Chapter 16

The next day

It was the day after naruto's tangle with the rouge sannin in the forest of death. He was brought in the previous day by Izumi who wasted no time in alerting the hokage of the situation. As soon as the hokage heard of his condition, he came immediately. He paled drastically as he noticed the mark on his neck. He swiftly ordered to see the footage from the forest of death. They all watched as Naruto fought off the snake summons and his team leaving him behind and his battle with the sannin. They saw how enraged he was at the mention of izumi and saw how he pushed orochimaru to the limit and finally the moment when orochimaru gave him the cursed seal. As the scream of pain echoed from the tapes,Izumi shed a tear while Hiruzen looked down in shame. This was his fault because of his soft heartedness towards his student, his surrogate grandson now lay here in suffering.

"We should kill him now before he becomes a slave to orochimaru and put him out of his misery," spoke anko in a cold tone before she was grabbed by the neck and pushed into the wall by Izumi. Glaring at her with her sharingan active, izumi spoke in a cold frigid tone "say another thing like that and you won't have that tongue of yours anymore."

"Enough!" roared the hokage as Izumi released anko in favour of sitting next to Naruto and running her fingers through his hair. Hiruzn chuckled at that when an ANBU squad entered the room. They reported that sasuke and sakura had just been brought to the tower and that sasuke had been marked. They also reported that when they found him, sasuke had used the power of the seal willingly. Nodding to the team and dismissing them, sarutobi asked izumi and anko to accompany him. Reluctantly, Izumi left naruto's side to go with the hokage.

They arrived at the entrance to one of the tower rooms and saw sasuke and sakura sitting on the beds. Sakura saw them and stood up and bowed while sasuke just remained seated. A short time after, Kakashi appeared to greet his team but was surprised to see anko, the hokage and izumi already there.

"Sakura, sasuke do you know where Naruto is?" asked the aged leader as he noticed sasuke averted his eyes while sakura spoke up. "No hokage-sama, that baka left us in the middle of a fight while sasuke-kun saved me." She wanted to inform the hokage before Naruto came. Sasuke said nothing and kept his eyes glued to the adjacent window while Kakashi was shocked that Naruto would do this. He knew that he was not one to abandon his comrades. Izumi was close to attacking the pink haired girl but a look from hiruzen stopped her.

"I can't believe Naruto would do this, I don't know what to say," said the team seven sensei as he looked down but the hokage looked at him and said. "You shouldn't Kakashi because Naruto didn't abandon them. In fact it was the other way around." Surprised by this fact, Kakashi spun and stared at sakura while izumi glared at her causing her to begin to sweat.

"Do you know who they left him at the mercy of Kakashi?" questioned the sandaime. Kakashi looked to the third and responded negatively but noticed that izumi clenched her fists. The sandaime continued, "they left him at the mercy of orochimaru, the snake sannin after he tried to find a way for them to all survive and escape together." The usually laid back jounin widened his eye and spun around directing some killing intent towards his student. "Is this true?" he asked as sakura became squirmish as paled.

SLAP

Kakashi hit her on the face and turned to sasuke and repeated his question. Sasuke nodded and Kakashi turned to the hokage and went down on his knees and said, " I have failed as a sensei hokage-sama. I hereby disband team seven effective immediately and report genin haruno and genin uchiha are unfit to be a part of the shinobi core of Konoha. Can you tell me where my ONLY student is and what his condition is?"

Sasuke was enraged by this point and spoke up, "you cannot do this to me. I am an uchiha. An elite!"

SLAP

Another slap was heard as izumi delivered it to sasuke and glared at him with her sharingan active. She then spoke in a cold tone, "you are a disgrace to the uchiha name. the uchiha are not cowards who abandon comrades, we are warriors who stand and fight no matter the odds. It is even more disgusting and shameful to say that you are my brother. You should have seen Naruto-kun, at least he fought knowing that he could not win and still gave his opponent a run for his money. I hereby use my rights as heiress to the Uchiha clan and the clan seat on the council and do hereby strip you of the clan name and remove your rights as an uchiha." Tears ran down her eyes as she spoke those words as both sasuke and sakura were stunned.

Hiruzen looked on before speaking "your request as the uchiha clan heiress has been noted and approved effective immediately." Izumi nodded to him and left to return to Naruto with Kakashi in tow. "Both of your punishments will be finalized after the exams in front of the council but for now, you are suspended indefinitely effective immediately," spoke the hokage before leaving them along with anko.

Sasuke boiled in rage. Everything he had worked for, gone. His ninja status, his clan name, his hitae-ate and even the resources that he was accustomed to. All gone! Orochimaru was right, he was being held back by this village. He would make sure that Izumi pays for her actions today.

As Kakashi entered the room, he saw Naruto lying on the bed with machinery attached to him and he sighed in sadness. The hokage informed him of his student's match with the rouge sannin and Kakashi felt immense pride well up inside. He told Kakashi and anko that knowledge of Naruto's sharingan was an S-class secret and punishable by death and they both nodded. Izumi was also surprised and impressed by his skill with the sharingan but was hurt that he kept such a thing from her.

Inside naruto's mindscape

"Oi brat wake up!" said the fox as Naruto awoke to see that he was inside of his mindscape which was littered with snakes. Looking at the fox, he asked what happened. The fox informed him that orochimaru gave him a cursed seal which had his soul infused to make Naruto a slave to him. He told him that the soul was already destroyed but it would take some time to remove the remaining influence.

"Then you can remove it?" questioned Naruto. "Of course I can remove it who do you think I am? I am the kyuubi no kitsune, the lord of all bijuu. No one will control my container except me." Said the kitsune in a prideful tone as he continued to squash the snakes invading what he dubbed 'his' space. Naruto sweat dropped at this and thanked the fox who said not to thank him. Naruto was also told that he would not be able to use his sharingan or chakra for a week until he removes the influence completely or else the seal would corrupt and take over his mind.

"I see. Well thanks anyways kyuubi. This is a problem but I would be able to handle it," said Naruto as he turned to leave the mindscape before he heard the fox spoke again. "Kurama."said the fox as Naruto looked at him confused. "My name is kurama not KYUUBI and you are not to tell anyone else my name or I will rip you to shreds."

"You're a real softie aren't you kurama?" asked Naruto with a cheeky grin. "Come over here and say that again so I can rip you to shreds" roared kurama. "Love you too." Said Naruto as he disappeared from his mind.

Kurama laid down and placed his head on his paws and smirked as he thought damn brat.

Outside the mindscape

Naruto opened his eyes and groaned in pain. He was covered in bandages and his neck hurt where that paedophile bit him. He attempted to move but felt a weight on his chest and had an idea as to the identity as he remembered seeing her before going unconscious. Looking down, he was greeted by the familiar sight of silky raven locks. He ran his fingers through his chest and she snuggled into him and he chuckled. The vibrations caused to awake and she looked up and stared into the sapphire eyes of Naruto. She widened her eyes as she gazed at him. Looking at her, Naruto knew what was coming but before he could stop her, she glomped him with his head between her breasts in an iron grip as he twisted and gasped for air.

"Naruto-kun you're awake" said izumi as Naruto raised an eyebrow at the affectionate suffix and saw that she had a faint blush on her visage when she realized what she said. As he saw that, he grinned.

"Hai Izumi-chan" he said and her bush deepened as her face went pink and she began to play with the blanket as he laughed at her embarrassment. She bonked him on his head and giggled at his mock scowl as he rubbed the spot. She was surprised though when he reached over and wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Nonetheless, she melted into his embrace. He was afraid of not seeing her again and so, he squeezed her close as izumi looked at him, feeling something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" she inquired softly but he averted his gaze. Gently, she cupped his face and turned his head so that he could see her eyes. She became concern when she saw a tear slip out from his eye but before she could comment on it, he spoke.

"I'm sorry." She tilted her head at this, what was he sorrowful for?

"I have kept some things from you because I was afraid of what you may think of me but with my latest brush with death I want to tell you everything. You have my full trust and are the only one I can trust to tell my secrets to. If you come to hate me after this, I'll understand but this is something I have to get off my chest." Said Naruto as Izumi said nothing as she knew there was nothing that could cause her to hate him. Taking a breath to calm his nerves, Naruto looked her in the eye and began his tale.

"I have the kyuubi no kitsune sealed in me. On the night of the kyuubi attack, the kyuubi was sealed into a newborn not killed as we were told. That newborn baby was me," at this Naruto lifted his shirt and channelled some chakra to show the seal. Izumi said nothing and just listened with a stoic expression. Seeing this, Naruto continued, "the yondaime hokage was an honourable man and he could not ask someone to do something that he could not do. Because of this, he sealed the kitsune into his own son. What not many people are aware of, however, is the identity of my grandfather. My grandfather was one of the founders of Konoha and its greatest traitor to date. Yes, my grandfather is none other than Madara Uchiha who did not die at the valley of the end but rather met my grandmother and had my father who came here and later got married. My mother's name was kushina Uzumaki. I believe that your mother knew mine and were the best of friends."

After informing her of a couple more things, he looked away from her and turned his face when she raised her hands as if expecting a slap. She put a hand on his cheek and turned his face to meet hers and then spoke, "do you really think that I would hate you after knowing this. I still am hurt that you would think that. I don't care who you are related to or what you have inside you. To me you are still Naruto, my Naruto," finished izumi as she affectionately rubbed his cheek.

He was stunned. She just accepted it. She accepted him. She didn't question anything. She didn't care and she did not think twice. So he did the only thing his heart was telling him to do and moved on instinct.

Closing his eyes, he moved forward and captured her lips in a kiss. Momentarily stunned by his actions, izumi soon wrapped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss feverously. Naruto felt joy build up as his heart soared. He deepened the kiss and licked her lip to ask for entrance which she granted as their tongues danced and massaged each other. They continued their makeout session for a while longer with Naruto playing with her raven locks while izumi played with his hair, before separating with a trail of saliva between them as Naruto breathed heavily and izumi went red.

She was caught off guard though as he pulled her over and had her straddle him and recapture her lips in another kiss. Naruto was in heaven at her soft lips, she tasted like vanilla. Izumi was in a similar state of mind. Their action continued for a further ten minutes before they broke away gasping. They looked away from each other as Naruto just held her there and she returned the gesture. She was confused when he suddenly released her but what he said made her heart leap out.

"Izumi-chan, would you be my girlfriend?" asked Naruto with a fond look in his eye. Izumi's eyes mirrored that and she replied that she would love to be his girlfriend. They embraced each other again as tears fell from izumi's eyes before she said, " sleep naru-kun you need the rest. Good night." She then fell asleep herself right next to him in his arms after pulling the blanket over them and had a soft smile on her face.

To be continued