New chapter. Thanks for the reviews. I'll try to do better in this chapter.
I Don't own Naruto of any other main characters.
…...
It was a beautiful morning. The sky was azure blue, cloudless and Sun was shining brightly. The usual sounds of the busy streets of Konoha were indicating the beginning of another normal peaceful day.
But Naruto was restless, he could not push the thoughts of his conversation with Sasuke away, no matter how hard he tried, he hadn't talked to him since that day and he was sure that Sakura has also started to suspect something was wrong between them.
Naruto could not help but feel heavy at heart, Team 7 was the only family he had the only people he cared about, the only people who had accepted him instead of hating him.
He was feeling guilty for what he had said to Sasuke, Naruto did not intended to snap at him like that, he knew that what he had said was not true, Sasuke was the first person who has given Naruto's life more importance than his own, he had almost died while protecting him from Haku's needles, but Sasuke's questions stirred a feeling of insecurity in his mind.
He was afraid, afraid of seeing the same look of hate and disgust in the eyes of his friends that he saw in the eyes of every villager, afraid of losing his only family, he was afraid of being alone again, afraid that he would not be able to fight his inner monster alone, would not be able to resist the darkness that always seems so eager to engulf him.
Naruto sighed, he was currently sitting on the Hokage mountain, over the head of the fourth hokage, looking at the village which was so full of life, love and happiness.
Sometimes he wonders why does it have to be him who was not accepted as a part of that happiness or love? Why can't anyone see the pain and loneliness in his eyes? Why can't they see that he was not the monster they hate for killing their dear ones?
The sound of footsteps approaching brought Naruto out of his thoughts, turning around he found Naota was walking towards him. How did he know that he was here? Naruto wondered.
Closing his eyes for a brief moment Naruto summoned all his will to mask his current state of mind, that he was sure had brought a look of utter hopelessness on his face, and flashed a bright grin towards Naota,
"Ohayo! Naota-nii san. When did you come back from your mission? How did it go? What are you doing here at this hour?"
"I felt your chakra here Naruto. So I came to check on you." Replied Naota as he sat beside Naruto, cross legged and looked twards the village, "It's beautiful. Isn't it? When I was young I always used to come here and look at the village, my village, the place we fight to protect."
"Yeah! It's the best view in the whole Konoha." Naruto answered cheerfully, hiding his emotions carefully under his invisible mask.
"Naruto….! What happened?" Naota looked at Naruto straight in his eyes. Naruto felt like he could see through the depths of his soul, like he knew everything.
"N-Nothing Naota nii-san." Shuttered Naruto breaking the eye contact, unable to lie under the piercing gaze of Naota.
He started to play with the hem of his jacket in an attempt to avoid Naota, but there was no escape route that he could think of at that moment it was like Naota could read his mind like an open book and knew exactly what he was thinking. But how was that even possible? He had known him for merely two days! How could he read Naruto that well?
"You are a horrible liar. You know that?" Naruto looked up at Naota, his eyes wide and filled with horror, then he looked away, "Gomen nii-san, gomen….." he murmured in a voice which was barely above than whisper.
"There is nothing you should be sorry about Naruto. You call me your nii-san and you afraid to share your thoughts with me! Well then how the hell am I supposed to be a great big brother?"Naota flashed him a grin and patted Naruto's head affectionately, adjusting his headband properly, "There, it's better." He said with a smile.
Naruto could feel the tears threatening to roll down from his eyes, he moved his face to the opposite side to hide them. Shinobis are not supposed to cry, crying means weakness and Naruto was not weak. He was far from weak, his life had never given him chance to be weak from the beginning. From the day he was thrown out of that orphanage at the age of four, from the day Sarutobi jiji had told him that there was no jutsu that could bring the dead back to life, from the day he had known that he had no one, in this huge world he was completely alone, hated and left to struggle and cling to his life.
Because he had always known one thing he was too strong to give up, too strong to die without fighting.
"Naruto, you know one thing…", once again he his thoughts was interrupted by that familiar soothing voice,
"If you never trust the people you consider your family then they also would never be able to trust you fully. Sometimes your greatest fears are nothing but nightmares which vanishes when you wake up." Naota got up from his seat and brushed the dirt away from his jounin uniform,
"Did you eat your breakfast Naruto?" Naota asked in a gentle voice.
"No. nii-san."
"Come on lets go then. I think we can grab some ramen before you go for your training. What do you say?"
"Really?" Naruto jumped from his seat enthusiastically on hearing the name of his favourite food and started to march down the mountain not bothering to look back. Naota chuckled at that and followed him wordlessly towards Ichiraku, well he cannot deny the fact that he himself has missed Ichiraku ramen!
…...
As the ramen stand came into their line of sight, Naruto ran towards it, Naota chuckled watching his younger self doing that, really that was very weird if he thinks about that, his own younger self is now just like his brother.
In mare a week he had grew fond of both Naruto and Sasuke and surprisingly it felt really good and not a bit of weird. When he finally reached the counter, he saw that that Naruto was happily eating his first bowl as fast as he could, then he noticed the warm smile the owner was giving him, Naota smiled at that, Ichiraku used to be like a second home to him at that time.
The old man look up to him noticing him for the first time and gave him a warm welcoming smile, "Welcome to Ichiraku, I assume you are the nii-san Naruto was talking about for last two days." Naruto looked Teuchi first and then at Naota, shaking his head he said, "Yes! This is Naota nii-san old man. And you know he is an amazing ninja and cool and-"
"Yeah. Yeah Naruto I got it." said the owner of the small ramen stand. Naruto snorted and started to eat his Ramen again. "So, young man what kind of ramen would you like to have?"
Looking at the familiar face Naota could not help but wince as the memories of the same man lying motionless in a pool of blood came rushing back to him, Ichiraku was the only place that was open during the war, at least until that fateful night, the old man Teuchi had said that, people was suffering enough due to the loss of their loved ones, the price rice and lack of grocery stores, and he didn't want to deprive people from some decent food too. Naota shook his head to stop those cries, pleas, images of blood and death coming back to him and sat down on a chair, the old man frowned at the lack of response, "Young man?"
Naota snapped out of his thoughts, "Oh! I'm sorry. Please give me some miso-ramen. And call me Naota please ojii-san."
"Sure thing Naota-san." The man replied, "Now that you are Naruto's nii-san I'll see you enough I guess." Not expecting a reply, he started cooking the ramen.
Naota hmm'ed not giving much thought at what he was saying, "Yeah…it's a pleasure to meet you again…." The last part was barely a whisper, so neither Naruto nor the owner heard him. Naota sighed and looked away. Facing every one again was hard, much harder than he had thought.
It was around seven thirty when they had finished their breakfast, Naruto jumped from his seat,
"I'm late!I'm late I'm late! Thanks for the breakfast nii-san, ojii-san, I gotta go, I'm soooo dead!" Naruto whined and tried to turn around and run towards the direction of the training grounds, but a strong hand grabbed his wrist and stopped him successfully, Naruto looked at Naota and frowned, "Nii-san?"
"Calm down Naruto. I think you have forgotten that your teacher was not going to come around before it's nine. And if you wait a little and let me pay the bill first then I may teleport you too."
"Really? You will teleport me? That's cool." Naruto was practically bouncing up and down in excitement. Teleport! Yes! Yes! Yes! That was so amazing! Naota chuckled looking at him. He paid for total twelve bowls of ramen, that they had been eating for last hour and came out of the counter,
"So, Naruto, the bridge?"
"Nope. Today sensei had told us that he would give us some training on taijutsus so we need to meet him at the training ground seven." Naruto blurted out, he was so happy and excited that he could not wait anymore.
"Ok. Let's go. And I'm warning you, you may feel a bit dizzy." Naota circled his arms around his shoulder and Naruto felt like everything was spinning, but before he could even blink, a swirl of leaves appeared surrounding them and the next thing he knew, he was looking straight at Sakura's bubble-gum hair!
"Umm…Hey Sakura-chan!"
….-…..
Sakura was going insane. Everything was wrong. EVERYTHING! When she had arrived there she thought that she would see a brooding Sasuke or he would be training like a maniac but today Sasuke was not alone he was chatting with someone! And he was laughing! No smirk Sakura could take a smile at most but the Uchiha Sasuke was laughing, it should be in the headlines!
Then when she asked the other man's identity, Sasuke had said he was his cousin which also does not make any sense. Sasuke had never talked about a cousin! He was a orphan wasn't he? Not that she was not happy for Sasuke to have a living family but this was all just so confusing!
Her chance to flirt with Sasuke and convince him for a date has already been ruined, so she just sat on the ground leaning against a tree, after a while when Sasuke started his shuriken and tai jutsu practice things seemed normal to her, but still something was missing…then she noticed that Naruto was almost half an hour late!
This was also unnatural….Naruto had never been late for training before. And by never she means NEVER.
What was so different about today she wondered, and got up in order to do some practice, but just when she was about to start, in a swirl of leaves two bodies appeared before her and there was Naruto, standing less than a foot from her.
She stumbled backwards from shock and fell on the ground and that was so so awkward and embarrassing! Then another abnormal thing happened Sasuke came to help her! Ok that was at least something good. She sighed and slowly stood up, glaring daggers at Naruto.
"Gomen Sakura, I didn't mean for this to happen. I'm really sorry." That was Naota-san who has apologized looking embarrassed, then came Naruto's "Sorry Sakura-chan! Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine and it's ok Naota-san…Naruto." replied Sakura brushing the dirt off her dress.
"Takamine-san what are you doing here?" It was Sasuke who voiced his question. He had already gone back to his training after helping Sakura, Naota noticed that all the shurikens are at the centre of the targets, Naota sighed, well that was normal for Sasuke.
"Naruto told me that he was late for his training and well I just offered him that I can teleport him here." Naota said scratching the back of his head, an action that caught Sasuke's attention immediately, that gesture seemed familiar, thought Sasuke, he frowned, he could not remember why it seemed familiar. After a moment of thinking Sasuke shrugged and went back to his tai-jutsu practice.
Throughout this whole exchange Naruto was looking at the figure leaning on a tree at the far corner of the field. The man had his eyes closed and his face was towards them.
Looking closely at the facial features of the man Naruto frowned, the man looked like Sasuke to some extent, not perfectly alike but it seemed that he was some relative of Sasuke. But that was not quite possible because Sasuke also had no one just like him!
Naota looked at Naruto's confused face and then he looked at Shisui standing at the corner, Naota walked towards Shisui, Naruto also trailed behind him, his curiosity was killing him, he was sure that he had never seen the man in the village before, but the way the man was standing he was definitely a ninja, who was this man? Was he a friend of Naota-nii? Why was he there at the training compound?
"Shisui-san. What are you doing here? You should be resting." Shisui straighten up hearing Naota's voice, " Hokage-sama had asked for my presence at around ten o'clock Naota-san and I just thought that I would provide Sasuke some company until then and have some fresh air, after all it has been a long time since I've roamed around this freely."
Naota hmm'ed thoughtfully placing a hand on his chin, during their conversation Naruto noticed that the man, Shusui had not opened his eyes for once.
Realization drawn into Naruto and he hesitated a bit before introducing himself, this man, whoever this was could not see, from his words it seemed that he was captured by some enemy and tortured maybe, Naruto shivered at the thought and shook his head,
"Konnichiwa! I'm Uzumaki Naruto! The future Hokage of Konoha." Naruto offered cheerfully, but frowned when he saw Shusui stiffen hearing his name, oh great, he thought, this man was also among them who hated him with every fiber in their body. But before he could say anything else he felt a hand ruffling his hair affectionately,
"Uchiha Shisui! It's nice to meet you Naruto. You are Saske's another team member I assume." There was no hint of hate in his voice and Naruto sighed in relief but then Shusui's words caught up with his mind, "Uchiha?!"
"I'm Sasuke's cousin Naruto." informed Shisui shrugging at Naruto's question.
Oh! So he was right. Naruto thought. Sasuke's relative, so, Sasuke also had someone unlike him. A sad smile made his way to his lips but to his relief no one noticed that, as Shisui was speaking with Naota again, and his teammates were too far to notice.
After a few moments Sasuke and Sakura also joined them. Today will definitely be a good day Naruto thought, he was debating with himself for quite a long time now whether he should or should not talk to Sasuke again but before he could say something, Sasuke had already walked past him and was now standing in front of Naota.
"Naota-san. Fight me." Said Sasuke his eyes were burning with hope and determination.
"I want to fight you too nii-san. Fight me please." Naruto glared at Sasuke who returned the gesture with another heated glare.
Naota looked confused for a moment but then smiled at them, "Calm down boys. I'll fight you both. But I've a meeting with Hokage-sama too, so let's make it quick. And Sasuke first." Naruto pouted but did not complain.
Naota turned back towards Shusui once again, "Shusui-san I'll take you to Hokage tower in two hours." With that Naota turned into his heels with Sasuke and walked towards the other end of the training ground.
"Ok Sasuke, tai-jutsu only. No nin-jutsu. You can use any weapons and your sharingan if you want . Is that fine with you?"
"It's fine Naota-san." That was great Sasuke thought, if Naota-san was allowing him to use sharingan then maybe he could copy some of his moves.
They took their respective positions, Sasuke saw that Naota was not taking lead to start the fight, simply waiting for him to attack first. Sasuke launched himself towards Naota, took some shurikens out of his pouch and threw them towards the direction where Naota was standing.
But Naota vanished from his spot and the shurikens plunge into the tree behind him. He's fast, thought Naota, but in an instant Naota was behind him and before Sasuke could turn around he was kicked on his back and fell on the ground.
'Well it didn't hur', thought Sasuke, 'He is holding back' Sasuke felt a little angry at the realization.
"Sasuke don't let your guard down while using any jutsu or weapons, that could cause terrible damage." Naota shouted to the young Uchiha.
Sasuke nodded to him and got up. This time he showered punches towards Naota which were dodged skillfully.
As Sasuke brought his knees up to kick Naota, he took a hold of his knees, which caught Sasuke off guard and his balance wavered causing him to fell again.
"Sasuke there was an opening you need to occupy my hands before you kick me. Get up and try this again I'll show you the opening."
Sasuke got up quickly and did what he was told Naota show him the fault in his moves. They fought like that, Naota just blocking or dodging and showing Sasuke his mistakes while Sasuke tried his best to place at least one punch or kick on Naota.
But that was futile. Half an hour later when Naota has ordered Sasuke to stop and said that was enough for the day, Sasuke was panting and covered in sweat.
He slowly made his way towards the nearby tree and sat down under it. Closing his eyes he thought about last half an hour, a small smile tugged his lips upwards, he had learnt a lot in last few minutes more than he had learnt in last few weeks.
Naruto was jumping in excitement. He had enjoyed Sasuke's fight, when Naota nii was pointing at Sasuke's mistakes he felt somewhat equal, the look on Sasuke's face was of pure frustration but his fight had shown that he was not that high and mighty as everyone thinks he is, and now Naruto was excited because it was his turn.
Naruto ran towards where Naota was standing, "My turn nii-san fight me! fight me!"
"Ah! Calm down Naruto I know it's your turn. Come on take your position, let's see what you can do."
"Yosh! Nii-san I'm more than ready." exclaimed Naruto while taking his position opposite to Naota.
…-…
Kakashi smiled to himself, his students are going to have a heart attack when they will see him one hour early than what they were expecting, really Kakashi was looking forward to see their shocked expressions.
But as he neared the training compound he saw Takamine standing with his students at the far corner of the grounds and it seemed that Sasuke has challenged him in a fight.
Kakashi's heart skipped a beat his students are his responsibility and he does not trust Takamine enough to let his students fight with him. What if Takamine was after Sasuke's sharingan or may be kyuubi?
Kakashi knows how special his team is, he cannot risk their safety in the hands of some stranger! But Takamine has taught them Water walking and he also lives beside Sasuke's house, besides he has put that seal on Naruto's door to protect him, the logical part of his mind supplied, if he wanted to harm any one of them, he would have done so a long ago. Besides Hokage-sama trusts him fully.
'I'll just keep an eye on them if something goes wrong then I'll stop him' thought the copy-nin, satisfied with this idea Kakashi hid himself between the thick leaves of a tree and lowered his chakra level so that Takamine could not detect his presence. He also infused some chakra in his ears to extend his range of hearing so that he could catch their conversation.
Kakashi noticed that Sasuke's sharingan was activated and he was also using weapons while Takamine was only using taijutsu. He relaxed a bit Takamine had made rules in Sasuke's favor so that means that he meant no harm to him.
Kakashi removed his forehead protector form his left eye to reveal his sharingan, he wanted to watch Takamine's fighting style more closely. Kakashi watched in awe how Takamine has dodged attack after attack without breaking a swet, he was not even trying to attack Sasuke, he was just pointing out his flaws in taijutsu.
Takamine's movements were fluid his speed was like no one Kakashi had met before except for his mentor the fourth hokage.
After watching the fight closely for a few more moments Kakashi frowned Takamine's style was somewhat familiar and yet different, his moves were unpredictable, his frown deepened when he saw that some moves were like he was using gentle first, the special taijutsu style of Hyuuga clan, which was very uncommon because they never taught outsiders their style, and Takamine's style was still different from gentle first that means maybe Takamine had some good friends in Hyuuga clan and he has picked up his style during their regular sparring seasons.
But the next move made Kakashi's eyes impossibly wide, that was Gai's move his own invention, how the hell could Takamine know that? Maybe that was a coincident Kakashi thought but he was not satisfied with his own answer.
To Kakashi's utter disappointment Takamine told Sasuke to stop and that was enough for the day. Damn! Kakashi cursed he needed to watch the man fight to clear his confusion. So, when Naruto came running towards Takamine and demanded to fight him, Kakashi sighed in relief.
The fight was going almost the same way as the one with Sasuke Takamine dodging and Naruto attacking without giving him any break. But to Kakashi's utter surprise, the style Takamine used was a wonderful mixture of the traditional styles of gentle first, the special tai-jutsu style of uchiha clan, Gai's style and to his horror there were hints of his own style!
Kakashi was confused more than he had been in his entire life, he would admit that Takamine must be a genius to mix up all those different styles and mending them into something utterly new and absolute but he could not think of any logic behind Takamine's knowledge about their styles.
Kakashi tried to find openings in Takamines movements but there was none his defense was absolute and Kakashi was sure as hell that if he started to attack, only one punch or kick would defeat a chunin or maybe weaker jounins.
As the fight progressed Kakashi also noticed another thing, Naruto's style was also different from the one taught at academy. His movements were unpredictable and could catch anyone off guard.
That made Kakashi wonder how much was he ignoring his students, he had spar with Naruto only during the bell test, most of the time he would pair up Naruto and Sasuke and his clone would spar with Sakura lightly.
He has given Sasuke some taijutsu lesions after he had activated his sharingan because he wanted to pass his signature jutsu "Chidori" to Sasuke but looking at their fight with Takamine, Kakashi realized that Naruto was almost as good as Sasuke in tai-jutsu, he maybe a little slow but he was good.
A pang of guilt made its way in Kakashi's heart and he mentally cursed, he should have been more serious with their training, he should have given them more care, like Takamine was doing now.
…-…..
Sakura was gaping as she watched both Sasuke and Naruto fight against this man, she felt like trash, she felt like she should not even be standing there.
After their wave country mission Sakura had realized that Naruto was not a dead-last when it comes to fighting against real enemies but she hoped that she would catch up with them after a while. But watching them fight today she realized that she was too far behind them.
She saw as Naota caught Naruto's wrists in the middle of a punch and motioned him to stop, "But nii-san I didn't even placed a punch within four inch of you…" Naruto complained and Naota chuckled at that,
"Well you need to go a long way before you could do that." Naota ruffled Naruto's hair affectionately and motioned for Sasuke to come to him. Sasuke complied without a protest and stood in front of Naota.
"Naruto, Sasuke you both did great better than most people of your age but listen to me carefully, Sasuke you follow the traditional style too much, I could practically see your next movements, your speed is a good advantage but I think you should rely on your instincts more, and try to correct the flaws I've pointed earlier."
"Now coming to Naruto, well I must say that your moves are quite unique you can catch your opponent off guard easily, but in your case your speed is the main problem, you are too slow Naruto, work on your speed."
"Your weaknesses are almost opposite to each other so I think that you two would make great sparring partners and if you help each other then both of you would be benefited." Naruto and Sasuke both looked a bit uncomfortable at the last comment but they did not voice themselves just nodded in understanding. Naota turned towards where Sakura was standing, "Would you like to spar too Sakura?"
"No-no I don't think I'm ready for that at this moment Naota-san." replied Sakura lowering her head ashamed of her weakness.
"There is nothing you should be ashamed of Sakura, I think you should learn medical nin-jutsu, I've seen your chakra control, it is almost perfect and it is always good to have a medic in your team ne?"
"Really? You think I can become a medic?" Sakura asked, Naota noted the desperation and hope in her voice, she wanted to proof herself useful for her team,
"Of course Sakura. I think you will make a great medic one day. Give it a thought Sakura you may speak to your sensei too and if he approves then you may spent some of your time in the hospital learning the basics of medical nin-jutsu, then if the work as a medic interests you I think you should go for that."
Sakura nodded in understanding, she had never thought about that before but the idea of being a medic is quite compromising and that way she would be able to help her team during missions too.
"Arigato Naota-san." She finally replied. Naota waved his hands in dismissal. "I should go now I've already made your sensei wait for an hour." Naota was beside Shusui in a flash and the next moment they both disappeared from the training grounds.
Kakashi was practically gaping like a fish hearing the last comment from Takamine, who was this Takamine? How could he sense him from that distance? Even when he was masking his chakra! He thought he was good at masking his chakra! Damm it! He had even fooled many sensory types before!
But Takamine had detected the moment he had reached the place? How was that even possible? He was not even concentrating!
He saw Takamine teleport himself to the other side of the field, where another man was standing. 'Oh god! I'm losing my touch!' Kakashi thought he was there for a whole fucking hour and he had missed an unfamiliar chakra! But before he could gasp the facial feature of the man both the man and Takamine had disappeared from there. Sighing Kakashi made his way towards his students, "Yo!" all three turned towards him with confused faces. He was not expecting that reaction from them at all. But he shrugged off the unease,
"So did you enjoy your morning?"
Sasuke hn'd which was followed by a cheerful shout of 'yes!' from Naruto but Sakura did not reply she was looking somewhat lost.
Kakashi sighed, "Sakura I think what Takamine-san has said was a good idea, you should try to become a medic, from your chakra control you'll be good at that." Sakura's face lit up at that,
"You think sensei?" she asked enthusiastically.
"Yeah Sakura I think so. Now can anyone tell me who was the other man watching your fights?"
"He was not watching us" Naruto replied promptly. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at that, "You should not lie to your sensei you know Naruto." Kakashi replied sarcastically.
"I'm not lying" came the angry retort. But before Naruto could say anything Sasuke cut him off, "That's none of your business."
"Of course it is Sasuke. I need to know everything about you guys we are a team aren't we?"
"As if you know anything about us." Naruto mumbled under his breath, not really wanting Kakashi to hear the insult, but hearing those words coming from Naruto's mouth Kakashi felt more guilty than insulted.
Just then an ANBU appeared beside them, "Hokage-sama has summoned you Hakate-san." Kakashi nodded at the man and the ANBU disappeared, Kakashi looked at his students once again,
"Well I guess we can't train today. I'll talk to you guys tomorrow meet me here at 7 a.m. sharp. Ja!" and Kakashi turned on his heels and started to walk away leaving his students there.
…..-….
The door of the hokage office slid open, Naota and Shisui entered the room, Shisui kneeled in front of the Hokage like he used to do as an ANBU while Naota just bowed to show his respect.
"Rise Shisui. You don't need to do that now. How are your injuries?" asked Hiruzen, deep concern evident in his voice.
"I'm good. Thank you Hokage Sama. Why did you asked for my presence?"
"Oh well I just wanted you to meet the current elite joununs of Konoha, I've already summoned them, they would be here any moment now but before that I need to discuss some things with you." Shisui felt a little bit uncomfortable hearing the seriousness in the Hokage's tone.
'what could it be?' he wondered.
"Shisui" Hiruzen started,
"I've had some words with the medics concerning your health, according to them even after your eye transplantation it will take you at least six months to recover fully, at least physically, and in all those past years how much mental trauma you have endured I can't even imagine. So Shisui I've decided that you won't be joining the ANBU anytime soon."
Hiruzen's words shattered Shusui's heart in hundred pieces, never in his life had he felt this useless before, he swallowed the lump in his throat and tried to assure Hiruzen that he was mentally stable enough and he would work hard to regain his physical fitness but before he could voice his protests, he noticed that Hokage-sama has started speaking again,
"However Takamine-san has assured me that he will be helping you to regain your physical fitness as soon as possible, and if you are willing Shisui then I will want you to become an elite Konoha jounin, I myself will test your abilities as soon as you feel ready for that and until I give you permission you will not be allowed to get involved in any kind of fights with anyone except for your sparring season with Takamine-san. Is that alright with you?" Hiruzen asked looking at Naruto pointedly, this was his idea after all.
Naruto gave him a look that clearly said 'have some faith in me jiji', nodding Hiruzen turned to look at Shisui again who was in deep thought, after a while Shusui replied in a firm voice,
"Hai! Hokage Sama. I won't disappoint you."
Naruto smirked at that, "Uchihas" he murmured.
Shusui raised an eyebrow hearing that, but said nothing. A comfortable silence fell on the room, a few moments later Hiruzen spoke again,
"Danzo's trial is tomorrow at eleven thirty a.m. both of you are expected there, specially you Shusui. The clan leaders also want some explanations from you Takamine-san." Hiruzen watched Shusui tense hearing Danzo's name but he forced himself to relax before replying, " Hai!"
The door of the office was knocked and the five elite jounins walked in, they bowed to Hokage but as soon as their eyes fell on Shusui, Kakashi gasped,
"Sh-shisui-san?!" being a part of the ANBU Kakashi had worked with Shisui in many missions, there was no mistaking, this man was Uchiha Shusui, or at least looked like him.
Kakashi noticed Takamine standing behind him and realization hit him like a cool blow of wind at that instant, this man's…Shusui's chakra is the same as the one he had sensed on the training grounds, so Shusui was there watching the spar, 'He was not watching' Naruto's words ran through his mind and he noticed that Shisui's eyes were closed.
So someone has taken his sharingan out thought Kakashi. He then turned to look at the hokage.
The others were bombarding him with questions and suspicions while the Hokage was perfectly still, letting the outburst of the jounins some time before explaining things to them. Hiruzen sighed, this would be more difficult than he had thought this would be.
To say Shisui was feeling uncomfortable would be a big mistake, he was feeling like the earth should open up and swallow him whole.
Each and every one in the room was gaping at him he could feel their eyes on him. Was it so hard to watch me alive? Shusui wondered, but when he heard someone shuttering his name, he turned his head towards the source of the sound.
The voice was oddly familiar but Shusui was not quite sure where he had heard that voice before his memories were still a little blurry.
A few moments later the room was bombarded with questions but Shusui could still feel someone staring at him as if searching for a lie with all his might, Shusui took a step back, he could endure torture and pain but his soon to be comrades accusing him of being a threat to the village or some imposer, hurt.
Shusui felt a strong arm grab his shoulder and squish it gently, reassuring him, and Shusui was thankful for that, at that moment he just needed someone who trusts him.
It was around fifteen minutes before the room got quiet and the four ninja's has stopped questioning. Hiruzen coughed a little to get their attention, specially Kakashi's, who had not uttered a single word, just kept staring from Shusui to Naruto and to Shusui again, a lost and confused look plastered over his entire face.
"Let me introduce you all to Takamine Naota, a part of my special task force and currently an elite jounin of Konoha and Uchiha Shusui." Questions started to arise again filling the silent room with noises but this time Hiruzen waved his hand and silence once again enveloped the room.
"There is no confusion about him being Uchiha Shusui. I've confirmed it from his medical reports and as far as him being a spy or working against us, well that was also not possible because Inouchi has gone through his memories and there was nothing suspicious." Said Hiruzen.
"Now, Shusui will be joining you as an elite jounin after his full recovery so I think I should introduce you to him too. Shisui these are the current elite jounins of Konoha, Kuenai, Asuma, Gai, Anko and Kakashi."
"Kakashi- the copy nin, only non-Uchiha Sharingan user." Shusui murmured to himself, "So that was why the voice was so familiar." Shusui and Kakashi were never close but they had done some missions together, besides every Uchiha knew about Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama may I ask how did Uchiha-san get back here? And where was he for the past four years?" Kakashi spoke for the first time, he was having a feeling that Takamine has something to do with it.
"I thought you may ask these kinds of questions. I think it will be better if Takamine-san explains that part. He was the one who brought him back." Hiruzen replied looking at Naruto, urging him to explain the whole situation to them.
Naruto just nodded and looked back at the joinins who were giving their full attention towards him now, Naruto rubbed the back of his head unconsciously while organizing his thoughts and after a few silent moments he started, "It all started when I was returning from my last mission….."
When Naruto finished narrating the events he was not surprised to find the frown on his old sensei's face, he just waited patiently for the questions that were going to be thrown at him.
"Did you just say that you have broken a life-suspension seal?"
"Yeah." Naruto replied sarcastically, was it that unbelievable? He thought to himself.
"I do not doubt your abilities Takamine-san but it is nearly impossible." Kakashi may be not very good at sealing but he doubts that except for Jiraiya shanin any one would be able to break a life-suspension seal, and Takamine was merely a young man in his early twenties. "Can you explain the procedure Takamine-san?"
Naruto glanced at Hiruzen and then looked back at Kakashi,
"Hakate-san, life-suspension seal is like an induced coma, where the person on whom the seal has been applied could feel his surroundings but to them that would be like a dream. The seal blocks the chakra flow drastically in all parts of one's body except for heart and brain, allowing a minimum flow in every other part. As a result of that one's body becomes numb and the excessive flow in brain takes away its thinking capacity and keeps it clouded." He paused a little before continuing,
"To break a life suspension seal, you just have to transfer your chakra to the heart and brain area and cut off the restrains there. Once done the chakra would tend to flow in the body so fast that it could harm the person, to stop that possibility you have to mix your own chakra in the stream and control the speed of the flow properly. Once the person's chakra flow becomes normal your work would be over bur it may take the person a few hours to regain consciousness." Naruto finished his explanation with a sigh.
"Anything else you want to know Hakate-san?"
Kakashi blinked. This was not what he was thinking, "That's it? It sounds awfully easy. No technical terms, no catches, nothing?"
At this Naota stiffened, "Hakate-san I can recite scrolls after scrolls now if you want me to but you won't understand a word of it. So I've explained it in a way you can understand." It was true, Naruto was never a person to remember scrolls he just understood the basics and started applying them, he has mastered them by application not theory but eventually using those methods so many times he had remembered the scrolls fully.
"That was not what I was implying Takamine-san I've seen seal masters before but never had someone made things that easy like you did. I'm sorry for my earlier compliments Takamine-san but I think that you are truly better in sealing than anyone else in Konoha, except for maybe Jiraya-sama."
At this Naruto smiled shyly. Kakashi's opinion has always been important to him since his ganin days, and he may not be his student now but still Kakashi's acknowledgement has filled his heart with joy.
…..-…..
The seven ninja's stood in front of the Hokage tower, Kuenai, Anko and Asuma has introduced themselves politely to Naota and they were talking about the current events, while Kakashi was busy reading his book.
"Oh my youthful friend! I'm Mito Gai. Your youthfulness has impressed me, I can see it spreading everywhere, our future is in our youthfulness I can see our youthful ganin teams shining like Sun, Konoha will bath in youthfulness one day and then the youth-"
"Oh stop that Gai you are not making any sense, don't scare him with you rambling about youthfulness!" Kuenai said cutting Gai mid sentence, and looking apagogically at Naota.
"Actually Kuenai-san Gai-san's statements were not ramblings." Naota turned towards Gai who's eyes were wide, even Kakashi has lowered his book to look at the scene before him, "Today's ganins are tomorrow's shanin, they are the future of Konoha, youth is the time of achieving your goals, taking drastic measures to save the people you care about but as long as one's heart is young, they will always be hope, they will fight, and there will be a bright future for today's and tomorrow's children. Have I explained it correctly Gai-san?" by then everyone including Gai was gaping at him, how a man who had met Gai just now could understand what they never did even after knowing him for years!
"H-hai." answered Gai with great difficulty. "Takamine-san."
"Well I should be going now. Ja ne." said Naota and grabbed Shusui's wrist, they disappeared from there in the blink of an eye, leaving behind four confused jounins who was looking at Gai with a dumb ford expression on their faces.
…..-…
Ok finished. So how was it? I've tried my best to be more descriptive. Have I met your expectations? Please let me know if something was wrong with this chapter. And REVIEW please I need encouragement to keep going on! Bye for now.
Btw Next week there won't be a new chapter I'd be editing the previous chapters, there are lots of complains about them. So if you have any more complains let me know and I'll edit them at best as I you soon. :D
