TWENTY EIGHT
War: Part XI
Tsunade glanced up when she heard the door to her office open. She had been finishing the last of the paper work that needed to be done before she and her shinobi left for Suna. She had received word that all the other Hidden Villages were already on their way, but since Konoha was the closest village to Suna, they would be last to depart. Most likely they would meet up with other platoons of Shinobi before they actually reached Suna and Tsunade prayed to whatever God there was that the Konoha nin behaved themselves as she had asked. Last thing she or any of the Kage needed right now to loose Shinobi from fighting before the war even started.
"Hime."
"Jiraiya."
"I heard about Kakashi," Jiraiya stated, "It was really Naruto who did it?"
"All the evidence points to the little brat," Tsunade shook her head in disgust, "Kakashi held on to Sasuke's sword after we imprisoned him, but Naruto release Sasuke. He also had the sword."
"I see," Jiraiya nodded.
"What's going on, Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked when she noticed him contemplating something.
"Its not just making any sense," Jiraiya shook his head.
Tsunade sighed, "nothing has made any sense since found out that the brat is alive."
"You are right about that," Jiraiya nodded, "One minute we think Naruto has gone over to the dark side, and the next he does something that gives us hope that there might be another side to the story."
"Unfortunately he has done more harm than good recently."
"But if he is truly out to destroy Konoha, then why didn't he kill Kakashi?"
"Maybe he didn't know that Kakashi didn't die?" Tsunade shrugged and sank back against her chair, folding her arms over her chest.
"No, he is too smart now to make a mistake like that," Jiraiya shook his head, "if it was the Naruto from four years ago, maybe but not this Naruto."
"Are you saying that Naruto purposely left Kakashi alive?" Tsunade asked.
"I'm saying that I don't understand the reasoning behind any of Naruto's actions," Jiriaya sighed, "there is something I need to tell you."
000
Minato followed his son in silence, carefully watching the younger blonde as they jumped through the trees after leaving the shrine. The other Hokages as well as Sasuke had gone towards the battlefield. Minato wasn't sure where they were headed but it was the opposite direction of the village.
"Naruto," Minato spoke up, "where are we going?"
Naruto glanced back over his shoulder, but continued on his way without a word.
What are you going to tell him? He is going to be able to sense me through my other half any minute now.
I know, I'm going to tell him, but I just need to get to a safer stop where we can stop. Its going to be hard enough talking to him, let alone trying to do it while flying through the trees.
I see.
Here is good.
Naruto fell from the trees and landed softly in the forest below him. Minato followed him. After a moment Naruto turned towards his father, and suddenly they were no longer in the forest but in a familiar sewer setting that had a strange orange-ish tint to it.
"Where are we?" Minato asked.
"In our mind scape," Naruto replied simply.
To put his father at easy, Naruto had changed his appearance slightly. Instead of the Akatsuki cloak, Naruto wore simple shinobi attire including plain black pants, a black short-sleeved V-neck shirt with ninja net shirt underneath and his black shinobi boots that went up to his calf. He also donned the necklace that Tsunade had given him. He had made the sensible decision to forgo any article that affiliated him with any group, clan or village. Minato glanced at his attire for a moment and made a mental note of his son's sudden change of clothing.
"What's going on?" Minato asked.
"We needed to talk but in a place where I am completely certain that we will not be overheard," Naruto explained.
Minato nodded, "but how are you able to speak to me through telepathic abilities?"
"I'm not," Naruto shook his head and turned to the fox that was walking up beside him. Naruto made a mental note that Kurama had gotten bigger since the last time they were together physically. Last time the fox was about the same height but now Kurama stood about a foot and half over him. "Because we are both Jinchuurikis, we are able to speak through the tailed beasts' connection, however since we are Jinchuurikis for the same tailed beast, we ultimately can share a mind scape."
"Wait… I thought…" Minato started.
"I lied," Naruto shrugged, "I couldn't let it get out that I am still the host for Kurama, or I would be dead rather quickly."
"I see," Minato glanced over at the fox, "How have you hidden it for this long? And why is he so small?"
I can hear you, ya know, Kurama narrowed his eyes at the former Hokage.
"Sorry," Minato scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
Unfortunately when I saved the two of us from the extraction, I split my soul from my chakra. This was ultimately the result.
"Oh," Minato nodded.
"You are getting bigger though," Naruto commented.
Slowly I am gaining my chakra back.
"It must be easier now that you are awake," Naruto shrugged.
Yes.
"What did you want to talk about Naruto?" Minato asked pulling his son back to the current topic at hand.
"Right," Naruto sucked in a deep breath, "I didn't revive you and the other Hokage's just to get information from them, nor was I ever going to prevent them from aiding Konoha, in fact that was never one of my reasons."
"Then what was your reason?"
"Konoha and the other Hidden villages aren't aware of who they are actually going to be fighting in this war," Naruto started but when Minato didn't say anything he continued, "The villages believe they are going to fighting a war to stop to Akatsuki, but they aren't aware that they Akatsuki are just mere puppets."
"Then who is pulling the strings?" Minato asked unsure of where this was going.
"The man who is claiming to be Uchiha Madara."
"I see," Minato nodded, "but what does this have to do with the previous Hokage?"
"The Hidden villages, even with the Gokage are not going to be strong enough to bring down the Akatsuki and Madara," Naruto explained, "As soon as I knew that I had to declare war on the five great nations I had been trying to figure out a way to aid the villages without giving myself away, so when I knew I needed revive you in order to get the other half of the Kyuubi…"
"You revived the others so they could help Konoha win the war," Minato finished for him, a little stunned at this sudden turn of events.
"Exactly."
"Have you been helping bring down the Akatsuki from the inside this whole time?" Minato asked.
"No," Naruto shook his head, "When the Akatsuki first asked me to join their organization after the attempted extraction I joined them willing. I was angry with the village. I wanted to destroy it. I wanted to for years."
"What changed?"
Naruto sighed, "about a year before anyone found out that I hadn't actually died during the extraction, Jiraiya had found me first, by complete accident."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a long story," Naruto sighed, "but basically, Jiraiya was using someone on the inside of Ame as a spy for a long time, even before the Akatsuki had taken over the village and Pein knew about it when he killed Hanzou, even though he had lead everyone to believe I had killed him. Pein knew that I had the ability to become stronger than him, so he wanted all the shinobi in Ame to fear me so that he could use me to control them without having to reveal himself. When Pein learned of the possible spy within the ranks, he sent me to find out and take care of the spy, but little did I know that the spy was one of Jiraiya's."
"Did you? Take care of it?"
"Sort of," Naruto thought for a moment, "I didn't kill the man if that is what you are asking, I simply erased his memory and now the man is a loyal Ame shinobi who believes that he lost his memory due to an unfortunate accidents during a mission. Before I did this, I learned that he was suppose to rendezvous with his contact, so I learned the time and location so that I could meet his contact in his place."
"But you didn't know it was going to be Jiraiya," Minato suggested.
"No," Naruto shook his head, "the man wasn't affiliated with any of the hidden villages, which is one of the reasons I wanted to meet with his contact so I could learn which village he was spying for. He fully believed that the information he was giving out was suppose to go towards a rebellion against Pein. He was supporter for the restoration of Hanzou's line. So I went to the rendezvous spot, and met Jiraiya."
"What happened?"
"We fought," Naruto replied simply, "for days."
"For days?"
"Yes," Naruto nodded, "we were basically evenly matched. I could never get an upper hand, but I never allowed him to either. So we called a truce and talked for a long time, about everything. He almost convinced me to go back to the village, but I couldn't, not after everything I had done, I would never be accepted back into the village. I think Jiraiya knew that. I think he understood my reasoning behind everything, behind all my actions.
"He did convince me however to become his spy for him and to try to take down Akatsuki from the inside. He convinced me to start working against them. Afterwards I asked him to keep my identity secret from everyone and he agreed. But then I met Madara, who showed me his true plan and at first I actually agreed with him and worked with him, but I never told Jiraiya. Then I started looking into how Madara was going to carry out his plan and that he wanted to go to war with the nations and I didn't agree.
"So my plans changed again, and because of the man I love, I started to work for the village instead of trying to destroy it."
"The…man…." Minato started.
"The man I love," Naruto nodded.
"You are…"
"Gay?" Naruto finished for him and when Minato nodded, he continued, "Yes I am. "Anyways, I won't say that I haven't done things I'm not proud of, I've done a lot of things that I will never live down, will never be forgiven for. I've killed a lot of people and harmed plenty more, but I plan to atone for them even if its never enough. I'm starting with putting an end to the war."
"Then don't give them the Kyuubi," Minato suggested.
"I can't," Naruto shook his head, "if I didn't they would know immediately that it was me. They would know that I was still the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. I think Pein is already suspicious of me."
"Then just change sides?" Minato shrugged.
"There is still so much I can do from the inside," Naruto replied, "I can't switch sides just yet."
"I see," Minato nodded, "What do the Akatsuki plan to do with all the bijuu?"
"Create an ultimate weapon," Naruto replied simply, "or at least that is what Pein believes."
"And what do you plan to do with the bijuu?"
"The bijuu come together to for the Juubi," Naruto explained, "Madara wants to use it to create the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and however with the help of the Gokage and the four previous kage, I believe I can use the Juubi to take Madara and the Akatsuki down. Then I plan to split up the Juubi back in the nine beasts and reseal them into their Jinchuurikis."
"You wants to control the Juubi?" Minato asked a little stunned.
"I'm damn well going to try," Naruto thought out loud, "well, I've heard rumors from Kurama that the Sharingan can control the tailed beasts so Itachi is planning on trying to control the Juubi with his, but I am currently coming up with a back up plan for it."
"Which is?"
"I'll become the Jinchuuriki for the Juubi."
"What?" Minato shook his head, "That's insane, Naruto!"
"I know, that's why it's the back up plan!"
"Whats going to happen to him?"
"That's the main reason I needed to talk to you," Naruto gave him a sad smile, "after I extract the Kyuubi from you, I will transfer my half to you, if I need to become the Jinchuuriki for the Juubi."
"No," Minato shook his head, "I won't let you do this."
"Its not even certain that I'll need to!" Naruto argued, "Please. I wouldn't be asking it if I wasn't completely certain."
Minato looked at him for a moment. Naruto was completely determined.
"Alright," Minato sighed, "but only as a last resort."
"Thank you," Naruto nodded, "now we need to get going if we are going to finish the sealing by the time the Akatsuki head out for war."
