Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto (unfortunately). I do own all of my own characters.
Thank you to all my reviewers!!! you ppl r so nice :-)
"blah" speech
'blah' thoughts
Gelionlegends - Most of your questions will be answered in this chapter, but the others; pairings - i dunno... the thing w/ Sasuke isn't like you percieve it to be... Hell at a high lvl? I'll consider it... Hinata and Naruto you will see next chapter.
Monaki-cheung - I'll cover that this chapter
bLacKBodian - good, I'm happy that it strayed from the typical Naruto fics. Switch sides? Not exactly sure what you mean, but it'll probly be answered in this chapter.
hmr - close... just read...
sephynarutocloud - stuff together...? Umm... they're gonna talk...
ryan merrick - i agree w/ that quote... and Naruto's revenge won't be a linear thing. It'll probly have twists and turns that I haven't even thought up yet. The ending is... not quite wat you think.
Peter Kim - some things are right, others not so... but it's all answered in this chapter. Your rankings are very close and he will rule in partial secrecy...
TimeShifter16 - yes many questions that won't all be answered in one chapter. Second chance? ehhhhhhh kind of, but not really (if u know wat i mean). Konohamaru won't die... yet... -evil smile- ... actually his fate hasn't been written yet (yes pun intended).
Your suggestion is great except that the story doesn't go like that... (I would say more, but I don't want to spoil)
Dragon Noir - possible spoil? :-) not really since I already know what's going to happen... and where did you get the idea that NaruHina starts in ch17? They will meet... ah you'll c...
Chapter 16 – The Sound
Naruto looked out over the Sound Village that was illuminated by the mid-day sun, 'I wonder if this could work…' he mused entertaining a certain idea in his head, 'I may as well give it a try.' He sat there for some time contemplating how he should do this, 'a nice approach versus a forceful approach…'
Naruto then jumped off the tree and went around to the far side of the village wall and stealthily made his way over the wall, past the security and into the main stream of the village. Naruto then steadily made his way to the Otokage Tower, 'in the Sound Village no one really likes Orochimaru and would probably jump at the opportunity to replace him…' Naruto remembered Itachi saying. 'And that is exactly what I'm going to play on,' thought Naruto.
Naruto walked up to the top floor and asked to see the Stewart saying that even though he didn't have an appointment it was very urgent business. The secretary could tell that Naruto was not joking and after clearing it with the Stewart showed Naruto in.
Naruto walked in to a large room, half of which looked like a library because of its immense amounts of books and scrolls. There was another door on the opposite side of the room, it was open and Naruto could see that inside was a large conference chamber. He looked to the right and saw a desk, which was much cleaner than he had ever seen the Hokage's desk. Behind the desk sat a man about fifty years of age with a wrinkled face, semi-gray hair, and brown eyes containing many years of knowledge, but also heavy traces of fear. 'Not surprising that Orochimaru picked someone old and weak to govern for him… manipulation by fear… it just makes this easier for me…'
"What is this important business that you have?" asked the Stewart trying to sound confident.
"It concerns this village…" said Naruto cryptically.
The Stewart eyed Naruto suspiciously, "What do you mean by that? And who are you?"
"It is about the future leader of this village," answered Naruto simply.
The old man jumped out of his chair making it fall to the floor, "What!? The future leader!? Are you crazy!?" he yelled at Naruto who remained completely calm. "And you never did say who you were!"
"Actually I answered both your questions with my previous answer."
The Stewart looked over Naruto from head to toe, "you're saying that you are going to be the next Otokage? You've got to be joking me kid." The Stewart sneered the last word. "Guards!" he yelled.
Naruto's face hardened a little because of that demeaning comment, he pulled out the bag from his backpack and reached into it. Just as the ANBU came into the room, Naruto pulled out Orochimaru's head for everyone to see. The Stewart was halfway through yelling at the guard to throw Naruto out when he caught sight of the severed head. His breath caught in his throat and he along with everyone else in the room stared at the head as if it was a wonder of the world.
Several minutes passed in complete silence until Naruto finally put the head on the table with a heavy thud. The Stewart snapped out of his stare and went over to the table to examine the head making sure it wasn't something jutsu-created. When he was finally satisfied he went to gaping at Naruto, 'this kid… he… he killed that evil tyrant…'
Naruto sighed at the scene in front of him, 'seriously people don't just stand there like fish gaping at me… I expected a horde of questions and I get absolute silence… go figure.'
"Hey!" said Naruto forcefully, "Can we move on to the official stuff?"
"What do you mean by that?" asked a dazed Stewart.
"I'm going to become the next leader of this village, I'm sure there's some sort of paperwork to fill out," said Naruto.
The Stewart realized introductions haven't been done yet and stretched out his hand, "I'm Ukinochi Masashi, the Stewart of this village."
Naruto accepted the handshake, "Uzumaki Naruto, the new Otokage" he said with a smile.
"I have heard that name somewhere before," said Masashi.
Naruto chuckled a little, "I'm popular… in a bad way though," the last part said with sadness.
At that point Masashi instantly figured out who he was talking to, "you're originally from the Leaf," Naruto nodded.
Just then the ANBU captain perked up, "you're that Missing-nin that was with Itachi during the Hyuga massacre," he stated.
"Sort of, but that story was a fake," the ANBU captain tilted his head in confusion, "the Hokage fabricated that story for political reasons." Naruto then told them the real story, making note of the interesting cross between fear and pride.
The Stewart then addressed Naruto in a more business-like tone, "so are you serious that you're gonna become the leader of this village?" in a slightly begging tone that Naruto instantly picked up on.
"Yes, why the sudden skepticism?" asked Naruto in curiosity.
"Well this village isn't in the best condition, doesn't have the best reputation…and I just thought that…" but before he could finish Naruto cut him off.
"So you thought that I would want to take over a better village," asked Naruto with a smile on his face and the Stewart nodded. "No this village is a lot better. This way I can shape it into anything I want. I would really hate to be the leader of a village that is so set in their ways that it takes a revolution to change anything."
"So you're gonna actually make changes in the village?" asked one of the younger ANBU. Naruto looked over at him silently asking for an explanation, "it's just that Orochimaru would never want to do anything, but raise more people for soldiers that he would then use in his war against the Leaf."
Naruto nodded in understanding, "well I'm not like Orochimaru…" Naruto then remembered his childhood, 'I guess I finally attained my dream… I will never make this village like Konoha though.'
The ANBUs were dismissed and left Naruto and Masashi to talk about political and economical things concerning the village. Naruto assured Masashi that he could easily correct the relation between them and the Sand, the Leaf however was a whole other issue. The conversation continued well into the night, they had dinner brought up to them and Masashi arranged for a guest bedroom to be set up, which Naruto had finally gotten to by the middle of the night.
Waking up in the morning Naruto found that he was slightly happier than usual, 'am I looking forward to my new day job that much?' he wondered with a smile. He got up to the office and saw a note of the desk, "Otokage-sama, your robes have been made and are in the closet. I have relinquished my post since you are in charge now, I will come to get you for a tour of the village at 11 after which we will go to lunch."
Naruto went over to the closet and looked at his new robes, 'good they made a veil, I don't have to wear a face mask anymore' mused Naruto. After putting them on he noticed how they felt very much like the Akatsuki cloak. 'A tour of my village, then I'll start doing the administrative stuff… I really hope I don't have as much paperwork as the old hag,' Naruto caught himself reminiscing about his days in Konoha with a smile.
As promised at 11 sharp Masashi came in with several ANBU as an escort. Naruto had initially objected to the escort, but Masashi convinced him by saying that it would attract less attention to him as an individual if he went along with the customs.
During the tour Naruto was introduced to many important people in the village, Naruto however was introduced as the Otokage keeping his identity a secret. The Sound Village for the most part was falling apart, the market places were mostly deserted, grocery shops had little or no food, most of the civilians walked around in rags. 'This village is really in bad condition… I have a lot of work to do,' thought Naruto.
They stopped in the middle of the street to talk with an ANBU team that was doing some routine checks. During the conversation a wind blew and quivered Naruto's veil, unfortunately for him there was a certain Sound chuunin who had been watching him intently for some time now.
When the wind blew, for an instance it revealed the three very distinct whisker masks on the new Otokage's cheek, 'those can only belong to one person... Naruto...' the Sound chuunin's expression darkened severely, 'that traitorous bastard... joining forces with that snake!' The killer intent radiating off the Sound chuunin was small and barely noticeable to anyone except the one it counted with.
Naruto immediately felt it and turned his head to see his new found enemy. He saw a young Sound chuunin staring maliciously right at him. In that moment their eyes locked and flashed with recognition of each other. Naruto blinked and opened his eyes to see the Sound chuunin already running away, 'Shit! I can't let him get away!' Naruto instantly used Split to leave his clone in his place while he disappeared to chase after the chuunin.
'Damn it! He spotted me... if I'm caught I'm dead,' thought the Sound chuunin as he raced through the alleyways of the Oto. 'I must also warn the others... Naruto has seen them all before and would most likely recognize them... but I can't do anything if I'm dead.'
After about a minute of running, he looked back to see if he was being pursued and that was when he caught a foot to the stomach and an elbow to the head, which sent him into a wall. Before he could even recover, both his arms were locked behind his back and he was pushed down to the ground roughly with a knee pressing into his spinal column and a kunai resting at his throat.
"Thought you could run away from me... Konohamaru?" asked his attacker. Konohamaru remained silent, "that's alright," he continued, "I know all about the 'don't say anything if you're captured business'but that's what torture and interrogation specialists are for right?" Konohamaru winced knowing what was awaiting him. Naruto forcefully stood him up, "lets go," he pulled him along back to where Naruto had left his clone.
In several minutes they arrived at where the clone was still talking to the ANBU. Naruto made his clone disappear and temporarily scared the shit out the ANBU that were guarding him, until they caught sight of him coming out of the alley dragging some chuunin who he then knocked out. He walked up to the slightly confused ANBU captain, "captain send this Sound chuunin to the interrogator," and handed over Konohamaru's body. The captain instantly understood what was going on and disappeared with the spy.
Masashi whispered to the Otokage, "this will boost your public opinion…" Naruto smirked slightly at that, 'though I'm sure he wasn't alone… means there are more rats in my village.'
Throughout the rest of the tour Naruto along with Masashi and the other ANBU kept a lookout for other suspicious characters that took unnatural interest in the new Otokage and apprehended them for questioning. None of those had turned out to be spies, which was a good thing.
After the tour and lunch, Naruto returned to his office and started drawing up the plans for some of the things he had planned for the village. In a few hours an ANBU walked into the Otokage's office to deliver some reports, but before he left Naruto stopped him, "would you happen to know where is the spy that was caught this afternoon?"
"Yes Otokage-sama," responded the ANBU.
Naruto closed the folder in front of him and got up, "where is he?" the ANBU motioned for Naruto to follow him. They went down below the first floor of the Otokage tower, into the basement. There Naruto saw several interrogation rooms and cells, in one of which lay a body, which the ANBU said was the spy. Naruto acknowledged and dismissed him.
As he did so another jounin in a dark red cape approached him, "Greetings Otokage-sama, I am Ryouki the head of torture and interrogations," the jounin introduced himself.
"Hello Ryouki," said the Otokage, "I heard you already interrogated the spy," said the Otokage as more of a question.
"Yes Otokage-sama," answered Ryouki in a somewhat ashamed tone. Naruto looked at him pointedly. "I have not been able to get anything out of him," explained Ryouki, "he seems to be able to take anything we throw at him. Next we are going to be using an Oto-jutsu to shatter his mental resilience."
Naruto walked over to the cell with Konohamaru in it, "may I have several moments with him alone?" he asked.
Ryouki had a slightly worried look on his face, but obliged after a slight glare from the Otokage; he handed Naruto the key and left. Naruto walked into the cell and crouched down next to Konohamaru. "Long time no see, huh, Konohamaru-kun?" he asked in a pleasant tone, "made it to chuunin already I see."
Konohamaru looked up with pride and anger in eyes, "what do you want, traitor?" he spat out.
Naruto chuckled, "you're the traitor right now," he said calmly. "As for the Leaf, it was more like I was forced to leave… than anything else," the last part was said with a little sadness.
"Forced!? Bullshit! What about the Akatsuki?" exclaimed Konohamaru.
"They helped me out until I was able to stand on my own," said Naruto, "although some of the missions I would rather not have done."
"Like going with Itachi to kill the Hyuga? Betraying and killing your friends?" questioned Konohamaru, "you'd rather not have done THAT!?"
Naruto sighed, "The past is not a pretty picture. The future though will be a lot better."
"You bastard! By allying with that snake the future will be better?," continued Konohamaru.
"Allying?" laughed Naruto, "why would I ally with someone weaker than me?"
Konohamaru's eyes widened in understanding as he finally realized that he was dealing with the real Otokage and also that Naruto was now in a very dangerous position of power.
"I see that you understand now," said Naruto, "and I also see a little fear in your eyes, afraid of me are you Konohamaru-kun?"
"I'll never be afraid of you!" said Konohamaru forcefully.
"That little fear didn't disappear… you know what that means right?" questioned Naruto in a deadly calm voice.
Konohamaru was trying as hard as he could to project completely emotionless eyes, but couldn't. "What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped.
Naruto gave a low chuckle, "I'll explain it to you then; you're afraid for your friends." Konohamaru's face palled visibly; Naruto had hit the nail right on the head. "Just as I thought, Tsunade sent an entire team instead of individual members, am I right?" asked Naruto knowing full well that he wouldn't get a response.
He then stood up and gave a knowing chuckle as he was walking out. Konohamaru tried to attack him, but was very well restrained by the metal cuffs that were attached to the walls and the special jutsu binding his hands together so that he couldn't use jutsus. He yelled something at Naruto's back that sounded like "they are too smart for traitorous bastards like you," but Naruto didn't care. Eventually Konohamaru slumped back down to the ground knowing that it was futile and that he and his friends would probably be executed soon, 'I'm still not strong enough Grandpa…'
Naruto got back to his office and sent for Masashi; who came several minutes later. "Masashi were gonna need to organize a rat hunt," said Naruto calmly.
"So that spy from the Leaf was not alone?"
"No, the Hokage must have sent a team," explained the Otokage.
"Any ideas on who it might be?" asked Masashi.
Naruto thought a little while, "another guy and a girl…" he said, "and I would probably recognize them if I saw them."
"Would you like me to get you files on all the chuunin we have?" offered Masashi.
"Yes and no," replied Naruto, "I would like a trusted jounin teacher to go through the files and find anyone even slightly suspicious. Then have those files sent to me."
"Yes, sir."
Naruto leaned back in his chair, 'lets hope that neither of them has gotten any information that I am the Otokage,' mused Naruto, 'the Leaf would absolutely flip out if they knew… and there's also a chance that they might use this change in management to attack and the way the village is right now, it certainly can't that kind aggression.' Something suddenly hit Naruto, 'oh shit! I forgot completely about that place. If Leaf shinobi were to find it that wouldn't be very good at all.'
Naruto looked outside to see that the sun had already set and the moon was halfway up. Naruto decided to take his leave saying that he had some personal things to take care of and he wouldn't like to be disturbed. His secretary said she understood and bid him good luck.
With that Naruto left the Otokage Tower and had soon snuck out of the village. Once on the outside he quickly made his way back to Orochimaru's lair. 'I need to check it out and see if there is something there that I can actually use,' mused Naruto while making his way into the underground compound.
He made his way into the arena where he had fought Kabuto and Orochimaru, and went over to the ladder that he had seen Kabuto jump off of. He went up it and through a short corridor to find himself in a room with an operation table in the middle and a large console with many screens and keyboards on the far wall. 'This must be the control room…' concluded Naruto. He looked around until he found the blueprints for the compound, 'oh good… now I won't be randomly wandering around this tomb.'
Naruto followed the blueprints and had eventually found the study, which contained scrolls about Orochimaru's techniques. "God damn it! Why do most of them have to be connected to snakes?" complained Naruto, "I can't use this unless I have a snake-summoning contract, which I can't get one since it would conflict with my foxes."
He continued to look through the scrolls until he found one that was booby-trapped, "why would anyone booby-trap their own scroll?" wondered Naruto as he activated Fire Wave in preparation for opening the scroll. When Naruto did open it, a large flame shot out and would have completely burned Naruto if not for his shield, 'trapping it with a Karyuu Endan, he really was insane,' thought Naruto de-activating the shield.
He opened it, his eyes widening as he read it, 'so this is how he did it, that sly bastard…' Naruto continued reading the extra description about the technique. When he was done he rolled it up, held it for a little while before throwing it up in the air and burning it with a Goukakyuu. "That technique is the definition of Necromancy; reviving the mindless dead for your own selfish purposes," mused Naruto. "If those creations didn't end up mindless, I would actual consider reviving Itachi, but…" Naruto sighed deeply, "some things are simply not possible."
Naruto ended up going through the entire compound twice making sure that there was nothing he had forgotten. However the second time, Naruto had set fire to each room. He then quickly made his way out and burned the outside of the snake-lair. He sighed contently knowing that he had done the world a favor by getting rid that snake. His thoughts drifted to his village, 'it would seem the only use Orochimaru had for the Sound village was war. Talk about inadequate leader…' Naruto chuckled and leapt up into the trees heading back to the Sound.
)))))Several Months Later(((((
During the week after Naruto had become the Otokage there were two spies caught, Konohamaru and Moegi. Their other teammate had managed to escape, but from what they managed to get out of Moegi it seemed that he had no idea who the new Otokage was. Both spies had been allowed to live and were now permanently residing down in the dungeons. This was very quite relieving for Naruto, who wanted to rule in secret for as long as he could; from the Leaf at least.
After cleaning up his new homeland, Naruto went on to resolve the relations between the Sound and all the villages except the Sand and the Leaf. He tried to keep his identity hidden to all of the villages, but some had found out; like the Snow and the Rain. What surprised Naruto was that they were actually happy that someone had finally been able to relieve Orochimaru of power over a ninja village and they didn't seem to care much for Naruto's image.
The Sand and Leaf were the only ones left now, 'I am not going to the Leaf… not yet. The Sand however would be much easier to establish connections with,' mused Naruto while filtering through the papers on his desk. 'My ambassadors, however, have told me that it is futile…' at this point Naruto realized that if he wanted to friendly relations with the Sand that he would have to go there alone. He informed Masashi of his plans, left him in charge and got ready to leave.
Going at a normal pace it took Naruto a week to reach the Hidden Sand. He simply snuck through the Sand's defenses and using the same false name he had several times in the revolution, he asked permission to speak with the Kazekage and was quickly allowed in.
He stood in front of the Kazekage's desk, "hello Temari."
"So you've come back, Naruto," she responded calmly.
"I guess you could say that."
"So what kind of business brings you here?" she asked reading through his ambiguity.
"You've taken after your brother, always getting straight down to business," he commented.
"Well as the Kazekage I don't really have time to chat."
"Understandable, anyway the reason I'm here… have you heard the news about the Sound?"
"If you mean that they have a new Otokage and that Orochimaru disappeared somewhere, then yes," she answered.
'I see, so the Leaf must think the same thing… well I can definitely use that to my advantage,' contemplated Naruto.
"So what do you think of him?" asked Naruto, "the new Otokage that is."
"I don't know I've never met him," she replied somewhat annoyed, "he's visited all the villages besides the Sand and the Leaf. But I do have to say that what he has done for that village so far is really good, a definite positive change from their dark times of being rules by Orochimaru."
Naruto chuckled slightly at this, "well Orochimaru didn't really rule the village, he just used it for war," Temari nodded in agreement.
"It's too bad that Orochimaru managed to escape though," she said angrily, "I'd like to see that snake prosecuted for all the shit he's done."
"Well then, let me refine your story a little bit," said Naruto, Temari tilted her head a little bit in curiosity. "Orochimaru didn't just disappear, he's dead."
"What!? Impossible!" she yelled. 'Why wasn't this announced? This would have been great news… why keep it a secret?'
She regained her composure again, "How is it that you know this?" she asked in a more calculating tone.
"Easy, I was the one that did it," replied Naruto calmly.
Temari nearly fell out of her chair, "y-y-you k-killed him?" Naruto nodded. "No way…" she suddenly remembered Gaara mention that Naruto left to find a suitable experiment, 'so this is what he meant… also explains why the death was kept secret, only a very few people in the world could kill Orochimaru.'
An odd feeling stirred within Temari and she began scrutinizing Naruto, soon noticing faint outlines of a forehead protector underneath his jacket. Suddenly it clicked and her eyes widened, "You couldn't be…?"
Naruto chuckled slyly, "ever the perceptive one, Temari," he reached under his jacket and pulled out his Sound forehead protector and tried it around his arm, "there it's official."
Temari just gaped at him, 'this guy was able to take over a village in a few months… I knew that most people in the Sound hated Orochimaru, but this is amazing.'
Naruto waited patiently for her to come out of her trance, "Listen Temari, you were right I didn't come here to just chit chat…" said Naruto in a business tone.
"You want to restore peace between the Sound and the Sand, right?" asked Temari.
"Yes," replied Naruto, "but just to clarify I only want peace, no alliances or anything yet… the Sound is not ready for those kinds of things yet."
Temari nodded in approval and they soon had the treaties signed and finalized.
"I would like to ask one last favor before I leave," said Naruto to Temari.
"What is it?" she asked curiously.
"Please keep the Otokage's identity a secret, especially from the Leaf."
Temari blinked, 'is he this paranoid about people knowing… well he technically is still a Missing-nin…' she contemplated for a few seconds. "Alright Otokage-dono, your secret is safe with me," she answered with a smile.
"Thank you Kazekage-dono," replied the Otokage. He bade goodbye to Temari, Gaara and Kankuro and once again left the Sand village on his track to the Sound Country.
"That guy is really something isn't he?" asked Temari.
"Yea…" replied Gaara, "he did always seem like the type of person that would achieve his dreams… though I wonder if he will ever be able to make peace with the Leaf."
"I'm sure he will try his best," said Temari and walked back into her office.
)))))Back in the Sound Village(((((
Naruto was sitting in his office with a three newly written and sealed letters in front of him, waiting for the teams of ANBU to arrive. 'This is a difficult and tedious journey I'm sending them on… but somehow I feel like I owe this…' the first ANBU team walked in at that moment.
"You requested to see us Otokage-sama?" asked the captain.
"Yes," replied Naruto calmly, "I have an assignment for you," he handed the captain a letter. "You are to deliver this letter to a certain person, who lives on some island below the Mist Country."
"Meaning we have to find him too?" asked the captain.
"Yes, and before you ask his name is Hoshigaki Kisame," the ANBU were shocked. "I trust you know who I'm talking about then," said Naruto.
"Yes, but why do we have to deliver something to a Missing-nin?" asked another ANBU member.
Naruto's face hardened, "I give the orders! My reasons are classified," he said sternly.
"Yes sir," said the ANBU member in a shaky voice.
"One more thing when you find him, DO NOT engage him in combat in any way! Not even any potential hostility! Got it?"
"Yes Otokage-sama!" said the captain.
"Good, I don't want any of my shinobi to come back in boxes," said Naruto coldly. "You're dismissed!" the ANBU instantly disappeared. 'Well that's one…' though Naruto, 'the others are much harder…'
Two more ANBU teams came up to see the Otokage and were also given assignments to find and deliver a letter; to Raiko and Miya. These teams however weren't given a location to search in, but more like possible places were these people could be. They were told to check in every two to three months for updates and were of course given the same warning. 'Kisame won't be that hard to find,' speculated Naruto, 'the others… if they find anyone it'll probably be Raiko…' Naruto stopped his train of thought and went back to his paperwork; there was still much to be done in the village.
It wasn't until two months later that his first ANBU team returned with a figure cloaked completely in black with a hood and a bandaged sword on it's back. Naruto dismissed the ANBU telling them to take some time off from work.
"Greeting Kisame-sensei," said Naruto.
The figure took off his hood and the top half of Kisame's head was clearly seen the bottom still covered by the cloak, but Naruto could tell that he was smiling, "long time no see Naruto," replied Kisame, Naruto nodded with a smile.
"Welcome to my humble home," said Naruto motioning to his office.
Kisame chuckled, "I had heard that Orochimaru was over thrown and there was a new Otokage, but honestly didn't expect it to be you."
"Well that wasn't my initial plan…" Naruto went on to explain what had happen with Orochimaru.
"I see," said Kisame, "you're not going to use this village for your revenge are you?"
"Hell no!"
"Good… Itachi wasn't that big on revenge anyway, you know?" asked Kisame and Naruto nodded. "So what is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"
"How would you like to become a shinobi of this village?" asked Naruto.
Kisame's eyes widened a little bit, "And why would a Missing-nin like me want to become a proper shinobi again?"
Naruto smirked, "because then you wouldn't be hunted anymore. Not to mention that you probably didn't like all that 'peaceful living' you were doing."
"Actually it was really nice, no one hunting you… you can sit back and enjoy the finer things in life," said Kisame.
"You hated it."
Kisame turned his head away slightly, "… you're just like Itachi…"
"Yeah, it seems he did a good job teaching me to read people," said a smiling Naruto.
Kisame grumbled, "I'll think about your offer…"
"Of course, didn't expect you to make up your mind instantly," replied Naruto. "A room has already been prepared for you. C'mon I'll show you," Naruto walked him over to the Otokage's house, where a three guest bedrooms had been prepared. "Pick one and then we'll go to lunch," said Naruto.
The rest of the day Naruto and Kisame walked around the village catching up on old times and Naruto talking about the future of the village. By the end of the night, Naruto had convinced Kisame to stay in the village and he promised to arrange for an apartment for Kisame first thing in the morning.
The next morning Naruto called Kisame into his office, "could I ask a favor of you Kisame?"
"Well I am a shinobi under your control you know," replied Kisame.
"I'll always see as a friend not a subordinate," said Naruto.
Kisame smirked, "fine, fine I'll do you a favor."
"Alright, I need you to catch up to an ANBU team that is currently in the Rain Country and lead them on their search for Raiko."
"Are you trying to have some Akatsuki reunion or something?" asked Kisame.
Naruto laughed, "not really… it's just that I think that now I have something to offer, and you guys have done much for me, so…"
"Ah stop it kid, you're gonna make me cry…" he said wiping an invisible tear of his face.
Naruto waved his hand at him, "Aw shut up," he yelled. "Anyway will you do it?"
"Yea… I'm actually kind of excited to meet up with those guys again," said Kisame in a faked nostalgic voice. Naruto laughed and handed Kisame a map of the ANBU team's location; he took it and disappeared.
For about six months all the reports coming in were negative, not surprising Naruto much since he knew how well these two could fall off the face of the earth. What really surprised him was that Kisame's team had missed their last report, 'were they all killed or something?' wondered Naruto, then mentally scolded himself for such pessimism. 'No, there is probably a good reason for this,' he concluded.
There was a knock at the door and a chuunin entered the office saying that they just received a report that ANBU Beta Team was returning and that they would be back here sometime tomorrow. Naruto thanked him for the information and dismissed him, 'so they've found him… or I guess it could be her, but that's doubtful.'
The next afternoon, Naruto was going through several papers about the new teachings that would be implemented in the academy and comparing some statistics sheets from different genin teams. He stopped sensing two presences in the room, one in front of him the other behind. He quickly did a single hand seal and teleported across the room all the while analyzing the very faint chakra signatures, 'these are so familiar… wait the slightly stronger one is Kisame… so that means.'
He quickly did a dozen hand seals, "Crystallization," he said. Chakra rippled outwards from him and outlined the two people in the room.
"Still on your feet Naruto," said a feminine voice.
"I have to be, especially against people like you," he countered with a grin. Both figures disabled their jutsu, clearly revealing Kisame and Miya. Naruto smiled, "nice to see you again Miya," he said in a pleasant voice, "hope Kisame and the ANBU didn't give you too hard of a time."
"Yea, yea you're lucky I didn't kill them all," she smirked.
"Humph, but you like to think things through before engaging the enemy," remarked Naruto.
"True, and when I saw that Kisame was actually leading the ANBU, I decided to find out what was really happening. So what the hell did you drag me all the way out here for?"
"A little proposition," said Naruto.
"Let me guess, you want to become a shinobi of this village?" inquired Miya as more of a statement.
Naruto laughed, "you've already known that since they started 'dragging' you here, so what is your answer?"
"You know me too well, you know that?" she said somewhat sternly.
"I'm sure I'm not signing my death warrant yet," countered Naruto, "though by accepting you could get your death warrant nullified."
"What's the difference? I can keep hiding out like I've been doing for the past few years."
"I know I can't convince you to make a decision, so I'm gonna give you some time to think it over," said Naruto calmly. "There has already been a room prepared for you in the Otokage's guest house."
"Oh yes and Kisame," Naruto took out something from his desk and threw it at him, "these are the keys to your apartment."
"Thanks, but where is it?" asked Kisame catching the keys.
"Don't worry I'll have some chuunin show you," replied Naruto yelling for a messenger. Within a minute a chuunin came in and after several words with the Otokage, he walked over to Kisame and asked him to follow.
Once they were gone, Naruto turned back to Miya, "So nee-chan, want a tour of the village?" he asked in a sweet voice.
She quickly hit Naruto on the head, "I thought you learned better," Naruto shrugged, "anyway I would like a tour of the village, but not by some random shinobi who I don't know and might wish to kill."
Naruto chuckled, "Of course not, if I gave Kisame a personal tour you'll at least get that."
Miya narrowed her eyes, "I see how it is… and you expect me to stay in this village."
Naruto merely smirked, "Give me a few minutes to finish this stuff and I'll show you to the guest house and then we'll go on the tour," he sat back down at his desk and went back to his papers.
Miya looked at him curiously, "what are those for?" she inquired.
"New methods we're implementing in the academy," said Naruto without looking up.
Miya came up behind him and looked over his shoulder, "teaching academy students proper chakra control before they become genin," she said, "interesting tactic, I must say."
"You remember the academy?" asked Naruto and Miya nodded. "Well did that history and studying ever help you in the real world?"
"Yea I understand what you mean," she said with a smile.
"So you see, the kids lose over four years of potential training time," explained the Otokage, "and for what? To learn about some lords that have been dead for several centuries or about how a kunai or shuriken would 'theoretically' fly in a given situation." Miya chuckled remembering her childhood. "That kind of stuff you get by experience in the field not by sitting until your ass is numb in a classroom," Miya laughed at the last part and Naruto grinned.
"You might actually have some sense in this," she said jokingly. Naruto laughed it off and showed her to the guesthouse and later took her for a tour and dinner.
During the next couple of days Miya often visited Naruto in his office, mostly to watch how he was handling his new position of power. Naruto found the company quite pleasant and liked being able to talk over some issues with her. Occasionally jounin and chuunin would walk in to bring reports, most of which Naruto would simply skim and put into a pile on his desk.
However this latest report caught his eye, "hey Miya," he called.
"What is it?" she asked getting up from the couch.
"Do you happen to know where Raiko is?"
"You're searching for him too?"
"Yea… as Kisame said 'we're having a reunion'" replied Naruto.
Miya chuckled a little, "well that's gonna be a little impossible," she said.
"What do you mean?" asked Naruto seriously.
"Before you even think it, no he's not dead," Naruto visibly relaxed. "He's just left the ninja world."
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto was confused.
"He went home…" she replied.
"Went home?" asked Naruto, "He's from the Lightning Country, isn't he?"
"Well actually no he isn't," Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "He's actually from some village west of the ninja world," explained Miya, "he said that when he was an infant, his village was the location of a battle between some shinobi of the Cloud and Stone and that it was completely destroyed. His mother had managed to save herself and him, and the Cloud-nins took them to the Lightning Country."
"So he went back there, huh?" asked Naruto.
"Yeah, he said that in a city near his village, he might some relatives…" she answered.
"Going back to find family… I really wish him luck," said Naruto with a far away look on his face.
"…Yea…" said Miya uncertainly, "so there's no real way to find him now."
Naruto looked intently at her, "you know you could've told me that earlier," he said with disappointment.
"Well I'm sorry," she replied sarcastically.
Naruto quickly wrote a response to the report and called in a jounin, "I need you to deliver this to the ANBU team," he commanded. The jounin bowed and disappeared in a cloud of smoke; Naruto went back to looking at Miya intently.
"Hey you know I've always wondered," he said curiously, "what did happen with the Akatsuki?"
"You mean how did the Stone know where to go?" clarified Miya and Naruto nodded. "Well you see back then we, Raiko and I, were given orders to kill you."
Naruto's eyes widened, "kill me? Why?"
"Because as far the Akatsuki knew you had betrayed them, which wasn't that far from the truth was it?" Naruto shrugged. "Well anyway… they were so pissed off that Raiko and I didn't dare cross them. Once on the outside though, we agreed that we didn't want to kill you."
"But you couldn't just tell management that, so you figured out a creative way out of the Akatsuki?"
"Precisely," said Miya her almost glowing. "We figured that if the Akatsuki were gone then we wouldn't have to do anything. So we 'accidentally' dropped the map of the Akatsuki lair in the Tsuchikage's office… and the rest is history, as they say," she concluded.
"So then you just hid out for the next two and a half years?" inquired Naruto.
"We traveled together for six months. Finally splitting up in the Lightning Country after Raiko visited his late mother," the last part was said with slight sadness. "After that he decided to leave and I went into the Mist Country for a little over half a year."
"Ah… I see how it was…" said Naruto happy to have finally received closure about that one issue.
"So what did you think of Orochimaru?" asked Miya casually.
"Strong, but not too bad," replied Naruto, "then again he had a bad tendency of arrogance and underestimating people, so perhaps fighting Jiraiya would be harder."
Miya nodded, "every opponent is different, there is no one universal key to a battle," she said matter-a-factly.
"Yea, you taught me that," said Naruto, "though Jiraiya isn't my top priority right now."
"And what is?" questioned Miya knowing full well what the response would be.
"This village," replied Naruto in a serious voice. "I guess if the opportunity came along I would take it, but to actually go out looking for him... no I simply don't have time or desire..."
"I'm very glad to hear that," she said with a smile.
"So when are you leaving?" he asked looking over a mission report.
"Huh?" she asked confused, "What do you mean?"
Naruto looked up, "when are you leaving the village? You're not gonna stay here... like you said it's not your style."
Miya smirked, "well, I thought I taught you that styles change..." she said with a glint in her eyes.
Naruto looked at her completely surprised, "you're actually staying...?" she nodded, "the world must have frozen over," he mumbled.
"Hey!" she hit him in the shoulder, "Or am I not welcome here?" she spat out jokingly.
Naruto laughed and said, "no, no you're more or less welcome here..."
She pouted, "well then I guess I'll go back to my room, since I'm SO not wanted here," she said and walked off.
Naruto chuckled a little, 'she's still the same as when I first got to know her...' his eyes glazed over thinking about the past.
Five months had passed since both former Akatsuki members joined the Sound village, both being right under Naruto in power and authority. All had been well except for the past month or so, something had been stirring in Konoha and even their top spies had no idea what it was. However staying in the darkness was not acceptable for Naruto and two weeks ago he had finally sent her in. Miya was, to put simply, the best when it came to espionage. Naruto knew that, unlike with his other spies, he wouldn't get regular updates, but rather receive the complete story when she returned.
So he waited patiently, knowing full well that Konoha's secrets were very hard to get to and would definitely require a bit of time. Over the last year the Oto had attracted much attention from many ninja villages. Several smaller ninja villages, even wanted to draw up alliances with them. Naruto was pleased, that his village was becoming economically stable and was attracting a lot more future shinobi than it had ever during its years under Orochimaru.
This of course had been frightening most people in Konoha, some even said that Orochimaru was still leading it, but just disguising himself in a different body. The Sannin had completely denied this, saying that the new Otokage's character was completely unlike that of Orochimaru. But Konoha has always needed a scapegoat for their problems and now, even though the Oto wasn't doing anything direct against them they still blamed them. However the Oto wasn't all that innocent, Naruto had specially arranged so that businesses were given better rates in the Oto than in the Leaf, but he was in no way planning any kind of military action against the Leaf.
Naruto pondered all of this while standing on top of the Otokage Tower overlooking his village. He felt a presence behind him and stiffened a little, old habits die hard, but relaxed when he realized who it was. She walked up and stood right next to him to watch as the sun set behind the fortified wall.
Once it was dark she finally spoke, "as the sun sets on the Sound, the black moon arises shining in it's own light."
Naruto grimaced, 'black moon…' he thought. It was an Akatsuki codename for bad or troubling information, however usually these black moons did not shine. What Miya had really said was "do you want the good news or the bad news, first?"
"Light," answered Naruto.
"Humph… it has nothing to do with the Oto," she replied, "or any other village for that matter."
'An internal affair?' wondered Naruto, 'to attract so much attention and still be kept a highly confidential secret?' now he was really interested. "How full is it?" he asked, sticking to the Akatsuki terminology, where a crescent was horrible and full wasn't that bad.
"Thin-crescent… for you." she answered.
"And the group?"
"Half, as can be seen through the clouds."
Naruto sighed a low growl, "we need a better place to talk," he left heading to his office, Miya following not far behind.
They both sat down on the couch, Naruto looking intently at her waiting for the explanation. "The whole commotion is about a scroll," she finally said.
"A scroll?" asked Naruto in annoyance, "They've been raising hell for a scroll?"
She continued with something that immediately caught Naruto's attention, "not just any scroll, but the scroll that the Yondaime left…" she paused for effect. "for his son…"
"He left me a scroll!?" yelled Naruto jumping up.
"Yes, but that's not all," Naruto sat down to listen once more, "since you are a traitor and there is no way to reach you, some have been saying that they don't want the Yondaime's legacy to die and want to open the scroll."
"They want to what!?" Naruto growled.
"The Hokage has been able to keep them at bay so far, stating that it would be an invasion of privacy of one of Konoha's greatest heroes and also slightly mentioning that it had a very strong blood-seal on it," Miya continued explaining.
"I wonder what is inside?" he mused out loud.
"I don't know," she said in a disappointed tone, "I wanted to steal it for you, but I didn't even get a glimpse of its hiding place. It seems the Hokage really doesn't want it seen, much less opened."
"Hmm… I need to get my hands on that scroll, somehow" mused Naruto.
"I guess you could always trade," offered Miya.
"Trade?" asked Naruto, "What do I have to trade that Konoha would want?"
"How about the Sandaime's grandson? Who is still down in your dungeon," suggested Miya, "or that other girl."
"Huh… I completely forgot about them…" said Naruto. "The only problem is that they know who I am."
"It going to have to come out sooner or later you know that right?" Naruto nodded reluctantly. "I'm actually surprised you could hold out one year."
"Yeah, me too," said Naruto, his mind obviously pre-occupied with a different matter.
"Anyway… I'll leave you to your thoughts and go to the hot springs," she waved goodbye, which Naruto returned only by autopilot.
'It's true that I can't hide the Otokage's identity forever… and trading Konohamaru for that scroll would work… but I can't have them finding out from him that I'm the Otokage…' Naruto contemplated on the best plan of action.
In the end he could only come up with one thing, 'I will have to meet with Tsunade, alone, and negotiate all this out…' Naruto concluded.
Knowing that he could not meet her in Konoha, it meant that he would have to arrange a special meeting place. He sat down at his desk and began writing in a scroll, which he later gave to a jounin to secretly deliver it to an Oto spy in Konoha. The spy would then make sure that it 'somehow' ended up on Tsunade's desk. In the scroll was named a location where to leave the reply.
A week later Kisame brought Naruto the reply, it said:
Uzumaki,
I will meet with you and you alone at exactly 9am on the specified date in the specified place.
Godaime Hokage.
'So she's making this formal… I really doubt she will come alone though…' thought Naruto.
"Are you going to meet with her?" asked Kisame.
"Yes."
"She will not come alone, you realize?"
"Of course."
"You should also have someone accompany you then," offered Kisame.
"It's alright, I'll be fine," Naruto went to leave, but Kisame grabbed him by the arm.
"You know I'm not just doing this because you're the Otokage, I'm worried about you as a friend," Naruto nodded and Kisame continued, "and as a friend, I'm advising you not to go into this potential death trap alone."
Naruto was very reluctant, "Alright look, here's what I want you do…"
)))))Two Days Later(((((
Naruto was standing at the edge of the forest looking out over a mid-sized clearing. On the other side another figure was standing, also near the forest. As if by clockwork, both Naruto and the other figure started walking towards each other at the same time, finally coming to a stop leaving 15 feet between them.
"Long time no see Tsunade," said Naruto.
"Likewise… Naruto," answered Tsunade.
"You look a little older, your genjutsu must be slipping," he commented.
"Age takes its toll on everything," she countered.
"True, very true… since here we are, on opposite sides, facing each other."
"What happened Naruto?" inquired Tsunade.
"I will talk, but first…" he sniffed the air, "could you please have your escort come out…" the shock became even more clearly written on Tsunade's face as Naruto said their names, "Jiraiya, Sasuke, Sakura and Hinata."
I can just feel the murderous glares I'm getting for that cliffy.
The next chapter resolves A LOT of questions that you ppl have.