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Minato Naruto, (Invasion Aftermath)
-Fire Capital-
(Fire Daimyo's Palace)
Naruto brushed her hand through her blonde hair and crinkled her nose in discomfort when a strand of her golden hair tickled the inside of her ear. She desperately wanted to cut her hair, but... couldn't due to her current mission's employer.
She scowled at the mirror located on the other side of the regal room. She barely recognized herself, she couldn't wait for this mission to be over with so that she could start her journey with Jiraiya. Maybe then, she could get a breather from the prison that was the Fire Daimyo's palace.
Although not wanting to, she spun her finger through her hair like she's seen her pinkette teammate do countless times. Throughout her month of being stationed within the Fire Daimyo's palace with Shikamaru, and Sasuke; her fellow members of the rookie twelve who were promoted to the rank of Chunin after the disastrous events that took place during the exams, she's received numerous compliments about how beautiful and gorgeous she was.
She had her fair share of fanboys back in the Leaf, but these were noblemen's sons and downright pretty boys calling her such ridiculous things.
She didn't know what they saw in her, and nor did she want to know.
"I wonder if Ken thinks I'm pretty with my hair like this…?"
Her cheeks burned a bright pink and her heart rate spiked at the sudden sad, but fond thought of her most prized 'student'. Seeing her blush spread like ink in water, she shook her head and looked downwards at her lap.
"Of course not, there's nothing pretty about someone like me. I don't have pretty hair like Karin or a sweet face like Hinata," she laughed softly unknowingly peeking an eye back up at the mirror and quickening her finger twirling. "My face is rough like…" she paused, "like Kurotsuchi-baka's! No way he'd like someone with a brash face like mines!"
Her bright and amused grin that was plastered on her face in the mirror suddenly fell and was replaced with a sad smile.
She looked at her forehead and brushed aside the hair that covered it. She wished that she could hurry and go back to doing more ninja-like missions, that required the use of her headband protector.
Her eyes drifted to her fingers, they had small almost un-seeable scars and cuts thanks to her love for ninja weapons.
"I bet Hinata doesn't have any cuts along her fingers… maybe even Karin…" she gulped down the lump in her throat. "I can't even compete with those two, they're so pretty."
Her eyes drifted down to a small black book located on the windowsill next to her. Not wanting to look at the book knowing that it would only make her chest swell with feelings she didn't want to feel at the moment she instead stared outside the window.
The Fire Capitol was beautiful, nowhere as beautiful as her home in her opinion though. Rather than the traditional building architecture that the majority of the buildings in Konoha had, the buildings in the capitol all except the one she was located within were built in a more modern fashion.
The street lights scattered below in parallel patterns along the streets glowed as bright as the stars resting above the modernized capital, and the clothing worn by the civilians roaming the night streets made everyone in Konoha seem like rural farmers and or poor peasants.
She wanted to go back home to her apparent murderer of a father. Kurotsuchi's words about her father's exploits in the Third Shinobi war still rang throughout her head, but she didn't let it get to her. Her dad was a different man from the one he was all those years ago.
"Why'd you send me here dad?" she sighed sadly and looked at the massive full moon shining ominously in the sky. "I'm not sad, depressed, or hurt by him leaving again… I knew he was going to leave, just like last time."
She lowered her brilliant blue eyes down to the book that she was so desperately not trying to look at and gently clasped her hand over her eyes taking a deep breath to calm her raging heart at what she saw in the Bingo book she 'borrowed', from Kakashi before she, Sasuke, and Shikamaru left the village with a jonin named Yamato.
Name: Ken Senju
Sole heir to the legendary and esteemed Senju clan of Konoha.
Bounty Rank: A
Proceed with caution, target is very adaptive with his Mokuton (Wood Release). Open fields devoid of dense forested areas is recommended. Known accomplice is an A-rank bloodline wielder of the rare Hyoton (Ice Release), avoid combat in areas with an abundant supply of water.
Bounty: Dead/Alive, Village by Village
Konoha dead/alive- 98,400,000 Ryo. Iwa dead- 85,500,000 Ryo. Kumo alive- 100,000,500 Ryo. Kiri dead/alive- N/A…? Suna alive- 40,000,000 Ryo.
Crime/s: SS
The failed assassination attempt against Earth and Fire Daimyo's, Kenji Shijimi and Yamauichi Taska.
Shikamaru fiddled with the bow tie he was wearing and sighed upon hearing Naruto's soft sniffles from behind the door he was standing in front of. He heard everything… her jealous comments about Hinata and her troublesome cousin Karin to her belittling opinions regarding her looks.
He felt absolutely sorry for Naruto.
Letting out a silent sigh so that the Namikaze behind the door wouldn't hear him with her sensitive hearing he brought up his hand and knocked on the door.
Her sniffling quieted immediately and after a brief sound of shuffling, she swung open the door with a giant smile and expressive blue eyes.
He suddenly felt sick to his stomach.
"Heya Shikamaru!" She exclaimed bumping her fist against the black suit he was wearing. "What's up, bud? Is it Sasuke-teme again!? Making you train with him again?" She leaned closely taking a step out of the room.
He desperately wanted to tell her that she didn't have to fake it, but before he could think any further a chirpy and young voice called out to the two of them.
"Hey, Naruto-oneechan! Pineapple-chan! Over here!" the speaker was a small little girl with big purple eyes and ebony hair styled in two big drill-like ponytails. "Jeez Pineapple-chan, what took you so long to get her? I sent you to get her ten minutes ago!" she puffed out her cheeks and glared at Shikamaru with one hand pointed accusing at him and the other hand clutching at the hem of her purple dress.
Shikamaru looked down when Naruto glanced puzzlingly at him and murmured, "ten minutes." Using his quick intelligence for once, he scratched his head and said the first thing that came to mind.
"I was thinking about a certain troublesome blonde…" he mentally cursed his intelligence.
The little girl who looked to be eight or so scowled at him in disgust before shooing him away. "Forget the pervert Onee-chan, let's go and eat dinner before Obaa-chan gets mad!" she smiled at Naruto with her small hand held out waiting like the blonde was her… pet.
Naruto peeked an eye at her groaning friend and opened her mouth to speak before closing it and walking towards the little girl. "O…Okay Ko-chan." She grabbed the girl's hand and walked letting the child guide her away.
"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted very uncharacteristically.
Naruto paused and turned back towards the Nara with a blonde brow raised unaware of the jealous pout the little girl was shooting her.
Shikamaru gulped before smiling at her making her eyes widen and dart away to the red-carpeted floor.
"You're beautiful in that dress, try not to stain it while eating," he turned and walked away after seeing a small genuine smile grow along her face, stretching her whiskered cheeks out. "Troublesome blondes…" he whispered turning the corner out of view.
"Hmph, nasty pervert… come Onee-chan let's join the others before your Ramen gets cold," the girl dragged Naruto's arm forward and smiled when Naruto fell in step behind her.
"Thanks, Shika, but save it for that Suna girl," Naruto laughed out loud whilst picking up the little girl and running down the halls to where the dining hall was.
"Run faster Naruto-oneechan!"
"You got it Ko-chan!" Naruto saluted and quickened her pace all the while laughing alongside the dignified child.
XxLine BreakxX
-Konohagakure-
(Hokage's Office)
Minato scratched at his cheek and frowned when he felt the prickly spikes of his blonde beard rather than his smooth tanned skin. Reaching for the bottle of fine Sake located along his desk he sighed and stopped when his hand brushed across a document.
The Akatsuki was more than a safe place for missing ninjas and killers; it was a secretive underground organization whose sole goal was the capture of the nine Biju's.
"Is that from Itachi-kun?"
Minato looked up at the voice and quickly averted his gaze away from Mikoto and Fugaku, his two former friends who he betrayed in the most sinister way possible. By hypnotizing their entire clan and then banishing their beloved son.
He was scum.
But he was also the Hokage. He did the best thing he could to save as many people as he could.
That's what he told himself every night at least, but in truth, he sacrificed two young shinobi's who held the Will of Fire just as brightly as himself.
Itachi, Shisui… They deserved so much more in life.
"Yes it's from Itachi-kun…" he winced at the glare Mikoto sent him at addressing her son with such an honorific. "A month ago, when he and his teammate Kisame Hoshigaki infiltrated the village and attacked Kakashi-kun and Might Guy he had one of his crows slip me this scroll. The organization he's involved in will begin their attack on the five great nations in two to three years' time."
Fugaku nodded to each of the blonde Hokage's words with a conflicted expression.
He knew everything now, how Shisui died to Root agents, to how Minato and Itachi choose to spare his clan with a genjutsu rather than kill them all. While his beautiful wife was resentful of what happened, he was not.
He didn't know if he didn't resent Minato over it because of the unbreakable jutsu he was placed under that disallows for him to harbor hatred to Konoha of any kind, but he didn't care. He was just glad his family was still alive, all except poor Shisui of course.
"And what of my son, Minato?" Mikoto asked with a furious glare. "Will you kill him along with the rest of that organization's members like the just Hokage you are?"
Minato solemnly closed his eyes and accepted Mikoto's harsh words. He'd be angry too if somebody used and discarded his daughter like he basically did Itachi and Shisui.
"No, I could never do that. I'm sorry Mikoto," he apologized with all of his heart.
Mikoto huffed and picked up the document tracing her finger over her son's neat and beautiful handwriting longingly.
"When will Sasuke return from his mission with the Fire Daimyo Namikaze?" Fugaku questioned leaning over his wife's shoulder to take a curious glance at the document his son snuck Minato.
Minato sighed and ran a hand through his blonde hair, he hadn't actually asked the Daimyo when he wanted them gone from his palace, and honestly didn't want to know. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to see him in the pitiful state he was currently in. "I'd say a month or so," he made it up.
Fugaku rolled his eyes seeing and feeling the lie roll off his former teammate's tongue. "Come by for dinner Minato, get yourself cleaned up too," he glared at Minato's thick beard. "I will not allow such a crude appearance into our home," he finished by wrapping his arm around Mikoto and pulling her closer to him.
Minato nervously looked at the glaring Uchiha matriarch and then to his half-empty bottle of Sake. "I don't want to intrude Fugaku, it's been ages since I've been by. Plus, what would we even talk about?" he questioned with an uneasy smile.
"The hot-topic floating around the village of course," it was Mikoto who answered surprisingly. "Ken Senju. The boy hasn't been seen since his escape from our village," her tone shifted to a sadder one.
"More like world topic, Senju heir attacks not one, but two Daimyos and nearly cripples the Kazekage's son," Minato sighed sarcastically standing up from his desk.
"Hn, I hear Hiashi and Tsunade-hime arranged for their heirs to marry… Makes me glad the brat left," Fugaku grumbled smugly.
Mikoto and Minato laughed at Fugaku's pettiness and shared a look before laughing again.
"I'll clean myself up, if we're having such an amusing conversation right now, I can only imagine what it'll be like once we're all sitting down sipping on stuff better than this Sake, I borrowed from Tsunade-hime." Minato stroked his beard, fondly remembering how much Kushina hated his facial hair.
He grabbed his Hokage hat and cloak, after putting them on he walked out of the office with his two 'friends,' locked up the office and prepared to flash away to get ready. He froze before he activated his Hiraishin and scowled remembering something very important.
The pair of Sharingan in Orochimaru's eyes back during the invasion. It was brief and could've been a bluff, but…
"Weird question you two but were there any Uchiha's who went MIA after the Sound Invasion?" he asked hoping that there wasn't.
His face twisted into one of despair when Fugaku and Mikoto looked at one another before nodding towards him.
"Yes, one girl," Fugaku held up one finger. "She was very close to us years ago when Itachi was still here. Izumi, a medic-nin with the rank of Chunin went MIA after the invasion, I had thought she died and was consumed by all of the destruction that day." He closed his eyes remembering when the young girl would spend her days coming by to surprise Itachi with sweets she made at her grandmothers' bakery.
She was the sweetest, and the ideal girl for his son to get with.
Mikoto glared at Minato, "Why are you asking Minato? Thinking about young girls not even half your age already?" she jabbed her finger into the panicking Kage's chest. "That redhead idiot would be rolling around in her grave if she ever found out, or is it something you're not telling us again!?" she demanded with her lips pursed up in anger.
She was tired of the secrets.
"N-No, it's noth-"
"Minato," Fugaku addressed the strongest Kage by his first name shocking him. "We," he pulled Mikoto closer to him again, "the Uchiha clan is your most trusted ally until the day you die, and the village is no more. You can trust us with anything, especially with something that may or may not involve one of our own." The clan hand slapped his other hand on Minato's shoulder with a knowing grin.
He and his clan's loyalty was bound to their Hokage without question, and he was fine with that.
An image of Minato smiling at Fugaku and Hiashi as they glared at one another with their hands on his shoulder flashed in his mind making him smile and nod. "I'll inform you at your place… before we get hammered so that you know I'm being genuine." Minato replied.
Orochimaru within the body of a young female Uchiha was something only a drunk man could think up… (*Cough, cough*)
"Hn, be there before Twelve," Fugaku and Mikoto strolled down the stairs of the Hokage tower after Minato nodded and disappeared in a golden flash.
XxLine BreakxX
-Hokage Mansion-
Appearing outside his home Minato smiled at all of the stars in the night sky, it's been ages since he's seen the little speckles. Walking up the steps to the Hokage mansion he froze seeing something bright orange in the corner of his eye.
Kushina's murderer appeared in his mind.
Madara Uchiha.
He slung his body around as fast and with as much power as he had and disappeared, appearing with his tri-pronged kunai positioned around… Kakashi's neck in a yellow flash.
"Yo," Kakashi nervously eye smiled waving his tiny orange book at his bloodthirsty sensei. "Just stopped by to check on you, not… a spar." The Copy-cat nin deadpanned.
Minato sighed and scratched his beard anxiously and muttered an apology to Kakashi before gently patting his student on the head and flashing away within his empty mansion.
Kakashi sweatdropped and sighed when a green blur landed on the branch next to him.
"Kakashi! My greatest Rival!" Might Guy grinned brightly at Kakashi much like a toothpaste ad commercial man.
Kakashi groaned but decided to entertain his best friend and rival, he had nothing else to do since all of his students were either away, with other sensei's, or… being hunted down for an absurd crime.
Standing like a ghost in the night sky on top of the Fourth Hokage's monument with a black and red clouded cloak, was an orange masked man, with his red Sharingan spinning madly within the lone hole in his mask. "Konoha will fall, but first," he glanced down at the dead Anbu, "I need to find Ken Senju and ask him some questions."
A ripple in the air turned into a fast swirling vortex that seemingly swallowed the masked shinobi leaving the dead Anbu to bask under the milky white light of the moon.
Chapter End
An: Time skip next chapter; we're officially done with Naruto and are moving onwards to Shippuden! Minato is a tormented man, plagued with right or wrong decisions and an evil masked stalker to top it off. I know that I haven't really made Minato as cool as he is in other fics or even cannon, but just know he's the literal strongest, seated at the top of the food chain… For right now at least.