Chapter 13

Secrets Uncovered

Naruto wakes to find the familiar chill of concrete on his back and dim torchlight surrounding him, staring up into an infinite abyss littered with floating gears, axels, and pistons. With a hefty sigh, he sits up and props himself with both arms. "How goes it, fox?"

The Kyuubi grunts and barely opens one eye from his perch on the titanic pillow Naruto had spawned in his cage. "Decently, all things considered. Your conversation with the old monkey and the toad earlier was intriguing."

Naruto snorts and backflips to his feet. "Of course you were watching that. So what out of that got your attention, then?"

He huffs. "The part where they already figured out I wasn't in control that night. I'll need to have a nice long chat with the monkey one of these days…"

Naruto pinches his chin and considers the potential of that. "… Think we could get Inoichi to help with that if Jiji ordered it?"

The fox falls silent, but slowly grins down to his captor. "It's wonderful, watching you abuse your connections like that without making an ass of yourself. There's a big difference between using your resources and swinging someone else's dick around like it's your own."

Naruto snorts and stumbles at that comment. "O-Oh my god, I have to use that one, p-please let me teach Konohamaru with that one!" He coughs between fits of laughter. "Kami, I never thought I'd hear anything half that funny out of your mouth."

The fox rolls his eyes and grumbles. "Well, I had examples from your mother to draw from. I normally could only see through her seal when she was stressed or angry, but she had quite the mouth in those instances. Mito was such a kind old woman, and then I ended up with that loudmouth? Just my luck, really." He slowly sits up and stretches his back. "Still, she spawned a decent brat, so whatever."

"You know I can take that pillow from you for talking shit about her, right?"

"… Fine, I'll stop there. Just know I didn't have the best opinion of her. She was a terrible warden. Maybe, probably, a good person, but terrible to me."

"… Fair enough." Naruto sighs and steps closer to the bars. "So, you've confirmed the whole Uchiha genjutsu angle now. Not much we can do about that now, especially as weak as I am still." He stops by the bars, close enough to be clawed, and stares up into the fox's titanic eyes. "So what now? Any other big revelations for me?"

"… Hmmm…" The fox lays back down and rests his head on crossed paws. "None at the moment, but I can say you're about ready to start using some of my power. You're short of a tail yet, but I don't see you getting too many drawbacks from half of one. Might burn like hell at first, though."

Naruto raises an eyebrow. "How bad a burn we talkin?"

"Teuchi's experimental Molten Chipotle Ramen running through your veins while Sasuke uses you as a katon practice dummy again."

Naruto shudders and stumbles back. "W-Well then, that'll be a last resort only for now. No wonder that shit popped all my clones instantly…"

The fox snorts. "You humans have such weak constitution. I once had two A rank shinobi crawling around in my innards and attacking from the inside, and I'd still equate it to little more than indigestion for you."

"How the fuck?"

"They were attacking me, and I was hungry."

"Welp!" Naruto throws his arms up and turns to leave. "I've had enough of your twisted ass for now! Nice chat, I'll try and come back sooner next time. Feels like this is getting easier…" As his unconscious thought trails off, he wakes into consciousness in Tazuna's home and finds himself staring at the ceiling. "Huh, just woke up and yet already wide awake." He sits up with one quick forward swing and peeks around to find Sasuke and Sakura muttering to each other in the corner, with Yoko laid across Sakura's lap. "Morning, guys. What I miss?"

Sasuke smirks and pushes himself to his feet. "We were just trading some genjutsu pointers, now that my eyes are up and running."

"Good move." Naruto pulls his covers aside and rolls to his feet. "So, that's one more trick for when MC Butcher and The Cold Shoulder show up. I doubt it's quite enough yet, though…" He hums to himself and scoops Yoko up as she trots over.

Sakura pouts a bit as the kit leaves her lap, but focuses on their strategist's ramblings instead. "What, you have some suggestions to prepare for him?"

"A few. For now though, we have guard duty on the bridge, right?"

Sasuke nods and shoves his hands in his pockets on the way to the door. "Yep. Lemme guess: You wanna recon the most likely battlefield for where to put your traps, right?"

"You read my mind…" Naruto chuckles grimly and pulls a scroll from his hoodie as he pulls it on. "Let's see here, what prototypes should I experiment with against a Jonin?"

Sakura shakes her head at his absurdity, but pauses at the sight of one of them from over his shoulder. "Wait, that one there!"

"Hm?" He pauses and stares at her recommendation for the trap. "Hmm… Warm, wet environment, low visibility, merges well with the jutsu Kakashi's teaching me today…" His grin slowly grows wider by the moment. "Oh hell yes. Ok, I'll catch up with you guys at the bridge soon." He closes the scroll and stocks it away. "I've gotta go collect some materials for this trap, can't be too hard to find them here. I'll be back with it all soon!" He leaps out the window before Sakura can protest enough for him to notice.

"Damnit, Naruto! Ugh…" She slouches in exasperation, but peeks back to Sasuke for a moment. "I'm not telling Kakashi he did something stupid again."

"Hey, you're the one who inspired him to so it."

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Deep in the densely flowered forests of western Nami no Kuni, a young woman wanders between the trees in her faded pink kimono, her hair out of its usual bun and lowered down her back. Her beauty is stunning, the colorful surroundings complimenting her porcelain skin and earthy eyes. Her basket, swinging at her left side, is half filled with various flowers and herbs, carefully selected for their medicinal properties. Her hunt has gone well, but one more material seems urgent to collect. A bite her adoptive father received at hand of the fox kit of Kanoha Team 7 was infected. Something told her it wasn't poor dental hygiene to blame, but some kind of low-ranking poisonous technique, probably still in training.

Regardless, she had to gather all the supplies necessary to finish Zabuza's recovery as quickly as possible, but always took care to collect more than needed to make excess medicine to stock for later.

But upon leaning down to collect a flower that can be ground and pasted into a numbing agent, she almost headbutts a familiar shinobi in black and orange. She instinctively wants to leap back and throw the senbon she has on hand, but keeps her cool and instead stumbles back in a clumsy, civilian manner. "O-Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know anyone else was out here!"

Naruto chuckles and shrugs and he stands, taking a few samples of that flower with him and sealing it away. "Nah, it's cool. I'm kinda sneaky." He tugs his headband with his thumb to point it out. He pauses at the sight of her basket, though. "Quite the collection you've got there. Not the best botanist myself, but it looks like you've got a lot of meds to make."

"O-Oh, yes." She giggles nervously, maintaining a forcibly peppy demeanor for her disguise. "I have someone I care dearly for that's in dire need of these. I don't see any reason we can't both get everything we need from this garden, though…" She peeks around for a moment, keeping the appearance of having a low guard. "Plenty to work with, for whatever the case. Food may be in short supply here, but in many other ways, this land is quite plentiful."

"Don't need to tell me that." Naruto chuckles as he leans back and laces his fingers behind his head. "Got some stinkweed, a few species really rich in capsaicin, a few poisons, some heavily irritating pollens that stick to the inside of your lungs and make breathing itchy…" He laughs maniacally. "So much potential!"

Her smile drops as her mouth falls agape. "That's… just diabolical."

"Oh, I know." He reaches out for a shake. "Name's Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha genin, prankster extraordinaire, and future Hokage."

She raises an eyebrow, but slowly reaches out for a shake, keeping her grip weak as part of her façade. "Call me Haku. Do you really think a publicly recognized prankster can become a Kage?"

"I dunno. Do ya think enemies can become allies?"

Stillness and silence falls. The trees have long since smothered any winds or ambience from the nearby town. Haku's false smile remains up, but she prepares to make use of her senbon at any given moment. "And what brings you to ask that?"

Naruto shrugs and keeps both hands visible. No signs of conflict can show, for now. "No threat. Yoko already sniffed you out before ya saw me and remembered your scent from the last fight…" Said kit pops from the earth at his side and yips up to him. "and I have intel from some of the women Gato's been using that suggests he doesn't plan to pay either of you."

Her eyes narrow as Naruto lays his cards on the table. "Is that so?... So you propose a truce on the grounds of the lack of benefit to us fighting any longer?"

"Yep. Simple as that. If you're willing to take a step further yet, we can topple the imp together and both take a cut from his pockets on the way out, free his slaves, round up his thugs, the works." Naruto knew he had her the moment he mentioned freeing the slaves. Her façade broke for just a moment.

"… I'll hear you out, but I'm not sure if Zabuza will agree."

"Good enough for me."

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Partway around the island, on the towering unnamed bridge between Nami and Hi, the real Naruto perks up and saunters over from his post to Kakashi. A quick exchange of whispers, and Kakashi creates a clone behind a set of crates beside him, which immediately dashes off into the woods. "Good work, Naruto. Just make sure you get your supplies to Sakura so she can make those concoctions for you, and we should be set."

Naruto shakes his head and looks out to the sea of blonde, black, and orange scrambling about the end of the bridge, carrying supplies, inspecting the underside by walking upside-down, and taking measurements of various parts of the structure. "I have a few other steps in mind, and Tazuna already approved them as long as I use my clones to help with construction and speed things up. Layer this Plan A and Plan B together, and we've got a lot covered, and Plan C can involve all the aspects of A and B rearranged. Be careful how you layer your traps, sensei. You never know what order they'll be tripped in, so make it flexible."

Kakashi hums and tilts his head. "I suppose that's right. Most shinobi are trained to be sure what traps are set in what order by guessing the opponent's logic, while layering obvious traps with less obvious ones. But, you're the expert in this field. Considering the number of pranks you've caught me in, I'd defer to your logic here." He sighs and rubs the back of this neck. "Traps have never been quite my forte. Always much more of an infiltration, assassination, and direct combat type."

"Those are the most important fields in the entire shinobi force, though." Naruto shrugs. "Nothing wrong with it, and nobody can know everything. I'm a supposed 'trap expert', yet I'm still constantly running into new questions and spending weeks looking for answers."

Kakashi chuckles and leans forwards and off the crate stack, slowly walking off with his hands deep in his pockets. "Truer words, Naruto. Keep it up, and just be sure to warn us about whatever traps you have set up here."

Naruto soon starts to chuckle as Kakashi walks away, his clones joining in one by one until it becomes a chorus of maniacal laughter. His entire team trembles at the thought of what perversions of logic and twisted weaponry the young blonde is preparing. Tazuna can only grin and laugh along with them as he swings too and fro in a drunken stupor. "Keep working, brats! We're making incredible time!"

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Iruka wanders through the village, now in the civilian garb of a sand-colored vest and pants with a white shirt that has Naruto's Uzumaki Clan symbol in blue on it, in a sort of multi-shaded tie-dye pattern. He'd taken to that symbol all too willingly, recalling how much he looked up to Kushina as sort of his nee-san. To now have adopted Naruto, he truly felt he may as well be a member of the clan. Now, ludicrous amounts of chakra he may not have, but he does share one common aspect of the clan, so it's not too far-fetched.

He stumbles to a halt at the sight of a young lad curled up in a crate at the curb of nearly empty lot. All that remains there is ash and blackened beams. The stucco walls had crumbled in the flames and left no wall standing. Little does he know, the scrawny raven-haired child in the crate is the very same Sasuke had defended a few days prior. He's accumulated a few things in his crate since. He's gotten a small rug along the bottom, and a blanket to wrap himself in to keep warm in the night. A tarp overtop it blocks out the occasional rain, keeping his temporary home dry. He's clearly a resilient young lad, valuable in his position and in this shinobi-run world.

The moment Iruka catches sight of the boy, he knows just what to do. He can't take him in himself, not enough room at home, and not financially stable enough for another mouth to feed. But, he knows someone who can and would. Two old friends of his happen to be looking to have a kid of their own, but… neither one is able to handle an infant, and one's injuries from her career have prevented her from ever bearing children. Adopting this young lad would be the perfect solution. "Yugao, Hayate… You two are gonna owe me for this one." He chuckles and walks up to the crate with a smile, kneeling down to check on the now cowering young boy. "Everything's alright. I'm not here to hurt you. If you're willing to let me, I'd actually like to help you."

The boy slowly peeks up to him through his overgrown hair, his green eyes faded and unfocused. "W... W-Why?"

Iruka chuckles as he drops down to sit in front of the crate. "Because I've been where you are. No friends to rely on, no family left, no home to return to. It happened when I was a bit older than you, though." He looks to the day's cloudy sky, reminiscing on those almost soul-crushing days. "Nobody deserves to be left like that. I know people here in this village are struggling to support themselves, you won't find a stable family here. But you will in Konoha, and you'll be safe there. So what do ya say?" He reaches out to take the boy's hand. Will you come with me?"

Silence falls as the gentle ocean breeze blows between them. The young one is conflicted, unsure if he can trust a complete stranger after another had burned his home down, and others had harmed him, but… that will to survive, and the faintest glimmer of hope, pushes him to reach out-

"Oy, away from the brat." The boy withdraws into his crate as a small crew of thugs arrives at Iruka's back. Two of them are hefting iron clubs over their shoulders, with the third carrying an unwieldy- too much so to be intimidating- odachi. Iruka doesn't even need to look to know none of them are professionals. He could hear them coming from the other end of the block, and instantly knew they'd be a problem.

Despite the danger the boy perceives, he's stunned into silence by the patient smile on Iruka's face. The teacher, far from his office as he is, maintains a professional air about him when dealing with unruly brats. These thugs certainly aren't matured enough to be considered adults.

He slowly turns to look over his shoulder at them, arms crossed and eternally casual. "Can't you three see I'm in the middle of a conversation here? I know you're hired thugs, but you should have a bit more respect than that." Just as the first thug swings his club down, Iruka rolls out of the way and upside-down before pushing off the ground and thrusting a skyward kick into the offending fool's nose. He stumbles back in pain and drops his weapon, which Iruka picks up with chakra adhesion on his foot and slings into the second man's gut. The third stares Iruka dead in the eye for a moment before swinging his odachi down with a wild, curving, vertical swing. The scarred shinobi redirects the blade with a single backhanded kunai, then stabs them in the bicep to ruin their muscle control and make them drop the blade. He screams out as the blade clatters to the dirt road, only to be silenced with a swift leaping knee to the jaw, clacking his teeth together and rattling his skull out of consciousness. "There. Now go home and think about what you've done."

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Traditional clan compounds of Konoha are old and formal architecture. Barely polished wood panels, clay shingles, white stucco, and a generous length of porches acting as outdoor hallways. The Hyuuga compound is also full of and surrounded by cobbled walls, zen gardens with Edo styled bridges over private koi ponds, and sakura trees scattered throughout. Traditional, clean, pristine, and prestigious.

But one room even the greatest of guests- short of the Hokage- never get to see.

The council chamber is hidden within what appears to be one of the larger residential compounds, just a tad smaller than the ruling family's compound. The entrance cannot be found by regular means, as a seal-enforced genjutsu is placed over it, which only a byakugan or sharingan user would be able to naturally see through.

Inside the chamber, three rising tiers of seats are filled with the elderly and valuable of the clan, their aged and judgmental eyes staring down the clan head currently kneeling before them all. Hiashi could count on being called to this chamber at least once a week, bare minimum. This particular meeting was far from scheduled, but he knew all too well what it must be concerning.

"Hiashi…" One of the oldest and most confident elders speaks with a raspy tone, but his voice has remained as deep as in his prime. "Your daughter has shown flagrant disrespect for the clan's arts. Not only has she completely ignored our sacred Jyuuken style, but she's been training in elemental manipulation. Our clan is founded upon the use of raw chakra. Anything less is disgraceful."

"Not only this…" A woman ten seat to his left and one down speaks up with a nasal whine. "She's injured her sparring partners with these elemental techniques and disrupted the peace and tranquility of our gardens with her training."

"What have you to say for your offspring, Hiashi?" Worthless words coming from Hiashi's own father, who watched one of his children die without a care in the world and speaking of his own granddaughter as nothing but a nuisance. Hiashi had lost all love for the man many years ago, long before being wed to his late wife, but now, there was even contempt rising from the emotionless pit between them.

His reply would have to be absolute. A combination of offense to drive their threats back and defense to prevent any further.

"… My words for her are for her ears and mine alone, council. As for what I have to say for you, it is not quite as kind." He narrows his eyes, almost activating his Byakugan, but stopping just short of it. To turn it on and prove the loss of his temper would be disastrous, but to stop short and prove anger and control in equal measure is a powerful deterrent. "We are indeed a powerful and noble clan, but that does not deny us what we are founded upon, and what the greatest of us were and are: shinobi. And a shinobi is what my daughter is now proving herself. To be one is to be injured and keep fighting, to adapt against adversity and around or through whatever stands against you. At first, I must admit, I agreed with you all, that my daughter was weak and not fit to lead this clan or act as a shinobi."

He sighs deeply and closes his eyes for just a moment, proving shame for the briefest of moments, only to insist that they too should feel the same. Only when he knows it's sunk in does he open his eyes and stare into theirs, one after another in quick precession. "At first. Now, I see I, and all of you, were far from correct. My daughter has now found her strengths and adapted to shinobi life in her own way. If you were to directly observe her instead of following the word of spiteful members of the main house who despise her growth, you would see that her style adapts the Jyuuken into something analogous but casting aside the rigid and constricting stances for something more fluid. Looking into our archives, into the branches of styles once used by this clan until we became so puritan, there was a form known as the Ame no Jyuuken. She has adapted this very form and recreated it through sheer determination to succeed." His eyes narrow into silver daggers upon his father's eyes. "I do believe mother was one of the last to use this style, if you may recall."

Knowing he's nearly sealed his argument, he stands, refusing to kneel before the elder council with his final statement. "You may have already counted Hinata out as my successor and heir to the clan, and I may have been close to following suit once before, but as the issue stands now, she is more fit to become our clan head than any of you will ever agree upon. Do not forget that I alone am head of this clan, and my word is final, no matter the sway you may have. She will remain the heiress as of now, and if any acts are taken to impede her progress, there will be consequences, no matter your rank, for the sake of our clan's future." He doesn't need to activate his Byakugan against them to know by their expressions that many wish to speak out. It's for this reason that he finally tips over the edge into open rebellion, activating his Byakugan and inflicting as powerful of a killing intent as he can muster. "And for those of you who choose to vote against this ruling, know that should you be the minority, there will be dire consequences for your transgressions."

The silence of the chamber is consumed by seething rage and shock as Hiashi marches out of the chamber. His eyes shut off just as he leaves the room, recomposing himself in time to witness the subject of this latest argument in the midst of her training.

Hinata sits in the center of the nearest koi pond, not on a stone, bridge, or island, but on the water, meditating as the water ripples outwards in time with her heartbeat. It's not entirely still otherwise, as her own movements- from involuntary twitches to breathing- interrupt it, but the scene is tranquil, nonetheless. Surrounding her are dozens of leaves scattered about and cut in half, floating upon the water and slowly pushed by each ripple, closer and closer to the edge.