Disclaimer: All HP characters are the property of JKR, the WB, and respective publishing companies and all Naruto characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto. This is nothing more than a simple FanFiction that I have written. I have made no money from this or any of the other stories I have posted on this or other sites.

Warnings: Mentions of character death, angst and drama, mild to moderate violence, mature content (foul language & mentions of alcohol), and AU. Child!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Intelligent!Harry, NOTstupid!Naruto, Powerful!Naruto, and Protective!Naruto.

AN: This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE:

It has come to my attention that there are a handful of individuals who are annoyed or offended by my use of Japanese vocabulary in the story or by the fact that I choose to provide a small glossary of Japanese terms as a footnote at the bottom of the page. I will not apologize for my decision to include a smattering of Japanese words in this or any other story that I write. Nor will I remove them.

I include the Japanese names and terms because a number of the universes that I have chosen to use for my crossovers originated in Japan (Naruto, Natsume Yujincho, and SAO most prominently), and it is my tribute to their creators. In most cases, the English translations for certain nicknames or jutsu sound somewhat strange or silly to me. So, I instead choose to use their original Japanese names. The only exceptions are my Gundam Wing and Hunter x Hunter crossovers and even then I included a small handful of terms that needed to be defined or translated.

I will also not disrupt the flow of my story to interject English translations within the story text. The only exception is when I have a character within the story translate a word or phrase for another character within the story. To me, there is nothing more annoying than to get caught up in a story and suddenly have the author rip you out of their story just to provide a translation or other author's note. I have stopped reading stories that use such a format unless they are exceptionally well written and the interruptions are very minimal (meaning less than three per chapter).

Furthermore, the use of footnotes and glossaries are something I've seen thousands of times in the published novels and works I have read; so I really don't see what the big deal is. If my style of writing and methods of translation are that distasteful to you, then you can always move your little mouse curser up to the top, right hand corner of the browser and click on the little red button with the 'x' to close my story out or go one step further and remove my story/stories from your favorite/follow lists. I will never force anyone to read my stories if they are unhappy with them.

As a side note, I will be posting this announcement in each of my current WIPs to make certain that all of my readers see it at least once. So, for those of you who are following my other stories; if you have read it here, you can skip it in the next updates for my other stories. ~ Jenn

Chapter 20: Unraveling Plots

October 26, 1986, Near Midnight
Konohagakure no Sato, Hi no Kuni

Naruto spent nearly four hours playing cards with Kakashi in the small office off of the conference room while Nanashi slept curled up in a bed made from several of Naruto's shadow clones that had been henged into a futon, pillows, and covers. While they played, Naruto shared stories about some of the training that Jiraiya had put him through during the two and a half years that he'd spent traveling with the Toad Sannin. Kakashi had, in turn, shared a few stories about his Genin team and the missions they'd gone on as well as a story or two about Naruto's mother.

Before the end of what would have been the fourth hour, there was a sharp knock on the door before it opened just enough for Shizune to poke her head into the room. The kunoichi glanced at Naruto and Kakashi before she searched the room for Nanashi. When she saw him still sleeping, she slipped into the room and made her way over to the sleeping six year old in order to check on him. Nanashi stirred the moment she laid her palm on his brow but he didn't wake up until she lifted his left wrist in order to check his heart rate.

Nanashi glanced up at the woman before he craned his head around to confirm that Naruto was in the room and the bewhiskered blond noted that while Nanashi still looked rather pale and tired, he no longer looked gray. Naruto then frowned as he glanced back towards the door leading into the conference room as he mentally calculated exactly how many of the clan heads still had to have their loyalty tested. His face scrunched up a bit as he tried to recall which clan held seniority (since seniority had determined the order in which the clan heads had been tested).

"There are only seven more clan heads that will need to be tested plus Tsunade-sama and Shizune," Kakashi offered before Naruto could finish wading through his memories of Shikaku's lessons on clan seniority to figure out how far Tsunade had gotten before all hell broke loose.

"Arigatou, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto murmured in reply.

"If you have any snacks on you with carbohydrates or sugar, that will help wake Nanashi-kun up a bit more and give him an extra boost of energy," Shizune informed Naruto as she climbed to her feet as she finished her exam. "Other than being overtired and suffering from a mild case of chakra exhaustion… only I guess it would be magical exhaustion in case, I don't think there's anything wrong with him."

"Not hungry," Nanashi complained as he scowled up after Shizune as she left the room.

"How about some juice instead?" Kakashi asked as he produced a can of fruit punch from his utility pouch and set it on the table in front of him. Nanashi sighed and rolled his eyes even as he pushed himself up off the clone bed and stumbled over to climb up onto Naruto's lap. Kakashi then pouted a bit as he rolled the can across the table to Naruto as he petulantly asked, "Why don't you ever want to sit with me?"

"Nashi not know old man want sit Nashi."

"I'm not old!" Kakashi spluttered indignantly while Naruto snickered into Nanashi's hair.

Nanashi glanced up to stare at Kakashi's hair for a full minute before he glanced back down to meet Kakashi's gaze with disbelieving green eyes. Naruto almost spilled the can of juice after he popped the top open when he saw Kakashi fold his arms over his chest as the older shinobi actually sulked in response to Nanashi's antics. The flat look the man gave him let Naruto know he'd best watch himself around the Jounin; least he end up being pranked for a month of Sundays for laughing. The fact that Nanashi continued to glance up at Kakashi's hair every few minutes and shake his head didn't help matters and if anything, Naruto bet that Kakashi was currently thinking that he'd put Nanashi up to it.

Before things got out of hand and Kakashi actually attempted to pounce on one of the two boys, Shikaku stuck his head in the room, "We're ready for the three of you to return."

"Shikaku-san is older than I am," Kakashi muttered as he climbed to his feet.

Nanashi glanced up at Shikaku's hair as the man walked over to snag Nanashi from Naruto's arms and then he very pointedly turned to glance at Kakashi's hair before he countered, "Deer man not have gray old man hair."

"You can't really argue with that kind of logic, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto sagely pointed out as he slipped passed Shikaku in order to escape the irritated Jounin.

"I was born with gray hair," Kakashi huffed as he followed after the pair.

"True," Nanashi stated as he twisted around to stare at Kakashi from over Shikaku's shoulder. "Old man born with old soul in little body. Old man old from day one."

Naruto almost choked on his laughter over that little observation and it was only the fact that he could feel Kakashi's eye drilling a hole in his back that kept him from laughing out loud. A number of the other adults and clan heads present that had heard the short exchange didn't have any such reservations about openly laughing at Kakashi though; something that only made the Jounin's dark mood turn even darker. The small moment of joviality didn't last for very long, the laughter dying the moment Tsunade called the meeting back to order.

It took less than a half an hour for the final nine individuals to be tested and the moment Tsunade had her loyalty to the village confirmed, Nanashi was tucked into another shadow clone bed in the corner of the room to finish sleeping off his exhaustion. It was long past his bedtime anyway and Naruto would have sent him home with a clone instead if not for the slight possibility that his clone would be attacked en route since Danzou was well aware that the clans were meeting tonight. Naruto had no desire to have his ward kidnapped again; especially when the kid was currently exhausted and in no condition to transport himself out of trouble.

Two minutes after Nanashi had curled up in his custom henged Naruto clone bed, Sai was escorted into the room by Jiraiya and clarity hit Naruto like a ton of bricks; tonight's meeting wasn't about loyalty, it was about dealing with Danzou. And in order to deal with Danzou's treasonous acts, Tsunade would need to know that the people backing her were completely loyal to her and to Konoha. Naruto hadn't thought that the old crippled rival of the Sandaime's was powerful enough to make Tsunade worry until he realized that it wasn't the man himself that was powerful but the 'tools' he had at his disposal (living, breathing tools that could not disobey their master) and any allies he'd made within the village.

The next three hours were spent listening to Sai, Ibiki, Inoichi, and Jiraiya outlining the sordid depths to which Shimura Danzou had sunk in his quest to take control of the village. There were several individuals that didn't want to believe that the old war hawk could have fallen so far and a few of the more outspoken ones demanded that Nanashi be dragged from his bed in order to discern the truth. Naruto had been sorely tempted to pull on the Kyuubi's chakra to beat some sense into those idiots that cared not for the six year old's exhausted state. Ibiki managed to cow the most vocal of the idiots before Naruto could lose his temper by demanding to know if they thought him incapable of doing his job.

Tsunade brought the meeting back under control at that point and the discloser of Danzou's crimes continued for another hour as the Godaime Hokage outlined their options before she opened the floor for discussion. Another two hours would then be spent listening to the other clan heads arguing back and forth over whether or not Danzou needed to be stopped, if he should be punished for his crimes, the best way to stop him, and what would be need to be done to fix the potential messes that the man had created in the name of Konoha. Naruto mostly just listened and tried to follow the heated debate since he didn't quite fully understand the politics involved; something he was still learning from Shikaku.

The only time the teen spoke up was when he felt the need to protect his ward from ambitious and potentially greedy (if loyal) clan heads that wanted to use or abuse the abilities that Nanashi possessed (or at least those abilities they knew about). He nearly jumped in surprise when Sai jumped in to speak up in defense of Nanashi; the emotionally stunted teen blandly insinuating that some of the clan heads were no better than Danzou because of the way they sought to use a child for their own ends. Naruto still hated the pale teen but he grudgingly respected the fact that he'd spoken up on Nanashi's behalf when he didn't have to.

After several hours of deliberation, several potential plans for dealing with Danzou, cleaning up Danzou's messes, and assimilating or neutralizing Danzou's private army had been decided upon. At that point Jiraiya stepped forward to apply a temporary secrecy seal on everyone present in order to prevent anyone from accidentally (or purposefully) speaking of their plans where they could be overheard by one of Danzou's lackeys. The seals were only given enough chakra to keep them active for four months (which should be more than enough time to carry out their plans); at which time they would stop functioning and fade away.

The only two who would not receive a seal were Naruto and Nanashi. Naruto would not receive a seal because it was unsafe to apply seals to a Jinchuuriki unless they were tailor made to work in conjunction with their containment seal (something that took far too much time, effort, and skill to do on such short notice). And Nanashi would not receive one because he didn't have a chakra network to anchor the seal to (not that the other clan heads were aware of that little tidbit outside of a small handful).

Most of the clan heads left as soon as they received their seal until only those that were in the know about Nanashi's true abilities remained. The members of the T and I Department (bar Inoichi, Ibiki, and Anko – the latter for much the same reason as Naruto because of her curse seal) were the next to receive their seals and leave through the secret passages that littered the building (to prevent their presence from being noted). The AnBu present were the last ones attended to and then all of them bar the masked Yamato were sent to patrol the building. It was at that point that Naruto noted that the only person present that was not part of the small circle of people in the know about Nanashi was Sai.

"Is the barrier still in place, Jiraiya?" Tsunade inquired as the door closed behind the last AnBu operative.

"Yes."

"Good, could you please add another layer to the barrier in order to insure our privacy; it's not that I don't trust your work, it's just that I don't want to take any unnecessary chances."

"I understand, hime," Jiraiya murmured as he set about placing another high level privacy barrier around the room.

"Aren't we finished yet, baachan?" Naruto half demanded when he wasn't immediately given permission to take Nanashi back to the Nara estate so that the kid could sleep in a proper bed. "I have to get Nanashi-kun into a proper bed."

"Soon, Naruto," Inoichi tiredly assured Naruto.

"There are just a few things we need to discuss; including Nanashi's latest ability," Tsunade added as she settled back into her seat.

"If we're going to talk about Nanashi-kun; why in the hell is that teme still here?" Naruto demanded as he jerked his thumb in Sai's direction.

"As far as Konoha, Danzou, and the Foundation is concerned; Sai is dead…" Ibiki started to state before he was cut off by a belligerent Naruto.

"So…? He's also the teme that handed Nanashi over to Orochimaru, dattebayo."

"I realize that you don't have any reason to trust Sai but I am really not in the mood to deal with your hardheadedness right now," Tsunade groused as she slammed her palm down on the table in front of her. "Sai can't just walk out of this room and go about his merry way nor can we toss him into one of the holding cells because of the chance that one of Danzou's toadies might stumble across him. I also don't trust him enough to allow him to just walk free right now."

"If you don't trust him, then why is he here?" Naruto asked in honest confusion as it seemed like a contradiction to allow the ink user to stay when he wasn't trusted.

"Because it was the only solution to the problem at hand," Ibiki growled as he crossed his arms and scowled at the former Root operative who shifted minutely under the intense scrutiny (though there wasn't an ounce of emotion on the teen's face).

"There are laws in Konoha that were designed to protect the clans from the hostile intent of those that sought to harm the members of the various clans," Shikaku explained in a lecturing tone as he took a seat on the edge of the table and fixed Naruto with an intense look that made the sixteen year old squirm in his seat.

"The reason for those laws being established was to ensure the survival of the village by protecting the true foundation upon which the village was built; the clans. The clans represent the first and last line of defense for the village and we are also responsible for the economic welfare of the village as we provide valuable services above and beyond our shinobi duties. That's not to say that the shinobi from civilian families, the civilians themselves, and the merchants don't play their part in keeping the village running, because they do; but the clans are what keep the village prosperous and strong."

"You've seen first hand what happens when one of Konoha's clans fall," Chouza added gravely as he tore himself away from the large pile of anpan that the man had just unsealed from a storage scroll.

"You're talking about the Uchiha…?" Naruto inquired a bit uncertainly.

"Yes," Tsunade confirmed as she accepted a cup of green tea from Shizune. "The village's defenses took a hit when the Uchiha were murdered because the Uchiha had been tasked with policing the streets and the civilians. Not only did they help maintain the peace within the village, they were often able to ferret out spies and traitors that had managed to get a foothold within the village."

"What does that have to do with Sai being allowed to learn more about Nanashi?"

"Sai is now your responsibility…" Inoichi declared.

"Nani!?" Naruto bellowed loudly as he jumped onto his feet.

A flash of gold coupled with a soft snap heralded the arrival of a wild eyed, panting, and not quite awake Nanashi on the table right in front of Naruto. Everyone in the room froze as the room fairly crackled with electricity when a gold shield snapped into being around Naruto as Nanashi's right hand snapped up while his left arm snaked across the front of his body with his left hand held palm out defensively. It was the mismatched wings bracketing the child's body that drew the most attention though. Only the two members of Team Kakashi present had ever seen the strange appendages before; Sai and Yamato had been outside of the room when they'd finally located Nanashi within Orochimaru's base and had not seen him take the life of the third henchman nor had they seen his wings.

"Nanashi-kun, that's enough; no one here is going to hurt me," Naruto murmured once he shook off his shock at the kid appearing so unexpectedly. "I'm sorry I woke you up and startled you; I was just caught off guard by something Inoichi was telling me. Can you please drop the shield and come down off table?"

Nanashi glanced back over his shoulder at Naruto before he slowly dropped his right hand to release the shield but made no move to climb down off of the table as he instead glanced around the room. His left hand was lowered a moment later as he slowly sank to his knees before shifting so that he was sitting cross-legged in front of Naruto on the table. His wings stretched out briefly before they were shaken out and folded neatly behind Nanashi's back as the shadows and ash that formed his left wing rippled and shifted into ragged black feathers while the red and gold flames of his right wing froze and shifted to pristine red and gold feathers that shimmered with a metallic sheen.

"Nanashi-kun…?" Naruto softly called as he reached out to gently run his fingers over the warm gold and red feathers of the kid's right wing while unconsciously shifting away from the icy chill that was radiating from the other wing.

"The Scales of Balance have been tipped and even now the souls of the living are crying out in pain and fear as they are ripped from their lives before their time," Nanashi whispered in a harsh voice that sounded nothing like Nanashi and the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stood on end as a thread of fear snaked down his spine. "Time grows short and the Balance must be restored before the world is cloaked in ashes by the blanket of fear and flames that will be unleashed by the stolen Tails of Nine on the night when the dead cast Raimuraito above the Burning Leaves. The last True Guards of the Broken Twelve must finish what they started when the twelve were sundered by the greed of their brethren."

Nanashi's mismatched wings shattered the moment he fell silent and the six year old let out a soft whine as he scrambled up onto his knees and leaned over the side of the table to empty his stomach. Naruto quickly shook off his stupor and darted forward to catch hold of his ward to prevent the kid from tumbling from the table. The moment the kid stopped heaving; Naruto pulled him into his arms and began checking to make certain that he was alright. He soon noted that Nanashi was both freezing cold and burning up on top of his complexion looking both gray and green as he shivered in Naruto's arms and attempted to burrow into Naruto's shoulder.

"Are you alright, Nanashi-kun?" Shikaku inquired as he moved up beside the pair.

"Hurts," Nanashi rasped tiredly as he shifted his head and peered at the man with one turbulent leaf-green eye.

"Where does it hurt?" Tsunade demanded as she donned her medic persona and rose from her chair before she hurried around the table to Naruto's side and laid her hand against the child's forehead.

"Nashi not hurt. Nashi hurt because dead souls hurt. Death not happy. Dead souls not happy. Nashi need fix."

"We really need to work on your vocabulary, conjugation, and grammar," Shikaku absently noted as he frowned down at the child while Nanashi squirmed away from Tsunade's hand and tried to burrow beneath Naruto's cloak to escape her gentle prodding.

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Shikaku; in the mean time, can you translate?" Tsunade dryly queried as she tried to rub a bit of warmth back into Nanashi's left arm.

"If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that Nanashi is feeling the pain of the dead souls that he… or something in him… spoke of just prior to him vomiting. Whatever it was that had possessed the child spoke of the Balance and, if you recall, Death had stated that Nanashi was Balance personified; so it almost stands to reason that the child would be affected by anything that affects the Balance. Additionally, I believe whatever connection he has with the being known as Death allows him to sense or know when Death is not pleased and a large number of people dying before their time, as implied by Nanashi's earlier dire pronouncement would certainly irritate the being that is supposed to escort the dead into the afterlife."

"Nanashi also believes that he has to fix whatever is wrong," Naruto added as he ran his fingers through Nanashi's sweat soaked locks. "What does the rest of the stuff he said mean though? The stuff about nine tails, Raimuraito, burning leaves, true guards, and broken twelves?"

"Stolen Tails of Nine," Jiraiya repeated ominously as he folded his arms across his chest. "Tails of Nine can only refer to the Kyuubi and I'd be willing to bet that the stealing would have something to do with the Akatsuki; we already know that the criminal organization is attempting to collect and extract all of the bijuu. Based upon what the gaki proclaimed, it sounds like they will be coming after Naruto fairly soon."

"Nashi keep tousan safe," Nanashi growled as he twisted around to glare at Jiraiya with one eye as if to dare the man to say otherwise.

"I don't think the current problem actually has anything to do with the Akatsuki," Shikaku countered as he stroked his goatee thoughtfully. "He didn't make any references to the dawn, daybreak, or a new day. Instead, he spoke of the last True Guards of the Broken Twelve… which could potentially be a reference to the Twelve Guardians of the Daimyou."

"What makes you say that?" Inoichi inquired curiously as he tried to follow his teammate's logic.

"You remember the falling out the Sandaime had with his youngest son? Back around the time when Asuma left to join the Twelve Guardians? I recall there being a big scandal within the ranks of the Twelve Guardians just before Asuma returned to Konoha a few years later and I remember the Sandaime once mentioning that six of the guards had attempted a coup which resulted in the deaths of all but two members of the then current guard; one of which was Asuma."

"So, you're saying that Asuma and his fellow survivor have some unfinished business that relates back to the failed coup their former comrades attempted and it's going to somehow involve Naruto's furry passenger?" Jiraiya asked skeptically as he eyed the scarred Nara.

"It is a possibility that bears looking into before we discount it completely," Chouza interjected as he fished a bag out of his pocket and tossed it to Naruto. "Have the little one chew on a couple of those to settle his stomach, Naruto; he's still looking rather green around the gills."

"Arigatou, Chouza-san," Naruto murmured as he opened the bag to find it half filled with peppermint flavored salt water taffies. The blond then spent a good fifteen minutes coaxing his stubborn little shadow into accepting and eating one of the peppermint sweets while absently listening to the conversation going on around him.

"Tch… I don't need this kind of headache right now," Tsunade groused as she returned to her seat now that she'd determined that there was nothing she could do to help Nanashi. "I've got enough problems on my plate dealing with Danzou's mess without throwing in red herrings."

"You could always send Team Kakashi to investigate the matter," Ibiki pointed out. "That would also keep both Naruto and the kid out of the village and out of the line of fire while we start implementing our plans to deal with Danzou and the Foundation. Sending Asuma and Team Ten along with them would provide them with extra protection as well and Asuma would be able to provide insight into anything related to the Twelve Guardians."

"That would also have the benefit of getting Sai out of the village…" Inoichi added before he was cut off by Naruto.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… someone still needs to explain why I'm supposed to be babysitting the teme. As far as I'm concerned, just being in the same village with him puts him far too close to Nanashi, dattebayo."

"Mendoukusei, we were attempting to explain it when you interrupted us and woke up Nanashi… in more ways than one apparently," Shikaku lightly rebuked as his hand snaked out to thwack Naruto on the back of the head. "You need to learn to be patient and not jump to conclusions."

"Gomen… could one of you please explain now?"

"Do you recall what I said about there being laws in place to protect clan members?" Shikaku asked as he gently pushed Naruto back into his chair before taking a seat on the edge of the table right beside him; the man's intelligent eyes locked on Nanashi's trembling form. Naruto grunted out an affirmative in response to the question once it was clear that the man was waiting for a response from him.

"Well, those laws apply in this case since Sai attacked you a month ago without provocation; regardless of whether or not he believed his intentions in doing so were benign. Additionally, he placed your ward and heir (since you currently have no children of your own) in harms way; despite the fact that he had had no choice in the matter at the time, he still played a part in delivering Nanashi to Orochimaru. There were several options open that would allow us to imprison (which would have left him open to assassination) or execute Sai (which would have left us without the wealth of information that he carries)."

"It also would have been wrong to place the blame for his actions entirely on Sai because he was taught to obey Danzou without question from a young age on top of being branded with several seals including those geared towards obedience and loyalty. He has also shown true remorse for the part he played in handing Nanashi over to Orochimaru and he has indicated a desire to atone for his crimes. The problem, as we mentioned earlier, is that Sai is dead as far as the rest of the village is concerned; meaning that we can't allow him to walk through the village openly. The clan protection laws offer us an alternative solution."

"Since he attacked your clan, you have the right, as the head of your clan, to demand that Sai be conscripted into your service as part of his punishment; this means that Sai would essentially become your responsibility and he would then become something like a vassal to your clan. That doesn't mean that he is your servant or your personal slave; it just means that he will be required to work off his debt to you and your clan by performing a set number of duties for a specific length of time. While he is repaying his debt, his wellbeing is your responsibility and you are required to make certain that he doesn't step out of line and cause problems with another clan as that would reflect badly upon you."

"How exactly is that a good thing?" Naruto asked slowly as he honestly tried to think about what he was being asked to do without letting his dislike for the pale artist to get in his way. "He's rude, insults me and Nanashi at the drop of a kunai, and has the personality of a rock. He doesn't even know how to smile properly; I don't want Nanashi picking up his bad habits. Nanashi-kun has trouble enough opening up to people without him learning how to walk around like some kind of retarded zombie."

"Stunted social skills and defective emotional growth aside, Sai is a high Chuunin level shinobi with AnBu training and he could offer a measure of protection against potential threats," Inoichi replied smoothly. "For example; Sai could stand guard during the night so you could rest easier or in the future he could watch over your property while you are out of the village on missions to prevent someone from breaking in and laying a trap for you or your ward while you were not home."

"He is also a talented artist and could help Nanashi improve the forms of his Gurasu no Jutsu," Shizune suggested.

"No way," Naruto refused with a small scowl. "Art is mine and Nanashi's fun time."

"It was just a suggestion and don't forget that there are plenty of different branches of art that one can study; meaning that you could continue to focus on the fun stuff that you've been teaching Nanashi while Sai works with him on the more structured forms of art in order to help him create more realistic forms," Shikaku interjected lazily.

Naruto just scowled at the man before he shot a dirty look at the surprisingly silent Sai. His attention was then drawn to the child in his arms as Nanashi stirred before adding his two-cents, "Nashi save tousan. Nashi not let ink boy hurt tousan. Nashi watch ink boy."

"I'm more worried about keeping him from stealing you away from me again, dattebayo."

"I won't," Sai promised as he spoke up for the first time since the end of the clan meeting. "I also won't speak to anyone about the ru… the child's abilities."

"I'm not going to be able to get out of this, am I?" Naruto asked rhetorically as he glanced from Sai to the other adults in the room.

"I will help you keep an eye on him until you feel more comfortable with the idea of him hanging around you and your cute little crusher of egos," Kakashi offered with one of his patented eye smiles.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at Kakashi's description of Nanashi; the man was obviously still upset over the kid telling him that he'd been born old. His amusement died a heartbeat later as he focused once more on the situation with Sai and the idea that he was going to have to suffer the other teen's constant presence for who knew how long.

"Did you have any other questions in regards to the situation with Sai?" Tsunade inquired after another two minutes of silence had passed.

"How long…?"

"At least until Danzou has been dealt with but legally speaking, he will remain a vassal of the Uzumaki Clan until he has repaid the debt that he owes to your clan for the attacks that he made upon you and your ward," Jiraiya replied before any of the other adults could open their mouths. "How much or how little you have him do during that time is entirely up to you but you can't just kick him out the door the first chance you get because you don't like him. And the less you give him to do, the longer it will take for him to repay his debt. As the head of the clan, there are rules that you will need to follow when dealing with your new vassal and obligations that you will need to fulfill; Shikaku can fill you in on those later."

"Fine," Naruto huffed as he realized that he wasn't going to be able to wiggle out of this one. He then changed the subject so that he wouldn't have to think about the other teen for one second longer than necessary as he asked, "What do we do about the stuff that Nanashi spoke about?"

"We do nothing until we have some idea of what is going on and where the crime has taken place," Tsunade answered as she made her way back to her seat.

"We'll also need to speak with Asuma in order to get more information about what had happened back when he was part of the Twelve Guardians," Shikaku pointed out once Tsunade had finished speaking. "Once we have enough information to establish which direction we need to focus the investigation, we can send out a team or two to look into the matter."

"In the mean time, you should take the gaki home and get him into a proper bed so that he can get some rest," Jiraiya added as he absently gestured to the now sleeping kid curled up in Naruto's arms.

"I thought you wanted to talk about his new abilities?" Naruto asked in confusion as briefly glanced down at Nanashi before returning his attention to Tsunade.

"I do," Tsunade sighed as she massaged her temples. "I'm not too worried about his ability to turn himself invisible since that skill can be passed off as one of several camouflage techniques and Shikaku already informed me about the promise he wrangled out of the gaki about not using it without permission. It's his ability to discern the truth that's going to be a problem."

"What…? Why…?"

"Too many people know about that ability for us to hide it and word of that ability will inevitably make it out of the village; painting an even larger target on Nanashi's head. There are many people out there that would love to get their hands on someone with such an ability; and not all of them would be shinobi. There are also those that would not hesitate to kill Nanashi to prevent others from utilizing his abilities if they can't have them. His status as a shinobi of Konoha offers him a measure of protection as does the fact that he is an underage member of your clan. His age and status won't be enough to protect him from everyone though."

Naruto groaned as the implication sank in before he complained, "It was bad enough that the Akatsuki, Orochimaru, and that Danzou creep are trying to get their hands on Nanashi but now I have to protect him from everyone else too?"

"You are hardly the only person to ever have to worry about bloodline theft," Shikaku chided in response to Naruto's dramatic complaint. "You are also not alone in your desire to protect Nanashi from those that might wish to steal him away or harm him."

"We also have plenty of time to come up with a few precautions to help prevent would be assassins or kidnappers from getting close to him," Jiraiya added from where he was currently trying to peer down Tsunade's blouse. "The secrecy seals we applied to everyone will prevent them from speaking about the gaki's abilities for at least four months."

"What can be done in four months though?"

"You can train to become stronger; every little bit helps," Kakashi pointed out.

"It is our hope that Danzou will be dealt with fairly quickly," Tsunade stated as she shot a glare at Jiraiya for his blatant attempt to peep. "Eliminating Danzou and taking down or taking over his entire spy network will allow us to fix one of the larger breaches in our security. That would also eliminate the biggest threat to Nanashi; since Danzou is currently the largest threat within the village."

"The worst thing you could do right now is panic or get hung up on seeing threats on every corner," Inoichi interjected at that point. "You need to acknowledge the danger to both you and your ward and plan accordingly to minimize the risks the two of you take each time you leave the village. Forewarned is forearmed after all, and the better prepared you are to face any trouble that comes your way, the easier it will be to deal with that trouble."

The meeting broke up just a few minutes after that discussion and Naruto reflected on everything he'd learned that night as he carried Nanashi back to the Nara Estate accompanied by Shikaku, Inoichi, Chouza, and a silent Sai under henge.

Translations: Japanese to English

Arigatou – thank you
Gomen - I'm sorry (informal)
Gurasu no Jutsu – Glass Release
Mendoukusei – how troublesome, what a drag, or this sucks
Nani – what
Raimuraito – Limelight: anime only lightning jutsu used by four former members of the Twelve Guardians with the power to destroy an entire village that appears in the Twelve Guardian's arc.
Teme – bastard/jerk (rude way of saying you)

AN: Poor Kakashi… Harry's Marauder genes were shining through even without his memory of his first life. I laugh every time I read through that section of this chapter. Despite the teasing appearance of Nanashi's comments, I think it is true to a certain extent (that Kakashi was born with an old soul) simply because he never acted like much of a child before Obito's 'death'. He grew up far too fast and Nanashi senses that in him and that is why he calls him old man.

Anyway, some of you are probably annoyed with me for not going into detail about what was learned from Sai in regards to Danzou's plans but that was kind of intentional; since Naruto would not have really paid that close of attention to such boring stuff even if he did make an effort. There's also the fact that it would have taken me several chapters to cover all of Danzou's plotting; not all of which is relevant to the plot since some of it happened long before Tsunade took up the Hat. Parts of it will still come out later in the story, it will just be a while yet before we reach that point.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will have the next chapter up in roughly four days. ~ Jenn