"Let me show you!"
The voice of the pale man echoed through his head stronger every time, his eyes glowing a bright red color and staring at his very soul, red clouds surrounded him as the pale man kept walking closer and closer every step of the way. Sasuke was paralyzed, he was not the type of person to run from anything, his father had at least taught him to face his fears, even if it was indirectly it was a trait he picked up from the Uchiha leader, but he did not have a choice at the moment, he was being forced to face whoever this man was with no means of escape.
"Let me show you!" he kept saying.
"Show me what?!" Sasuke asked fiercely.
"Your heritage..." the man smirked.
Sasuke started to recover his senses, the lights of the room where he found himself were familiar. his vision was still blurry and sensitive so he moved weakly one of his arms in front of his face to block the blindness momentarily, seconds later his eyes adjusted and realized he was back in his bedroom, under the sheets and accompanied by Suigetsu, who smiled when he noticed he was recovering, and a woman who worked closely with his father, she had long purple hair and a cropped single bang hanging over her forehead.
"Sasuke! You're awake! You had me worried there!"
Sasuke acknowledged his friend's worried remark and tried to sit up slowly, his head still hurt.
"What happened? How long I've been asleep?"
"Almost 9 hours, not counting the time it took us to bring you here..." said the woman.
"What are you doing here Naori?" he was now talking to the woman.
"Making sure your dad doesn't kill you when he finds out what you did, Suigetsu here told me everything."
Sasuke's expression changed and he looked over to his friend for confirmation, Suigetsu simply nodded.
"When you stopped responding I had to go in and look for you even though the building was being evacuated, I found you lying unconscious on a lab, I called her since I couldn't take you to a hospital, that would've made the news and given your father a good reason to get rid of me."
"Why her? she's my father's right hand."
"Because I'm not going to rat on you Sasuke-kun."
"Really?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed with distrust, his tone of voice with a bit of sarcasm.
"While it is true what you said, my job is also to serve you since you're his son, there is no meaningful reason to create a breach between the two of you, and..." She walked over to his bed, Sasuke's fists clenched "I'm the only person who can cover up the mess you both did over in Keiyō."
"And why exactly would you do that? You and I have never seen eye to eye Naori."
"Because now you have the Sharingan Sasuke-kun, that changes everything."
Both Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at each other in confusion.
"The Sharingan? How?"
"When I found you last night, I assumed you had an encounter with Shin, one of our secret projects, you passed out because he forced your Sharingan to be awakened."
"The Sharingan can only be awakened by those who train themselves in the arts of a shinobi for years like father did, am I supposed to believe your words all of a sudden?"
Naori politely smiled "You have no reason to trust me, but I think you might want to see it yourself won't you?" She stood from the bed and walked over to the door as if she was about to leave.
"Where ar-" Sasuke was not able to finish his sentence when he saw Naori throwing a kunai aimed for his head, involuntarily his body moved on it's own and he could see almost in slow motion how the trajectory of the weapon was heading his way, he moved his head away from the trajectory just as the kunai impaled itself against the bed's headboard.
"YO! What the hell lady!" Suigetsu immediately went on the defensive and pulled out his gun aiming for Naori's head, he never fired.
"I do believe that should suffice? Sasuke-kun?" Naori asked mischievously looking only at the son of her boss, Suigetsu looked confused for a moment, he checked over to Sasuke and he could not believe what he was seeing, he had not only dodged the kunai without sustaining a scratch, his eyes that never stopped looking at Naori had turned crimson red.
"S-Sasuke! Your eyes...?"
"I... know, I feel them..."
Naori, pleased with the demonstration and believing for the time being it would suffice lowered the arm she used to throw the kunai and relax, Suigetsu remained alert.
"You're an Uchiha, it was only a matter of time before the Sharingan manifested itself, that makes you now truly the new heir to the clan's legacy."
"How did this... how was that thing able to do this?..." Sasuke looked at one of his hands and noticed the sluggish movement coming from the skin, as if time itself was stopping just so he could notice the difference.
"Shin was originally created as a soldier with one purpose, to destroy the clan's enemies, however your father deemed him as a failed experiment and he's been under Orochimaru's care ever since."
"You... know Orochimaru?!"
"Of course, he's been working for us for a long time and is one of the most brilliant scientists in the world."
"Suigetsu..." Sasuke looked over to his friend and nodded as a sign to lower his weapon, he obeyed despite looking for a way to protest "Why os my father paying him so much money?"
"Ah, so you found the notebook..." She casually walked over to the bed again but remained on her two feet, Suigetsu looked nervous "He's on a secret mission for us, looking for... something we need."
"What exactly? I want to know everything."
"You sure you want to ride this train Sasuke-kun?"
"I am."
Naori remained silent for a moment the looked at Suigetsu.
"What about him?"
"I trust Suigetsu more than anyone else, whatever you tell me, he can hear it too."
"Oi Sasuke! Don't you think that's up to me to decide?"
"You already got your hands dirty young man, you're free to leave but I won't guarantee you'll keep your job once Fugaku returns." Naori said.
"Heh... my job, right..." Suigetsu was sweating just by thinking what could actually happen to him if he did not stay in that room, he could probably run but he would be a hunted person probably for the rest of his life, that was how relentless his boss, Fugaku Uchiha was "I guess I don't have a choice, again..."
"Come with me then, both of you."
"Hey hold on! Sasuke is still recovering!"
"Is he?" She turned to Sasuke who for a moment forgot he was no longer feeling any painful symptoms, he stood from his bed and put on his shoes, Naori only looked at Suigetsu and smiled innocently, he huffed and crossed his arms "Sasuke-kun, please turn off your Sharingan, we don't want the other employees to get scared."
He realized she was right, his Sharingan was still active and after pouring some chakra he blinked only once to make it go away.
"You're learning fast, good." She opened the door and motioned the boys to follow her. "Come with me, this house has ears and eyes everywhere."
Naruto's progress over the past weeks was to say the least, fast, faster than anything expected, as it was previously established his chakra control was monitored by Ino while Jiraiya honed his combat skills, the Hokage was indeed impressed with his learning curve and so was everyone else close to him. He was curious about Senjutsu but Jiraiya convinced him it was not wise to learn such a powerful and dangerous art yet as the nature energy required for it could kill him if he did not master it fully.
The sunset that evening over Konoha was starting to set, a beautiful orange light adorned the sky and the buildings of the village. Both Naruto and Jiraiya had said goodbye to each other, their training session had ended and they were heading their own way, Naruto wanted to stop and grab something to eat on his way back home, all that exercise made his stomach growl.
"How did it go today?"
"Oh, hey Ino, it went well as usual, what are you doing around here?"
"Just came to check on you, are you hungry?"
"Yeah, I..." a loud growl coming from his stomach interrupted him, he blushed and scratched the back of his head embarrassed "I was gonna eat something before heading home..."
"No need, look." Ino was carrying a wooden container filled with hot and fresh dumplings "I just bought them a minute ago, care to join me? Thought you'd be starving after training."
Like a puppy, Naruto's eyes lit up and he happily accepted the invitation, of course he was hungry and more than willing to eat. Both went to a high spot of the village to sit and watch the sunset while they enjoyed their meal, the place was a tall peak near the east side of Konoha from where they had a great view of the houses and buildings, regardless the scenery above them was far more breathtaking.
"Did you like them?"
"Heh! is it that obvious?" Naruto asked while licking his fingers clean for the fifth time already, to say he like the dumplings was an understatement "So what's up?"
"Well... I talked to Hokage-sama today, he asked me about your progress."
"What did you tell him?"
Ino turned her face to him and smiled "That you're a great Shinobi in the making." Then she went back to watch the horizon "There's... something else though."
"What is it?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Remember the message I showed you when I brought you here?" Naruto nodded "The rest of it is sealed within my head and I'm not able to open it, as a safety measure."
"Safety measure?"
"In case I ever got captured and interrogated, the message would be useless if someone tried to mess with my head."
"Isn't that unlikely? I mean, you're pretty strong."
"While I appreciate your praise, there are individuals out there far stronger than me and if something ever happened..." Her face changed to a somehow sad look.
"Then that's also part of the reason I'm here right? To protect you, to protect everyone here."
For a moment Ino felt as if Naruto's words had lifted a weight that had slowly accumulated, death was part of a shinobi's path that could present itself constantly, she was not thinking about her own death though but instead all the lives she silenced forever, she was an assassin after all, it was her job so she accepted when death came for her, she would not fight it, she would embrace it, maybe then that ominous feeling would go away.
"You're a fast learner, I'll admit that." She chuckled.
"Hey, let's not think about that now, I'd like to think I'll be someday at your level..."
"Heh! Yeah right!"
She laughed a bit but noticed Naruto was dead serious about his words, he really did admire her a lot at this point and was starting to wonder if she should be worried.
"Um, Naruto..."
"Look, you and Jiraiya-sensei have taught me so much since I came here and I have nothing but gratitude for both of you."
"Oh..." She felt at ease, Jiraiya was also someone he looked up to and not just her, she thought to herself how stupid it was to think ahead how he felt and make assumptions that had nothing to do with his actual feelings "It's fine, just stay focused okay?"
"I will!" He saluted her as a military would, this made her chuckle again "So you were telling me about the message.."
"Right..." She focused her gaze on the horizon "So when we first received it it was a scroll, we thought it was a common written message but instead we got a special seal, a memory seal, Hokage-sama called me and my dad, then we noticed the rest of the message could only be opened by chakra..."
"... My chakra I suppose." he also looked over the horizon.
"Only enough to break the seal and see the rest of the message."
"I never asked... How did the scroll arrive?"
"Hokage-sama said it appeared on his desk one morning, no sign of a messenger, from there you already know the rest..."
"Ino, is there something else I should know?"
She did not understand "I'm sorry, what do you mean?"
"I just want to make sure you guys are not holding from me any information I should be aware of. "
"Naruto, the moment you came here you trusted us, what you know so far is what we know also, but you gotta understand something..." she shifted her position to face him "If you go out there to look for your parents and you're unprepared, you'll be dead before you can find them and then all of this was for nothing."
"I get that, and I'm thankful for what you guys are doing for me, but you've seen what I can do, I don't want to be treated like a defenseless kid the entire time I'm here, I can hold my own you know."
She did not know how to reply, he was technically right, with only a few days of training with her and a Sage, he was already a fighting machine, even if he had not gone on an official mission yet.
"Do you have the scroll?" he asked.
"Well, no, Hokage-sama has it but I have the entire message in my head, just uncoded."
"So how do we do this then?"
"Huh?"
"You say you need my chakra to see the whole message right? Here."
Naruto grabbed both her hands with a firm grip, this action made Ino blush involuntarily, she mentally cursed herself for doing so.
"W-what are you doing?"
"What does it look like? I'm giving you my chakra, now what happens?"
"I..."
"Something wrong?"
Ino was not sure of what to do, if the rest of the message had sensitive information for Naruto to know then maybe she should wait until the Hokage was present, she tried her best to remind herself he had the right to know since they were his parents after all but at the same as a shinobi of Konoha her duty was to avoid exposure either by her or her peers, then again he had agreed to this life and she knew Naruto was trustworthy at this point, he could most likely handle whatever content was in there. Ino sighed wondering if she was doing the right thing.
"Okay, close your eyes and take a deep breath."
Naruto smiled and did as he was told, she soon followed and both entered into a trance, then they found themselves standing in the garden that was Ino's mind, still holding their arms
"Ready?" she asked, Naruto nodded.
"Show me."
Ino used a seal with her free hand while still holding Naruto's with the other one and poured chakra into it, Naruto copied the action and to their surprise it worked, a huge sealing symbol glowed under their feet and faded after, then their surroundings started to turn into what seemed like a jungle, both Minato and Kushina appeared again in front of them, this time they were running from someone, the sound of rifles and barking dogs could be heard behind them.
"How did they find us?! There's so many of them!"
"They must have forced the locals to talk, just keep moving!"
"What the hell...?" Naruto said in a low tone of voice, Ino was as confused as he was.
"Over there!"
They spotted a cliff side and both dashed to it without second thought, the cliff was not high enough but it did provide cover for the time being, they jumped from the edge and landed safely at the bottom, Minato noticed the cliff's walls formed a sort of dome to avoid the line of sight from above, he took his wife against it and waited while holding her back.
"Minato, the Kyuubi... it's speaking to me."
"The Kyuubi?!" Naruto said out loud.
"They found it?!" Ino also asked.
"Shh..."
Soon enough other voices could be heard, they were frantically looking for them, the dogs continued to bark in the distance, Minato cursed his luck for not erasing their scent sooner, if these hounds found them they would have to run again, engaging them would be suicide, Naruto could only watch his father's image with worry, Ino noticed his look and tightened the grip on his hand.
"Don't worry, this is before what we saw, I'm sure they escaped."
"You think Uchiha Corp is involved in this?"
"Hard to tell for sure but I wouldn't be surprised."
Minutes passed, they continued to watch the couple hide from the soldiers until their noise was faint, Minato continued to listen to make sure they were alone.
"Let's move, it won't be long before they pick up our scent."
"That Fugaku! He won't rest until he gets us, we need to warn Naruto and the others!"
"Honey, we don't even know if Fugaku sent them."
"It was him Minato! That's what the Kyuubi was telling me, the chakra signature of that guy with the mask, he had a Sharingan! Even my Kongō Fūsa had no effect!"
"Damn it! If only I had my kunai here!
"Do you recognize that place?" Ino asked.
"No, looks like an island to me though."
"We need more clues to know where they are, I hope there's something."
The pair watched as the couple left their hiding spot carefully before looking for heading their way.
"Looks clear, let's go."
Minato took his wife's hand and turned to face a pair of armed mercenaries who had just arrived there, through their masked helmets they saw them and both parties remained frozen for a second, then one of the men reacted and went for his radio to alert his team, before that could happen Minato and Kushina dashed and each with a high knee to the temple knocked the men back a few meters also making their assault rifles drop from their hands by a few meters, before they could even get up Minato was already behind one of then wrapping his arms into a choke hold around his head, Kushina went with a swift and firm kick to the other man's head breaking the front glass of the helmet and knocking him out instantly while the other man struggled for a few seconds before he stopped and eventually was released from Minato's hold, falling unconscious to the ground. Kushina looked over to her husband with concern, both noticed the emblem they had on the left side of their uniform.
"Uchiha Corp... I told you it was him, we need to leave this island Minato..."
"...We need to send a message to Naruto first, they'll go after him as leverage, Konoha can protect him."
"But how? We're isolated right now and we have no time!"
"Leave that to me."
The couple fled the scene as quickly as they could, one of the fallen mercenary's radio started to receive messages with static from his comrades and they knew the place would soon be filled with more armed men if there was no response.
Naruto and Ino continued silently watching for a few more minutes their escape, eventually they reached the edge of the island and found a small cavern nearby to take shelter, they knew they only had a few minutes before they had to run again.
"I'm sending them a memory seal, Inoichi or her daughter will be able to open it once Naruto is with them." Minato said as he prepared a hand seal, Kushina stood next to her husband and placed both her hands in front of him, he grabbed them once the seal was prepared.
"Are you ready?"
Kushina nodded, both remained close to one another and closed their eyes as they began speaking.
"Naruto, I know this isn't the best way for you to see us and you probably have a lot of questions but we don't have much time, we're being pursued, all of us are and right now we need you to trust what we tell you and follow our words carefully…"
"My sweet boy, my little Naruto, please listen... the world is about to change, everything you know will change, the time I have feared the most has come, the time for you to become a full fledged Shinobi..."
"Everything your mother and I taught you about chakra was for a reason Naruto, your heritage as a Shinobi will make you a target for people with hidden agendas, people your mother and I have been fighting our whole lives..."
"You can trust Ino, she's there to keep you safe, please listen to her and do as she says..."
"She will take you to meet the Hokage, and if everything goes accordingly, we will meet you there soon, for now stay with her and keep yourself out of trouble son..."
"Naruto, please always remember that we love you no matter what, you're our son and you're our most important person in the world, we didn't mean to leave you the way we did but we're doing this to keep you out of harm's way."
"Your mother and I found a Kyuubi, a creature of legend, its chakra is incredibly powerful and vast so we had to split it and seal it between us, that basically means we're carrying a time bomb inside us." Minato chucked, Kushina elbowed him in the gut.
"It's more of a nuisance really, but we can't control it right now so we're exposing anyone close to us to a potential disaster, this is why we had to remain away from you and society overall, we're working on it though..."
"It took us months but we're now able to talk with it and even use some of its power from time to time, still, the Uchiha Corporation is after it and wants to build a weapon of some sort with it, we don't know the full details yet but if they get their hands on either one of us, the world will suffer terribly, we cannot permit that to happen."
"By the time you get this message we'll be no longer on this island so please don't come looking for us, as much as it bothers us to do this, we need to keep contact almost null from now on, at least until we figure out what to do with the Kyuubi or how to get to Konoha undetected, Uchiha Corp has eyes everywhere."
"Please be patient, we're sorry about this but we hope you understand why it needs to be this way, behave in our absence and don't give any trouble to Hokage-sama or anyone in the village, also I don't need to remind you this information is sensitive so don't speak about it with anyone that is not from Konoha, the rest of the world is not ready to understand what's going on."
"We love you..."
"We love you son..."
The message ended and their images dissipated into thin air, Ino's memory regained its original form into that of a beautiful garden, both teens stood there in silence for a few seconds. Ino checked Naruto's expression and to her surprise he was almost apathetic to what he just saw, he only kept a very serious look while still staring at an empty space.
"Now I get it..." he said.
"Yeah, I guess now it makes sense why they disappeared like they did, but hey, at least we know why..."
"Yes but that's not what I meant."
"You mean the Kyuubi then?
"No, it's what dad said before when they were being chased..." Naruto let go of Ino's hand "He was talking about a kunai right? I'm sure he meant his Hiraishin kunai, now I remember he used to carry one with him all the time, could it still...?"
"Still what? what is it?"
"He always had a spare one hidden in the apartment."
"Naruto, don't tell me..." her eyes widened when she realized where he was going.
"Yeah..." He looked at her sternly "I need to speak with the old man Hokage, I must go back to Tokyo."
-0-
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Hello there, another quick chapter here for y'all, enjoy and don't forget to leave a review!