38. The Excuses Fall: The Yondaime "I can't believe she told you that story," Kiba groaned, rubbing his eyes.
Tsume guffawed. "What's the matter, Kiba? Embarrassed?" Hana teased, eyes glittering.
He shot his sister a glare and stuffed a piece of mackerel into his mouth. "Well, hey," he said, swallowing prematurely when Hana elbowed him, "you're just as embarrassing when you're drunk, man."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but I was drunk. I have an excuse."
Kiba huffed before straightening. "Hey, that reminds me. I haven't seen your cousin around anywhere."
"Karin? But you just saw her the other day," Naruto replied, confused.
"No, your other cousin."
Kurama was across the room by the dog bowls with Kuromaru, but stiffened when he heard Kiba mention Naruto's "cousin".
"What other cousin? I only have one besides you," Naruto said, eyebrows furrowed. Tsume's eyebrows shot up. Hana eyed them both.
"Uh, you know, the guy you named your ninken after?" Kiba said, staring at him. "Uzumaki Kurama?"
Naruto inwardly facepalmed. He caught me in human form and I made it up, Kurama hastily told him, embarrassed he'd forgotten to inform him.
"Um, oh, right!" he laughed nervously, twirling his fork. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck. "Right. He's, uh, on a mission to Wave. Won't be back for a few weeks." Mentally, he was cussing the Kyuubi out, imitating Iruka's big-head-jutsu.
"Right," Kiba returned, voice having gone flat. "On a trip to Wave. Of course."
Normally, Naruto's excuse might have gone over his head. However, Neji and Shino had been extremely vigilant about anything that didn't add up, and this was just another thing to add to the list.
"When'd you meet him, by the way?"
"Oh, about, uh…six months ago," Naruto said, throwing on a grin.
Naruto quickly changed the subject and asked about Hana's ninken, and she got up to let them inside. Kiba made a note to bring this up at his next 'meeting' with Neji and Shino.
Later, Tsume would mention, in an offhand way, how small Kurama was for being only one year old, and she would simply stare at her son when he told her Naruto had said he'd had Kurama since his Academy days with a confused look on his face.
"You really do just work all the time, don't you?"
Sasuke tried not to look insulted. "That's not a bad thing."
Choji rolled his eyes. "You know, back at the Academy you were all 'cool ice king', but you're kind of dorky."
Sasuke let himself look insulted.
Shikamaru yawned. "You gonna eat that?" Choji asked, not waiting for an answer before he darted forward and snatched the last piece of meat off Sasuke's plate. The Uchiha rolled his eyes and set it in the stack of dirty dishes on their table.
"At least you're not as much of a drag as you were back then," Shikamaru said. Sasuke wondered if that was a compliment.
"I see you two have been training," he said, eyeing their attire; it was slightly scuffed up, no doubt from a day of hard work. "I never got the chance to thank you, by the way. I appreciate you risking your lives to retrieve me."
Shikamaru shrugged. "You're a comrade from the Leaf. What kind of shinobi would we be if we didn't?"
"Yeah," said Choji around a mouthful of beef, "couldn't let you go to that Orochimaru guy."
Sasuke repressed a shiver. He did not like thinking about Orochimaru. "Yeah," he said, hedging away from the subject. Shikamaru noted his discomfort and elbowed Choji when he opened his mouth, no doubt to ask about something related to the sannin. "I hear you're going to try and enter the chuunin exams in December."
Choji nodded. "If sensei thinks we're ready. Did Ino ask Sakura to train her yet?"
"Yes. They were both at my house earlier. I think they'll do well."
Shikamaru groaned and slumped forward onto the table. "I heard they're wanting chuunin proctors who recently got promoted. As practice."
Sasuke smiled in amusement. "Too troublesome for you?"
"I'll leave the proctoring to Squad Seven."
With a snort, Choji checked his watch. "Hey, we're gonna be late," he said, nudging his teammate to get out of the booth.
"Late?" Sasuke asked.
"Heading to a movie," Shikamaru said with another yawn, shuffling out of the booth and letting Choji out. He motioned for the waiter to bring the check, already getting his wallet out.
Sasuke reached for his own. "I'll get it," Shikamaru said with a wave of his hand. He stared at Sasuke's face for a moment, banishing the image of his still body on a stretcher from his mind. "You coming?"
"Coming?"
"To the movie."
"Oh." Sasuke stared at them. "Yeah. Sure."
He slid out of the booth and followed them to the door.
Izuna was still laughing.
Tobirama scowled down at him on the pavement. He'd collapsed, eventually, laughing too hard to support himself. "I- can't- believe- this!" the Uchiha wheezed. "You screwed someone who was probably Naruto's grandmother! This is rich!"
Hashirama placed a hand on his brother's shoulder before he started punching. "Now, now, it's not that funny," he sweatdropped. "Although you having a one night stand is odd…"
Tobirama just rubbed his forehead with one hand, sighing through his nose. "I don't see how it's so amusing. It is merely coincidence." He'd barely remembered the name of the woman the day after he'd met her, let alone some odd sixty to seventy years after it had happened.
"Yeah, coincidence," Izuna snickered, getting to his feet. "Sure you didn't sire any offspring, Tobirama?" he taunted.
There was silence for a moment as he realized what he'd said. The trio paused, both of the Senju glancing at him. "Wait," Izuna said, "did- did you- are you sure you didn't have any kids?"
Tobirama said nothing.
"Is…there any chance you're Naruto's-?"
He fell silent again. Hashirama alternated between staring at Izuna and his brother, while Tobirama began to stare off into space and Izuna looked back and forth between the brothers.
"…I think we should try and find some dead family members..."
The room was dark even by abandoned cave standards. The only light source was the moon shining in through a window, leaving everything in relative shadows- perfect for the shady meeting taking place.
"Which one of them was it?"
"I'm not certain. I made sure our members were too frightened to go to him-"
"It was Hiashi's nephew," a third voice said in a bitter tone. "I saw them. They're friends."
"That boy can be dealt with later. We need to focus on removing Uzumaki. The changes he has wrought cannot stand; our clan has been this way for hundreds of years. It is our way of keeping order and serving the Main House. Already Side Branch members have shown unbelievable arrogance; they disrespect Main Branch members with no consequences."
"Is there even any possibility of restoring the Side Branch's seal?"
"There will be none with that boy around. He is nothing but a problem. Even Jiraiya-sama would not have gotten involved if not for him. I highly doubt he's even deserving of the position, what with his coloring; he is only partially Uzumaki, a third at best."
"What do you propose?"
"After we dispose of him, his cousin will take his place as clan head. We will be able to manipulate her; she is moldable."
"A marriage between her and one of our members?"
"The Uzumaki are weak right now. She would be alone and vulnerable, and such a contract would benefit her greatly. The right…charming prospect would be enough."
"And with the Uzumaki's support of the seal, we would have a much greater chance of having it reinstated."
"Correct. The boy leaves tomorrow for the Land of Snow, and will be out of our reach, but this gives us time to plan."
One of the occupants of the room smiled grimly. "This village will not mourn his death. Many will celebrate it. It is time we rid ourselves of this burden."
"Correct again. And I know exactly who can help us."
"You gotta come over again," Kiba said, grinning as he followed Naruto to the door. "Next time I'll introduce you to some others from the clan."
"Great," Naruto replied, returning the grin as he shrugged on his coat.
"And don't forget to bring that little fox in for a checkup," Hana called from the kitchen. Naruto snickered when he heard Kurama grumbling inside his mind.
Tsume emerged into the hall and ruffled his hair. She wasn't too worried- Kuromaru had sat down and let Naruto pet him after dinner, so she didn't think the Kyuubi was any danger. "Stay safe gettin' home, kid."
"I will," Naruto replied, a little thrown for a moment. No one had even told him stay safe getting home before besides Iruka. "Thanks for dinner. Hana's a great cook."
"So is Mom, but she makes everything so spicy," Kiba muttered.
"Spicy is good!" Tsume exclaimed, offended.
Naruto sniggered. He rearranged the plastic containers full of leftovers Hana had given him in his arms. "Bye, Hana!" he called out.
"Get a good night's sleep!" she yelled back in lieu of goodbye.
Kiba opened the door for him. He stepped outside and sent them a wave, in sync with Kurama waving his tail from his neck.
Tsume returned it with a smirk, pushing the door shut and stretching as she turned around and yawned. "That went well."
She paused when she saw Kuromaru sitting at the end of the hall, face unusually serious. "We need to talk," he said, and disappeared up the stairs. Kiba frowned at her in confusion.
Tsume's heart dropped into her stomach. The kid was like Kushina in so many ways, and just like Minato in others. She'd been a little skeptical at first, but after spending five minutes alone with him, she couldn't fathom how anyone disliked him; she'd marked him as part of the pack immediately. She liked the kid.
And she'd thought he was safe.
But apparently, he wasn't.
Every single ghost on the way home was rushing about. They stopped occasionally to talk to ghosts who were immobile, and got them moving too, floating or jogging around to speak to each other. Naruto hadn't seen such a buzz since Sasuke had been kidnapped.
When he stopped a Senju to ask what they were doing, the man averted his eyes, said he should be in bed, and promptly ran off.
Seeing as they weren't about to tell him what was up, Naruto decided to just return him and deal with it in the morning.
He kicked the door to the house shut and covered a yawn, tossing his keys on the counter. "I'm home," he called.
He switched his chakra to sensory mode and searched the house. Sakura and Ino were gone, and Sasuke wasn't back; even Izuna had gone off somewhere.
Madara floated through a wall, trying to look as if he hadn't been waiting for him to return. Boredom had quickly set in without Izuna around to take up his attention. "Gaki," he greeted.
Naruto beamed at him. "Hey Dara-oji," he said, setting his tupperware down.
Madara felt some small measure of pathetic when he realized the Uzumaki being happy to see him pleased him.
"What've you been doing all night?"
"I've been busy," he replied cryptically. In actuality, he'd exhausted himself training his spiritual energy and had nothing else to do, and spent hours listlessly wandering the compound.
Tatabi came running down the dark hall and skidded to a stop at Naruto's feet, pawing at his pant legs. Kurama wrinkled his nose at her and leapt from the boy's shoulders to the counter, walking over to the plate of brownies Sasuke had set out and grabbing one to take to the couch.
"Dogs can't have chocolate," Naruto called after him.
"I'mfnot a dog!" Kurama yelled around the brownie.
Naruto snickered and leapt over the back of the sofa. He sank into the middle, which had started to snag, and flipped on the television. Madara watched him with feigned disinterest.
Naruto tilted his head back and stared at him. "Aren't you gonna sit down?"
Kurama muttered something derogatory around his brownie while Tatabi leapt onto Naruto's lap and curled into a ball. Madara floated onto the cushion next to him, watching the screen with the air of an emotionless drone; in reality, he was just trying to figure out how he'd come to this point, watching mindless television with an Uzumaki.
The worst thing was, Naruto had never actually addressed his ideals or plans but in the few conversations they'd had with Izuna about Kaguya and Zetsu and how they'd interfered with not only the Uchiha tablet, but the course of the Uchiha clan as a whole. Learning the true purpose of the Infinite Tsukuyomi had been something life-altering, but the Jinchuriki treated it like the weather. In fact, he treated everything like the weather. He'd let Madara assimilate into his daily life with not a fuss or complaint, like he was simply another cog in the machine that was the Uchiha clan compound and its daily happenings. Or, rather, like he'd been there from the start. He hadn't even mildly disliked him, even though most all his life's low spots could be traced back to Madara himself. He was, in a way, indirectly responsible for the boy's parent's deaths, and yet he never blamed him.
It was a little eerie, but mostly just hard to understand.
(It was amazing what being treated like a person could do to someone.)
Even the Kyuubi didn't seem to hate him. Dislike, sure. Threaten to bite his limbs off even if it was existentially impossible, yes. Yet somehow, Naruto had tamed him to the point he was content with people thinking he was his dog.
Naruto…liked him. He even seemed to trust him. He couldn't remember the last person who'd done that since Hashirama.
Naruto was like Hashirama in many ways.
"Brat."
"Yeah," Naruto said, sounding bored as he flipped channels.
"What would you do if I attempted to kill you?"
Kurama had shuffled closer to Naruto and laid down so his side was against his thigh; he opened one eye to stare incredulously at the spirit, while Tatabi did the same. Naruto stared at him.
"What, like, if you went through with the Moon plan that you made when you were high?"
Madara twitched. "I was not-"
"I'd bring you back," Naruto said with a sunny grin, holding up a thumbs-up.
Madara paused. "What?"
"I'd bring ya back," Naruto repeated. "Y'know. From the evil side." Madara's eyebrows creased. "I wouldn't let you hurt anyone, but I'd save you too."
"You're so confident you could?"
Naruto snorted. "Well duh! No one's ever past redemption," he said, closing his eyes. "I mean, I've seen the worst places a human spirit can go. A poltergeist is what happens when a ghost is full of nothing but hatred and the urge to hurt others, but you didn't turn into one, did you? And even they can be brought back. So I'd bring you back, even if it took forever. After all, there's nowhere you can hide from me," he said with a grin. "Not even in death! Literally!"
Kurama sweatdropped.
"Besides, you're not planning on doing that, are you?"
Naruto looked up at him with a searching gaze. Madara opened his mouth to respond, but found no answer on his tongue; he realized, not for the first time, that he didn't know.
"Don't worry," said Naruto, grin widening. "I know you won't!"
"...You're so confident I won't?"
"Yup." Naruto turned back to the television and nodded to himself. "Cuz Izuna and I believe in you. I don't think you're bad."
If no one believed in Madara, Naruto thought, he would never get better.
He missed the surprised widening of Madara's eyes, having found a channel to watch. A soap opera was on.
"Which one you think is gonna die?"
"What?" Madara replied, almost robotically, turning to look at the screen.
"Pilot episode," Naruto said, gesturing with the remote. "Almost every single one has someone die eventually."
Madara was silent for several minutes as the show played out across the screen.
Naruto had mostly resigned himself to not receiving an answer when he spoke again.
"The brunet male."
Naruto looked up and squinted at him. "You think so?"
Madara snorted softly and didn't look at him.
"Yeah. Probably so."
It was nearly one in the morning when Sasuke walked in the front door.
"Are you kidding me?" Naruto complained, leaning forward on his knees.
Let it be said even decades-old, war-hardened shinobi were not completely insusceptible to the lure of television when no other alternatives were present.
Naruto threw himself back against the couch, crossing his arms and glaring. Tatabi had already moved off his lap, curling up with Kurama whilst he slept. "That's stupid."
Madara stared at the screen with his brows furrowed, confused as to why anyone would come up with what he'd just seen and sell it to television stations. "How could anyone not see how two-faced she is?" Naruto hissed. "She's playing them!"
At first, Naruto had had to explain that no, the dramas weren't real and no, they weren't genjutsu. Shortly afterward he'd had to explain in great detail just how the microwave worked. The wonders of modern technology.
"Soap operas?" Sasuke asked, voice tired.
Naruto looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Where've you been?"
"Movie," Sasuke replied, glancing at the TV. "I went…bowling, afterwards."
Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times. "You…actually…went bowling?"
"Choji dragged me," Sasuke said.
"Choji?"
"Choji and Shikamaru."
"…eh?"
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "We went to a barbecue."
"I'm lost."
Sasuke shook his head at him. "You were right before," he said, heading for the coat rack to hang up his jacket.
Naruto frowned. "About what?"
"They're not so bad. The other genin."
"Aw, did Sasu-chan make friends?"
Mikoto hovered behind the Uchiha's shoulder, smiling down at him with a joyful look in her eyes.
"Shut up," Sasuke grumbled, heading for the hall. "Stay up all night if you want. I'm going to sleep."
Naruto waved, even though Sasuke wasn't looking. "Guess I oughtta go to bed," he muttered, rolling off the couch and disseating Kurama and Tatabi in the process. Tatabi offered up an indignant yowl, while Kurama just growled at him before jumping to the floor and scurrying off for his room.
"Oh, hey." He paused, glancing back at Madara. "What do you even do at night?"
Madara frowned. "I patrol the premises."
"You should try sleeping. It can help ghosts recharge. Izuna has a room if you'd like to stay there."
Madara's eyebrows shot up. "Izuna," he said flatly, "has a room."
"Yeah."
"A ghost has a room."
"Yeah."
"I have never seen him use this room."
"That's probably because he's been keeping himself up to stay with you."
The man jerked, a flash of guilt entering his eyes. Naruto jerked his thumb at the hall. "It's the door next to mine."
He disappeared down the hall, leaving Madara by himself.
After a moment passed in silence, the Uchiha got up and walked through the wall to the hallway, passing through the door Naruto had mentioned. The walls were bare, with a made-up bed sitting beneath the window and a desk with a chair that was never used, so it made the most prominent feature all the more obvious.
Either Naruto or Izuna, he wasn't sure who, had attached a lone painting- sketch? Photograph?- to the wall; Madara's own face stared back at him, frozen in a small, fond smile that had only ever been directed at Izuna or Hashirama, rarely, in his early days. Almost like it had been plucked straight from Izuna's memory.
It was almost disturbingly accurate. How had they gotten it there?
There was nothing about their father or mother. Nothing about any of their other brothers or clan members, or the person that had prompted Izuna to achieve the Mangekyo.
Just him.
"Okay, guys, I think my info takes the cake this time."
Shino raised an eyebrow at Kiba behind his glasses. Neji just crossed his arms and waited.
"Okay, we all know Uzumaki Kurama, right?" The other two didn't need to nod. "Well, I mentioned him last night, and Naruto had no idea who he was. Literally. It wasn't just 'Oh, right, Kurama, I forgot for a minute'. He had no freakin' idea what I was talking about, even though we saw them together when they were drunk, and he called the guy by name, but then he lied and said the guy was on a mission to Wave. Except 'Uzumaki Kurama' isn't a shinobi here, so he wouldn't take missions. Plus, he said he met him six months ago, but how could that be if he named his ninken after him? Hold on, it gets weirder. He told my mom that Kurama the fox was only a year old, but he told us he'd had him since we were in the Academy. If 'Uzumaki Kurama' really existed, Naruto would've had to have met him when we were all kids to name his fox after him, but the guy told us he came here to help rebuild the clan like Karin. Karin only came to Konoha after Naruto became clan head."
Shino didn't show it, but he was impressed. Kiba may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was observant when it was needed. "The question is, who is this person and why did Naruto feel the need to cover for him?" Neji said, tapping his fingers on his arm.
"The conclusion to be made here is that Naruto does know him, but was unaware of the alias he'd taken and took the hint when you mentioned the name of his fox. However, this begs the question: why did he know the alias when intoxicated, but not when he was sober? Why are they lying about who he is, and why did this person not inform Naruto of what he was doing?" Shino pondered.
"Yeah, and why he can't pin down when that fox was born," Kiba nodded. "I mean, your ninken's birthday isn't just something you forget or overshoot by a few years. I know exactly how old Akamaru is. If he didn't know, and just found the little guy one day without knowing how old he was, he could've just said that."
"Perhaps they are connected," Shino said, glancing up into the tree they stood under. "I do not have any information to make a calculated guess as to how, but somehow, Uzumaki Kurama and Kurama the fox are connected."
"Well no matter what, something's going on," Kiba muttered. "My mom's ninken liked him well enough, but he got all cryptic right after Naruto left and they spent like twenty minutes upstairs talking about something."
Shino froze. "Perhaps," he said slowly, "your mother knows something we don't."
"Huh? Whaddaya mean?"
"The mistreatment of Naruto by the villagers," Shino said, drawing both of their attention, "where does it originate from?"
Neji connected the dots in his head. "Adults," he realized. "Never children. Children only copy. The adult population of the village."
Kiba's eyes widened. "It was always the parents telling their kids to avoid him."
"So it's something the older generation knows about him," Neji said, narrowing his eyes and looking down the street towards several adult civilians passing by the alley. "Or, more likely, his family."
"The Uzumaki?"
"Possibly. There is no information about Naruto's father."
"That doesn't make any sense either," Kiba complained. "If Jiraiya the sannin is his godfather, he must've been connected to Naruto's parents some way. You don't just make a stranger your kid's godparent."
"I have never encountered any other Uzumaki in Konohagakure," Shino said. "Nor heard mention of any. If we could find records of any Uzumaki, there is a good chance they would have a close relation to Naruto."
"Even so, Jiraiya never had any link to Uzumaki shinobi," Neji frowned. "At least, not any public one. Despite his prowess in fuinjutsu, there was never word of any Uzumaki working with him."
"And besides that," Kiba said, pointing with one finger as his eyes went narrow, "I've been looking into Uzumaki. They were the founding clan's sister clan. And their old village was the one we had that 'Eternal Alliance' with. I don't think it would be any Uzumaki the village hated. Not unless they did something really horrible. But then why not treat Karin badly?"
The trio was silent for a moment.
"Then it must be something to do with his father," Shino decided.
"Let's find out who his father is, then," Kiba suggested.
"Impossible," Shino replied, almost instantly. Neji and Kiba frowned at him. "I went to the genealogy library and attempted to view his family tree. Normally, clan trees are available to the general public unless they are requested not to be, but I was informed my security clearance was not high enough to be allowed to view them."
Kiba's eyes widened. "Security clearance? The hell?"
"It was an order by the Hokage, not a request for secrecy by Naruto himself. If it were, they would simply be private," Shino elaborated. "So-"
"Who could Naruto's father be, that Hokage-sama felt the need to keep his lineage a secret to keep him safe, and that Jiraiya could be his godfather?" Neji finished.
Another few seconds of silence.
Kiba slowly raised his head. "Guys," he said, almost cautiously, "who was Jiraiya's student?"
Neji's eyes flickered over to the Hokage Monument. Shino reached into his pouch, pulling out a book he'd checked out of the library; it was a volume on insects, but it had been published over a decade ago, and thus had a picture of the Hokage current to that time in the back pages in the acknowledgments. It was the same picture that hung in the Hokage's quarters, along with pictures of all the other predecessors.
Wordlessly, Neji pulled out his wallet and retrieved several photos Naruto had given him, singling one out. The blond was more than a little photography-happy. This particular photo was of Naruto himself, and Naruto had given it to him on accident; he wasn't the type to go around giving out pictures of himself. Neji had kept it without telling him he'd done it.
Shino flipped to the last page. Neji placed the photo on the paper beneath it. Kiba got up from his place sitting against the tree to look.
"Holy shit," Kiba breathed.
Naruto was smiling, and the Yondaime was calm-faced and stoic, but the resemblance was as clear as day. The hair color, the eye color, even a few notes in their facial features, even if Naruto obviously took after whoever his mother was instead of the Fourth Hokage.
None of them said a word. Kiba doubted any of them were breathing right now.
"Why?" he finally whispered, holding Akamaru in a death grip. "Why treat him like that if his father is-" He glanced around, smart enough to know this was sensitive information. "If anything, you'd think he'd be treated like Konohamaru is."
"This makes it all more confusing," Shino murmured.
Neji quickly snatched the photo back up and flipped the book shut. "We do not speak of this to anyone," he said in a low tone. Shino and Kiba nodded mutely in reply. "This…cannot be the reason for any of the events we've been looking into. If this were public knowledge, there would be…assassination attempts. People would worship the ground he walked on, not spit on it. We've stumbled upon something else entirely."
"Something that might get us a visit from TI and the ANBU," Kiba muttered.
Neji glared lightly at him. "It will not if we do not speak of it," he stressed. "Secrecy and caution is much more important now. Or, perhaps, it always was, but now we know the severity of the need for it. The only course of action may now be to ask Naruto himself."
"What if he doesn't know?" Kiba asked.
They fell quiet, contemplating.
"I do not know if he does," Neji muttered, pale eyes lowering to the ground. "It is hard to know what he is and is not aware of."
"You could say that again," Kiba sighed. "I say we keep doing what we were. Keepin' our ears and eyes open and don't let anyone know we know."
"Very well," Shino intoned. "We will bring our questions to him eventually, but it must be at the right time."
Kiba and Neji nodded. "See you next week, then," Kiba said, inclining his head and raising a hand in a weak imitation of a wave.
The three parted ways, leaving no trace that they'd been there.
39. Land of Snow: Part 1 A/N: A reviewer nailed it when they said this is pretty much a character-driven story, rather than a mainly plot-driven story. As you can see, the focus is on this version of Team Seven and how they interact with the Naruto world, and the ripples they make- and the effect they have on the canon plot of Naruto itself. Still, though…you're going to hate me for the plot twist coming.
Tsume wasn't looking forward to speaking with Tsunade that morning.
Kiba had run off to meet two of his friends- she didn't remember who- and Hana had gone to the vetinatary office, so the house had been empty for Kuromaru to go over what he'd told her the night before again. She wasn't nervous, per se, but there was a tense feeling in her gut as she walked down the hall towards the Hokage's office.
"I wasn't sure at first, but there's something odd going on with those two. That fox…it can't be a year old. It was hard to decipher, but it smells almost ancient. The boy's scent is different than Kushina's- hers was just that of a kunoichi, a very unique kunoichi, but a kunoichi nonetheless. She smelled completely human. A faint foxlike scent, sometimes, if she had used the Kyuubi's chakra sometime before. Naruto's scent is almost saturated- or, intermingled, is a better term- with that fox's. Like he's using the beast's chakraall the time."
It was chilling to think the Kyuubi could have been walking in her house and going on missions with her son. Even with Kuromaru's analysis, she still couldn't connect the gargantuan, vicious beast she'd seen thirteen years ago with the tiny, cute, fluffy fox Naruto had riding on his shoulders.
Hana's three ninken hadn't detected anything like Kuromaru- his sniffer was unmatched- but she could tell Kurama had confused them at first. They'd encountered foxes before, but Hana had told her they thought Kurama smelled "like a fox and a little bit like something else".
She rounded the curve of the hall and came upon the office door. To her surprise, Shibi was just about to knock, one hand poised above the wood. "Shibi? What're you doing here?"
"I had business with the Hokage," the man replied vaguely.
"Small world. So do I." She reached over and banged on the door, making him take a step back.
Tsunade's voice floated from within. "Enter!"
Tsume stepped into the Godaime's office, garnering a raised eyebrow. "What do I owe this visit?" Tsunade asked, eyebrow rising further when Shibi stepped in behind her.
"Dunno 'bout Shibi here, but I had some questions about a certain member of Squad Seven," Tsume replied, folding her arms and falling into a comfortable stance.
Shibi inclined his head. "The purpose of my visit is the same."
Shizune sent them a concerned glance from Tsunade's side. "All right, you first," the Godaime said after a moment's pause, nodding to Tsume.
Tsume didn't have any qualms about speaking in front of Shibi. They were old friends and besides, he'd never held a grudge against Naruto. "Naruto came over for dinner last night. Kuromaru picked up on something…odd."
"Odd?"
"He smells different than Kushina did," Tsume said bluntly. "Kuromaru thinks that fox he carries around is the Kyuubi."
Beside her, Shibi tensed slightly out of surprise. It was a testament to how surprised he was that Tsume even saw the action at all, as minute as it was.
"He thinks he's using the thing's chakra all the time." Tsume studied Tsunade carefully, eyes narrowing. The Hokage was leaning on her folded hands, staring at them with a careful blank expression. An unsurprised expression. "You already knew."
Tsunade unfolded her hands. Tsume tensed, thinking she was maybe going to have a desk thrown at her at worst, but the woman just reached up, bit her thumb, and smeared a trickle of blood onto the underside of her desk.
"Nothing leaves this room."
Tsume shot a glance at her old squad mate. He returned it from behind his glasses.
They both nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"Uzumaki Naruto has been working with the Kyuubi for years. He's very practiced with its chakra and is currently working on full-scale transformation. He performed several partial transformations when he fought against Orochimaru and his cohort, Kabuto, when he and Jiraiya came to find me after the chuunin exams. He does not present a danger to the village or anyone around him; in fact, he's one of our most valuable assets. Their relationship may be hard to understand, but he's connected with it- he, as he says Kyuubi prefers- on a level Mito-baa-san and Kushina never did. He's also altered the seal, though I'm not sure on specifics, to allow them to work together and resist someone trying to extract it. Does that answer your questions?"
Tsume stared at her. The tension in her gut was gone, replaced by the feeling someone had just tossed her in a pool of cold water. "You're sure it's not dangerous?" she asked, the corners of her mouth tugging down. "To him, I mean?"
Tsunade smirked. "I'm sure. The Kyuubi has had many chances to hurt and kill Naruto, but he never has."
Hesitant, Tsume nodded. "All right, then. Guess that's good enough for me."
"Good. Now, then, Shibi, what was your purpose for being here?"
Three sets of eyes landed on the Aburame clan head. He'd been completely silent through Tsunade's explanation; Tsume couldn't guess what he thought of it.
He lifted his head from behind the high collar he wore. "My question," he began, "is about Uchiha Sasuke and Shimura Danzo."
Somehow, the oh, crap reaction Tsunade had been sure she would have with Tsume- and didn't get- reared up its ugly head in full force with Shibi.
"I guess it was a good enough movie," Sakura said with a shrug, emptying the last of her popcorn into her mouth and tossing the container into a trashcan in the alley they inhabited.
Naruto lifted himself onto a stack of wood and sat down. Sasuke leaned against the fence beside her, arms folded and looking cross. "I don't know why sensei insisted we see this. We could've been training," he said with a sigh.
"You just went to a movie with Shikamaru and Choji yesterday," Naruto argued.
"We shouldn't make it a habit!"
"So what, two movies a week?"
"One is better."
Sakura rolled her eyes. She perked up when she heard a faint rumbling, glancing towards the fence with a curious air. "Does that sound like-"
"Horses?" Naruto finished, squinting as he stood up on the pile of wood to peek over the fence. His eyes widened briefly before he turned and leapt off, tackling them both out of the way before a single horse jumped the gate and, almost directly after, it busted open.
A veritable stampede burst through the alley. A growl escaped Sakura's lips as she rolled to her feet, nodding her head at Sasuke and Naruto. "Get them."
The trio took off across the rooftops after the herd. Pedestrians and shopkeeps lunged out of the way, shrieking in surprise, while several of Naruto's kage bunshin worked damage control and kept lights and banners from being torn down and merchandise from being destroyed. Sasuke himself went for the horse in the lead.
The woman they were chasing rounded a corner. Sakura crashed into an armored rider and sent him sailing off his horse, landing and turning the beast hard down an alleyway to cut the stampede off and performing a transformation with a one-handed sign.
Naruto dropped into a crouch on the back of the woman's steed. She gave him a startled look before scowling and clicking her heels against her horse's sides, urging it down a side street.
Naruto rubbed his chin, trying to think of where he'd seen her face before.
Kakashi stared down at the street below him with a slow twitch to one eye, sweatdrop running down his head. The majority of Yukie's guards were tied up in a group. Sasuke himself stood in front of Sandayu, the actress's manager, scowling deeply.
"What makes you think you're entitled to stampeding through the street, nearly trampling civilians to death, causing property damage, and chasing an unarmed civilian woman?"
"Sasuke," Kakashi called as he jumped down, eye-smiling nervously. "You shouldn't berate our client so much."
Sakura looked up from where she'd been glaring at an armored guard, making the man sweat. "Client?"
In an instant, the ropes slackened and fell off the men. "This is Sandayu, Yukie-san's manager," Kakashi said, helping the man up. "I'm sorry for the trouble my students caused."
"Trouble WE caused?" Sasuke said, voice rising. "They were taking a herd of horses through the thoroughfare!"
Sandayu gained a meek expression and bowed at the waist. "I apologize for any trouble we caused. Truthfully, we aren't bodyguards at all. We were only trying to get Yukie-san back."
"The actress? That's who we're bodyguarding?" Sakura asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Say, where's Naruto?" Kakashi interrupted, glancing around. The blond was nowhere to be seen.
"Took off after Yukie," Sasuke explained, crossing his arms with a huff. "It's almost like this could have gone seventy-six percent more efficiently and quickly had you shared the details of our mission with us." He and Sakura stood side by side giving the man a blank stare, making him start to sweat.
"C-c'mon, guys, I didn't mean it like that…" Sandayu and the movie men watched the Leaf jounin start to back up, waving nervously as Sakura brandished her knuckles.
"The Land of Snow," the woman muttered under her breath, voice taking on a wheedling tone. "The hell's the land of ice and winter good for? Crappy manager making me do this. 'Spring', he says."
"Yeah, life sucks," Naruto shrugged, taking a swig of the drink he'd snagged from her. There'd been someone following the woman he'd first identified as an a-grade asshole for being so rude to little kids just wanting an autograph, and then identified as Yukie and probably their client, so he'd stuck around in case their mysterious pursuer tried something. Plus, she had an open tab. He had no idea what he was drinking, but it had too low of an alcohol content to do much to him. She'd gotten so drunk off the sake she had in her hand.
"There is no spring in the Land of Snow," she slurred, squinting at him. "Say, where'd you come from?"
"From placating the kids you were an asshole to."
"Psh. Th'should learn not to crowd people. So what if they want an autograph? I'm not a signature machine."
"Why do you have fingers, then?" Naruto asked, nodding at her hand. She turned to look at it, an unreadable expression crossing her face.
"Why…why do I have fingers?"
Kakashi's dull voice told Naruto his team had finally arrived. "I think that's enough drinking for one night."
"Eh?" Yukie turned and squinted at him, frowning. "Who're you?"
In response, the jounin lifted up his headband and looked her in the eye; she slumped over off her barstool into Sakura's waiting arms. "Is that legal?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke shrugged. "Technically, it'd be illegal for her to duck out on her contract."
"So kidnapping, then."
"Put the drink down and let's go."
Naruto woke up to the rocking of the ship and a cry of rage from the cabin.
Yukie burst out onto the deck, waking him from where he'd been napping against the side of the boat half-tangled in a mess of rope. She turned to glare at Sandayu, who only gulped nervously. "What is this?!"
"We're on course for the Land of Snow, Yukie. You know we have to go there for shooting!"
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Naruto, narrowing her eyes. "You're that kid from the bar."
Naruto waved with a bright grin. "Hey, asshole lady."
"Who are you calling a- never mind." She shook her head. "Let's just get this over with, Sandayu. Where's my hairdresser?"
On the other end of the boat near the wheel, Sasuke stood with his arms crossed, alert and vigilant. Sakura sat on a barrel sharpening two kunai. He could see Kakashi talking to a few of the camera men about something or other- for some reason he had a black eye, and none of the civilians seemed willing to address it or even look at it.
"NARUTO!"
Naruto barely restrained a jump, tensing as he turned and nearly gave himself whiplash. Izuna settled on the deck with a triumphant grin and his brother not far behind. "What?" he hissed.
"You weren't supposed to leave without us!"
"Well, you missed the boat."
Madara looked slightly tired. "We flew miles," Izuna huffed, still bouncing with energy as he shaded his eyes and glanced around. "I wanted Madara to see how those soaps you've been watching are made."
Naruto smirked when Madara shot his brother a glare. "Is that Yukie-san?" Izuna asked as the actress emerged from the cabin in costume.
"Yeah. She's kind of a jerk."
"Meh. Movie types usually are."
"Manager's nice, though."
"What is that?" Madara interrupted, frowning at one of the cameras. Wires and cables crisscrossed the deck with the track the cameras moved on.
"Camera," Naruto replied.
He'd already learnt both Izuna and Madara's body language by now, as minute as it was sometimes. The way Madara's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he stared meant he was confused. "It's a lot bigger than mine because it has to capture hours of footage to make movies. Mine just pops out a single image. You know your eyes? They're sort of like miniature cameras. Light enters the eye through the cornea, and the cornea bends the light rays in a way so they pass through the pupil, which is the opening in the center of the iris. The iris works like a shutter in a camera. It enlarges and shrinks, depending on how much light is entering the eye. The light then passes through the eye's lens. It works like the lens in a camera and focuses the rays. In a normal eye, the light rays come to a focusing point on the retina. The retina functions similarly to the film in a camera. It captures light, processes them into electrical impulses through millions of tiny nerve endings, then sends those impulses over a million nerve fibers to the optic nerve, which takes them to the brain, which produces an image. That's why sometimes people perceive light or certain images differently. They're not seeing different things, they're just processing it differently. Though, a lot of people wonder if we even see colors the same way- do I see an apple as red, and you as green, and you just think it's red?"
"That's a load of bullshit," Izuna huffed. "Red is red."
Naruto turned and narrowed his eyes at him. "But what if you only think what you're seeing is red? What if it's actually what I think of as green?"
"Do you have to ask questions like that all the time? You're making my brain hurt."
"What if the Sharingan and the Uchiha fan aren't even red. What if they're blue."
"You stop that."
"So," Madara interrupted, having ended up on Naruto's other side as they sat in a line on the deck out of the way, "when a shinobi casts a genjutsu, the chakra is interfering with these receptor cells in the eyes?" He spoke with the air of someone who already knew the basics of what they'd asked, but wanted to confirm their assumption was still true with new information provided.
"Basically," Naruto shrugged. Izuna looked delighted that his brother was asking questions. "The brain too. This is all a lot of theory at the moment, but I think the Sharingan alters the eye so it can see past a genjutsu's chakra, perhaps by altering the nerves in the eye so they're less susceptible to chakra or using the Sharingan user's own chakra as a molecular shield of some sort."
Izuna stared out at the ocean with an intrigued expression. "So what about the Mangekyo? If it puts enough strain on the eyes they go blind, why do you suppose a sibling or close family member's eyes will alleviate that?"
"My best guess is the nerves in the first Uchiha's eyes are shot so a close genetic match is needed to support those remaining and replace those that have died. With the Eternal Mangekyo, I reckon there are somehow more nerves- or they merge, so there're stronger ones- than in a single Mangekyo, taking the strain off; but I've never gotten the chance to study one, so that's just conjecture. With more modern advances in medical science, though, I'm hoping one member won't actually have to lose their eyes, and tissue could just be harvested to use with cellular regeneration medical ninjutsu." They both knew who he was talking about. He didn't want Sasuke going blind by any means, or Itachi, once Sasuke got him back.
"Aaaand action!" the director yelled.
Naruto turned his attention to Yukie. She threw herself upon the "dead" warrior on the deck, face twisted in pain. "Don't leave now! We're almost there!"
"I would have followed you to the end, princess," the man whispered hoarsely, coughing.
Izuna raised an eyebrow. "You know, she's actually pretty good-"
"Dammit, Sandayu, where're my eye drops?"
"-I stand corrected."
"Where are the others, anyway?" Naruto asked, unwrapping a ration bar from his pocket. He looked over to Sakura, who'd taken to doing vertical body pushups on the railing, the toes of her boots pointed towards the sky. Kakashi was reading his book and talking to Sasuke at the same time.
Izuna shrugged. "They were running around like headless chickens when we left," Madara stated blandly.
"What was up?"
"Hell if we know. Y'know what it looked like?" Izuna pointed a finger gun at him, repeating the phrase he and Naruto had said for years whenever Senju ghosts were having a fit over something or other. "Senju problems."
Naruto snorted. Once, the Senju had gotten upset that a group of Uchiha ghosts were gathering in the center of the village- "They're planning something!" In reality, they'd been gathering to attend a movie. "Yeah, probably." Not that the Uchiha were total saints, but Naruto was comparably biased.
Madara's left eyebrow rose slightly at the familiarity in their tones. "That's what we call it when they're being drama queens," Naruto stage-whispered. He turned to Izuna with a grin, focusing on his elbow so he could nudge the ghost in the ribs. "Hey, remember that time those two Yamanaka accidentally covered Tobi-oji in excess ectoplasm? He chased them all the way down the street! Back when Jiji was Hokage-"
Izuna started to laugh as Naruto recounted the story. He gestured wildly every so often and imitated Tobirama's scowl and cranky tone of voice, making Izuna laugh harder. Madara leaned against the side of the boat, reminded of his childhood, when he had little brothers besides Izuna.
Shibi contemplated his talk with Tsunade long into the evening.
She'd dodged his attempts at finding out information and shut him down completely. Even though she'd been so open about the Leaf's Jinchuriki moments before, as soon as Danzo's name was mentioned, something in her expression had hardened. "Don't look into this, you two. It's dangerous. Danzo is a person of interest for the Hokage to deal with."
What could Uchiha Sasuke have meant? His age was irrelevant; Kakashi's team obviously knew more than they let on, were more intelligent than they'd made people think. The boys were already council seat holders. Anything one knew, so did the other. If both Naruto and Sasuke thought Danzo was posing a danger to the village, it wasn't something they would accuse him lightly of.
Torune crossed his mind more than once. Sasuke seemed to know Danzo's reach had extended to the Aburame family specifically. He'd seemed to imply Danzo had affected him specifically.
The most obvious conclusion was that Danzo, like the opportunity-seizing war hawk he was, had at some point tried to nab the boy for his black ops force as well. However, Shibi had never seen any trace of Root around the Uchiha household after the massacre; if Danzo had wanted the boy, he would have just taken him, not let him become a clan head and tokubetsu jounin hopeful ready to oppose him.
That implied Danzo had done something before the massacre.
Or, perhaps, something to do with the massacre.
He thought back to the law Sasuke had instated. It was the perfect legislation to bring back a missing nin who wasn't actually guilty of the crime they'd been accused of.
He paused, halfway back to his home in the forest.
Shibi could read seasoned shinobi trying their best to hide something. Sasuke was skilled at hiding his emotions, but he was no ANBU member. Shibi had only had a few interactions with him, but nothing about him seemed like he wanted vengeance on Itachi.
"A tree's roots always extend farther than what you see on the surface."
He still wanted justice, of course, but not on Itachi.
He turned and headed back towards Konoha, towards the Inuzuka compound. Tsume had not been satisfied with Tsunade's answers either. He knew she was trustworthy.
If Shimura Danzo had orchestrated the massacre of the Uchiha clan, their village really was in trouble.
The Sandaime startled when the quill on his desk flipped out of its casing, rolling across the desk towards him. His eyebrows rose towards his hairline when the cap on his ink bottle came off, the pen dipping into it shortly after and moving towards a blank paper on the wood.
The red sun rises towards the west and gives birth to a frigid midday.
"All right, Tobirama-sensei, I know it's you. What do you need?"
He noted absently as one of his drawers slid open that they must have been getting stronger if they could move objects so easily. He expected nothing less from the former Hokage.
His forehead crinkled when the ghost pulled his copy of Naruto's family tree's scroll onto the desk, albeit with a little difficulty, as it didn't want to cooperate and snagged on part of the wood. He rolled it open and looked up with a curious expression to where he deduced Tobirama was standing.
"What about it?"
The ghost picked up the quill and began filling in boxes. Sarutobi's brow furrowed as he went, growing more incredulous the more convoluted the tree became. Oh, dear.
The quill stopped on the last box it had created, directly beside a woman named Ishikawa Mai. "Sensei? Who was Mai's husband?"
The quill jerked. It abruptly switched to what he recognized as Mito's handwriting and filled in Tobirama's name, writing drunken one night stand sexcapade right under it.
The quill went flying across the room. Sarutobi stared at the page, mouth hanging open, and got the feeling the ghosts were all laughing at Tobirama's expense.
"…well, this certainly does explain a few things about Naruto's disposition."
Mito laughed harder, losing her legendary composure for once. Tobirama shot her a sullen glare and folded his arms, trying to hide his red face as he turned away to sulk. "Well," she giggled behind her fan, "you should be honest with Saru, Tobirama."