A/N After having an emotional breakdown, Sarutobi feels Arashi needs to see a familiar face.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters, there are owned by Kishimoto-san
Summary: One fateful night in Konohagakure, the Yondaime Hokage chose his village over his only son; only time will tell if he made the right choice. Feral!Naruto, Pairings to be voted on.
Key: Normal, "Speech" 'Thoughts' "Demonic Speech" 'Demonic Thoughts'
Chapter 6
My Swedish friend
Kakashi was nervous as he entered the Hokage's office; he'd been hearing some strange rumours circulating amongst the shinobi population lately, reports of him rushing off to meet someone at odd hours, not to be seen until later the next day. Claims of him seen returning home at the dead of night with blood spatters on his clothes. Some even said he was in a violent relationship with a young man, although he dismissed those as the fanciful ramblings of a drunk Anko. Still, something was up with Konoha's protector, and it made the odd eyed jounin anxious.
The door creaked audibly as he opened it, Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if it was just old age, or really a subtly security measure used against would-be idiot assassins.
"Ah, Kakashi-kun, how good to see you again" The Sandaime gave a tired smile, warning bells went off in Kakashi's head,
'That smile, I haven't seen that smile since sensei died. Oh, wait, used that same smile when the Kyuubi vessel was murdered'
"You called for me, Hokage-sama?" Although his eye kept it's lazy expression, in reality he was trying to analyse the Hokage's every detail for some sort of clue. After spending over half of his life with only one sharingan, his brain had picked up a knack for detail most people never knew about, there was a reason why he rarely used it, he'd reached a point where his other eye was more than capable of picking up the slack.
"I did, Kakashi-kun. I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss here, and I'm hoping you can remedy it."
'Does he mean an assassination? It's been years since the Sandaime has ordered an assassination, or at least, personally requested one. Who could it be?' Kakashi resisted the urge to shuffle on his feet; it wouldn't look well for one of the village's top shinobi to fidget before the Hokage.
"Oh? And how might I be of service?" He asked merrily, maintaining his façade of bemused disinterest.
"Recently, a very dear friend of ours has returned to us, however, he is…dissatisfied with the way things have turned out for him. He's in a very fragile state of mind, and I'm afraid he may go out and…express his dissatisfaction in an unsavoury manner. I was hoping you would be able to calm him down somewhat". Sandaime said, his hands tented in front of him. Kakashi's mind worked to decipher the hidden message.
'He's speaking in code, he must be afraid of enemy surveillance, lets see…"dear friend that has returned"…an old threat has come back? Something we where once familiar with has returned? Aha! He must mean a well-known traitor; "dissatisfied with the way things turned out" must mean he's trying to escape." "Express his dissatisfaction in an unsavoury manor"? "Unsavoury Manner?" "Manner?" Manor! An "Unsavoury manor!" He must mean the Akamichi house; they virtually never eat savoury foods there! An Akamichi must have played an integral part in his capture and he wants revenge. Obviously "calm him down," means: "Put him to sleep" as in "dead", I wonder who it is? He said he was 'dear to us' meaning we missed him, or at least, Sandaime did…we haven't really had any big betrayals lately…not since…Itachi! We have Itachi captured, but he's trying to make an escape, so I've got to go in and kill him! SHIT I'm supposed to kill Itachi? That guy was like a machine! I could probably rip his arm off and only get a "hn" out of him, hopefully I have backup'
"I see, how is Itachi-kun doing anyway?" He asked lazily.
"Itachi? Heavens no, it's Arashi! He's come back! But I need your help". The Sandaime practically shouted.
'Really, what ever gave him the idea I was talking about Itachi'? Meanwhile, a completely different thought what going through the jounin's head.
'Sensei? He's alive? But wait? How did an Akamichi manage to capture sensei? Never-mind that , is the Hokage really asking me to kill my own sensei in the hopes that he'll hesitate in attacking me? I…' Panic washed over his features for a moment before…
"No" He said firmly, shooting the Sarutobi a cold glare.
"No?" The Sandaime asked, greatly confused.
"I refuse to do such a thing, it goes against everything I stand for, if Sensei wants to kill the Akamichi he obviously has a good reason, we should hear him out, maybe he knows something we don't"
"Wha-? Akamichi?" The Sandaime's eyes narrowed "Kakashi, have you been borrowing off Asuma's stash?"
"I can no-what?"
"Kakashi, I'm asking you to talk to your sensei, he's very distressed right now"
"So…you don't want me to kill him for trying to massacre the Akamichi clan?"
"No"
'I…feel like such a fool, have I been reading too much into things? Am I really that bad at interpretation? Maybe Rin didn't blame me for Obito's death, maybe I wasn't an accident, maybe mommy did love me, maybe-'
"Kakashi! Please, he needs something to hold on to right now, and you know him better than I do, I've managed to contact Jiraiya and he should be able to help, but he won't be here for several days."
"Of course, I'll do everything I can to help, although, can I ask what he is so upset about and how is he alive in the first place?" The Sandaime let out a sigh.
"I'm afraid both of those are interconnected. You see, he has spent the last twelve years fighting without end inside the stomach of the Shinigami, leaving him mentally unstable. With the death of the Kyuubi the Shinigami seemed to feel he was paying for something no longer owed, so he returned him to the world of the living in a copy of his old body. He's upset because if the Kyuubi's dead, then that means that his son is dead as well, he blames himself and the villagers for what happened to him. He's already lashed out at both himself, and me for not protecting him better. I'm afraid that sooner or later, he'll succeed in breaking out of the hospital and start killing random civilians." All throughout the explanation Kakashi couldn't help but pick up on one thing;
"The jinchuuriki…was his son?"
"Of course, we never told anyone in case word got out and someone sent assassins after him…didn't help him much in the end" The Sandaime sighed again.
"I…see, but…something doesn't add up. The Jin- no, His son was killed years ago, why did the Shinigami only recently release him?"
"Who knows, maybe the Shinigami felt the extra time was needed to provide sufficient payment for the seal, or for allowing him to return, perhaps the Shinigami sees time differently to the way we do and this was a close as he could get. However, there is another possibility"
"What?" The copy-nin's eyebrow rose with curiosity
"There is a chance…that he somehow managed to survive the attack, and was only recently killed"
"You mean, all those injuries? All that blood? And he survived?"
"Possibly, yes. But don't mention it to Arashi, he's distressed enough as it is, I haven't even told him the extent of the injuries Naruto received in case it set him off again."
"Sensei…where is he?"
"Arashi-kun is currently in a restricted room at the Hospital, his new body was very weak and he could barley stand. He had to drag himself from his place of death to Konoha" The masked jounin's eyes widened in astonishment
"But that's almost five kilometres!" He stammered. "And he still tries to attack you?"
"I'm afraid he has a way of forcing his limbs to move using chakra manipulation, even if his bodies weak his spirits as strong as ever. One time he even started to open the gates on me before I knocked him unconscious."
"I-I see…can I see him? Now I mean?"
"Of course, come with me"
Later, Konoha hospital
Arashi sat in his bed, eying the door warily. His mind was foggy but he was sure that door was bad news, just something about it's silver hair…un-youthful
'Wait? Doors don't have hair' He blinked as his brain precessed the new information. Standing in front of him, was Hatake Kakashi. Someone he knew.
"AHA KAKAHSI MY ADORABLE STUDENT! I SEE YOUR STILL GOING FOR THE 'HIP, COOL' LOOK!! " He shouted at the stunned ex-ANBU captain.
"S-Sensei??" He stammered, his mind unable to process what he was seeing
"WHAT IS IT MY ADORABLE STUDENT?"
'He really is insane, and he's acting like Gai. Does this mean that Gai is the way he is because of conflicting love, hatred and self-loathing? Or am I reading to much into things again?'
"Er…how are you feeling? The doctors say your starting to move around again"
'You tried to clobber the Sandaime to death'
"I assure you, I'm fine, good in fact. But the question is, are you good?" He asked, his eyes getting a strange gleam in them. Within a second he had leapt across the room and had Kakashi pinned against the wall, his eyes almost glowed with madness.
"Tell me Kakashi? Have you been a Good Boy? Have you been taking care of Obito like you promised? Like a Good Boy? Obito's a Good Boy you should treat him nicer. Was Naruto a Good Boy? Please tell me, Saru won't tell me anything" He cried out, before slumping back down and the bed, pouting. Kakashi shivered, you could actually hear the capitals on Good Boy.
"Ye-cough-yes sensei, Naruto was a very good boy"
"Really?" The Yondaime looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.
'Hopefully, he doesn't try to kill be again, It's hard to stay on guard while he's like this'
"Yes, he was a very nice boy, always polite to others. Never asked for more than he was given. Very inquisitive too, always asking questions. He was very attached to Sandaime-sama, always rushing into his office to tell him his latest adventure" Kakashi deliberately left out the far more bleak parts of his description. Like just how little Naruto was ever given, how he was polite out of fear, and addressed everyone as –sama, with few exceptions. His questions where often him trying to understand why he was hated, and his latest adventure was often things most people wouldn't even bother with. He be practically jumping with joy if he found a usable pair of shoes, which wasn't often.
"Please, tell me more"
"Well, he was always energetic, running around the place like there was no tomorrow (which was a distinct possibility to him) He could talk your ear off(He would try to make up for all the words other people ignored, and because of just how rare it was for someone to listen) And he loved Ramen(It was all he had, he clung desperately to life, and ramen meant he wouldn't starve to death for one more day), if you where feeling sad he'd always try and cheer you up, (he thought that since he was unhappy, no-one else should be), He was sharp to(He was so good at sensing other people he was known to have one-sided conversations with his hidden ANBU guards).
"See? I told you he was a Good Boy" The Yondaime smiled before laughing to himself.
'I swear to you, Sensei. I will do everything in my power to get you better'
A/N: Another chapter, yes I decided to make Yondaime bi-polar. As long as no-one hates it I'll keep him that way, although the Gai thing was a one-off. And yes, that was an indirect reference to the Tobito theory, however, it means nothing, I just thought it was kinda cool. Also I'd like to shout out to Nekmono, for saying something other than a pairing vote, seriously people, when I get a review that's 3 words long It makes me feel like a whore, throw in some criticism, especially since this is the last chance you get to vote on them. On that note, here are the current standings. Oh and the title name? It's from some song I heard, it goes "What have I become? My Swedish friend", The first part can be changed to the previous chapter name soo...I have bizarre logic :P
NaruHina 12
NaruAnko 11
NaruTen 5
NaruKur 1
NaryHana 4
NaruShizu 2
I actually thought Inuzuka Hana would have been more popular, oh well
The following are NOT options
Any filler girls (Not worth the effort)
Temari (She's county property)
Ino (Feeble and unapealing)
Anyone's Mom (Not a fan of MILF)
Any non-ninja (boring)
Any guys (I'm not drunk enough)
FemHaku (Haku's Dead)
FemKyuubi (kyuubi's dead)
Tsunade (she's over 50, saggy and wrinkly, tap that and it might break)
Ayame (simply can't work)
Tayuya (Tayuya's dead)
Kin (Kin's dead)
Rin (Rin's Dead)