Chapter 15

Nine days later...

Naruto sighed as he put away the last folder of paperwork for the day. After closing the door he stood up and stretched, trying to get the kinks out of his muscles. Today had been unusually long. There were quite a few visits from construction contractors, clan heads or representatives, as well as Konoha shinobi stopping by. He felt that it was understandable, however, since he hadn't been available for the last week.

Mikoto's father, Kagami, had passed away. It was rather sudden; before he had left on the mission to destroy the Kannabi Bridge the man appeared perfectly healthy, other than his usual limp. Orihime had claimed that he exhibited no unusual behavior. She was just arriving to work one day as usual and noticed that he wasn't awake like he normally was. When she went to check on him and and he didn't respond, she immediately contacted Mikoto and a medic at the hospital.

Tsunade performed an autopsy and said that it appeared to be heart failure. He had some lingering issues back from when his leg was ruined, and now it just seemed that his age caught up with him. Sadly, the man was only in his early fifties - even if that was considered 'old' for a shinobi... not to mention a retired one.

They held the funeral two days ago, only inviting his closest friends and clan members. Kagami had been removing himself from the public eye ever since his daughter took over as clan head, so it seemed as though he had been preparing everyone for something like this.

Mikoto had been in emotional turmoil the day she found out about her father's death, as Naruto had still been out on his mission and she had no idea when he would get back. According to Orihime, Mikoto had clung to Itachi like a lifeline until Naruto had entered the door. As his wife had pretty much sobbed herself to sleep in his arms, he had to carry her to bed. She had slowly been recovering over the course of the week, only with a bit of a setback during the funeral. By yesterday she had mostly returned to her usual self, if a little more subdued.

Cleaning up his desk, Naruto made sure the windows were closed and left his office, closing the door behind him. Walking downstairs, he entered the foyer of the building, and spotted the middle-aged secretary at the desk.

"Have a good evening, Kimidori-san."

She looked up from whatever she was doing at her desk and offered her boss a small smile. "Try to have a good night, Naruto-sama. Please extend my sympathies to Mikoto-sama."

"I will. Thank you."

Naruto exited the building and headed for home, examining some of the bustle around him. He had purchased a small, newly constructed office-style building out in Konoha's latest addition... the 'first ring'. The suggestion actually came from Hiruzen, asking if Naruto had wanted an new office closer to work since there was a lot more that he had to do - not to mention the one he was using was filling up rather quickly. The first ring was the latest and likely last expansion for Konoha, simply because if it grew any larger the Fire Lord would be required to appoint a governor to supervise the burgeoning population. That would add a whole extra level of political issues, especially where the other shinobi villages were concerned.

Besides that, even now people were starting to forget that Konoha was supposed to be merely a Hidden Village. It was quickly turning into a Not-Quite Hidden City.

A little over a year ago Naruto had suggested that he would just purchase an entire building, under ownership of the Uchiha Clan, that he could move all things relating to the construction and maintenance of Konoha to. Hiruzen agreed with the idea, and began funneling most of the D-Rank maintenance-style missions through Naruto's office as well. Being closer to the construction helped the people that Naruto had to deal with on a regular basis too – they no longer had to travel all the way to the center of Konoha just to speak with him.

Since the building was owned by the Uchiha, part of it also doubled as an extended Military Police building. It gave the patrols out here a home base of sorts, so that they didn't have to travel all the way back to the Uchiha grounds in the village proper. For a while Naruto was concerned that Fugaku would come out there to examine the place, but he had sent Uchiha Sumire instead. Apparently she didn't much care for Fugaku either, and was glad to be out from under his thumb. Naruto knew they'd get along just fine, in that case.

Naruto took to the rooftops the moment he passed through the main gate, trying to get home quickly. He had hired on Orihime to give Mikoto help when she needed it, and he figured having a nanny around for Itachi and any other children they may have someday would be a good idea. The seventeen year old girl was all smiles when he asked, she confirmed that she was expecting to have to look for another job. However she was more than happy to look after Itachi and assist in whatever capacity he or Mikoto needed.

Arriving at home, Naruto entered and called out to Mikoto, who responded that she was in the living room. Moving through the house, he stopped when he looked in the room, only to see his wife staring at what looked like a wrapped up jar on the table in front of the couch.

"Mikoto?"

"Hm?" She looked up briefly and gave him a tight smile, then beckoned him over and patted the spot next to her on the couch.

The blond walked over and sat down, eyeing the jar the entire time. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head negatively before leaning over and resting it against Naruto's shoulder. "Orochimaru-sama and Tsunade-sama stopped by not long before you got home," she murmured.

"Did they find out something else?"

"No." He felt Mikoto's head shake again, this time against his shoulder, "They said father had a request in his will that he added shortly after we were married. It wasn't on the will when they did the reading, or at least maybe he requested that it not be read in front of everyone. Regardless, this is part of his request."

Mikoto gestured at the jar before grabbing Naruto's hand, intertwining her fingers with his.

"He wanted to offer you his eyes. The will said you don't have to accept, but that he was giving them to you, as he believed whatever quest you are on... having them would benefit you."

Naruto felt as if all the air had been pushed out of his lungs. Kagami had left him the Sharingan? It wasn't something he felt that he really needed, but just the gesture alone, of course he appreciated it. It might help to have a trump card, but if he got it up to the Mangekyou he'd start to lose his eyesight. Since he wasn't born an Uchiha, he wouldn't have a relative to exchange eyes with either. Going blind was not something he would enjoy.

Not to mention Kurama would probably hate him again.

"Naruto?"

"Hm? Oh... sorry. I was lost in thought."

"Apparently. What do you think?"

Naruto sighed, and using his free hand he brushed it back through his spiky hair. "Honestly, while I'm both shocked and grateful, I'm not too sure I want to try."

"Are you sure?" He wasn't sure if he made the right choice, and Mikoto's neutral voice wasn't helping his decision either.

"Well, I know I have been around enough despair in the past to be able to unlock the Mangekyou rather easily, but I don't have a desire to lose my eyesight. Not only that, but I don't know what having bijuu chakra in me would do, since the eyes wouldn't be a normal part of my body. Kurama isn't exactly fond of the Sharingan... I don't want to mess up our relationship by suddenly getting a set."

Mikoto hummed for a moment, then lifted her head and moved over to kiss his cheek. "I'll respect whatever you choose. Though... it would be a shame if you were to lose those blue eyes."

Naruto, while inwardly relieved that Mikoto at least appeared to agree with him, turned his head to stare into the eyes of his wife. "I didn't know you liked them that much."

"I love them. They stand out so much, and when we were first dating whenever you stared at me it would give me the chills."

Grinning slyly, he began to tease her a little, "Oh, so they don't anymore then?"

His wife giggled a bit. "Now? Now they just make me hot when you stare at me."

"I'll have to remember that, then. I have to admit I wasn't a big fan of the Sharingan when I was younger, but they just look downright exotic on you."

The small grin that was on her face began to grow larger, and her Sharingan immediately activated, the three tomoe in each now-red eye spinning in slow circles. He knew that she wasn't placing him in a genjutsu... not anything close, really... but he couldn't stop looking at her.

"You know, if you look at me like that, it's going to make me want to do things."

"Oh? What kind of things?" Mikoto questioned. Naruto was looking at her face, though he could see her hands moving along the zipped up jacket she was wearing.

"Things that used to make you blush when I referenced them, but now you seem to enjoy wholeheartedly," he murmured.

Mikoto let out a moan as she moved from her seat, and leaned forward to place a smoldering kiss on his lips. Naruto was about to deepen it, but she pulled back almost immediately. She shifted off the couch and stood up in front of him, pulling the rest of her zipper down so that the front of the jacket opened. She had her chest wrapped, as she had taken to doing again in the last couple months or so as she got back into a normal training schedule.

Interestingly enough, she hadn't used much wrap today. There was plenty of skin visible, and it didn't take much to get his imagination into gear.

"I need to... get my mind off things. To start, I think that maybe I should take a bath. Would you be a dear and seal up this jar? We'll talk more about it later. Right now I'd like you to help me wash my back."

Naruto reached up and made a grab for her, but Mikoto let out another giggle and dodged him, then made a beeline for the hallway that led to their room. When she realized he was going to actually do as she said and wasn't giving chase, she leaned back around the corner, taking off her jacket completely as she did so.

"Please be quick about it. I'd hate to get started without you, darling. I've been interested in trying out that scene from Jiraiya-sensei's manuscript. You know, the one with the soap suds and conveniently placed towels?"

Naruto never before sealed away anything faster than he did that jar.

Somewhere in a bar in Rain Country, a white-haired man began cackling to himself for no reason at all.

Four months later...

"Dammit, get down you idiots! Do you want to lose your heads?" Naruto grabbed the shoulders of the two shinobi in front of him, yanking them down to the ground forcefully just as several braces worth of shuriken flew through the air right where they were.

The two shinobi he saved, one from Konoha, the other from Kumo, both stared at him with wide-eyed expressions - a mixture of shock and relief.

"Keep your heads down! We're on the front lines dammit, we don't have the backup manpower for you to lose your heads here! I mean that literally!"

Getting shaky nods from the two, the blond grunted and turned away, swiftly moving down the trench to where their fortified operations center was. He had been leading the push around the right side of the Iwa line, trying to get to their flank before being called back. He wasn't completely sure, but from what he could remember of the stories Kakashi told him, this sounded just like the final battle of the war. The entire zone was a complete stalemate so far - they were surrounded by stone and rock, which made things perfect for the Iwa forces. He had no idea how it went before, but this... this was hell.

Not quite the hell he was used to during his reality, but then all war was hell anyway. Damn stubborn Oonoki... why wouldn't the old man just surrender with most of his forces still intact?

Not willing to dwell on the thoughts of what obviously wasn't going to happen at this point, Naruto instead wanted to end the war quickly with as little bloodshed as possible. He briefly contemplated asking Kushina if he could test the seal they had been working on and transferring Kurama's consciousness over to him, but was wary about risking it. So far he had been able to clearly send short thoughts and emotions over to Kurama, but the bijuu had not been able to send him more than vague impressions back to him... or at least nothing coherent. Neither he nor Kushina could pinpoint what the problem was, and neither of them wanted to jeopardize Kurama's safety.

Needless to say, Kurama was more amused about that than anything else.

Naruto had to steady himself against the side of the trench he was in as a stronger technique set the ground moving underneath him. Luckily it didn't last long, and he was able to make good time, stepping over injured and dead bodies as he went. His heart went out to those he passed who were too injured to be saved, as it did during the last war. The few medics they had were doing their best to make the wounded as comfortable (or numb) as possible.

Upon arrival at the command bunker, he took a look around to see who was present. It didn't take long for his eyes to meet those of Hatake Sakumo, who immediately beckoned him over to a table that he was standing around along with a few others.

"Sakumo, glad you could make it." Naruto tossed a resigned grin at the older man, who simply returned the greeting with a wry smile.

"Naruto. How goes things on your end?"

"Tougher than I thought it would be. I've managed to keep my squad alive, but doing that while trying to move forward has proven to be more difficult than I thought it would be. This terrain works too much to Iwa's advantage."

"Indeed it does. Listen, we have a-"

Sakumo was cut off as a loud explosion went off right above their heads. The ground - even the very air - shook from the sound, and pieces of dirt fell from the ceiling. A few shinobi that knew earth techniques who were in the room immediately set about reinforcing various areas of the walls and ceiling that looked weak.

"As I was saying," began Sakumo again, a little louder this time, "we have a plan to open them up a bit and make a bit of headway instead of being stuck in the current stalemate. This is the only path to the capital through the mountains, so we have no choice but to go this way. They obviously know it too, with how they're defending."

Naruto nodded, looking around the room at the others who had started listening in. His eyes met Minato's for a few brief seconds before glancing at Kakashi, Nara Shikaku, and Akimichi Chouza. All of them appeared weary, but their eyes were bright and focused. They knew what they had to do. He offered a nod to them, which they all returned, though Naruto's eyes lingered a little longer on Kakashi than they did for any of the others. The boy was too young to be here on the front lines, but the jonin had been just short of throwing a tantrum to get here. Thankfully his own students, as well as Obito and Rin, weren't as quick to want to jump into the fray, and instead were given assignments to guard the supply caravans.

His thoughts were cut off as Sakumo resumed speaking after the brief pause. "Ei has a squad ready to punch through if we can at least distract them enough. Minato tells me one of your Shadow Clones came up to him, explaining that you might have an idea."

"Several, actually."

Sakumo made a gesture at the table. "Go for it. At this point I think we're open for anything."

Nodding again, Naruto looked over the table at the roughly drawn battlefield. The first thing he did was look for where he was trying to work around one of the flanks and expanded it a bit to show how far his team had made it. They probably could have gotten further but Iwa likely figured out what they were trying to do, as in the last hour they hadn't really made any forward progress. Naruto had his hands full just trying to help keep his team alive.

Glancing over the rest of the map, he started pointing at various places of the display and looking at people in the room, issuing them orders. Many of the jonin that he didn't know well enough simply got orders to hold various places along the front line, performing diversionary tactics and make it look like they weren't pushing too hard.

The majority of the forces, including the jonin that he knew, were sent to the southern end to do a large push from there, drawing Iwa's attention. The main thing was keeping Iwa focused on them more than any other reason. Pulling it off would be difficult, because they had to make it look like a real push without having Iwa call their bluff. Meanwhile, Naruto was going to head back up to the northern end with Minato, and open up a hole for Ei and his squad.

After he was done and Sakumo agreed with the plan, albeit with a few minor adjustments, all the jonin left to go carry out their orders. Sakumo excused himself as well so that he could go inform Ei of what the plan was. Once they were alone, Naruto turned to Minato and offered him a grin.

"So... are you ready to introduce yourself as the Yellow Flash on a large scale?"

"I guess. I've never used it to this degree before. Are you sure this is what I did before?"

"Positive." Naruto chuckled. "It's one of the things that cemented your position as Yondaime Hokage and made you a legend. But we didn't have help from Kumo before either, so I don't know how this is going to end up. You won't need to do as much this time – just be a distraction. I don't know what it was like before, but we're not actively trying to take lives here. Just keep them busy long enough for Cloud to make it through."

Minato took a deep breath and did some stretches, trying to loosen himself up. It was true that he had never used the Hiraishin on such a large scale before. While Naruto had no idea how much the technique had been used in the alternate past, he was aware of hearing that it had almost single-handedly ended the war.

When Minato was prepared, they both returned together to the northern edge of the line that their forces were holding. Naruto made a couple dozen shadow clones and each of them grabbed a handful of the Hiraishin kunai. As they were assigning positions to other members of the task force, Ei walked up with his own team.

"Naruto. Minato. Are we ready?"

Minato simply looked to Naruto, who nodded. "Yes. Minato is going to use the Hiraishin to make you a path through to their support lines, which you should be able to cut off before continuing to the capital. I'll use my forces to follow behind you so we can completely encircle them, and hopefully force a battlefield surrender without too much more bloodshed."

Ei frowned with slight distaste, obviously not a fan of stopping bloodshed, at least from what Naruto knew of the man from his time. However there was no argument, and he simply ordered the rest of his team to follow him once Minato started. Ei was a firm believer in the way of the warrior, that you shouldn't stop until your enemy was beaten soundly. Not to say Ei was a bad man, because he wasn't... he just followed a different moral compass.

Scant minutes later, Naruto was ordering his clones to the front lines and pulling the other shinobi back. There was a brief lull in combat before hundreds of tri-pronged kunai were hurled at incredible velocity towards the enemy lines. Many of the Iwa shinobi simply knocked away the kunai, not aware what they would lead to. Several even caught or picked one up, curious about the design.

For many of them, it was the last thing they did as a shinobi. There was a quick flash of yellow that moved past Naruto, and started jumping around from place to place on the battlefield. It was only his own use of the technique and practice moving fast with Kurama's chakra that allowed him to follow Minato's path of pure death. He knew Minato would have liked to simply disable as many of the enemy as he could rather than killing them, but they needed to show they were serious. Hopefully a few deaths now meant a lot more people would be alive later.

As soon as the yells and screams reached their ears, Ei took his squad and moved forward swiftly, through the opening Minato had made. Naruto and his clones followed behind picking up the tri-prong kunai and throwing them further once again, continuing the path. Behind him followed the rest of his platoon, securing the areas that Minato had just cleared.

Ei's team finally pulled out of sight, and once most of the Iwa shinobi in the area were either dead, injured, or surrendering, Minato finally stopped using the Hiraishin only to nearly fall over, exhausted. As Naruto moved over to help him, the other blond looked at him, his tired expression morphing into one of curiosity followed almost immediately by panic.

"Naruto! Watch out!" Minato shouted as he desperately tried to climb to his feet.

At first he thought it was just an Iwa shinobi that had somehow managed to hide from him. Palming a kunai and preparing to move in a burst of speed, he had only managed to turn around halfway before catching a glimpse of something black and red. He immediately shifted into an offensive stance when he fully caught sight of Tobi, only to see the space around the man's visible left eye start to swirl. Not even thinking about any potential consequences, he pulled on some of Kurama's chakra that was still inside him and attempted to take out the man by any means necessary.

Unfortunately he wasn't able to prepare enough, and Tobi was already starting to pull Naruto out of existence. The blond felt an odd twisting sensation as the Space-Time Migration technique locked onto him, and the last thing he heard other than a slight whoosh noise was Minato's voice shouting his name.

Naruto grunted as he landed... well... wherever here was. There was no sky, or ceiling as far as he could tell... everything above him and as far as he could see on the horizon was completely black. As a sharp contrast, he was standing on a bright, white rectangular block. It was actually one of many, many more blocks than he could ever hope to count, stretched out as far as he could see.

Slowly climbing to his feet as he tried to clear the disorientation from his mind, the blond had no idea where he was. It was probably something of Tobi's creation, a place where he could move things and reclaim them whenever he wished. That meant he'd have to find a way to break out of here, if it was even possible. As far as he could tell the only way in or out was through the use of the Mangekyou Sharingan... which no one had right now. At least, not that he was aware of.

He didn't know if Tobi had a legitimate Mangekyou or not, as he had never seen it, even during the war. He never fought the 'Edo Tensei' Madara either, but the two seemed so similar he believed that Tobi was simply a shade of the original Madara, a resurrected version of the legendary Uchiha that was incomplete in some way. Sadly they hadn't gotten to see behind the mask to tell the man's true identity, but often times he knew more than anyone was comfortable with, especially when it concerned himself and Kakashi.

Then other times he acted as if the two of them were barely worth his notice and was merely humoring them with a fight of some kind, but was otherwise simply content to let his 'minions' do the work.

"So, you're the upstart that has caused me to have to adjust my plans."

Tensing for a moment, Naruto realized that he still had his kunai in his hands and full access to his chakra. Unfortunately this place was completely foreign to him, he had no idea what Tobi was capable of. Perhaps it would be best to keep a level head for the time being and see how much information he could get out of him.

Turning around, he eyed the cloaked man standing on another pillar across from where he was. Unlike the Tobi from Naruto's time, though... this one had an eye hole on the left side of the mask, showing only a left eye. His hair, while still spiky, was much longer - coming down to below the shoulders, almost to mid-back. On top of that, this mask was painted red and had no spiral, though the top quarter of it was white.

"Hello, Tobi. Long time no see. Well, for me, at least."

The man across from him made no motion to indicate he was surprised in any way. However, Naruto was plenty surprised when he got his reply.

"Tobi? I have no idea who that is. But I can assure you I am not him. Judging by your comment we must have some similarities. How is he like me?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "He dresses exactly like you, except his mask is orange and only his right eye is visible."

The masked man paused for a moment, obviously thinking over what he had been told. "Interesting. My thoughts immediately lead me to only one possible conclusion, though I know it is false. Therefore you know something I don't. That in turn lends credence to my opinion that you simply aren't from here, as you have managed to foil many of my plans before I've even managed to do more than get them started. Or perhaps it merely is an amazing coincidence?"

The blond didn't want to give anything away, and refused to look at the man's eye, because he knew quite a lot about what the Sharingan was capable of.

"Your silence speaks for you more than any words you could possibly say. Though I admit I was hoping you'd be a little more cooperative. My aim is world peace, after all."

"It's a false peace!" Naruto snarled, momentarily forgetting himself and looking at the man's mask. "It places you in charge of people's lives, causing them to lose their free will! That's not life at all."

Tobi appeared to slouch slightly, and Naruto could hear the man sigh as he shook his head. In yet another surprise move, he grabbed the bottom of the mask and slowly lifted it up, pulling it up and over his head to reveal a... rather ordinary looking face. While he didn't immediately know who the man was, he was able to recognize that the man's facial structure was definitely Uchiha. The only other stand-out feature was that his right eye was closed for some reason.

"Do you recognize who I am?"

The blond remained silent for a moment, silently pondering the question in his mind. While it wasn't anyone he recognized, he had heard enough stories about a certain Uchiha, both from his time and current reality, that he knew his guess was most likely the correct one.

"Uchiha Madara."

If the man across from him was at all pleased with Naruto's deduction, he didn't show it. All he offered was a casual nod of his head.

"What's wrong with your right eye?" The question left Naruto's mouth before he could stop it, but about all that was available to him at the moment was to pump Madara for as much information as the man was willing to share.

"Hm. I guess you could say... I'm letting someone borrow it. The Sharingan is a very useful tool, as I'm sure you're very well aware. And while it is more draining than the Sharingan, the Rinnegan also has its uses..."

Naruto's bright blue eyes squinted in focus as he absorbed the words that Madara spoke. He knew Tobi from his time had access to the Rinnegan, but to know that it was currently available to the man in front of him had shivers running down his back. The worst part about all this was that Madara was pretty much an unknown quantity, at least assuming the Tobi from his time was a different person. He'd never know for sure, but considering how young this Madara had looked... he'd never be able to know for sure as he doubted the Uchiha across from him would be willing to clarify.

"Now I just need to figure out what to do with you. You know too much somehow, so it is a risk for me to leave you alone. Even if you married into the Uchiha clan, you are not one, but I know you were an Uzumaki so you would still be of some use to me. However you do not have their trademark red hair, therefore I wonder just how much of an Uzumaki you are. I would subvert you to my will, but I have a feeling it would take much more effort than it would be worth in the long run, not to mention you likely know many more secrets about these eyes than I am comfortable with. Since you knew not to look at my face when we first arrived, I am led to believe that you are very capable, and had I not caught you by surprise I would have had a rather intense fight on my hands."

"What's to stop me from killing you now?" Naruto questioned, almost growling.

"Oh, you're more than welcome to try. However the moment you show any signs of aggression I am more than willing to depart and simply leave you here. I admit I have not left anyone here for a large amount of time, so I am unaware of how time passes in this place. Maybe you will be my first experiment."

Naruto had to forcefully restrain himself from wanting to jump across to the next pillar and beating the smug tone out of Madara. If he had to be honest with himself, he was stuck. The only one who could get him out of here was Madara, at least that he knew of. Having the Mangekyou was likely a requirement, and there was no active Mangekyou in the clan that he was aware of.

"I see you have calmed down. You're more than welcome to take a look around this place, though in all my times here I've never found it for better than anything but storage. For now though, since you're stuck here..." Madara's voice trailed off and he placed the mask back over his face, "I have some new planning to do."

Before Naruto could utter a word, the world around the man's left eye began to twist and warp, and barely a second later he had disappeared.

Frowning, the blond took another look around, as if he expected Madara to suddenly attack him. When no attack came, however, he resigned himself to waiting and looking around. Maybe if he was lucky he'd find a way out of this place.

Maybe.

One week later...

Mikoto squinted as she looked up into the sky, trying to gauge the time of day. She had agreed to meet Kushina here for some light sparring to keep her mind off... things.

Minato had returned roughly four days ago, bringing with him both good news and bad. The good news was that the war had officially been ended, and they didn't have to wipe out Iwa's entire army to do so. The bad news, however... it took a moment for Minato to even work up the courage to say it. Mikoto could easily see how tense he was, and the fact that he was looking at her only made a cold feeling of dread settle in her gut.

"Naruto... he's not dead as far as we know... but he's missing. I'm sorry, Mikoto."

Part of her dread had swiftly changed to confusion, as she had no idea how someone like Naruto could simply go missing. But her question died on her lips when Minato simply shook his head, the sorrow evident on his features.

"I don't know how to explain it. One moment he was right there in front of me after successfully helping me with the Hiraishin, and the next moment there was someone behind wearing a black cloak and a mask I didn't recognize. I warned him to watch out, then there was a ripple in the air... and next I knew both Naruto and the masked man were gone. I couldn't sense him anywhere."

The dread returned full force. Naruto had explained to her the techniques that he knew of from the 'Tobi' character in his future, and what happened matched up completely. No one else had the Mangekyou currently, so none would be able to potentially enter the area where Naruto was likely being held prisoner. It was only a small comfort that her husband was likely still alive, but there was no telling when she'd see him again. Both Minato and Kushina had tried their best to comfort her over the past several days, though it was clear that the other two were fighting their own feelings about the loss of Naruto. The three of them plus Hiruzen and Hakumo had done their best to keep Naruto's disappearance on the down-low, but it was only a matter of time before people started asking questions.

The Uchiha clan had already begun to pester her. After all, even if he was on assignment, as the second person in line to take over the clan should something happen to her, they had a right to know his whereabouts and send backup if needed.

"Watch out!"

The noise of metal hitting metal brought Mikoto out of her thoughts, and she quickly fell into a defensive posture as she looked around.

"Awake now?"

Mikoto's head finally settled on her red-haired friend who had a kunai on the ground near her feet as well as one in each hand, glaring at someone...

Her eyes quickly focused on the man standing at what he probably considered a safe distance. He was completely draped in a black cloak, and had shaggy black hair that looked to be longer than her own. The most obvious feature about him was his blood-red mask that was white on top with one eye-hole on the left side of it.

"Who are you? How did you get here?" She heard Kushina shout towards the cloaked man.

"Oh, no one important. I thought it would be nice of me to bring back someone I needed to borrow at the end of the war."

Mikoto quickly squelched the feeling of hope that began to rise up in her. To get Naruto back would be... amazing... but there was no telling what kind of condition he was in. Before she or Kushina could say or ask anything further, there was a rippling sensation in the air right in front of the masked man... just like Minato had described.

To her amazement, Naruto seemed to appear right there, as if from nothingness. Her husband didn't really appear to be any worse for wear, other than a few dirty spots on his clothes that he likely picked up during the battles. However he was already starting to tumble forward and shield his face as he squinted. Wherever he was being held must have been dark.

She made to move forward to assist him, as he was obviously rather disoriented. Mikoto heard Kushina moving right next to her, but the were both stopped short by the voice of the masked man before they'd made it more than halfway there.

"Unfortunately for you, I didn't say what kind of condition I would leave him in."

Mikoto felt her own heart stop as she watched in horror as a blade pierced through Naruto from the back of his chest, only to stick out from the front, dripping blood. Right through where his heart was. Her eyes quickly traveled from the sword sticking out of his chest to his face, only to see his bright blue eyes looking at her in confusion and pain. It felt like an eternity passed in that one moment before Naruto's body started to pitch forward and their eyes broke contact.

The Uchiha Matriarch stood there, helpless, as her husband fell to his knees as the masked man released the sword, then tilted and fell to his side. Her mind tried to process a million thoughts in those brief seconds as she watched her husband be killed right in front of her. Her mind barely registered as Kushina began to scream next to her, running forward again and calling out the name of her brother now... son in another time. She wanted to do the same herself, to run over and believe he wasn't dead, and merely injured. However for some reason she couldn't tear her eyes away from the man wearing the mask, who seemed to be staring impassively at the blond on the ground in front of him, as if impassively watching the death of a lower life form.

It wasn't until she heard what the man said, though, that she finally snapped free from her stupor. "Well, the blade certainly serves its purpose, but I still prefer a battle fan."

Perhaps it was the seemingly nonchalant way that he spoke, or the smugness that just seemed to be dripping from his entire being. However she knew that she would never - ever - allow anyone to so casually disregard her husband and all he stood for. In his past, in their present, and in the future.

Something inside her snapped, and rage unlike anything Mikoto had ever felt before let something out of her that she wasn't even aware she had been holding back. Time itself seemed to stop, and other than the fact that the masked man had shifted his gaze to look at her now, she was unaware of anything else. For that man to so casually disregard everything she had fought for, everything she wanted, everything she loved...

There was immense pressure behind her eyes, and a tickling sensation began trailing down her cheeks, much like tears that weren't wiped away. A word began to repeat over and over again in her mind, and before Mikoto was fully able to comprehend what exactly it was, she registered her own voice shouting that word for everyone to hear.

"Susano'o!"

A/N: Apologies for the delay.

Full explanations for why, as well as the review responses are posted on my blog, for those who care.

paradoxjast . blogspot . com