Chapter 4: A New Shadow
By: DragoonMen
'Human Thinking'
"Human Speaking"
Technique/Jutsu Use
'Bijū/Non-Human Thinking'
"Bijū/Non-Human Talking"
Published: 07/Apr/2021
Post-Third Shinobi War Era Arc
62 Years After Hidden Village System
—Land of Fire—
Konohagakure no Sato
Naruto sat on his sofa rigidly, his hands clasped in a thinking position under his chin that complemented really well the unreadable expression marring his visage, something that strongly differed from his usual cheerful self.
Even after growing up from his teenage years into adulthood and at last acknowledging that his excentric ways to act around people could not go for much longer, he could not help it.
At least for this single time
He could say now for sure that he had finally grown out from his old antics as the time went, tempering himself to carry on with more grace and wisdom necessary of a Hokage and to set an example to the Ninjas under his command.
But the reason that had Naruto mimicking the behavior of a statue this night was thanks to the item placed across his living room on a pedestal.
The most gullible person might think that he would be contemplating his TV or something of the like.
This could not be any more false.
He was currently pondering over one of his most recent acquisitions. An object that intrigued and terrified him at the same time.
The porcelain mask.
The former Hokage had placed the lupine-like article of clothing he had bought from the market some weeks ago on a shelf, right in front of his sofa where a TV should occupying the place instead if he only had he had the money to afford one.
Naruto wondered silently if holes would start to appear on the fox mask if he continued to stare at it like he has been doing for the last half hour.
The more he stared at it, the more the unrest grew in his mind.
He could not for the life of him wonder what could it meant.
A sign? An omen?
He knew that the fox-like masks used to be worn by ANBU, however, once the Nine-Tails attacked the village it became a rarity. Something to do with the resentment and anger the people had at the Bijū guilty of the tragedy —unwillingly but no like anyone knew better—.
'Perhaps it's the world telling me to do something. Something rash...' Naruto thought about the repercussions of doing something reckless just like someone in another reality that used to wear the same mask did in case.
Menma or Dark Naruto —as Sakura jokingly used to call his evil doppelganger— was his counterpart of the Fake Reality World created by Obito using a technique called Limited Tsukuyomi. A Genjutsu that stayed true to his objective but only affected the people in a certain small radius to where it was cast. How Obito had come up with something of the like, Naruto could only marvel at the question.
His other self was the exact opposite of him. He was rude and a complete jerk but that probably was because of Obito's influence on the technique.
The blond teen knew that the reason Menma attacked him and everyone that time was to attract his and everyone's sights on him and therefore bring him and Kurama in a silver platter right to Obito's clutches.
He needed more information on this. Perhaps all of this was related to each other. Maybe everything here was a lie just like that time.
Could Jigen trigger something similar as Obito or did I really time travel for real?
He needed answers desperately.
'But where to find for them?'
The network. Impossible. Not because of lack of interest but because it isn't even invented yet.
Obito. Kakashi's former friend probably would never even contemplate such notions. He probably didn't even have come up with the plan to attack the village so it was pointless.
After thinking about options for a long time, he got out from his sofa and went to his kitchen. Thanks to his mother Kushina now frequenting his favorite restaurant, he was obliged to prepare his own meals in order to avoid her, meaning that his shelves and fridge in his new apartment now were seeing some usage, storing normal food, unlike other times where the only product he ever knew of was instant ramen.
Grabbing the milk cartoon and some chocolate, he began to prepare a milkshake. In his own unique way.
After the fight with Kakashi, Naruto had noticed how his body reacted during the quarrel and began to study his condition, something that he never thought he had inside of him. For now, he could only replicate the quick motion with his hand. It was hard since he had just discovered it but it got easy if he tried to replicate the feeling of excitement that he felt when battling his sensei. So practically Naruto was using his finger to serve as the blender for his milkshake. He was intrigued but where could he find the answers if the network did no existed.
That's when it suddenly dawned on him.
The way people usually got their answer before the dawn of technology.
He just knew where to find it but still, he asked himself worriedly.
'Is this really necessary?'
OoOoOoO
'Yep, is really that necessary' The sun-kissed teen couldn't stop the feeling of boredom when he found himself facing off the giant doors of the public library of Konoha.
After all, he was the only Ninja on Earth that proudly declared that he was the only Hokage in history to become one without ever setting foot in that lame place.
But no backing off for now. Today he was going to have one of his first-time experiences, albeit reluctantly.
He had never come any close to a library during his life but this impossible situation demanded it.
'Come on you can do it, it just a building' He was nervous, he had never done this before. He didn't even know how to ask for a book.
He was having a mental debate —or meltdown—.
"Are you going to enter or not?" The librarian from inside asked loudly, she had been watching the blond fidgeting for the last half hour outside her establishment and it was making her uncomfortable.
It seemed that weirdos ultimately had a knack for coming to places like this.
"Yes, lady." He quickened his pace and passed right up to reception where she stood behind the counter.
She looked at him in return with an expression that clearly told 'Say what you have to say'.
"Uh oh... I need to find the section of Sci-Fi."
"Genre?" She opened the book, to search for the subject of his liking in question.
"Uhh... physics?"
"Sci-Fi eh, hahaha." The librarian laughed. Naruto was dumbfounded.
Finally, after the librarian got over the funny comment, she finally lent him the direction to follow with some stifles escaping from her heart and there.
"Ok. Follow the corridor and turn left." She covered her mouth to stop her ruckus. That boy had made her day.
"Thanks." Naruto muttered with disdain. Who could blame after the embarrassing moment he had been put through by that woman.
He finally arrived at the Sci-Fi section, looking through the numerous shelves.
Following the saying of 'If there's a will, there's a way', he eventually found it.
An hour later but he still discovered it.
The book he had been searching for was small so it practically passed unnoticed the first time he practically began to scan the shelves for it, finding it after the second round where he now had to do it more thoroughly.
Bringing the small book to the counter, the Uzumaki once again faced the expectant expression of the woman in charge of the building.
"Yes, I wanna buy this book, please."
"Physics, eh?" The woman grabbed the book and did a once-over on it.
Naruto was embarrassed.
"Really?" She commented, reading the name of the book.
"Yeah... stop judging me, geez." He blushed, unable to look at the woman in the eyes.
The woman finally had enough tormenting the blond. If he wanted to waste his money in this crap, then who was she to stop him. "Want it wrapped up?"
"No, that's fine this way."
OoOoOoO
Taking a spot on the rooftop of the library, Naruto settled down his lunch on the guardrail.
He tore down the plastic protector enveloping his latest purchase.
After tearing down the plastic, he opened his book and inhaled sharply, savoring the smell of fresh new book.
Then, the blond began reading out loud in his mind.
A Journey through Time for Beginners by Kintaro Terayama.
Opening the manuscript, Naruto noticed that it suited his liking perfectly.
It had illustrations, colors and all other features to not look boring in the eyes, like other simpler books.
'Almost like if it was for dummies' Naruto thought after seeing the funny drawings in the prologue and maybe because it actually was for dummies. Typical of Naruto to chose one unknowingly.
"Beware of this Jigen." He immediately began to read out, happy that we would have the small book finished off by the time it would be midday.
The book that Naruto held in his hands was the same book that cheesy movie from the future he had once watched say it was based on in the credits. Well, among others from more serious authors.
'Rather loosely' He might say but it was the only one that existed nowadays, the others were not even published.
Better than nothing.
He started flipping over the introduction and index. A really curious index, divided by seven rule-like chapters.
Rule No.1: Never tell anyone you are a time traveler. You could be jailed or make fun of. Probably the latter.
Rule No. 2: Avoid all contact with any friends or loved ones. Most importantly your parents (until you are sure the moment of your conception already happened). Fail to do so and it could cause random changes in the future. You being not born could be one of them.
Rule No. 3: Don't change anything in the past. Anything. Anything but underlined in case you are a retarded and this didn't get through your air-headed skull.
Note: If you are planning on not following any of these rules then don't be so stupid as to use your real name the whole time. Use a fake name, dim-wit.
'That's one is pretty neat' Naruto wrote that one down. He had never thought to use a fake name. Still going by his given name nowadays.
Rule No. 4: Never introduce items or knowledge out of their time. Period.
Rule No. 5: Same objects can't exist in the same space and at the same time. Never come in contact physically with yourself. You could be erased from reality or worst, 'Tear the Universe apart kind of worst', so if you held any amount of concern or little love for the author of this book please don't this.
Note: Until a movie is made out of this book at least. Feel free to do so afterward.
'Does it count if it already happened two decades from now on' The blond scratched his head at that one, he wondered if that rule was now rendered useless or perhaps it was jape.
Rule No. 6: In case of being suspected or accused of Time-traveling activities, negate it all. Never give your knowledge on the future so quickly and easily to anyone.
Knowledge is your weapon.
Rule No. 7: Hide this book. Have some shame.
He closed the book.
From what could tell, this was going to be a joy to read, fitting him like a glove with the writing style though most of these rules he already knew for common sense in these situations. For Kami's sake, he was just following the same protocol that he used during Obito's ruse.
"Mmm... Maybe Sakura was right. Sushi isn't so bad after all." Naruto commented in the commodity of his solace, munching a roll of fish while he did.
As he ate, Naruto leaned over the edge of the building he stood, watching from a distance as a massive crowd gathered below the Hokage's Tower.
The people that were starting up to assemble in the center of Konoha cheered and applauded for the incoming event to begin. The joy in the air was so high that it could be cut out in pieces with a knife.
But Naruto felt anything but delight.
The date was August 16th. The day that his father was going to take the mantle of leadership as the Fourth Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
While most people saw this as the transition to a new era of peace and prosperity, for Naruto this meant something much more darker.
Maybe his biased way of thinking has to do with the fact that he was the only one who knew that once his father accepted the title of Fire Shadow of the Hidden Leaf it would mean the beginning of his downfall.
The countdown that he had carefully studied since he arrived into this new reality would start ticking the moment the Hokage's hat was put in his sire's head.
As people keep arriving into the main street, he could see the movement of shadows intensify behind the balcony inside the Tower, a place that remained empty of people, implying that the main event was about to start at any given moment.
Little details that only an acute eye like that of a Shinobi could detect at such distances.
"Meow."
Naruto turned his head from the festivities to look upon the source of said sound.
It was a little cat. One that he was very much acquainted with.
"Oh, is you again. You have grown a little." Naruto said after watching Tora standing some feet back from him.
The kitten was looking at his face, more accurately at his hand with the chopsticks in it.
Naruto looked back and forth to where the cat's eyes were landing and sighed. He always had a soft heart for these things.
"Well... here you go." He threw a chunk of food to the feline.
The cat —not one to look a gift horse in the mouth— pounced on the piece of food, devouring it in seconds.
After finishing his snack, Tora look up at his feeder and jumped into the upper surface of the railing that Naruto leaned on.
Naruto seeing that the future troubling cat wasn't being his usual aggressive self, he began to caress it.
The cat purred in his hand, rubbing against it.
At least until the cat noticed that the plate of Sushi from the teen was empty of its content.
"You know... maybe you aren't as mean as I once thought." Naruto smiled at the cat who all this time gave him a Cheshire grin before he raised a paw and viciously scratched the hand away, bristling in rage.
Before the cat got away like most times in his childhood, Naruto's hand moved on its own at such speed that even the feline could not evade, snatching the cat by his trachea.
"I take that back, ugly demon." He grabbed the cat by his neck, lifting it easily.
"Kakashi-sensei wouldn't let me do this but now I will do a favor to everyone, starting with you." He told the feline maniacally as the cat struggled to get out from his grip, scratching and trashing all his hand and wrist, making Naruto wince in pain constantly in return.
He placed the stray animal over the roof fence, ready to drop him from the eighth-story building.
"Any last words." The blond stared at the cat, realizing that it was perhaps as sentient as him so it probably understood him.
Maybe he had spent too much time with Kurama to came to those conclusions.
The cat scoffed furiously before embedding his claw on the blond's wrist, drawing blood.
"Urgh!" Naruto grunted in pain.
"Off you go, demon." He released him from his grasp, watching as the being that one day would be the bane of all Gennin of Konoha plummet into his end.
He felt the angry slitted eyes of Tora on him as the feline approached his death fast.
"Serves right the prick." Naruto dusted his hands off and lifted his empty tray of food, thinking that he had made Konoha a big favor today and going back to watch the ceremony.
Sadly, no one, not even the Naruto Uzumaki could get rid so easily of the demon cat.
If Naruto had looked over the rail at that moment, he would pale at what was happening down the street.
Fate
Because at that moment, a carriage was passing by in the streets in the nick to time below the kitten freefalling form.
Thrush!
The malicious cat crashed against the roof of the wagon, going through it and leaving his outline engraved much like in the cartoons that Naruto's daughter loved to watch.
But if someone inspected from above the fancy carriage where Tora has probably made it his final resting place, they would have gulped down in recognition for several days after seeing a single sigil adorning it.
Fire Country Royal Emblem.
The Daimyō and his honorable family had come to Konoha today to see Minato Namikaze's take of office.
"What?!" Someone yelled inside the wagon as the entourage accompanying it looked up to the rooftops to see where the cat had fallen off.
"What is that stinking cat doing in here?" The man inside the carriage shrieked in disgust.
"Look, it's beautiful!" A screeching feminine voice called out from inside the cart. A voice that everyone had become more familiar with, the late Hokage more than others himself. It was Madame Shijimi. The wife of the Fire Feudal Lord.
"Urgh. Let's continue. We will fix the roof later. We are late." The husband of Madame Shijimi said annoyed after seeing his wife adopt another stray into the family.
"Who is a beautiful cat? You!"
Even from miles away, someone could hear Tora being hugged to death by the Daimyō's wife by the crunching of his ribs.
The cat desperately tried to escape only to be more compacted in Madame Shijimi's arms.
"Meowww!" Tora's screams could be translated to calls for help, they however were unanswered.
Unfortunately, no one could interpret the language of felines to the cat's grief and disappointment.
Truly there are fates worse than death.
As such, the man-pulled wagon moved slowly away, the cat's wails and whimpers echoing in the main street of the village as the guards of the entourage visibly shuddered at the torment the animal must be going through.
Poor cat.
OoOoOoO
After dealing with Tora, Naruto waited patiently for some minutes until he finally watched as his father in another time came out from the curtains in the Tower, wearing a brand-new white coat with flames in the underside while being accompanied by the Sandaime Hokage, both ready to commence the change of office formally.
Like the time-traveling teen had expected, his mother Kushina was not around and deduced that her relationship with his father was still a secret to everyone.
Naruto could not hear from his current position what the Hokage was saying as he began to address the crowd but he did not need to. There were more pressing matters in his way.
Like ensuring his birth.
The blond estimated that he will probably be conceived in six to seven months when February started and to finally be born in October.
His father's reign as a Hokage would only last a year and some months before his ultimate demise.
He strived to correct that.
This time everything would be different. This time he would not let himself be orphaned.
Naruto felt goosebumps all of the sudden, stopping his wild thinking of his future plans from going rampant. 'Why do I feel like I am being watched? Geez' He ignored it for now.
Looking up to his watch, he noticed the hour. It was nearly midday.
'Time to work' Still, he could not shake the feeling that he was being observed.
OoOoOoO
For all the remaining day, Naruto had the feeling that he usually got off when he was being stalked by his fans for the last few hours. It got so incessant that he finally had to acknowledge it.
It was not until the sunset after the shift was over when it happened. One by one, all of Naruto's coworkers began to leave the building area. Naruto merely waited until the last of his working companions left.
This was no pure coincidence. He was being followed. He had a gut feeling about it.
The blue-eyed teen stood over the edge of the incomplete building where he was currently working, overlooking from this vantage point as Konoha's rising nightlife came unfolded.
It was gonna be a hell of a night indeed.
Steps sounded behind him. The Uzumaki didn't need to turn around to know who was behind him after feeling the slight change in the air. These were vibes he only got from a sarcastic closet pervert with one eye and a ridiculous mask.
Not like he would have told him that.
"You are a hard man to find." Kakashi spoke behind him, calm and collected just as Naruto recalled from him. The ANBU full-knowing that the blond had probably noticed him for hours by now.
"It took you just three weeks. And here I thought you would have surrendered by now." The blond finally turned to face his stalker, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You said you knew me. You should know better than that. 'Surrender' is not a word in my vocabulary." The ANBU reminded him. Naruto nodded, he had said that last time they met.
'True enough' Naruto diverted his stare from Kakashi to the edge of the building, closing his eyes quickly to activate Sennin Mōdo for a second. That's all the time he needed.
When Naruto looked back at the ANBU Captain, he smirked.
"I sense you brought a friend with you."
Not a moment later, a new shadow appeared from the rooftop upside down like a spider.
"She is here for support. You can never be too cautious in these troubled times." Kakashi quoted one of the blond teen comments from the previous encounter.
"Hn." He imitated Sasuke's usual grunt, silently agreeing with him. He was the one that said so.
Kakashi stared at him impassively.
"What's gonna happen now, dobe?" Naruto asked, never losing his cool even when things could take a turn for the worst.
"What is gonna happen is that I will ask and you will comply. And if I don't like your answers..." He brought Shinobi wire from his pouch while the mysterious ANBU in the roof pulled out a kunai.
"Ok. Fair enough. I don't have much of a choice now, would I?" He raised his hand to appear less threatening. They had him or at least he would let them think they had him.
"Good. Let's start with something easy..."
"What is your name, Mr. Irrelevant?" The white-haired teen started his questioning, wanting to know the identity of the man that had bested him and spared him.
The blond shook his head in a clear sign of defiance.
"A man is entitled to his own secrets."
"I am afraid I can't accept your request. After all, you can never be too cautious, would you?" Kakashi responded, mocking him with a phrase that he had used before in their last fight.
Naruto exhaled with annoyance.
"Stop playing games." The feminine voice of the ANBU made itself known from the ceiling, trying to peer pressure the teen into complying with their wishes.
"Wait, Cat. Don't do anything foolish." Kakashi calmed her down. It would do them no good if a figth broke out between the three of them.
"Perhaps you would have more chances of extracting something out from me if you actually asked something that matters."
'Before I take matters into my own hands'
Kakashi accepted, merely to return to the former position of control of the situation. Sooner or later, the blond teen would yield the information.
"Are you a Shinobi?" The cyclops eyed him and his choice of clothes. In the eyes of many, he could pass up as a simple civilian.
Naruto chuckled. "What took you so long to figure it out?" He snickered, giving his usual shining smile.
"Answer the damn question." The kunoichi —that Naruto recognized by her less grave voice— demanded, not letting Naruto escape from the interrogation by directing the conversation to another place.
"Calm down, will you? Yes, I am." He finally gave them the answer. The two ANBU already knew that but confirming the fact was necessary.
"Which village do you hold allegiance?" The last Hatake continued the procedure, not letting the stranger get a respite from them.
"I don't see if th-"
"Answer it!" The masked woman commanded again, angrily.
"I am not from any village."
"You said you were a Shinobi?" Kakashi looked at him with confusion. This partly contradicted his previous claim of being ninja.
"Does a Shinobi have to be exclusively from a Hidden Village to be recognized as one?" Naruto wittingly commented, knowing he would put them in a hard place there.
"Well..." The leader of Team Ro scratched his hair with his free hand, realizing the fact that what the mysterious teen was saying was not too farfetched from the truth.
Naruto smirked.
"No, it is not. A Ninja is a person who specializes in the art of Chakra. However, anyone is free to become one, no matter their background. Village or not." Naruto reminded him.
Then, Yūgao chose that moment to take the reins of the verbal confrontation.
"What are you doing in the Leaf?"
"Helping you, of course." The Uzumaki said honestly, not like those two believe him yet.
"Explain."
"Listen, I am just trying to help you out in this. That's all." He didn't know how to explain them other than that. He would not risk compromising his knowledge with them. Not for now.
Naruto looked at both sides, waiting for something but Kakashi noted his strange attitude. The blond seemed life if he was expecting someone to grab him from behind.
After a few moments, Naruto grinned at him.
"Where's the rest of your team, Kakashi?"
Silence.
The blond's grin only grew wider. 'So Kakashi-sensei did as I predicted. Following his own investigation without telling third parties. Typical'
"Ohoho, so you did as I foretold. Are you afraid they will lose your trust in you for doing this?" Naruto joked, seeing the icy stare on his teacher and the furious gaze of the woman from the eyeholes of her mask.
"So this is like all 'under the water' shit, right? Or should I call it like a Black Ops kind of thing?"
"Stop talking." Yūgao was tired from the blond rambling, more likely because what he was saying was true.
"As you wish." He zipped his mouth shut, not daring to anger the woman. He knew that his teacher would not react so hastily but this woman he had never taken into account.
"Why did you do it?" The Hatake nin finally asked the question that had been plaguing him since that fateful day.
"Why what?" Naruto asked for additional data on the question. If Kakashi thought that he remembered every single thing as to answer that question faultlessly, then he was sorely mistaken. He didn't even recall what he had for breakfast today.
"Spared me. What prone you to do that?"
'Ahh... so that was it'
"I don't know... I felt I didn't accomplish anything by killing you, not like I was planning to." The man from the future lied, protecting the origin of his source of actions.
However, Kakashi was someone well-versed in the art of deception to point out his bullshit.
"Tell me!" He stepped forward and Yūgao did the same. He would not accept that for an answer.
"You are not the enemy. That's the reason why." He diverted the question from himself unto something else.
It worked.
"Then, who is it?"
"I can't tell you. I only know that someone is out there and he wants to damage your home village." He decided to play possum and reveal as little information as possible, heeding the advice he read from his stupid book earlier.
Yūgao looked ready to cut him into pieces if that meant getting out the information.
Surprisingly, it was Kakashi who stopped her.
"Stop, Cat. I believe him." He ordered her, making her halt from jumping down to the sassy teenager.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me, stranger. I don't trust you..." Naruto sweatdropped. There it was that strange look in his sensei face again. One that spoke of ulterior motives.
"But I will do whatever it takes to prevent any harm to come into my village. Whatever it is."
'Let's not deceive ourselves' Now, Naruto knew that was a lie. He would never mention it but he knew that real reason his teacher was doing this, and if he was right about it, the village was by far the least of the reasons the ANBU was risking his neck for this. He was doing it for someone precious to him.
"Does this mean I am arrested?" Naruto jokingly inquired. He was getting tired of the tense standoff with the two of them.
"No, for now at least..." Kakashi said, sounding serious all of the sudden. Naruto only rolled his eyes, not trying to escalate things further with a witty comment.
"You will tell us everything you know about this possible threat."
"Everything." The woman made a special emphasis on that word.
Naruto accepted, he would do whatever in his power to explain the threat without giving himself away.
"That's understandable."
"Well, I will do my best. Now if that's all..." Naruto turned around from then, ready to get to his dwellings.
Just as Naruto was about to jump from the edge of the building into the village, Kakashi stopped him by grabbing his shoulder softly.
"But first, let's go somewhere private."
Naruto laughed a little but shook his head.
"Thank you for the invitation, Kakashi, but I really meant it last time. I like women. So sorry..." Kakashi was stunned. And here he thought the loudmouth was about to ditch them when there was an order clearly implied in his friendly request..
This idiot and his antics will be the death of him.
"I don't swing that way, idiot."
OoOoOoO
"He still refuses to tell us his name." Yūgao whispered to his Captain, all while escorting the blond enigma to a secret place of Kakashi.
"His name is just a plus. Now, we need to know more about this threat he is talking about." Kakashi told her what they need from the teen. It was the best course of action by far. They could maintain a check on him this way and extract the information from him gradually.
Finally, they arrived at Kakashi's location, who had led them right into Training Ground 3.
"Peaceful, isn't it?" Naruto commented after they arrive into the silent field, noticing how the single eye on Kakashi narrowed if only a little when he gazed at him.
"Out of earshot from everyone."
"I hope that you are not gonna execute me here." Naruto said dryly, the humor from his voice gone. It was a probability nonetheless. When dealing with the ANBU you could never know. You could leave with a kiss on the cheek or a knife through the head.
"Because that would be a waste." He reminded them, letting some of his oppressive chakra flared up in retaliation if they ever thought such a thing. It was a silent message but he was sure they got it.
He would not go down without a fight.
Instead, Kakashi began to press his questions again.
"Who are you?" The son of Sakumo tried again, hoping to at least get a name from the individual that has been his center of thoughts for three weeks ago, all for the wrong reasons.
"Will you ever stop asking that?" Naruto retaliated, denying the question. He was getting tired of it.
Until an idea suddenly crossed his head, to finally shut up his teacher.
"Not until you tell me."
Following the advice from his silly book, Naruto had the perfect alias to go around. A fitting one.
And a stolen one.
"Fine. The name is Menma. Happy?" He sighed, trying to look like if they had finally worn him out with their stubbornness on the matter.
They looked at him for signs of deception but find nothing, buying it completely. The perfect way to make a lie believable is by mixing in some pieces of truth. Naruto knew that.
"Reasonably."
"Village?"
"I told you, I don't come from any of the Ninja Villages."
"Birthplace?" His would-be teacher had him there.
Naruto huffed. "Does it matter?
A single look at Kakashi and Yūgao's stony faces did it.
"Land of Fire."
For some reason that Naruto didn't know, he noticed as his sensei and his companion subtly relaxed at the statement.
"So a fellow Firelander."
Naruto just nodded. It was the truth after all.
"How did you enter our village?" This time the woman decided to try her hand again.
"Remember the incident at the gates?"
She looked at him with surprise in her eyes. "It was you?"
"Pretty easy thing you have going around. It was hardly a struggle." Naruto shrugged. It was actually fairly simple. Not like the time he infiltrated the Blood Prison. That was some hardcore shit.
"We get it. Stop the bashing." The Sharingan wielder decided to stop his boasting. They already knew the current state of Leaf. He would have to talk with Minato-sensei about these security loopholes.
"Tell us who is this person that you are after..."
"That I am after?" Naruto asked, not understanding the nature of the question.
"Yes, why else would you tell us about him unless you are profiting from it." Yūgao said coldly.
"I am not."
Yūgao and Kakashi begged him to differ.
"Please, no one is that selfless."
"Your teacher is..." Naruto pointed out and he had his teacher there. His father was a man of high principles at the end of the day. Just like him.
"He is an exception. Lord Fourth had always been too good for his own well-being." Kakashi addressed his sensei and father figure as his new title demanded it to the public.
"I am the same as him, then."
Kakashi narrowed his eyes dangerously. No one could compare to his teacher like that so easily. "You are not Minato Namikaze."
Naruto tried another angle to make his point known to them without furthering their wrath.
"I just want to help you both to keep a closer check on your teacher. He is the main target in this ordeal after all."
"That's our job, Menma-san. We are his ANBU for a reason. So tell us all you knew and I promise you we will let you go." Yūgao looked at her Captain with wide eyes. Clearly, she did not believe he had said that.
"I can't. Not because I don't believe in your duty but because whoever is going after him is strong, far stronger than you two. That's why I believe you will need all the help you can get." Naruto did not relent. He would let them brush him off to face Obito on their own. If he did, history would only repeat itself.
"I know it will be very suspicious if I met your Kage out of the blue, so as anyone. I had already thought about it and I have a fair solution."
"What do you suggest?" For once, Kakashi agreed to hear out his idea so Naruto only had one chance to convince his teacher that they would be better with around than leaving him in the dark.
So Naruto strived to make the most of it, letting his words flow and letting his ability of persuasiveness run wild.
"My idea is that you will 'befriend' me sooner during these days since we both are nearly the same age group. In time you will introduce me to everyone around you. This way people of your inner circle of relations will become accustomed to me and I will watch these threats should they ever arise without raising any questions. We will make this as realistically as possible by pretending to be meet each other all the while safeguarding Lord Fourth. We will keep images and I will maintain both of you informed on all matters concerning your villages and your leader." The blond finished.
"What do you say?" Kakashi asked Yūgao who still seemed skeptical about all of this.
"Is this really the best you could have come up with?" The purple-haired woman asked the teen who only nodded.
"It is. If you have something better, please enlighten me." Naruto confirmed, letting the two ANBU to talk it out between them.
Both ANBU began to whisper to each other.
When they were done, Naruto noticed as Kakashi looked back between the two of them and for a moment Naruto thought that he would reject his idea and his help altogether.
Until a hand was extended to him.
"We have a deal, Menma-san. We will be good partners." Kakashi gave him one of his eye smiles though if it was genuine, Naruto didn't know it.
"Same wise, Kakashi-san." Naruto grinned, this way he would have a better ground to act on the future threats without being surveyed by other people.
He accepted his handshake.
"You are pretty clever, you know that."
"I strive to please." At that, Naruto was yanked rather harshly by the Hatake nin to the latter private space.
"I hope for the life of you that aren't you deceiving us." Kakashi got serious all of a sudden and Naruto had to dissimulate the chill that he felt at such negative vibes when each word spoken.
Thankfully, Naruto had the perfect words to soothe Kakashi's worries.
"I promised you and you should know that I never go back on my word. That's my Nindo."
AN: I am back guys lol. Sorry for the waiting but I have been writing a book on my own and completely blacked out from this so forgive me. Don't worry lads, I will continue to update as long as you would have me.
Thank you for all the support in you reviews that helps me going, I mean it sincerely. As I had read over the reviews I will drop the pairing for the time being until I felt it right to bring it out again. Next Chapter we will see some more development from Naruto as he finally meets Kakashi's generation group. Yes, you already know which people I am talking about and perhaps some action here and there. Hope you liked the Chapter. Again, this is slowburn so please bear it with me and I am happy to tell you that we are finally getting near the end of the Post-War Era Arc and ready to jump into the Attack of the Kyubi Arc.
See you real soon.
DragoonMen