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Sorry about the lack of updates. I literally broke my right wrist recently, so my typing is incredibly slow and a little sloppy. However, as I am now released from the hospital, I will begin to update very frequently. Also, to those questions asked on the reviews pages, there will not be any Yaoi in this fic, nor will there be any Tsunade x Naruto. This is my decision, as I fear that I'm already spreading it thin by making Naruto so out of character already(...plus Yaoi really creeps me the fuck out...).
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True to his orders, Kakashi had assembled three groups of Jounin level Anbu to guard Naruto. One group was stationed on either side of Naruto and the third group was stationed outside the door. Because of the low volume of patients in the hospital lately, Tsunade had arranged for the entire wing to be vacant.
"We are ready to begin." Said Morino Ibiki, standing next to Inoishi Yamanaka.
"Very well, proceed with the operation." Said Tsunade.
Inioshi began using seals for his family's signature technique while Ibiki began casting a genjutsu meant to weaken the mind and make it susceptible to foreign influence. As soon as Inoishi's body went limp, his consciousness found its way to black room.
The room itself was as wide as it was tall. To say the least, he felt like he was in a void with a flooded floor. There were no doors…no hallways. Such a mind can only mean one thing.
'His mind has been completely destroyed…but I've never encountered anything that could do this kind of damage.' Thought Inoishi.
Slowly, splashing his way in what appeared to be the direction of some kind of light. It resembled the peaking light of dusk, with several livid colors surrounded by pure darkness on all other sides. He stepped ever closer until he came upon something. Something that shouldn't be in a normal mind.
'This is what the Hokage described to me as what should be the gate for the Kyuubi…if that's correct, were in deep shit.' Inoishi thought with a morbid calmness.
He carefully looked at the structure before him, taking in every detail. What lye before him was nothing but mangled and gnarled bars of metal. They were horribly twisted. As far as the eye could see to either side, the bars of the cell were in the same shape. As he looked down, he noticed a piece of paper floating in the ankle deep waters. It read "seal".
"Friend or foe?" came a bone chilling voice from the depths of the void…on the Kyuubi's side.
Safe to say, Inoishi was already contemplating ending his jutsu before he had to face what had become of the demon vessel.
As Inoishi began to raise his left hand to form the tiger seal, he heard the sound of wind being split, and he was suddenly restrained by a human hand. He didn't even have time to react as he was thrown across the cell, further into what used to be the Kyuubi's quarters. A sickening piercing sound was heard as Inoishi had landed. His left hand had been impaled on one of the mangled metal bars of what use to be Kyuubi's cell.
"Dammit! You demon brat! I knew I shouldn't have let Tsunade talk me into trying to save your ass!" Roared Inioshi, trying to bite down the pain. It wasn't a fatal injury, but that didn't stop it from hurting like hell.
"….."
Inoishi's roar had been responded to by silence. Naruto's figure was like a living shadow.
"Aren't you going to finish me off!" Yelled Inoishi.
"No. You are a servant like myself." Replied Naruto in a neutral tone. Too neutral, as if he had been devoid of emotion all his life.
Just as soon as Naruto finished speaking, did his shadowed figure disappear from view and Inoishi was cast back into the living world.
"Yamanaka-san, Report." Tsunade said as she noticed movement from Inoishi's now conscious figure, all too aware that his bleeding arm was being now treated by one of the medic-nins attached to the Anbu squad on Naruto's left.
"Uhg…" grunted Inoishi. The bright white and crisp air of the hospital room was a stark contrast to the mold and darkness of Naruto's mind.
Inoishi began to explain what events had happened inside Naruto's mind.
"I see…" said Tsunade. It was like the council meeting all over again. Her hand was about to be forced. She had already lost two of her most precious people in her life to war and violence. She was about to lose her third person…her second little brother. By her own hand.
She nodded to Kakashi, trying to keep composure. She was desperately trying not to weep. She had done enough weeping for the boy. She wept when he was declared a missing nin, she wept when she thought he had been gone to long and worried for him, she wept when she thought he was dead, she wept when he returned…different.
The situation was not any easier on Kakashi. This was one of his only three students he had ever bothered to take under his wing. Even more dramatic was the fact that he was the son of his former teacher.
Kakashi had raised a remorseful Kunai to Naruto's throat, about to make a slice. He decided to look at Naruto's face one more time before his death would become all too real. He traced Naruto's facial features with his eyes. The three whisker marks, now so thick they looked painted on with blood. His now pale blonde hair. His two scars. His left eye…an eye that looked as dead as Naruto would have to be in a few seconds.
He raised the Kunai, attempting to make the kill painless.
One red eye shot open. The dark pupil darted across the room, blurring and dancing on a pool of crimson.
Kakashi was surprised to say the least, but he still had a duty. He brought down the Kunai, intending to kill.
Naruto stopped Kakashi's hand by grabbing the Jounin's wrist. It looked as if he just grabbed what was in front of him calmly, like an infant grabbing his father's finger.
"AAAARGH!" Yelled a wide-eyed Kakashi.
His arm now fell limply to his side, wrist completely shattered. Simultaneously, both groups of Anbu around Naruto sprung into action.
The room erupted in a violent shake. It wasn't as if the room was shaking, it was more like the inhabitants of said room were having there eye sockets vibrated erratically.
'Genjustu?...' thought Kakashi. 'No…this is pure charka.'
"Split…" was whispered by Naruto, interrupting the silver haired Jounin's thought pattern.
Seemingly, about 3 squads worth of Kage Bunshins molded out of Narutos body.
Two squads of Naruto's Kage Bunshin grabbed and retrained all of the Anbu with eye blinking speeds. Such speeds were not supposed to be attainable by humans.
The Anbu struggled fruitlessly. Kakashi, who was technically leading the first squad, was the first to be dragged into a kneeling position before the now horror-paralyzed Tsunade. The rest of the Anbu followed Kakashi's suit and struggled fruitlessly, only to be brought to Tsunade in a similar position.
The third squad of Kage Bunshin left the room even before the Anbu had been apprehended.
There was a silence for about four seconds after the motion of Naruto's clones and the Anbu stopped struggling…mostly due to the fact that each of Naruto's clones that were holding down the Anbu, also had what looked to be a clawed hand to their throats.
"W…what the hel…" Tsunade said, before movement registered in the corner of her eye to where the real Naruto was still lying down. He began to move, slowly, but surely, to a spot behind the clones and the retrained Anbu, facing Tsunade.
"What are your orders?" Spoke Naruto in a raspy and emotionless tone.
"What?" Said Tsunade, now completely shocked and expecting to suffer some sort of heart condition from the events that had just unfolded in front of her.
Tsunade, at this point, was nearly histerical. She had never seen such a display of skill before, and what more, Naruto was unconscious! He must have responded to a direct threat on his life. She was also shocked to see the technique he used. First the charka strings…now summoning Kage Bunshin without seals, and in a way that she had never seen before. And the Clones must have been vastly powerful in order to disarm and immobilize all those Anbu.
"What are your orders…" Naruto repeated, "…My Master?"
'Master?' Tsunade thought. 'His mind must be much more damaged than I thought…but…to call me Master…'
"Release them. Immediately." Said Tsunade, regaining her fractured composure.
"Hai….Master." Naruto replied, as he dismissed his clones into puffs of smoke.
The Anbu froze. Naruto was suppose to be a threat…a very serious one. He had managed to immobilize all of them, their very lives hanging on his whim. They had all prepared for death as soon as they felt the clawed hands on their throats. As soon as they were released, Kakashi was the first to act. He immediately let his uninjured hand drop and began forming the beginnings of a Chidori.
"STOP!" yelled Inoishi. He was among the Anbu restrained. After Kakashi let the beginning stages of his famous move sizzle to a halt, he approached Tsunade.
"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry but there is no need to kill Uzumaki." Stated Inoishi calmly. Tsunade had the facial expression of confusion. "I understand what has happened to Naruto. He is not a threat…just the opposite actually."
"Explain." Stated Tsunade.
"Naruto's mind is…to say the least…broken beyond any kind of repair. But…the strange thing is, however powerful he might be, he recognizes you as his 'master' and himself as your 'servant'. In his entire mind, that was the only thing that was not fractured.
She considered this for a few moments.
"Leave us." She half-yelled to her Anbu, which instinctively knew not to argue with her when she took that tone.
All the Anbu, Kakashi, Ibiki, and Inoishi included, left the room.
There was yet another long silence between the only two inhabitants of the room, to which Tsunade broke first.
"Naruto…" said the Godaime, in a low tone so that anyone outside would not hear, "…or Kyuubi?"
"Neither…" stated the form of Naruto, "…just your servant. Although I am not Naruto-tousan…or Kyuubi-tousan…you may call this one Naruto.
Several things shocked her about his response. First was the obvious fact that Naruto was no longer the same person in any sense of the word. The second was his use of suffix to Naruto's and Kyuubi's names.
"Did you merge with the Kyuubi, Naruto?" She decided to still call him Naruto.
"Naruto-tousan and Kyuubi-tousan merged. I am the result of that merging. They are…my fathers." Replied Naruto, still in a raspy voice and no emotion.
"What do you want?" She asked.
"To serve my master, to serve the Hokage of Konoha." He replied.
So many questions and too little time…
"Why? Explain." she asked, which seemed to sum up all her questions best.
"Naruto-tousan left the village three years ago, after the retrieval of the one he called Sasuke-teme. He left in order to merge with Kyuubi-tousan. In truth, they had hated each other, one inherently evil, and the other inherently good. Naruto-tousan had traveled for three weeks and came upon an isolated cave and proceeded to confront Kyuubi-tousan. He knew that he would eventually have to merge with Kyuubi-tousan, as he had discovered the true purpose of his seal shortly before his departure. Shiki Fuujin was meant to eventually merge two into one. Naruto-tousan perceived himself as a threat to the dreams and lives of Konoha, its citizens, and the Hokage. He could not bear to see his loved ones hurt and their dreams unattainable because of it. He decided to take matters into his own hands by leaving, confronting Kyuubi-tousan, and trying to take control of the merging, leaving himself for the dominant merging party." Replied this new Naruto before her. His response was void of emotion.
Tsunade was trying to absorb the overload of information that he just dumped on her, silently thanking him for pausing before he continued. This certainly answered the bulk of her questions, but she still had some very important ones.
"Naruto-tousan eventually won the after two and a half years of battling Kyuubi-tousan in his mindscape. At the end of said battle, Shiki Fuujin completed its purpose. Naruto-tousan had broken most of his bones, which I only just began recently healed a few hours ago. Kyuubi-tousan's last strike was to Naruto-tousan's left eye, where he was finally absorbed. "
'That explains all the scars…almost three years of battle with Kyuubi will do that to you even WITH his accelerated healing. ' Tsunade thought.
"Kyuubi-tousan's cage erupted and Naruto-tousan's psyche became forever altered. The result is myself. After the merging, I realized what Naruto-tousan had accomplished. I inherited Kyuubi-tousans power and knowledge, but Naruto-tousans true strongest desires. Naruto-tousan fought hard to keep his strongest desires. Among them was the strongest, the desire to serve and protect the people closest to him, all of which belonged to Konoha. Thus, I live to serve you, the Hokage…My Master." Naruto explained.
Another few long moments of silence ensued, in order for Tsunade to absorb the information.
"What happened after the merger?" Asked Tsunade, breaking the long silence again and urging Naruto to continue.
"After my…creation…I began to fulfill my desires…the desire to accomplish the dreams of those who have been dear to me before." Said Naruto. "I have killed Orochimaru for the threat he posed to yourself and Konoha. I have killed four of the members of Akatsuki, of those four, three of them were the leading members, thus cutting off the organization's head. After which, I had still not recovered from Naruto-tousan's wounds, but managed to make it here, to Konoha. The rest is as it is now." Finished Naruto.
There was one last silence before the end of their long conversation, but it wasn't to absorb information…
Tears started to well up in Tsunade's eyes. She inched ever closer to Naruto, and began to embrace him, finally spilling the unshed tears she had inside her for the past three years.
'He's done so much for us…for this village. This time, Council of Elders be DAMNED, I will protect Naruto with my life!' Tsunade thought.
"W..welcome home…Naruto!" Half-sobbed half-whispered Tsunade.
Tomorrow would be a long day indeed…especially for the council.
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A/n
The next update is gonna be a lot bigger and may take some time because of it. I was originally inteding to make the next part of the story into three chapters for the council of elders interrogation/defeat, telling the Rookie Nine and other Naruto friends what happend to him/their reaction, and TESTING NARUTO SKILLS IN LIVE COMBAT AGAINST A VERY POWERFULL OPPONENT! Needless to say. two of the three will be present in the next chapter. Because im anal retentive, I will have to devote a full (and really big) chapter to the battle alone. Anyway, please keep reading and reviewing.
Also, this chapter wasn't that exiciting because i wanted to fill-in-the-blanks with all the 'Holy shit, wTf is GOING ON!' comments I get about the story. Heh...it was starting to annoy me. Anyways, feedback please!
Untill next chapter!
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