Push Comes to Shove-Part 3
Sure enough, the Elders were right about not liking Tsunade's decision regarding Naruto, and letting him do what he wanted should someone try to mess with him. It was quite the shock and wake up call for Konoha to see the boy they hated suddenly retaliate against them. The first to feel his wrath was the payroll department following his return to the village after killing Orochimaru and Kabuto while bringing back Sasuke. They had tried to cheat him of the full amount from the bounties and mission pay stating "demon tax" along with some other nonsense. All with cruel smiles on their faces since they had done it before to him without fear of being punished by the higher-ups and Tsunade's Hokage predecessor.
If anything, they were encouraged to do it.
Naruto's response? Beating them bloody before throwing their bodies in front of the hospital. Naturally, the idiots wanted to press charges against him, and make a big deal about it before the Hokage. And why not? The people usually bitched and complained to the Third about the brat, even when Naruto didn't do anything at all.
However, they weren't dealing with the Sandaime Hokage. They were dealing with the Gondaime Hokage. As a result, Tsunade said she had absolutely no problem pressing charges against Naruto...provided they admitted to screwing the boy over for years on his mission pay, and had no doubt tried it prior to the beating he dished out on them. It made them go pale in fear knowing full well that admitting to such things to the Hokage would result in prison time and all assets were liquidated before being transferred to Naruto.
In short, Tsunade effectively shut them up. And to prove there were no hard feelings, the idiots in question were transferred out to another department that didn't involve Naruto at all.
But with significantly reduced pay on their end.
Sadly, it didn't end there with those bakas. As time progressed, Naruto had not received a warm welcome from many of the people in the village and he was not inclined to stand there taking it. The end result was piles of bodies being sent the hospital every other day regardless if they were Shinobi or civilian. Naturally, people tried to pressure Tsunade into doing something to "bring the demon under control again" or anything that would return things to the status quo.
Which basically involved having Naruto as their punching bag again.
Tsunade told them no and that they were getting what was coming to them for their own mistreatment of the boy since it was unwarranted from the start. If they wanted to file charges, it was there right, BUT she reminded the "poor victims" that doing so would require an investigation on her part into their past, and any previous actions they did to provoke Naruto into attacking them in the first place. She would make sure to dig up every dirty trick, act, abuse, and horror the people had done to the boy no matter how insignificant it may appear.
After all...she had to hear both sides of the story and find out which side was telling the truth.
Various other Shinobi were targeted too. Kakashi for one. The evaluation spar had been one of many beat downs Naruto had given him due to the fact the man was the student of the blonde's Father. Instead of protecting him as a child or teaching him when on a team, the asshole taught next to nothing, and focused entirely on Sasuke during that time.
Speaking of Sasuke, the Elders were moving for the Uchiha to have his punishment from being one of imprisonment to that of house arrest. Tsunade of course, denied it, stating they might as well have pardoned Itachi, or even Orochimaru if the man were still alive for all their past misdeeds. The information obtained from various sources at the dead Sannin's many bases revealed the Uchiha had tested his skills against the many prisoners Orochimaru collected. Sasuke had killed, crippled, maimed, and tortured many people either for training or to satisfy his various dark appetites. So why give this Uchiha any leeway at all? Because of his bloodline? It wasn't as special as everyone made it out to be given all you had to do was use flash bombs or other various methods that hurt a person's eyesight. Tsunade knew there were Shinobi that didn't have Dojutsu bloodline and were 10 times stronger than the Uchiha at the brat's age.
Still, rumor had it the Elders were going to use some law that they often used to get their way, and overrule her standing on the matter.
Which they did. Only when they came to free Sasuke from his cell, they found the two ANBU (secretly Root ANBU) guarding the cell were dead, killed in a very brutal fashion, and the Uchiha was found dead in his cell. The boy had both of his eyes ripped out of their sockets, a leg and arm were missing, his intestines ripped out in pile on the floor, and upon further inspection noticed blood pooling between his legs unrelated to the last one. The final injury indicating someone had castrated the Uchiha to prevent anyone from having his children and to the rebirth of the Uchiha Clan.
Naturally, they blamed Naruto. Which he openly admitted to doing without shame once brought before the Hokage, the Elders, and the Clan Heads.
Originally, Danzo pushed for Naruto to be imprisoned for the act, calling it treason, and proclaimed him an enemy of the village. He never realized it until the blonde's trap was sprung, as Naruto wanted the war hawk to make a spectacle out of this during the "trial". Naruto had called Danzo out on his own patriotism for being a supporter of Orochimaru before the Sannin even went rogue and recruiting the snake into Root. Naturally, Danzo denied the accusations fired back at him, calling Naruto an "it", "a weapon speaking out of turn", and "disobedient tool unfit to proudly serve Konoha" along with mentioning that there wasn't an ounce of proof the Jinchuriki was telling them the truth.
Producing what Sai had on him, the letter addressed to Orochimaru from Danzo with the identities of the various ANBU loyal to Tsunade said otherwise. It was only when Danzo saw the information he gave to Sai and looking back at Naruto did the old war hawk put two and two together on how his subordinate truly died that day.
Not only that, but Naruto had the Toads do some infiltrating of Danzo's base underneath Konoha, making copies of the files there, and soon plopping them on Tsunade's desk. It was amusing to the blonde Jinchuriki to see Danzo's usually emotionless face show fear and anger at having his plans exposed to those he didn't want to see said plans.
Even worse, Naruto had surprised him by using a small Wind Jutsu to cut the bandages around the war hawk's face off to reveal the Sharingan Eye hidden there. Before Danzo could even move to flee or summon Root to his aid, chakra chains from Naruto wrapped around him, and squeezed to the point where the man cried out in pain from the pressure.
By the time a chakra suppressing tag could be put on him, Danzo was on his knees, and glaring up at Naruto's face. The boy had placed the seal right on his forehead and was so strong, it actually forced the Sharingan Eye in Danzo's head to turn to a normal black orb to further prove it came from an Uchiha. Even worse for the war hawk, his hidden arm had been exposed with the arm itself now looking like it was rotting from the lack of chakra running to it along with the Sharingan Eyes literally crying bloody tears.
Danzo of course, was defiant to the end when called out about his actions. Stating that everything he did was for Konoha. How he was a patriot. Doing what no one else had the courage or strength to do when it mattered most. How he should have been Hokage. How Hiruzen cheated him out of it the first time around thanks to Tobirama and even later on when Minato became Hokage over Orochimaru. Since the Sannin had once been in his Root program, Danzo felt he could hold more leverage through his former subordinate, and be the true leader working from the shadows to bring about his version of Konoha. How following the Fourth's death, Hiruzen once again took the position of Hokage again, and later Tsunade taking it upon the Sandaime's death to further deny his ambition.
When it came to the Uchiha Clan, Danzo confessed to influencing the event to a degree where he lied to them about staying back when the Kyuubi attacked. He wanted everyone in Konoha to believe they were somehow responsible. Planting the seeds of distrust and resentment knowing the village would eventually turn on them. To make things so bad for the clan that they would wish to rebel and could set things in motion to put it down while harvesting their eyes. How he used Orochimaru's desire to splice bloodlines to get him to do it with both Senju and Uchiha together to one day take control of not just the Kyuubi, but all nine Biju. How he planned to take all nine back to Konoha and rule from his position like a God while finding a way to use the chakra of the Biju to sustain his life eternally and becoming true immortal without equal.
As to why he confessed so freely, Naruto had put a special matrix in the Fuinjutsu used to seal Danzo's chakra to force the brain into speaking the truth when asked any question. It also help stimulate the aggression part of the brain so when answered, the person with the seal on them would sound angry, frustrated, and spiteful like they had been cheated.
Which is exactly how Naruto wanted Danzo to be portrayed before having the old man's head sliced clean off. Even the seal on Danzo's torso was deactivated since there was no chakra left for the man to try sending into the system to kill everyone.
With Danzo out of the way, Tsunade quickly had the other two Elders arrested despite their own vocal protests. Until Naruto told them they had two choices. One being they were imprisoned in their homes until they died? The second was him killing them both here in he office and have their sins brought to light and shaming them forever along with Danzo?
They quietly took option one, but they still gave him a glare for doing this to them. As if it was his fault they had done such horrible things in life.
Naruto's response to their glare? Telling them to fuck off and getting the fuck out of his sight before he did to them what was done to their favorite Uchiha. He would visit and kill their wrinkled old asses later of course. They still could try rallying the Root Nin Danzo had underground to stage a last minute coup against Tsunade.
No one wanted that.
With the internal threat to Konoha taken care of now, Tsunade could refocus her efforts on the Akatsuki. At the moment, the group was down two whole members. With Sasuke's death eventually getting out, the Hokage had no doubt Itachi would come back to Konoha to pay a visit to find out what happened to his little brother.
And she wasn't disappointed.
Itachi had come back to Konoha to kill Naruto since he knew the Uzumaki would be the only one to go that far to hurt and kill Sasuke. The man was livid when he came back to the village after Zetsu had revealed what happened to the younger Uchiha. Itachi knew he was disobeying Pein, Tobi/Madara, and even Jiraiya himself when the Sannin got word of Itachi heading for Konoha to kill the Jinchuriki.
Uchiha Itachi wouldn't hear them. He was out for blood. Uzumaki blood. Naruto's blood.
Only when facing Naruto did the Uchiha realize how outmatched he was when facing the younger ninja. Naruto was ready for him. It was clear the blonde knew the Uchiha would come back to Konoha to not only get answers, but to avenge his little brother's death.
An ironic twist really considering Sasuke wanted to kill Itachi to avenge the clan.
So you came to avenge Sasuke. That's ironic all things considered. And the avenging part coming from you no less.
Before I kill you in a way equivalent to what you did to my little brother, tell me why? Why did you kill Sasuke? Why mutilate him? Did he sever the bond you had with him so badly that the only way to make the pain stop was to kill him?
(Cue Naruto laughing at Itachi)
You honestly think I felt any kind of pain from him severing our so called "bond" that we had with each other? I felt no such pain. The only pain I felt from Sasuke was the three times he tried to kill me all those years ago during our fight at the Valley of the End in order to get to Orochimaru. Your brother was bastard. One you help make with your actions in fucking over his mind. Twice!
You didn't have to kill him Naruto. He could have been imprisoned. Rehabilitated from the ground up if possible.
"You honestly believe that after Orochimaru invested those three years into molding your little brother to be his next host? You think Sasuke was going to stop walking his angry path of darkness and vengeance directed at you, if he managed to end your life? What makes you think he would stop hating? Stop hurting others? Because you were dead? Because of you, hatred is the only thing Sasuke knew when it came to having a purpose. With you gone, Sasuke would have been a wild rabid animal roaming the Elemental Countries. Killing just about everything and anyone who so much as sneezed right in his general direction without pity, mercy, or remorse.
You don't know that.
Actually I do. He told me as much...before I killed him.
You lie.
Not about this. Why do you think I did what I did? He was going to be released from his prison by Danzo and the Elders. Going around the Hokage's authority. His guards were Danzo's Root Nin. They relayed to him what Danzo told them. He was going to be under house arrest with ANBU supposedly watching him. Though we both know it would be the Root ANBU watching him. Not the ones loyal to the Hokage.
That doesn't explain why you killed Sasuke and that he admitted to killing people after I was dead.
But it does. I easily killed the Root ANBU myself and saw Sasuke in his cell with chakra suppressing cuffs on. He had this knowing smirk on his face. As if everything I had done would mean absolutely nothing. You should have heard him talking in his usual superior attitude. How he was going to get let out. How he was going to train. How he was going to turn the village against me for the brutal beating I gave his ass before bringing him back to Konoha. How he was their favorite. How in eyes of the village, he could do no wrong! How he was going to play them like a fiddle into believing going to Orochimaru was a mission to grow strong while infiltrating the Sannin's base of operations. How he was eventually going to go rogue again to hunt your ass down and hurt anyone deemed a threat to his plans to kill you. Sasuke practically admitted to me that he would have no problem burning down an entire orphanage with innocent men, women, and children inside if it meant killing you.
I see. And the...castration?
Your little brother apparently likes the idea of raping any woman that remotely peaks his interests. He said as much. Fortunately, he didn't since there wasn't a woman in Sound or the surrounding regions visited in the last three years with one that caught his eyes. Hell, I wouldn't have castrated him if not for the fact he said, "Why would I care if a woman is willing or not? Any woman should be grateful I fuck her raw and was given the seed of an Uchiha Elite. I will take any woman I want regardless if they are willing or not. I will impregnate any woman I want and use my Sharingan to implant a suggestive command for them to keep and raise said child. Besides, women are only good for giving men like me strong offspring to carry on their legacy. They have no other purpose in life so its not a crime if I do that to them." So as you can imagine, I took it upon myself to ensure there would be no future child descended from his bloodline.
My brother did not say that. He wouldn't admit to doing such a thing or wanting to do such a thing.
I have it on tape and on camera. The Hokage had a hidden camera implanted in his cell long before he was put in it. No one knew about the camera except her, Shizune, and myself. Not even Danzo or the Elders knew it existed. She figured Danzo might make a play on Sasuke and wanted evidence of his actions in recruiting the Uchiha into Root so she could handle him her way. Personally, I wasn't about to stand around and let those two play politics, and risk letting the issue of Sasuke's punishment get muddied or hidden under the rug. I took the direct approach to the matter and as a result, I was able to fully expose Danzo's schemes. I also know you aren't the traitor the Sandaime and Konoha painted you to be following that night.
No one can know the truth. The populace would never understand it would only make the Uchiha Clan hated for all time. Even if Danzo was the one to cause it in the first place.
I don't care about your clan. I don't care about what you think or feel Itachi. You made your brother into a monster. You made him into a hate feeling emo piece of shit all so he could one day kill you. And for what? All to "redeem the Uchiha Clan" when in truth, it was doomed the moment you started ending their lives. And now that Sasuke is dead, your so called chance for the clan being redeemed is lost.
No thanks to you.
I'm not your brother's fucking life support. I am not going to give up my life for him and to fix your mistakes. You wanted him to redeem your clan? You shouldn't have fucked with his head twice over. You turned him into a rabid dog. You shouldn't be surprised when someone comes along in an attempt to put him down and to do it successfully.
All the same, you will suffer for killing my little brother. You will suffer for not carrying out your purpose in life. The Sandaime saw you as the village's sacrifice to save us from destruction. You were meant to be used as such repeatedly over time. The fact you refuse to accept this truth is a betrayal of his trust in you, a betrayal of this village, and one to my brother. I will not stand for it.
Says the man who killed nearly all of his kin. As for the Sandaime, he can take his legacy and go fuck himself. The man I looked up to as a boy was a lie. It was always a lie. To cover for his mistakes, his shame, and his weaknesses in being sentimental to the wrong people. He was soft on Danzo. He was soft on Orochimaru. He was soft on your clan. And he was soft on Sasuke. You call my actions a betrayal? What about yours? You didn't have to kill all of the Uchiha, but chose to do it anyway. So tell me Itachi, who is the true traitor between us? The Shinobi who officially is one and makes them through his actions? Or the Shinobi who puts them down?
(Cue silence)
It seems we have nothing left to talk about.
Agreed. Goodbye Itachi. Send my regards to that bastard you call a brother in Hell!
You first Jinchuriki.
The battle between Naruto and Itachi was fierce. Both coming at the other with the intent to kill. But not even Itachi for all his skill, training, and power with his Sharingan Eyes could match Naruto's mastery of using Kurama's chakra mixed with Senjutsu. The entire time they were talking, Naruto had been absorbing it right into his body and gearing up for their fight.
And boy did they fight. When it was over, the training field looked like a war zone. The trees were either uprooted or incinerated. The ground had craters everywhere with ninja weapons scattered all over.
And on the ground in the biggest of the craters was Itachi. Or what was left of him. The Uchiha had tried to use Susanoo against Naruto while the Jinchuriki used his hidden ace up his sleeve in the form of his Rasenshuriken to obliterate anything Itachi could muster for a defense. When Naruto walked over to the remains of the Uchiha, he saw the man was barely clinging onto to life. His limbs were gone one way or another. His eyes were destroyed and most of his internal organs were destroyed by the overall attack.
It was actually a miracle the Uchiha was still alive for as long as he was to have one final conversation with Naruto before death.
You won't win Naruto. Your enemy, your true enemy in the Akatsuki is stronger than I am. My death will only delay the final confrontation. This plan the Akatsuki has created for the nine Biju was set in motion before you were born. Back when Jiraiya was still in his prime.
How much does Jiraiya know about the Akatsuki? Has he kept things from Tsunade? From me? Things not even the Toads know?
Yes. He knows things about the organization from what I was able to tell him. Things not even the Hokage knows. Jiraiya kept things even from the Sandaime. As for the Toads, if they knew the true extent of his involvement in certain events leading up to the Akatsuki's birth...it would anger them greatly.
Why? Tell me why?!
Because the leader of the Akatsuki is known as Pein and his partner Konan were former students of Jiraiya. He found them as orphans near Ame along with a third boy named Yahiko. He trained them to survive the harshness of their environment and saw one of them had the eyes of the Sage. The Rinnegan.
If that is true, why didn't he take them with him back to Konoha?
Why didn't Jiraiya raise you when it was his duty as your Godfather?
Point taken. So what happened next?
I honestly do not know. All I know is one of them died and Madara came along shortly to corrupt the organization. Capturing the nine Biju and using their combined might as a deterrent for war was his idea he implanted in Pein's mind. The ultimate weapon to be used as a deterrent to force peace on the world. But its a lie. Madara has other plans that do not involve such things.
Madara is dead. He's too old to be alive.
The man claiming to be him says otherwise.
What does he look like? Does he wear Madara's armor? Does he have the Sharingan?
No. He wears a spiral mask and standard ninja gear under his Akatsuki robes and calls himself Tobi in front of the group. Plus, he pretends to be an idiot so none of the other members know he is Madara. But to answer your last question, yes. He does have the Sharingan and can turn it off. Only an Uchiha can do that so the man is clearly from my clan.
Which further proves he isn't Madara. The real Madara would never do such a thing in front of anyone. Acting like an idiot and hiding behind a mask is not something the real Madara would do. His pride would never allow it. He's clearly an Uchiha, but clearly not the most infamous one.
Nevertheless, he calls himself Madara. He was the one who attacked the night of your birth and ripped the Kyuubi from your Mother's body to take control of it. Only someone like Madara could that in the past.
I figured as much from what the fox showed me from his own memories of that night with my parents dying. Doesn't matter. I know enough about the fool to plan a proper defense against his little time space manipulation and transparency technique. When the time does come, I'll crush the Akatsuki, and any who support them.
You swim against the tide. You will drown in the attempt.
Perhaps, but I have no problem making waves that will set change in motion before I do.
A kunai to the skull later and Uchiha Itachi was no longer alive.
After he did that, Naruto found Tsunade had come with a small army of ANBU, the Clan Heads, Jounin, and Jiraiya with the last one glaring at the Jinchuriki. Of course, Naruto wasn't surprised the man was upset with him. Not only did the blonde Uzumaki prove he was strong, but he had killed Jiraiya's only spy that high up in the Akatsuki organization.
Never once did he show concern for Naruto's own health or the fact Itachi no longer acted as a spy for him when coming back to Konoha to kill for revenge.
Of course, Tsunade was also angry, but surprisingly, her anger was not aimed at Naruto for killing Itachi. He didn't do anything wrong despite Jiraiya saying otherwise. No. The woman's anger was aimed at Jiraiya for not informing her of Itachi being a spy in the first place. She also felt the truth regarding the Uchiha Clan plotting a coup and Itachi doing it in order to spy on the Akatsuki should have been brought to her attention after becoming Hokage.
Jiraiya disagreed. Stating if he told her where some of his key spies were, it would make his value as a spy master diminish. Plus, the less she apparently knew about who his spies were in various parts of the world, the better. "Plausible deniability" were the two words he chose to reference, but Tsunade thought differently since Jiraiya's current handling of Konoha's spy network had become...well...crappy!
From what Tsunade had gathered since Jiraiya had been out of the village for 12 years to provide Konoha with information, which he passed along to the Sandaime, the informants were not reporting in on time or their information was vague at best. Some had threatened to quit unless given an increased paycheck and holding the information they held as key leverage. Others threatened to go to the enemies of Konoha to provide them with the key information they held in exchange for immunity for past spying. Others simply wanted out because the Toad Sannin had found them in dire straights at the time of first meeting them and continued to blackmail these people unless they played ball with the pervert. Some of these spies were women and from what Tsunade had been able to carefully read (in-between the lines of course), her former teammate had gotten far more than just the information from their spying from them.
If it wasn't from the fact they were in such valuable spots and needed for them, Tsunade would pull those spies (especially the women) out with those willing to take over. But she knew replacing old spies with new ones was extremely tricky and there was also the fact (if she assumed correctly about some things) Jiraiya would never let those female spies go on living knowing the tables would turn on him in terms of who was blackmailing who. If these women (if allowed) told the various people in positions of power about Jiraiya, and what he did to them in order to obtain their "loyalty" as spies (among other things), it would not only severely damage his (already questionable) reputation, but put Konoha in a bad light too.
It seemed no matter what, her former teammate for a pervert left a big fat stain or stink on Konoha that no one could remove no matter how hard they tried.
Even worse, Jiraiya had some debts of his own outside the village that were not on the books and had conveniently forgetting about.
Until they came to bite him in the ass.
The first one was the issue with the Nadeshiko Village, which was waiting for Jiraiya to honor his "promise" he made to the to the former leader of said village years ago. The kunoichi from said village named Tokiwa came with Shizuka to Konoha after hearing about Naruto killing so many S-ranked Nin and the other rumor he was Jiraiya's student. Tsunade had admitted the boy was Jiraiya's student (and using the term loosely) for a short time, but had a falling out over the "teaching methods" (again she used the tem loosely) the Sannin used during that timeframe.
After hearing what Jiraiya had promised, Tsunade had all the more reason, and desire to smash her former teammate's head into the ground before breaking every other bone in his body. Starting with the tiny one he had between his legs since that seemed to be where his damn brain seemed to relocate itself ninety eight percent of the time. As for Jiraiya himself, the pervert had conveniently made himself scarce when hearing how two kunoichi from Nadeshiko had come to Konoha.
Fucking coward.
As for Naruto, he accepted the challenge, but on the condition of choosing to nullify any marriage arrangement between them. If he was going to "honor" the agreement made by Jiraiya, his possible future bride would have to be strong enough to make him sweat a bit to earn the right to be his future wife. After all, if she wasn't strong enough to last against him in a drawn out fight, how can she be good wife material for him to marry. If he was not impressed, the arranged marriage would be nullified, and that would be the end of it.
Shizuka found it acceptable and surprisingly so did Tokiwa, who smirked at how Naruto was able to turn their village's laws against them. Shizuka hated those laws that said she had to fight the man who would be her future husband if he won against her. The man she loved was dead and closing off her heart was the only thing left for Shizuka to do. Even with Naruto's condition, Shizuka still wanted this whole mission to end, and just let him win by default.
If not for her kunoichi pride and the pride of her village being at stake. Besides, Naruto had made it clear the only way for this to work one way or another was the woman going all out against him.
And so they fought. With Tsunade and Tokiwa as witnesses to the event along with a few curious Konoha Shinobi.
Only to have a pest and puppeteer named Kokuyō, who wanted Shizuka for himself, and to rule Nadeshiko like a King to interfere in the fighting. Of course, he was easily crushed thanks to Shizuka destroying his puppet, and was quickly arrested by the Hokage for his entering the village illegally. The fight between Naruto and Shizuka continued with the latter trying to hit the former with everything she had. But in the end, the kunoichi failed to so much as make Naruto bleed, even for one second. It was clear that he was just too strong for her and could not win no matter what she did.
In the end, Shizuka lost, but at the same time, won the right to live freely without having to be married to someone she didn't love. Not that she didn't find Naruto ugly. Quite the opposite. She found him handsome and after getting to know him following their fight had almost made Shizuka regret not marrying the young Shinobi.
The fact he was so strong and not ranked higher was a bit of a bafflement to her. It was only when he openly admitted to being a Jinchuriki did she understand his rank being that of a Genin while everyone else was Chuunin or higher. She had heard stories about the Jinchuriki in general. Mostly hated. Used as weapons of war. Tied to the village Kage on some level. How they were violent. Bloodthirsty. How the one in Kiri became Mizukage and had caused a civil war with those having bloodlines. Suna's own Jinchuriki had been killing people shortly after the time he could walk and clearly enjoyed it.
But seeing Naruto and talking to him showed her that not all Jinchuriki were like that in regards to killing everyone in their path. In fact, Naruto cleared up why Gaara was the way he was in the first place, and how it wasn't the kid's fault. Rather his Father did it and didn't even have the courage to consider the option of having the faulty seal looked at to fix Gaara's inability to sleep at night. Insomnia and having a Biju in your head constantly talking about killing and spilling blood was not good for someone's mental health.
When it was finally time to leave, Shizuka bid Naruto farewell, and even being so bold as to kiss him on the cheek while thanking him getting her out of this situation. Naruto gave her a genuine smile. One he rarely gave to anyone, but still gave to those who deserved it.
He almost missed the blush that formed on Shizuka's face when she turned to leave the village and wondered if marrying the woman wouldn't be such a bad idea. He did have a clan to revive after all and Naruto got the distinct impression his Mother was on the other side saying "give me grandbabies right now!"
"You're such a pervert Naruto," accused Sakura with her arms crossed and face forming into a scowl.
"Oh really? Her kissing me on the cheek makes me a pervert? You wouldn't be saying that if Sasuke kissed you on the cheek," countered Naruto while Sakura scowl deepened on her face.
"She should have castrated you," remarked Sakura after witnessing the whole thing.
"For what? Winning our fight?" asked Naruto with a scowl of his own.
"That's and for simply being the Super Pervert's student," answered Sakura bitterly while Naruto scoffed at her knowing her reason for being this was due to Sasuke.
She never would forgive him for killing and castrating Sasuke if the truth got out to her on the subject. The kunoichi in front of him would no doubt feel the Uchiha's possible future children deserved some chance at redemption.
"I wasn't his student. Not for the last year and a half. And the first year and a half, he did absolutely nothing except peep on women and drink himself stupid at bars. With my own money no less after stealing it. Not much for a training trip between master and student, is it?" Naruto shot back while Sakura scoffed back.
"Or maybe you were just a poor student looking for an excuse not to do any of the heavy lifting needed to get stronger," mocked Sakura, which earned her a blast of killing intent, and making the kunoichi show signs of sweating.
"Says the Uchiha fan girl who couldn't do anything to literally save her life when she was younger and we were on missions. It took you a C turned A-ranked mission, an invasion by two Shinobi villages, and three years with the new Hokage to snap you out of it. Of course, judging from the negative feelings coming off of you right now, I take it you still hate the fact I didn't treat our former teammate with kid gloves this time around," said Naruto while not mentioning Sasuke was now dead by his hands.
As far as Sakura knew, the Uchiha was still imprisoned in a cell, and for a very long time befitting his treachery. No doubt his pink haired teammate thought she could one day try to convince the Hokage later to "help" in bringing Sasuke back into the fold. Why shatter her dreams and fantasies about the jerk?
Tsunade could do that for him.
"He was our friend Naruto. Friends don't do that to each other," countered Sakura, but the glare, and killing intent from Naruto only increased.
"Oh?! And what about what he did to me? You say friends don't hurt friends? Well our so called friend tried and succeeded in hurting me. Even worse, he tried to kill me! As far as I am concerned here Sakura, the teme was not a friend. He was not a teammate. He was a power hungry asshole and deserved the beating I gave him, if not more!" stated Naruto before he left.
"I'm sure Sasuke-kun feels regret for doing what he did Naruto. Can't you feel any at all for him?" asked Sakura while Naruto stopped and glanced back.
"My only regret Sakura, is the simple fact I didn't do worse when we fought each other for that brief moment," said Naruto before he was gone in swirl of leaves.
And leaving Sakura shocked at his words.
Following that incident, Tsunade wanted more answers from Jiraiya about the Akatsuki, and who was this leader Itachi mentioned before dying. It was clear by the Uchiha's last words that her former teammate knew more than he was letting on or was going to reveal for one reason or another. Of course, Jiraiya was being tight lipped on the issue about the Akatsuki and refused to answer. At least a first. It was amazing how breaking s few ribs, a leg, three fingers on each hand, and the threat of castration could loosen one's tongue.
So Jiraiya reluctantly admitted how the leader of the Akatsuki was another former and secret student. One Jiraiya claimed was believed to be dead years ago. One he thought wasn't truly important despite the fact the boy in question had the legendary Rinnegan Eyes in his possession. It was a major blunder on Jiraiya's part and even more so when the Sannin inadvertently admitted the boy's last name was in fact Uzumaki. Possibly a distant relative of Kushina's in some manner or at the very least a cousin from within the Uzumaki Clan itself! A boy named Nagato, who apparently abandoned his name for the new one he gave himself and was now called Pein.
Jiraiya further admitted he had known for some time who Pein really was and wanted to go to Ame to fix his "mistake" in letting Pein become to powerful. Tsunade forbid it. If Jiraiya was going to go, it was not going to be alone, and on some self sacrificing mission designed to "redeem himself" in the eyes of Naruto. She knew Jiraiya well enough that he would do such a thing for two main reasons. One, to avoid the fight that she knew Naruto really wanted to have with him. And second, to make sure that his "noble" actions left a powerful impression on Naruto's own psyche to influence the boy to doing things while following Jiraiya's beliefs. Not his own. Essentially hijacking Naruto's own freewill and trying to control it from beyond the grave with his "memorable actions" of sacrificing himself for the greater good.
Naruto wouldn't have it. And told Jiraiya as such. He wouldn't allow Jiraiya to get out of their fight using Pein as an excuse. Nor allow the man to sacrifice himself in the hopes his death would have some kind of influence from beyond the grave.
Angered by this, Jiraiya shot back saying he didn't give a damn what Naruto wanted, and never did care from the start. He was going to ensure the prophecy was fulfilled and his dreams would be realized over all others. Before either Naruto or Tsunade could try to do anything else, Jiraiya reversed summoned himself back the home of the Toads to recover there.
Tsunade swore and cursed at Jiraiya for being a moron and trying to do something that had long lasting consequences for those who had to clean up his messes. Naruto however, chose to be calm about it like the Toads taught him when training under them.
Focus your mind young tadpole. Rushing into things can get you killed. Your past history of doing so is proof of this. Think about what is happening and who is involved. Think how they might act and react accordingly. You do not need a Dojutsu like the Sharingan to predict every single move your opponent makes. Just the major ones. Your mind can do that if it knows what to look for in a person and their own personal beliefs.
Those had been the words of wisdom Pa had given him when training Naruto and wanted the boy to learn about looking before leaping. It was okay to sit still and think about the things around you before making the leap. It was the way of the Toads, but it was also important to never sit for too long. Something Jiraiya had never been able to learn on his own and often abused in terms of knowing when to act or not to act on matters he deemed to be important.
"I know where he is going once healed," said Naruto while Tsunade scowled since it was obvious to her too regarding Jiraiya's destination.
Ame.
"I'll get an ANBU squad together along with some Jounin. They'll drag him back before he can get halfway there," said Tsunade angrily.
"There is no point. He'll be there before the group can be deployed. Just send me," said Naruto with Tsunade looking shocked.
"Absolutely not! First off, you are still ranked a Genin. Second, I would be giving the Akatsuki exactly what they want. Even if they didn't extract your Biju right away, it does not mean they will make your time there as a prisoner any less pleasant, Some of them are pure sadist!" protested Tsunade while Naruto scoffed.
"First, they won't get me. You don't train as hard as I do, only to get captured. Second, you can promote me easily enough. Not to mention rank doesn't count for shit in the real world. And third, if I can kill Itachi, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Sasori of the Red Sands, and Deidara the Mad Bomber of Iwa, I can handle the others," said Naruto with Tsunade now glaring at him.
"Even if what you say is true, I would be an idiot to send you to Ame alone without backup," said Tsunade with Naruto frowning.
"Perhaps, but it really depends on the backup," said Naruto with Tsunade looking like she had been slapped by him.
"You're suggesting the ninja I semd would backstab you?" questioned Tsunade while she saw Naruto's glare intensify.
"In a heartbeat. All those years growing up and I was getting beaten, they watched. Some even went as far as to join in. They knew who my Father was. They knew enough about Fuinjutsu to know the difference between prison and prisoner. They did they care? No. Why would they? Who was going to remind them of their oaths to the Fourth? Who was going to enforce it? The Sandaime? He gave the order. Force the Kyuubi Jinchuriki into submission. Make sure he is nothing like his Mother. Like his Father. Make him weak. Reliant on me. Reliant on those I tell him to be reliant on. You haven't rotated out the ANBU when becoming Hokage and I can easily sense those in your office looking at me with hatred. You assign any of them to provide support, they'd sooner sell me out to the Akatsuki, and make up any story they wanted," said Naruto while Tsunade winced since what he told her was true.
"What do you have in mind?" asking Tsunade with Naruto shrugging.
"As I said, you just have to send me. We both know it will take some time for Jiraiya to heal from the beating you just gave him. The Toads are more loyal to me over him. The moment he pops out of their realm, they will tell me. Once that happens I'll head to Ame and stop the fool from doing something stupid," said Naruto while Tsunade grimaced.
"Fine! Considering your actions since coming back and your level of power, if not your strength, I'm promoting you straight to Jounin," said Tsunade with Naruto looking a tad surprised.
"Are you sure you can do that? Won't the rest of the Shinobi forces who hate my guts go throw a fit? Go on and on about 'procedure' and 'exams' and all that crap? Don't I have go through promotional ranks one at a time instead of skipping them?" questioned Naruto with Tsunade shrugging since she understood his surprise.
He was expecting her to simply promote him to Chuunin now, followed by Jounin in the distant future sometime later.
"I'm the Hokage. I can promote and demote whoever I like to any rank I like if they are qualified enough. Honestly, those exams are all meant to draw clients to our village on a large scale, and to get the potential Jounin for their jobs. I can easily do that just as much after word gets out on how many S-ranked Shinobi you recently killed," said Tsunade smirking at Naruto.
"Well...better late than never," said Naruto with a smirk of his own.
(Sometime Later)
Sure enough, the Akatsuki were not happy. Losing Itachi, Sasori, and Deidara was a very crippling blow to the organization. They needed to turn things around. Not to mention they needed to gain new recruits and an increase in finances. Which meant they needed to go out an collect high paying bounties of various targets.
Hence why the "Zombie Brothers" of the Akatsuki had sacked the Fire Temple for their intended target there knowing the money would help the organization greatly. Not to mention it would make the infamy of the Akatsuki grow knowing just two of them had destroyed the Fire Temple simply to collect the bounty on one person. Naturally, the monks fought back, only to fall, and die bloody death by their hands.
It wasn't long before they encountered and fought Konoha Shinobi in the form of Jounin Sarutobi Asuma, who had nearly died at their hands from their two on one assault.
Nearly.
"Well if it isn't the undead bitches of the world. How is it hanging? Or do you undead assholes not even have dicks?" taunted Naruto from his spot behind the two Akatsuki members and getting their attention.
"I'm going to enjoy sacrificing you to Jashin-sama!" exclaimed Hidan angrily.
"Come out of that circle and do it yourself. Or do you have to ask your Jashin-sama to do it for you, like a pussy?!" mocked Naruto with Hidan looking livid while Kakuzu looked at the blonde with narrowed eyes and sensing the boy's strength.
'He's not weak like our initial reports claimed three years ago. Itachi said he was weak and had no way of mastering the Kyuubi's chakra within him. It was only because of Jiraiya that we failed to grab him. But if reports are to be believed, the Jinchuriki killed quite a few S-ranked Missing Nin since his return,' thought Kakuzu knowing the bounties Naruto earned from his recent kill count of high valued targets had really pissed off the assigned "Treasurer" of the Akatsuki to no end.
The only reason Kakuzu didn't rush at Naruto was two fold. One, he wasn't a hot headed idiot like Hidan. Two, he sensed Naruto's power easily enough to be reminded of the First Hokage all those years ago when trying to assassinate him.
Kakuzu learned from his past mistakes regarding the late Shodaime and knew going all out on Naruto was a mistake.
"Damn it kid. Run!" protested Asuma while Naruto surprised them all by glaring at him.
"Am I talking to you Sarutobi-san? No?! Good! Help is on the way so stay still and try not to bleed to death," said Naruto before refocusing on the two Akatsuki members.
"A little harsh on your fellow Jounin I see," commented Kakuzu while getting ready for a fight.
"His Father wronged me when I was a child. Not to mention the fool took a shot at me once when coming out of a bar drunk off his ass when I was six years old," said Naruto while Asuma winced from the memory since he did have a slight remembrance of that moment despite the drunken haze.
He had been drunk at the time and angry with his old man. Hokage duties having driven a wedge between Father and son. So when he came around a corner, near an alley, Asuma saw the six year old Uzumaki Naruto digging through a dumpster for food. The young Hiruzen knew who the boy was and scowled in his drunken state and seeing the brat his Father was interested in for so long. Why couldn't his Father pay more attention to him? His son?! Instead, his Father focuses his attention on Naruto, regardless of the reason, which Hiruzen refused to specify about, and ignore the wishes of his own son.
Anger and alcohol mixed in a chaotic swirl and Asuma's vision had mixed with red when attacking a surprised Uzumaki Naruto. The boy had dodged the first couple of punches, but the rest not so much, and soon Naruto had found himself pinned to an alley wall with a kunai to his shoulder. What followed was beating from the drunken Shinobi along with those trench knives the man had on hand to slice up the brat pretty bad and give the poor blonde a near fatal experience.
And not once did the now Konoha Jounin ever come forward and admit his shame or give Naruto an apologize for it. Instead, he acted like it never happened. Secretly buried under the rug and those who knew acting like it never happened. But Naruto knew. Naruto had a distinct memory of the faces of those who wronged him and Asuma was no exception. The only reason the blonde Jinchuriki didn't hunt the asshole down sooner was due to the Sarutobi being out of the village on a long term mission.
It was only fitting the cig smoking Jounin suffer near death, bleeding from his many life threatening injuries given to him by Hidan. The man's team would be here soon anyway. Ino was trained as a Medic Nin so healing her old sensei wouldn't be too difficult for her.
"Ha! The little shit is hated in his village just like the others!" exclaimed Hidan with a grin on his face.
"At least I have a Shinobi village. Unlike you. I heard all about you, Jashin priest. Your Shinobi village lost its balls to be one and you went on a rampage as a result. Must have hurt to know your village didn't have what it takes. Did you cry? Whine like a bitch? Maybe even peed yourself like a little baby while crying like one?" asked Naruto with a grin on his face while Hidan looked like he was ready to explode with rage.
Only before he could, a Shadow Clone of Naruto struck from behind, and kicked Hidan in the back of his head. The force behind it sent him flying out of the circle he made for himself to use against Asuma and ended the ritual.
"YOU FUCKER!" yelled Hidan while Kakuzu frowned.
"Calm yourself Hidan. He's upsetting you on purpose so you make mistakes," warned Kakuzu while Hidan snarled.
"Not hard to do. All it takes is insulting his impudent God and the moron goes on a tirade lasting for hours," taunted Naruto while Hidan was foaming at the mouth.
"I'm going to gut your fucking as-AAAH!" exclaimed Hidan when a Shadow Clone of Naruto shot out of the ground behind the priest, but this time took his head off with a wind coated kunai.
And surprisingly, the man's head kept on talking while cursing before Naruto's Shadow Clone punted it to another one holding a box with sealing tags on it. Before Kakuzu could do anything, the Shadow Clone along with the box were both gone in a puff of smoke.
"What did you do?" asked Kakuzu curiously.
"My Shadow Clone reversed summoned to the Toad Clan's mountain. They are going to use their Sage Arts to purify Hidan and severe his connection to Jashin. Are you upset? questioned Naruto with Kakuzu shrugging.
"Honestly? No. Hidan would always curse, yell, shout, and be an annoyance whenever we partnered together. Going on about his religion and how great it was when compared to everything else. I'm honestly surprised the Akatsuki kept him. The world Pein wishes to create does not sit well with someone like Hidan being apart of it," answered Kakuzu while Naruto stood there watching him.
"Which explains why you never moved to help him," commented Naruto while Kakuzu shrugged again.
"He would have done the same to me if I were in his position. We were only put in the same pairing simply because we can't kill the other. Hidan had previous partners who died by his hands simply on impulse to appease his God. My five hearts prevented that," said Kakuzu while Naruto's smirk grew.
"Until now," said Naruto before a rumbling came from the ground.
Kakuzu's eyes widened when the ground erupted with dozen of chakra chains wrapped around him along with his various hearts. Struggling to escape, Kakuzu struggled to escape, but found it wasn't possible, and soon felt each heart being stabbed by the chakra chains.
"You were stalling so those chains would make their way through the ground to me!" said Kakuzu while his remaining heart was being squeezed by the chakra chain around it.
"No shit. I'm an Uzumaki. If my Mother can do this, why can I?" asked Naruto before he commanded the chain to squeeze hard until the remaining heart it was crushing exploded.
And thus killing the Missing Nin of Taki.
"Thanks gaki. You are a lifesaver. If you weren't here, I would be finished," said Asuma while Naruto simply walked over to him.
And punched the badly injured man in the face and knocking the Jounin out.
"Shut up," whispered Naruto before walking away from the bleeding man to seal up Kakuzu's body just as the second generation Ino-Shika-Cho arrived.
"Whoa! What happened here?" asked Ino while rushing to Asuma's side.
"The Akatsuki. They killed a former Shinobi and Guardian 12 turned Fire Monk. A good friend of mine. I intercepted them after they had sacked the Fire Temple. They were too much for me," said Asuma weakly while Ino went to work on healing him.
"But not for Naruto?" asked Shikamaru curiously.
"He didn't even break a sweat," said Asuma while deciding to keep the fact the blonde boy had punched him in the face or revealed their past altercation years ago.
"Really? What did Jiraiya-sama teach you? How did you get so strong?" asked Choji to Naruto who finished sealing up the body and hearts of Kakuzu.
"He didn't teach me shit. The only thing that asshole did was drink in bars, peep on the women at hot springs, and sleep with whores with more STDs in their bodies than the overall populace of Konoha. He took my money, left me alone at various points in time while dump scrolls in my lap without any means of understanding the material. As to how I got so strong? I trained with the actual Toad Summons and learned more from them during my year and a half than I did with the perverted asshole," said Naruto coldly before he glanced at Asuma, who was looking a tad nervous.
"Naruto?" asked Shikamaru curiously while seeing the look between the blonde and his former sensei.
"Don't worry about it Shikamaru. Just remembering a certain moment in time not unlike now, but with different people in different positions. Talk to Sarutobi there. He knows all about it. Afterwards, come see me. The story your former sensei tells you may have quite a few truths...retracted on his end in order to hide his shame," said Naruto before he left them to look at Asuma, who was again looking increasingly nervous.
"Asuma-sensei?" asked Ino with Asuma closing his eyes and letting out a sign.
"Its a complicated story. I'll tell you later. Just...let me heal. I need to collect my thoughts on certain matters," said Asuma while looking up at the sky while Ino continued to heal him.
(Ame-Sometime Later)
"This in unacceptable. We have lost practically over half our members in just a few short months. The rings taken from the corpses have been destroyed save the one off of Hidan's headless body, but that just be speculation at this point," said Pein angrily at how things had spiraled downward for them while Konan was watching him from a distance.
"We need to recruit new members. Find a way to replicate the destroyed rings," remarked Konan while Tobi shook his head.
"Those rings were one of a kind. We can't make new ones yet. Not without doing some serious research and finding the means to make more. It could take years. Decades. Time you do not have. Time that we do not have," said Tobi in rare serious tone.
"Where is Kisame?" asked Konan since he wasn't here.
"He went out to capture Iwa's two Jinchuriki alone. I was going to send Zetsu or even Tobi here with him, but the man refused. He said taking on two Jinchuriki might make things interesting for him," said Pein while Konan narrowed her eyes.
"And you let him go?" asked Konan while Pein nodded.
"There was no point in refusing him. Besides, if we sent either Tobi or Zetsu with him, I have no doubt they would have been targeted by the man's sword. We do not need one of our stronger members deciding to lash out at those who remain like a wild animal. I trust Kisame to channel his bloodlust properly and report when possible to us once the job is completed," said Pein while knowing it was best to unleash Kisame against their enemies over stopping him.
He would let the monster run free. Their enemies would hunt and eventually kill Kisame, but Pein also knew the "Monster of Kiri" would take plenty of them down before that did happen. As a result, Pein knew the number of his enemies from the five Shinobi villages would be diminished significantly.
"Shame. You were going to need him," commented Jiraiya, who came out of the shadows with a serious look on his face.
"Hello sensei. Its been a long time," commented Pein while Zetsu and Tobi decided it was time to vanish back into the shadows.
"Not long enough. I see you have changed since the last time we saw each other. At least Konan became every bit as beautiful as I believed," replied Jiraiya with a small smile to the woman.
"If you are done having perverted thought about Konan, I think its time you explained your presence here," said Pein while Jiraiya's smile left him.
"To fix some mistakes I made in the past. Namely with you," answered Jiraiya with Pein staring at him impassively.
"You have known of our activities for sometime. Yet you are personally interfering now of all times? Why?" questioned Konan while Pein watched Jiraiya's body movements.
"Personal reasons," commented Jiraiya while Pein knew that while it was the truth, it was also a lie.
"Half truths Jiraiya-sensei. You always hated it when we told you lies or half truths. Don't tell me you have become a hypocrite since the last time we saw you," commented Pein, as he recalled a time when Jiraiya always demanded they tell him the truth, and hated how the three orphans of Ame would try to deceive him.
"Enough talking. Time to end this," said Jiraiya while Pein nodded.
"Agreed. Konan, do not interfere," ordered Pein while Konan nodded and took several steps back.
"You underestimate me Nagato. You always did," said Jiraiya with a smirk before he summoned Pa and Ma to his shoulders.
"Nagato is dead. I am Pein. As to underestimating you, I was a child believe you were someone to look up to when growing up. Now I find myself staring at a man, who plays the fool to hide his failures, and inadequacies during his lifetime of being in the shadow of everyone around him," commented Pein while seeing Pa and Ma Toad remaining calm despite Jiraiya's scowl.
And did they secretly place something on the back of Jiraiya?
"After today, I will show why I am the strongest of my three teammates despite the fact I was the dead last of my Genin team," said Jiraiya with Pein looking unafraid.
"Hardly something to boast about. Orochimaru was the weakest of us when he joined for our protection once going rogue from your village. He is focused on staying young and dissecting things over expanding his actual skills. Tsunade was a drunk and gambler for over a decade so her skills have no doubt declined. You haven't improved on anything since the Yondaime Hokage was alive. You are the strongest of your three teammates due to their skills being rusty or neglected while yours have stagnated," said Pein mockingly while Jiraiya grit his teeth.
"We'll see," said Jiraiya before he used his imperfect version of Sennin Modo after he had gathered enough Senjutsu during their conversation.
"Not see. More like...I know," said Pein before his other Six Paths suddenly appeared and now made Jiraiya a tad nervous.
'Ah crap,' thought Jiraiya while he braced himself for the fight that was to come.
This fight was going to hurt.
(A/N: YAY! Another update. Yes I know. I said this would become a three-shot in my last update, but this kept getting away from me in terms of length. So this will most likely be a four-shot fic. So yeah...there it is. SHUT UP! Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and the cliffhanger I left it in. Suffer with me in waiting! WHAHAHAHAHA! Your suffering amuses me. All the more incentive for my fellow authors whose fics I enjoy reading to pick up the pace on their own writing. Hope to it you lazy bums! If I can update and write a long chapter so can you! Until next time...PEACE!)
