Dreams & Hopes

Book I - Stitch by Stitch

Chapter 10 - IQ Down to 50, Just Like That

Menma smiled widely, as he made his way to his office, after having spent five hours in the 'tank', allowing him to be ready for anything.
When he entered, he was pleasantly surprised, as Namikaze Uzumaki Kushina was in his office.
"Kushina-sama, I hope you are feeling better since the last time we met, it was never my intention to cause you grief."

The redhead smiled at Menma, looking much more composed than she had the last time, and Menma noted that easily.
"I wanted talk about your offer from before?"
Menma nodded, before sitting at his desk, he seemed oddly more relaxed, Kushina noted, and relaxed more herself.
"The position is still available, if that is your main concern, and if you are wiling, give it a try."

Kushina smiled warmly, focusing on Menma's face and posture.
"I made far too many mistakes in my life, maybe this time I can turn the tide."

Menma sighed, as he observed the mountain of paperwork, strewn across his desk.
"Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to the increase of workload… what a stupid idea."

He heard a soft chuckling, and turned to see his first secretary, Haruno Mebuki, mother of Haruno Sakura and battle proven Jounin. "Everything alright, Menma-sama? I thought you would be happy with the additional workload?"
The white haired Kagetora frowned, and resisted the urge to flip his secretary off, her teasing was good-natured.

"I don't think I was aware of what I was quite doing, Mebuki-chan."
The blonde haired beauty gave an adorable giggle, and approached the overloaded desk.
"Shall we delve into work, together, then?"
His smile lit the office up, like a sun rising in the office. "I would appreciate it with much intent and happiness and appreciation."

Menma carefully observed Mebuki, as he knew she didn't arrive to his office, just to help him.
"Now, Mebuki, why exactly are you here?"
The blonde woman chuckled, eyes slightly glinting.
"I shouldn't be surprised by you noticing…"
Menma sighed, she was evading telling him, and that spoke volumes as well.

"I realized something yesterday, as I watched my daughter train…"
He immediately turned serious, remembering the self-destructive path the young girl had taken, before the academy reform.
Though for her generation, Menma felt it was massively late, and should have arrived earlier.

"Had you not reformed the academy, my little angel would have died on her very first mission outside…"
Yup, this was going to be one of 'those' talks.
And he hated such talks.
"I didn't even realize how bad her training and education was… I would have gladly sent her away, and wondered why she didn't come back to me."

Menma hated when women cried, he hated it so much, and now having the Haruno matriarch crying, was clawing at his heart.
He hugged the distraught woman close, trying to ease her pain, to ease her self hate.
She cried into his shoulder for twenty minutes, before beginning to calm down, carefully moving back from Menma, smiling in gratitude. "I will never be able to tell you how grateful I am, for what you did…"

Menma sighed as he walked towards the last vestige of his past, the torch lit hallway glowing ominously.

Finally, he came to the end of the long hallway, and into a tremendously large room.
"So… you finally visit me, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto."
Deep, growling and powerful, the voice of the Kyuubi no Kitsune was all Menma expected.
"It is Kagetora Menma now, Kyuubi."
The massive beast of chakra, opened a single eye, and gazed at him, taking in the change of clothing and the hair color.

"Yes, that I can see…"
Kyuubi chuckled in an odd manner, before turning serious.
"Unfortunately, your secret identity plan has a little problem."
Menma didn't show any emotion, but he did remove the eye-patch, now gazing with his normally hidden eye.
"You better explain yourself quickly, Kyuubi, or I'll check if I can add a torture seal for ya."

The massive chakra beast gave a nervous smile, thinking about how to explain it, without being tortured.
"Your sister will be able to locate us, given time.

Menma sighed, his eyes closed as he thought, whilst Kyuubi observed him.
"Well… this makes the entire situation more complicated."

-AN-

The final chapter of book 1, seems short? No worries, Book 2 will make up for it easily.

As always, all rights to Naruto, belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

Read and Review, your friendly neighborhood writer, Nicholai Black.