It certainly has been a while since the last update. Life does have that nasty habit of ending when people reach a certain age or suffer certain illnesses, and… well, let's just say that the past few months have not been the happiest. As a consequence, it was more or less impossible for me to write. But here is the new chapter.

Assassination arc

Justice

Freedom.

After all those years, he finally saw the starry night again, with his own two eyes. The cold fresh air filling his nose. The satisfying feeling of crumbling buildings underneath his paws. Eight tails, it would be more than sufficient to eradicate this pathetic village. If the boy was wise, he would even agree with his judgment. Kurama could sense the malice all around him, knew how much it hurt the boy. These humans, these self-righteous idiots, claimed to be 'good', yet how could they if they lived on top of the dark organization which did their dirty work.

He had told the boy that Danzō was not the origin of the darkness within this village. Killing Danzō would not be the solution. Danzō had supporters. Supporters which wanted Naruto out of the way. Who wanted to control the unpredictable jinchūriki. Who wanted to reduce him to a mere weapon, a loyal and emotionless slave. Kurama found that unacceptable. The boy was a naïve fool, but how could a lowly bipedal creature that had barely lived more years than Kurama had lived centuries compare?

At least he was starting to see the wisdom of killing those who were too vile, those who were beyond redemption. He had hesitated against the Uchiha, thinking that people like him could change. Like the Hyūga boy. That people could come to see their mistakes and change their lives. Perhaps some could. But in others… the conviction of fanatics was not shaken easily. A true fanatic would never truly yield. A man like Danzō would never give up on his goals. Sure, such people could be beaten into submission, forcing them to abandon their goals, but once their opponent was weak they would strike again.

After all, an alliance with the powerful was never to be trusted.

That was a lesson Kurama had learned when he was very young. Humans used him, humans feared him, but humans never trusted him. By extension, human were also not to be trusted.

Seeing the negative emotions in them, Kurama had always been alone, witnessing the same repetitive cycle of events over and over again. There would always be some flaw in their personality, waiting to grow and corrupt the human. The Hyuga boy had managed to overcome that flaw, but others were not like that, they would not be that strong; the Hyuga boy was a rare example. Those pesky Uchiha were the opposite. The darker their personality became, the more their power grew, the greater their hunger for power became. They always needed more power to overcome the obstacles they created in their own madness…

Idiocy.

The little rodents were scurrying around, hiding between buildings, waiting for their superiors to arrive. They were frozen in terror, with more than a few losing control of their bodily functions. It was a downside of his perfect sense of smell, one Kurama never appreciated.

It was tempting now, oh so tempting, to just push further.

Taking full control could even be considered good. This village thought itself to be different, misguided in its belief that it still followed Hashirama's foolish dreams, but at its heart it was just as vile as the human settlements. Just like the others, Konohagakure earned its money through conflict. Violence was not a threat to them; it was welcomed as an opportunity. Violence and greed created corruption and an ever expanding number of grudges. And as long as they made their living from such work, they would never change.

After all, those in power would never willingly surrender it.

Eight tails were out, and the boy was unconscious. The boy's dreams were filled with hatred, filled with pain and a desire to avenge those that were precious to him. It would be easy to manipulate him now, to make him tear off that annoying seal and to open the gates. Nine tails… if the ninth came out, there would be nothing in the world capable of stopping him. Nothing except the likes of Hashirama or Madara.

If he pushed on, Kurama knew there would be no way back. The boy would perish, the seal that held the Gekihoko would likely dissolve with his death, and whatever vague warning he had gotten about the Jūbi… but that required the Rinnegan. Those rippled eyes were so fresh in his memories. And that was peculiar, since Kurama couldn't recall seeing them ever since his father had perished. The Rikudō Sennin had warned them about that a long time ago:

"Even though you have been separated, you shall always be together. Until eventually that time shall come when you will become one. You each carry a name, and with a different shape than you had up to now, you will be shown a righteous path, one different from the time you spent inside of me."

When they would become one.

Was this cryptic warning a sign that the Jūbi would one day reclaim the nine sentient parts of its energy? Was it a warning that eventually someday someone would awaken the Rinnegan again, finding a way to return that accursed husk of the Jūbi back to this world?

The Rikudō Sennin had been worried. He had embraced the idealistic foolishness of his youngest son, but he was no fool himself. The many weapons and artifacts that he had left behind were a sign of that. Someone who wished for peace, who wanted to give humanity hope, would not spread tools that were meant for people to defend themselves or to attack others.

Kurama had to repress a sigh. He had been young and foolish back then. Father had said he had the greatest potential of the nine, saying that he had given him the gift to assess a human's worth. Instead it had been a curse. Just like the gift of ninshu had become a plague of ninjutsu. He who had intended to spread peace, had eventually caused war. Because he had underestimated human nature.

Or was there something else? 'The mistakes my mother made' had been something the old man had repeated often. What mistake? Had she been the origin of this curse? Of this taint that the humans had in their hearts? What balance had she destroyed, and why had the old man been unable to restore it?

The tiny humans were screaming. Petty fireballs hit his legs. Pebbles thrown as his shins. Streams of water that felt refreshingly cool. Did those insects really think that they could challenge him?

'Freedom has become a risk. I always laughed at humans for chasing their short-lived victories at the expense of the eventual defeats… would I make the same mistake? The boy didn't resist, his state of complete unconsciousness ensuring that his seal has taken very little damage. Restoring the boy's body is not a problem. There is a way back, but should I take that route?' Kurama pondered, blatantly ignoring the pesky humans while he trashed his way through the part of the village where he had emerged from the underground Root base.

While he would not admit being so petty and childish, Kurama enjoyed destroying this particular district, even though it had been partially burned already. Destroying Uchiha property was too much fun, he couldn't pass it up. Besides, he was in a good mood now, so he moved slow enough to give the insects time to dodge.

'But can I trust the brat? And who is Ryōta really? I finally have the perfect opportunity. Should I put my fate in the hands of a boy who barely has ten years of experience? But if the alternative is the Jūbi…'

Three massive toads appeared. They were as huge as he was. Well, if his ninth tail came out, Kurama knew he would be bigger, but that barely mattered. The toads were a signal the most dangerous, and most lecherous, among these pests had come forth. And the appearance of that poisonous slug Katsuyu heralded the arrival of the second most dangerous human, the grandchild of that annoying Mokuton man and his first jailor Uzumaki Mito.

'Gheh. It seems I already made my choice. Oh well, at least I had some fun.'

He redirected his chakra, focusing it on healing the boy who rested at the center of his chest. The strain of all this chakra had severely damaged the boy's body, even if Kurama had tried to minimize the damage he cause, but the boy was still too young and his tenketsu too underdeveloped to sustain these amounts of chakra. He still needed a lot of training. But it was nothing that Kurama couldn't heal. At least the seal had barely sustained any damage. Having the boy's consciousness temporarily taken out of the picture had ironically been the boy's saving grace. Without him struggling back, the flow of chakra had barely affected the seal.

In a cloud of smoke the Kyūbi vanished from the sight of the humans. The humans, stunned, now could only see a blond boy falling down through the smoke. Only two were fast enough to respond. Fast enough to catch the boy before he hit the ground. And that was good.

Kurama felt like he had wasted enough chakra on the boy today. Healing even more damage would be more trouble than it would be worth. It was the boy who had attacked Danzō, in all his foolishness, after all. All that talk about ending a cycle of hatred, and yet what did the boy do?

'Damn. I'm already beginning to second-guess my decision.'

"Stop trashing around, brat."

"…eh?" groggily, his eyes unfocussed, Uzumaki Naruto began to wake up. What had just happened? Several of Danzō's men had surrounded him, used some kind of collaborative raiton jutsu on him, and then… "Sharingan!"

A deep silence followed. Naruto saw a blonde blur move closer, removing the veil in front of his eyes. "Sharingan? What are you talking about?"

Naruto tried to move, but found that his limbs were tied. "Danzō," he groaned. "Baa-chan, he's dangerous. He has a freaky sharingan, with a completely weird pattern instead of those tomoe."

"Mangekyō Sharingan?" the male voice of the Hokage sounded. "What are you talking about?"

"We should wait before we start questioning him, Godaime-sama," a third voice sounded. Naruto turned as far as the binds allowed him to, and saw an older and scarred version of Shikamaru stand next to Jiraiya. "Let him defend himself in front of everyone. He will need to explain his actions."

The 'or else' was left unspoken, but Naruto heard it clearly in the voice of the Nara.

"He's physically in a perfect shape. He has sustained some damage… I'd say someone tried to cast a very powerful genjutsu on him. Perhaps there was indeed a Mangekyō Sharingan. He will need some sleep."

"An hour, that is all I can give him, Hime," Jiraiya sighed. "Shikaku, are the fires extinguished?"

"Yes, Godaime-sama," the Nara nodded. "The Uchiha compound is practically gone, though. It seems the Kyūbi was purposely trying to-"

The world went black when Tsunade added something to Naruto's IV. Not that he didn't welcome the sleep, but he would rather have heard what the Kyūbi had done. Was that why he had blacked out after Danzō did that Kotoamathingy to him?

That didn't explain the pain in his left eye, though.

"Brat, keep pretending that you're still asleep."

'What?'

"You're in trouble."

'What did you do, Kyūbi?' Naruto thought wearily.

"You wanted to kill that cripple bastard, right? Well, I did it for you. I also more or less wrecked his entire base, and killed his puppets," the Kyūbi explained patiently. "It might have freaked out those puny humans. The slug woman is taking you to their meeting hall again. Do you have the memories of your clone?"

'My clone? Oh, yes, they dispelled when… oh crap.'

"Yes, you may not have killed that Hyūga woman, but your bratty clone certainly made you a few enemies," it was a rare occasion, but Naruto actually heard the demon laugh without a shred of malice. The boy figured that this entire situation was one big joke to the Kyūbi. "Yes," Kurama confirmed. "It was fun to stretch my paws for a bit. And the additional carnage was a welcome bonus. I haven't enjoyed myself like this in a century."

'You wrecked half the village thirteen years ago, remember?'

"No, I don't remember," all mirth had left its voice. "Believe me or not, but while I do not regret the attack, I did not do it voluntarily. But that is a concern for later. The slug woman gave you medication to stay asleep for a specific amount of time. I negated its effects and woke you a few minutes early, because I thought it would be fair to warn you."

'Oh well, they can't send me to Danzō anymore.'

"That is what worries me. They can't do that, so perhaps they will demand the death penalty."

'I doubt it. I've got proof now,' Naruto sobered up. 'Those mission logs from Danzō. And those three Hyūga elders… did they stop the fires?'

"I doubt that their bodies will look that good, but they should be able to identify them," Kurama replied, indifferent about the way the corpses had been mutilated. To him, a soulless body meant nothing, it was merely the fleshy husk which had once been alive but was now empty.

'Ugh. I hope they will be willing to listen. How badly did you scare them? At least… you didn't kill anyone, did you?'

"Apart from those Root maggots, I can't recall killing anyone. I might have accidentally stepped on someone, though," the dark chuckle wasn't very reassuring to Naruto. "I did bring out eight tails, so yes… they will be terrified of you now."

'Eight… you did what?! Eight tails? How long have I been out?!'

"About two hours," the Kyūbi continued to chuckle. "Thanks to you I had a pretty fun evening, so I returned the courtesy and healed your body. In fact, you owe me for that one. It was shredded to the point where even the slug woman would have been powerless to rescue you. Your body can't even handle the strain of a little chakra."

'I am supposed to be indebted to you because you healed the damage that you inflicted?' Naruto sighed. 'You really are odd. Ah well, regardless of those semantics: thank you. I'd rather have killed Danzō with my own two hands, but as long as he's gone I'm happy. That filthy bastard had to pay for what he has done to Hitomi-sama.'

"You should probably start to fake waking up now," the Kyūbi ignored Naruto's gratitude.

It turned out to be exactly as the Kyūbi had said.

Naruto silently sat in the same chair in which his foolish clone had antagonized the entire council- and the Hyūga in particular. They had prodded him with a senbon first, proving by injury that this time they were not dealing with a clone. Predictably, all of the councilmen and women were terrified. Apparently they had all agreed that each head could take one member of their clan as a guard, filling up the room quite a bit more than the last time Naruto had seen it. Well, since the last time he remembered seeing it.

Four Anbu were positioned around him, and Naruto wondered whether it was to keep the council safe from him, or the other way around. Jiraiya had let the people rage first. Several argued, like the Kyūbi had predicted, that Naruto should be put to death. The insensitive way in which they would condemn Karin by becoming a jinchūriki angered Naruto, but he remained silent.

It was especially interesting to see how the head of the Nara clan supported the notion that a new jinchūriki could offer better results than the current one. By the looks of it, Shikamaru completely disagreed. Apparently the son was not very fond of the father right now.

Another interesting bit of information was Tsunade's reaction. The council had, at first, tried to prevent her from getting to him. She had wanted to heal him, but the 'wise' people of the council had stated that she wasn't neutral towards the boy. From what Jiraiya just reminded Koharu of, Naruto learned that Tsunade had given them two choices. The first was them allowing her to go and heal Naruto; the second was that she went anyway but that she would tear everyone apart who attempted to stop her from getting to him.

'Baa-chan… you really shouldn't have gone that far for me.'

But she did. And Naruto was immensely grateful for it. She and Jiraiya showed him that he mattered to them. And they were not his only allies. Sarutobi Asuma was cautious, but condemned his fellow councilmen for acting so foolishly. Naruto had to suppress a chuckled when the man scolded them all, as if they were little children, because they acted purely out of fear, out of cowardice. Not that Naruto could really blame them. Standing in front of the Kyūbi was something terrifying. Even if there had only been eight tails worth of chakra, which meant that the creature would be far less imposing that when Naruto met it in his inner world.

Like Asuma, Inuzuka Tsume demanded to hear Naruto's side of the story first. Why he had gone into that hidden base. A base of which none of the councilmen even knew what it was. There had been many corpses, most unidentified, but Shimura Danzō and three Hyūga elders had been there, as well as corpses of clan children whom had been reported to have died years ago, making Tsume wonder what on earth had been going on.

"A conspiracy," Naruto smiled softly when he heard the protests. "I can explain, but where is my stuff? Or did that fox destroy it all?" The clothes had been a gift from Hitomi, and the flak jacket and the belt had been birthday gifts. Items that held great significance to him, and he would regret it if they had been destroyed.

He was in luck.

"When the Kyūbi disappeared, you emerged practically undamaged," Jiraiya explained when he put Naruto's possessions on the table in the center of the meeting hall. Aside from the blood, the clothes themselves seemed pretty much intact. A few tears from the battle before Naruto lost control, but the Kyūbi hadn't caused further damage.

"The scroll in the second casing from the right," Naruto nodded at his belt.

"A storage scroll," Jiraiya held it up to calm the people. "What did you seal within it?"

"Right… and I am supposed to believe that you did not check those scrolls already?" Naruto retorted dryly. "It's a desk."

"Why a desk?" Jiraiya wondered, although Naruto could see it in his eyes that the man already knew. Naruto sighted and decided to play along.

"This desk belongs… belonged to Shimura Danzō. When unsealed, you will find a certain file on top of it that might be of interest."

"You stole-"

"I figured you people wanted proof," Naruto stopped Koharu from interrupting. "That file is proof, hence my reason for sealing it away. And as for why the entire thing… well, based on what this one file told me, I figured that there would be much more interesting information in that thing. But I couldn't break the seals which Danzō put on it, at least not within the limited amount of time I had."

While the people here were all skilled shinobi, and did not give any outward reaction to what Naruto said, Naruto did feel some people with very, very, negative emotions just now. The elder Koharu being one of the worst. 'I bet she was one of Danzō's allies. The Yamanaka and the Aburame don't seem to be too pleased either. Shika's dad is peculiar too. I wonder if the Nara were dealing with Root as well…'

Ignoring the council, Jiraiya unsealed the desk. There had been a few files on top when Naruto sealed the thing, but now only one file remained. 'And Erokage doesn't take any risks either. Can't blame him. I bet that Danzō had some very dirty secrets. Probably even on the people within this room. I basically handed him a treasure box.' Now that Naruto looked at it, he noticed that the scrolls in which he had sealed Danzō's cabinets were absent as well. 'And if those that did deal with Danzō knew how much information had gone out in the open… hidden knowledge is always more dangerous. Smart move, Ero-sennin!'

Jiraiya read from the file how three Hyūga elders had approached Danzō. First of all, Jiraiya emphasized that Danzō had illegally created a division of Anbu that fell under his command and not under that of the Hokage. By all rights, Danzō should be charged with treason. But that was a matter that could be decided at a later time.

"Three elders of the Hyūga clan approached Danzō. In return for their political support in acquiring a certain asset," Jiraiya gestured at Naruto, "Danzō was to remove Hyūga Hitomi and Hyūga Hinata. Both were deemed-"

"IMPOSSIBLE! This cannot-"

"Hiashi, this is not your turn to speak," Jiraiya said icily. When his chakra flared the Anbu that were present within the room immediately drew their weapons, all prepared to protect their Hokage. "This is written by Danzō himself. Three elders were found dead, as we confirmed before Naruto entered the room. Their presence in this illegal base of operations is enough evidence to support the validity of this document."

"None of my clan would dare to-"

"SILENCE!" Naruto had never seen Jiraiya angry before, but right now the toad sage had lost his temper. "If you are too irrational to remain in this room, I will have you removed from it."

"…"

"As I was saying," Jiraiya returned to the file in his hand. "The three elders hired Danzō's organization, Root, to 'remove' Hyūga Hitomi and her daughter. But that is not enough evidence to prove that Naruto is innocent in this," he turned to the door. "Namiashi-san, please enter."

As commanded, Raidō entered, with a familiar face behind him.

"This is Tayuya," Jiraiya introduced the girl, who was now rather nervous even if she did her best to hide that. "In the encounter between our forces and that of Otogakure, when Uchiha Sasuke defected from Konoha, we captured this girl. She is a former member of the guard detail of Orochimaru himself."

"Why would you bring such a girl in here at this time?" elder Homura questioned. "She has nothing to do with this case. In fact, I wonder why she hasn't been sent to the Torture and Interrogation division sooner."

"Because, Homura-san, she was not acting voluntarily as a kunoichi of Otogakure. I am sure you are all aware of the seal which burdens Mitarashi Anko. She was once Orochimaru's student, and was amongst the first ones on whom he experimented with the Cursed Seal. Tayuya, however, received a version which was far more advanced. This meant that she was forced to obey his commands."

"Once you fall in his hands, there is no way out," Tayuya scoffed, her annoyance with the seal overpowering her unease of standing the center of this room, with all those people watching her.

"Unless there is someone good enough at Fūinjutsu to negate the effects," Naruto smiled at her. "We managed to free her from the influence of the Cursed Seal, granting her the chance of a new life."

"I have examined her," Yamanaka Inoichi spoke up, after Jiraiya signaled him to speak up. "While she suffered a great mental trauma from it, Tayuya is now free from the seal."

"But why go to such lengths to rescue that girl?" Tsume wondered.

"I can answer that," Tsunade spoke up. "While it was difficult to prove with certainty, as my former teammate has a nasty habit of experimenting even on his own shinobi, I found that Tayuya is in fact a descendant of the Uzumaki clan." Naruto had to give it to the Senju, she did lie very convincingly. To the point where even he believed it, even though he knew it was a lie. She was quite persuasive if she needed to be.

"An Uzumaki?" Homura frowned. "Are you certain?"

"Orochimaru has always held a fascination for the old bloodlines," Jiraiya sighed. "Is it truly surprising that he found one of the few remaining Uzumaki? The few who survived the fall of Uzushiogakure have scattered, but that wasn't something that would stop him. But this is not why I called Tayuya here, although it does explain why we gave her a chance. No, the reason why I summoned her here was because of the information she possesses, and what she shared after her Cursed Seal was contained."

"As the old man said," Tayuya hesitated for bit, but completely ignored any form of respect. It irked several of the people within the council, but after the way Jiraiya had silenced Hiashi none dared to interrupt. "I was one of the four who guarded the Snake whenever he went out of Otogakure. As such, I was also present when he met his contact in Konoha, back when he was preparing the invasion. While the bastard killed and impersonated the Kazekage, that haughty dickwad, to fool Sunagakure and to drag them into a war they never wanted, he also had an ally within Konoha. That is why the old man and the blond perv hid me in the Uzumaki compound," she explained. "If that cripple asshole had gotten a chance, I'd be pushing up the daisies by now."

"…you mean to say that Shimura Danzō had allied himself with Orochimaru?" Homura grimaced. Several shocked gasps could be heard, and some of the people clearly had to restrain themselves from interrupting.

"Yeah, the Snake had helped him with those sharingan of his, so the two knew each other quite well," Tayuya shrugged. "Orochimaru would remove the old guy who had the hat for him," she pointed at Jiraiya, "and in return Danzō would make sure Orochimaru would get the Uchiha princess."

"And that is why I was convinced that Naruto was being framed," Jiraiya clarified. Only Naruto noticed that the Yamanaka clan head experienced a negative emotion that mostly seemed to resemble guilt. "Danzō's hand was forced. He somehow learned that one of Orochimaru's shinobi was taken to the Uzumaki compound, forcing him to act. After all, Tayuya knew about Danzō's hidden deals. At the same time, he wanted to get his hands on Uzumaki Naruto. Raidō, if you please," he gestured at the silent man.

Raidō rolled out a scroll and unsealed its content. A corpse of one of the people who had ambushed them shortly before they had arrived at Konoha, Naruto realized.

"As was reported earlier by both Yūhi Kurenai and Namiashi Raidō, there were two squads who had ambushed their group. While impersonating shinobi from Iwa, they were in fact operatives of Danzō's Root," Jiraiya opened the corpse's mouth and showed the tongue. "As you have all seen earlier, there were seals that Danzō used on his forces, which vanished on the moment of his death. At the same when team eight, Raidō, and Naruto were attacked, another group of Root Anbu moved out to assassinate Hyūga Hitomi," Jiraiya held up the file. "And they did it in a way so that Naruto would be seen as the culprit."

"He wanted me in jail, and was expecting you guys to see me as a liability. And unsurprisingly, there were several among you who were very eager to send me off to Danzō, who could 'retrain' me," Naruto scoffed. "I did not really agree, so I took matter in my own hands. I broke free and located Danzō's lair… and then I made the mistake of underestimating him. He had been anticipating my every move. Well, most of them…"

"As Tayuya indicated," Jiraiya spoke up to silence the murmur. "Shimura Danzō had an implanted sharingan. And not just a regular one, if what Naruto said is true."

"It had an odd pattern, not the three tomoe," Naruto nodded. "And the genjutsu he cast… while I can't fully remember what happened after he cast it, I clearly remember him saying 'Kotoamatsukami'."

The murmur was gone, and even Jiraiya and Tsunade looked shocked, not having heard the name of the jutsu from Naruto before. If Naruto dropped a needle, its sound would have been deafening amidst this silence.

"Koto… Kotoamatsukami?" Nara Shikaku was the first to gather his wits. "That is… no, the corpse of Uchiha Shisui has never been found. And the circumstances of his suicide had always been strange," the Nara shook his head. "The possibility cannot be ruled out."

"But if it was Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan," Hiashi looked sick. Naruto knew why. Hyūga Hizashi had acted very strange before his death. "The implications…"

"He tried to turn me in one of his emotionless minions," Naruto clarified. "But I escaped it somehow. I think I broke out of it because of the Kyūbi. Which… well, I guess you all know better what happened afterward than I. Last thing I remember before waking up again was seeing Danzō's Sharingan," he sighed.

"In the end," Jiraiya kept going, pressing the momentum they had built up. The entire council was flabbergasted by the chain of revelations. "In the end we suffered no casualties, even if the Kyūbi destroyed most of what was left of the Uchiha district. But the alternative would have been that Naruto had been compromised. Imagine the danger of Danzō turning him against Konoha. And please remember that Danzō did not act in the best interest of Konoha, as he always liked to claim. A person acting in the best interest of Konoha would not have sided with Orochimaru in order to remove Sarutobi Hiruzen. We all know that Danzō wished to become Hokage, and if some people had not managed to convince me," he gave a quick look at Naruto, "then perhaps we would have had Shimaru Danzō as the Godaime Hokage. As he had intended."

"The Nara clan votes against any prosecution of Uzumaki Naruto in the case of the assassination on Hyūga Hitomi," Shikaku was apparently the only one who had managed to keep up. But with him, the others followed. It seemed impossible not to conclude that Danzō had been the one behind it all. "But this does not remove another pressing issue, Hokage-sama," the Nara continued after the vote had finished in Naruto's favor. "The boy lost control of the Kyūbi, again."

"He is a danger to Konoha," Hiashi had not forgotten the threats which Naruto had issued. The bonds between the Hyūga and the Uzumaki were broken, and by law that meant that neither of the clans could use each other's jutsu.

Though, Naruto did not exclude the possibility that the misguided Hyūga simply refused to believe that Naruto had not murdered his wife. Especially when it was Hyūga Hideo who whispered something in his son's ear.

"I have already taken care of that," Jiraiya sighed, knowing that there would be no way out of this. "Uzumaki Naruto will train at a secluded place to gain control of the Kyūbi's chakra."

"How?"

"Where?"

The Hokage gestured the people to settle down. "Until he has proven to be in full control, Uzumaki Naruto will reside at Myōbokuzan."

Naruto sighed in defeat, but realized that this was inevitable. This was what Jiraiya had been planning anyway. This sort of training was not something that could be done within the confines of Konoha, nor could Jiraiya, as Hokage, afford to wander too far from Konoha. Summoning and reverse-summoning offered the best solution that they could think of. It gave Naruto a place to train, while Jiraiya could aid him without failing his duties as a Hokage.

But having to leave the village was a disappointment. 'What did I expect? I acted without thinking it through. I underestimated Danzō, and now I have to pay the price.'

"Erokage," Naruto whispered when the man removed his shackles. "How long?"

"Two years, perhaps three," Jiraiya gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, kid. But after your crazy stunt… you left me no other option. It was easy enough to cover up Fūka's actions, but what you did drew way too much attention for that. The entire village is shaking in fear. But I'll make sure that the information you collected is put to good use," he smiled shrewdly. "I found some more 'interesting' deals between Danzō and some of the clans. That should make sure I gather enough support so that the council can't prevent you from being reinstated as a shinobi once you are ready to make your grand come back."

"What the fuck, geezer," Tayuya hissed, joining the conversation. "Ya promised me we would get the little perv out, and while isn't thrown in jail, you're condemning him to a motherfucking two years of banishment? I thought he was going to win this shit, not lose it!"

"I know it kinda feels like defeat, but I was proven innocent. And what comes next is training," Naruto smiled. "It was already scheduled that I would go, but now it's a bit sooner. Don't worry about it, you two saved my neck. You know, if you keep worrying about me like that, I'd almost think you'd care about me. Why don't you accept me as your Nii-chan?"

"Fuck you," Tayuya scoffed. "Smart-ass bastard."

"I love you too," Naruto chuckled. "Oi, Erokage, can I pack my stuff first?"

"Sure, and say goodbye to your friends. Most are already at the Uzumaki compound. I would like it if you found a way to stop that Fūka woman from going berserk in the future, though. She felt compelled to rescue you, and was rather difficult to stop. We were lucky that the only victims she made were Danzō's goons."

"Sure. Or I can just tell not to seek out violence, and to follow your… no that would be wrong, I can't do that to her, you're too perverted to be able to order her around," Naruto grinned when he saw his kage's indignant expression. "I'll tell her to keep obeying Raidō's commands. He's whipped by Anko anyway."

"Hey, I'm not that bad," Jiraiya softly whimpered.

"You're worse," Tayuya grumbled. "And your student is exactly the same."

"Hey, don't compare me to him," Naruto whined. "That's just mean!"

"Are you certain your eye doesn't hurt?"

"I told you it is fine, Baa-chan," Naruto sighed. She was fretting again, worried about his health, and his eye in particular.

"An iris shouldn't change color like that. It is unnatural," she countered. "If you wait a bit longer, I should be able to run tests on your left eye, and see what has changed."

"Hime, if he says that his eye is good, then we should trust him."

"Why?" Tsunade huffed. "He's even more reckless than you are, Jiraiya."

"And look how awesome I became," Jiraiya tapped his Hokage hat. "Biggest badass of the five nations! Naruto will become even better!"

"You be careful with him, you hear me," the Senju poked against his chest. "If anything happens to him… I don't care what you promised the council, just bring him here and I will heal him."

"I won't let anything happen to him," Jiraiya promised once again. Fukasaku and Shima were watching the banter, amused that their wayward student was put on his place by the bossy woman. "I managed to get him out of the clutches of the council, so do you really think I'm going to take unnecessary risks now?"

"I know. And I'm grateful you did that," Tsunade sighed. "I knew you were planning something, but that you had so much on Danzō surprised me."

"…how grateful?" Jiraiya smiled lecherously as always. Hokage or not, he remained a giant pervert. To his surprise, and that over everyone around him, he did not get his usual punch. Just a tired glare.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Naruto turned to Kurenai. They had all assembled at the Uzumaki compound, knowing it was time to say goodbye to Naruto. At least for now.

"Sensei, I know that Hinata couldn't make it with everything happing in her clan right now," Naruto hesitated. "So I wrote her a letter. Could you give it to her?"

"Of course," Kurenai was somewhat surprised by his bashful attitude. For someone who had managed to terrify the entire village just a handful of hours ago, the boy was acting quite meek. "I'm sure she would have been here if not for-"

"Look out for her, Sensei," Naruto's look changed a bit. One eye black, the other blue, but both were deathly serious. He really, really wished he could go out in person and say goodbye, but unfortunately not all things went as he wanted them to. "Neji will help her, but in this chaos no one can predict what might happen."

"We won't let anything happen to her," Kiba growled.

"Yeah!" Karin chimed in. "We might not be able to unleash demons on them, but we'll protect her with all we have!"

He smiled, and turned to the four others. Tenten hugged him briefly, wishing him good luck, although she hoped he wouldn't get too far ahead of her with Fūinjutsu. Lee shook his head vehemently, making an oath on his youth that they would have the most youthful duel in the youthful history of Konohagakure once Naruto returned. Naruto wondered how many meanings the word 'youth' had for the boy. Ino tried to apologize for Sakura, who they had not been able to find, but Naruto didn't want to hear that.

"It's her choice, Ino. She has gone through a lot, so I'm sure that she hasn't gotten through it unscathed. She might not be the same old Sakura, but… well, you know Sakura and I never really got along all that well," he chuckled. "If I can ask one thing of you and Shikamaru… give her a chance. Tayuya, I mean."

"Eh?"

"Oh, you'll hear about that soon enough," Naruto smirked.

"Oh," Shikamaru paused for a moment when he realized what Naruto had said. Not that he knew how Naruto had gotten that knowledge, though. "She's the new person, right?"

"You were there," Naruto referred to the council meeting. "She may be foulmouthed, aggressive, and mistrustful, but she isn't all evil. Just happily insane, much like Anko-chan," he laughed when both Cursed-Seal-wearing women objected loudly. "And I'm sorry for what I did, but I had to get out of that jail," he bowed to Anko, apologizing.

"I know you had your reasons, kiddo. Why else do you think I allowed you to hit me?" Anko gave him a carefree smile. "Get strong, and get back here soon. There's plenty of ass that still needs kicking!"

"Naruto," Shikamaru spoke up again. "What my father said… I'm not sure what connection there is, but I'll figure it out. We are all aiming to get stronger, strong enough to make sure that stuff like this never happens again. If our parents screw up, then we rise up and challenge them."

"I thought you found it too troublesome to be rebellious?" Kiba frowned. "Did you get hit on the head? Ino, did you screw up his mind? HEY, why do you hit me?"

"Stop ruining the moment, you idiot," Ino huffed.

"Naruto-chan, Jiraiya-chan, ya both ready ta go?"

"Yes Shima-sama," Naruto smirked. "Bye guys! I'll be back before you know it!"

Bonus: How grateful?

Paperwork.

The old man had often said that it was the bane of every Hokage, and usually he had just laughed it away. Only after taking the hat did he realize how right Sarutobi Hiruzen had been about the matter. Reading reports on events that took place within the village usually was dry material.

Even something that had obviously been comedic was turned into a boring report. For instance the prank from a certain young Sarutobi, who had somehow smuggled a dozen young monkeys into the academy halls. The animals had held little respect for young Konohamaru, resulting in pure chaos. Jiraiya smiled, though wondered why something like this ended up on his desk.

He'd have to see Iruka about this.

Sure, his office needed to mediate between the Sarutobi clan and the Academy regarding the cost of fixing the damage, but it wasn't like Asuma was going to create an issue from this.

No, then there were reports that were more crucial that came to his office. The next one on the pile contained the results that the intricate scheme in the northern territory had generated. Orochimaru obviously hadn't fallen for the trap, but it didn't mean he hadn't lost any of his men to it. The current number was 196, and likely to rise. The assassination of the regional leadership, the apparent collapse of the non-shinobi forces that enforced protection, and the seemingly low number of patrol duties from shinobi squads on the borders had given some of Otogakure's forces the idea that it would be a good opportunity to attack.

Truth was that the patrol squads had been doubled, at the very least, and the Oto's forces walked right into a trap. Unfortunately it seemed like only the low-ranked shinobi had been stupid enough to take the gamble, and Otogakure barely lost any truly capable shinobi. Still, those that had been captured alive, or whose corpses had been intact enough to be sealed, showed the wide variety of experimentations which Orochimaru had conducted on his forces.

Know thy enemy, had been a thing that Jiraiya had told the shinobi he had sent on this covert mission.

Otogakure was a new and unpredictable player in this game, so gathering knowledge on their abilities was valuable. Depending on what they would provide him, Jiraiya would be able to see if the entire feint had indeed been fairly successful- though he expected that it was.

He made a quick note for Ibiki, to commit enough resources into breaking the minds of those that been caught alive, and the research department, to examine the corpses.

"At least this is the stuff a kage should spend his time on, not lousy academy issues," Jiraiya mumbled to himself. Absentmindedly he notified Iruka, who would archive the pile of reports on closed cases that Jiraiya had gone through, and send the messages that Jiraiya had prepared for the active cases.

Without waiting for the former teacher, Jiraiya took another folder, and started reading.

A few minutes after, however, he decided to press the button a second time, as Iruka hadn't shown up yet. Again, Iruka didn't respond. Jiraiya sighed, massaged his temples, and stood up from behind his desk. He barely opened the door when he heard Iruka's voice, raised as if in the middle of a heated argument.

"-said I am not allowed to decide on that."

"Then let me in!"

"I cannot do that either, Tsunade-sama," Iruka sighed in a manner that made it obvious to Jiraiya that it was said multiple times before. Jiraiya grimaced, and was tempted to close the door again, rather than swinging it open. Tsunade's stubbornness was something which Jiraiya knew better than practically anyone. And unlike Shizune, he had no idea how to calm her down once she was 'unleashed'.

"What can you do, Iruka?" she asked snidely. "You can't raise the hospital budget, you can't let me in the office, you can't-"

"Could you please stop harassing my secretary, hime?" Jiraiya sighed, deciding the help the poor man out.

"Jiraiya! What the hell is this nonsense? Why doesn't he allow me to enter your office?"

"Paperwork, hime, I needed to do a lot of paperwork," he put his hands up in an attempt to calm her, as if he offered his surrender. "You know that I don't have all that much spare time nowadays."

"How is he?" Tsunade demanded, knowing full well why Jiraiya had a shortage of spare time- he spent much of it with the toads, training Naruto.

"He's slowly calming down," Jiraiya smiled, leading her into his office. "Or as he said it: 'it is nice not to be surrounded by negative emotions all of the time'. Of course, it'll take time for him to really clear his mind. The Kyūbi had quite a grip on him."

"But he'll recover, right?" Tsunade worried. "And how is his eye? He doesn't show any signs of rejection, does he? He's too reckless, just like…"

"-just like Nawaki. Although the Kyūbi surely left its mark on him. But his eyes are well. One blue, one black, and just like the last time you asked there don't seem to be any adverse effects. I guess you will have got to wait with researching what happened to his eye until he is ready to come back to Konoha again," Jiraiya chuckled a little when he saw her sighing dejectedly. "Give him two years, hime. In these past months his control has improved significantly. His prowess at fūinjutsu is growing, thanks to Gamazu, as is his skill at bojutsu, thanks to Gamaken. He'll have to train his ass off before he can start training senjutsu, though."

"Two years… he deserved better. That stupid council shouldn't have blamed him for what Danzō caused."

"At least he got away with a lenient punishment."

"Yes, thanks to you."

"You said you were grateful for that, didn't you?" Jiraiya suggested.

A vein appeared on Tsunade's forehead. "I'll buy you sake, that's it."

"Aww…"

"When will you ever stop this foolishness?"

"Never," Jiraiya smirked. Chasing love was never something that he could label as 'foolishness', no matter how bad his odds were.

"You know I'm… old," she grimaced. "Why are you still-"

"Tsk. Did you honestly think I only cared for you due to your looks? You're cutting yourself short, Tsunade-hime," Jiraiya shook his head in mock-disappointment. "Let's go and get some sake. I'm not in the mood for paperwork anymore."

Opening a window, the Hokage fled his own office. Iruka would be mad (again), once he'd notice that Jiraiya ran away (again), but a man should have priorities in life. And at the moment, a certain confused and slightly blushing woman was his first priority.

A/N: Now that Jiraiya has taken Naruto as his apprentice, continuing his training on Myōbokuzan, it shouldn't be a big surprise that this is the point where a time skip happens. This story will have one more chapter, the epilogue, after that I will mark The Honoured guest as 'complete'. Thematically it feels as the right moment. Naruto is no longer the 'honoured guest' of the Hyūga clan, those formal ties now severed.

When I started this adventure I mostly expected that I'd be flamed to the ground. I never published anything before, so everything was new. It's easy to read, easy to be a critic on the sidelines, but to actually create something? Yeah, that was exciting. Even reaching the Chūnin Exams seemed like a big goal to me.

But hell… look at where we are now: approaching 1.5 million views, nearly 2k reviews, 2.5 favs and 3k alerts. Who would have thought this story would reach such heights? I surely didn't. As arrogant as it may sound, I'm really proud of what I accomplished with THG. Though, I also know that THG is a flawed creation. I had to reread the lot after the involuntary break, and I cringed at times; I think I simply had too many ideas and tried to cram them all in the same story. As the saying goes: hindsight is a bitch. But more on that after the epilogue.

Ignoring my musings, I hope you'll all stay to enjoy one more chapter. I'll start checking the grammar tonight and hope to upload it tomorrow.

-Z-