I don't Own 'Naruto' never have and never will. If I did things would be quite different.
A Price for Peace
Chapter 13: Secrets and Discoveries
"So is there anyone else? We have been asking people questions for days now!" Kiba yelled in frustration. His patients had been wearing thin for awhile now, and like most adolescent Inuzuka clan members had a very hard time in situations where they had to be calm and wait.
"Don't be so impatient Kiba. This camp needed hundreds of guards because of how large it was. Or do you think that it's easy to secure and organise well over fifty thousand people?" Tsume replied scolding her son.
"No but I thought we were almost done with that guy that told us Karin was a Uzumaki. That was a day ago, and since then we haven't discovered anything useful at all." The younger Inuzuka sighed, his head pounding against the table. "And you still haven't told us about the Uzumaki clan, or the other Kyuubi Jinchuuriki yet." he added, voice muffled by the wood under his face.
"A needless distraction, focus on the task at hand." Shino droned.
Neji and Sai nodded in agreement. "Our mission comes first, there is no telling how long we have left before Hokage-sama calls us back to the village." Sai said in agreement.
"Um, that is true, but it did seem really interesting. To know about Naruto-kun's family that is." Hinata said timidly. Despite how much the young Hyuuga heiress had grown as a kunoichi, she still struggled to speak her mind when opposed by her cousin especially when they were on a mission where he out ranked her.
"Then we best find the information we need." Neji replied before turning to Shino. "Can you send the next pair in?" he asked the stoic Aburame.
Shino answered wordlessly with a nod that was almost unnoticed while he wore his hood. Soundlessly he opened the door and in walked two people that the group were surprised that they hadn't seen earlier. Izumo and Kotetsu. Despite being highly skilled combat shinobi, the two best friends were almost always placed on guard duty in Konoha and it seemed that here was not all that different. "Wow, hey it's you guys. I thought you would all be back in Konoha by now." Izumo said happy to see a familiar face.
"When they told us they were questioning all the guards I thought something big must have gone down, I'm glad to see it's you guys and not some hard ass like Ibiki." Kotetsu added shivering from the thought of Konoha's top interrogation expert.
"So, what's up? Why did you guys come all the way out here?" Izumo asked taking a seat in front of the large desk, his partner following suit not long after.
"We're looking for someone, a criminal. We have reason to believe that they were here at the end of the war, disguised as a joint shinobi solider." Neji said assertively.
"That explains why your are talking to the guards, the end of the war was pandemonium, all the injured and weary entering from every entrance." Kotetsu sighed,
"we still checked everyone's face as they came in, as we were ordered, but that doesn't mean people couldn't slip thought the cracks." Izumo added trying to assure the tracking group that they had indeed done their jobs properly.
"That is good to know, in that case." Neji slid the picture of Karin across the table to the two shinobi. Have you seen her?" the Hyuuga Jounin asked calmly.
The two looked at the photo for a few seconds then to each other. "Uh yeah we saw her." The said together.
"What really!" Kiba said eagerly.
They both nodded their heads in response. "Yeah she came in with a group of soldiers from Iwa and Suna at the end of the war, she was giving some of the wounded men first aid." Kotetsu informed the group.
"Did you by chance see her leave? It would have been on the same day but after they brought Naruto's body back." Sai said calmly.
"Well we weren't exactly at our best after Naruto was brought back. Let me think for a minute." Kotetsu answered. He sat still for a few moments but eventually opened his mouth again to speak. "I believe so, I remember a girl around her age leaving, she definitely had the red hair, but I couldn't see her face to know for sure."
"Did you see where she went?" Kiba asked getting excited to be closing in on a fresh lead.
"Well I can't be sure but it looked like she was heading west, but that gives you most of the Elemental Nations to work with." Izumo sighed, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration.
"Yeah however you look at it, that seems like it would be a tough one to find now, the trail surely would have gone cold by now. So who is this girl? She doesn't look to be all that strong, and from what we saw she was more of a medic than a fighter." Kotetsu said looking down at the photo of the young kunoichi.
"An ally of Sasuke Uchiha and one of the members of the Akatsuki responsible for attacking the new Raikage before the war." Sai said calmly.
"Wow, didn't think we would see someone like that left after the war. I hope you find her then." Kotetsu whistles somewhat impressed by Karin's notoriety
"It's not like she will have anywhere to go. Once we are ordered back to Konoha her face will be in every village from here to Suna." Sai said calmly.
"You're acting like we're not going to find her Sai, we're the best tracking team in Konoha finding one girl is going to be no problem." Kiba said as confident as ever.
"The chances of us finding her now are incredibly remote. Logically the trail would have run cold a long time ago. The best chance we would have at finding her would be as Sai said, to inform the general public and prevent her from seeking refuge in any village, especially the hidden villages, if they know that all five of the great shinobi village's are after her head then harbouring someone that dangerous would not be a option." Shino said.
"You're supposed to be on my side Shino, what type of teammate are you?" Kiba grumbled bitterly.
"Side's are irrelevant at times like this. It is also incorrect to say that we are the best tracking team in Konoha when the Anbu hunter ninja squads out rank us considerably, as well as having obtained Anbu training in the art of tracking missing ninja." Shino retorted.
"Maybe Shino is right, but... We should perhaps check out the scene of Naruto-kun's fight with Sasuke, it's possible that she went there after she left the camp." Hinata suggested.
"I don't know why she would, if her goal was Naruto or Sasuke, they were both here." Neji replied.
"Perhaps Hinata is right, I read in a book that often to cope with a loss, people seek answers and closure. It could be reasonable to think that our target wanted to know how Sasuke died." Sai said with a small smile. The rest of the group were completely stunned, they may not have known Sai for all that long, but during the time that they had known him he had never once had an accurate reading on human emotions, yet this time what he was saying actually made some form of sense.
Surprisingly it was Kiba who recovered quickest. "I suppose it can't hurt, let's check it out." He said relieved to finally have a new goal in mind.
"It's too late to set out tonight, but tomorrow morning we will check out the battle sight. Oh and you can go now Izumo, Kotetsu." Neji said, giving the two elder shinobi a nod as thanks for their help.
(Konoha)
The village had been quiet for the past few days. Kakashi had almost finished the preparations for Naruto's funeral, they had returned to the sending shinobi out on missions outside of the village and the Land of Fire in general. All in all the Rokudaime Hokage had but one real problem on his mind, the currently still unconscious Godaime Hokage that was lying in a high security hospital room.
Kakashi was already fearing the worst for the Slug Sannin, she had been in her coma for months now and showed no signs of waking. That was until a few moments earlier. Tsunade's eyes fluttered open, not that she could see anything. The room she was in was pitch black, only a small light from a heart rate monitor blinked.
The elderly kunoichi tried to sit up but stopped when she felt the uncomfortable tubes she had sticking into her body. 'How long was I out, by the looks of things they have been feeding me through a damn tube, how embarrassing.' she thought slightly sickened by the sensation as she removed the tubes and wires knowing full well that it would send what ever poor sap they had working on her current floor running. "And let me guess, yep mostly naked as well... And worst of all, my Genjutsu broke." she said to herself gazing at her aged hand, she hated people to think that she was weak much less an old hag as Naruto would sometimes affectionately call her.
Stumbling out of bed the former Hokage shuffled to the edge of the room, her muscles were stiff from not having moved for weeks on end finding the far wall she began shuffling her hands across in either direction feeling her way across. It wasn't long before she found what she was looking for, a small indentation and loose fabric. She opened the window blinds of the window without delay and peered out releasing a sigh of relief when she realised that she was in Konoha, the sun was just setting and a dark red glow covered the Hokage monument.
Behind Tsunade the door burst open and in bundled not only Sakura but also Shizune. "Tsunade-sama!" They both yelled with unbridled joy.
Tsunade passed them both a semi irritated look. "This is a hospital, you have patients to think about. Now I'm exhausted, bring me some proper food, if you even think of giving me the stuff they give the patients at the hospital I will have you both on guard duty for the next year." she said sternly leaving no impression that she was joking.
"At once Tsunade-sama, after all that's happened I am just glad you're back with us." Sakura said, she had to wipe a tear from her eye as the reality of the fact Tsunade had awoken was just setting in.
Tsunade waited for Sakura to leave before turning to Shizune who she just realised was hugging the buxom Hokage like she would disappear if she ever let go. "It's nice to see you too Shizune, but I would like to go sit down and you are making that rather difficult."
Shizune paled before blushing a crimson colour in embarrassment. "Sorry Tsunade-sama!" she panicked letting go of her best friend and master, backing away a few feet to give Tsunade some space. "So much has happened while you were unconscious, I don't know where to start." she said timidly knowing at some point she would have to tell the last Senju that her adoptive little brother had died.
Tsunade shrugged and took a seat on the end of her bed, now that some light could get in, she could easily navigate her room. "Well I am sure I can be caught up to speed. I take it we won the war seeing as nobody is in some vegetative state, paralysed from that psychopaths Genjutsu."
"Hai, we won, but not without casualties." Sizune admitted slightly downhearted.
"That is the way with any war, but hopefully this one will be the last that I have to see, there has already been far too much killing for my liking." Tsunade sighed.
"Kakashi-sama has taken over as Hokage, we didn't know when or if you would ever wake up, so there was no choice." Shizune informed her master.
"Heh that's not so bad, Kakashi will be a fine Hokage, I'm just surprised that they didn't choose the damn brat. He's easily the strongest shinobi. But he is still perhaps too young to run a village." Tsunade said suppressing a small snigger at the thought.
"That wouldn't be possible even if Kakashi-sama had refused to become Hokage." Shizune said apprehensively.
Tsunade could sense that there was something that she needed to know and her gaze immediately hardened. "What happened?" It was less of a question and more of an out right demand for answers.
Shizune flinched slightly knowing what was coming. "Um at the end of the war, Naruto-kun was able to sneak out of the camp and he went after Sasuke."
Tsunade's fists clenched, she was told by Kakashi about what Naruto said would happen if they ever fought each other. "He didn't make it back?" she asked, although she already knew the answer.
"No it appears that they killed each other." Shizune replied weakly.
Tsunade's voice held no emotion, it was a blank canvas, but her insides were in turmoil, she felt as if the world had begun to drown. "Where's his body?" she asked passively.
"It's in the Morgue, being preserved with seals. They're holding a funeral for him inviting people from all over the elemental nations, everyone is saying that it will lead to a new age of peace for the Elemental Nations." Shizune said. She knew that the small silver lining around the dark cloud that was Naruto's death would not be enough.
"I want to see the body." Tsunade said firmly. She would not believe that he was really gone until she examined his body herself. 'It would be just like him, if he thought he could save the world he wouldn't mind dying. But I can just feel that something is amiss, maybe I am kidding myself but until I am one hundred percent certain that Naruto is dead I won't simply give up, not like I did with Dan and Nawaki.'
"I can't let you do that right now, you are weak and need rest and plenty of food to help you recover your chakra. Stay in bed for a day or two, and talk to Kakashi-sama." Shizune pleaded trying to calm her master.
As impatient as Tsunade was, she knew when Shizune was right. "Very well, but I want to examine his body personally." She huffed in reluctant acceptance.
It was at that moment that Sakura returned, her arms filled with take away from what seemed like every restaurant in Konoha. "I didn't know what you wanted Tsunade-sama, so I brought a little of everything." she panted. Sakura had ran at full speed around Konoha not stopping for anything accept to pick up the many orders she had been placing.
(Joint Shinobi Task Force HQ)
The Tracking team sat around a large table in the dining hall reserved for Konoha shinobi after the war, it was not mostly empty, just a few essential shinobi that were left behind to keep relations with the other villages strong during their temporary break in talks surrounding the formation of a permanent alliance.
"This might be the last time we come here. Not that I mind, the food is terrible." Kiba sighed while taking a seat. The young Inuzuka was restless, it was rather tough being in a group with a bunch of people that rarely spoke.
"If the alliance talks go well than this place will become a major outpost, we may have to stay here for months on end." Sai replied flatly. The former Root ninja didn't care about the taste of the food, he had spent so long without any real emotions to dislike a place because you disliked the cuisine was pointless.
"It will also mean time spent in all the other villages. A principle part of the blue print for the alliance is having ambassador's, high ranking ninja go on long term exchanges to other villages. To build friendships and ease village tensions." Neji explained.
"How do you both know so much about this?" Kiba asked slightly annoyed he was being left out of the loop.
Sai stared blankly at the tall chunin. "I am an infiltration specialist in Anbu, there isn't much that I don't know."
"And I am the Jounin that is on the list to be given a six month transfer in Iwa." Neji added emotionlessly.
"Really do you know who else is being chosen?" Kiba asked with some excitement, he had always wanted to see some of the other major villages.
"I believe your sister is being sent to Kiri, a kunoichi named Yugao will be going to Suna, and once the post war promotions are given, Shikamaru will be heading to Kumo." Neji answered.
Kiba's shoulders slumped in disappointment, while he knew being chosen was always going to be a long shot, finding out that so many people he knew were chosen was frustrating. "Ah man, why is Shikamaru going and not me?"
"I believe that would be because Gaara chose him as the second in command of their battalion during the war. That sort of thing does not go unnoticed by higher ups." Sai said with a fake smile that he had hoped was comforting... It was not.
"But that means that shinobi from the other villages will be coming to Konoha as well right?" Hinata asked, she had enjoyed talking to some of the shinobi from other villages, they always had fascinating stories about their homes and places they had seen.
"Yes, one shinobi from each village, I do not know who has been chosen." Neji answered.
"Jeez you brats are loud, it's a big hall and I can hear you lot from the kitchen." Tsume Inuzuka said while taking a seat at the far end of the table.
"Sorry, Kaa-san." Kiba mumbled.
Tsume kept a stern face for a few moments before breaking out in laughter. "Still as foolish as ever, Kiba-chan. There is nobody else here so there is no reason to be quiet."
"Jeez Kaa-san, can't you give it a rest, why are you here anyway?" Kiba huffed embarrassed from his mothers teasing.
"I thought you wanted to know about the first two Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. They are both rather famous in their own right. But I guess that if you want me to leave then thats fine, I'll go." Tsume said nonchalantly.
As the Inuzuka clan head began to stand up Kiba began to panic. "Wait no I'm sorry. Please stay!" he begged, banging his head on the table as he bowed in apology.
Once more Tsume burst out in a fit of laugher but at the same time returned to her seat. "Ah just as easy as your father ever was, all men are the same, dangle something they want in front of their eyes and they are as easy to manipulate as chakra."
All the young ninja at the table looked on with a dead pan expression thinking the same thing. 'I'm not like that at all.'
Tsume ignored the looks of the young men and began her tale. "The story of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is almost as old as Konoha itself. You all know about the fight between Madara Uchiha and the Shodai Hokage at the valley of the end I trust?" In response everyone at the table nodded. Then you will know that Madara summoned many of the Bijuu in his fight and the last one he used was the Kyuubi. While Hashirama-sama had been able to contain and subdue the other Bijuu, that fox was far more difficult. In the end however Madara was defeated that day and the Kyuubi restrained, but what to do with the Bijuu? The Kyuubi would not be contained for long even with Shodai-sama's Mokuton abilities."
"So Shodai-sama created a Jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked timidly.
Tsume shook her head. "No Hashirama-sama did not have the required knowledge of sealing to do something like that at the time, nobody in Konoha did." She answered.
"Then how did we get the Jinchuuriki?" Kiba asked.
"The Senju clan had some distant relatives, cousins if you will that came from a different village. Due to their great friendship several members of that family were in Konoha during the time of the fight between Madara and Hashirama-sama. That was the Uzumaki clan. One member, a young woman was one of the finest Fuinjutsu masters in their village. When she came across the Kyuubi breaking free of it's restrains she acted, she sealed the Kyuubi into the only thing possible to contain it, her own body." Tsume paused knowing that there would be some questions.
"I thought it had to be a new born child, one without developed chakra coils." Shino said shocking the group hear the normally silent Aburame ask a question so bluntly.
Tsume nodded in agreement. "Normally that would be the case, the strain of a Bijuu's chakra entering a fully developed body would kill them. But like the guard from Kiri said, the Uzumaki clan always had a few odd balls, it also was next to impossible to kill one of them." she laughed at the end.
"Sounds about right, look at all the people who tried and failed to kill Naruto." Sai said calmly.
"The village that the Uzumaki clan came from was known as the village of longevity because of their clan. They would live twice as long as most would consider normal. They also were blessed with large chakra capacities, ones capable of holding the Bijuu. But most note worth was their use of seals. Fuinjutsu was like second nature to them, once they picked up the art of sealing they would master it. Even the most useless students seemed to have no problem when it came to Fuinjutsu." The Inuzuka clan head explained.
"So who was the first Jinchuuriki?" Neji asked politely.
Tsume smiled, she had fond memories of the kindly old woman she had met a few times as a child. "Her name was Mito Uzumaki."
"I think I have heard that name somewhere before." Hinata said tapping her chin trying to remember where.
"That wouldn't surprise me, your father would have had you taught about the village history as the clan heir of the Hyuuga clan, of course he wouldn't mention that she was a Jinchuuriki and chances are he wouldn't have given you her clan name because Naruto was in your class. Mito Uzumaki became the wife of the Shodai." there was a small gasp from all those at the table save for Sai and Shino who were as expressionless as ever. "From that time the Kyuubi has been inside Konoha however only the clan heads and top ranking shinobi have ever known about it, that was until the night Naruto was born." Tsume said.
"But Mito-sama died long before we were born, so who was the second Jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked.
"That would be Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki. One of the most terrifying women Konoha has ever had, apart from myself of course" Tsume joked.
"If she was Naruto-kun's mother than that means she was also married to a Hokage, Yondaime-sama." Hinata said enjoying the small amount of sentiment knowing how tough Jinchuuriki's lives could be from watching Naruto for so long. "But I was never taught about the Yondaime's wife when I received my history lessons from tutors." she added as an afterthought.
Tsume nodded and a slight scowl crossed her face. "No you wouldn't have. All records of Kushina were kept classified once she died. It's a shame the things we do to one of our own in the name of their protection. Because the village elders feared an attack after the Kyuubi incident, the fact that Naruto was Yondaime-sama's son was kept hidden, only those few that knew the couple personally were privy to that information. It was all done to stop shinobi from other villages killing Naruto because he was a Jinchuuriki and the son of the Yellow Flash." she spat bitterly.
As a Inuzuka Tsume was fiercely loyal to all the people of Konoha, it never sat right with her how Naruto was treated, even if she was somewhat wary of the boy herself at times, if only due to his tendency to prank most of the people of the village.
"So they stopped Naruto from knowing who his parents were, because they were afraid if he knew then he would be targeted by assassins." Neji summarised.
The older kunoichi nodded to affirm Neji's assessment. "That's about it. To be honest I know which I would prefer, to know my life was in constant danger, or to never know my family, I would choose to live knowing someone wanted me dead any day, family is more important than anything. In the end, thanks to the Akatsuki Naruto got to know both pains."
The table fell silent everyone silently thinking about what Tsume had said. The only one struggling with the concept seemed to be Sai, he never had a family and never knew who his real parents were either, yet he had a brother, so to speak, but if they never met then he wouldn't have had that either. After some consideration the former Root ninja decided that the thought of not knowing his brother made him uneasy, so his train of thought changed to deciding what the best nickname for Ino would be, as Beautiful and Ugly didn't seem to go down too well with Sakura.
"So three Jinchuuriki all Uzumaki's yet most of the people act like they never existed." Neji finally spoke, his voice was calm but he was rather upset by this fact.
Tsume agreed with the young Jounin's sentiment "Wether people know about it or not, we all wear their symbol, the spiral on the back of our vests is a whirlpool of Uzushiogakure, emblem of not only their village but also the whole Uzumaki clan. It's there as a mark of respect and friendship between our villages."
"So where is this village?" Kiba asked, he was already making plans to go check it out when he had some time off from missions.
"It was destroyed, many years ago. I am not sure by who, perhaps some of the higher ups know more. Even as a clan head I am not told everything." The kunoichi admitted.
"They must have been something special, I wonder why they were wiped out though." Hinata sighed.
"Old clans have old rivalries, the older they become the more unique it is that they are to be prosperous. Young and idealistic, it's not just what they say about the next generation, old wounds cut deep if they are not healed. Someone obviously held a grudge against the Uzumaki clan." Shino guessed.
"Well on this topic, your guess is as good as mine. If anyone would know, it would be Tsunade-sama. She would be one quarter Uzumaki from her grandmother, she was also Hokage, so there wouldn't be many village secrets that she doesn't know." Neji replied.
Those around the table nodded in agreement. "I still wouldn't rate your chance of getting the answers out of her high." Tsume sighed sympathetically.
"Well we won't know unless we try, then there is also Kakashi-sama, he was the Yondaime's student so he might know something as well." Kiba said confidently.
Tsume sighed and stood up from the table. "I guess you can try." she said before leaving the group to go about their discussion. 'You will never get anything out of Hatake-sama Kiba-chan, as long as his comrades are not in danger he follows his orders. Those who break the rules are trash after all.'
She was right, Kakashi had always given up what he wanted for his orders. Several times he had asked to be able to meet Naruto as a child, but each time he had been told that Naruto was to have a normal childhood. Although he never enjoyed seeing what that 'normal childhood' contained. He had hoped to train Naruto and Sasuke together for the Chunin exams, that was until he received a small toad messenger right after the preliminary rounds. Jiraiya had come to take over his training, Kakashi knew that he would come eventually but so soon after becoming a team had been somewhat unexpected. Still Kakashi willingly gave up the role of sensei to the author of his favourite books, and he had quite the laugh about just how the first meeting between the pair played out.
(Northern Land of Earth)
A day had passed since Naruto and Karin had left the underground tunnel traveling north, and their pace had slowed dramatically, large cliffs of ice forced them to climb high up only to drop straight down at the other side, every so often there would be a minor avalanche that would force the pair to take cover until it passed. But possibly the worst of their situation was the cold, even with their thermal sub zero clothes it was freezing. On the plus side they had found a nice stable place to set up camp for the night, using one of the many steep cliff faces as a wind break.
"Can that heater be turned up anymore I'm still cold." Karin asked, her breath was visible from the cold, showing just how ineffective the heater was.
"No it's on full. I have more heaters but we don't know when we might need the later on, I would rather keep it down to one at a time to preserve the others. We're just going to have to wait for it to start to take effect, this tent is well insulated so hopefully it won't take too long." Naruto replied apologetically.
"You're probably right, damn it I hate being cold." she complained.
Naruto knew she was having a much harder time of it than he was, his skin might be cold but he had an internal super heater that wouldn't let the cold effect him. "Why don't you get into your sleeping bag, warm it up, I'll prepare something to eat." he suggested.
"What's on the menu? I don't mind Ramen but I don't think I could eat it every night like you." Karin asked.
"No I thought some soup, I've heard that's the best way to warm up, a hot bowl of soup. Unfortunately all I have is powdered stuff, we're running out of fresh ingredients." Naruto replied.
"That's fine, I kinda knew things would get worse before they got better when we left this morning, so anything thats hot would be amazing right now." Karin sighed.
A comfortable silence fell while Naruto cooked, and it spread during their meal with only a few words spoken between the pair. It wasn't until they were both settling in for the night that the tent was finally feeling warm. "The temperature must really drop at night. It's taken forever to warm this little area." Naruto said. He knew that tomorrow night would probably be worse and the night after that. These were not called the Insurmountable Peaks for nothing and Naruto was starting to see why.
"I know, I was thinking that a few hours ago." She replied while her mind was off elsewhere. "Her Naruto?"
"Yeah."
"How long do you think we can keep this up? Our bodies will eventually freeze from the cold. We have a finite amount of time in those heaters you brought and it's only going to get harder and colder as we keep climbing. What are we going to do?" She asked, she hated to think about what was happening but she was scared.
"We'll get though, somehow. These mountains have to end sometime and I bet on the other side it will be nice and warm, just you wait." Naruto replied optimistically.
Karin smiled, she enjoyed the blonds positive outlook and she really hoped he was right this time.
End Chapter!
Ah another chapter down. Hope you all enjoyed it. I didn't really focus on Naruto in this chapter, because I wanted to move some of the other plots along a bit, maybe it was just a bit of a filler, but I wanted to do a few small time skips over the next chapter or two so I wanted the group to be finished at the Joint Shinobi HQ and I wanted Tsunade to be awake before I did it.