On the radar:
Morning came soon enough and Tsunade was taking her sleep right on the desk. There had been an influx of documents from the Fire Daimyo demanding that Konoha must help Suna in their Kazekage kidnapping with full support, because he still owed Sunagakure some money. There had also been requests from other elemental nations about more information on Sunagakure's status, and as a cherry on top, the council had demanded a meeting with her the first thing in the morning. To sum it all up, Tsunade had one of the worst nights of her time as the Godaime Hokage. Shizune walked into her office and was not surprised in the least to find Tsunade in her current state. She set another stack of documents on the desk before shaking her up from her nap.
"Tsunade-sama, Kakashi is here on the Kazekage kidnapping mission." Tsunade looked at her with bleary eyes before muttering something about bothersome assistants and walked off into the bathroom.
As she walked out, she saw Kakashi waiting patiently in front of her desk and Sakura standing quietly behind. "Where are Temari and Naruto?"
"Temari will be here shortly." Sakura interjected as she saw Temari getting ready to leave at the Nara compound. As if on cue, the door to the office opened and in walked Temari accompanied by Shikamaru.
"Now where is that Naruto?" thought Tsunade when something jumped into the office through the open window. For a few moments Tsunade was too stunned to process what she was seeing. It was Naruto, only not like the Naruto she had seen before. Naruto was completely outfitted in full black leather armor, gauntlets adorned his arms, he had fill sleeved leather shirt along with leather pants, and shin length boots finished the outfit (think Cloud in Advent Children, only completely full-sleeved). Finally she snapped out of her daze as she thought "If Naruto keeps up his fashion statement, in a few days all the kunoichis of Konoha are going to start to chase him around!"
"Hokage-sama, we are still waiting for the mission details," said Kakashi in a sarcastic tone, there was no doubt a smirk on his face behind that mask of his.
"Yes, as far as we know the Kazekage has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki, and their intention is clearly to extract the Shukaku from Gaara which will surely kill the Kazekage unless we can find him and stop the kidnappers. As you might know, Sai cannot accompany you to this mission because his duties as an ANBU requires him to be someplace else, therefore I will dispatch a back up team shortly after Team Seven leaves. Therefore for this mission I dispatch Kakashi Hatake as the Jounin Captain with Tokubetsu Jounin Naruto Uzumaki, Chuunin Sakura Haruno, and Sunagakure Ambassador Temari."
"Hai!" came three simultaneous voices as Naruto, Sakura, and Temari vanished from the office, only the wide eyed Kakashi remained.
"Hokage-sama, did you just say Uzumaki?" asked Kakashi, as he looked at the spot that Naruto was standing only a few minutes before.
"Dammit, I shouldn't have said his last name, I blew his cover!" thought Tsunade as she sighed before replying Kakashi's question. "Yes, you heard me right Kakashi that is Naruto Uzumaki, the last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan…and also the Namikaze clan."
"Are you saying that he is my sensei's…but…what happened…how?" sputtered Kakashi completely losing control of his emotions and bearings, realizing that he had been living a big lie this whole time. He had been blaming himself all this time for not being there for his Sensei, and Kushina who was like an elder sister to him when the Kyuubi had attacked the village. Now Naruto's return proves that there was some chance that he could make up for his past mistakes through his guidance in the Yondaime Hokage's legacy's upbringing.
Tsunade stood up and walked around the desk, facing Kakashi squarely. "Listen Kakashi, what I am about to say is a high profile secret of Konoha that was originally known only by me, Jiraiya, and the Sandaime Hokage, not even the council knows that Naruto is the Yondaime's legacy, but there is a much darker secret to him than you realize. Do you swear to an oath of secrecy to what I am about to say to you?"
"I do Hokage-sama," replied Kakashi.
"Alright, here is what truly happened on the night that the Kyuubi attacked the village," started Tsunade as she turned around and looked at the rest of Konoha through the huge glass wall in the office. "Minato was with Kushina when the Kyuubi attacked, but it just wasn't a rampage, as we thought previously, the fox was being controlled by someone, someone extremely powerful. As a result he was summoned out of Kushina during her delivery. Minato confronted the person, but he had Naruto in his hands and therefore Minato had to let him go. By that time the fox was planning on getting to Konoha, so Minato faced him down and sealed him again, giving his life in the process. You already know why Kushina died, but the boy that Minato sealed the fox within was Naruto, that is why Sarutobi sensei thought it was imperative that Naruto grow up outside the village. His life would have been worse than hell if he lived in the village, the villagers would have treated him like Kyuubi itself, while the council would have tore the boy's future by trying to control him. Do you now understand why we had to keep this secret from the rest of Konoha?" asked Tsunade turning back to look at Kakashi in the eye.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," replied Kakashi in a quiet voice.
"Naruto still does not know about his heritage or his parents, and for now I would like to keep it that way, take care of him, I would like to see him fulfill his dream. I suggest you move out; there is still a mission at hand!"
"Hai!" shouted Kakashi, and he too sushined out of her office.
"Well, at least he can keep this to himself; I have to make sure that Jiraiya gives the details to Kakashi later he is the best person right now to continue Naruto's training," thought Tsunade as she was getting ready to pull out some sake when Shizune poked her head through the door.
"Hokage-sama, the three elder council members are here to discuss a matter of utmost importance with you," Shizune's facial expression already confirmed that this concerned the new ninja of the village that appeared out of nowhere in the records.
"Yes send them in and bring Naruto's file with you, I will have to put the blame on Sarutobi sensei, won't I?" said Tsunade with a smirk on her face, which disappeared as soon as Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado entered her office, and it soon turned into a scowl when they were followed by Danzo Shimura.
"Tsunade, there seems to be as discrepancy in the ninja records, Homura was going through the registration files and there seems to be a new ninja of quite a high rank who has no history whatsoever in the academy or on missions, where is he from and why is he here?" asked Koharu with an annoyed face, it really was not the council's place to deal with such trifle matters and Tsunade noticed that point quickly enough.
"And why is the council worrying about such small matters, we usually leave it to the clerks to clarify such mistakes if there are any?" asked Tsunade in an annoyed voice feigning ignorance.
"Why? Well is it not obvious? It says that his last name is Uzumaki! I thought we had seen the last of them with the last jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Where did this one drop off from?" asked Homura now getting angry because there was a smirk forming on Tsunade's lips.
"Shizune do you have the file?" asked Tsunade, as she looked at Shizune standing at the back corner of the room.
"Yes Hokage-sama, here" said Shizune as she handed her the file. Tsunade flipped to the page that held the information that held Naruto's details and his life history, made up by the Sandaime Hokage and handed it to Koharu. He looked at the contents with furrowed brows before handing it to Homura.
"That still does not explain his parentage or his last name! Who were his parents?" asked Koharu looking back at the Godaime Hokage with suspicion.
"As you already know, there were quite a few Uzumakis in Konoha during the Kyuubi attack; it could have been the child of any one of them. Do not ask me, how would I know? I came to the village after the Kyuubi was dealt with!" said Tsunade, her voice rising with each word.
"We are not here to quarrel," Danzo's heavy voice cut in sharply. "Just tell us how this is possible, we knew of every Uzumaki in this village, they were all accounted for, where did this one come from. As far as I remember, the clan met its end with the Kyuubi, each and every one died defending Konoha."
"Danzo, I have taken that into account, as you know, Jiraiya had taken the boy out of this village as an apprentice, and he grew up with Jiraiya. If you want to know more ask the pervert, for now all I know is that this boy could have been an illegitimate child, or he could have been off the records because he was born on the day that the Kyuubi attacked. Even Sarutobi sensei knew more about the boy than I did and it was his decision that Jiraiya apprentice him. Are you questioning the Sandaime Hokage's judgment?" Tsunade knew full well that when Sarutobi sensei's name came into an argument, it worked like an ace against the council, he was the only man that the council seemed to respect, and even Danzo did not dare say anything when the Sandaime Hokage's name came into account. Tsunade did not know the reason behind such respect, but she knew Hiruzen Sarutobi was one of the founding members of the council of Konoha.
"Yes, this file was created by him," observed Koharu before snapping it close. "I did not know Jiraiya had taken an apprentice. Maybe the Sannin of Konoha will rise again, what do you say Tsunade?" asked Koharu in an almost playful tone, not seeing the hardness that came upon the Godaime Hokage's visage.
"If that is your way of asking whether we will allow that traitor Uchiha back into this village, then my answer remains the same, he will be able to join the ranks of Konoha Shinobi only if he confesses and tells MY ANBU everything that we need to know, understood!" said Tsunade in even tones that showed her barely contained anger.
"The matter that we came to resolve is still at hand what do we do with the boy?" again Danzo's voice cut in, the man had an uncanny observation skill.
"What about him, I told you all I know, the rest you have to ask from Jiraiya," said Tsunade, trying to sound as nonchalant and uncaring as possible.
"Do not lie to us Hokage, this way you lose our trust and the power behind your position, tell us the truth, lest we find it out ourselves!" said the old war hawk in the same tone.
"Danzo knows something," thought Tsunade, thinking furiously for a good counter to the accusation. "He is only this adamant when he has found evidence that I am lying, or he knows the full truth but only wants to humiliate me in front of the whole council by revealing it himself." She could not come up with anything useful so she tried to buy some time. "Danzo, I would ask you to be more careful before accusing me, I am still your Hokage, and as a result your superior."
Danzo acknowledged her claim with a nod, but he was not done with his side of the argument. "I understand your position well enough Tsunade, yet the dispute over this boy has only become more doubtful than before. Hiruzen had asked me to keep an eye on the last survivors of the Whirlpool country, and I had followed his orders by keeping close watch on all of them. The Root reported that the people who had accompanied Kushina Uzumaki were aloof and mostly kept to themselves. The only person who could have delivered a baby on the night of the Kyuubi attack was Kushina herself, but Hiruzen told us that the young Namikaze died before seeing the light of the day, so where did this boy come from?"
The old war hawk's words made perfect sense, there was no way that Tsunade could dispute that, and she desperately tried to look for a way out. Understanding started to dawn in Homura and Koharu's eyes. Suddenly Koharu's head shot up and she looked at Tsunade with a dark twinkle in her eyes. "Tell me Tsunade, how does a rookie ninja get the position of a Tokubetsu Jounin right from the start, he should have started as a genin, should he have not?"
"Koharu Utatane, are you really as stupid as you look? Do you think that a boy trained by Jiraiya and the Sages of Mount Myoboku will actually be on the level of a genin? If you have to know I tested him against one of the best Jounins from his graduating class and he made that Jounin forfeit in less than five minutes, what more proof do you need of his capabilities?"
Koharu could not withstand that the vain slug princess dared to insult her in front of her colleagues, who did she think she was? "You dare to mock me?" shouted Koharu, rising to her feet in rage.
"Your ignorance is unbelievable," replied Tsunade coolly without leaving her seat. Tsunade watched on amusedly, thinking, this was their council made up of fools and ignorant old civilians. Whose stupid idea was it to make these people the head of a village? Danzo had had enough of Koharu's bantering.
"Sit down Koharu, you should not have meddled in something that you do not know of," said Danzo, his voice so cold that it instantly made Koharu shut her mouth and obey the command. Of course the boy was strong, thought Danzo, every Shinobi trained by Jiraiya had turned out to be exceptionally skilled and talented, and Minato Namikaze was a shining example. If this boy, Naruto was anything like Minato…then it suddenly struck Danzo like a hammer to the gut. How could he have missed the resemblance? Naruto's profile showed the boy's face well enough, he had his father's fair blonde hair and stunning electric blue eyes. His deduction had been on the mark, so Kushina had given birth to boy that day, Minato's legacy lives after all. For some unknown reason, this thought gave him a feeling, an alien feeling, something that he had not felt in a long time. He quickly buried it, just as he buried everything that came in the way of his ambition for power. "We are done here, I will be sure to ask Jiraiya about any other information that I need. Koharu, Homura, we still have other matters to attend to at the Hyuuga estate. Thank you for your time, Tsunade." With that the old war hawk limped out of her office followed by the two old cronies.
Tsunade sat at her desk completely stunned and dumbstruck. Did Danzo just…show her respect? Did the sun rise from the west today? "Either I am going mad or my mind is playing tricks on me! I really need a drink now," mumbled Tsunade to herself as she pulled out a bottle of sake and a cup.
With Naruto
Naruto had been waiting for Kakashi for a while now, what was taking the man so long. He looked at Temari, and then at Sakura. None of them seemed to be dealing with his dilemma of why their team captain was late. "Hey, do you guys know what is taking our captain so long to get here?" he asked uncertainly, oblivious to the fact that the Shinobis from his graduating class had grown quite used to Kakashi's usual tardiness.
"Oh yeah, he is not that late, I mean only fifteen minutes, he will be here in no time," answered Sakura absent mindedly.
"He did not get to ponder on Sakura's words as Kakashi's chakra signature entered his range, finally they could get a move on." Kakashi landed in front of Naruto as a blur, before taking the solid form of a tall, silver haired Cyclops.
"Yo, sorry I took so long, you see I tripped down the stairs on my way here," he said with his unique eye smile.
Naruto looked at him incredulously while Sakura and Temari both sighed. "Kakashi, I am tired of your excuses, let us get moving, my brothers are waiting!" said Temari in a voice that meant, get-your-ass-moving-or-you-are-dead.
"Yes, of course. I will take the lead with the ambassador right behind me. Sakura you will keep an eye on the surroundings as you will be directly behind the ambassador, Naruto you will be in the rear, so keep an eye on our trail, I don't want mercenary ninjas ambushing us from behind. I trust you can do what I have asked?"
"Yes, I can, there will be no ambush from behind," replied Naruto, he appeared to be very calm on the outside, but inside he was a raging bull. "What does the Cyclops think of me as, a baby with no experience? I have been on more espionage and assassination missions than any Chuunin here." Assassination missions were missions where they were the ambushers and failure was not an option, Jiraiya had taken great care in explaining Naruto that assassination missions were missions that were given to Shinobi of the highest caliber. These missions were there to ensure that something did not happen, and if the ninja was caught, he would have to kill himself, interrogation of assassin ninjas were worse than death.
"Very well then, let's go," with that all four of them sushined out of the village and into the forest. As soon as they entered the forest, all four of them took to the treetops, so that anybody following them would have a hard time trying to monitor their movement or see them. Kakashi set a steady pace that required everybody to move but was not demandingly high; at this rate they would make Sunagakure by morning the next day, if they took a break only during the night. The rest of the journey was quite uneventful and the atmosphere in the group was heavy with anxiety.
Temari was worried for her younger brother, if the Akatsuki succeeded in extracting the soul of the Shukaku from Gaara, then he would surely die. Sakura was worried, not because she was close to Gaara but because she knew what Gaara was to Konoha. Konoha was the strongest among all the Shinobi villages prior to the chuunin exams when Konoha was attacked by Orochimaru and his forces and they lost the Sandaime Hokage. During the period of weakness, Gaara had convinced his village to form an alliance with Konoha, or else Konoha would have surely been invaded by some other village because many village leaders were jealous of Konoha's prosperity and strength. Kakashi was also worried for similar reasons; Gaara was the only link that Konoha had that tied Suna and Konoha to the alliance. Without Gaara as the Kazekage, old rivalries would rise and Suna might as well attack Konoha because during the invasion many Suna ninjas had lost their lives too and their previous Kazekage.
Naruto, on the other hand was worried but for quite different reasons. He considered Gaara to be a brother borne of the kinship and the burden that they both shared and the hardships they both had to face because of this burden. Gaara, unlike Naruto, had grown up in his own village and had to endure the hatred that the villagers possessed for the Shukaku. Few people realized the big difference between people and the soul of the beast they possessed. Every jinchuuriki was a human, they just contained the beast because their body and mind was the best suited to be a jinchuuriki. Civilians thought that the jinchuurikis were the beast themselves and sought to end the ninja's life while they were young, and shinobis wanted to kill this jinchuuriki because they had lost their friends and family at the hand of the beast. Naruto understood the guy's anger and selfishness because Gaara, when he became powerful enough, had become a survivor. Anything that he considered a threat to his life or his mental state, he killed.
People of Suna had naturally started to ignore the young boy because he was just too much to deal with and Gaara had become an outcast, slowly becoming the beast that he possessed. When Naruto had found Gaara, he had realized that the only thing that could save Gaara were bonds. Bonds with other humans were the only thing that could reawaken the humanity that resided deep inside his soul. Realizing this, Naruto sought to do exactly that. He tried his best to become Gaara's friend, even though Gaara beat him and humiliated him, sometime had even put him in the Suna prison for being a nuisance to the Kazekage's son. Yet, in the end Gaara felt the curiosity to ask Naruto why he would not give up and Naruto had told him that because he was a jinchuuriki too. This had caused Gaara to slowly open up to Naruto, and when he felt he could take down more of his barriers, he forged more bonds with his siblings and then the people of the village. During Naruto's eight month stay in Suna, he had realized that without his bonds with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and his close friends in other villages as well as his masters in Mount Myoboku, would he have turned out to be the same as Gaara? Very likely, and for that reason his respect for the Sandaime Hokage, Jiraiya, the Godaime Hokage, and all the people who appreciated him even after knowing the full truth about him only increased.
Sunagakure appeared in the horizon to the group just a little after dawn and they picked up their pace to finally reach their destination. As soon as they landed at the gates, the group realized that the village had gone into high level alert. All the shops were closed, the streets empty, everybody had taken refuge in the tunnels under the village. The Suna ninjas checked their papers before quickly taking them to the hospital where Sakura could begin her work on Kankuro.
As Naruto and Kakashi were waiting in the hospital, an elder came into the room, she looked like she would drop from lack of strength any minute, and then she looked at Kakashi and her eyes lit up with surprise that quickly turned to anger. "The White-fang of Konoha!" she shouted before charging and attacking Kakashi. The copy-ninja was so surprised with the sudden charge that he had not time to react, fortunately for him Naruto was there and the next second the elder found herself lying on one of the futons in the waiting room of the hospital. The elder slowly got up before she looked around and her eyes landed on Naruto. "Was that you boy, that stopped me from having at it from him?" she asked pointing a finger at Kakashi.
"Yes, why did you attack the captain of our squad without any cause?" asked Naruto, he was debating whether he had stepped out of line by trying to contain the situation, attacking important people from foreign villages could have serious consequences, Naruto knew this from personal experience.
"It is quite all right Naruto, I can understand her anger at this White-fang that she thought must be me," said Kakashi holding up his hand to stall any forthcoming argument. "Excuse me madam, but you must be mistaken I am not Sakumo Hatake, the man that killed more than his share of Sunagakure ninjas during the third Shinobi World War. I am his son, Kakashi Hatake; I am here to help Suna in any manner with rescuing the Kazekage from the Akatsuki." Kakashi sounded like he was used to this kind of mistakes, after all the White-fang was called so because of the unique silver hair.
"Oh, I am so sorry for the mistake. I apologize for the unforgivable behavior, tell me how the Slug-Sannin is doing, I believe that she has taken her Grandfather's position in Konoha?" There was a smirk already forming on her face, everybody knew how much Tsunade hated that name. She looked at Naruto again, and seemed to see something that she had previously missed. "Boy what is your name, have we perhaps met before?" asked Chiyo in a thoughtful voice.
"I am absolutely sure that I have not met you before, my name is Naruto Uzumaki," replied Naruto, he would definitely remember someone like this old council member, from any village.
"Hey, I see you have already met your newest team member, this our puppet expert Honored Grandmother Chiyo. She was chosen because the wooden poison injector that we found on Kankuro identified the attacker as Sasori of the Sand. Chiyo Sama knows a lot about Sasori; therefore on your mission to rescue the Kazekage, she will accompany you instead of me. I have to go meet with Baki, so I will see you guys later," said Temari coming out of Kankuro's room.
"Her good mood must mean that Sakura has succeeded in saving Kankuro's life, she must be a really talented combat medic, baa-chan did say that Sakura was the only one other than herself and Shizune-chan that could save Kankuro's life." Thought Naruto when he say Sakura coming out of the room wiping he hands in a towel. "Congratulations Sakura, I take it that your operation was successful?" said Naruto, already knowing the answer to his question.
"Oh thank you Naruto, yes Kankuro is out of danger, all he has to do now is rest for a few days and he will be fine. I have taken the blueprints of the poison, I will make a few vials of antidote for all of us right away, I think Temari said that we will be leaving to look for Gaara in a few hours, so I guess we should get ready," said Sakura as she threw away the towel and took out a little sealed test tube with a purple liquid inside. "Do you know where I can find a processing lab, I need to work on this poison?" she asked to one of the passing nurses, who nodded and led her away.
"Kakashi-sensei where are we staying, I think I need to clean up after traveling in all this heat?" asked Naruto turning to see Kakashi hoisting his pack back onto his shoulder.
"Yes Naruto, Temari has given us accommodation in her in the Kazekage's mansion itself, let's go, I need a few supplies for the mission so I need to get going as well." With that both Naruto and Kakashi sushined out of the hospital, towards the Kazekage's residence. As they neared the mansion, Naruto noticed that it had changed a lot since his last visit to the place. The mansion itself has remained the same but the area around it was different, before it just sat on a large patch of sand, not it sat in a small oasis. There were flowers and palm trees surrounding the house with a small fountain in the front and a large pool at the back, he had to give it to Gaara; the man knew how to live in luxury.
Several hours later
Naruto, Kakashi, Sakura, and Chiyo were standing at the gates of Sunagakure with Temari, Baki and several other ninjas of Suna. "I don't think I need to say anything other than best of luck, I know you guys will try your best to get my brother to safety." Temari said mostly looking at Naruto.
"Temari, Gaara knows me better than most people, who know me, and I consider him to be my brother, there is nothing that will stop me from trying my best. You know that once I have set my mind to something I do not give up," said Naruto giving his trademark smile while rubbing the back of his head.
"Good luck team seven, from what I have seen of you people, I can rest assured that I am putting the Kazekage's safety into the best and most capable hands. Good luck, from what I have seen of Sasori you will need it, the last of our scouts retuned reporting that the Kazekage was taken into the marsh area directly southeast of here at the border of the desert. In my estimation that is around seven miles from here." Baki was holding a crude hand drawn map by the captain of the scouting squad that was sent after two fleeing Akatsuki members. Kakashi took the map and folded it before putting it inside his vest.
"Team seven, move out!" ordered Kakashi as he took the lead followed closely by Chiyo, Sakura and the Naruto at the rear again.
"Why do I always get the rear end of the line?" whined Naruto as they moved towards the southeast borders of Sunagakure.
Whew finally done! Hey people, I know it took me a while with this chapter but classes started so I cannot put as much time as I did before. From previous reviews people have asked me why Naruto has whisker marks on his cheeks while the previous jinchuurikis for the Kyuubi did not. The best answer I found was that none of the previous jinchuurikis were in the womb of their mother with the fox sealed in them. Other than that ask Kishimoto. Next chapter is a fight, not the main fight but a major one none the less. See ya guys later!