"And here's the hero of the hour." Shikamaru dully announced as Naruto joined the rest of the Konoha 12, "Rested?"

"It was just a paper cut, did you really think that it would keep me down?" Naruto then went first to Sakura who was looking down at the floor, "About what I said at the bridge."

"You were right-"

"Yeah, but I didn't have to yell at you the way that I did." Naruto said apologetically, "After Sasuke and with Akatsuki...I lashed out at you for more than you deserved. I just wanted make sure that we were still friends after all of this."

"Of course we are baka..." Sakura replied and hugged her comrade, "I swear...I'll find a way to make up for what I did...I should've told you the truth...I shouldn't have tried to cut you off...I shouldn't have-"

"Naruto-kun forgives you Sakura, you can relax." Hinata assured with a happy smile as Sakura released her hug, "We're all glad that we're alright, Naruto-kun."

"Sorry for worrying everyone...I guess you all deserve an explanation, right?" Naruto apologized and gave a glance at the young genin, "Konohamaru, I need you to do something for me."

"Really? What do you need boss?"

"Karin's really important so we need you to guard her for us. Got it?"

"He should stay here." Kakashi advised despite Naruto's visible reluctance, "She has nowhere to go if she runs and she won't be able to leave this house without Yamato knowing about it. This is something that either everyone hears or no one hears."

"Alright..." Naruto agreed and motioned for the genin to sit, "Where do I start? Well, I'd wanted to say something earlier when Sakura's group got here. But we didn't have anyway of confirming the truth. Madara came by our hut after meeting with the Raikage and talked to us. But there was no way of trusting anything that he said until I'd talked to Sasuke and now...we have another source."

"Me?" Sai inquired, genuinely surprised by the spotlight placed upon him, "You want to know if I can confirm the truth about an event? Something that I wouldn't have been able to speak about while Danzo was alive?"

"Yeah. Like the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre."

"Naruto...think carefully before you do this."

"If it is the truth, then I'm going to trust them with it." Naruto replied to Kakashi, "It's about time that we stop hiding the truth and just let it breath. If Sasuke had been told the truth then maybe things would have been different."

"You don't know that."

"True and Ero-sennin always said that hindsight is 20/20." Naruto admitted, "But this isn't about the past, this is about the future. Somehow we were all affected by the truth...not just Sasuke...all of us."

"We're listening Naruto, go ahead."

"The only place that I know where to start is at the beginning...so here we go..." From there, Naruto put his thoughts to words. He told his friends everything starting with the night that the Kyubi attacked the village. That Madara had unleashed the demon the village, the Yondaime Hokage sealing the beast inside of him and that the Yondaime was his father, "Everyone following me so far?"

"I always thought you had a resemblance to the Fourth..." More than one of the Konoha 12 agreed with Choji's thought.

"Since Madara had taken control of the Kyubi once before, the Konoha Council suspected that the Uchiha Clan had been involved." Naruto continued, "This pissed off the Uchiha and they started forming a coup d'etat to take control of the village. When the Council found out, they ordered Sasuke's brother to spy on them as a double agent..."

"Itachi?"

"Yeah..." Naruto gave one look at Kakashi who seemed neutral as Naruto continued, "Old Man Sarutobi tried to find a peaceful solution...but it didn't work out. So Danzo and the other Council Members ordered Itachi to destroy the Uchiha Clan to keep the village from falling into a Civil War."

"Everyone except Sasuke..." Sakura sadly added, "Why did Itachi have to kill everyone though?"

"I don't know...the only ones who'd be able to answer that are Danzo and the Council...and Danzo's dead." Naruto stated, "Itachi went to join Akatsuki to seem like he betrayed the village and keep the Uchiha name untainted...at least till Sasuke found out about the truth."

"Itachi had killed everyone in his clan, including children and non-shinobi...why spare Sasuke?"

"Sasuke was his brother...who knew Itachi had a heart-"

"If he had a heart then he'd never have carried out the order in the first place!"

"I'm just the messenger okay?"

"Sorry Naruto-kun...I just...the Council ordered this?"

"Sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the village." Neji said to his cousin, "It's no different than when my father gave his life in your father's place."

"But your father did not murder innocents to fulfill his duty..." Hinata countered, "Why didn't Itachi only kill those who were involved in the coup? Why leave Sasuke completely alone...and then..."

"I don't know...but I guess Itachi wanted Sasuke to kill him." Naruto guessed, "Then Sasuke would be remembered as a hero and uphold the Uchiha honor. But...again, Sasuke had other plans."

"Troublesome, but sad..." Shikamaru admitted, "Poor kid was hot-wired to avenge his clan from the moment that he saw his parents killed. He did all that he did to kill Itachi...only to find out that Itachi was not who he thought he was. So he lashed out the people responsible for Itachi's actions...the people who used Itachi and murdered his family after ostricizing and distrusting them. Not excusing him, but kind of thing could make anyone snap. What would we have done in his shoes? Go back and get welcomed as a hero by the village that slaughtered your family and villainized your brother? Madara used the truth to play Sasuke like a fiddle-"

"How do we even know that all of this is true?" Kiba asked and skeptically looked towards Naruto, "I know you're not lying about this, you believe to be true. But how do we know that Madara isn't making crap up? He's the enemy! This story could be just one big scam meant to break us apart so he can take us out more easily."

"That's why I didn't tell you earlier...even though I wanted to." Naruto replied, referring back to the one event that he did not want to bring to mind, "But that's before Danzo died...before his secrets were sealed."

"Sai?" Ino asked as the ex-Root agent nodded in confirmation, "How did you know about this?"

"Danzo-sama had undertaken many endeavors that are classified for reasons very similar to the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre." Sai explained and stuck out his tongue towards his fellow shinobi, "To prevent any agent from revealing these actions, every Root agent was given a permanent seal that would hold our tongues and paralyze our body if we attempted to reveal them. Furthermore, if were ever captured and fully incapacitated, the seal's chakra would spread down to our lungs and suffocate us."

"Don't act like you're not glad Danzo's dead."

"I will not lie, it's pleasant to have a clean tongue." Sai admitted with a small smile, "But the facts that I know are not to be shared lightly. As some know more than others, the truth often hurts worse than a lie. Which is why I can confirm the validity of Madara's claim."

"How?"

"I was there." Sai responded to the shock of most of those gathered, "Root Agents had been placed at strategic points around the Uchiha perimeter to ensure that survivors did not escape and to keep Itachi from relenting on his duty."

"The slaughter of an entire clan was his duty?"

"The alternative would have been the outbreak of civil war. One where the Uchiha would use the Kyubi as their vanguard." Sai's response to Sakura now shocked Naruto, "All details of the coup died with the Uchiha, but it is confirmed that they were planning to capture Naruto and extract the kyubi from within him. A sharingan had apparently controlled the kyubi at least once before, why not then?"

"Did they have anyway of knowing if they could control the fox?"

"No...which was why this plan had to be stopped before it was initiated." Sai continued, "I will not defend all of Danzo's actions or pretend that his reign as hokage would have been prosperous for the village. But in this case as with many others, Danzo did what he had to in order to protect the village."

"And all it did was create another enemy...cause that was inevitable..." Kakashi added, "You're all young and relatively new to the shinobi world...most of you haven't faced the true darkness that this world can create. You haven't faced the shackles...the times when you must shed innocent blood...let the bad guy get away with horrid crimes...turn a blind eye towards an offense or else risk a costly war...if nothing else, Danzo understood the price of his village's stability. He understood that there would be times when a shinobi must plunge his hands into the filth, so that others may keep their hands clean. He did not ask others to do this for him, he took it upon himself."

"All of our hands are a little dirty Sensei..." Naruto replied as his right hand nervously twitched, remembering the hole that he had torn through Sasuke's chest, "But we can't keep the filth around or else we'll mistake it for water...and if we let too much filth get on our hands, it'll taint the river we wash in."

"Since when you so deep Naruto?"

"Hey! I can be smart with stuff!"

"I thought you were the Number One Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja?"

"I'm not as smart as you...but if I were a complete idiot then none of us would be here..." Naruto said to Shikamaru, "I'm really sorry about the whole Sasuke mess. I mean it guys...everything that happened was my fault-"

"Bullshit Naruto." Sakura blunted with a frown, "Everything that Sasuke did was completely on him. He was a traitor from the start and never had any intention of returning home. The only thing that we did wrong was have faith that he would turn back to us...especially me..."

"Guess I owe you an apology too. I was the one in charge of the Retrival Mission three years ago...if we had succeeded then we wouldn't be here." Shikamaru added apologetically, "In fact, if we had succeeded back then, then you wouldn't have to carry all of this heavy stuff by yourself."

"I'm the one who failed to bring back Sasuke-"

"But we were all part of the same team, where one fails then all fail." Neji stated, "However, that doesn't mean we should take responsibility for actions that weren't our own. From the start, we had assumed that Sasuke had been kidnapped or captured by the Sound Four. None of us ever believed that he would have willingly abandoned the village."

"Who cares about Sasuke? He's dead now, who gives a shit?" Kiba asked, clearly wanting to move on, "I just wish that I could've seen his stupid face when he got what he deserved."

"Sasuke was a traitor, but he was also our friend once. Give him some respect."

"I am...all the respect that the bastard deserves!" Kiba spat to further his point to a remorseful Ino, "All he did was distract us from what's really important. From what I hear, Akatsuki's declared war on the Shinobi World to get Naruto and Sasuke being dead is one less problem to worry about. I never got what the big deal about Sasuke was anyway...I mean Tsunade was a deserter and we made her the hokage-"

"How dare you insult Tsunade-sama!"

"He's gotta point Sakura..." Naruto admitted to a deflated Sakura, "That's why me and Ero-sennin had to convince her to come back. I think he even admitted that she was only offered the job because no one else was qualified...at least not yet. But here's the difference between her and Sasuke...Tsunade admitted that she was wrong for leaving...she changed and came back to the village. Sasuke...well...no need to beat the dead horse."

"It's sad...Sasuke did everything he did to murder his brother...only to find out that his vengeance was misplaced..." Hinata sadly muttered, "What would any of us had done if we were in his shoes?"

"Honestly, I would've done the same thing in his shoes." Naruto admitted to everyone's shock, "Hell...if I hadn't met Iruka sensei or any of you, I would've lost my mind and wasted the village a long time ago..."

"There's no question that Danzo and the elders would die..." Choji said to the surprise of the others, especially his own squadmates, "But the rest of the village? That's too far, none of them had anything to do with the old hags. Then again...I don't even know if murdering the elders would be right...they were just trying to protect the village."

"Killing the old man wouldn't have done nothing, but create a cycle of hatred." Naruto stated, "That's why I didn't want to kill Sasuke at first...because I was afraid of falling into the same trap that so many people in our world were trapped in. But that kind of thinking is naive for people like Sasuke. He had too many chances to turn back and he didn't...his own stupid sense of vengeance was just perpetuating the cycle by itself. I feel bad for learning about his family or his brother Itachi...but his family was in the wrong from the start. And for him to extend his vengeance to the rest of Konoha? It's crazy...craziness and stupidity...and I know stupid!"

"Maybe naive, but that is nothing against you Naruto-kun." Hinata offered, "You've always been able to talk with others and understand them. Through that understanding, you put yourselves in their shoes and helped them change for the better. Like you did with Neji-kun, with Tsunade-sama, with me and with the Kazekage, Gaara."

"And Pain..." Naruto absently added to the further surprise of his comrades, "Hey! I know I'm awesome, but even I can't bring back the dead! That was Nagato...after I'd talked with him about why he became Pain. How he was lost in the cycle of hatred because of war and death. Seeing what it had done to him...I didn't want to be like him. But I went too far without any real plan on how to deal with Sasuke if I couldn't reach him...I never even planned to kill him until I did it."

"Better than some planners like me..." Sakura chuckled bitterly, "But Sasuke is dealt with and there's no taking it back. Now what will we do?"

"Madara will still want me and the Eight-Tails, right?" Naruto rhetorically asked, still feeling a chill from merely remembering his last conversation with the masked Uchiha, "But I'm not ready to fight him..."

"You won't have to fight him alone!" Hinata asserted, "We'll all be there with you."

"But you might die like before-"

"There's worse things that could happen to a kunoichi," Ino reminded Naruto, "Or to any shinobi, like leaving a comrade to fight alone when they don't have to."

"Like it or not, the village is in this coming war together Naruto. You've inspired them and now they want to follow their future hokage into battle." Kakashi said to Naruto, who seemed overwhelmed by the enormity of the thought, "That's the difference between us and men like Madara. Whereas Madara leads through fear and manipulation, a true hokage leads through fellowship and love. Just like the Shodai and Nidaime...just like Sarutobi...just like your father and how Tsunade now has lead."

"Sounds like a lot of running, I don't envy you." Shikamaru joked as he put out a cigarette and threw it outside as Yamato lightly glared at him, "I'll pick it up later."

"Please pick it up now."

"Troublesome..." As Shikamaru stood up, Shino held up a single hand, "What is it?"

"There's someone outside." One of Aburame's insects landed on his fingers while the rest of the shinobi watched him, "And he's not alone."

"One of them is on the other side..." Neji whispered with his byakugan active as Hinata confirmed with her's as well, "And he's heading for the door."

"Just point..." Looking in the direction that both Hyuga's were indicating, Shikamaru activated his Shadow Posession Jutsu. The Nara's shadow expanded and ran under the wooden wall of the hut and immediately a thud was heard as the intruder was restrained and slammed against the outside, "Shadow Binding Technique success."

"Snag him!" Kiba shouted as Sakura punched through the wall and Akamaru leapt out a window. A few seconds later, Sakura pulled in a masked shinobi as Akamaru returned dragging another by his bloodied shoulder, "He smells like piss."

"He wet himself...gross..." Ino muttered as Kakashi and Naruto knocked out the two shinobi and the Konoha 12 all readied themselves for an attack, "I can read him to find out what he knows."

"In the meantime, we need to keep from being trapped." Neji warned while surveying the perimeter, "There are many of them."

"I see them as well." Hinata confirmed, "And they're closing in."

"Shit..." Naruto muttered, "We're already cornered, we'll just have to face them head-on."

"Agreed, We'll split into three groups of five." Kakashi ordered, his sharingan already uncovered, "Naruto, Hinata, Lee and Tenten, you're with me; Yamato, take Sakura, Shino, Choji and Shikamaru to the other side; everyone else, stay with Neji and guard the house's perimeter. We'll fight until the battle is no longer with fighting. If you see a gap in their formation, punch it and leave it open for an escape route. Akatsuki may very well be behind this attack and if so, then win or lose, this position is compromised. Understood?"

"Hai!"

"Move out."

Author's Notes:

Okay, I think I know where I want this story to go.

Not planning on anything super long or complicated, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.