"According to Chomei, he will be here soon! I can't wait to see him!" Fu said excitedly.
"Who?" Shino asked as he followed her.
"Naruto!"
Following them from behind were their sensei Kurenai Yuhi and Sai. The team was jumping from roof to roof en route to the Konoha Cemetery, as they had just finished another D-rank mission and they were now free. The jonin instructor smiled looking at her three students, her team had worked unexpectedly well. Their teamwork was even better than her boyfriend's Team 10, much to the amazement of all Konoha jonins.
After returning from her three-month long tour at the dangerous Western Garrison three years ago, the Genjutsu Mistress had been surprised to receive a long term S-rank assignment from the Hokage and the Slug Sannin, serving as guardian to this teal-haired girl. To her honour and shock, she was the first non-jonin to receive access to information about Fu's special status: she was a jinchuuriki.
Now it all made sense to the kunoichi, such as when she had witnessed a shopkeeper refusing to sell the girl groceries. The kind Kurenai didn't share the common stupid sentiment against jinchuurikis, because, as a matter of fact, her sensei and her son were jinchuurikis too. It didn't take long for Kurenai to like the girl's cheerfulness and happy-go-lucky attitude, and quickly they became sisters in all but blood. Soon the jinchuuriki gained the liking of many of Kurenai's friends, especially Anko. It wasn't surprising to see that Fu and Anko bonded very well due to their mutual social status in the village, Kurenai considered. The teal-haired girl desperately wanted friends of her generation when she arrived at the Leaf village. The jonin then turned to observe her two male genin students, Fu's first friends in this village.
There was Shino Aburame, a track and capture specialist, as well as the heir and the pride of the Aburame clan. The bug user was the brain of the team with his intelligence and logic. He was quiet and seemingly emotionless like a typical Aburame, but deep inside, the boy was compassionate, as evidenced by his well-hidden desire to protect his teammates, especially Fu. The Aburame clan was not warmly welcomed by most villagers, due to their relationships with insects. Thus, Shino understood the feeling of unfair treatment and could relate to Fu.
Kurenai, however, suspected the feeling was more than the shared feeling of ostracism.
Sai, a reconnaissance specialist and a tanto user, had the annoying trait of giving most of his peers unfavourable nicknames and speaking insensitively. Sasuke Uchiha was his most unfortunate victim with the "dickless" nickname, much to Asuma's and Anko's amusement.
But the most important of all, something was not right about this boy; his background was left a complete mystery except for the sole note that he came from an orphanage. Sai had the worst academic scores in the team, yet his skills showed otherwise when he effortlessly cut down the team's targets in bandit-sweeping missions. The boy's actions saved his teammates, but this alarmed the jonin-sensei. Something told her that she had to keep an eye on this genin, just as she had been instructed by the Third and the Slug Sannin to watch out for a certain war hawk.
Team 8 had finally arrived at the Konoha Cemetery, and Kurenai had to put aside her ruminations. They gasped and were awed by the presence of tens of thousands of Leaf denizens gathered here.
"My goodness, most of the villagers are here." Kurenai studied the crowd.
There was little space to move around, and many ninjas were standing on trees for a better view. The crowd was as large as the one for the Yondaime's funeral, 13 years ago, and more people were coming here. Fu gave a greeting wave to her carpenter friend Genno who smiled and waved back in response.
"Look! He's here!" A villager pointed to her left.
Everyone turned their heads in that direction and saw a small group of people heading towards the final resting place of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, who were buried next to each other. The son of the Yellow Flash was in front of the group, with the Hyuuga heiress by his side.
'Sensei's son,' Kurenai thought as she looked at the whiskered blond.
Following behind him and the Hyuuga were the two Uzumaki girls, the Third Hokage, the Slug Sannin, Hitomi Hyuuga, and Mikoto Uchiha. Naruto was wearing Uzumaki armour with a katana strapped on his back while the others were in beautiful kimonos. The group bore bouquets of flowers in their arms.
The boy's face was solemn and sorrowful. The cheering crowd became quieted by the regal and sad aura radiating from him. People quickly made space along his way to his parents' graves.
Fu wanted to approach and greet her fellow jinchuuriki, but she found herself unable do it when she saw the deep and overwhelming pain in his eyes. To everyone's surprise, the blond turned his face to Team 8, nodded, and gave the Nanabi jinchuuriki a genuine warm and acknowledging smile.
"What happened to him?" Fu asked her tailed beast friend.
"Konoha upsets him very much: Minato and Kushina made the ultimate sacrifice for this village, yet their memory is spat on as their fortune was stolen and their house burned. Not to mention that the Uzumaki clan is long forgotten in the Konoha history books and her things have been stolen..." Chomei explained. "By the way, don't tell your teammates about this. And most importantly don't tell them about the Kyuubi. I understand you told them about me for their friendship, but you cannot tell them about him."
"Okay. I understand, but I want to make the Kyuubi my friend too!" Fu said cheerfully, before turning to her team.
"Naruto will meet and talk to me at the party tonight," Fu told her team. "Sai, you are not from a clan, but you are invited to the party along with Lee, Tenten, Sakura and Ranmaru. He wants to meet all the K-15 members."
"Why?" Sai asked.
"The Hokages have given Naruto command of K-15 and they have a special plan for our platoon."
Shino raised his eyebrows. "What? Isn't Neji Hyuuga the platoon leader?"
Sai kept smiling, but deep inside he was sure his master would summon him tonight and give him new orders to keep watch over another jinchuuriki and learn more about the tailed beasts.
"We will find out later," Kurenai said.
The jonin was now thinking about a certain K-15 member, Yakumo Kurama, who was her first charge long before Fu came along. The girl had a fearsome talent in genjutsu, but it was a double-edged sword that she couldn't control properly. The Kurama heiress was adamant about becoming a kunoichi in service to Konoha three years ago. Kurenai and the Third Hokage finally relented and requested Jiraiya to have Ido completely sealed.
To compensate for this handicap, Yakumo began physical training regime and poison arts under Anko's and Shizune's private tutelages respectively. However, it seemed that that was not enough when Team Shizune was ambushed in a patrol at the Western Garrison six months ago. Thanks to Yakumo's knight in shining… spandex, she didn't become a casualty in the front. However, her teammates were not that lucky: one was KIA and another WIA.
It was just bad luck that it happened to the severely outnumbered Konoha team, but Shizune and Yakumo couldn't stop blaming themselves. Upon returning to Konoha, Yakumo put more effort into ninjutsu and taijutsu with the help of her hero and his sensei. Shizune and Kurenai had kept a wary eye on Yakumo, making sure she didn't become another faithful follower of the Flames of Youth. They had shuddered at the thought of Yakumo in a green jumpsuit and preaching about the "Flames of Youth." Rock Lee was enough in the village.
'If Yakumo doesn't have her power sealed and could have used her power properly, the team might have survived that fight against 10 Iwa ninjas.' Kurenai thought. 'She is a genjutsu prodigy and might even reach Itachi Uchiha's level. It's such a waste that she couldn't use her talent, but that's the best Lord Jiraiya could do with his fuinjutsu…'
The Genjutsu Mistress' thoughts turned to the day before, when she, Asuma, Anko and many other jonins were in the jonin bar listening to Kakashi's tale of his Wave mission. It began as a C-rank mission, then rose to A-rank, and finally became S-rank. Everyone's jaw dropped when the Hatake described how his team encountered Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki, and yet they all came home in one piece.
It was impossible for anyone, even Kakashi, to survive facing two of the most dangerous missing-nins in the world, but Naruto, Hinata and their people defeated the duo with the legendary Uzumaki fuinjutsu.
'Naruto's fuinjutsu is more powerful than his parents' and Lord Jiraiya's. He must be a fuinjutsu genius like no one has ever seen before, and he might have solutions to Yakumo's and Anko's problems. They deserve a second chance in their lives, like Fu got her second chance in Konoha. I will ask for his help.' Kurenai Yuhi resolved.
Back in the present, Naruto and Hinata knelt down in front of Minato's and Kushina's gravestones, and all the Leaf ninjas and villagers lowered their heads in respect. Honoka stepped in and set up a privacy seal so people couldn't eavesdrop on their prayer to Minato and Kushina.
"Dad, mum. I wished I could have visited you earlier, but… long story short, me and my fiancée got kidnapped 10 years ago. You know who was responsible for this? Kumo. Dad made a big mistake letting that asshole-Raikage live. Konoha should have sent Kumo a message after they tried to kidnap mum. Anyway, we made it home yesterday. Ah, I almost forgot to tell you about my fiancée, Hinata Hyuuga. She is Hiashi and Hitomi's daughter. You two had wished we could have become friends, but we have become much more…" Naruto said bashfully and shuddered at the memory of Hiashi nearly castrating him yesterday.
The blond quieted and let Hinata pay her respects to her parents-in-law. She laid down her flowers on the two gravestones and spoke softly. "Thank you for bringing Naruto to me. I wish I could have met you and called you Father and Mother…." She looked at Kushina's gravestone. "Mother, I know your last words to Naruto. I hope you don't think I'm a weird girl, but I love your son as much as you did. I hope you accept me as your daughter-in-law. I will take care of him, and that's the promise of lifetime."
It was Hitomi's turn. "Minato, Kushina, I can't thank your son enough for saving my daughter and bringing her home safe. Kushina, remember your promise to Hizashi in your Chunin Exam Final match, that you would one day change the Hyuuga clan? I believe your son will finish your job and help me to fix the rift in the Hyuuga clan one day." She made an appreciative bow to Kushina's gravestone. "I will help your son to achieve your dream. The support from Konoha clans is definitely not enough, and I will advise your son to seek Whirlpool's former best allies. The leader of Snow Country is dead though, and his daughter has gone missing- that leaves Demon Country Naruto must seek support from. I'm sure the High Priestess will renew the alliance with Neo-Uzushio."
Honoka bowed after laying her flowers. "Lady Kushina and Lord Minato, thank you for your son saving me." The Chain user focused on the Red Death's gravestone. "Lady Kushina, I have learned from your file that you and Dai Maito were the two war heroes at the Kiri frontline in the last war. Dai was responsible for the decimation of the elite Kiri Seven Swordsmen, and you, Lady Kushina… You mercilessly slaughtered both Kiri advance battalions, at least one thousand soldiers, in vengeance for the Uzumaki clan and Uzushio. Your actions stopped Kiri's invasion in Fire Country and earned you the moniker of Red Death. I admire you and promise that I WILL become the second coming of Red Death."
Tayuya paid her deep respect to Naruto's parents. "I am very thankful that your son found me in the slum and accepted me as a member of his family. I don't have Chain Release like you and Honoka do, but I swear to fucking Kami that I will become a fearsome kunoichi like you, and make every enemy piss in their pants when they see me. I will make our country Whirlpool rise again."
It was Mikoto's turn after the Sandaime and Tsunade paid their respects. "Kushina, lots of things have happened since your passing. Your son and Hitomi's daughter were kidnapped by Kumo, but they have returned home safely." The Uchiha matriarch paused for a while, thinking about her older son. "But Itachi could never come back here and he could never have a happy and safe life. And recall Izumi, the Uchiha girl you liked very much? She was struck by Itachi's Tsukuyomi and rendered socially crippled. She is terrified of everyone except me and Inoichi and huddles withdrawn at home. Inoichi said the Tsukuyomi she suffered from was a dream of her happy family life with Itachi. They could have been a nice couple, but their happiness was ruined by our clan's foolishness…"
She closed her eyes recalling her memory of Itachi and Izumi being together in the past, even as she was dismayed that her son sometimes hurt the girl. Before coming to the cemetery, she had been thinking about the Uzumaki's Whirlpool proposition. Her younger son still had a long way to go before becoming the next Uchiha clan head, Sasuke didn't realize support for Whirlpool would cost the Uchiha clan friends in Fire Capital.
Normally, the Uchiha matriarch would hesitate to agree to such a thing, even for her best friend. This would cost the clan's interests, and it was her duty to put clan above personal feeling. Mikoto had made her decision and indulged herself with a little selfishness. It was Itachi's sacrifice that allowed many Uchihas to survive the purge and he deserved something.
"I will help your son in his Neo-Uzushio endeavour. It was your dream too after all. I hope I won't be asking too much but I will want to lease a remote island of Whirlpool and have it protected by genjutsu and fuinjutsu. Everyone deserves happiness and I want to give Itachi and Izumi a second chance to pursuit their happiness…"
XXXXXXXXX
Among the crowd, Danzo Shimura was silently watching the group paying their respect to the Yondaime Hokage and the Whirlpool Princess. Behind the ROOT leader were his most elite agents, one each from the Aburame, Yamanaka and Hyuuga clans.
It wasn't hard to recruit the Hyuuga to his organization 13 years ago, much easier than the Hatake, thanks to three little magic words: "Caged Bird Seal" and its origin from the Uzumaki clan.
There had been an attempted assassination on Minato and Kushina's son by a Hyuuga elder, shortly after he came into Hiashi's custody 13 years ago. Needless to say, the Konoha leadership was shocked and furious, and later Inoichi Yamanaka found out that the seal and its origin were the motivation for the attempted assassination.
It was bad enough that enemy villages had put the baby in their Bingo Books with a top bounty, and the situation became worse with the boy's life under serious threat within the village walls. The Uchiha clan was already a big problem due to their suspected involvement in the Kyuubi's Attack at that time, and the Leaf leadership couldn't afford to have another major clan causing trouble. Hiruzen and his two advisors feared the Hyuuga clan would rupture and endanger Minato's son when, not if, both the Main and the Branch families learned the secret of their traditions. Hence in the end, they decided to suppress this information even from Hiashi, and Inoichi had sworn to keep it a secret.
It was a golden opportunity for the ROOT elder to make his own use of the secret and bring word of this discovery to a certain Hyuuga jonin, given his friendship with the Yondaime Hokage. The shocking revelation and a proposition produced the expected outcome: the Hyuuga Branch member joined his organization, because they shared a mutual goal regarding the boy.
He had thought his Hyuuga agent would have come along with the boy's group, instead of idly standing there watching them pay respect to the deceased, as he was Minato's best friend. Furthermore, he had a secret crush on Kushina during their academy time. He knew that the Hyuuga fell hard for the Uzumaki, and he even secretly kept holding a torch for her nowadays. The Hyuuga was too ashamed to face Minato and Kushina in their graves because he had betrayed his best friend's trust by using the blood-wired security seal to break into the Namikaze's estate, steal their scrolls, and burn down the house.
The Shimura had green-lit the Hyuuga's proposal, the end justified the means, and it was necessary for Konoha. The village was in an unprecedented crisis when her jinchuuriki, as well as the potential Second Yellow Flash, was kidnapped while tension with Iwa were high. Any proposal carefully wrapped in the blanket of being "good for the village" was usually assured passage. The proposal became acceptable when the village could receive overall benefit, even if there was some questionable personal gain from it.
The desperate father would do anything to save his children and descendants from the fate of eternal servitude. That made the man more manipulable, just like the Nanabi jinchuuriki who desperately wanted friends.
Desperation attracts vultures, no, hawks.
This was the father's second and last chance, and he would help the ROOT leader to achieve that goal without question in exchange for loosing the eternal shackles on his family and people. The Namikaze-Hyuuga Incident had ruined their special plan for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki 10 years ago, but now the boy was back as a perfect jinchuuriki, much better than he had hoped for in his original plan. Better, he had even brought back a goldmine of Uzushio secrets and two back-up jinchuurikis, and one of them had a very interesting ability.
His Hyuuga agent had reported to him what really transpired in the Uchiha compound and how the Uchiha matriarch had recovered. The crippled elder observed Tayuya with unusually great interest while thinking about the right side of his body.
An hour ago, a Hyuuga Main member came to his house with an invitation to the Hyuuga compound for the party tonight. The elder had already received an invitation from the clan matriarch, but this one was from the remaining six elders with a special purpose. Something was going on inside the compound and he bet it was about the Caged Bird Seal, the jinchuuriki boy, and his announced betrothal with the reinstated Hyuuga heiress.
It became complicated considering his deal with the Hyuuga agent next to him. But the ROOT leader was willing to do anything for Konoha, even to the extent of associating with both sides without them knowing it. He could watch and carefully exploit the Hyuuga infighting that would drag in the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.
It was time to start to formulate a plan, Danzo concluded. Tomorrow morning, he would travel with his three elite agents to Fire Capital to have a talk with his Fire Court friends and the Daimyo's heir, all of whom shared his views on how to run their country/village.
'Hiruzen and the Senju princess are fools. They refuse to do what is necessary to the Nanabi when the war threat is lingering. And they will allow the Uzumakis, especially the boy, to leave Konoha after Kumo is dealt with!? This is outrageous! Don't they want to have Konoha prosperous and supreme? How many more foolish acts are they going to make?'
The Konoha's Darkness then looked at the two jinchuurikis, his jinchuurikis.
'It's a fool's gambit to let the Kyuubi and the Uzumakis go. I will do anything for Konoha… You cannot walk away, boy. We own you jinchuurikis, and WE ALWAYS WILL.'
XXXXXXXXX
Author Notes:
Beta: Illuminated.
Proofread and consultation: Ookami88 and Lord Farsight.
1. There was mention of an attempt on Naruto's life by a Hyuuga elder in Chapter 1. There are many examples of foreshadowing in this story, like Taki in Chapter 3.
2. Mikoto and Izumi were the only two battle capable Uchihas Itachi spared from the massacre as they were deemed non-hostile. Naruto's abduction made Danzo more pragmatic and lenient on the coup. Izumi would have to overcome her problem when her clan and Konoha were in need.