Chapter 6

Entrenched in Shadows

Hokage Mansion – January 22, 996 A.C. – 1430 hours

The past thirty hours had been filled with one unwelcome surprise after another for Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage.

Whenever he wasn't busy with paperwork, assigning missions or either attending or conducting important meetings with major figures in Hi no Kuni, the Professor would spend his available time either reading the latest Icha Icha novel from Jiraiya or observing Uzumaki Naruto through his crystal ball with the Tōmegane no Jutsu. However, when he first walked into his office yesterday he found that the ball had been rendered inert and no longer usable. This caused him to fly off the handle and delve into a rage for most of the next hour. The Uzumaki—no, the weapon; Naruto was just a weapon—needed to be kept under constant surveillance, but someone had seen fit to eliminate the most important element to accomplish that. There was no evidence left behind by the intruder…no writing, no fingerprints, no DNA samples, no stray strands of fiber from the intruder's clothing, and no chakra residue. Nothing was stolen or out of place, aside from the damage to the ball and with no leads available, identifying the culprit was going to be a daunting task.

The invasion of his office also exposed some glaring security problems. Sarutobi bemoaned the lack of video surveillance present in the Hokage Mansion. While there were security cameras in Konoha, specifically Training Ground 44 aka The Forest of Death, their capabilities were currently limited and furthermore, they were difficult to keep secure. For whoever managed to break into his office, disabling the feed or redirecting it to an alternate location would be child's play.

But Sarutobi noted that aside from relocating his office, there was little he could do at this time to address the issue. What he could do immediately, was already done. Sarutobi pulled several Anbu from their regular duties and reactivated the surveillance that was once kept on Naruto when he was younger, having the number of Anbu spying on him tripled from the original detail to compensate for losing the ability to keep his own eyes on the weapon. Not that it would do as much good as he liked, seeing as Naruto was notorious for his ability to elude the Anbu for several hours at a time, but it would at least mitigate the damage for the time being, until the crystal ball was replaced with something less vulnerable.

The next surprise came later that evening, when the grades for the final exams were delivered to his office. One specific student's performance, Haruno Sakura, stood out immediately. The Haruno girl, who had the highest written scores out of everyone in her class and was the highest-rated kunoichi due to her book smarts, had failed the final exam. Even though she was permitted a retake this morning, and passed the retake with flying colors, this initial failure automatically caused her to forfeit the rank of Top Kunoichi to Hyūga Hinata.

Any ninja worth their chakra didn't believe in coincidences, and the Professor was no exception. He strongly suspected that whoever destroyed his crystal ball also sneaked a peek at the academic records for this year's graduating class. This would have possibly limited the number of suspects for yesterday's early morning break-in to just a handful of individuals. But there was another issue that complicated things.

Umino Iruka cited medical reasons as the explanation for Sakura's inability to complete the graduation exam, and allowed her to retake the test after medic-nin confirmed she had sufficiently recovered. Yamanaka Inoichi further clarified that the "medical reason" was a juinjutsu activation roughly four hours before class started that required his immediate intervention to save the Haruno girl's mind.

Only one person in all of Konoha could have put that cursed seal on Haruno Sakura, and that person was a very specific member of Shimura Danzō's ROOT program.

After reminding Danzō of the consequences of stepping out of line earlier in the day, and informing Haruno Kizashi and Mebuki that Sakura would be removed from their custody and placed under Inoichi as a ward of the Yamanaka Clan, the Sandaime paid a visit to Naruto's apartment along with elite Jōnin Hatake Kakashi, who was informed that he would be given Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke to test, but that there were certain complications regarding which potential kunoichi-in-training would be assigned to Team Seven which had yet to be resolved. Kakashi was ordered to pass Team Seven, to which he'd responded he would do so only if they deserve to be passed. Hiruzen simply repeated his orders, stressing the "importance" of obeying his commands.

Translation: You will pass these genin no matter how they perform. And you will not question my authority again.

When Hiruzen and Kakashi stepped inside the apartment and learned that Naruto had actually done his chores for once, the Sandaime was not particularly amused. It was another coincidence he had to consider. He suspected that Naruto could have been the one to sneak into his office yesterday, attempting to pull a prank on him, but there were holes in that theory. It didn't explain why Naruto would only break his ball and look at grades without snooping around elsewhere, or why he didn't attempt to sabotage Sasuke's performance on the practical exams and make him forfeit the title of Rookie of the Year.

Hiruzen shrugged it off for now. The loss of the ball was major, but at this point in time there weren't any signals being given off that would make the investigation more urgent. Besides, he was seconds away from beginning his debriefing of Inoichi, to delve into the details of yesterday's incident with Sakura and resolve the team placement issue. Perhaps some of the responses to his final decision would aid him in solving this mystery.

"Inoichi-san," the Sandaime said, "on the grade reports for yesterday's final exams, you commented that Haruno Sakura was suffering from the effects of a juinjutsu. First off, would you care to explain why she was allowed to attend class?"

"Well, Hokage-sama, some of the Academy students who just became potential genin are quite stubborn, and Sakura-chan is no exception," Inoichi replied. "She was determined to push through, or at least try. To tell the truth, I didn't want to see her get held back another year or dropped from the ninja program because this incident caused her to miss the test. Her potential notwithstanding, it would have broken the hearts of at least two of her classmates."

"You refer to Uzumaki Naruto and your daughter Ino, correct?"

"Correct. Sadly, she still failed the exam but if I had stopped her from attempting to take it, Iruka-san probably wouldn't have consulted with the Headmaster to gain permission to give her a makeup test. What I did was unprofessional and a risk to Sakura-chan's health, but if I hadn't let her attend, missing the test would have likely cost us a kunoichi who has the potential to surpass Tsunade-sama of the Densetsu no Sannin."

Sarutobi briefly stared down the Yamanaka patriarch with a hard look in his aged eyes, meant to unnerve. "You took a calculated risk, Inoichi-san. Consider yourself fortunate that your actions do not appear to have backfired."

"I do, Hokage-sama," Inoichi replied, nodding and suppressing the urge to gulp. The Sandaime lit up his tobacco pipe before continuing.

"Now then, you claim that Sakura's potential is greater than that of my former student, Tsunade. If I were to ignore this mishap and stick to my original plan for team placements, she would be paired with Naruto and Sasuke, each also with the potential to surpass the Sannin, to form a specialized heavy assault unit. What do you think of this team formation?"

Inoichi took a deep breath to stop his thoughts from straying. "Permission to speak frankly, Hokage-sama?"

"Granted."

"That formation is a mistake. Those three will have no synergy and will struggle more to achieve adequate levels of teamwork than the other teams, assuming they pass. You may believe that it is necessary to team Naruto-san and Sasuke-san together in an attempt to get Sasuke-san to move on from the events of the Uchiha Massacre, and I have no solid argument against that, though I will point out there's a great risk that the rivalry between Naruto-san and Sasuke-san may take a turn for the worse and grow violent, rather than more friendly, if they are paired together. However, I believe Sakura-chan's interactions with them will be a much bigger threat to the team, one great enough to cause the team to fail the secondary test and be held back."

"Explain why Sakura is the weak link that may cause Team Seven's career to end in disaster."

"Sakura-chan has a long fangirl streak, like all female students in the Academy save one. She basically coasted through as far as she did on only her written grades, and has neglected her practical training in favor of attempting to attract Sasuke-san. Her...obsession with Sasuke-san is definitely more fanatic than most. She is further distinguished by her history of violence towards Naruto-san. In order for the Uzumaki, Haruno and Uchiha to achieve their full potential, the Haruno must be placed on a team that does not include the Uzumaki or Uchiha, so that her commanding officer will be able to break her of that streak."

"You are suggesting that I uphold the tradition of teaming the Rookie of the Year and Top Kunoichi with the Dead Last, knowing that Hinata surpassed Sakura in class standing due to the results of the final exams," Hiruzen stated, setting down his pipe. "I have been informed by various sources that Hinata has romantic feelings for Naruto. How will her inclusion on Team Seven not be as much of a disaster as you imply Sakura's will?"

Inoichi repressed the urge to smirk. He knew he was about to play some compromising cards, but he also knew he had the Hokage cornered. "If you are suggesting that a different kunoichi be selected over Sakura-chan and Hinata-san for placement on Team Seven, then remind yourself of this. Every kunoichi in the current graduating class except for Hinata-san has conformed to peer pressure. Every single one is obsessed with Sasuke-san, perhaps not to the same degree as Sakura-chan but enough that they will wreck the entire team, both by neglecting their own training and by refusing to cooperate with Naruto-san. I can promise you right now that Team Seven will fail its secondary test if Hinata-san is not selected as its female member, and I can also promise you that should they fail, it will be devastating to both Naruto-san and Sasuke-san, who are already unstable enough as it is and may easily drive them both off the deep end. If the teachers at the Academy had done a better job of addressing this issue, we probably would not have made it this far in our argument. But that is a moot point. What matters is that they did not address the issue, and allowed it to fall into your lap.

"Hinata-san is the one kunoichi who has not conformed like the others, and it is my understanding that her feelings of admiration for Naruto-san are more genuine. Furthermore, I am aware of her...less than desirable upbringing in the Hyūga Clan, which has caused her to turn to Naruto-san for the support she has been denied by all others. She not only wishes to improve for his sake, she also seeks to gain the acknowledgment her clan has denied her. Unlike her fellow kunoichi, whose reasons for pursuing a career as kunoichi are superficial, Hinata-san actually has motivation to grow stronger. I believe that allowing her to be on the same team as her crush will be the most effective way to encourage her growth and to address her teammates' trust issues.

"I also ask you to consider what the presence of a Byakugan user would mean for Team Seven, which is set up as a heavy offensive unit. Hinata-san's dōjutsu would allow her team to locate enemy targets far more easily than if they lacked such a valuable tracking ability and also, since her clan is feared for their famous taijutsu style, the Jūken, Hinata-san is fully capable of adopting an offensive role and would not simply be relegated to support.

"While I understand this will deprive the tracker-heavy Team Eight of some of its firepower, the loss felt should only be temporary. Should Sakura-chan be pushed to utilize her chakra control abilities to their fullest, she may be able to replicate the Chakra Enhanced Strength technique of Tsunade-sama. This would, in effect make her far stronger offensively than any Hyūga and would more than offset the initial loss.

"Also," Inoichi paused, playing the cards which would ensure Hiruzen folded, "should Hinata-san be placed on Team Seven instead of Sakura-chan, her Byakugan will not just be of benefit to Team Seven, Hokage-sama. Hinata-san's presence on the team can help keep the Kyūbi in check, whereas Sakura-chan's inclusion is more likely to cause the seal to weaken sooner. The Hyūga Clan's dōjutsu is uniquely suited for checking on the status of the seal that keeps the Kyūbi sealed inside Naruto at frequent intervals, and the way Hinata-san cares for the boy will give her a greater motivation to monitor the seal and protect his well-being more than any other Hyūga. And we both know Hinata-san already knows that Naruto-san has the Kyūbi sealed inside him, thanks to the carelessness of certain villagers from before she entered the Academy. And since Naruto-san himself is aware of his own burden, thanks to Mizuki's idiocy yesterday, should he discover that there is one person in his age group who also knows of his secret, one person in whom he can confide, it will only increase his motivation to improve and become a better ninja."

The Sandaime growled in displeasure. It only takes one idiot to ruin the work of ten geniuses, and despite his efforts at culling their numbers, Konoha was still filled with its fair share of idiots who don't know how to keep their mouths shut. But he was more displeased with the fact that Inoichi had outmaneuvered him.

"While there are flaws in your argument, Inoichi-san, it is stronger than any rebuttal I can present at this time," Sarutobi stated. "Hinata will be placed on Team Seven, though there will be a fair number of jōnin who will be displeased with my decision. You are, of course, aware that this conversation does not leave this room."

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"I do not believe I will have any further need of your counsel this afternoon. You are dismissed."

Inoichi bowed and left his office, leaving Hiruzen to affect the changes he was sure he would regret later.


Haruno Residence – 1810 hours

In Haruno Kizashi's eyes, the pink walls in his and Mebuki's bedroom might as well have been painted in blood. He was seeing that much red after receiving the message that Danzō was deactivating him until further notice.

This was not the first time this had happened. There had been other instances where damage control was necessary after a botched operation or a sealing mishap. But this particular incident was very high-profile due to Inoichi's involvement, and the sensitive nature of the...information that may or may not have been revealed.

He didn't for a moment think that Fū had been lax with his work, or that he'd left an opening in the seal that could have been exploited but the fact of the matter is that it had been discovered—and now his daughter was in the custody of the Yamanaka. Inoichi now had all the time in the world to study and possibly find a way to undo the seal, undermining years of careful planning and manipulation on both he and his wife's part.

That simply couldn't be allowed. Kizashi didn't care that he was under additional scrutiny; he needed to have eyes kept on Sakura, which meant he had to get in touch with Fū. Kizashi reached under his bed and pulled out a small chest, which contained a special scroll used for long-distance communication. Such scrolls were always made in pairs, and Fū possessed its counterpart. Ever since his daughter had accidentally walked in on him five years ago, Haruno Kizashi and Yamanaka Fū had maintained a special relationship. They had worked together on several off-the-books missions since his daughter's sealing, until Fū was assigned Torune as his permanent partner. Even now, the fanatic Haruno and the exiled Yamanaka stayed in contact with each other, albeit infrequently.

The message was short and disappeared within seconds. Kizashi knew that despite his delicate situation, the reply from Fū would come in person, so he unsealed a tantō from a storage scroll and readied it in his left hand. He preferred using a whip, but he would be dead in seconds using a weapon like that in this situation.

Moments later, a swirl of leaves appeared in the bedroom and Kizashi parried Fū's forward slash, putting his associate on the defensive. A few more clashes of their blades and the skirmish ended. This was standard protocol for ROOT: when a messenger was sent to or summoned by you, your combat skills would be tested and if they were found lacking, you would be eliminated before receiving the message. Despite being a career genin, Kizashi's true abilities were on the same level as some of Konoha's elite jōnin, and if he were forced to reveal those abilities he would probably be able to hold his own for some time, even against swordsmen such as Gekkō Hayate and Maruboshi Kosuke.

"What was so important that you disregarded protocol to contact me, Kizashi-san?" the orange-haired Yamanaka demanded through his blank, white mask.

"Nice to see you too, Fū-kun," Kizashi replied, his tone jovial and not sarcastic. That was the mask he put on for the outside world. "As you already know, we have a problem with my daughter."

"Danzō-sama was most displeased after Hokage-sama confronted him over yesterday morning's incident," Fū said, removing his mask to reveal a fresh scar left on his upper left check by Danzō. "I am fortunate that he has yet to deem my skillset expendable."

"I would like to think Danzō-sama learned his lesson after his handling of Kabuto," Kizashi mused. It was no secret that Danzō, in the kindest words they dared use, had royally fucked up with the young orphan. He'd quickly been making a name for himself in the ranks of ROOT as an iryōjutsu prodigy and a master spy, and then the war hawk decided he was too good at his job for comfort.

In Kizashi's opinion, Kabuto should never have been allowed to join the Foundation in the first place, instead being relegated to the Medic Corps. And he knew the only reason Danzō hadn't cleaned up that particular mess was because he and Kabuto's current master, Orochimaru were still allies for the time being.

"Who knows," Fū shook his head. "In any case, I think you are overreacting to this mess with Sakura."

"My daughter poses a greater threat to our plans than Danzō-sama believes. She needs to be kept in check until such time as we can be certain there is no further need for the juinjutsu. I don't care what it takes. Get to her and fix that seal. And this time, make sure the modifications stick."


Somewhere outside of Konoha – 2240 hours

Just as Naruto predicted, the Anbu tails assigned to him increased as a result of his actions yesterday morning. However, once they were shaken off or called back he knew there wouldn't be anyone watching, leaving him free to do as he pleased. He'd taken full advantage of that opportunity early in the morning, sending dozens of Tōton Kage Bunshin out to the south and southwest of Konoha after waking up from an extremely rare eight hours of nightmare-free sleep to scout for places where he could build a safe house in the event that he and his most precious people were forced to flee the village. It took his clones all of ten hours, through moderate spamming of both the Shunshin and Hiraishin techniques to single out a possible hiding spot, and now the original wanted to verify what his clones' memories told him.

Naruto left a Kage Bunshin in his apartment to make it appear he was asleep in case the Anbu returned to their post while he was out. He also left a single-use Hiraishin tag so that he could return instantly once his task for the night was finished. Then he made ten more Kage Bunshin of the Tōton variety before activating the Tōton Jutsu on himself and jumping out his bedroom window, sneaking towards the village walls. Once he arrived there, Naruto applied chakra to his feet to walk right over them and outside the village. After he felt he'd walked far enough away from the walls, he dropped the invisibility cloak and used the Hiraishin no Jutsu to cover the rest of the distance to the marker his clones had left.

The location he arrived at was several kilometers away from the border of Kawa no Kuni, and about one and a half kilometers away from the southern coastline of Hi no Kuni. The forest growth was thicker than average here, with only a few clearings, which allowed him little room to utilize for intensive training, but conversely improved his chances of eluding any pursuers. There was a nearby river, which immediately took care of most sustenance issues in the event he had to remain camped up here for extended lengths of time and from this location, he could either continue west through Kawa no Kuni into Kaze no Kuni and seek asylum in Sunagakure, or cross the sea to enter Cha no Kuni, where he could gain passage to the southern continent and disappear for a long time.

Setting up shop near Kawa was a major risk, though. Naruto remembered that the Akatsuki had one of their hideouts located in that country, and if they discovered he was alone and so close to them, they would not hesitate to capture him. Furthermore, Kawa did have a hidden village (albeit a minor one), and any safe house built so close to the coastline would potentially be vulnerable to pirate raids. But his clones had decided the benefits of gaining a fast ticket off the continent outweighed the risk of attracting unwanted attention, so for now, he had little choice but to trust their judgment. Besides, setting up a sealing array to ward off most threats would be easy enough, if just a little time-consuming.

But first, he had to stop and take a huge breather. Using the Hiraishin to arrive here put a large amount of stress on his body, tearing some of his muscles and damaging a few tenketsu. Naruto gained an orange aura around his body while he slumped down against a tree, as he felt Kurama's chakra slowly repair the damage.

The healing chakra from his partner was flowing through him far too slow however, and he knew the reason why. But until he got the key for the Hakke no Fūin Shiki on his stomach, he'd have to be satisfied with what he had.

Maybe this would also be a decent enough place to train away from Konoha, at least while the safe house remained undiscovered. Being this far away from any towns, villages, or bandit camps, he could take advantage of the solitude to try to force more of Kurama's chakra through the seal, accelerating its weakening, as long as the sealing array he would set up here did its job and minimized the risk of detection.

"Well, isn't that just great," Naruto complained over the telepathic link. "My body can't handle using Hiraishin to set up more than one safe house."

"It was an expected complication," Kurama pointed out. "Your body isn't trained yet, after all, so the Hiraishin cannot be used freely for some time. If we're lucky, we won't need to scout for an alternate hideout, at least not until the mission to save Nami no Kuni comes along again."

"But we can't just keep relying on luck, Kurama!"

"Maybe we wouldn't be so dependent on chance if you'd taken more time before leaving the future to actually plan out these contingencies rather than focus so much on the endgame."

Naruto was not in the mood for their usual banter this evening. "If all you're gonna do is nag me over what I already know, then shut up." His bijū listened for once, and just focused on fixing Naruto up enough to let him make the return trip without causing himself any long-term damage as long as the Hiraishin was only used sparingly afterward. But Kurama made its point, and Naruto knew it. The decision to travel back in time, while ultimately the best decision had been made impulsively, without giving himself sufficient opportunity to consider some of the kinks in his plan.

The forest area near Kawa gave Naruto a lot of natural resources to utilize to aid with a possible escape. On his own, at full charge he had enough chakra—though he'd have to tap into Kurama's—to water walk from the coast all the way to the peninsula, but as an Uzumaki and a jinchūriki, he was unique in that regard. No one else in his inner circle would be able to make that same walk across the sea to avoid pursuers. But with the years of experience he'd accumulated in the future, living off the land in Kaminari no Kuni when he wasn't assisting Darui during his military campaigns, it wouldn't be too much of a problem for him to cut down a few trees and make a boat large enough to carry all of his closest people to Cha along with enough supplies to last them for several months, in the event that they couldn't save Hi no Kuni.

Naruto spent the better part of half an hour propped up against the tree, enveloped in the orange shroud. He gazed at the moon for a few moments, then turned his face away from the sky and screwed his eyes shut. He couldn't let himself think about the artificial satellite that represented the greatest potential calamity for his world. He had to believe he still had a few years before needing to deal with that issue. Also, the very idea that there was someone living inside the moon, someone who could use the moon to end his whole world at any given moment, was still completely absurd even to him despite the fact he'd fought and killed that person before, and would eventually have to do so again.

Once he felt he could move without difficulty, he pushed himself to his feet and walked several meters away from the tree he'd rested against, then formed the Tiger seal. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out; while he was used to not making hand seals for his signature technique anymore, using the Kage Bunshin without hand seals also required him to spend more chakra to maintain that level of focus, and though his reserves were absurdly high even at twelve, Naruto needed to make every last drop of chakra count tonight. He'd already divided his reserves down to less than ten percent before punishing his untrained body on the Hiraishin trip out of Konoha, and while Kurama's boost had replenished a large amount of his chakra by now, the work he needed to do tonight ensured he would not be fully recharged until close to sunrise.

Four copies of Naruto stood beside him. All five of them were already forming more hand seals and channeling Wind chakra for their next technique. "Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" they exclaimed in unison, creating several large blades of wind and launching them at the trees. They hadn't overloaded the technique...okay, they did overload it but not by that much. Still, the blades were three times larger than normal. About fifteen seconds later, Naruto and his clones had to cover their ears to dull the sound of a few dozen trees crashing to the ground.

"Finish cutting up those trees and then bring the logs and branches to that clearing over there," Naruto commanded, pointing his finger at a spot roughly thirty meters to his right. All four Kage Bunshin consumed a soldier pill before making more Kage Bunshin to assist them in the assigned task. One of the nicer things about the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu was that it also cloned any and all tools and supplies on the user's body when it was cast, so instead of having to toss out a soldier pill to each of his clones, they could simply reach into their own ninja tool pouches and pop a duplicated pill, and still receive the temporary chakra boost. But Naruto didn't dare consume any soldier pills from any of his clones. The side effects from doing so were far more dangerous and easily fatal.

Naruto walked over to the clearing he indicated to his clones and examined it. Once he was satisfied, he began making hand seals for an Iwagakure technique he hadn't known how to perform until this last afternoon, when he ran into Ino (who also gave him other vital supplies for this evening's task which were procured by Inoichi) while Konohamaru was pestering him for training. Another reason why Ino was so valuable to The Plan: her ability to replicate and transfer memories at will made her able to teach almost any ninjutsu she wanted to almost anyone in a matter of seconds. Including Naruto, who was known for his tactile learning and had a much harder time learning things if he wasn't given a physical demonstration.

"Doton: Chidōkaku!" Naruto called out, slamming his hands to the ground, channeling his chakra to force a square section of the ground twenty meters in length and width to sink about three meters. Since he lost his Earth affinity during the journey through time and it was his first time using this technique, he ended up spending more than twice the minimum required amount of chakra. For Naruto, it was still a relatively minor expenditure.

"Hurry up with those logs, everyone!" he shouted at his clones, which now numbered at forty. "We have a hideout to build and only a few hours to get it built!"

"Yes, sir!" the clones all answered. Naruto just shook his head at their peculiar quirks and mannerisms, which he never could manage to suppress completely.


Hyūga Compound – 2305 hours

While Naruto was busy constructing a safe house outside of Konoha, eight of the ten Tōton Kage Bunshin he left behind were carrying out their assigned task of keeping the Hyūga Clan under surveillance. While he did not dare to enter the compound himself uninvited, at least not yet, he knew he had to keep a close eye on the situation within its walls, especially after last night. The forced spar between Hinata and the now-deceased Masaru had been unanticipated and demonstrated that perhaps the situation with the clan in the past was even worse than he remembered. He noted the possibility that he would have to accelerate the timetable for eliminating the elders who aligned themselves with Hiruzen and Danzō and subduing the rest of the Main House.

Only one of the clones was actually inside the main complex. The other seven were busy brainstorming ideas for a sealing array that would allow them to know everything that went on in there at all times. Before Naruto could take any action, he had to be absolutely certain of who was guilty and who was innocent. The last time around, he'd been forced to kill far too many Hyūga. This time, he would ensure that only those who actually deserved to die were killed.

Naruto didn't believe that the entire elder council was allied with the Sandaime's regime and ROOT. It simply didn't make sense. Informing that many individuals of their plans would guarantee a leak to the wrong people. No, out of the seven elders, Naruto believed only three at most would actually be knowledgeable about the secrets contained inside the Sandaime's black book. The others would fall into one of two categories: those who could be swayed by reason (and would be spared and allowed to retain some of their influence), and those who were too set in their ways and would still attempt to lead the clan to ruin (and would need to be dealt with creatively, but preferably without lethal measures). There was no doubt whatsoever that Haru was among the guilty parties. But Naruto and Hiashi could take no action against the elders until the other conspirators were identified and the proof of their crimes was irrefutable.

Any attack launched against the Sandaime's regime had to meet two core requirements. First, the obvious: under no circumstances could there be even a remote chance of an enemy's death being traced back to Naruto or anyone in his inner circle, or trigger any sort of counter-measure against them. Each strike had to trigger discord in the Sandaime's regime and turn it against itself, like a snake that eats its own tail. Sadly, this rendered a large amount of the resources Ino and Hiashi could access unusable. And second, under no circumstances could any attack be allowed to claim even a single innocent life unless collateral damage was absolutely unavoidable. Aside from those guilty of knowing the Sandaime's schemes and willingly participating in them, Naruto still considered every life in Konoha precious.

The sealing array the clones were tasked to come up with was more complex than any Naruto had designed until now, and once it was finished, it would be the most powerful he'd ever designed. The basic unit in this array was simply called the Kansatsu Fūin, and the concept was borrowed from the memory transfer ability of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. If the seal worked as planned, it would be invisible to normal eyes and undetectable by the Sharingan, Byakugan and most standard sensor types, which meant Naruto could put almost any place he wanted under video and audio surveillance without anyone ever knowing. But if it didn't work and the seals were detected, it was either get out of Konoha before they figured out he placed the seals, or get locked up and hope someone busted him free before Hiruzen acquired another Uzumaki and he was executed via bijū extraction for espionage.

The main issue which hindered Naruto was figuring out where to send the collected data. If he simply had the receiver array the seals were linked to inscribed on another scroll, it would be absurdly long. Like kilometers upon kilometers long. That meant he'd have to put it inside a pocket dimension, which meant using Kamui. But there were multiple reasons why he couldn't get Kakashi involved in this part of The Plan, the most important being that if Kakashi used Kamui to store the receiver array Obito, and by extension the Akatsuki would also have access to the seals and any data collected. Present technology also prohibited Naruto from linking the sealing array to anything else that could store the data, since computers had not advanced to the point where he had come from in the future, where storage issues would not be a problem. The clones outside the compound figured Naruto's best bet would be to create an entirely new technique based off the Kanchi Suikyū or the Gentōshin no Jutsu to receive real-time data from the seals. This would have the flaw of requiring Naruto to have at least three Kage Bunshin operating the feed at all times (at least until the Yamanaka Clan was cleansed), but it would also allow him to reduce scroll usage to a more reasonable level.

The clone inside the compound made his way to the sixth floor, creating another Tōton Kage Bunshin each time he climbed a flight of stairs to expedite the completion of his first task. While the other clones were busy designing the surveillance seals, this one had two tasks that required infiltration. First was determining which parts of the Hyūga complex took priority once the seals were ready to be applied, as he strongly doubted he would be able to bug the entire compound in one night.

Putting all of the clan's common areas under surveillance, especially the dojos and meeting halls, was an obvious must—as was doing the same for the living quarters for the clan's "first family", Haru, Hiashi, Hanabi, and most importantly, Hinata.

...And all of that clone's thought processes which were centered on the surveillance seals came to an abrupt stop the moment Hinata entered his thoughts. But that was the advantage of being a Kage Bunshin: once he dispelled, the other clones would easily be able to pick up the slack. Also, the sudden shift in his mindset was necessary to complete his second task. Between dealing with Konohamaru, dodging his newly reacquired Anbu tail, and locating potential hideaways, Naruto hadn't been able to answer Hiashi's summons today. The Hyūga patriarch understood that Naruto had been hit with these complications, but both he and Naruto were greatly worried about last night's spar and how Masaru's final act of brutality would affect his eldest daughter's psyche. Still, Naruto needed to wait until nightfall, when the risk of detection was minimal, to send a clone inside the compound so he could heal Hinata and attempt to dispel some of her suspicions.

Cloneruto climbed the last flight of stairs, arriving outside Hinata's room on the sixth floor. When the boss had first learned that Hinata was so isolated from the rest of the clan, he had been saddened, but in moments like this it was accepted as a small blessing. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about most of the roving patrols and could remain as inconspicuous as possible with his comings and goings.

He gently pressed his hand against the door and slid it open, careful not to rouse anyone. Normally he would have knocked quietly, but he didn't expect Hinata to be awake after the beating she took—she'd be sleeping off the pain. As the light from the hallway cast itself on the bed, he saw he was right. Hinata was facing away from her door, lying on her side with the covers tucked up to her chest. She sported an ugly bruise on her left cheek and her face showed an expression of pain Naruto never wanted to see.

"I should've been there for you, Hinata," Cloneruto said softly, with a few tears falling from his eyes as the Tōton Jutsu deactivated. Hinata seemed to be able to register his words, because as soon as they left his mouth, her eyes flickered open.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she asked, too tired to question why he was in her bedroom this time.

"Shh...just go back to sleep, okay?" Hinata nodded and closed her eyes, and smiled when Cloneruto gently caressed her shoulder with his right hand. She looked a lot more peaceful now. The clone realized his presence alone had managed to dispel her nightmares, and if his soothing presence for her was anything like the boss's experience sleeping with her yesterday morning, he knew she wouldn't be having any more nightmares tonight.

Once the clone was certain Hinata wouldn't wake up again until sunrise, he carefully set a scroll down on her nightstand, and then sat down on the bed beside her, hovering his hands over her face. They started glowing an eerie orange, as the clone channeled what little amount of Kurama's chakra he could access towards Hinata. The bijū's chakra seeped into her being, and almost instantly soothed her sore muscles and healed all of the bruises she accumulated from her spar yesterday. The Hakke no Fūin Shiki might have been restored, but it had no effect on Naruto's ability to mold and adapt the portion of Kurama's chakra he could still use without triggering the safeguards Minato programmed into the seal and make it non-toxic. This was the only reason Ino hadn't also implanted the knowledge of Shōsen Jutsu inside Naruto's head when she gave him the Doton techniques he needed to help construct his safe house. Well, that and he'd more or less always been unfit to learn iryōjutsu, but having Kurama as a healing battery pretty much negated any need for Naruto to learn iryōjutsu anyway, as the Kyūbi's regenerative powers easily surpassed the abilities of most medical ninja.

With the second task now finished, Cloneruto dispelled and left Hinata to her dreams. And not a moment too soon, as Hisoka had noticed the orange glow coming from Hinata's bedroom during her evening rounds and decided to investigate.

How strange, the maid thought, seeing no one else inside the bedroom. She activated her Byakugan and observed traces of foreign chakra inside Hinata's circulatory network, but they were rapidly disappearing and had no adverse effect on her. Hisoka let it be for now, but she would be asking Hiashi about what she saw once he was awake and summoned her to his office.


Aburame clan grounds – 2330 hours

The rage Shino felt towards Naruto had lingered in his system for several hours after yesterday's exams ended, forcing him to stay out much later than his kinsmen expected. He hadn't returned to the compound until his father, Shibi personally retrieved him from an abandoned training ground. When Shibi had questioned him about why he had been away for so long, Shino gave the excuse that he'd required complete solitude to enhance his calm after being troubled by specific events, but offering no detail that would enable Shibi to identify those events, and assured him that the problem had been addressed. Which was a complete lie, since the problem had not been addressed, but the rage had dissipated enough that Shibi didn't call him out on the lie. The stoic Aburame had never been so ticked off, even including the extra fifteen years his new memories told him would be eroded away by the ripples in the time stream, as he was by receiving those memories and learning the reasons why they were forced on him.

Even his future self had not wanted to participate in the scheme to rectify what the Uzumaki's inner circle believed were a series of grave imbalances. He—or rather, his future self—had seen the points they made, but his acceptance of the role given to him had come reluctantly. Part of his current opposition to participation was wariness of his own clan. Unlike the Yamanaka, the Aburame hadn't been devastated in the future to the point that thorough research on the clan by Naruto and his allies was impossible, so there wasn't any evidence to support his future self's suspicions. But regardless, now that he had the memories, something didn't feel right. But most of it was anger towards Naruto. Anger and confusion, the latter bolstering the former.

Though the revelation of certain events in the future didn't help matters either, and that didn't account for the grudges his future self held against the Uzumaki.

The Rinnegan, the Jūbi, the Rikudō Sennin? To learn that these were not myths, but actually existed at certain points in history? Shino would have called the notions absurd had the memories not slammed into him with the force of a rampaging baku. He had been unprepared for the horrors of those memories, of a war that nearly destroyed the human species, even though Ino had put safeguards into the memory transfer which blocked out the worst parts until his mind adapted to them. And he hadn't reacted well to the forced acquisition of those memories.

Even in theory, time travel was a mind-boggling concept. The very idea that jikūkan ninjutsu could be taken that far if someone possessed sufficient power and talent was difficult even for an Aburame to process. Yet Naruto had proven it possible to put that theory into practice, and had also proven with his stunt that there were others who had also possessed the ability to swim through the time stream. To Naruto's credit, he had at least accepted the significance of tampering with time and acknowledged there would be unforeseen consequences, but to his discredit, he did it anyway. And Shino just did not understand why. He did not understand why Naruto would play God for that briefest blink of the cosmic eye; he did not understand Naruto's motives behind erasing fifteen years of human history. And this lack of understanding made Shino furious.

But to say that Shino was furious with Naruto would be a severe understatement. The sheer arrogance in the Uzumaki's stance that altering the destinies of millions in an instant could be justified, no matter how much the human species had suffered in the future, was simply incomprehensible to the Aburame. Both his inability to fathom Naruto's decision, and the decision itself fueled an extreme anger that would soon be considered legendary even by his own clan if it didn't abate.

Shino forced himself out of his family's living quarters and walked towards the clan's main meeting hall, seeking one of the entrances to the clan's tunnel network. Despite being one of the larger clans in Konoha as well as one of the village's three remaining "noble clans", the clan district was relatively small, at least above the surface. The reason for this was simple: Aburame Clan members tended to operate as part of a hive mind when grouped together. All of the important buildings in the district were built close to one another, with only the greenhouses having any significant separation from the bulk of the district's infrastructure.

The catacombs were generally not supposed to be used except in the event that Konoha was invaded. However, it was not out of the ordinary for lone clan members to be found down here when they wanted privacy. Shino's memories told him that he himself had made more than a few special excursions into the tunnels during his brief moments of reprieve in the future Naruto wanted to rewrite. But Shino drowned out those memories. He hated them even more than he hated the bad memories. Those precious few moments felt like little more than consolation prizes to him, even if his future self had cherished them.

Shino's blood suddenly ran cold. His kikaichū just picked up two chakra signatures along with the insect breeds their bodies housed, and he knew immediately that these two had absolutely no right to be on clan grounds. He knew they weren't acknowledged by the clan. And why? Because they had been handed over to ROOT. He'd even seen one of them actually volunteer for the program. But now they were here, and Shino knew he needed to find out why exactly.

Any thoughts of attempting to spy on the pair and learn their reasons for trespassing died a gruesome death when Shino's kikaichū detected a third chakra signature. He recoiled from the sudden realization brought on by this third presence. If she was down here, entertaining these outcasts...

One quick Shunshin and Shino was no longer in the catacombs. He remained tense for almost an hour after the incident, until he could be certain that the trespassers had either not detected him, or more likely, had not paid any attention to him.

If the enemy was this deeply rooted in the shadows of Konoha and even his own clan...Shino knew he would have to learn to set aside his and his future self's issues with Naruto, and come to understand and sympathize with Naruto's need to destroy that enemy.


And part six of the Reintroduction Arc is here. Yes, Naruto actually did something Plan-related that doesn't (directly) involve Hinata. You can thank Elim Garak for reminding me that I had to get around to showing some of Naruto's contingencies and fallback options. He also suggested to reduce the focus on relationships, though I confess this will be difficult as Naruto, broken as he is, WILL be selfish when it comes to Hinata. (The Romance genre tag is there for a reason, after all.) You can also thank the tag team of Solvdrage, Serious Sam, and Zorback32 for their assistance with this chapter. I won't apologize for taking so damn long. It would be pointless. I will, however, mention that during the course of writing this chapter, it got so long that I had to split it in two, so you can expect to see the next post within 2-3 weeks.

As you can see, the majority of voters for Chapter 4's poll wanted to place Hinata on Team Seven. The two of you who explained in your reviews for Chapter 4 why you felt Sakura should have stayed on Seven had some good points, though.

For anyone who has questions about the geography: I'm using the map that's found on Leaf Ninja.

Review Responses:

- CainOmega106: I am aware that the databooks claim Toneri is on the same level as Madara. I respectfully disagree with that assessment. Due to Toneri's limited screen time, it's difficult to accurately compare his and Madara's power levels; but while I believe Toneri has more raw power, if the two ever fought, Madara would probably win due to having more experience. Either way, the best description of Toneri is "glass cannon." Toneri used a planet-buster move against Naruto, a feat Madara did not demonstrate during the war arcs in the manga, yet once Naruto was able to hit Toneri, he went down to one punch, albeit a punch that channeled all of Kurama's chakra into Naruto's arm at once. I'd quote Solvdrage on the comparison he made, but I forgot what the quote was.

In the canon fight, we also saw Toneri suffer from PIS due to his lust for Hinata. This obsession obviously did not exist in the OTL of An Uzumaki Scorned, which leaves just the focus on punishing humanity for corrupting the teachings of Hagoromo and turning ninshū into ninjutsu. With no Hinata to mess him up in the head, you should assume Toneri took his fight with Naruto seriously and was not crippled by PIS, like Madara and Kaguya were.

- To anyone who reviewed that I didn't get to: My inbox is currently full and I'm...having problems trying to decide which PMs I should delete to make room for further conversation. Sorry, guys.

Fanfic recommendations:

Last chapter, I asked you guys to try to provide feedback for Zorback32's time travel story, The Pasts Future. About a day after I posted Chapter 5, he discontinued that fic, but has since rebooted it under the title "Lies in the Past, Danger in the Future". I will make the same request again for the rewrite. Any feedback you're willing to offer him would be helpful both to him, and to me since I am still his beta reader. While you're at it, maybe you could also try his other ongoing story, "The Ever Binding Seasons," although that one basically turns canon into more of a shōjo, so it might be harder to get into. I might also warn you that his updates are going to slow down for a while.

Also, recently The Gallant Toad Sage returned to the grid after over four years of absence. As I already mentioned in the summary and first chapter, this story was inspired in part by his own time travel fic "Betrayal", and I would ask that anyone who's reading this give GTS a shout out.

1) (Rated M – In Progress) "For the Love of the Hokage" by Hendrixson. I really wish this would update more often...then again, I'm not one who should be making that wish, with how slow my own updates are. But enough of that. This story, an AU set five years after the Fourth Shinobi World War and started before Obito said Kakashi would be Rokudaime instead of Naruto (and before we had knowledge of The Last), is told from Hinata's POV in every chapter except one. I also confess that this story inspired me to give Tokuma a significant role in An Uzumaki Scorned. If you haven't read this yet, you're missing out.

2) (Rated T – In Progress) "Signed: From Your Not So Loyal Author" by The Kazekage of Suna. This particular drabble collection deserves more exposure than it already has. At the time of posting this chapter, Kazekage-sama's journal has achieved over three thousand reviews, a truly impressive feat. And that review count is well-earned, as this drabble collection is simply hilarious. Don't go off reading this for the pairings, though; the very nature of the drabble collection demands they be more or less nonexistent (aside from the strongly implied ShikaTema). Before I move on to the other recommendations, I have one question to ask: why hasn't Kazekage-sama fired her (yes, her) hair stylist yet?

3) (Rated M – In Progress) "My Precious People" by Serious Sam. One of the best damn post-war Naruto AU stories on this site, the author adopted it from the original author Nube De Cristal and added a lot of depth to the continuation. Those of you who are also fans of MattWilson83 and his ongoing doujin NaruHina Chronicles will also enjoy the homages paid to Matt throughout this story. Just be mindful that there's multiple lemons here, along with graphic violence and blood.

Next chapter: The other two-thirds of this chapter. Wherein teams are assigned, Hinata has reactions, and Ino is up to her usual antics.