Alright! This is the LAST GAIA-DAMNED TIME I SAY THIS SO PAY ATTENTION! NaruHina and NaruSaku are OFF the table for this fic! Cast a vote on the fucking poll with the choices you have! Also, MY WRITING STYLE STARTS OFF SHORT AND GRADUALLY LENGTHENS! THE NEXT PERSON TO SAY I NEED TO MAKE LONGER CHAPTERS WILL BE TRACKED DOWN BY ITACHI-SENPAI AND MANGEKYOU'D, THEN I'LL SEND SAGE-KYUUBI-MODE NARUTO AFTER YOU!
Ahem... sorry. I just get irritated when I have to make the same damn note multiple times. On to responses!
Iyaoyas: cliffhangers are a vital part of any good media! How else am I supposed to get you to keep reading? And yes, I agree, and did take my education VERY seriously. Writing has always come very naturally to me, so I find it enjoyable and a good stress reliever. As to haters, the way I view it is that it means I have enough people paying attention to me for someone to decide they need to try to knock me down a peg or two. Plus, they'll bitch about it to their friends, which will net me more readers, who might really enjoy it! One final note, though. I disagree in regards to NaruHina pairing. Hinata does not stay a doormat, and frequently keeps Naruto from being a total idiot. And she isn't abusive with correcting him like Sakura.
Kisa: IMSOSORRYBUTYOUWERETAKINGFOREVERANDIHADTOSTARTTHENEXTCHAPTER! I feel terrible for not waiting until you posted your review on Chapter 11 before starting Chapter 12.
One note, that I forgot to mention earlier, or in the summary: Obviously, Kurama is not a total dick. And, Naruto got both Yin AND Yang. So he has the full Kyuubi. That bit was so BS in Canon. And led to many a rampage. So yeah, no.
Chapter 12: The Aftermath
Naruto was in a blank white... nothing. He was literally in nothing. Before he even began contemplating that, he was flashing through his memories. So much pain... too much for one twelve-year-old.
"I know I'm not dying..." he mused out loud. "Because I'm not seeing my WHOLE life, just what I remember, mainly the pain... plus my fucking neck hurts..." he rubbed the offending body part absently, before he focused on the current memory. He grimaced. It was the Uchiha Massacre.
Flashback- three years ago in the Uchiha compound
"Senpai..." Naruto said nervously. "I don't like this..."
"Neither do I, Naruto-kun. But the Sandaime has given us our orders."
"But why are you the only one taking the blame?"
"One of us has to stay and watch Sasuke, and no-one really knows you're a Shinobi."
Naruto sighed in defeat.
"And I thought I asked you not to call me senpai?"
"It's either Senpai, or Onii-chan," Naruto replied. He'd viewed Itachi as an older brother since they'd lost Saraku. As the only remaining members of the ANBU 'Black Squad', they'd grown fairly close.
"I'd prefer to be called your brother than anything else. Maybe it'll give you something in common with Sasuke-kun." Naruto chuckled and looked down from the roof he was standing on with the Pacifist Uchiha.
"We'd better get started before he gets back from the Academy."
"Hn," was the grunted reply. Naruto frowned as he pulled many senbon from his waist pouch.
"Kami forgive us," the two whispered as one. Then they vanished. They flashed from roof-top to roof-top, working their way across the compound, Itachi throwing Kunai into the spines and throats of the Uchiha members currently outside, while Naruto followed up with senbon into their vocal cords and eyes, permanently destroying both. It wouldn't do to be found out, or have Shimura Danzo get his greedy little hand on any Sharigan. They'd barely managed to recover Shisui's from the man before he could implant it in himself. Killing the adults was easy, they were enemies of Konoha. But killing the children caused both great pain. They were innocent, they were clean of sin. But it had been decided there was to only be one survivor, so the Sharigan eye would not be totally lost to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Itachi and Naruto had agreed upon Sasuke. Once all the men, Fugaku aside, were dealt with, the assassins slipped into the building and slit the women and children's throats while they slept, quickly destroying their eyes.
They now stood outside the Clan Head's home. Itachi's home.
"You'll take care of Sasuke?"
"As best I can. You'll be sure to send reports on these... Akatsuki?"
"As often as possible. I'll leave them in the spot that hurts most."
Naruto nodded. He knew where Itachi meant. With that, Itachi stepped inside and dashed to his father's study to kill the man. Naruto had the hard job. He had to kill Mikoto. He found her in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on a final meal for Sasuke.
"Hello Naruto-kun. Is it time already?" Naruto had to stop himself from crying.
"Yes, Kaa-chan," he whispered. Mikoto had always been a mother to him. He didn't know why, but she had always given him just as much love as she gave her own children. (he didn't know she was his godmother. He wouldn't until later.)
"Just let me put Sasuke-kun's dinner on the table for him." she placed a covered bento on the table and knelt at her spot at the table. Waiting patiently for death. Naruto strode up behind her and rested his tantoacross her throat, tears silently streaming from his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Kaa-chan. I wish we could have spared you. For Sasuke's sake... and my own." with that, he drew his blade across her vocal cords and jugular vein in one fluid motion. She gave a wet gurgle, but her mouth held a sad smile. She slumped over the table as the life faded from her eyes. He forced himself to pull two senbon and push them into her eyes. Once that was done, he rushed to the sink and heaved the contents of his stomach into the drain. He felt a hand rub his back soothingly.
"Damn the council..." he panted between heaves.
"Father tried to fight back and moved to the dojo. He is dead," Itachi said quietly. Naruto nodded in acknowledgment and heaved one final time, then rinsed all his bile from the sink.
"I sense Sasuke coming, Nii-chan. He's likely to go to the dojo to let Fugaku know about the bodies outside. Meet him there, make him believe the lie. I'm... going home. I don't want to see this anymore." Itachi nodded in understanding.
"I won't say thank you, but I appreciate that you helped. Best of luck." Naruto left in a wind shunshin. The last thing he saw was Itachi placing a meal from the fridge in front of Mikoto to make it seem like she was killed while eating.
End
Naruto woke groggily, the bright white lights of the hospital greeting his eyes. He groaned and threw his arm over his face to block out the painful luminescence.
"It doesn't help, you know," came a bored, but pained voice.
"Well no shit, Kakashi. I didn't expect covering my eyes to stop the raging headache I have. But at least it blocks out the light for now. How long was I out?"
"About a day. I only woke up an hour ago." Naruto removed his arm and looked over at the silver-haired Shinobi. His mask was, unsurprisingly, covering the lower half of his face as he grinned at the blonde. His left eye was closed, his hiate-ate on the table next to his bed, and both his arms were in casts, along with both legs.
"What in the holy fucking hell happened to you?"
"Paperbombs," came the shrugged reply. "My opponent was a Fuinjutsu expert. It was only thanks to those seals Jariya-sama put on my clothes a few years ago I'm alive."
"What happened to Gai?"
"He took a tanto to the head from the blast, and went into surgery. He's still out in the next room, and the Doctors aren't sure if he'll make it..." both men frowned in worry for the Taijutsu expert. He was their friend. Naruto said a quick prayer to anyone listening to protect the man.
"What happened to the..."
"Twelve ANBU showed up after the explosion. My opponent was obliterated by her own bombs, Gai's bled out internally, but two of yours are alive. The woman has shattered ribs and a cracked sternum, and the man has second-degree burns and a concussion, but they're both alive and in the T&I department."
"So Anko-chan and Ibiki are having fun, eh? At least someone is."
"That reminds me. Why'd you call me Senpai?" Naruto grumbled, but was saved having to answer by his grandfather entering the room and putting up privacy seals immediately.
"Because, Kakashi-kun, Naurto-kun is an ex-ANBU just like you." the cycloptic ninja's eyes both snapped open wide as he looked to the blonde, who was grinning. He quickly shut his red Sharigan eye, but continued to gape at the Jinchuuriki.
Naruto decided to use the ANBU sign language.
{What are orders, Inu-senpai? I know we must destroy an enemy base, but was not given specifics.} He was copying what he'd questioned on one of the three missions Shadow and Inu had run together, using the same little hand quirks he'd used then. Kakashi's mouth visibly dropped, creating a small cave in his mask.
"There is no way you are him."
Naruto smirked. "Then how would I know that on that mission, you killed four Nukenins, and freed five captives, three of them children, from the base in the center of the Land of Forests, which you afterword leveled with a powerful Doton jutsu?" Kakashi's right eye bugged out as Naruto spoke, giving the exact details of the mission in question.
"Shadow..." Hiruzen sighed tiredly.
"I was hoping you would figure it out on your own, Kakashi, but it seems that wasn't going to happen."
"Does that mean he knows about,"
"No," Hiruzen quickly interrupted before Kakashi said anything more. "No he doesn't. And for very good reasons."
"But he's PAST Jounin level! He should fucking know!" Naruto merely watched the exchange as he would a tennis match, his head going back and forth.
"He seems quite happy as he is!"
"Jiji, before you two try to kill each other, I'd like to interject that I know you're talking about who my birth parents are. I have my suspicions, but don't know for sure. So if we could settle this, I'd like to have some questions answered." Both of the older men stiffened and turned mechanically toward the Prankster King of Konoha.
"Um..."
"I've had a strong guess for a few years, which was only backed up in the fight Kakashi, Gai, and myself were recently involved in, and would like to know for sure. Would I be correct if I said my biological father was the Yondaime Hokage?" Hiruzen's shoulders slumped, which was all the answer Naruto needed. "And I'm guessing, based on my last name and verbal tic, which Tou-chan commented on by the way, that my mother is Uzumaki Kushina?" Hiruzen nodded, showing visible disappointment in himself.
"Then right now, I have only one question. Why did you keep this from me?" Kakashi glared at the older man, who was taking a while to answer.
"I... thought... I don't know. I wanted you to stay as much my and Asuma-kun's family as ever. I felt like that would stop being true if you knew..."
"Jiji, that is the stupidest reason I've ever heard. Why would I stop being a part of the Sarutobi family just because I knew who my birth parents were? I already knew I was adopted. Just because I know, doesn't mean I love my family any less." Hiruzen's eyes watered at the response.
"Now, I do have a few other questions. First, why did... Dad? Dad seal the Kyuubi inside of me?"
"It was ripped from your mother and rampaging, and he needed a newborn with an undeveloped Chakra system to contain it..."
"And I was not only the closest, but he couldn't bear to ask someone else to do something he himself wouldn't do." Kakashi nodded dejectedly at the memory of his sensei. "I don't blame him for that, I'd have done the same. He's still my hero."
"He wanted the Village to view you as such," Hiruzen put in helpfully, which caused the blonde to snort in laughter, then grab his ribs in pain.
"Second, who, if any, are my godparents? I can't believe Mom and Dad would leave me without a guardian."
"Jiraya-kun," Hiruzen said quickly, causing the blonde's eye to twitch.
"You're telling me that the pervert who writes those god-awful orange books, peeps on women, and spies for Konoha, and who is NEVER AROUND, IS MY GODFATHER?!"
At the same time in the Land of Hot Water, inside a bar
Jiraya of the Sannin, who was currently disguised as a bartender and slipping a truth drug into his target's drink, felt a very cold shiver run up, down, and back up his spine. It felt as though someone was dancing on his grave, laughing, while he was buried alive, listening to the joy.
"I feel like I should either head back to Konoha immediately, or never go there again..." he muttered to himself as he placed the laced drink in front of a Kumo Shinobi. He went in back on the pretense of getting something, created a Shadow Clone, and left it to take his place, heading for his home village under some strange compulsion immediately.
Back in Konoha Hospital
"Umm... yes?" Naruto growled to himself and began muttering under his breath. The other two occupants of the room heard it though.
"That son of a bitch! I'm going to shove a Bijuudama right up his ass." both men paled and sweated profusely, feeling no small amount of pity for the Toad Sage, not even daring to get mad at Naruto for calling their precious Icha Icha god-awful.
"Naruto-kun... you can use the Bijuudama?"
"Yes, Jiji. I've been training with Kurama for four years. If I couldn't use even a weak version of the Bijuudama by now, I'd be a very poor excuse for a Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki. But getting back to the topic at hand, do I have a Godmother?"
"...Not anymore..." Hiruzen said sadly. Naruto cocked his head in confusion. Hiruzen looked at Kakashi, indicating he couldn't say anything, or Kakashi didn't know about something. Everything about Naruto's career as basically known to the Copy nin now. Everything except one crucial detail. Naruto, connecting the dots, went totally stiff, his eyes widening and growing wet quickly.
"No..." he whispered to himself. "No, please not her."
"I'm sorry Naruto-kun," Hiruzen whispered just as quietly. He knew.
"GODDAMNIT HIRUZEN! SORRY IS NOT ENOUGH!" he bolted out of his bed and began beating his fists on the Hokage's chest, none too gently. The old man looked pained, most likely from the lack of affectionate. "YOU SENT ME TO THAT, KNOWING THE WHOLE TIME! YOU KNEW I WOULD HAVE TO... TO..." he broke down, sobbing violently, crumpling into a heap, not even bothering to try to hide his distress. Hirzuen and Kakashi could only watch as the most emotionally unbreakable person they knew shattered.
"Hokage-sama, Kushina-chan made Mikoto Naruto's Godmother..."
"I'm well aware of that, Kakashi."
"Then why..." he, based on the reaction of the blonde, also connected the dots. "Oh my god... Naruto helped in the Uchiha massacre... he killed his own Godmother..." Naruto, from where he was, began crying harder.
"Kakashi, I have to explain, before you do or say anything else. The Uchiha were planning a coup. They were going to attempt to take over the Village. We had to stop it. Itachi and Naruto-kun volunteered. But only Itachi took the blame, as Naruto was not known to be a Shinobi."
"That explains the senbon... Itachi never used senbon. He could never really get the hang of them perfectly."
"Whereas Naruto-kun has trained with senbon extensively, alongside kunai and shuriken."
A pained gasp came from the doorway, causing everyone, Naruto included seeing as he'd calmed down some from the voices going on, to snap around and see the worst possible thing at that moment.
Sasuke was standing in the open doorway, gazing at Naruto with a mixture of betrayal, loathing, and confusion.