Journey To The Past Ch.5 Team Meeting
I don't own Naruto T-T sadly…
WARNING: may contain curses, words that should not be used by children and maybe some blood and violence
"blah" = speaking
'blah'= thinking
"blah" = Kyuubi speaking
"blah" = when reading or in a flashback
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
Minato stood thinking while making breakfast, it was two days after 'that night' as he called it, the one where his brother confined to him. He was happy about that, but still sad that his brother had had it worse than him in his childhood and still did. He seemed gloomy yesterday and he hoped that he would feel better today. He wasn't quite sure if he should tell Jiraiya, with Naroyu's permission of course. Because if he did then the spy theory would probably be dropped, but at the same time he wasn't sure if Naroyu would let him. After all it had taken him sometime to tell him about it and it probably wouldn't be anyone else for a while. That and it wasn't like he could tell him that they had almost suspected him to be a spy…
He sighed, why was everything so complicated. He was frustrated and slightly worried, and to top it of, he hadn't heard from Kushina in weeks now. She was supposed to be on a mission, but surely she would be back by now right. 'Jup, everything's complicated right now' he thought and shook his head. The blonde continued to make breakfast while he thought about his red headed girlfriend, her face, voice, attitude and most of all, her fiery temper. He liked her just the way she was. They had been together for almost half a year now. Sure it didn't really start out great with her but something must be right for it to have lasted so long. He smiled.
Just then the other blonde haired, blue eyed shinobi came into the kitchen looking tired. He was rubbing his eyes with his fists and his hair was even more ruffled from sleep. The new occupant of the room looked at Minato and said a 'good morning' with a smile before sitting down at the table.
Naruto had just walked into the kitchen after he'd woken up and gotten dressed, the smell of breakfast strong in the air. He smiled, he could get used to this. He said a good morning to Minato and sat down at the table. He had slept well, which was good because yesterday night he hadn't gotten any sleep at all. He guessed this experience was taking it's toll on him after all.
Minato's smile widened a little at the younger blonde "Good morning to you too, I see you have slept well" he greeted and finished breakfast and placed it on the already set table. They sat in a comfortable silence enjoying the food and each others company. "So any plans for today" Minato asked, he was curious as to what his brother usually did on his free time.
Naruto's eyes shifted from his plate to the blond opposite him and got a thoughtful look on his face. He hadn't really thought about anything, but he didn't want to sit here all day like yesterday, he had way too much energy for that and was becoming restless. "Don't know, didn't have anything planed but I would like to get out a little though, and use some energy" he said looking back at Minato. "What about you?" he added right after, generally curious, what did he do in his mornings, he was always gone.
Minato smiled again "I have a team meeting soon with my genin team, I was wondering if maybe you would come today and get outside a little" he said. He thought it was a good reason to get him out to do something, especially because he could not use the training grounds alone for training. Well Naroyu wasn't exactly alone, he was being watched by ANBU, and had been for about a week, but it's not the same. Another reason the elder blonde would like him to come was because he wanted to show off his team, and maybe Naroyu's chirpy mood would infect his students. They had been rather down because of their teammate's death, but life had to go on.
He was broken from his short muses by the reply he got. "You would really take me to meet your team?" he detected a bit of surprise and hope on his face. The elder smiled at the eager tone of the younger's voice "Yea sure, they could probably need some cheering up too so it would probably be good for all of us if you came" he answered looking down at his plate again.
Okay Naruto was a tiny bit confused. First Minato's mood was chipper and happy but then suddenly when he smiled it seemed somber. The way he talked about he's team as if something had happened 'cheering up?' he repeated in his head. 'Wait, didn't Kakashi-sensei say something about the fourth being his sensei?' after that thought he wrecked his head for a cause for this somber mood. The wheels turning in his head he realized, 'Oh I remember, Sensei said something about loosing a teammate at the end of the war… an uchiha I think, he got the sharingan from him'. Though he wasn't supposed to know that so to put up a bit of an act he said "Cheering up? Because of the war?" trying to be as normal as possible.
Minato knew a question was coming, he had sort of asked for it with what he said. Though the question was what he expected he was surprised by his nonchalance to it, wouldn't someone like Naroyu be more curious than that? "Well the war has taken it's toll on them, and it didn't make it any better to lose a teammate right at the end of it" he said eyes back on his brother.
Ahh so he'd been right then, it was the death of the Uchiha teammate that had the team down. Naruto also saw that the previous somberness in his companion had increased and reached his eyes. "I see, I know how that is" he said with compassion in his voice, and he did, he knew how it was to lose people close to you.
Again Minato was a little surprised. It was like he expected the answer he gave him. 'Is it really that obvious?' he ended up asking himself. He was also taken aback with the compassion and understanding in the younger blonde's eyes, again there was no pity. His brother was becoming more and more of a mystery the more he got to know him. He only gave a nod as 'thanks' and then they were on their way out.
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
Jiraiya was a man of patience, despite what people believed, it took a lot of it when trying to find information. He'd been looking through records of villages in fire country trying to find the name 'Namikaze Naroyu'. These records was from hotels and inns all over these villages. Everyone knew that you had to write your name in a book to check into most of them, it was there he had been looking. The files had been provided to him by his contacts and so far he'd had no luck and his patience was running out. 'It has to be somewhere, the guy cant just have appeared out of thin air' he thought with a frown.
He knew he couldn't deny the results of the DNA test Tsunade herself had taken, but he had a hard time believing the young blonde's story. Something wasn't adding up. How could someone just show up one day without any previous records of some kind? There was no pictures, drawings, signatures, or any other kind of record of him. Not even his informants or contacts had heard of a guy with blonde hair, blue eyes and whisker like marks on his cheeks. This coupled with the knowledge that he was hiding something was troubling.
But at the same time, he didn't want to hurt Minato. If their suspicions turned out to be wrong it would totally ruin any bond he had formed with his newly found brother. He knew just how much Minato wanted a family and he knew better than to ruin his best chance at getting one.
That was why he was on his way to his sensei's office to discuss this new mystery. They were to discuss about his latest activity and any information the ANBU had gotten on him so far. They had been monitoring him for a week now, noting all the places he'd gone, who he spoke to and what he did. They needed to be sure he wouldn't be a threat to them before they took him into their ranks. 'I just hope were doing the right thing' and with that thought in mind he entered the Sandaime's office.
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
It wasn't until the training ground came into view that Naruto came to think of just who he would meet there. Sure he knew he would see his sensei, but it just dawned on him that it wouldn't be his sensei. No, he would be a lot younger, even younger than himself, and he wouldn't know who he was. It was different than the third though, Kakashi was still alive when all of this happened. The feeling he got when thinking of meeting his sensei's younger version was just curiosity and excitement.
When he and Minato came to the three poles of the training ground Naruto remembered so well, they stopped. Apparently they were the first ones there.
Minato sat down at the middle pole and sighed with a small smile. "Well this is the training ground me any my team usually meets at, the two of them will probably be here any minute" he said as his brother sat down beside him. He was right too, because just then a girl with brown hair and purple markings on her cheeks came into the field.
As she was walking over there she got a puzzled look on her face but it soon settled into realization. She walked over to them and once she was there she said "Hi sensei and uh, sensei's brother I presume" with a smile and bowed a little before she sat down. Naruto just laughed and bowed back "The name's Naroyu, nice to meet you…" he said and looked at her, a question mark almost visible on his face. The girl turned a little red "Oh, I'm sorry didn't mean to be rude, I'm Rin" she said with a small smile.
When Naruto heard her name it triggered a memory, 'Right this is the girl that sensei said did the transplant of the sharingan eye, that means she a field medic, like my teammate' he realized and smiled back at her.
Just then Kakashi popped into the training ground, and the silver haired one joined them on the ground, all the while staring at the youngest blonde. Minato broke inn at that time "Okay, so introduction time, name, likes, dislikes, dreams and hobbies" he said. He thought it would be good to introduce them, and this way maybe he would find something more out about his mysterious brother.
Naruto did catch the underlying massage in that announcement, he was to say something about himself, reveal something he had yet to say. Well seamed his brother didn't know him that well yet, he snickered mentally. When the other three looked at him he figured he would start. He got a small grin on his face and said "I am Namikaze Naroyu. Things I like and things I hate, hmm, I don't feel like telling you that" that got him some stumped looks from the kids and confused from the older blonde "My dreams for the future, never really thought about it. As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies" he said casually. Though in his head there was a small victory dance at the stumped looks he got. Who would have known, Kakashi's introduction came in handy after all.
Just then Minato burst out laughing, the two kids staying silent while Naruto just sit there, victory dance still going on in his head. It was then that the silver haired one decided to speak up "I don't get it, all we got was his name". He looked towards his sensei who was trying to calm down. Naruto on the other hand just thought 'payback' and said "Okay next, you, with the purple cheeks" he said when he noticed a faint smile on her face.
Rin was baffled at the introduction the new blonde had given, well if you could call it that. She had only been brought out of her shock at her senseis laughter and Kakashi's grumpy comment on how all they learned was his name, which was true. She smiled finding it funny, the good mood contagious. Then she was asked to continue. "I'm Rin, my likes are animals and my friends and comrades, I dislike people who hurt them. My dream is to be a medic-nin as good as Tsunade of the sanin. My hobby is training my chakra control and medical jutsu" she said and got a smile in return.
Naruto smiled as he heard the introduction, she wants to protect people through heeling. A good quality indeed, at least in his eyes. He switched his focus over to the still grumpy silver haired jounin question clear in his eyes.
Kakashi saw the look and reluctantly decided to answer "My name is Hatake Kakashi, jounin of Konohagakure" there he paused, not quite sure what to say "I guess I like training and … people I like, I guess" here he shrugged and when Minato gave him a strange look, "I dislike a lot of things, 'specially things that annoys me" he said with a huff. "I don't have any particular hobbies and my dream… I don't really have a dream" he finished quickly looking away. Minato still looking at the silver haired shinobi.
The younger blond smiled and said "Good Now maybe we should get active before lunch, don't want to miss that" with a smile and sat up, effectively getting rid of the sad and awkward moment that came. 'He's probably confused after the Uchiha's death, he did say that his teammate's death changed his life. He's still struggling with the changes he's going through. He never really dealt with it so well when I think about it." He thought to himself as he turned to listen to what was said.
Minato was worried about his silver haired student and really wished he could help him through it. Kakashi had always been stubborn though, constantly keeping his feelings inside for himself to deal with, or not deal with at all. It wasn't much he could do but he hoped his student would pull through this time. The last death he had experienced like this hadn't been dealt with very well. He stood with the others and began giving instructions. "Okay, we begin with slow jogging to get warm before we split into groups for sparring." He said and began jogging, the others following.
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
Sarutobi was troubled but amused. It seemed that the blonde shinobi they might take into their ranks had absolutely no previous record of himself, well that they had found anyways. That fact was disconcerting but he wasn't too worried. Though it seemed Jiraiya was, the toad sage had totally wrecked his brain trying to find at least something to prove he actually existed and find out if his story checked out. The Sandaime found it amusing to watch the distressed sanin tell him about what he found, or well, what he didn't find. When his former student was done talking he only flared his chakra in a particular way and said "So no information can be found on the boy, not good nor bad" with seriousness. He wanted to believe the boy, mostly because of Minato, but partly because of what he'd seen of him so far, even though he hadn't seen much.
The white haired man looked at his former sensei with disbelief plastered on his face "Haven't you heard a word I have been saying, yes! Absolutely no information can be found on this Naroyu, Good or bad!" he said and waited for an explanation. His wait however was interrupted by the arrival of three ANBU.
The, now, five individuals in the office were quiet until the Hokage spoke up "Well Jiraiya, isn't there ways to avoid the places you've looked? Especially when someone has been traveling for a long time, which I suspect he has. He must have been traveling with someone in the beginning to have gotten this far while traveling during a war." he said with a hidden smile, currently ignoring the ANBU he had called.
Jiraiya opened his mouth to retort an answer, but when nothing came out he closed it and began thinking. The ANBU still waited patiently. When the toad sage was done thinking he said "Yes there are ways, I use at lest three of them when I'm out, and I know Tsunade uses one too. I know he traveled with his teacher though, he was also a traveling shinobi, according to Minato anyways, so It might be possible that the kid knows one of the ways but…" he trailed off with shrug. "The way he hasn't been seen by anyone before, he hasn't even been seen in any of the other shinobi villages ether. How anyone can't remember someone with sunny blond hair, deep blue eyes and whisker like marks on their cheeks is almost unbelievable. He's looks aren't exactly normal, they stand out and is very easy to remember. This whole thing just doesn't make any sense" he said wearily sitting down in a chair beside the desk.
Sarutobi sighed "I agree wholeheartedly with that, Jiraiya, but we still haven't found evidence of him lying to us ether. And is it not a good thing that no one can seem to remember him in any of the other hidden villages? Your spies are reliable after all" he said and then turned too the ANBU when his former student just nodded and grunted as a reply.
One of the ANBU stepped forward when the Hokage finally looked their way "You called on us Hokage-sama" said a male voice, a bit muffled by a bird mask. The others had a rodent mask and a bear mask. All of them wore the standard ANBU outfit and had the tattoo on their arms, indicating that they were normal ANBU and not Hunters or Black-Ops.
The Hokage smiled "Yes Falcon, I did. I want to hear your report on your charge, everywhere he's been, everyone he's talked to and what he's done over the past week" he ordered from them.
The one who had stepped forward began the report. "Report of individual 24531A Namikaze Naroyu. Male, has blond hair, blue eyes and very characteristic horizontal lines on the cheeks, three on each. Our team, consisting of captain Falcon followed by Mouse and Bear, are all reporting. Charge is currently located with Jounin and instructor Namikaze Minato on training ground 7 with said Jounin's team." Here the one with the bird mask stopped and took a step back. The one with the mouse mask steppes forward and a feminine voice spoke up "First day of observation he was at the public library, there he was located in the history section for civilians, the books he read was mostly normal fact books about famous history happenings and timeline books. He only talked to the librarian and two other civilians, one older lady and a boy a bit younger than himself. Both of them engaged him in conversation, most likely curious questions. The second day he and Jounin Namikaze Minato was out on a walk, It began at their home and ended on top of the Hokage monument. After the walk both of them joined you here in the office before going home."
"The next three days was spent mostly inside in the house. Except for one trip back to the Hokage monument, this time alone, and one trip to the grocery store. He has only spoken to civilians, except for mentioned jounin and yourself Hokage-sama. The civilians have initiated contact and conversation each time. Today was different, Shinobi Namikaze Minato took his housemate with him too team practice, they were all introduced and started warming up before they were going too spar. That was when we were called here. Report 24531A Namikaze Naroyu finished." the feminine voice ended and mouse stepped back into line with the two others.
For a while it was quiet. The two non ANBU could be seen mulling over the information they had just been told. After a few minutes one of them spoke up. "What is your assessment of charge status?" came the voice of the Sandaime. With this question he meant what they thought of him so far in the evaluation process.
This time Bear stepped forward, a male voice stating "So far status will say friendly, he has not done anything to warrant suspicion, but he can still be a threat. The way the boy moves is so quiet it suggests him to be a skilled opponent. He has probably had a lot of stealth training drilled into his body to make him move so naturally quiet. This suggests a good teacher. I also think that he has noticed us a few times, which speak of good senses and sensory skills, something highly sought after in a spy. If I were to judge him now, I would say he is a potential threat, but not a spy." was the ended conclusion.
The third sighed, so the young blonde might turn out to be a powerful asset to the village, or a dangerous foe. He sincerely hoped it to be the first. 'Must be something that runs in the family' he thought with a wry smile thinking of the other Namikaze. The part of a good teacher was troubling however, because usually they came from hidden villages and were fairly well known.
After another sigh he stood up and began "Good, I expect you to keep shadowing him for further evaluation, in time…" He was cut off by someone franticly barging into the office. He recognized the person immediately, she was from the Jounin squad he sent out about two months ago, he had expected their return over two weeks ago. He rises, she talks "Jounin squad 12 returns, mission complete, no dead, 3 hurt and one critical… brought… hospital…" was all she got out before she collapsed. Bear caught her and felt for a pulse "She's weak but has a steady pulse, I'm guessing chakra depletion" he said.
Sarutobi ordered the ANBU to take her to the hospital to be put with her team mates and mumbled something about foolish for not sending someone instead when he looked over at Jiraiya. Said sanin looked at the woman and his eyes widened, 'No! that's her squad' he thought, this was not the team leader, she was probably the one in critical condition. With that he looked back at his former sensei and nodded. He was gone within seconds.
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
Minato was just about to begin sparring with his brother. They had all had warmed up and he had set his team on some exercises before allowing them to begin sparring. He had watched a little while his brother was practicing a little on his own. He was good, he moved quietly through the katas, but it didn't seem like any other style he had seen before. Just when he had called Naroyu over he sees his sensei walking towards them, a grim look on his face. Immediately worried, Minato excuses himself and runs over to where the elder shinobi stood. "Sensei, what is the matter, has something happened?" the blonde asked worriedly.
Jiraiya was just as grim. He put a hand on his students shoulder and said "Minato, It's Kushina… She's in critical contrition at the hospital."
~~oooooo-oo-oooooo~~
A/N: Okay, mean of me to cut it there, but it was sort of planed C:
I Know I haven't updated much lately, and I'm sorry but I have had a hard year so far. I have been diagnosed with something I haven't known how to deal with for a while, and have spent most of the last six months in the hospital.
I'm also sorry about any spelling mistakes that could be in the chapter, I try my best to find them but sometimes it slips. Please notify me if you find any. R&R ^^