DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ANY OTHER ANIME THAT MAY BE MENTION AS THE STORY PROGRESSES. THANK YOU. *bow*
Chapter 3- Appearances and Goals
The very next day, Minato carried his not-so-young son to his office and both were glad that the rest of their shinobis were there as well.
For Minato, Nara Shikaku was present as well as both the Uchiha couple, Fugaku and Mikoto, Hyuuga Hiashi, and Maito Gai who had gone to adopt Rock Lee the day prior but was already doing his father duties even if he had yet to hear the acceptance of his adoption from the Hokage.
For Naruto, Shikamaru was sitting between Lee and Neji while Sasuke and Itachi had stood up first the moment they saw their Rokudaime. The other three stood up as well and all five bowed.
The adults were a few moments slower before they bowed to their Yondaime.
Minato placed Naruto down on the table while he sat down on his seat. Underneath his son was a pillow just in case the table got a bit too hard for the five year old.
"Since we are all here now, I think we can begin." Minato said as he turned to Naruto who turned to Shikamaru, Neji, and Itachi.
Without missing a beat, the three had sealed the room and silenced it like how the adults had done the day before.
"Report. What have you learn so far?" Naruto inquired of his team calmly and they all turned to Shikamaru who sighed.
"I was given the basic run down before lunch. The Sandaime had perished two years ago and the currently Hokage is the Namikaze Minato. He is nearly the same as our late Yondaime but with a few changes. He had not sealed the Kyuubi in his son since they do not seem to exist in this dimension." Shikamaru paused as they all looked at Naruto who nodded.
"Since I have absorbed the Kurama's energy, it is safe to assume that they indeed do not exist here as I am the living container of the Kyuubi's power. As we already have noticed, there cannot be two of the same being here, and that includes the Tailed Demons. Continue." Naruto explained and ordered Shikamaru to continue.
"Shikaku-sama is still the current Tactical Operation's General and I had shared with him the tunnels that we have used that seemed to have been hidden since the Nidaime's time. And aside from that, we are currently academy students with Lee and Neji just a year ahead of us and Itachi is a jounin at twelve. " Shikamaru shared and Naruto looked very proud.
Itachi bowed at his Hokage when he saw the smile he was given and was glad to have made his Rokudaime proud.
"Neji, what have you found out?" Naruto asked his advisor next.
"Hizashi-sama had been kind to inform me that the Hyuuga Clan in this dimension is led by himself and not Hiashi-sama like it was in our world. You know that the night during Hinata-sama's attempted abduction, the nin who did the deed was killed. Hiashi-sama was the one who went instead of Hizashi-sama, the exact opposite of what had really happened. I am of the Main branch here now and Hinata-sama and Hanabi-sama are of the branch family. Himawari-sama, the wife of the late Hiashi-sama was pregnant with the youngest Hyuuga before he was killed." Neji said seriously and Naruto frowned a bit.
So the kidnapping still did happen. But instead of the younger twin getting killed, the older one went as he should have.
"And how are Hinata and Hanabi? Do they…" Naruto trailed off as Neji's expression darkened.
"Hinata-sama is… acting the way I have but more subtle as she had been the victim of the kidnapping herself. And they do have it, Rokudaime-sama." Neji answered and Naruto growled.
"Hyuuga-sama, I would like for your branch members to see me and the Yondaime in a week's time. We shall be taking the Bird Cage Seal off them as one: that seal belonged to the Uzumaki Clan and was stolen by the Hyuuga Clan when they thought that my Clan had fully been extinguished. And two: because if you do not allow this, I will demand retribution for the stealing of the seal and your whole Hyuuga Clans who do not have the seal will suffer a thousand times worse than how the branch members feel when the seal is activated." Naruto sounded far more deadly than the Yondaime ever had in his career which made the Hyuuga head pale and agree instantly.
Minato was staring in shock as he had not known that the Hyuuga Clan had stolen something from his wife's clan. But he reserved his judgment at the end, having a feeling that this was not the end of surprised for the morning.
"Lee, report." Naruto calmed down once more and the boy bowed.
"Gai-sensei had taken the whole day yesterday to fill up adoption papers for the custody of myself. While he was doing his share, I had found out that my counterpart is a bit… timid and reserve than myself. As far as I can recall, I have had always been as energetic as you were when you were younger, Rokudaime-sama. The information of my counterpart here being the exact opposite had shocked the matron of the orphanage I was being kept at. I also found out that my parents had died in the line of duty during the Sandaime's time." Lee reported and Naruto nodded.
The tension in the room suddenly thickened and Itachi had bound his father before the man could react or even say anything.
"I sense there is a logical explanation for that?" Minato inquired with a confused look.
"Rokudaime-sama, we managed to find out that Uchiha Fugaku and a few members of the Uchiha clan have been working with Shimura Danzo of this dimension. For some reason, it seems that Danzo is the only one who had not changed from the one of our own. The command that ROOT be disbanded had not been carried out and has recently recruited Aburame Torune and Yamanaka Fu. The Uchiha Clan, along with Danzo had planned to overthrow the Yondaime and take control of Konoha, just like what they tried to do in our world." Itachi reported in his kneeling position as well as Sasuke who was by his side.
Minato was lost for words but one look at his son made him shiver and feel sorry for the Uchiha Head. The look his son had promised so much pain that Minato didn't want to even imagine how the torture would begin.
"Just as I thought. Itachi, you and Sasuke will sweep your clan and imprison those who are part of the ploy. We shall deal with ROOT after we find out just how many Danzo has in his hands at the moment. We already have the seal that will remove the one that is placed on them so we do not have to worry. By midnight, I want all conspirators in the high security cells of ANBU without bloodshed. I will personally see to them and extract information that they may or may not have. As this is a Clan matter, I will leave it to the both of you to deal with it. It would be insulting you if I command Neji and Shikamaru to aid you." Naruto spoke once more and got nods.
The whole while, Mikoto sat there in shock and was about to faint when the Yondaime's son turned to look at her with a cold and blank expression on his face. She found it far for frightening as the face did not fit that of a five year old who, until two days ago, was smiling and laughing in the marketplace with Kushina.
"Uchiha Mikoto, you have one chance to either be imprisoned or released as I know well that you know nothing of your husband's attack. Either you remain silent and plead innocence in all these or I interrogate you along with Uchiha Fugaku for information. What will it be?" Naruto asked her and all eyes were directed at Mikoto.
She tried to catch her breath. It was true that she didn't know any details at all about her husband's plan but she had a feeling that there was something he was keeping from her.
"I will not fight and let you deal with Fugaku as you see fit. I know nothing of his ploy and that of the council aside from the theories that there is… was something going on." She answered seriously and got a nod.
It did not escape Naruto that Sasuke and Itachi looked relieved as well. Naruto knew well that even if this was not the same woman who gave birth to them, she was still the mother of Itachi and Sasuke of this world.
Naruto turned back to the Yondaime with an expressionless and closed off look.
"Yondaime-sama, as you now know of all these, I request that you allow me and my team to deal with all the mess that we uncovered. You will have to prepare for any surprise attack from Danzo before we dispose of him and his ROOT." Naruto said, staring at the man who stared back.
"You know that hearing you talk this way is frightening, yes?" Minato side tracked for a bit to calm his nerves.
Naruto cracked a grin and nodded.
"Very well, I shall start preparing for the Hyuugas, Uchihas and Danzo. You will have to show me how to unseal the seals of both the Bird Cage and the Silencing Seal of ROOT. And stop calling me 'Yondaime-sama'. I'm still your dad even if you're from another dimension. So 'daddy' or 'father' will be appropriate enough." Minato said, lightening up the tension.
Naruto blushed a bit but nodded at the suggestion.
"That should be the same for us as well." Shikaku spoke up and even Mikoto and Hizashi nodded in agreement.
Now all the children were blushing as well, making Naruto chuckle at the antics of the adults.
"Oh, one last thing Naruto. As much as possible, please… please, under any circumstance, do not let your mother know about everything that you will be doing. She will smoother you and will be protective that you will not be able to get ten meters away from her alone." Minato reminded Naruto who nodded instantly.
If Kushina acted the same way as the stories he had been told by Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi, there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that the Kushina in this world would be the same way, if not, more.
"Is there anything you wish to add?" Naruto asked Minato who thought for a few minutes before nodding.
"You will have to keep up appearances while you do what you must. I know that changes will be inevitable but you will have to try. All of you." Minato addressed the children who understood.
"That means that during the day, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Lee, and I will have to be academy students and Itachi resume his duties as ANBU." Naruto translated and sighed like the rest of his comrades who were not looking forward to return as students.
"But Rokudaime-sama, Neji-san and I will be in another class." Lee pointed out worriedly but Naruto raised his hand to stop him from saying any more.
"I will have Shikamaru and Sasuke with me, Lee. I will be fine. And I am sure that Itachi will find ways to be in the same room, if not the same building as I when we return to the Academy tomorrow… Which reminds me, what are the Sannins like in this dimension?" Naruto turned to Minato who leaned back on his seat.
"Jiraiya is currently travelling the lands for information about the other ninja villages and possible threats to Konoha. He is also a book writer of—"
"Icha Icha Paradise?" Naruto cut in and Minato nodded.
"And here I thought that your Jiraiya was not like our Jiraiya. Is Tsunade baa-chan here or has she ran away and hidden herself?" Naruto asked.
"Well, Jiraiya-sensei will be Jiraiya-sensei no matter which world. And as for Tsunade, she is here and is married to Orochimaru." Minato shared and all the children froze in shock, Sasuke and Naruto specially.
"Come again, Yondaime-sama but I think we misheard… Did you just say that Tsunade-sama is married to Orochimaru? The Snake Sannin?" Neji asked, trying to make sure that they had heard right.
When Minato nodded as well as the other adults, Sasuke fainted and Naruto slump back on his position. Lee caught Sasuke and sighed.
"Wow, I did not see that one coming." Naruto said and his companions nodded.
Even Itachi looked a bit spooked out.
"We shall have to—" Naruto spoke but was cut off my a familiar looking eagle messenger.
"I know that bird…" Lee whispered.
They all knew that the eagle belonged to Suna's Kazekage… or the future Kazekage. The scroll dropped on Naruto's lap and he dreaded the damn thing for some reason or another. It wasn't a normal scroll. It was a prison scroll. Itachi stood up and took it from his Rokudaime and passed it on to Neji while the rest gathered around Naruto to protect him.
Neji released the scroll and as the smoke cleared, a very irritated, and younger looking Gaara glared at them.
"Why am I not surprised that all this had something to do with you Naruto." Gaara said as he huffed.
Naruto grinned and jumped off the table to hug the red head and chuckle.
"I do not know why or how but I am glad to see you Gaara." Naruto said and his people relaxed a bit.
"Kazekage-sama." The five others knelt and bowed.
"And Naruto had dragged you all as well. Again, I am not surprised." Gaara said as he turned to the others and sighed.
Minato and the adults watched in fascination as the children interacted. Naruto noticed and cleared his throat.
"Gaara, I would like you to meet the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. The others are: Hyuuga Hizashi, Neji's father and Head of the Hyuuga Clan. Uchiha Mikoto, Itachi and Sasuke's mother. The man bound is their father, Uchiha Fugaku. I'll catch you up on what we know in a while." Naruto paused and smirked.
"Lastly, Nara Shikaku… your sister's father-in-law." Naruto teased.
Both Nara's choked but for different reasons.
"Naruto!" Shikamaru protested even when he was red in the face.
Lee, Neji, and even the Uchihas were amused.
"Minna, this is Sabaku no Gaara, the Kazekage of Sunagakure of our world." Naruto introduced and Gaara bowed respectfully.
"I came in as soon as I gathered all information and facts when I suddenly woke up to find myself back in my five year old body." Gaara said, sighing and smacked Naruto at the back of his head.
"Ow!" Naruto whined.
"Don't whine, Naruto. Hokage's don't whine." Gaara said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Nuh-uh! Sarutobi-jiji always whined about paperwork! Ero-sennin and Kakashi-sensei said that the Yondaime whined about paper work as well. And even Tsunade-baa-chan whine too. About paperwork, me, incompetent ninjas, Shizune and so much more." Naruto said, justifying his whines.
Gaara and everyone else turned to the Yondaime who looked bashful at the mention of him whining.
"What? Paperwork is boring." Minato defended himself.
Sasuke and Itachi looked at each other and smirked.
"Rokudaime-sama, we never saw you do paperwork. How come?" Itachi asked and Naruto caught the intention and smirked as well.
"Simple, I had my clones do it for me. Four to five clones work on them, depending on how much was being given to me and they would all be done before lunch." Naruto answered with a smug expression which floored Minato.
"T-t-that's cheating!" Minato yelled and both Naruto and Gaara snorted.
"We are ninjas. Cheating, lying, and killing are part of our culture. Paperwork is a hassle, but unavoidable. But just because they are necessary, it doesn't mean I have to suffer them." Naruto countered and chuckled at the now pouting Yondaime before turning back to Gaara.
"So, how long will you be staying?" Naruto asked.
"Until later this afternoon, you will send me back the same way I came. It's faster." Gaara answered and got a nod.
"Alright then… First we take Uchiha Fugaku to the T&I, extract information, have lunch, tour the village, then send you home." Naruto announced and turned to Itachi who nodded and went to his father and shushined out after unsealing the room.
The adults were still trying to gather themselves while the children were getting ready to leave.
"Uhm… Naru-Rokudaime-sama…" Shikaku spoke up and all eyes were on him.
Naruto smiled at the man.
"Please, call me Naruto, as you are not one of my shinobi, Nara-sama." Naruto said politely.
"It is Shikaku then, Naruto-kun… I just wanted to know… when you introduced me as Sabaku-san's sister's father-in-law…" Shikaku trailed off, not really sure now what he was asking but Naruto and Gaara chuckled while Shikamaru blushed heavily.
"In our world, Nara-sama, my older sister, Sabaku no Temari, married your son, Nara Shikamaru and had a son who was named Shikadai. He was the splitting image of Shikamaru, complete with troublesome thinking of the Nara's yet had the blunt and sharp tongue of my sister… even for a four year old." Gaara told the man while Shikamaru blushed deep red, and the rest were snickering around the Nara child.
"Soooo…. Anything else? We all can have a very early lunch while planning for ROOT and Hyuuga unsealing and The Uchihas." Minato suggested and most nodded while Gaara raised a brow at Naruto who then proceeded to explain and catch him up with what they had learned of Konoha. Gaara then did the same and shared what he learned over lunch and the adults were so stunned.
Watching the so-called children speak, plan, argue, compromise, and jab at each other with words that do not match their current bodies was just amazing yet frightening in some ways.
"I can guarantee that the other jinchuurikis like Yagura, Utakata, Roshi, Han, Fu, Yugito, and Bee do not exist here. I cannot feel their chakras at all. And I still can speak with Shukaku. He is surprised that he even existed here. It seemed that this place doesn't have the bijuus at all. So no Nine-Tails Attack ever happened. There is also no Akatsuki from what I could gather from the files that I read from father's office." Gaara said as he leaned back down on his seat as the others listened.
"Now that I think about it, Kurama mentioned about trying to sense the others. He had yet to mentioned—hold on." Naruto paused and created a clone next to him.
"Well I would have mentioned if I managed to find anything, brat. I sensed Shukaku but the rest aren't here. I don't even know how this came to be." Kurama said as he morphed Naruto's body into his human demon form.
Kurama's human form was that of a tall man with flaming red hair, pale white skin and nine red tails. He had fox ears on his head as he flipped it in annoyance.
Gaara did the same and gave Shukaku a clone that then morphed also into a raccoon like man with a brown tail, black ringed eyes, and brown hair.
"Kurama-nii, how come we survived when the others didn't?" Shukaku asked as he sat next to Kurama shrugged then turned to Naruto then to the adults who were staring in shock.
"Brat, I think you should introduce us to them before they pass out." Kuram teased and smirked while Naruto sighed.
"Minna, these are two of nine demons that existed in our world. They are what we called bijuus and the vessels like Gaara and I are the jinchuurikis. The brown haired one is Shukaku, the One Tailed Raccoon Demon of the Sand and Gaara's bijuu. The red haired one is Kurama, the eldest of all nine as he is the Nine Tailed Fox Demon of Konoha and I am his jinchuuriki." Naruto introduced as the two demons bowed and sighed.
"And as for why you even exist here, Shukaku-san, even I do not know why. Some of the events that happened in our world did not happen here and little of what happened in ours happened here. This world has ROOT, the Uchiha ploy, and the Hyuuga Bird Cage Seal. Here, my parents are alive as well Neji's father, and Sasuke and Itachi-kun's clan… most of them for the time being that is." Naruto added as he sighed more deeply than before.
No one spoke for the time being, the room was silent, the air had traces of tension yet it was thin. What seemed like forever had only been a few minutes before Minato cleared his throat and everyone turned to him.
"From what have you been planning most of the morning away, we have covered the unsealings and the only thing left to plan now is the Uchiha case." Minato said and everyone stiffened.
Most, if not all of the occupants in the room, sighed heavily. Lunch was drawing near and yet time seemed to move slower than ever. The half the day had yet to go and they still have very much to talk and plan out.
"This is going to be one long afternoon." Naruto commented under his breath.
"You can say that again." Minato replied and chuckled lightly, easing the tension perfectly.