Hello Once again, here is the next chapter of Reading: Shadow of Fairy Tail. As you might have noticed my update schedule has greatly increased in speed, so I will be trying to alternate between my updates for stories, hopefully after this one will be a chapter for Kitsune Rook, then back to this one then to A Maelstrom among Specters. Either way, expect far more activity from yours truly than over the last two years.

Without further lag, here's the stuff you wanted.

Kushina had opened the book and flipped to the proper page before clearing her throat and beginning to read.

As daylight was coming, a couple of soaked up bodies were brought to shore, it was Naruto's clones who were bringing the unconscious bodies of his friends. They all were laid near a fire the real Naruto had made to keep them warm.

Naruto puts another branch on top of the campfire and tells the clones "Put them close to the fire, they've been in the cold water for some time."

"How considerate." Mira said.

"That's just like Naruto, always thinking of others first." Kakashi proudly stated getting a smile from Kushina at the thought of her kind boy.

"Yes, boss."

"Got it."

"His clones seem so useful." Levy mentioned in poorly hidden jealousy.

"Yeah, but they are really taxing. Naruto can only use so many because of his massive reserves. Most Jonin can only use a handful at the time. Naruto can make at least a hundred if not more." Asuma explained.

While the knowledge about Naruto's clones wasn't new to several of them, even among some of the younger shinobi it was surprising to hear just how much chakra Naruto seemed to have at his disposal.

"Hey boss, Gray also?" the clone asked dragging the unconscious ice mage.

"Yes, we take no chances," Naruto said as he watched the fire branch out a little, just enough to warm up everybody around it. Happy and Natsu were laid aside each other, with Natsu already showing signs of going from unconsciousness to sleep, seeing that he was smiling while smelling the fire.

Gray was put on the opposite of Natsu, seeing that was moaning in pain while also sweating heavily.

"Ey, don't put Gray to close to the fire." Saying as he knew the ice mage doesn't mix too well with heat.

Gray nodded in thanks at Naruto realizing the heat was too much for him.

The clone nodded and took Gray by the shoulders and dragged him a little bit away from the campfire, not too far and not too close.

Naruto sighed and then said to his clones "Thanks guys, see you around."

The clones all nodded before dispelling, leaving the blonde alone conscious. He sat down near the fire and groans while he held his hand on his neck.

CRACK!

A couple grimaced at the loudness from Naruto cracking his neck. It sounded more painful than helpful.

After cracking the pain out of his neck, Naruto pulled off his jacket, revealing his shirt to be a little bit too comfy around his masculine body that showed to be very healthy and attractive thanks to the training and exercise the boy went through the past few years since joining Fairy Tail.

Kushina couldn't keep the grin off her face seeing the girls checking out her son. She also couldn't help but be proud of how well he seemed to have grown up, despite all his hardships. It was clear he was a strong and kind young man. Exactly what she had wanted for him to be.

Naruto's hands then reach to behind his head and started loosening his mouth mask, then he started pulling off the bandana slowly as his left eye started to become visible...

The whole group flinched at the sight of his empty socket, and Kushinabriefly stopped reading, swallowing hard and taking a moment to collect herself. Seeing her son hurt in such a way was painful in it's own way.

Once he had removed the bandana, he placed it on the jacket. He held his left hand over the place where he had lost something back in his home village, maybe it was a farewell token for his services ...or a funny way to say goodbye to his old comrades before disappearing into the wilderness.

The Konoha shinobi frowned at that thought.

"It stings again..."

"Did he never get it fully healed?" Tsunade asked.

"Maybe something else is wrong here?" Sakura added.

While holding his left eye, Naruto pulled out from his backpack a small pack of medical equipment and he went to work to fix the stinging.

"That damn stinging..." While he kept seething, Naruto used some new bandages and other stuff to ease the irritating pain in his the socket where his eye used to be, and he began to clean the small droplets of blood that was dropping out of it. the amount of seawater must've created some nasty scratches on where his eye used to be.

Kushina was disliking this section greatly, seeing Naruto suffering from an injury given to him by his own village. Still, she was proud of how well he had handled it. Clearly his pain and troubles had made him stronger.

Aside from some head twitches and curses that escaped his mouth, Naruto soon finished patching himself up and got a bandaged patch all over his left eye. When he was done putting a knot on the bandage around his eye, he then puts the bandana on-again, hiding away the bandage. He kept the mask down meanwhile to.

Naruto then grabs his jacket and checked it out if it was dry while putting the clothes close to the fire, a figure was slowly appearing from the woods and it was specifically behind Naruto.

"The boy can't catch a break." Makarov grumbled out. It seemed everywhere he went Naruto was moments away from being drug into a fight.

And the figure was holding unto a knife, a kunai knife to be exact.

"A shinobi?" Lucy asked.

"Or at the least someone who bought smuggled shinobi weapons." Gray replied.

Naruto just grabbed his bag and unzips it so he could start to reach his hand inside it.

"It seems like he is unaware, but the same could be said of the ANBU from the train in earlier chapters." Shikamaru commented.

The figure then jumped up, possible in the trees. As it was eyeing for the blonde boy sitting down. It then held the kunai up, ready to go for Naruto's neck.

"Boss!" Konohamaru gasped out. He had thought Naruto was playing along with this stranger pretending not to know about them, but this attack was so sudden he was worried Naruto couldn't react.

Kushina and Iruka, unknowingly about the other, each smiled toward the boy and his adoration of Naruto.

It jumped from the tree and went straight for its target.

"Perhaps one of those missing-nin at the end of last chapter?" Sakura asked.

"...Urgh, really?" Naruto groaned as he finally reached for something and pulls it out very quickly, and turned around-

CLANG!

"Hah! I knew Boss knew all along." Konohamaru stated with his nose in the air, getting laughs from the others. Kushina smiled brightly, from what she had gathered, when Naruto was Konohamaru's age he had acted much the same way, and she thought it was adorable.

With a kunai of his own in his hands, Naruto blocked the person's attempt on his life as both kunais clanged to one another.

Naruto held on his own against the assailant as he saw it wasn't a male but a female one, and an experienced also. The woman was wearing a dark coat but had slender legs and normal boots.

"Oh, that could make an excellent installment in my series. Think about it Kakashi, a harsh beauty of a rogue-nin taken in by the gallant and veteran missing-nin with a heart of gold. Kakashi?" Jiraiya had said out loud only to see Kakashi pretending not to know him.

It took only a second before the killing intent focused his way caused Jiraiya to turn seeing not only Kushina, Tsunade, and Shizune scowling at him, but surprisingly the timid Hyuga girl as well.

"Jiraiya, it seems you and I will need to iron out the rules when it comes to Naruto being in your little novelas. I'll be talking to you after the chapter." Kushina hissed in what seemed initially like a sweet voice, until the murderous glint in her eyes expressed her true feelings.

"Okay, end this game." Naruto forces her backward "Show your identity."

The woman smirked while speaking in a strangely familiar voice "My pleasure. Shithead."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said surprising the others in the room at his sudden words.

She wore a dark shade purple-colored kimono-styled blouse with dark blue stripes that had no sleeves and a skirt that ends just above her ankles with the same color as a blouse, she also wore fishnets around her ankles, and underneath her blouse just below her chest she wore a red strap band that helps her figure and shows a developed bust. She also wore a pistachio colored scarf around her neck and a bandana that fits her other clothing.

The woman was Naruto almost Naruto's age, had red hair and had the mouth of a sailor, it was Tayuya. Former and the only remaining member of the Sound four.

"She looks a lot like you Kushina." Kakashi said as he glanced between the two.

"It must be the hair, her facial structure is slightly similar, but her eye shape looks alot like mine too." Kushina agreed.

"I thought you and Temari killed her Shikamaru." Choji said.

"In our world we did. Temari caused a tree to collapse on her I think." Shikamaru said.

"A difference in our worlds, this must be the Sound Shinobi that was briefly mentioned early in the story. Naruto helped her escape Konoha." Asuma said.

"If he helped her escape why is she attacking him?" Wendy asked.

"I think it's something other than her actually attacking him Wendy." Lucy explained.

"Either way, this girl has a foul mouth, don't repeat anything she says Wendy." Carla gave her input.

Naruto sighs as he should've known "Tayuya. You really need to stop greeting like this."

"The way he says it makes me think she does this normally." Erza commented.

"Oh, I like it, we shou-" Natsu began only for him to become silent with Erza glancing at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Nevermind." He quietly said for once thinking ahead and realizing that maybe Erza attacking them as a greeting would be a horrible idea.

"What? haven't you missed me?" Tayuya said stretching her arms out laughing in a rather amusing tone than an evil one.

Naruto chuckles as he shook his head "No, it's not that." He turns to his sleeping guildmates "It's just that we can't risk exposing our true abilities, that's all."

"I wish he would trust us with his past and powers." Lucy said sadly.

"No doubt he will in time, Naruto seems like a very loyal and friendly comrade." Makarov comforted getting nods from his guild.

"Jeez, if you're going to be a boring fucking dick about it, I should've stayed home," Tayuya said as she crossed her arms, turning her back.

Most of the group looked shocked by Tayuya's words, despite it seeming that the two were relatively on good terms.

Naruto squinted his eyes, he then proceeded to ask "Tayuya, why are you here?"

She turns back to him and tells him "I'm here as backup, shit brain. The little old man Yajima asked me to come here so I did."

"Well if Yajima vouches for her, she must be an alright person." Macao said.

"What do you know?" Konohamaru uncharacteristically growled shocking the mages. He seemed like such a friendly and upbeat boy. The boy then got up and stormed into another room followed closely by Asuma.

"Tayuya was one of the elite guards of Orochimaru. He killed Konohamaru's grandfather and our Third Hokage." Kurenai explained quietly to the mages while Asuma slowly guided Konohamaru back into the room. It was clear the kid was fighting back tears at the memory. "He was also Asuma's father." She explained before joining the other shinobi in returning to their seats.

The mages were shocked at the revelation. No wonder Konohamaru had such anger toward the girl. THough it seemed less about his hatred for her and more just anger that she and Naruto seemed so close after helping to kill the former Hokage.

"Did he told you the core of the mission?" Naruto asked the redhead to know if she knew the mission.

Tayuya didn't give a good response by saying "Uhm..."

"You didn't listen to what he said, did you?"

"No wonder her and loser get along so well." Sasuke commented getting a shiver down his spine as Kushina glared his way. The woman hadn't even acknowledged him since coming here. However from that look he knew she was plenty up to date to the fight between him and Naruto in the Valley of the End.

Tayuya puffed and held her head sideways "Dickhead."

Rolling his eyes, Naruto patted on the empty spot next to him "Sit down here and I'll go to detail what the mission is."

"Like I'm going to sit next to you-"

"She's so abrasive." Lucy commented. What exactly was her problem?

"And I'll make you some food, with your favorite spice," Naruto added.

"...With hot chili peppers?"

Naruto nodded at her, knowing the hothead had a love for hot food.

"That is too perfect." Kiba chuckled at the thought that a mouthy red head like her also loved spicy food. It fit so well.

One long explanation later

The two former adversaries were sitting by the campfire with Tayuya just finishing her meal that was prepared by Naruto. He'd learn how to cook in these last few years since he had live on his own, and also because he couldn't keep eating Ramen cup as meals.

Kushina giggled at the fact that Naruto got her and Minato's love for Ramen. He seemed to like it even more than they had. Which she could understand. For all three of them it was a comfort food they had picked up as young orphans. Cheap, Easy to make. What more could a kid in their position want?

Tayuya took a bite from the stew Naruto made and smiled after taking a spew "Yummm, I usually don't give compliments to anyone, but damn this is some good stew!"

"You'd be surprised, when it comes to food made on a campfire, Naruto is surprisingly very good." Jiraiya mentioned getting nods from team 7. Sakura fought back a grin remembering the fact Naruto had taken over cooking for their team because she wasn't all that good at it.

"Thank, I appreciate it. Now let's get down to business." Naruto said pulling out from his jacket a folded paper. Opening it up, it was shown to be a map of the island.

Pointing his finger to the small coast "We're here, on the coast. Meaning we're in the middle of the crescent bay that resembles...like a crescent moon obviously."

"Well duh."

"Anyway," Naruto moves his finger to the extended part of the island "Right up there is the mountain that is the highest point of the island, giving the perfect view of the whole island. So from there, we can see anything on the island."

The group nodded, that was good thinking. Gather information before acting. The best way would be to see the island as best as possible to get an idea of what the situation was.

"So, what are we looking for?" Tayuya questioned as she saw Naruto move his finger to the right side of where the mountain was located.

"As far as we may know, there are tunnels leading to a cave that will bring us to the bay where smugglers are keeping their ships and contraband." Naruto poked the picture multiple times "We go to that mountain, find one of those tunnels that will bring us to the cave and clean up the smuggle route once and for all."

"Great!" Tayuya exclaimed pumping her fist into her hand "I cannot wait to crack some skulls and take some fucking souls. It's been a while since I killed someone-"

The mages looked unhappy.

"No killing."

Now the mages couldn't help but faintly smile at their alternate's guild member.

Tayuya quickly changed her expression from delighted to shock as she turns to Naruto "What?"

"No killing, we're here to neutralize the threat," Naruto stated so to be clear "We need to interrogate them for any information about any other possible smuggling routes."

"Like hell I'm going to do that!" Tayuya protested as she points at him before arguing "What if there are any shinobi among them? We can't risk that!"

"She does make a good point. Why? Because, it will make things more dangerous for them if they don't strike to kill, both for themselves and the rest of the Fairy Tail team and any civilians on the island." Shino said to the room.

"Simple, we remove their memory-"

"Not that again!" Tayuya interrupted again as she was fed up with it and snarled at Naruto "If you think that we'll be doing that for forever you're dead wrong! You're obviously out of your fucking mind-"

"They seem to have had this argument before." Erza said.

"It doesn;t seem like Naruto likes killing unless he absolutely has to. However, Tayuya is far more willing to do it. Perhaps they actually balance each other out that way though." Freed suggested.

"And what do you suggest!" Naruto snarled, quietly but sternly as he gave a glare to Tayuya "Sit down, shut up and listen."

The group was quiet briefly. They were unused to Naruto being so forceful.

"Naruto can be scary." Happy softly said getting a few agreeing grunts from the mages and conflicted looks from the Shinobi. They were used to the almost perpetually smiling blond after all.

Surprised by his sudden command, Tayuya kept her mouth shut and sat back down on the floor and listened to what Naruto had to say. Naruto kept a glare at her that was equal to hers.

"You've grown soft for the goofball I heard you used to be-"

"Hmm, it seems Naruto was more ready to kill in the past at some point." Makarov said with an unhappy tone.

"While Naruto, may be the kindest and most merciful shinobi I have ever known, he is still a Shinobi, and honestly I have no doubt he will be one of the greatest shinobi." Kakashi said with full confidence getting a proud smile from Naruto's mother and his comrades.

"Don't even start, You know I could've just let you in that jail cell," Naruto spoke over her as he reminded her of something.

"Tsk..." This got Tayuya to look down. being shameful that she had to remind herself she was the only one to survive.

Naruto pressured with the facts he knew "With your crimes against the Leaf village, You could've been tortured for information, deprived of your sleep, and if given mercy by putting you in a cell, all alone and where you would slowly die of old age while the rest of the world would go on without you..."

"That's very harsh." Lisanna said.

"And very true." Jiraiya said with a sad tone.

She started to have a hard grip on the bowl of stew she had, her grip was so strong that cracks began to appear.

"Ending up like most of Orochimaru's people, used once and when they ain't good anymore, they'll be thrown away like a dirty sock," Naruto said casually as he drank from his cup of water.

"This Orochimaru sounds like a monster. Why would someone serve him?" Lucy asked.

"I don't know, why would they? Any answers for us Uchiha?" Tsunade snarked at Sasuke saying his clan name like it was a slur.

"My reasons are my own, Senju." Sasuke spat back at the Hokage equally saying her clan name with venom.

The majority of Shinobi glared hotly at Sasuke, though Kakashi and Sakura simply looked sad more than anything.

That last statement may have a bad impact on Tayuya.

CRACK!

The bowl broke in dozens of pieces and it showed to be empty, the sharp pieces cut the skin of her hand and blood started to stream out of her fingers.

She then made a fist of it and slammed it against the ground while glaring at him for a moment... before looking back down to the flames of the campfire.

"For being 'friends' they don't get along very well." Natsu said.

"You and Gray fight all the time." Lucy said.

"Not like that Lucy." Gray said softly, causing her to have to agree.

"It's really messed up how our villages really began fighting." Naruto said trying to set things in a row "First it was that genin team of yours trying to kill us and beat Sakura, then it turned into Sasuke breaking that guy's arms, and from there in the next month it evolved into a damn invasion, where many of our people got killed, including the 3rd Hokage, the one person that was the closest to me as family.."

"He was like Boss's grandpa too." Konohamaru explained quietly to the mages who looked confused.

This of course surprised them even more. Tayuya helped to kill the man, and Naruto still rescued her and treated her on relatively friendly terms.

Tayuya didn't even bother to look up hearing that, not that she didn't care but because she felt ashamed. She participated in this plot to kill the Hokage and knowing that the person who got her out of jail had a close relationship with the old man.

Staring into the campfire, he pulls out of his jacket an object he still carries with him everywhere; his headband with the scratch over the Hidden Leaf symbol on it.

Flashback

"Oh, some backstory." Mira chirped happily, trying to lift the somber mood from speaking on the Third Hokage's death. It was clear the man was held up similarly to their own Third Master. She couldn't imagine the guild losing him, it had to be hard on the konoha shinobi.

Sitting by a creek, was a young Naruto with some fish he managed to catch. It was night and it was time for him to eat. He grabs one stick and starts blowing the warm fish as he did not want to burn his tongue.

"Oh little Naruto is so cute!" Cana exclaimed getting agreements from all around the room as the girls cooed, and Kushina grinned at the sight of her little boy.

He bites from the fish and tried eating it but the young boy was forced to take some breaths to ease the burn in his mouth before biting another chunk just as an old man approaches him and said: "That smells good."

Naruto jumped back and leaned against the rock as he saw the elderly man and asked: "Who are you?"

"Wait, is this how Naruto met the Third Hokage?" Sakura asked in surprise.

The old man who was at that moment Sarutobi Hiruzen, the 3rd Hokage smiled and replied: "Just an old man passing through."

The mages looked at the man and could immediately spot similarities to their own Third Master. No wonder the group of shinobi cared so much for him.

Then Sarutobi's stomach was heard growling, seeming he had not eaten anything, this made young Naruto laugh.

The 3rd Hokage joined in on the laughter as he then was offered a grilled fish by Naruto.

"Even back then, Naruto was a thoughtful little boy." Iruka said in a bittersweet tone. He wished he could take back the first few years of treating Naruto so distantly. He deserved so much better.

"Here, gramp, eat this." Naruto said happily offering his meal he was hunting all night, wanting it to share it with this nice old man who was being nice to him.

Sarutobi smiled and accepted "Oh, thank you."

While eating at the campfire and looking at the stars, Naruto listened to old man Hokage talking about the stars and other stuff "Look at those stars. Each one of those stars is like our world's sun."

Naruto stopped eating for a moment "Oh?"

"Yes, this world is boundless."

Naruto's smile grew wider and asked in a cheering tone "You sure know a lot gramps!"

Several of the group chuckled at the sight of the pair sitting under the stars. It was heartwarming.

Sarutobi nodded and explained further "Compared to the vastness of the world, man's existence is very insignificant."

*Grumble* the sound of Naruto/Sarutobi's stomachs made a sudden silence for the two as it turned into laughter a moment later.

Like a grandson/grandfather moment.

End flashback

There were a few dampened eyes and nearly everyone smiled slightly at the memory. This Third Hokage seemed like a wonderful man that had helped Naruto to become the kind young man he was becoming. Makarov wished he could meet the man, who, while embedded in a world of horrible fighting and death, still worked to make the children of his village into loving and caring men and women.

Those were one of the fondest memories Naruto held close to his heart. And now he was gone...

Naruto stood up and was planning on going back to the others and catch some sleep, but before he does that he stopped next to the silent Tayuya and tells her something she would not forget.

"There's a reason why I broke you out, even though you were involved in the death of gramps. You're only lucky to be alive because of that one detail, and it's THAT detail which is the only reason why I managed to get you over here and build a new life. So don't screw it up."

Tayuya silently but understandably nodded on what he wanted to make clear.

"What do you think it could be?" Lucy asked.

"I have a couple Ideas." Shikamaru said but, he was far from certain.

Naruto turns back to his friends "Let's go to sleep. It's pretty late now."

"Right..."

Soon one of the campfire's went off and only one in the beach was left.

Next morning

"Looks like we made it guys!" An overwhelmingly happy Natsu said as he noticed someone was missing "Hey, where's Naruto?"

Lucy looks around saying "I don't know, you think he maybe got taken into the sea?"

"That would be terrible, but thankfully not." Neji stated. It would have been very easy for the sea to sweep Naruto away, especially with Kiri missing-nin. Their skill set revolved heavily around water based attacks drowning an unconscious enemy would have been childs-play.

"Nah, Naruto is here somewhere, there's no way that would happen to him." Gray still laying on the ground disagreed.

"Ey, guys!"

The three wizards turned to Happy and saw he was holding onto a letter that was handwritten. Happy waved it around "It's from Naruto. I found it next to me under a rock."

Lucy walks over to the cat as she picks it up and started reading it out loud.

Natsu walks up to her and tries reading it but then asked Lucy "So, what does it say?"

Lucy closes the letter and says "He said he'd be on the top of the mountain. Trying to 'meditate' in peace. Does he meditate?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Naruto does meditate now, but I have a feeling that he is using it as an excuse to scout around." Jiraiya commented.

"It's smart if he doesn't want the others around him fighting shinobi, so they don't get caught in the crossfire." Iruka said.

Team Erza seemed to disagree, not liking the idea of their guild member keeping them out of fights to protect them, when they would prefer fighting side by side to protect each other.

Reading the emotions of his children Makarov smiled at their loyalty. Even to one that wasn't truly a member of their guild, at least in this world.

"Aye, Naruto meditates time to times, especially on high and silent places." Happy replied as he knew this.

Lucy then said, "Naruto also said there was a village nearby, that we should check out." She then thought out loud "I wonder why he decided to go to the mountains? Surely he could've done it here."

"Whatever, Let's just explore the island!" Natsu yelled smiling while stretching his arms over his head with Happy complying with him.

"Aye!"

"We've been here for thirty seconds and you guys already forget about the mission?" Lucy said sweatdropping.

Several of the group laughed at Natsu and Happy's free spirits while others sent Lucy a ptying glance on having to reign them in.

Gray meanwhile was a few feet away from them, kneeling over an old campfire that was a few meters away from theirs. He checked the grounds and saw there were multiple footprints that were seen around the area. He recognizes some of them were of Naruto's but also that of a different person.

"Well done Gray." Kakashi said from across the room. He had done a lot of tracking during his career and for Gray to pick up on those small traces of Tayuya's presence was impressive.

'Naruto could easily meditate everywhere. Heck, he even did it in the middle of a brawl inside the guildhall. No, something's not right...' Gray said before making up his mind 'I should stick with the others until then.'

"Very smart Gray." Erza praised along side Kakashi for her teammate. The boy smirked slightly at Kakashi and Erza praising him. Before grimacing after nearly being tackled from his chair by Juvia.

The Fairy Tail wizards started to explore the island, by starting going towards the village that Naruto pointed out and asking for the details of their quest...

Later

In a tunnel

Inside the mountain were indeed a network of tunnels that were going through the whole mountain. Where people could just walk through them with the light of fire being used to give a clear path, It was for certain this was an operational smugglers' route that was possible active for months, maybe even half a year. The professionalism of such kind of infrastructure could not be clearer than that.

"This island has everything smugglers could want. Near to a major port but able to remain unpatrolled, supposedly cursed so it gets left alone even more, a natural crescent bay, and all these caves." Asuma commented.

"Not to mention the island seems very lively and verdant, so beyond their smuggling goods they could likely get most of what they needed to live off the island, making it so they don't have to bring in supplies." Gai said with a serious tone, surprising the mages who had never seen the flip flop of attitudes the man often did.

"Urgh!"

A bald man was thrown against the wall after being punched in the face, to say his face was bruised and totally bloodied as his eye was shut and his lips were leaking blood. Not only that but also his white shirt was totally covered in blood that may come from his lip and his arms were covered in bruises and looked heavily damaged.

Some of the group flinched, but others simply widened their eyes in surprise. None expected Naruto to be running a battlefield style interrogation.

On the opposite side of him, stood Tayuya crunching her hands and Naruto just standing there, only wearing the bandana over his head as he kept his mouth mask down. They came across this guy who was obviously not from this island, he also came across as a crook as he tried to pull a knife out and tried to stab Tayuya.

That was a mistake.

"That seems like an understatement" Wakaba joked weakly as the group watched Tayuya go to town on the man.

"Is it just redheads or what?" Gray whispered quietly to Natsu.

"..." Whatever Natsu was planning on saying came out as merely mouth flapping as Erza cleared her throat beside them.

"I'm not done yet," Tayuya growled as she grabs the guy by the throat and forces him up in a chokehold "Now, start speaking or I'll keep beating!"

Hearing the two boys beside her whimper faintly, Erza gave them a confused glance.

"F-fuck you!"

"Wrong answer, moron."

Tayuya punched the guy straight in the face, making the man spit out blood before his legs gave in and he sank to the bottom. Tired out and beaten he was finally at his breaking point.

That was the sign for the blonde young man "Alright Tayuya, that's enough."

The group grimaced at the brutality the young woman dished out.

"Finally! I'm done playing good cop/bad cop" Tayuya waved her hand around as this had been going on for a while "It's your turn now."

Naruto took it over from Tayuya and kneeled down to the bloodied smuggler who was having trouble breathing and asked "So, are you now willing to talk?"

"Ah so Naruto is the good cop and Tayuya is the bad cop?" Wendy asked.

"Let's hope so." Lucy answered. If Tayuya had been the good cop she was a worried about what Naruto would do as a bad cop, the red head's job looked a bit hard to top.

"You don't think...I am going...to rat out on...my colleagues?...we've been working on this for months..." The guy spits out some blood "There's no way...you'll get out alive...because we got some backup."

"As nice as his loyalty is, does he realize he is giving out information by trying to taunt them?" Tenten asked.

"Probably not, though that might be because of the beating he just had from Tayuya." Neji replied.

Naruto's eyebrow raised out of interest "Oh? Like what?"

The man gave a snarl smirk through his bloodied mouth "Like I'm going to tell you..." this man clearly did not know who he was talking to.

Naruto only shook his head on the man's stupidity as he thought it was better to get on with it and play his part of the good cop/bad cop scenario.

"You won't scare me." The man said confidently "I know you brats will just bring me in and I'll be extradited to the land of Waves by the Alvarez Empire."

"Something tells me that is not what is about to happen to him." Tsunade said dryly.

"Oh? Let me guess, you used to be a hired thug for letting me guess...Gato?"

Team seven's eyes widened in surprise at that. The others noticed but Hagoromo waved for Kushina to keep reading, no doubt it would explain further as the story went along.

"Yeah...how do you...wait." The guy recognized him "You were one of those kids that guarded Tazuna the bridge builder! What are you doing here?"

"That was our first mission out of the village as Team Seven." Sakura said sadly. Ino comforted her slightly while the others looked to Kushina to continue.

"Oh, seems like you're on the better hand. Let me help you out."

Naruto grabbed the man by his shirt and forces him up and slightly held him a little high above the ground, even though Naruto was a few inches smaller than this guy.

Naruto tapped the man on his shoulder a few times to calm him down "Now...tell me what you are doing HERE!" He said grabbing the groin of the man real hard.

"Wait so is Naruto the bad cop?" Kiba asked as he and the other guys in the room cringed from the display.

"Arrrrgh!" The man yelled out and started gaping his mouth like a fish, trying to hold it together "No, please stop!"

"Then tell me what I want to know!" Naruto said putting more pressure to the groin.

"He should know better!" Jiraiya huffed.

"What do you mean pervert?" Tsunade asked.

"You just don't do that to another man Tsunade." He said.

"Oh please, it's effective isn't it?" She said back.

"It's against the guy code." Jiraiya shouted. He needed to make sure his Naruto didn't have any wrong ideas about how to run an interrogation when he got back. This was uncalled for.

Meanwhile Tsunade had the opposite mentality, deciding she needed to ensure Naruto knew there was no limit when dealign with this situation. No matter what his 'gallant' sensei argued.

"Okay, okay!" The man complied as he began talking "I'll tell you anything that you want to know!" finally the two got this man to squeal, only didn't they know that they weren't the only one inside the same tunnel.

"There are around fifty of us. All of us were members of Gato's smuggling ring. After he died and his henchmen were arrested, we decided to explore a little bit and set up shop here in Fiore. Selling anything from booze to stolen goods!"

"Any human cargo?"

The group as a whole scowled at that. Slavery was a terrible thing. Erza and her friends were especially angry at the thought.

"What?!" The guy replied only to feel the hand around his throat squeezed in more "Okay, yes. We've been busy smuggling people, but for some Fiore people."

"Whoever they worked for, no doubt it's a bad reason." Hinata said softly. The thought of slavery reminding her of her own clan's trouble.

This surprised the two ex-ninja as they heard about this, why would people from Fiore want to be smuggled to an island not that far from the kingdom?

Erza's eyes widened, and she struggled to keep from becoming too upset at the news. It definitely sounded like the Tower of Heaven was benign rebuilt with people taken from the shinobi continent.

"Are you lying to us?" Tayuya threatened.

"NO! these people offered us big money!" The bloodied man said "They said they needed to go to the island, these were very secretive people but they also wanted us to bring us something big and cold, damn thing had to be carried by one of our big rigs and with the support of some wizards who came with them...and a shinobi."

"They transported Deliora for them." Gray growled getting confused looks from the shinobi.

"You'll learn soon enough I assure you. Please continue Kushina." Mavis stopped needless questions.

"A shinobil?" Naruto and Tayuya both yelled at the same time at the barely conscious guy while a mysterious person was just standing behind them miles away, eavesdropping and seeing what they were doing.

"I have a feeling that is another shinobi isn't it?" Natsu asked.

"More than likely." Iruka said.

The figure was reaching for something and once he got a hold of it started pulling it out. It was something unusual... he pulled out a pipe.

The figure showed himself a little bit from the shadows and revealed to be wearing a long blue kimono and had showed to be having long hair that reached his shoulders, only that his face wasn't visible enough.

He puts it in his mouth starts reaching into his kimono and pulls out a small book that he opens and started moving pages, the front of the small book had written a clear line.

Bingo book

"That all but confirms it." Kakashi said. Noticing the looks from the mages. "The Bingo book is a book with all the information of missing-nin and high profile shinobi from the villages. A lot of Shinobi in the field carry them, in case they come across an opponent that has a bounty to collect."

"Okay..." the person was going through the book until he stopped and read it "First, Tayuya, the lone survivor of the Sound Four, formerly kunoichi from the Hidden Sound Village. Was at least ranked as a jounin and considered to be extremely dangerous for her participation into the assassination of the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen..."

Asuma patted Konohamaru gently on the head to keep him calm, though he had chomped slightly on his cigarette at the thought of one of the people responsible for his father's death roaming around with Naruto of all people.

"Hey buddy, stay awake." Naruto shook the guy around so he could keep him conscious "Who are these wizards and who's this shinobi?! I need to know."

"Urgh...a big rat..." The guy's eyelids closed and the exhaustion and beatings got him out of action, silencing him and shutting his body off as he fell down to the ground after Naruto released him.

"He must have gone to far the man is speaking nonsense." Shizune said.

"Well...maybe not." Lucy said with an awkward laugh remembering her time on the island.

"Don't tell me you fucking killed him."

"No," Naruto said checking the guy's pulse "He's just unconscious. We've beaten him up pretty good."

"Understatement." Several people commented in flat voices.

Tayuya shook her head after sighing and then asked "What now?"

"We'll split for now," Naruto said as he picks up the unconscious body and carries him over his shoulder "You go and find that dock and infiltrate it, meanwhile I'll take this guy back and question him more once he's back from dreamland. You can disguise yourself as this guy, seeing that he won't be going back. just watch yourself."

Tayuya nodded "Right, just don't wait too long, or else you'll be missing all the fun..." she said with a smirk as she went to the opposite side of the tunnel.

"Huh, they make an alright team." Iruka said in surprise. He had thought after the way they got on each other's nerves the night before they wouldn't be able to work together well, but clearly he was wrong.

"Yeah right..." Naruto shook his head as he went the other way with his prisoner.

Meanwhile, the person who was hiding in the shadows turned another few pages before he found what he was looking for "Naruto Uzumaki. Former shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village. Ranked as Genin, with low ranking scores from the academy. Did a couple of D-rank missions and a C-rank that turned A rank in the Land of Waves with his team and faced off Zabuza Momoichi ..." the person wearing the kimono said as he stepped back into the shadows.

"I'm eager to see what you can do. After all, you are the one who defeated Zabuza Momoichi's beliefs..."

"Well that's not good." Kakashi said glumly.

"Pfft, Naruto will handle that Kiri chump no worries Kashi." Kushina said. Kushina was not a big fan of Kiri, after the loss of Uzu. Still in her mind no single Kiri-nin could stand up to even a genin Uzumaki.

A few hours later

It was getting late, as the moon yet again had fallen over the island. It was to be known since Naruto had woken up in the noon but the others perhaps much later.

It wasn't a long day, to be honest.

Naruto now had created another small campfire outside a temple he had discovered with a moon symbol on it. possibly this was a place of worship for the islanders before it was abandoned.

Next to him laid his captive who was now in a deep sleep, with of course some measures taken like his feet and legs being tied up to a rock.

This gave Naruto some time alone as he was staring into the stars covered sky, thinking about that day he made his decision...

Flashback

"Oh another one." Mira said, happy to get more background on the blond they were reading about.

Hospital

And that killed a bit of her enthusiasm. It was unlikely this would be good.

It was late and most people were ready to go home and sleep. But it was for sure a long week for others, like the Hokage, doctors and shinobi laying in their hospital beds who only knew what happened.

It was because of the Uchiha retrieval mission had been a success, Orochimaru's people failed to cross the bring him to the snake sannin and cross the border as most of the Sound ninja were killed by either the retrieve team or with the support of the Sand ninja who came in as backup. All except for the female sound ninja named Tayuya were killed, and she herself was taken back to the Leaf village and put under watch by the ANBU Black Ops.

Sasuke also was put under watch, of course, he was now in a coma state and he was being watched by Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Guy who took their turns. Which was understandable because these four teacher's had some of their students in the hospital beds themselves with scaring injuries.

"It's better thant traitors deserve." Kiba growled while glaring at the Uchiha, who ignored him.

"Enough Kiba, not now alright?" Kurenai lightly scolded, though she agreed with the boy.

For Chouji and Neji who were the most critical wounded, they were being accompanied by either their teammates or their families, while Shikamaru and Kiba were able to be fired from the hospital because of their light injuries.

Now that left was Naruto, who was alone in his room. He did gain some visits on occasion from the nurses who came to check on him but that's about it. he did not want to gain any visits anymore from anyone after Sakura had marched in and slapped him across the face in front of Tsunade and Shikamaru and berated him.

Already Sakura began to sink into her seat from the glares of her comrades and surprised looks from the mages.

"You idiot! What have you done to Sasuke?! He's in a coma and I can't go near him! You almost killed him!" That was she said before being forcibly removed from the room by some of the nurses.

The room was silent following that but it was clear that the alternate Sakura's actions were not well received. Not to mention Sakura was shivering from the glare from Kushina burning into her.

After that incident, Naruto had requested to have no visits in the time he was spending in the hospital. Tsunade and Shikamaru understood his request and left him alone. For them, it was clearly possible that team 7 had fallen apart and all of this was truly blamed on Sasuke Uchiha. So there was only one resolution.

The disbanding of team 7

Kakashi looked agitated and Sakura heartbroken but Tsunade and Jiraiya as well as several others looked to be contemplating the idea. While the team had gotten better, Sakura less of her, violent self, and Kakashi perhaps less lazy or better termed, broken, the team still had far too many issues. Tsunade would need to think about shifting the team formations around a bit when they returned.

Tsunade herself knew that this was the only solution on preventing any fights or attempts of killing each other as Sasuke was awaiting the punishment Tsunade would see fit giving the last Uchiha.

Naruto now had to wait to be discharged from the hospital and take a sick leave of two weeks before being recalled for duty. But Naruto did not like that for one bit. Team 7 had come through so much, the Land of Waves, the Chunin Exams, the Land of Snow and so many other missions.

Now, he was sitting up to his bed with his face still full of bandages as he was just waiting for the nurse to discharge him. But it took so long that it made him tired as he laid his head back on his pillow as he faced the window and closed his eyes, trying to catch some sleep.

"That bastard Orochimaru got the Uchiha kid to turn on us, I still can't believe it!"

"Quite Koharu, don't let anyone hear you!"

The group narrowed their eyes. Clearly Naruto was about to overhear something important. Possibly part of what would lead to him 'betraying' the village.

Naruto's eyes shot open and he looked at the reflection on the window, seeing that at the door stood two shadows talking right in front of his door.

"Listen Homura, I knew that this Uchiha kid one day would turn on us, just like the rest of that clan, they cannot be trusted." The feminine voice sternly stated while pointing her finger at the person in front of him.

"The elders. What do they mean the rest of the Uchiha turning on us?" Ino asked while Jiraiya suddenly looked stressed out.

"What do they mean?" Sasuke asked out loud with a growl.

"You know what, alright I'll tell you kid. Itachi isn't a traitor, your father and most of your clan's shinobi were. Your brother was supposed to kill the traitors and leave the rest, like you. However someone else was there and killed the rest so Itachi had to change things and make you believe he lost it and killed the clan in madness." Tsunade said. Part of her was guilty for dropping this on him. The rest of her felt plenty of pleasure from the looks crossing the brat's face.

"Liar!" Sasuke shouted about to fling himself at her before Hagoromo and Mavis placed him in sleep again.

"Let's try and continue." Mavis said.

Sadly she wasn't sure many of the shinobi were listening. The truth benign told to them was nearly as big of a bomb as learning about Naruto's family. It changed so much.

The person sighed "I know, but what can we do? It's up to the Fifth Hokage, and we both know that woman is nothing good but gambling and drinking that's for sure."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and growled. More like a bear than a woman. No-one but Jiraiya, Shizune, and Kushina knew the woman was plotting on making the elder's lives hell when they got back to Konoha before forcing them to retire.

"I see we all came to an understanding." A third said appearing its shadow in front of the small window of Naruto's room, Naruto could only see the person had spikey hair and something like bandages covering up some of his head.

"Danzo, why are you here?" The woman voice sounded surprised "Normally you don't show up in public places."

"Of course it's that bastard." Tsunade growled.

"Who is he?" Levy asked.

"That is Danzo Shimura, one of the Village Elders. However he also has a lot of political control, especially over civilians in Konoha. Add on to the fact he no doubt still has a secret illegal branch of shinobi under his own control, he is a major pain in my ass." She grumbled.

"I don't, but I came here to warn you that next week a meeting of the council will take place. There we will discuss what the future of the Uchiha boy will be." The man named Danzo said as he started walking past them and was about to reach his hand out.

Naruto quickly closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Danzo opened the door and his one eye stared directly at the sleeping boy, seeing that he was asleep. He thought it was a good moment to bring up something "Also, I came across an interesting piece of information. About the Sound Kunoichi that was captured by the Sand kunoichi and Nara kid."

"He's definitely talking about Tayuya here." Ino said.

"Yeah, we're probably about to find out just why Naruto ended up helping her escape like he did." Shikamaru added.

Naruto kept his own breath in a calm rhythm so they thought he was sleeping.

"I found out she can be an asset," Danzo said eyeing over the young jinchuuriki before turning back to the other elders "Did you know, that Kushina Uzumaki still had living relatives?"

Several of the reader's eyes narrowed, none more than Kushina's.

Naruto heard the doors close behind him and opens his eyes as he kept listening.

"Kushina Uzumaki? That's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Why? What does this girl have?"

"It's not what she has, but what she is." Danzo was seen pulling out a scroll and showed it to them "This scroll contains the names of the remaining Uzumakis that were alive. And I found it between the belongings of Hiruzen."

Kushina stopped reading and clenched her fist. She never liked Danzo, he had wanted her as a tool when she was a little girl and it was only Mito, and later Hiruzen's actions that kept it from happening.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, he thought only that his name was just given to him since he was an orphan. But now he hears there are maybe others out there alive. And the old man knew about it?

"No, you are my son." Kushina mumbled mainly to herself, but in the nearly silent room almost everyone heard her. Kakashi rubbed her shoulder lightly in a comforting fashion.

Homura almost choked hearing it "Are you serious? There are still descendants of the Uzumaki clan alive till this day?"

"I can't believe Hiruzen has kept this a secret from us." Koharu said to herself "Where did you find it?"

"Of course he kept it from you if you think talking about any of this with Danzo is a good idea then you aren't worthy of trust." Jiraiya snapped.

"That foolish woman of a Tsunade ordered all of Hiruzen's belongings in the Hokage building to be cleaned up."

"Had I known he was keeping such important things outside of secure places I would never have done that. Sensei really lacked in organizational skills." She moaned in agony getting a few chuckles, though Makarov simply sent her a pitying glance.

Naruto kept his breathing under control. Not being able to believe what he was hearing. "Well Danzo, what is so interesting about that scroll?"

"There are till this day, three or more names that were left with a question mark by Hiruzen, a day before he passed away. One was a woman named Honoka, she's last seen leaving the Land of Snow with a group of researches to some unknown island, my men will be working on finding her if she's still alive."

"Jiraiya and Shizune mark all this information down, we need to look into this in our world just to be safe. If Naruto has clansmen out there it would help all of them to be brought to Konoha." Tsunade ordered.

"Not to mention we owe the Uzumaki after we failed to save them in the second Shinobi War." Jiraiya commented getting serious nods from the shinobi.

"Okay."

"Then, there's a second girl. She was actually here in the Leaf village not that long ago. To be precisely she was participating in the Chunin Exams. She was a kunoichi from Village Hidden in the Grass. But now we know she's a subordinate for Orochimaru now, her name is Karin Uzumaki.

"I will see if that's the case in our world too. It might be possible to get her to defect if she knows other Uzumaki are alive." Jiraiya said.

"Thank you guys." Kushina said with a smile. The smiles she got back from her old friends reassured her they would do all they could.

A pause was there for a moment before Danzo continued "And then there's a third name, also a girl. Was a subordinate of Orochimaru, and now is sitting in a cell underneath the building of the Torture and Interrogation building."

"You mean-"

"That girl's full name is Tayuya Uzumaki, and she's a direct niece of Kushina Uzumaki."

"A direct niece?" Kushina said in shock.

The woman was then quiet again, remembering that in their world she was sadly already dead. It would have been nice to have Naruto and his cousin together like in the story.

Ending flashback

The moment that he found out the girl, that girl with the mouth of a sailor, who tried to kill his comrades, had the same family name as him and was possibly the only one who had a direct link and knowledge about to his family was now in the cell.

Naruto's world came crumbling down. It was not easy for him to keep his head up straight trying to live with it. The jinchuuriki's head was filled with all kinds of emotions, thoughts, and rambling before he had to figure out what he had to do next after he was discharged from the hospital.

After he was discharged from that hospital, he started his own hunt for the truth...

"I wonder if he knows all the truth about his parents. Maybe he knows Tayuya is his cousin." Levy said.

"Maybe, I hope so." Mira said. She couldn't imagine not knowing anything about her family. Her siblings were her most important parts of her life.

"Ha, Ha, Ha!"

Naruto heard something as he saw a shadow cast over the fire as the shadow had the resemblance of an animal.

Behind him stood a giant blue rat, wearing a black corset-style top with pink frilly edges which are tied up the front with black strings and wearing on the head a white lace headband and a red ribbon tied across her chest. The turquoise colored fur was an obvious giveaway the rat was female.

"Your world is weird." Kiba said to the mages.

"Your world has talking frogs and evil pink eye." Cana shot back causing several of the group to laugh and Kiba to grumble. She wasn't wrong.

The rat smiled evilly at Naruto as she held her two arms over her small head as she gave a roar.

Naruto meanwhile didn't seem to give a reaction, instead, he felt very irritated and was seen pulling out a kunai from under his sleeve and was heard saying something.

"You know," Naruto held the kunai over the fire "There's a lot of differences between common scum like this guy before me. And the rat behind me." Naruto said to himself.

The group was a little confused.

The rat, however, blinked her eyes in confusion and stopped.

"Ah?"

Naruto pulls the hot glowing kunai out from the fire.

"They're just a nasty plague to anyone..." Naruto said as his eyes shot an glare.

"Well that's a bit terrifying." Jet said.

"Alright who is next?" Kushina asked holding the book toward the mages side of the room.

Well there is Chapter 8 folks, moving right along as you can see.