Our nephew?" she asked already knowing the truth. Shikaku and Inoichi glared at her a little.
"You know damn well, Tsume! That Chika's parents pretty much raised Minato as their own and that Yoshino was an adoptive sister of Kushina and Kouga's on all but paper!" Inoichi said angrily. His and Shikaku's wives considered Naruto a nephew and not only their wives feelings but because they and Choza had treated Kushina like a little sister when they were kids they did too.
"Hahahaha! You two are too funny I knew that already!" Tsume said. She smiled kindly.
"I was just worried because except for when we got to Noriko's shop you two haven't said a word to the boy. I was worried you to had forgotten." Her voice was calm and soft as she spoke and sipped her sake. Shikaku and Inoichi looked a bit ashamed.
"I guess we were sort of surprised." Inoichi said slowly. Shikaku nodded.
"We thought the gaki might hate us and we weren't sure what to say to him ourselves so we let you ladies and the kids handle it." Shikaku sounded the saddest Tsume had ever heard the man. She nodded in understanding.
"So what are we going to do?" Tsume asked. She wanted to get this out of the way before the three of them got to shit faced to think properly.
"Well I think I'll go there around oh I'd say ten or eleven and if Akiko ,who I'm pretty sure knows who Naruto is, let Goro sell him those suits knowingly I'm disowning her from the family and sealing her abilities." Shikaku said with even more resolution. He was pissed and they knew it. Tsume suddenly raised her sake dish.
"Let's make a promise here." She said. "To make sure that this shit never happens to the boy again and that we'll train Naruto and our children to be greater than us and our predecessors!"
Shikaku and Inoichi thought for a moment. The two then clinked their Sake dishes with Tsume's.
"It's a promise!" the two men chanted as one. The rest of the night they sat drinking and thinking about tomorrow and the future.
-Flash back end-
So here Shikaku sat outside the shop his adoptive sister had with her husband. He looked up just as Tsume and Inoichi dropped down next to him. Tsume smiled at him.
"I just left as Naruto and Shikamaru were getting my pup to hang out today." She said cheerfully. Shikaku smiled sadly. His fellow clan heads looked at him curiously. Shikaku shook his head.
"He had breakfast with the three of us this morning. The entire time I'm sure he was trying not to cry tears of joy. I think he's still afraid this is some horrible prank or a dream." Shikaku said while his hands clenched. Inoichi shook his head.
"This fucking village has slowly destroyed that boy. That's why I'll keep the promise we made last night." The Yamanaka clan head said vehemently. Mean while in his head memories of a red headed girl with the same mannerisms and smile as Naruto flashed through.
'I promise Kushina we'll do better and protect you and Minato's son' the blonde man swore.
Shikaku stood from the bench and went toward the door to Goro's Ninja Supply. He looked resolutely back at the other two clan heads, who, just nodded at him and followed him inside.
Ejiki Goro looked up as the bell of his shop's door rung. He smiled slightly when he saw his brother-in-law Shikaku. His smile fades when he sees Shikaku's angry look. Shikaku stood in front of him flanked by Yamanaka Inoichi and Inuzuka Tsume.
"Goro, is Akiko here?" Shikaku asked in a clipped voice. Goro nodded and called for his wife. When Ejiki nee Nara Akiko and started smiling at her adoptive brother until she looked at his face.
"Shikaku-nii what's wrong?" Akiko asked worried as her brother glared at her husband. She may have only gotten to the rank of chunin but she still saw the barely suppressed twitches of rage on the three clan head's faces.
"It recently came to my attention that this shop is the one who sold one, Uzumaki Naruto, the horrible orange suits he constantly has on as ninja wear at incredibly high prices." Shikaku said agitatedly.
Goro's eyes widen as he looks fearfully at his wife who suddenly looked at him in shock. She walked right up to her husband and grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to her eye level.
"Goro-kun is what my Aniki is saying true?" She asked in an incredibly deadly voice. Her husband nodded with an ashamed look on his face. She flung him back.
"Why?" was all she said as she glared at him harshly. Goro gulped audibly as his wife and the three clan heads waited for an explanation.
"I know who the boy is. It's impossible not to see it. He looks like Minato-sama and acts like Kushina-hime." He started his voice quiet and hurting. The three clan heads glared harder at him after what he just said. But before they could do anything he spoke up again.
"I originally sold him good clothes and equipment. Then I was approached by some council members and threatened that unless I did what everyone else was doing to him my shop would be ousted because I'm not originally from Konoha." He said sadly.
"Originally I refused but then one night when I was working late a kunai was suddenly put up to my throat by a shinobi in a white mask. I could tell he wasn't a normal ANBU though. He said that he could easily get to me and Akiko-chan and that unless I followed the council's orders she and I would be killed." He finished his story with an ashamed sigh. The boy's parents had helped his start this shop and he had done horrible things to the boy for the sake of his own life.
"What did the ninja's mask look like?" Shikaku asked suspiciously. He could tell his brother-in-law wasn't lying. The problem was is if his new suspicion was correct the shit would hit the fan.
"It was a plain white mask but except for the Konoha leaf symbol there was a kanji. I think it was 'Ne' yeah that was it the kanji was 'Ne'" Goro said shivering in remembrance of the odd ninja's emotionless tone. The three clan heads cursed. Then as one they spoke a single name in contempt.
"Danzo!" Akiko recognized the name and growled in contempt. Shikaku looked at his slightly shaking brother-in-law.
"I have to apologize Goro. I jumped to conclusions but that boy is family and you know how I am with family. I assumed you were like all the others to the boy and the fact that Nato and Shina helped you start this shop and you still treating him that way just pissed me off." Shikaku said with a sad look on his face.
"I should have gone to you right after I was threatened but in my foolish pride I didn't." Goro admitted.
"So what are you going to do with this new information Shikaku-nii?" Akiko asked. Shikaku looked at her with a stern expression.
"What I have to. Let's go Tsume, Inoichi. Goro, Akiko we'll talk later and again I'm sorry." Shikaku said as he left the shop. Tsume and Inoichi nodded to the couple and left.
They went quickly to the Sandaime's office. They were quickly let in. Their aged leader greeted them with a smile.
"Ah what do I owe to this visit everything is alright with Naruto I hope?" The Sandaime asked tentatively. The look on the faces of three of his seasoned jonin and clan leaders caused the man to sit up straighter in his chair.
"Hokage-sama within the last ten minutes we three have come into some vital and important information." Shikaku said stepping forward. Sarutobi Hiruzen was not a stupid man. He was known as the 'Professor' and as a 'God' among shinobi for a reason. He immediately put up the same sound seals from before.
"Explain" he said in what Naruto called his 'Kage' voice. Inoichi stepped up.
"This morning we went to Goro's Ninja Supply and confronted Goro about some information we acquired from Naruto about those horrible orange jump suits. When he told us why he would sell such to anyone as ninja wear he told us he was threatened by a ninja in a white mask. The mask was ANBU standard but instead of the leaf symbol it held the kanji for 'Ne' on it. The threat was to follow the civilian council's orders. Or else" Inoichi stepped back.
"Are you three certain he wasn't lying?" Sarutobi asked. Tsume nodded.
"He knows who Naruto is and at first he disobeyed and then he was threatened and none of us could sense lies from him and I didn't smell any true 'Fear' pheromones coming off him." Tsume said resolutely. Sarutobi nodded at that.
"I see." The old man stood up and walked over to his office balcony to look outside the village but mostly to look at the Hokage's monument. He spoke up so all three clan heads could hear him.
"From day one of Kushina becoming the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi he wanted to use her as a weapon I wouldn't allow it. Then when Kushina and Minato died and Naruto became the vessel of the Kyuubi he again pushed for the allowance for him to train a weapon. Again I refused." Sarutobi shook his head.
"I have known for a long time that Danzo did not truly disband ROOT when I told him to. He wants to turn Konoha into a conquering power. That is not what our teachers taught us though and yet he persists. It's sad that I way have to kill one of my old comrades. Yet if he is the one who is poisoning Naruto's chances of acceptance in the village just to break the boy and draw him into his fold I will kill him. That is my Hi no Ishi(1). I as the Hokage and as a shinobi and a man will keep my promise to Naruto's parents, to my sensei and to Mito-sama. If Danzo must die for me to keep that promise and protect the village and that boy then so be it." Sarutobi's voice was sad but resolute. He turned and looked at the three clan heads who snapped to attention at his look.
"In three days time I will call a council meeting. Gather your clan and prepare them all a civil war may be fought shortly in our beloved village. Dismissed!"
The three ninja disappeared knowing the shit would hit the fan in several days but the Sandaime was right to protect Naruto and Konoha the old war hawk Danzo must die.
This is a short interlude to show you what's going on behind the scenes. Be prepared things will get interesting in a few chapters!
(1)Hi no Ishi- the will of Fire. The resolve all ninja of Konoha are said to have.
Till next time.