Chapter 16 - Trials and War
The mansion, common room early morning
King and Diane are the last ones to arrive and can be heard panting, "Sorry we're late everyone. Did you all start without us?" Diane asked feeling embarrassed as all the tenants stare at them.
"No we were waiting just for two." Naruto said as they both took a seat, "Anyways, you're all wondering why I brought you here." they all nodded, "First of all, I'm going to have to introduce you all to Calcifer first."
"Wait Calcifer is a living person?" Veronica asked.
"I did say he was sentient, Calcifer please introduce yourself." Naruto commanded as Calcifer arrived wearing a homemade mask then drawing a smile on his face creeping some of them out.
Calcifer bowed in respect, "Um little brother, how long have you been hiding Calcifer?" Gowther asked.
"He was building his own body once he finished building the interior of the mansion." Naruto answered as Calcifer started waving around.
"Naruto can he talk by any chance, his silence is scaring me a bit." Elaine said feeling wary of the servant.
"Sorry mom, he can make some sounds and I can personally understand him, but he can't speak." Naruto explained getting a nod as Calcifer replaced his drawn smile with a frown.
"We're getting off topic, didn't you have something important to talk about?" Gilthunder asked.
"Yeah, Calcifer if you will." Calcifer nodded revealing several charts, "I sent a copy along with a detailed letter to the old man so I wouldn't have to repeat myself along with the fact that he needed to know about village security first." they all nodded in understanding.
"So what's so important that the hokage and the village's security have to know?" Jericho asked.
"To start, ever since we caught Orochimaru, the village he made hasn't exactly fallen apart and another village assumed just because Suna failed didn't mean they would fail as well. So to summarize, Oto and Kumo are planning to attack the village within the next day or two." this got a lot of gasps and signs of panic, "Basically Oto is hoping to land another hit on the village while trying to save the snake bastard, while Kumo being the dunderheads they are, want to the village while we just rebuilt from the last invasion."
"Barely a day left and you tell us this now!?" Slater yelled out.
"Calcifer just notified me at midnight while all of you were asleep, so I prepared a note for the old man so he would start preparing so I would wait until morning to tell you all." Naruto explained making a decent point.
"Wait, Merlin is your roommate. Shouldn't she have noticed Calcifer?" King asked.
"She was asleep while I spoke to him so assumed she felt exhausted when she slept with me." Naruto answered bluntly making Merlin blush and Ban laugh at how he said it.
Many of the other women blushed while Howzer patted Naruto on the back, "Congratulations fish cake, you've become a man." he said.
"A man? But I've been sleeping with Merlin every night we've slept in our room." Naruto answered bluntly as Merlin started glaring at Naruto.
"So that explains why all of our rooms have a noise cancellation seal." Gowther reminisced.
Elaine soon fell onto Ban's arms, "I just became a mother, I'm not ready to be a grandmother." and with that she fainted.
"Naruto Liones, how could you do something so inappropriate?" Margaret asked glaring at her nephew.
"How do I know you and uncle Gil don't share a bed?" Naruto asked oblivious to what he said was taken out of context.
Margaret blushed, "Oh oh, so my nephew has successfully courted a princess first? Griamore maybe you should from your cousin." Dreyfus said laughing as Veronica and Griamore looked at each other before blushing.
Merlin for her part ran up to Naruto and bonked him in the head, "Naruto don't say inappropriate things!" she yelled knocking some sense into her boyfriend.
Naruto rubbed his lump before realizing what he said, "Oh I guess I see where I'm in the wrong. I meant to say, Merlin must have been exhausted since she sleeps next to me." he could hear more laughter and earn more galres mixed with blushes.
"Why you little..." Merlin trailed off tackling him down and reaching for his neck.
"I love you too hime." Naruto said keeping her hands away from his neck, "Would I really be that bad of a father?" he asked turning Merlin into an angry/embarrassed tomato.
"Damn you! I hate you!" she yelled.
"No you don't, why don't you say how you really feel?" Naruto teased as the redness of her skin never left.
"Should we help him?" Guila asked.
"Deep down Merlin would ask the same if it were one of us throttling him." Jericho answered.
The pair actually blushed at the idea of Naruto choosing one of them instead, Zaneri however would have likely passed out from embarrassment if she was in their shoes.
"Hime, as much as I'm interested in seeing your kinky side, I gotta run." Naruto said disappearing in a mist of darkness.
Merlin growled as her blush rescinded leaving some people laughing or feeling embarrassed as to what they witnessed.
With Sarutobi
The current hokage was preparing himself for the next and final trial in the village's supreme court when a mist of darkness appeared.
"Ah, Naruto you've arrived. I've read your message, I've begun the necessary security changes to prepare for an attack. Will your summons be ready?" Sarutobi asked.
"They will, there also the fact that the Goddess clan wants to put the toads on trial for the whole prophecy thing since it's considered forbidden. The slugs and snakes will also be put under trial, but I doubt we would allow Orochimaru free enough to summon Manda." Naruto explained, "Besides, if they attack during the trials, the clan will be ready to summon heavy reinforcements."
"Good, I will have the ANBU keep their guard when the two perform their summoning. Oh and by the way, will my monkey summons be put under questioning?" the Sandaime asked.
"I asked, apparently the monkeys were just ignored from being as prideful as the white tigers and most of the avian summons. So in other words, they don't really care." Naruto answered.
"What could have happened for that relationship to happen?" he asked curious as to why these summons were ignored.
"Something about an old monkey who's name I forgot. Apparently he didn't care much for the original rules, but didn't do anything to break them. He was also known for carrying a staff and riding a cloud I think." Naruto explained getting a laugh at the last part.
"You must be speaking of Enma's ancestor Sun Wukong. There were all these legends and the man wanted me to study their culture as one of their trials. Something I'm afraid Konohamaru won't meet when he's older." Sarutobi chuckled knowing Konohamaru was like Naruto and wasn't book smart.
"Yeah, not my fault basic clones are too hard to make." Naruto defended.
"Anyways, you should stand by once the pair summon their boss summons." Sarutobi said as they entered the courtroom.
"All rise of the Sandaime hokage!" said a jounin as Sarutobi took his seat.
Naruto stood with some of the other guards waiting for his queue. He could see the sannin looking in guilt as they're marched in with chakra cuffs around their wrists along with seals on their backs.
Naruto kept a hand on Lostvayne's hilt in case Orochimaru's second attack occurs during the case.
Uzumaki-Namikaze mansion
Menma Uzumaki-Namikaze was enjoying drawing by himself which caught the attention of his sisters.
Narumi kneeled down, "What are you drawing Menma-kun?" she asked.
Menma quickly finished his coloring before revealing the picture with a big smile, "I'm drawing the coolest person in the village!" he said excitedly.
Kasumi smiled, "Aw are you drawing our tou-chan?" she asked seeing that the picture was of someone with blond hair carrying a bladed weapon and fighting a red monster.
Menma looked confused, "No that's not tou-chan, how can you confuse that with tou-chan?" he asked.
"Menma-kun, this person is blond and they're fighting a red monster with a knife." Narumi tried to reason.
Menma shook his head, "No tou-chan can't fly and he hasn't fought a red monster." he said.
"Well then who is it?" Narumi asked.
"That's Mr. Meliodas and he fights evil monster and evil villagers!" Menma said proudly.
Both girls were shocked by the last statement, "Menma don't you dare that!" Narumi shouted scaring the boy, "How could you say that? Tou-chan protected the villagers from the Kyuubi, they would never hurt anyone!"
Menma felt offended by his sister, "No tou-chan lied, they called me a monster and hit me just because I went inside their stores! Then the mean people with the headbands started hitting me and chasing me!" he countered.
"Menma-kun, it was probably your imagination after you got hurt and nobody helped you up." Narumi reasoned.
"No you're the one lying! You wouldn't know because you left me alone by myself!" Menma yelled.
"What is going on here?" everyone turned to see Kushina with her hands on her hip looking in disapproval, she lost a chance of being reunited with her, but she wasn't willing to let them bicker amongst themselves.
Menma ran behind his mother grabbing onto her dress, "Narumi-Nee called me a liar saying the villagers are nice when they bullied me!" he said pointing at his redheaded sister.
"Narumi do you want to explain what your brother is saying?" Kushina asked feeling confused.
"Memna says the villagers beat him up and called him names, but he was just being delusional because he clearly hurt himself and got scared being lost in the village." Narumi countered while Kasumi remained silent not believing her own sister seeing the hate against Naruto first hand.
Kushina cringed remembering the hate during the chunin exams, "Narumi, I think the best way to explain this is that your father isn't the genius we all thought he was." the kids looked confused.
"What do you mean kaa-chan?" Narumi asked.
Kushina took a breath before explaining herself, "Girls, do you know how I used to be the Kyuubi jinchuuriki before you were born?"
"Yes, you said that you wanted it to be put back into you, but tou-san said you would die so he split it into three parts." Narumi answered.
"Well girls, there was a secret I never told you." this got the attention of Menma as well, "The main reason I didn't want you girls and Naru-chan to be jinchuuriki was so you wouldn't be abused." she said closing her eyes hearing their gasps.
"Bu-bu-but kaa-chan, you said we would be treated as heroes. You and tou-san said Naruto-nii would be living a life of luxury without anyone evening knowing he was related to a kage." Narumi reasoned.
"Narumi-chan, another secret was that nobody ever knew I was a jinchuuriki because the old man was afraid I would be turned into a weapon. Your tou-san also refused to mention this once he took the kage hat." Kushina explained getting more gasps.
"What about Naruto-nii, sure he had part of the fox inside him, but why do they hate him?" Narumi asked still oblivious.
"Girl's civilians have no knowledge of sealing while most shinobi do, but lack the attention span. They hide behind false pain and suffering as an excuse to hurt jinchuuriki assuming the bijuu became their jailor. It was one of the reasons I tried to force your tou-san and godparents to cancel the training trip once we heard what happened to Naru-chan." Kushina explained tearfully.
The girl's were beyond shocked that a new word had to be created, Menma for his part may have been an adolescent, but like his father he was also a genius and quickly started putting two and two together before making a final conclusion. He let go of his mother's dress and started rubbing the tears out of his eyes.
"Menma-chan why are you crying?" Kushina asked trying to wrap her arms around her son.
Menma did the unspeakable and forcefully pushed his mother away, "No you're the reason my aniki was sad and alone and doesn't want to be part of our family anymore!" he yelled.
"Menma what's gotten into you?" Kushina asked shocked at her son's behavior.
"You let tou-chan hurt my aniki! Mama's and papa's are supposed to protect their babies, but you left him so nee-chan's get stronger and look cool while everyone bullied aniki! Then the villagers would have killed me too if Mr. Meliodas didn't stop the big man from burning me!" Menma yelled scaring Kushina while surprising her at the same time.
"Girls when were you going to tell me what happened!? You told me he only had a few bruises when you went to the hospital!?" Kushina asked frantically.
"He did, but whenever he asked what happened he would say the villagers would hurt him." Narumi answered.
Menma just ran off to his not leaving his drawing behind of "Meliodas" and locking the door behind him. Menma just stared at the picture wishing his parents were more noble like Meliodas, he then smiled thinking Meliodas probably helped him because he probably helped his aniki when he was little too. He looked out the window out into the village sneering at how many lies he was told.
Thinking about what his elder brother went through and how angry he was, Menma only felt more sad knowing his brother wasn't in the right mind seeing a new member to the family he wasn't more aware of. Maybe now, Menma could talk to his big brother without pressuring him if his parents are at his side. Maybe his aniki was willing to talk to him if it's just him alone.
But wait! He couldn't remember what his aniki looks like, he knows he looked like his tou-chan, but had his kaa-chan's face. Oh this was going to take a while! Maybe he'll run into Mr. Meliodas again and help him find his aniki. Maybe there is a chance the two met at some point! Menma made up his mind and decided to sneak out and look for his aniki while his parents and siblings were distracted.
Hopefully Meliodas wasn't too busy and the villagers weren't out for his blood if they saw him looking around the village.
At the trial a while later
Tsunade and Jiraiya were doing worse than expected and failed at using pleas and memories of good time as an excuse to get the Sandaime to pardon them. They planned to do the same with Naruto only to see his cold dead glare shooting holes into their skulls forcing them rely on the judicial system to bail them out. Tsunade was then put onto the stand.
"Tsunade Senju, member of the three legendary sannin, student of Hiruzen Sarutobi the Sandaime hokage, and daughter of the shodaime Hashirama Senju, is this who you are?" asked the prosecutor who happened to be another Yamanaka. Who knew half of Inoichie's clan were members of the judicial system while the other half were interrogators.
"Yes, that's me." Tsunade answered with a sigh.
"How did it feel? How did it feel to have the urge to run beside your teammate and attack your own teacher? The village leader no less?" asked the prosecutor.
"I wasn't in my right mind, Jiraiya came up with the idea and we didn't want Minato's name to be tossed into the mud." Tsunade admitted.
"So for the sake of someone else's pride, you went ahead and attacked you teacher with the intent to end his life?" she asked.
"No... no I... that wasn't what went through my mind!" Tsunade defended.
"What about your teammate? You are aware of what technique he was using correct?" the prosecutor asked.
"Yes, Minato's technique the Rasengan and it took him three years to make it." Tsunade answered falling into the prosecutor's trap.
"Yes, we all know about how much of an amazing technique it is. Now what kind of technique is it?" the prosecutor asked receiving silence, "What kind Tsunade, you are an S-rank nin are you not? Who besides the creator and his teacher would know? Perhaps someone he sees as family?" she asked.
"An A-rank technique." Tsunade answered.
"An A-rank technique for what purpose?" the prosecutor asked smirking on the inside.
"...Assassination." Tsunade said above a whisper.
"Assassination, like Kakashi Hatake's very own technique the chidori! To all the rookie shinobi in this room and civilians alike, the chidori is know to pierce one's chest instantly ending their life!" civilians and genin in the court gasped, "However, the Rasengan may be as dangerous, but Tsunade can you explain how this technique is different?"
"I don't really know, Jiraiya and Minato knew the specifics." Tsunade said realizing she got herself into deeper trouble by admitting it was an assassination attempt.
"That is all your honor." the Yamanaka said prompting Tsunade to move back, "I now call Jiraiya to the stand." she said as the toad sage moved to the stand.
After finishing going through another introduction the prosecutor asked Jiraiya the same thing about the Rasengan, "Master Jiraiya, is it true that not only did your student create this technique, but you learned it well enough to modify it?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Jiraiya answered reluctantly.
"So you have more knowledge about it?" she received a nod, "Such as development, procedure, variation and even... power?" she asked.
"Yes, I know that much about this technique. Tsunade-hime already told you what kind of technique it was and the history behind it." Jiraiya stated.
"I know that, however what she didn't know or couldn't explain was the result of the jutsu hitting its target. Care to explain?" she asked hiding a smirk.
Jiraiya knew better than to dig a deeper grave for himself, "The weakest it can do is send someone flying while rotating into the opposite direction, but the damage will always be internal which can lead to further damage on the other side than the front side. Like an arrow going through someone's body." everyone was shocked at the description.
"No more questions your honor." the prosecutor said as Jiraiya went back to his side.
Sarutobi sighed having to do this to his students, but in the end they were in the wrong by abandoning their godchild and making matters worse by attacking him just to preserve Minato's image as a hero among the villagers.
"Has the jury come to a verdict?" the old man asked.
Everyone turned to Shibi only for the bug user to hit Shikaku on the head to wake him up, "Hey what was that for?" the Nara asked.
"It's your turn to give the statement." Shibi deadpanned.
"Oh that... I wasn't listening." Shikaku said making everyone, but Shibi face fault.
"If it wasn't for Liones being a jinchuuriki and Tsume's son being an idiot, I could clearly see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Right dead last?" everyone in the jury, but the Nara and Aburame laughed at the joke Shibi unintentionally made.
Tsume laughed the loudest, "He's right you know, Kiba may need a hit on the head every now and then, but even then Shikamaru would be the real dead last if things were fair." she said remembering all the clan heads were in the same graduating year with Shikaku being the dead last due to his laziness.
Shikaku grew a tick mark at the jokes directed at him and Shikamaru being dead lasts, "Anyways, I already played everything out in my head after I snoozed during the introduction. It's safe to say that these two." he pointed at the sannin, "Are guilty and would likely help keep the village safer at night if they weren't around other people or ninja. So what I would suggest is for the sannin, despite their help in the past two ninja world wars, should be locked for the next decade or two." Shikaku stated earning nods from the group.
"I believe recess is in order before I make my final decision." Sarutobi said hitting his gavel as everyone quietly walked out of the courtroom.
Naruto sighed and decided to take a breath of fresh air before preparing for any craziness the rest of the day would hit him with, whether something as big as a second invasion or something as stupid as a marriage contract. Why want anyone when he has Merlin? Naruto immediately blushed at the idea of seeing her in a wedding dress.
In another part of the village
Diane and King are enjoying themselves at Naruto's favorite ramen stand where Diane introduced King to both Ayame, Naruto's surrogate sister, and the ramen which he enjoyed. Sadly he didn't enjoy it as much as Diane much to her dismay and it probably wasn't the fact it took him 15 minutes to figure out how to use chopsticks.
"Can't I use a fork?" King asked barely finishing one bowl.
"They don't have forks here King." Diane answered.
"Why not, it make things much easier." King complained.
"Everyone in the Elemental Nations use chopsticks King-san, besides if your as old as you claim it shouldn't be that hard for you." Ayame teased.
"Just because I'm old doesn't mean I'm used to advanced technology." he complained more.
"King the most advanced thing they have here are movies and everything else is just a different culture." Diane said.
"Diane-chan, how exactly was your time different?" Ayame asked wondering what the past was still wary as to the explanation Gowther gave her.
Diane put some time into thinking it, "It's kind of hard, just the culture and style was different. Most knights could start at the age of a child before becoming a warrior at as a young adult then almost everyone awakens to their magical power which isn't always a nature element." she explained.
"We also didn't have any talking animals besides Hawk and most of the non human clan's went extinct." King said sadly.
"King you still have your people." Diane said catching Ayame's attention.
"He does? Then where are they and what "clan" is he from again?" the ramen chef asked.
"He's a fairy and they're all in the forest minding their own business. King doesn't want to admit it, but they're racists." Diane whispered the last part.
"Hey we're not racist, we just don't trust humans after the original forest got burned the first time." King whined.
"It's also the reason whenever they turn human, they just turn into fat people who smell funny." Diane joked.
"Really?" Ayame asked, "King-san what does your human form look like?" King started to turn pale.
"You won't like it." he said before exploding into a poof of smoke before revealing his large overweight self who appeared to be middle aged.
"AHHH!" Ayame shrieked.
"I know I said the same when I saw him transform a few times, but don't worry King you'll always be... you smell weird." she said before he transformed back.
"Gowther was right." King admitted sadly.
"Anyways, we should get going. It was nice seeing you again Ayame-chan." Diane said happily.
"Bye Diane-chan, bye King-san!" Ayame said waving them off.
A few minutes later, "So King what did you think about Ayame?" Diane asked.
"She's nice, it's good to see Naruto had someone in his life who treated him like a human." Diane nodded.
"Wait, so since the captain and Elizabeth gave him his powers, is he still technically human?" Diane asked.
"I don't know, but biologically speaking we aren't too different from the humans ourselves Diane." King explained making her think back to Liones and how none of the workers recognized her due to her size. Then there's King and Elaine who were both confused with small children due to their age not affecting their appearance.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a large crowd nearby, "King what do you think is going on?" she asked.
"I don't, but maybe we should check it out and make sure no one gets hurt." King suggested as they both followed the sounds leading up to a crowd and a few shinobi running towards a direction.
"Get the demon! He can't stop us all! Don't let his disguise fool you! He framed our yondaime!" were all the cries the pair heard as they moved their way revealing a child being kicked by some genin.
The child can be seen crying as he stuck in a feeble position crying for them to stop only for the genin prompting Diane to grab one of the genin and slam into the ground while King summons Oslo to start attacking some of the other genin and other civilians who got in the way. The villagers and remaining genin decided to charge the two sins leaving King to surround them all with floating knives coming from chastiefol while Diane relied on her stone techniques trapping some of the genin and a few chunin who were caught participating in the assault. Before the riot could spread, several wooden bodies in the shape of stick figures started running towards the crowd and jumped onto the rioters restraining all their movement.
"All of you are to disperse before I automatically kill you and give you all traitor's funeral!" threatened a voice revealing a female ANBU in dreadlocks wearing a cheshire mask.
"You can't hold us all back!" yelled a brave genin drawing her blade charging her blade only for the ANBU to grab her hand with no effort and almost snapping it off making the genin fall on her knees.
"You should have studied in the academy instead of playing dress up and beating up little kids." Cheshire said in a cold voice scaring the genin, "Maybe Ibiki can teach you something." the girl paled hearing the rumors of the scarred interrogator.
More ANBU came out and started restraining the villagers, "You two, what is the situation?" Cheshire asked.
Diane ran to the child's side who was crying the whole time, "The crowd and a bunch of ninjas were attacking this little kid." King answered as the ANBU went to inspect the boy.
"I know him, he's the Yondaime's other son. To think the moment the idiot isn't around they just beat up his any kid who looks like him." Cheshire said.
"Wait, so who's his other son?" Diane asked hearing the term "yondaime" before, but never understanding who it was or what it meant.
"The Yondaime's first son as you should know is that Liones boy Naruto." Cheshire answered as the ANBU started pulling out the shinobi Diane trapped.
Diane looked surprised before studying the child, he had red hair that and a round face that looked familiar, "Are you Naruto's brother?" she asked getting a nod.
"Ah huh, I-I-I w-was l-loo-looking fo-for mi-mister Me-Meli-Meliodas so he-he c-could help me find m-my an-aniki!" the boy cried onto Diane's shoulder.
"Meliodas? How do you know him?" Diane asked.
"He saved me from the mean villagers one time and took me to the hospital, now everything hurts again." he cried more.
"Oh don't cry, what's your name little fella?" Diane asked.
The boy wiped away his tears, "Menma, and who are you miss?" he asked.
"My name is Diane and this is King." she answered.
Cheshire spoke up interrupting the conversation, "The rest of us have to haul the prisoners here for interrogation. Do you two mind taking Menma to the hospital or his parents?" she asked.
"Sure, will do." King said as Diane carried Menma in her arms.
The ANBU left, "Ok Menma, do you want us to take you to the doctor first then your parents?" Diane asked in a sweet voice.
Menma shook his head, "No miss I really want to find my aniki and I wanted to find Mr. Meliodas so he can help me since I can't remember where he lives or what he looks like." he said sadly.
Diane rose a brow for a moment, "Um Menma, what does Mr. Meliodas look like? He sounds familiar." she said.
Menma nodded, "Mr. Meliodas had long yellow hair, he had a green sword, a red tie, a white shirt and he did this thing with his sword where he said pull cumber." he answered.
"Pull cumber?" King asked with Menma nodding.
"Oh you mean Full Counter! Menma, did Mr. Meliodas cover one of his eyes with his hair?" Diane asked.
Menma smiled, "Yeah that's Mr. Meliodas! Do you know him too?" he asked excitedly.
"I sure do and so does King. King do you think we could take Menma back home with us so he could see Meliodas?" she asked with a wink.
"I don't know Diane, wouldn't a hospital help him since he got hit a lot." King asked worried about the bruises on Menma's body.
Diane thought for a moment realizing he was right, "Well maybe Calcifer can make a nurse servant or something. We could at least try to heal him until Meliodas comes back." she said.
King sighed, "Ok we can try asking Calcifer." he said.
"Alright, let's go Menma! You'll get to see your aniki and Mr. Meliodas soon!" she said running towards the mansion with Oslo and King running right behind her.
Back to the courtroom, a little while later
The Sandaime took his seat waiting for everyone along with the sannin who were still hanging onto a thread of hope to receive mercy from their former instructor. Sarutobi sighed, hating having to punish his students as he already has the one he played favorites with scheduled to be executed tomorrow. Now he has to reveal his final verdict which will likely weaken Konoha without the makeshift spy network from Jiraiya and Tsunade's medical skills.
"All rise, Sandaime-sama will now reach a final verdict." said one of the jounin.
Sarutobi stood up sighing again, "For the case of Tsunade Senju the Slug Princess and Jiraiya the Toad Sage attempt to assassinate my life, the Sandaime of Konoha, I find you both guilty on the count along with encouraging child neglect and withholding information of two S-rank missing nin. I sentence you both to 20 years in the Fire Vault Penitentiary along with having your techniques sealed away and stored to teach the future generation of shinobi. Case closed!" he said slamming his gavel.
What most people didn't know Fire Vault Penitentiary was a nice and heavenly place compared to Blood Prison despite being ranked second where Hozuki Castle was ranked first. At least here they had strong guards and strong seals where as Blood Prison relied on a single intelligent man with a single sealing technique similar to the Hyuuga bird cage seal only this one drains the user of their chakra. Those who did know, like the remaining sannin, paled knowing the fate of being put there. At the very least it sounds like the old man gave them some hope of still being alive and welcomed back to the village.
Before they were hauled away Sarutobi spoke up, "Before you are taken away, you will have to summon the bosses of both the Toads and the Slugs outside. Guards keep lower the seals to high genin and take them to the courtyard." he said confusing them.
Sarutobi nodded to Naruto who nodded back and followed the ANBU who were given the message about what they were planning to do. The sannin were guided to the courtyard which was rather big and convenient enough to summon Katsuyu and Gamabunta at the same time. The ANBU adjusted their seals to where they would only have enough for one summon as all other techniques would be useless within a matter a moments against younger experienced shinobi with advanced training. Both reluctantly did the necessary hand seals and hit the ground creating two massive puffs of smoke.
"Huh? Jiraiya what am I doing here?" asked Gamabunta looking around then noticing Katsuyu feeling lost as well.
"Tsunade what is this? Why am I and Gamabunta in this confined space?" Katsuyu asked before hearing Naruto call out his summoning.
Both summons turned to see several winged females carrying various weapons floating around surrounding the pair, "What the hell? What's with the floating women?" Gamabunta asked keeping a hand on his blade.
Katsuyu was not capable of showing expression, but was in awe of what she saw in front of her, "Angels... they're real." she murmured.
"Huh? What are you babbling on about Katsuyu?" Gamabunta asked.
"Bunta, these are the angels! They're real! Like the stories the elders of every summoning clan have mentioned!" Katsuyu said with a hint of excitement in her voice, "Perhaps they're here to bless us!" she said.
Gamabunta looked at her like she was an idiot, "They're just some ningen who created some genjutsu, just shake it off." he said in denial before the angels got into position and fired golden and silver chains from their body.
"What is this?" Katsuyu asked feeling the chains wrap around her body keeping a tight hold and preventing the use of chakra in her body.
"Jiraiya what have you gotten me in to!?" Gamabunta yelled feeling his limbs being restrained along with his sword being removed.
"Gamabunta, leader of the Toads, Katsuya, leader of the Slugs, you are both under arrest and your respective clans will be put under trial for a crimes of deserting the Goddess Clan and breaking several of its laws." said one of the Goddesses.
"What laws!? Jiraiya what did you and Tsunade do!?" Gamabunta yelled as both boss summons struggled to break free.
Before either sannin spoke up, "They will have already been sent to their own trial and have been found guilty." Gamabunta and Katsuyu looked shocked at the proclamation, "You two will now be put under trial along with your elders and clan who you will summon once brought to court as we also caught your former associate, Manda of the snakes." said another Goddess.
"Manda is no associate of ours!" Katsuyu yelled with venom in her voice, ironic considering her power is actually to spit acid.
"Regardless, we have no time to go one by one with every summon." one more said before they all disappeared into the Goddess Realm.
Naruto looked at the ANBU, "You have your orders and I have mine." he said as the ANBU took the sannin away, preparing for their trip to Fire Vault Penitentiary.
Naruto sighed rubbing his temples as a slight headache was slowly building up, "I should head home, maybe training Zeal will take my mind off things." he said to himself before disappearing in his signature technique, the Mist of Darkness or MOD as he started calling it.
The mansion
Naruto arrived and looked around the training grounds and saw Zeal chasing Hawk around who kept saying, "Piggy back" over and over again before they both noticed Naruto.
"So what are you two up to?" Naruto asked with a bright smile.
"Zeal said he wanted to chase me around so he could train or something. Dunno you should ask him." Hawk asked taking some deep breaths showing he's been running for a while.
"Zeal?" Naruto asked.
"I raised the weights to 10 pounds each so I could work on getting faster by chasing Hawk around." Zeal answered showing his seals.
"Good the seals of Zeal. Or is it Zeals on Seal?" Naruto asked with a chuckle, "Nope it was the first one, let me know if you need help or advice ok?" Zeal nodded and went back to chasing Hawk around.
Naruto chuckled a bit before noticing Diarmuid and Artoria training their respective summoners, Jericho was practicing with her ice nature near a lake with several scrolls he gave her earlier, and the three misfits are seen taking turns sparring with each other. Looks like everyone is training to get stronger as if there is no tomorrow. He sighed thinking about the invasion, as much as he wants everyone to be happy and not worry about tomorrow, we all have duties to protect those we care about.
Naruto walked inside tossing his vest aside along with Lostvayne which were both picked up by a servant. Naruto walked in making his way to the common room and crashing onto one of the couches.
"Aunt Diane I've noticed you since I entered the mansion, don't try to sneak up on me." Naruto said not looking away from the ceiling.
"Aww! How did you notice me?" Diane whined.
"Because it's my duty to know the status of my family in case danger arises." Naruto said turning towards her, "And family shouldn't be keeping secrets, so why do you look nervous?" he asked noticing Diane twirling her finger through her pigtail.
"King and I ran into some trouble after we got some ramen." Diane started with Naruto gesturing for her to continue, "This crowd was beating up some red haired kid and started calling him names. So we brought him home since he was looking for Meliodas and we know he's not alive, but he gave us your description saying he was looking for whatever an aniki was." she explained getting a sigh.
"So it never occured to you to take him to a hospital?" Naruto deadpanned.
Diane blushed, "I was hoping Calcifer would make a servant or something to heal him, but when he appeared he started building a room which is still under construction." she answered.
"Alright, let me take a look at him. Where is King anyways?" Naruto asked walking towards where he sensed the new room being built.
"He's waiting outside with the little kid who fell asleep." Diane answered.
"Diane, did the kid tell you his name?" he asked having an idea who they picked up.
"He said his name was Menma and he didn't tell us who his parents where since he wanted to find his "aniki" which I still don't know what that is." Diane answered.
"He's the second son of my birth parents." Diane gasped, "He forgot what I look like during our last confrontation, so I told him my name was Meliodas. Aniki means older brother so he's looking for me and not realizing it." he explained.
They arrived to see Menma sleeping on one of the seats while King was sitting across from him while a new doorway was made revealing a room being close to finishing construction. Naruto caught up with King and carried Menma into the new room where several servants dressed as nurses (no not sexy nurses you perverts!) who waited around a bed for Naruto to place his brother.
"Naruto I've been meaning to ask, why did they attack Menma and call him a demon?" King asked.
"They think he's me, I heard some whispers that some people thought he was just me using a henge since I did that a lot to get good quality groceries at a reasonable price." Naruto explained sadly.
"But he doesn't have your whiskers or anything. Can't they see he's a little kid?" Diane asked outraged.
"I asked the same and it didn't stop the suffering. Even now that Minato-teme admitted that he [REDACTED] up, they're hoping to find something to vent their hate. You know, I spied on a lot of these people and they lied about their pain!" Naruto yelled.
"What do you mean lied? I thought you said Ban was forced to kill a lot of people?" King asked.
"Ha, of course he did. I actually started sneaking around when I was a kid raiding the garbage seeing these this woman who claimed I killed her son and husband only to see her yelling at her husband who turned out to be another guy saying I killed his son too only for the kid to be some overweight lazy ass. I did this for a while realizing half of these people were spreading the rumors and most didn't lose anyone! Most of the widows and victims didn't even bother to approach me!" Naruto continued making the pair look in shock.
Diane soon wrapped her nephew in a warm hug as tears fell down her cheeks while King placed a hand on his shoulder as Naruto took deep breaths forcing what little wrath inside him to calm down. He refused to let his hate and ignorance of the inhabitants of the villagers get to him. In the end, if he went insane again, then the villagers would win and laugh before they burned in hell.
An hour later, Calcifer communicated with Naruto on Menma's status saying he would be fine and bandaged him up as well as healing his fractured bones. Menma would sadly be unconscious for a while meaning Minato and Kushina would be tearing the village apart looking for Menma. The boy would sadly be unable to speak to Naruto, so the latter decided to leave a note on him before taking him back to his estates hoping the Uzumaki-Namikaze family hasn't already started their search. Although, he would prove his point on how neglectful they were if they haven't noticed already.
Another hour later, Naruto returned back to mansion after leaving Menma back home to find Diane sleeping on King's lap.
"How is she?" Naruto asked.
"A little better then when you told her about your past. Elaine and her worry about you ya know." King said.
Naruto took a seat next to him, "I know, with her, mom, aunt Margaret and Veronica, Merlin, I have several people who worry about my well being. At least she doesn't know about the scars." he said.
"What scars?" King asked with a worried look.
"Just something messed up, Ban knows about it, but I told him not to tell anyone so no one would get worried about it." Naruto answered, "Anyways, its getting late, I'll get us some dinner and turn in for the night." King nodded as he stroked Diane's hair while Naruto bothered one of the chef servants.
"Hm, King what time is it?" Diane asked rubbing her eyes.
"Around seven I think, Naruto went to grab something for us to eat before he turns in." King said helping Diane sit up.
Naruto came back with two clones each carrying a plate, "Rise and shine aunt Diane." Naruto said in a warm tone making her smile before handing her a plate.
"Thanks Naruto." she said as they all enjoyed their dinner in silence before Naruto had to ruin the moment when it would secretly prevent Diane from asking more questions and making her feel more worried.
"So what would happen if a fairy and a giant had a child?" Naruto asked making them turn bright red.
King passed out while Diane tried to shake him awake, "I guess I'm not having a godbrother." he said making Diane have weird thoughts of a giant with wings.
She blushed at the idea of having a giant girl or boy play with the two of them and travelling the world together. Diane shook away the thoughts before glaring at Naruto for the question.
"NARUTO DON'T ASK SUCH QUESTIONS!" Diane yelled feeling embarrassed.
"Aw, come on. You two would make good parents since you're already an awesome aunt and uncle." Naruto complimented as Diane puffed her cheeks at the comment.
"NARUTO!?" she yelled before realizing she was embraced.
"I'm just kidding Diane. I just wanted needed a quick laugh." Naruto said, "I also needed you to take your mind of things. King and I are alike in a way."
"You are?" she asked hugging back.
"From what grandpa told me, he only acts tough or hostile when he's ready to fight, but not because he's angry or wants to act tough, but for the sake of someone else who he cares about. King and I, we were both of noble blood and yet we were ostracized by our people only he had someone to fight for." Naruto explained.
Neither one of them noticed King was regained consciousness and was listening in, "Dad told me how everyone hated uncle King for leaving his post as King of the Fairy Clan and left his sister to die." King winced at the comment, "Deep down, he did for a good cause so he could bring back a friend. Then came the day he stopped Albion from destroying the forest again and almost died. No matter how dad describes him, King is one of the people I respect the most in this world." he said with a smile.
Diane smiled as well before they both looked at the clock, "I think that's my time, I'll see you in the morning." Naruto said before giving her one last hug.
King "woke up" and followed Diane while thinking back on what Naruto said, 'So one I'm one of the people he respects the most huh? That certainly puts a lot of pressure on a guy.' he thought, 'He is right about one thing, I fight to protect those I care about, but...' he looked back for a moment. King looked sad seeing where Naruto originally stood, 'He had no one, so what was his motivation?.' King thought sadly.
Naruto's room
The new Dragon Sin opened his door to find Merlin in her nightgown laying her head on a desk asleep, likely requested to Calcifer, he could see the notes and paper balls on the floor trying to decode the note. Naruto smiled sadly as carefully picked Merlin up and placed her on the bed while he cleaned up the mess she made seeing as she made no progress trying to figure out where Lars was likely hiding along with the entire kingdom of Camelot. He shook his head and went to the bathroom to take a long warm bath to clear his thoughts trying to remove the stress from his thoughts from a trial between sannin and summons to a full scale invasion possibly leading to war. Oh let's not forget, Iwa will want a slice of this once the battle is over hoping the village is turned over whether or not Kumo and Oto succeed.
A few minutes later, he came out and got dressed for bed where Merlin was wide awake, "Welcome home my little dragon." she said before they kissed.
"I'm glad to be home my hime." he said embracing her.
"Did you miss me?" she asked seductively receiving a kiss on the neck.
"Do you have to ask?" Naruto asked with a devious grin.
Merlin soon pushed Naruto on his back before kissing him more, "Don't answer a question with a question. Just because your caring and strong doesn't mean I can't make you more smart." she said as the two exchanged affection for each other.
"Merlin, can I exchange a promise for a promise?" Naruto asked.
"Sure you can, what do you need from me?" Merlin asked curiously.
"As long as I never leave you, do you promise never to leave me?" he asked making her looked surprised.
Merlin covered her mouth before smiling and leaning close to his ear, "Of course Naruto, I won't leave you because... I-I..."
'Is she going to do it?' he thought.
'I have to say it, now or never Merlin! If I can't express my feelings, what good am I to him if don't say it!?' she thought.
"I l-l... I love you." she said leaving a moment of silence between the two.
Naruto looked impassive while Merlin looked like she just ran a marathon. For another moment, both were deathly silent before Naruto pulled her in for a deep kiss.
"I love you too hime, together until the end?" he asked.
Merlin felt tears stream, "Together for thousands of years!" she proclaimed holding onto him as if he were a raft and she was trapped in the middle of the ocean.
"Goodnight hime." Naruto said keeping an arm around Merlin.
"Goodnight my litt-... my love." Merlin said before resting her head on his chest.
Everyone fell asleep for the night enjoying their bliss.
The next morning
Merlin was enjoying her sleep until...
*CRASH*
She and Naruto jumped up from bed at the sound prompting everyone else in the mansion to get up and meet in the common room.
"What the hell is going on!?" Ban yelled out before hearing another crash feeling closer to the mansion.
"Calcifer!" Naruto yelled out summoning the heart of the mansion.
"...!" he started waving his arms around before summoning the chart revealing the location of the enemy, "...!"
"Shit! Kumo and Oto must be attacking!" Naruto yelled out.
"Wait right now!?" Griamore asked.
"My son, war like time waits for no man! We need to get out and assist in defending the village!" Dreyfus said.
"What about the mansion not everyone can defend themselves here!" Gil shouted as the crashing sounded more intense.
"I can help defend, but I can't do it alone." Matrona said feeling wary of humans possessing the means to control elements.
"You won't have to, Calcifer initiate Operation Stone Wall!" Naruto yelled to Calcifer who began to create concentrate energy into the floor creating a barrier surrounding the mansion while replacing most of the servants around with men carrying strange weapons with blades on the tips and wearing boarking and tricorn hats.
"Uh what is this?" Jericho asked.
"Guardians, they trained in low jounin level hand to hand combat while armed with we call rifles. They're pretty advanced and have better accuracy and damage than crossbows. I still recommend two or three of us stay behind to guard the house since the shield and cannons can only hold out for so long." Naruto explained.
"I'll stay behind, I'm not ready for the battlefield just yet." Veronica said.
"I will protect the princesses and the children, I will stay as well.." said Griamore.
"Good, everyone else grab your equipment and meet me in the village center!" Naruto said dispersing the crowd.
Guila kneeled next to Zeal, "Little brother, are you going to be okay staying in the mansion?" Guila asked.
"Yes Guila, beside I can summon Atalanta and she'll help us!" he said with a hint of courage in his voice.
Guila wiped a tear from her eye before hugging him, "Please stay safe Zeal, I love you!" she said before running off to grab her armor and javelin leaving Zeal to summon Atalanta.
(Fate/Apocrypha OST - Savior)
A few minutes later, Naruto sent off a clone to Sarutobi who was already in his battle gear and ordering troops around.
"Jiji, what's the status of the village?" Naruto asked.
"They're breaking through the gate and managed to get over the southwest quadrant. Our spies say that they attempted to summon Orochimaru's snakes, but had difficulty and remained unsuccessful." Sarutobi answered.
"Good, when we made Orochimaru summon Manda, we made sure to place seals on him along with forcefully summoning his clan to keep them from being used in battle before Gamabunta and Katsuyu were brought in for trial." Naruto explained getting a nod.
"Well that's one less thing to worry about. What about your summons?" Sarutobi asked hoping for the Goddess Clan to make up for the loss of the Toads.
"Already ahead of you! Summoning Jutsu: Armada!" suddenly the whole village walls grew bright revealing hundreds of members of the Goddess Clan taking positions and running in to help to the jounin and chunin on the ground trying to repel the invaders.
"GODDESS CLAN! I ASK YOU ALL TO LEND ME YOUR STRENGTH AND DEFEND MY HOME!" Naruto yelled catching the attention of many shinobi and civilians, "GRANT ME THE POWER YOU GAVE ME ANCESTORS, HELP THE LEAF AND SAVE THIS VILLAGE!" he yelled receiving a roar of approval from his summons who began to take to the skies and caught the Kumo and Oto invaders off guard forcing them to a stand still with the.
Sarutobi looked in awe as he could see these angelic warriors and warriors of other kinds breaking through enemy lines and defending civilians who were left vulnerable. He smiled at the actions of his surrogate grandson who revealed a green sword with jagged edges along with his wings.
"I will see you in the battlefield, let's go Ban!" Naruto yelled as large creature revealing to be a fox in armor appeared in a poof of smoke running towards the gate scaring both sides at the sight of Naruto riding the Kyuubi into battle.
"Just like old times with the captain! You better not disappoint me Naruto or else we won't have a home anymore!" Ban yelled before swiping his tail at some Oto nin who were attempting to summon a snake.
"Yo 9-0, you ain't ready to pick a fight-0 with 2-0 and 8-0!" Yelled a voice revealing an ox with a broken horn standing next to a cat made of blue fire.
"Saying O over and over doesn't count as rhyming!" Ban yelled running before going into a two foot stance and kicking the Hachibi in the face then slamming a fist into the Nibi's facing knocking it into the ground.
"Come on dad, we don't have time to waist!" Naruto yelled jumping off and drawing his sword ready to help fight Kumo's jinchuuriki.
The war for Konoha's survival had begun.
TO BE CONTINUED...