Gravity
Standard Disclaimer still applies
Flaming Beauty – so sorry to disappoint (not really) but there shall be more evil cliff-hangers of doom around the corner.
EaterOfPaint – next chapter…. :p
Certified Anime Addict – glad I'm not the only one who seems to think that…. And believe you me; Akira's 'nature' was completely accidental… -cough-
Zed of Vesper – um… Naruto has demonic regenerative capabilities due to the fact that the 9 tailed fox demon is sealed inside of him and doesn't want Naruto to die, as in both the manga and anime… and the kunai wasn't in his throat, as his throat was slashed….
Thank you everyone for your reviews! I was so happy when I got more than 10 of them, it made me feel giggly..XD;
And thank you dragonxpanda for taking the time to go over the chapter!
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"What guarantee do we have you aren't here for Shukaku?" Uchiha Sasuke growled low in his throat as Chouji maneuvered the Kazekage behind Sakura, and Ino behind Shikamaru.
The dark figure at the door did not move or make a sound. He stood there, with seemingly sad eyes before rustling was heard. Immediately the others were on guard, Kunai and Shuriken propped and ready to fly at the sign of hostility. No such thing happened as the figure took out a slip of paper and flung it at them.
The paper landed, top side right before Sasuke. There, instead of a letter or note was in fact a picture. There was his mother, his father and himself celebrating his birthday, his 10th birthday. And there, beside Sasuke in that photo… was…
"Itachi-nii…"
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Yondaime sat with Obito and Kakashi in a separate part of the cave they had found. Neither said a word, each was absorbed in their own worlds, frowning in worry. Rin had been working for hours now; she had not come out either for a report.
Why am I so affected by whether or not Naruto lives? The Blond haired Hokage asked himself over and over, staring unseeingly into the fire. He's so suspicious, who exactly is he? His story is built on lies, bad ones at that. And yet I am unable to see through them. No one, not even Kakashi had the type of power Naruto has when Kakashi was that age, and even now he doesn't. Its like Naruto is older, wiser somehow… admittedly there are plenty of shinobi children like him, but he... he's… different. I don't understand. Arashi could not make heads or tails of it, emotionally he felt conflicted and he couldn't place why.
One thing was for sure however, when they got back to Konoha, injuries or not Yondaime was going to interrogate Naruto personally. He would find the truth in the lies. And god help him if Naruto was false…
"You look like someone just died." All three brooding males jumped, completely startled. Obito was the first to speak.
"Is he okay? Rin was going on; you were in there for so long!" Rin looked amused.
"Yeah, your point? He had a lot of injuries. Your lucky too, he's not in immediate danger of dying, his natural healing ability has finally kicked in and he's in stable condition. Sensei, the mission is over, correct?" Yondaime nodded, knowing full well from experience that Rin was not to be trifled with when in her 'doctor' mode.
"Then I request we spend a few days here until it's safe for Naruto to travel, he may be stable, but the trip back could kill him." Yondaime merely nodded, not saying a word, and he hoped he wouldn't have too. Unfortunately, Kakashi was also his student.
"Who is Akira?" now that Naruto's condition was confirmed, Kakashi was already plunging into other matters and concerns.
"I don't know. Someone who is very powerful, at least on par with me, if not better." Yondaime admitted. He had felt inferior to that red haired man; in fact, he was surprised to how well Naruto did against him. He was also in awe of how fast the man moved and did Jutsus, he hadn't even seen him use the replacement technique.
"Better?" their eyes were wide.
"Aa…" He sighed, looking at the entrance of the cave they were in. best not sugar coat anything, if would bite them back in the ass later.
"I didn't see him move, he was so fast, like he left behind an impression of himself when he moved."
"Could it have been Genjutsu?" Arashi sighed.
"It most likely was… but I didn't eve see him cast anything… and the fact that Naruto was able to fight him almost as an equal…" the other tree started at that. They hadn't heard about how Naruto had fought. They knew he was good, but not that good… and at such a young age… it made Kakashi and Obito bristle at the thought.
"I don't think Naruto is who he appears to be." Yondaime said finally, earning stunned nods from his original students.
"We'll stay here until he tells us… everything." He said it in such a menacing tone, so cold and unnerving that it made the others shudder. The Inner Hokage in him had come out, and it wasn't satisfied.
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They were wary of the elder Uchiha, after all, he was an S-class missing nin. And he still wore the Akatsuki robes. However, he had proved himself and had sealed Shukaku away properly; this was confirmed by Ino and Gaara, and later by Kakashi who had arrived late, as usual.
Itachi was now bound, with Iruka and Kakashi as guards while Ino was recovering from repeated uses of her ability to enter ones mind and see their memories (or in this case, talk with demons). Shikamaru was with Sasuke and Sakura, discussing certain things, Chouji was with Gaara, getting prepared. Said Kazekage came out in his former red and brown robes he had used back when he was 14.
"Uchiha-san, Haruno-san. I have enough chakra to get us there, but I'll need to rest before heading back." He told them. Sakura and Sasuke nodded. Shikamaru muttered under his breath as they moved to Gaara's side.
"Just don't forget…..tch.." Sasuke merely smirked at the Nara, grasping his hand in a farewell shake.
"We won't…"
"Hatake-san, where do you think Naruto is now?"
"Go back 17 years. Do you know the west pass into Rice country? Land somewhere over there if you can, I remember having a blond kid on our team for a mission there, I think it might be Naruto." It was true, over the last little while Kakashi had been having strange flashbacks to when he was 13, before Obito had died. Gaara gave him a twitch in response.
"It would help if I had an exact date…" the Kasekage muttered angrily at the Copy-nin, earning that eye smile of his.
"October 23rd, does that help?" Kakashi giggled at Gaara's expression, for it mirrored Narutos.
"Man... that must mean Naruto has something like… 2 months to get conceived…." Sasuke commented lightly.
"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed, giving him a 'soft' punch. He smirked at her, rubbing the sore spot on his arm.
"We should get going, now." Gaara spoke up, he was smiling however. It wasn't everyday that one could time travel, they were lucky however. When Gaara had heard about what Naruto did, he had stayed up every night (not like he slept anyways) and studied like crazy to master the foreign and strange hand seals.
Sakura and Sasuke griped his arms rightly as he lifted one hand in front of him and started to rapidly form seals, feeling a steady pour of chakra from Shukaku much like Kyuubi would supply to Naruto. For a moment, Gaara couldn't believe the shere amount. Before he knew it, he was surrounded in a sphere of yellow chakra, and then he, the Uchiha, and the Haruno were gone.
"That's it then?"
"Aa…" Iruka sighed, his eyes lingering on the place where they had been. Itachi was oddly silent, not saying a word. Chouji too was looking.
"When will they be back?"
"Most like Gaara will come back first, who knows with Team 7 though?" Chouji nodded at Iruka's words, who knows?
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"It's night time already…" Obito spoke out, knowing full well no one would reply, as he was taking this shift of night watch alone. Kakashi and Yondaime were blissfully asleep.
They were doing nothing essentially, just waiting for Naruto to even wake up. Arashi-sensei had sent an eagle with a letter to Sandaime-sama to take over Hokage duties until Yondaime was able to get back. They could have sent for a medic team, but Yondaime had told them he wanted answers from Naruto first.
Obito sighed. If only he could activate them... then the clan would accept him. He felt the turmoil in his mind but made no effort to stop his silly thoughts. It was nights like these that they caught up to him.
Even if the red eyes did have any black tomes in them, it wouldn't matter because he would have at least activated them. Already little 4 year old Uchiha Itachi was showing promise and signs of being able to activate it. Give him another 4 years. It burned Obito up inside.
He sighed, there was nothing he could do, and it was as if he was defected… Even Naruto's teammate, Sasuke was it? A bastard son and yet he had the sharingan… maybe fate just didn't like him? What had he done to piss the gods off? Why was he so… so… handicapped?
"Depression leads to hatred. Hatred leads to darkness. Darkness leads to pain, and suffering. That kind of pain... will eventually consume you. Suicide isn't the way to go."
Obito jumped kunai in hand ready to fire. But there was no one in front of him, or was there? He searched around; if he had Sharingan... he could have seen the chakra signatures…Suddenly a figure swept into the dim light given by the fire. Before him stood a young man, maybe a few years older than himself; this person wore a black cloak that obscured his body and blended with the shadows. He had long black bangs with shorter hair at the back, like a reverse mullet. But that's not what drew Obito's eyes.
It was the 3 tome red sharingan reflected back at him. The man made no move when Yondaime and Kakashi woke up, followed shortly by Rin. They all grabbed for their weapons. The blond Hokage was the one who took control of the situation.
"Who are you?" so much for control. The Uchiha, for that was who he must be, looked at him, rather he deadpanned him. Arashi had only sensed the chakra signature of a strange person when they had entered the mouth of the cave. But the cave entrance was pitch black. Genjutsu? No… it was just dark out.
"Who are you?" he asked again, more calmly, slipping into his role again. Far too many strange coincidences and occurrences surrounded them and he felt oddly misplaced. He watched as another figure, shorter with a hood over their head appeared before them, blocking the other side of the cave entrance. They were on alert now, even more than ever.
"I won't ask again." Arashi told them in a menacing growl, reading his special Kunai. The hooded figure looked at his Uchiha companion. Yondaime prided himself in being able to recognize every Uchiha, and found himself lacking a name to an unfamiliar face.
The Hooded figure took off their hood, revealing… pink hair? Aquamarine eyes that caught the men's breath in their throats. She was very beautiful. The Sharingan user deactivated his eyes and revealed smooth and deep obsidian, but other than that made no further move.
"You missed the Perfect Storm." Rin turned around and gasped. A bandaged Naruto was leaning heavily against the cave wall, heaving and puffing from the exertion of getting up.
"You shouldn't be moving!" she hissed at him, but Naruto wasn't even paying attention. He was locked in with the pink haired women's eyes, before collapsing. The woman moved forward towards Naruto, but was stopped by Yondaime's imposing figure.
"Please, I am a healer, I can help him." She explained, never taking her eyes off the fallen child. Rin was holding Naruto, but was focused on Pink Hair.
"Prove it." The woman shrugged, forming together her hands in seals and creating an eerie green glow around her hands. Yondaime still shook his head; letting strangers help Naruto just didn't seem right. First they had come, uninvited; had silently refused to tell them their names, and seemed to be willing to help them? Way to suspicious in Yondaime's mind. Unfortunately, while he had been thinking, miss pink hair had already moved around him, and was tending to the collapsed Naruto.
"He has a foreign substance in his system that prohibits Naruto's natural bloodline ability to heal at an accelerated rate. No doubt it is long lasting. Has he engaged in battle recently?"
"Hai-"
"How the hell do you know Naruto?" Obito snarled, not once taking his eyes off the other stranger, who had yet to move. Yondaime was torn, he had no clue what was going on, and he felt very inadequate on how to handle the situation.
"I am Uchiha Sasuke. She is Haruno Sakura." Sasuke finally spoke, his voice dark and melodious, instantly making Rin blush. Arashi blinked. Wait... Sasuke and Sakura…
"Hmm..? my siblings are not related to me my blood. Sasuke is a Sharingan user and Sakura is a medical specialist."…
"Naruto's team-mates? I thought you were in earth country?" Kakashi eyed them, unsure of what to make of this. Sasuke twitched.
"Is it true you're a bastard?" Obito asked, ignoring Rin's scandalized 'Obito!' Sasuke twitched even more violently before.
"Lies, built to give Naruto time to breathe and throw you off his tail. I will explain momentarily." He held up a placate hand before them, and warded off more questions.
"Fine, but I don't trust you." Sasuke shrugged, stepping forward when Obito and Kakashi relinquished their weapons. He sat down by the fire, and waited. Rin was keeping an eye on Sakura, and the boys kept an eye on Sasuke, while Yondaime watched them both. Mostly though, Rin wasn't watching for signs of assignation from Sakura, but rather her incredible ability to use medic techniques, she was just awesome.
Finally, after an hour Sakura sighed. "He's fine now, his bloodline will take care of the rest." She half lied, Demon healing wasn't a bloodline suitable for a human, but for Naruto it worked out to pass as a bloodline limit since Kyuubi was sealed inside of him.
"Do you know who attacked him?"
"A man with red hair and black eyes, tall, and very fast." Yondaime said offhandedly, the duo merely sighed.
"Just making sure, Naruto already told us Akira attacked."
"What, when?" Obito asked the pink haired beauty.
"Akira is the Perfect Storm, silly." Sakura reprimanded Obito gently, smiling at him. Obito went scarlet.
"Since Naruto isn't awake… I think I'll have you answer my questions." Arashi's voice was cold and his eyes hard. He wanted answers. No more lies.
"We'll answer everything, no matter how difficult or unbelieving they are."
"Who is Naruto?" he asked. Sasuke sighed.
"That's too vague a question, and we can't answer it in all one sitting. Start with some basics, and we'll go from there."
"What is Naruto's full name?" Kakashi asked, earning a glare from his sensei. Truth be told, having no clan name bugged the white haired ninja. Sasuke smirked and Sakura chuckled.
"Kazame Uzumaki Naruto." Arashi's breath caught in his throat. He was the only living Kazame...
"What?"
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HAHAHAHA! Hahah so many evil cliffhangers in a row, don't you hate being kept on the edge of your seats? Actually, it wasn't intended for me to bring Sasuke and Sakura back so quickly... but meh.