Somehow this was harder to do than the previous chapters. No words can describe it, because political intrigue isn't always my agenda. But I hope it was worth it.
No spoilers to say, but Naruto finally receives something important that she'd been missing all her life - and a certain someone FINALLY shows up in here.
Chapter Seven
How Naruto Became a Damsel
"Tsunade."
"Your Majesty," she answered as she knelt in the middle of the tatami mat. Naruto was on her left, Sakura right. All three of them were yet to be taken to freshen up again after the night's events. "It's been a long time...Sensei." There would have been a drop of disapproval after the exchange of old master and student, but then again Naruto might have been wrong.
Sarutobi nodded once with a hum. "It's a shame we had to reunite under these circumstances. And only one of my students remains. May Jiraiya rest in peace - and I wish I had something to say of Orochimaru had his actions not been so transgressive," he said coldly, but Naruto heard the underlying sadness. In another life, he must have considered Orochimaru something of a son to him as he did Jiraiya. "But what's done is done. What matters now is that you are all safe, but I regret that your home has burned to the ground with little possessions recovered."
"Yes, but Orochimaru - after all he did, it's unforgiveable that he would think to make me marry him and then usurp you..." Tsunade's voice failed her, and if she continued to bite her lip that long, she would draw blood.
"Hmmm." A long moment passed before the emperor spoke, reaching up to scratch his chin. "Indeed. But no matter. Tonight you shall all take a rest and then tomorrow we decide about your future. However, to take this out of the way, I've considered a reward if recovering your family, Naruto, succeeded. I am appointing you to be my weapons specialist as well as the caregiver of the stables."
Naruto heard herself gasp in surprise, more than shock. Somehow she never saw a position in the royal palace coming; she could hardly even breathe, but she bowed her head. "S-sire, I don't know what to say." She wasn't sure she could find it in herself to accept this, but if it was a command, then she had to accept. On the other hand, it seemed like a really good position than just being at home all day. It meant she could have access to more weapons, defend the animals, and she could have more chances to become a warrior! It also meant she could see Sasuke as often...
"You need not say anything. Tsunade, Sakura, with that decision made, I wish to appoint you to be the heads of the medical staff. We recently lost our physician due to very grievous causes. However, for all three of you, you shall not be confided to within these walls. You may still make regular trips to care for those in the village in need of your services."
Both her mother and sister could hardly believe what they were hearing, either. But they agreed in a heartbeat as she did. And later when they were all in the bathhouse - and it was Naruto's second time to be in there - it was Tsunade already under the steaming water of the indoor onsen while Sakura was just getting ready to dip in, pulling the sheet from around her body, but Naruto sat on the edge, with her body wrapped up. Tonton lay on a cushion, being served some various fruits and falling asleep after she was full.
"This is the life," Tsunade said with an exhale. "I haven't felt this good in years." She dunk lower beneath the waters up to her chin. If she pushed her chest up, both her poor adopted daughters would have been cursed with the sight they were better off living their lives without. "But Naruto - have you considered it would end up like this? I never would have in all my years of life or even my wildest dreams!"
Naruto shrugged as she put her hands in her lap, gently kicking the water with her feet. The steam moistened her skin, causing some droplets to escape the pores. "I didn't either, Granny. All I could think about was saving you both," she said, watching as the elder's knees came up to break through the surface, at the same time Sakura was dipping herself in, keeping the sheet over her until she was all the way in the pool, tossing it over the edge afterwards.
Sakura looked at her blonde sister and best friend. "So, Sasuke Uchiha - he actually came and rescued us with you," she said, a faint pink on her cheeks to match her hair. She was actually blushing at the mention of the arrogant Uchiha - arrogant but brave and handsome. Naruto suddenly worried that she and her best friend would end up competing against each other over him, which she always thought was stupid and foolish. For girls who fought over one man, it NEVER ended well. If anything, she would rather focus on her happy new position even if something might not change, except the fact she had a whip master to possibly face over a slowdown or error.
But that also meant her family were also elevated as chiefs of medicine for the emperor, the staff - and the shogun-general himself as well as his armies. The other Uchiha was due to return, but she never asked when. Not that it mattered right now. All that was important was she and her family were here and celebrating tonight. Tomorrow would be extremely great when word would get out. She was excited to hear her name being spoken, but she also had to expect negative connotation.
"I hope he didn't give you any trouble, because if he's the spoiled brat he's spoken as..." Tsunade started, sitting up a little higher and lip curling. Naruto laughed nervously, choosing now to duck in with them, but she left her sheet on herself.
"No, he's like that at first, but he's not so bad once you get to know him." But I hope Sasuke turns Sakura down if she tries to make a move on him. I saw how disinterested he was in her. It was a cold, selfish thought, because she always shared with Sakura - except now the one she used to hate so much had changed her viewpoint altogether. Except the one who was the only to betray her a long time ago. The one whose head she still wanted, but if not, then she had no choice but to move on with her life.
And how could it have gotten so much better than it already was, after a dramatic day and night?
~o~
The shouts of joy from the villagers when they rode through was like a sacred festival. How odd it was, but so exhilarating. Naruto never thought she would have this kind of attention on her as she rode beside Sasuke on her beloved friend, and behind her were her mother and sister - but in front of them all was the emperor in his carriage held by four men, two in front and two in rear.
Flowers were thrown at them as well as natural grain rice, but not in monstrous amounts. She wouldn't care if some of it got in her hair, but she knew Sakura would. But it wasn't like she was vocal about it, except behind closed doors. "After this, we are off our separate ways for the time being," Sasuke told her, sparing a glance. "You'll be to your post while I take my men back to your old property for the retrieval of the livestock."
She couldn't help but feel sad that those animals her family cared for in the event of the loss of Pervy Sage would be in royal possession until given to others, but at least she would keep Iru because he was her pride and joy. Sasuke smiled lightly when she told him this. Now it made her stomach flutter, like a butterfly in flight. But was a smile really the same as him saying those three words that changed everything?
When they returned to the palace, it was onward to work, and that was when, as soon as she was in the new clothing that was given to her - although it would get dirty from being on the grounds - which was a white tunic tucked into red hakama trousers, she met the master of the grounds who was also the one who oversaw the royal hounds. His name was Kakashi Hatake. He was young, but older than she, Sasuke and Sakura, and he had silvery hair as well as a black cloth that covered the lower half of his face, and another over his left eye. "Heh, never in my life did I think I would see another woman who won the eyes and ears of the higher-ups," he said, and she did a double-take. Had she heard right?!
He said there had been another like me. Naruto led Iru by the reins into his assigned stable, which was alone and reserved, but he would still be among his own kind. "You mean a woman did what I did before?" she asked, curious. If he was trying to set her up, she wasn't going to be tricked. She didn't know him, so she wouldn't be too careful because of the sheer look of him. But she would assume that he'd seen and been through a lot, so now he was stuck training the hounds, right?
"I knew her a long time ago," Kakashi answered, "when I was younger than you are now. Long story short, she was in your position, because she was supposed to be a stable girl." By this time he handed her a brush so she could give the treatment to Iru's mane, and then the other steeds would receive it. "Although, I hate to say that she was killed when she went to fight with us men."
Why did that not surprise her? There were only a FEW times in history that a woman of their people was named a hero, as rarely as it was to be empress alone, but now she was piqued with more knowledge on this mysterious person. "Who was she, Kakashi-san?"
"Rin. But many called her foolish, except I knew her better than anyone. She tried to save a fallen friend of ours from the bloody field, and she was struck with an arrow through the heart in the process." There was a twinkle of sadness in his only revealed dark eye. "I also lost my eye and nearly died myself when I tried to save them." He put his hand over that covered part of his face.
"I have this as a reminder."
Naruto looked down at the straw-covered ground. "Guess we both know what it's like to lose someone," she said softly. He chuckled.
"I did know Jiraiya, and so did the man who taught me in the imperial army. In fact, they were both master and student themselves." So, Pervy Sage was the mentor of the man who did the same to Kakashi. What was this, a somewhat family bloodline? "I suppose Master Jiraiya handled you well, as if you were a boy instead of a girl. He used to tell me about you."
She could have sworn that her cheeks were pink as they were when Sasuke started treating her like an equal instead of an insubordinate. "Pervy Sage must have had enough to say about me," she said.
Kakashi looked at her with a faint hint of amusement. "Well, you know, it's nothing I haven't heard regarding a young boy or girl - and one with whiskers of a fox, which Jiraiya used to tease you about," he told her slyly. "Something that you never got from your parents." He halted then and there as if he said something he never should have.
As for Naruto, she couldn't believe what she heard herself. He said...he said he knew her parents. And all these years, she'd grown to accept that she would never know them because Jiraiya, Tsunade and Sakura were the only family she knew, and so had been Kizashi and Mebuki for a short time before their deaths. It seemed now that Kakashi Hatake brought them up, she wanted to know. "Go on."
He shook his head. "It's better to leave the subject for now and get to work," he said firmly, his tone booking no room for debate. With a frustrated sigh, Naruto resigned and set about to grooming the horses, feeding them and taking them around the fenced areas for their exercise.
All day, in her mind, was the whirlwind of questions and how to ask them.
~o~
"Tsunade-baa, tell me who my parents were."
The woman looked up at her with a slight frown on her face. "Naruto, this is the first I've heard of your parents. You haven't asked since you were eight years old," she said as she was mashing some herbs in the bowl. She sat on her knees at a table arranged with all her medicinal equipment because the emperor had a case of cold sickness that had started to take place this morning. It was now day two for their residence at the Konoha Imperial Palace.
Naruto sat across the table, lotus position unlike the woman who was the only mother she had. "You're right," she agreed. "I hadn't asked in years, but now I want to know. Kakashi-san said he knew both Pervy Sage and...my true parents." In not too many words, but enough.
Tsunade huffed. "Well, you're old enough to know now, I suppose. But will it change your view of us?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No! You're the only family I have had. But I simply want to know." The older blonde nodded, finished with the herb smashing and set down the bowl and spoon-like stone piece.
"Know first that your parents were from separate ranks that you ended up where you are now," she began. "You remember Jiraiya asking if you were Kushina's girl, right?" Naruto nodded; the memory was still clear as the sky without a cloud. "Her name was Kushina Uzumaki, but your father didn't share the same last name."
If her parents didn't share a surname, that meant they were never married, but why? Was it true they were in the noble class, or was only one of them? "Who was my father?" she asked.
Tsunade chuckled lightly, eyes sparkled. "Everyone called him Kiiroi SenkÅ - the Yellow Flash. But his name was Minato Namikaze. He was from a very good family and a fine soldier in the imperial forces. In fact, he was claimed to have taken out a thousand men from Kumo Village before any could blink. For his young age, he was on the battlefield in the second war more times than you could count, just like many young boys in those days." And today. Her eyes then glazed over like honey.
The story went on as she explained: the events took place during the Second Great War, long before she was born. Majorly, this happened mostly in the village of Ame, a depressing place where it always wept from the heavens. Two decades of peace eventually led to an economic crisis in certain countries, and thus military action to fight for equal rights began, which brought the small Ame into the midst. Its emperor was a ruthless man who had his own village on the brink of near destruction, many people dying, children orphaned, but in the major five countries, the casualties were no different, except Ame took the brunt of it.
During the Second War, this was where Tsunade-baa, Pervy Sage and Orochimaru received their dub of Sannin, where her adoptive mother became renowned with her medical healing - but it was also when she'd lost Dan, her love before she married Jiraiya. Hence, heroes were made but friends, loved ones and comrades lost. Naruto's parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, were among the faces to rise up. And as Tsunade said, her father became known as the "Yellow Flash" at a young age, before he met her mother on the battlefield - but they knew each other beforehand.
"The Uzumaki were once a great clan, but then their home, the Uzushio Village - located within a land surrounded by whirlpools - was destroyed one day during the fighting, because of their excessive knowledge of special sealing that could have fallen into the wrong hands, so nobody possesses such intel anymore. Not only that, the Uzumaki were distant relatives of my Senju blood." This was the first time she learned this, and how could she have not known all these years?!
Naruto had no further time to fuss over this, but when the older woman said her people and Naruto's real mother's were distant cousins, she felt overcome with joy. So in a sense, she and Tsunade-baa WERE related! She almost jumped across the table for joy. And what was more: the clan was composed of ninja, both man and woman with equal rights. But the survivors scattered across the nations for refuge, and Kushina was one of the last to be in Konoha.
Mother...she'd been orphaned, and she came here. To find employment in a household, it turned out, and she still learned everything necessary for a girl to know - but she also happened to wind up serving the Namikaze household. This bothered Naruto very much; if her mother had been a really exceptional kunoichi, why was she a servant of all things? "Well, you don't find yourself everyday on the frontlines or the borders," Tsunade huffed when asked. "As I told you, your father was from a good family, and his parents allowed Jiraiya to train him. I never had a child of my own, so in a way, he was the son we never had." A small smile tugged the corner of her mouth.
"Your mother was one of employed. And that's when he noticed her. It's a shame that his parents forbade him from the likes of her - but they underestimated her."
This was where her mother's assassination skills came in. This was some time before Orochimaru went rogue, too. Kushina chose this opportunity to escape with Minato, Jiraiya, Tsunade and Orochimaru as they infiltrated Ame with several others, and that ever-raining village was rife with chaos. One option left, and that was to slip into Emperor Hanzo's compound and pose as a geisha. That would be the job of Kushina since the man known as the Salamander hadn't seen her face as he did Tsunade. "Hanzo the Salamander, the emperor of the village, had driven his own people to near destruction." Tsunade shook her head, her low ponytails shaking behind her head. "In his palace, she put on quite the show, your mother." She shook her shoulders, and in doing so, caused that heaving chest of hers to jiggle. If a man saw, he would have the nosebleed of the century. "But a bold, grave mistake transpired. He had Shinobi guards on post, but it was too late to detect them. She had been delivering him the poison we made together, which she coated onto her kunai and sliced his throat, delivered him a quick but painful death. She'd done the deed, but the guard burst in and hauled her out. Jiraiya, the bumbling fool, was enjoying some time with the ladies, and I was going to blow my own cover amongst the patrons outside the private rooms of the emperor now that the job was done - and if I ever got to her, I would give her more color to that pretty little skin of hers - but then your father burst in.
"There he was, the man who slayed a thousand Kumo warriors unlike a regular soldier. Kushina was disgusted that she had to be saved; the girl really hated that position, a fact I knew too well. But you cannot do everything by yourself, man or woman. And it was then that I saw the look in her eye, brief as it was: she fell in love with Minato after all the time of being master and servant - and now comrades watching each other's backs."
Love at first sight - just like I feel for Sasuke. "My otou-san saved her, but...they never married?" Naruto finally asked. "Yet I was still born."
As she expected, she received a shake of the head. The death of Hanzo the Salamander was Kushina Uzumaki's great accomplishment, but it didn't do much for her status in the eyes of Minato's parents despite their recognition of her. When their son returned, he was greeted with news that was "good" to his family and a neighboring feudal lord's: his daughter would be arranged with Minato as soon as the peace treaty was signed between the nations, although Ame was left on its own and closed off from the rest of them.
However, Minato refused the engagement agreement, and his parents threatened to exile him or disinherit him. However, what they did was worse: they released Kushina from their services and let her be on the streets, where she found work as a real, permanent geisha, unless she found another husband, but it wasn't like they cared. That made Naruto's blood boil. "Did my father choose her or his place?" she demanded heatedly, and the smirk on her mother's face made her jump with joy.
"He chose your mother, of course. But it didn't happen right away. He spent months after her departure concocting what his life would be if he left the only comforts he knew, but his life was nothing without Kushina. Jiraiya and I were there for him, around the time Orochimaru left us, when he finally came to us and asked us to be there when he would ask her to marry him."
It was by this time Kushina was near the end of her pregnancy that it would finally happen. But when Minato would finally reunite with her - she had been away from public eye for the last four months, to be honest, and she'd lived with Tsunade in the village, who had also settled down from the frontlines - and his lover finally told him she was carrying his child. The consequences of an unmarried mother were severe. Which was why Tsunade helped her the best she could and for Minato to ask her to be taken someplace private rather than the village itself to give birth.
The emperor helped them, and his wife who was chief physician, aided with the delivery in a secured cave outside the village perimeters. That night, in the middle of October, a strong and healthy child was born: me.
"We just fell in love with you on sight," Tsunade said, reaching up to wipe a tear that was gathering in the corner of one eye. "Jiraiya was away, so he hadn't gotten to see you yet. Lady Biwaku and I cleaned you and your mother up, and we were going to take you back to the village to rest up. By morning, your parents would exchange their vows with the local priest, and afterwards your birth would be announced and celebrated with the rest of the village."
It was then that her adoptive mother and caregiver's eyes glazed over again. "But it was then that something horrendous happened that took your parents' lives, which was the night you were born."
Naruto closed her eyes, failing to hold back her own burning tears that slipped out the corners.
~o~
A couple days went by since she was first told of her parents' stories. She was bleeding to her heart, because it hurt so much to know that she was the daughter of two heroes. Her father was a daimyo and legendary warrior of the Second World War, her mother a deadly ninja in a geisha disguise, but she was low in his family's eyes while the people worshipped her as they did Minato Namikaze. Two people from different worlds, but they were denied the happy life they fought for, and yet they still gave their lives for the village - and for her, their daughter.
If that was all true, why did Naruto have to be left in the streets like that?!
"Unbelievable," she seethed to Iru when she took him down to the gated grounds. "My parents were both heroes, but they weren't allowed to be together. My mother was a very powerful woman, she contributed with Granny, Pervy Sage, and my father in the Second Great War - but what did she get in return?! Disgrace by simple-minded people like my otou-san's parents! Simply a geisha position in the village and being with child alone! Then my father leaves his home to be with her - and she tells him she's pregnant then and there. But I'm born before they get married and would have lived happily with people who watched their backs in return. Can you believe it, my friend?!" She shook uncontrollably as she opened up the gate and let him go inside first, keeping her hold on the reins. "But at least Granny told me that both Okaa-san and Otou-san loved me, and they were together when I was born..."
Tsunade's words continued to echo, along with what happened the night she'd been born: "Your 'grandparents' dispatched a personal assassin to take care of you and your mother that night when you returned to the village. It seemed Minato's parents thought that their son and the alliance was too important, lest they be ruined. Your father was willing to end that for the ones he loved, but there was no telling if a civil war was going to erupt because of this petty disgrace. His family saw his abandonment of them as an act of conflict, for a 'low-life ninja of this village'. It was as if they forgot that woman helped their son and the rest of us obtain necessary peace that would last in years to come!"
Yeah, my parents were worth more than some stupid political alliance within. And they had to die for me.
But that wasn't all. Tsunade added that Minato's parents were also very important in that they contributed to the imperial armies, beneath the shogun - who at the time wasn't Itachi Uchiha, who was a young boy then - and he'd been Danzo Shimura, a man who served with Hiruzen Sarutobi during the previous wars in younger years. Hence, the shogunate was established before the second war began because Sarutobi was a good man who struggled with making difficult, militaristic choices and so left it to someone he could trust...or so he thought. Naruto learned that Danzo intended to use Minato Namikaze's rebellious freedom and love as an excuse to start a civil war in Konoha, which had come to be when her parents died. When the surrounding nations learned of the chaos, they would take advantage and start the Third Great War.
The commotion in the village - the fight between her father and the assassin - woke some people up. Biwaku-sama was killed, but Tsunade was forced to get away, because someone had to get to the scouts and alert the emperor. "That Danzo always hated me because I was Sarutobi's student," she'd spat. "Hence why he played a part in having me kept from the staff after the war, besides the view on us women. I couldn't let him learn about what was going on, but he did anyway. He was always a crafty fox."
In short: the "personal assassin" was one of Danzo's. He killed both her parents, but he failed to get her, the newborn, before the emperor's imperial guard came to the rescue.
"That Danzo bastard is to blame for all of this, besides my so-called grandparents. But, no sense throwing a tantrum now, Iru," she said with a sigh, getting on Iru's saddle and hitching him for the ride. She loved the adrenaline even if she wasn't in the battlefield lines at the present. "I just know my parents gave their lives for me and the village. Then the Third Great War came along; Danzo started it all and ruined my life even, but at least he's dead now." Because if he lived, I don't know how much my sanity could take.
Iru snorted and bobbed his head up and down, eagerly listening but wanting to get a move on. She flipped the reins and let him gallop, the energy bursting without warning like a volcano erupting after centuries' rest in all its fury...until some time passed when a voice called out to her, startling her out of her reverie. And it wasn't even Kakashi or Sasuke.
"You are the woman that I have heard about - Naruto Uzumaki. You are precisely as I expected of you."
Naruto hissed and brought her friend to a halt at the speaker. She turned him around to see the man standing there in the opened gateway, wearing a black kimono and big dark hat, but when he reached to take it off his head, she bit back a gasp of surprise. The face resembled that of Sasuke, but different. Two slanted lines rested beneath the onyx eyes, and the raven hair was long, tied beneath his neck. She should have gotten down right away, but she stayed frozen in place.
It's him...the imperial general. Itachi Uchiha.
Well, well, the elder Uchiha brother finally shows up, and then he sees Naruto. What happens now?