Chapter 98 - A Promise
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei
Later that night
"What are you doing up here, Noriko?" asked Naruto as he climbed up the roof of their house.
"Thinking" said Noriko without turning her head.
"About?"
Noriko smiled as she looked at Naruto "Do you remember, when we were kids, you said you want to be a Hokage?"
Naruto nodded.
"And then, during our first meeting as genin, you also said you want to be a Hokage?"
More nodding.
"Well, I don't have that. A dream, or an ambition. But I think, I've found it today"
"Great! So, what do you want to be?" asked Naruto excitedly.
Noriko clapped Naruto's shoulders with both hands, looked at Naruto directly into his eyes and said "When you've become Hokage, I'll be your Itachi"
"Huh?"
"Information is important, Naruto. As a Hokage, you have to stay inside Konoha most of the time. But I'll be your eyes and ears outside Konoha. When I looked back, I realized that I am perfect for the job. I'm quite small, so it's easy for me to slip into many places unnoticed. With my byakugan and sharingan, I can read lips from afar. Moreover, with Rajah and hopefully by that time, Kyūbi-san will be our friends, I already have a three-man cell with me, for worst-case scenario" Noriko explained happily "Of course there's still plenty more for me to learn, but, I am happy to find out my goal" Noriko beamed as she looked at Naruto.
"That's good Noriko! With you and Sasuke by my sides, I'll be the greatest Hokage Konoha ever had!" shouted Naruto.
Hidden from Naruto and Noriko, Shisui smiled to himself.
The following morning, Konoha Hospital
Konan was sitting on a chair, looking at the people walking by outside the hospital when she heard a knock and the door to her room was opened.
She saw the Hokage entered with a scarred man wearing bandana, another scarred man with a high ponytail and a man wearing armour that she noticed as Iwa Jinchūriki.
After a short greeting, Shisui asked Konan "Please tell us what had happened"
Konan began her story from the moment she, Nagato and Yahiko met with the Legendary Sannin "... ... ... when Nagato started to fight Tobi, I turned myself into butterflies. Nagato and I had already plannned for situation like this, it would be better for Nagato to fight while I protect our people. I found a group of Amegakure people hiding in a seclusion, naturally I thought that they were the survivors... ... ... I was wrong" said Konan bitterly.
"While getting them out of Amegakure, a memory from my butterfly that I left to watch Nagato informed me that Nagato had fallen. During the fights, Tobi claimed that Nagato's Rinnegan was his originally which he transplanted into Nagato when he was young. Tobi also claimed that he influenced Yahiko to form Akaktsuki thus Akatsuki belongs to him"
"Can you tell us more about this Tobi person?" asked the scarred man with a bandana who was introduced as Morino Ibiki.
"When he first met us, he introduced as Uchiha Madara but in Akatsuki, he goes by the name Tobi and behaved very childishly"
"Is he really Uchiha Madara?" asked Shisui.
Konan looked at him and answered "We are not sure whether he is or is not, but he is a powerful shinobi, that is undoubtful"
Shisui mulled over this information and tied it to the information he had received previously.
"What is his objective?" asked Ibiki again.
"Extracting the Tailed Beasts. As Akatsuki, it was for World Peace by holding the power of the Tailed Beasts in one place, thus making us the strongest on land, but he may have other plan involving the Tailed Beasts"
"You don't trust him?"
Konan looked at Ibiki and smiled thinly "I believe that he's doing what any of us would do, tell as little as possible to a stranger while holding tightly to the true objective or you would lose your trump card"
"What's your plan after this?" asked Shisui.
"With your permission, I would like to search for any survivors from Amegakure. If my memory served me right, there should be some who had managed to escape"
"How can you be sure?"
"I've watched over them for years-" Konan said with a thin smile "-the number that had turned into white Zetsu was definitely smaller than the number of Amegakure's citizens" Konan turned her head to look outside "I believe that some had managed to escape. It's my duty to look out for them" she turned her face back to them.
"You are free to go and search for them, after you've given everything you know about Akatsuki" said Shisui.
"That is to be expected" replied Konan.
Shisui nodded to Han, Konan, Ibiki and Shikaku before he left the room.
A week later
Konan was walking with Shisui to a small building on a large field. From afar, she could see many kids running around outside the building. She turned her head to Shisui and asked with curiosity "Where are we?"
Before he could answer, the kids saw them and ran towards Shisui shouting "Hokage-sama!" before enveloped him with hugs.
Shisui smiled and greeted the kids cheerfully and asked their well-beings.
"Are you going to play with us again?" asked a 6-year old boy.
Shisui smiled as he said gently "I'm sorry Kenji, not now. Maybe after this if you let me talk with this lady"
"Yeay!" shouted the kids before running off to resume their play.
"These kids are orphans" said Shisui as he looked at them with fondness "Due to some events (ahem...Danzo), I've put the orphanage directly under my care" he turned to Konan "I brought you here to show you that, you do have a place in Konoha. When you've found what you're looking for, you can bring them over here and start a new life in Konoha. You asked for asylum previously and this is my answer"
Shisui left Konan for her thought as he joined the kids to play their games.
Konan looked at Shisui in speechless. She had spent the last week answering questions to Morino Ibiki and Nara Shikaku before they finally concluded the interrogation. Then to her surprise, the Hokage appeared at her door mid afternoon, brought her here and presented his offer.
Konan the scene in front of her and she looked up to the sky-
"Yahiko...Nagato, I will not let both of your legacy down"
Chapter 98 end