I do not now, nor have I ever owned Naruto.
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Ino stifled a yawn as she and Inoichi stood before the Hokage's desk, the white-haired sannin looking at the two. Catching sight of Ino's stifled yawn, Jiraiya smirked slightly, folding his hands on the oak desk and said "Sorry for the late meeting, Inoichi, Ino."
"Its alright, Hokage-sama." Inoichi said, Ino nodding in agreement.
Jiraiya's smirk disappeared, replaced by a serious scowl as he said "But I promise you both that the reason for this meeting is very important. With you're help, I believe I will have the evidence necessary to have a traitor within the walls of Konoha imprisoned for the kidnapping, torture, and enslavement of a Konoha nin. And if we can get into his secret documents, we will have the evidence required to execute them."
Both Yamanaka stared at the white-haired man in disbelief. There was another Orochimaru residing within the walls of Konoha for who knows how long, and neither Sarutobi nor Tsunade had done anything about them?!
"Who is it?" Ino asked, but the white-haired man answered "I'm afraid that information can't be divulged at this time. It'll have to wait until we've reached the victim of their crimes. However, I want you both to look over these and give me a rough estimate of the possible damage they could have suffered emotionally." Handing over the two notepad sheets he recieved from Tsunade, Inoichi looked at the written page, eyes flicking over to the drawings to collaborate description to location on the drawings.
After studying them, he passed them over to his daughter, who did the same. Unlike her father, as she read the words and matched them to markings on the drawings, Ino's face paled to a near-white, her hands shaking as she returned them to Jiraiya.
"So, what are your professional opinions on their emotional state?" Jiraiya asked, and, placing a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder, the elder Yamanaka said "Hokage-sama, to be perfectly honest, I can't begin to guess what her state is emotionally after this level of torture. All we can do is hope for the best and try to fix what we can." Ino nodded in agreement, still looking a bit pale.
"I was afraid of that." Jiraiya muttered, looking to the pair as he said "Go home and get a good night's sleep. We leave in the morning at 0600 hours, and should reach Otafaku Gai in a couple of hours. Once there, we will meet up with the woman's doctor and see exactly what we're working with in regards to the victim. Are my orders misunderstood?"
"No, Hokage-sama." both said in unison, and Jiraiya nodded as he said "Dismissed."
Watching the father-daughter pair exit the office, Jiraiya turned as Gamakichi hopped onto the desk and said "Gamakichi, go to Tsunade and inform her that I, Inoichi, and Ino will be there tomorrow about 0830 hours."
"Alright Jiraiya... Can I get some candy first?" the small toad asked, and reaching into his vest, the toad sannin pulled out a small pouch of candy as he said "Going to see Tsunade so soon after making a remark about her boobs... I'd give you a bottle of sake if you asked."
"No thanks. I need to be sober to keep my feet out of my mouth and the scary lady's heel out of my back." Gamakichi said, taking the small pouch from the white-haired man and vanishing in a burst of white smoke.
Standing from his chair, Jiraiya stretched, listening to his joints pop as he muttered "Kushina-chan, I'm going to do everything in my power to heal you, I swear it."
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Ino, slipping on her pajama shirt, crawled back into bed and pulled the fox plush against her chest as she murmured "It was horrible Chuu. I can't imagine anyone suffering that kind of torture and remaining sane... Then there's those seals, who knows what they're doing to her mind."
Looking to the small stuffed fox, Ino nodded and replied "That's what daddy said. We can only hope for the best and fix what we can. But what if we can't help her? What if she beyond repair?"
"To be honest, I'm scared of what we might find in the woman's mind."
Ino smiled and patted the stuffed fox on the head as she said "Of course you can come, Chuu. I have a feeling that I'm going to need your support for what I'm going to face with daddy tomorrow."
Her smile then turned into a frown as she growled "No, I will not tell you about my dreams! They're none of your business!"
Her frown turned into a scowl as she all but snarled "Well, I don't care what I mumble in my sleep, I'm not telling you a damn thing, ero-kitsune! Now I need to go to sleep and I suggest you do the same."
Her eyes widened in horror as she gasped "No! I will NOT do such a thing! And if you ever mention that again, you're sleeping outside!"
Arms crossed over her chest, she continued glaring at the toy fox as she growled "You'll tell Naruto? Tell him! He'll understand why I did it when I explain what exactly you asked me to do, you pervert! And we both know that he doesn't suffer perverts gladly."
Nodding in vindication, she said "That's better, Chuu. Now good night." With that, she hugged the fox to her chest and quickly slipped off to sleep, her dreams plague by the notes and pictures from her briefing with the Hokage.
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Naruto rested his chin on the table before him, hands resting on his head as he groaned. Tsunade smirking at the poor blonde and bright red Hyuuga sitting next to him. This was proving to be too much fun for the slug princess, pushing all the right buttons to slowly but surely embarrass the both of them to death. And by the looks of it, all she needed was to prod Hinata a little more to effectively cause her to drop.
"So, what happened after your free dinner?" Tsunade asked, and Naruto opened an eye to glare at the elder blonde as he replied "We walked back to the hotel."
"Did you and your giiiirlfriend hold hands? How about a little kiss?" Tsunade questioned, and Hinata's eyes turned to her fencing fingers as Naruto groaned "Kaa-san! You're doing this on purpose!"
"Of course I am! It's a mother's right to embarrass her sochi as much as possible." Tsunade answered smugly, Naruto glaring silently at her, promising many pranks in retribution.
Before Tsunade could start again, two ANBU appeared next to the table, hands held behind their backs, mask covering their face. Looking at the pair, she recognized them immediately, and listened as Shichigoro said "Hello Tsunade-sama, Naruto-san, Hinata-san. Me and Cat have been sent by Jiraiya-sama to protect you from possible dangers."
Naruto studied the two as he said "I remember you guys! You helped me with the Hokage Monument!"
"That we did, Naruto-san. We felt the need to aide you in your... 'community project' involving the monument. And I must say, it caused quite a stir when it was revealed." Yugao said, and Hinata looked to Shichigoro as she murmured "You sound familiar..."
"Why do you say that?" Shichigoro asked, and removed his mask, revealing his face as he said "I haven't seen Naruto-san since a couple days ago, and you I am afraid to say I've never met personally before today."
Naruto gaped at the man, pointing as he cried "Yo-you were the waiter from the restaurant!"
Keeping a straight face, Shichigoro replied "I am afraid that I've never held the job of waiter. I have been a shinobi since I was 13, became a chuunin at 15, a Jounin at 18, and joined the ANBU corps at 23."
"I saw you tonight at the restaurant! I remember those scars!" Naruto cried, still pointing at Shichigoro, who met Naruto's eyes as he said "I fear you are mistaken, Naruto-san. I wasn't at a restaurant tonight, I was on my way here with my teammate."
Tsunade's shoulders began shaking from holding in her laughter as she watched the blonde slowly go mad, claiming the ANBU operative was really a waiter.
"Hinata-chan! He's the waiter, isn't he?" Naruto asked the Hyuuga, who nodded in agreement, become ever so slightly annoyed with this herself.
Finally, Yugao slid her mask off and jabbed Shichigoro in the ribs with an elbow as she said "Alright Shichigoro, that's enough. We don't want our ward to have an anuerysm over this, do we?"
"Alright, alright." the man said, and smiled to the two newly minted chuunin as he said "I was indeed your 'waiter' tonight. I was there to guard you and protect you from any potential harm that may try to befall you."
"Like what?" Naruto asked, and Tsunade replied "Assassins sent by Danzou, mostly."
"Danzou?" was Naruto's question, and Yugao answered "The one-eyed, one-armed cripple with the walking stick you might see skulking around like a cockroach."
"Oh... him. Sarutobi-jiji was always complaining about him." Naruto said with a scowl, remembering how much frustration the mummy-man caused the Sandaime.
'Should have done more than simply complained.' Tsunade thought bitterly, which was quickly shaken off as Gamakichi appeared in a burst of smoke. Looking around, the toad bowed and said "Jiraiya says he, Inoichi, and Ino will here about 0930 hours tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, Gamakichi. You're excused." Tsunade said, and the small toad wisely disappeared in a burst of smoke as Hinata asked "Why are they coming tomorrow?"
"We found someone whose suffered extreme emotional distress and has several seals on them. We require Jiraiya to see to the seals, and Inoichi and his daughter to see to the extreme emotional distress." Tsunade answered, Hinata gasping as she murmured "That's horrible!"
"You don't know the half of it." Tsunade replied, and the two ANBU took seats at the table as Shichigoro said "Anyways, while we're here, we're going to discuss your training regimen."
"Training?" Naruto asked, eyes widening in excitement, his entire body seeming to shake as the barely-restrained anxiety rapidly filled him. Smirking at his eager response, Yugao said "Ahh, eager already, young Chuunin? Well then, you're going to love what we have in store for you, Hinata, and Sakura then."
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Tsume sighed as she laid on one of the three beds, staring at the ceiling, thinking over what she and Tsunade had been discussing before being interrupted by the surprise ressurection of her friend Kushina.
'Is Tsunade right? Am I really just afraid to allow myself to love Naruto because I don't want to let go of Kirou, that I'm afraid that if I do love Naruto, that I'll dishonor or forget Kirou?' Tsume thought, shaking her head as she countered 'He's a 13 year old boy! I have a SON his age, for crying out loud! How can I possibly think of loving someone more than 20 years my junior?'
However, the more she thought about it, the less insane it seemed to become. He was legally an adult by the laws of not only Konoha, but all the Shinobi villages. And he had been living alone since he was 5, meaning that he had to grow up fast, and wasn't a child. Immature, definitely, but Tsume'd met older men (namely Kakashi) far more immature than the blonde orange-lover.
'But he deserves someone his own age, like Hinata, and not an old maid like me.' Tsume thought bitterly, knowing that the two were probably hitting it off already. 'Its for the best that he and Hinata fall in love and get married, having a bunch of pups. No need for him to bother with an old bitch like me, especially when he has a younger bitch like Hinata in comparison.'
Already deciding she didn't like where this train of thought was going, Tsume's mind wandered to Kushina, feeling an involuntary shudder run up her spine at the thought of what her poor friend had to endure at the hands of Danzou.
'How did Hokage-sama manage to miss a monster like Danzou? Did he really turn a blind eye in regards to that evil old cripple?' Tsume wondered, staring at the ceiling in hopes that it would answer her questions.
"My life was much easier back when my crush on Naruto was nothing more than a dirty little secret never to see the light of day." Tsume decided aloud, closing her eyes and to get some sleep. She had a gut feeling that she was going to need it for tomorrow.
So deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice the slightly open door close completely.
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Tsunade, Yugao, Shichigoro, and Hinata smirked as they watched Naruto hop and jump around like a small child, crying and whooping about how awesome of a ninja he was going to become with training from two ANBU and Tsunade-kaa-san.
"Relax kid, or you're not going to have the energy for training tomorrow." Shichigoro said, and Tsunade chuckled as she answered "Don't worry about Naruto, Shichigoro-san. He's going to have more energy than you'll know what to do with come tomorrow."
"Ahhhh, I see. So, its going to be a contest of Naruto's energy against my training regimen." the man said with a smile, crossing his arms over his chest as he said "Well, I happen to have learned this training regimen from the best of them. In fact, it became the basis of Gai-senpai's 'training' regimen, the one he's using with Rock Lee."
This caught Naruto's attention, causing him to stop and turn to the ANBU operative as he asked "You know Bushy Brows and Super Bushy Brows?"
"Of course. Me, 'Super Bushy Brows', and Shichigoro were on a Genin squad together, after all." Yugao said with a smirk, Naruto staring dumbfounded as he asked "So I'm going to get training like Bushy Brows?"
"Well, similar. Though a lot less 'insane' than that used by Gai-senpai." Yugao replied, and Naruto grinned as he said "Well, either way, the next time I see Sasuke-teme, I'm going to pound him so hard he'll never think about trying to leave Konoha again."
"Why?" Shichigoro asked, and Naruto replied "Because he'll be trying to get me to train him and give him just a little of my pure awesome."
"You might be right there, sochi." Tsunade said with a grin, Hinata giggling as Naruto began doing poses that would put Gai and Lee to shame with the sheer cheesy masculinity they portrayed.
"Alright brat, sit down before you pull something." Yugao said, and Naruto stopped posing and took his seat as he said "Hai, sensei!"
"You know, you never gave Kakashi this level of respect." Shichigoro stated, watching the blonde obediantly take his seat and Naruto sighed as he said "He lost my respect the first day and never quite won it back."
"Well then, the three of us are going to have to work hard to make sure we don't lose your respect then, won't we?" Yugao asked, and Naruto smirked as he said "Kaa-san doesn't have to worry about losing my respect..."
"Awww brat, you're too sweet." Tsunade said, reaching across the table to ruffle his hair affectionately, getting the response of Naruto giving her a pouting glare, which only caused the blonde woman to pinch his cheek as she said "You're so cute when you're angry."
Hinata giggled apologetically as Naruto's pout only grew, which resulted in the former Hokage antagonizing him more, the two ANBU laughing at the scene before them.
"You're only making it worse on yourself by keeping that look on your face." Yugao warned, and Naruto growled at the woman's teasing as best he could while Tsunade was pulling both of his cheeks.
"Sochi, you make me just want to cuddle you!" Tsunade demanded with a glint in her eye, and before Naruto could protest, he was bodily removed from his chair, pulled across the table, and wrapped in Tsunade's deceptively strong arms, his head threatening to disappear into the sannin's chest.
"Hinata-chan, help me!" Naruto cried, face turning red in embarrassment, reaching out to the girl, but before she could move to help her crush, Yugao and Shichigoro placed their hands on her shoulders as they said "It's too late for him, Hinata-san."
"Traitors!" Naruto squawked, and Tsunade merely smirked as she thought 'Call me baa-chan, will you brat?'
"Aaaaawwww, you're just like a little plush doll, Naruto-sochi!" Tsunade cooed, nuzzling the top of his head with her cheek, the other three watching as his face turned beet red, his struggling more frenzied to get away from the embarrassment.
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Danzou paced his bedroom, a feeling he thought he long since lost coursing through his system like the lava of a seemingly dead volcano, tearing through stone and cooled magma to erupt from the surface. It was slowly but surely eating him away from the inside, rising to the surface with terrifying speed, clutching his heart in a death grip that it wouldn't release.
He was feeling fear.
"The only reason that fool Jiraiya would call in Inoichi and his brat at this time of night would be because he needs information from someone unable to talk. And the only people in Konoha who are unable to talk are my Ni units." Danzou muttered, still pacing, which stopped as a horrifying thought crossed his mind.
'They captured Kushina-chan...' he thought, his sole visible eye widening at the thought of his 'secret weapon' being found by Jiraiya, and it took all his self-control not to run screaming into the night. Danzou knew he was still one of Konoha's strongest ninja, but even he couldn't deny age, which was slowly but surely eroding his skills. As loath as he was to admit it, Danzou also knew that he'd allowed the years of peace to wear away his skills in combat, though his mind was stronger than ever.
And Jiraiya, who travelled the world, constantly maintaining and increasing his combat skills against opponents weak and strong, was most likely his superior as of now. Then there was the fact of the full scope of what he'd done to Kushina to get her under his control, which the Yamanaka could and would uncover with a bit of work, especially after Jiraiya removed the seals placed on the woman.
Turning, he prepared to engage one of his escape plans, but stopped as he saw a man dressed in black robes adorned with red clouds, an orange spiral mask with only a left eyehole. The stranger was currently sitting in the chair the older man kept next to his bookcase for reading, a cup of tean in one hand. Realizing he was noticed, the masked man nodded to the bandaged man, lifting his cup in a greeting.
"Hello, Danzou-san, its a pleasure to meet you." the masked man said, and Danzou tensed as he asked "Who are you?"
"Me? My name's Tobi, and I have an offer that you can't refuse if you wish to remain alive." 'Tobi' said, lifting his mask enough to sip his tea. Danzou, frowning, took a seat on his bed and said "I'm listening."
"Good."
