Chapter Two - "The Traitor"
"Let the meeting of the Konoha brotherhood begin..."
As he spoke those words, the silhouettes of the people behind the holograms stiffened, standing up straight to pay attention to the man who had recently become the leader of Konoha's Akatsuki branch. He wore a black cloak with red clouds printed across it, the trademark uniform that the heads in Amegakure had come up with for when Akatsuki would wage open war in the future.
Naruto was quick and concise in his agenda for the meeting, and nodded off towards a silver-haired boy who wore glasses. "Please report your findings to the rest of us, Kabuto."
The Yakushi boy pushed up his glasses higher up on his nose in a habit he had yet to break. "Certainly, Naruto-kun." Despite the circumstances that the brotherhood came together through, they maintained a decent amount of comraderie between them. Very few secrets were kept here, and Naruto, despite being the leader here, was merely a 'first amongst many' in the brotherhood. "As most of you have known," he began, "for the last few years I have been double-crossing Konoha and serving under Orochimaru of the Sannin as his second-in-command, and triple-crossing Orochimaru and reporting his plans and schemes to the Akatsuki. You should all know by now that Orochimaru is the leader of the newly formed Otogakure no Sato." Making sure all of the other seventeen regulars were paying close attention, he went forward with the news that had brought them there that day. "In eight months time, Orochimaru plans to invade Konoha, during the Chunin Exam Finals."
That caught everybody's attention (except for Naruto, who knew what Kabuto was going to say beforehand), and a slight buzz occurred throughout the rooms as people talked to their hologram neighbours. Once the chatter died down, Kabuto continued his talk. "Orochimaru plans to bring Iwa along for the invasion, who will readily agree in their hatred of Konoha as a result of their loss in the Third Great Shinobi War." Taking a deep breath, he continued. "One of the pillars of Orochimaru's plan is to bring along Han Kuroi, grandson of the current Tsuchikage, who will show up pretending to be the Tsuchikage through means of a powerful Henge. When the invasion starts, Han will let loose his demon in the middle of the arena, while Orochimaru will cut off the Sandaime Hokage by blocking him in a barrier." Kabuto let the silence reign, but everyone could tell it was for dramatic effect, not to let them talk, and waited for him to continue. "Orochimaru has recently worked out most of the kinks on his Edo Tensei technique, and is planning to summon the Shodai, Nidaime and Yondaime Hokages during the battle."
Immediately pandemonium erupted. Despite that everyone there was loyal to a higher goal than Konoha (something which Nagato and later Naruto were rigorous in making sure of, using such methods as truth serums, searching through each recruit's minds, and using seals to prevent them from possibly blabbing about the Akatsuki), they still had respect for the Hokages, and the snake using a perverted kinjutsu to revive their dead spirit to destroy the village they had defended with their lives was a mockery of their names.
Finally, one of the ninja present, a blond man in his late twenties, fielded a question onto the floor. "Is Konoha aware at all of Orochimaru's and Iwa's plans to invade?"
To this, Naruto just sneered. "No, their spymaster is far too busy being a lecher to find out." Many of those present flinched - about half of those present already knew that Naruto was the son of the Yondaime, and that Jiraiya was supposed to be Naruto's godfather. That Jiraiya had ditched his duties was a disgrace. Hell, the man dropped in Konoha every half year, was known for his vices, had over six hundred million ryo in the bank as a result of his Icha Icha books, and couldn't be damned to spend any time or money on his godson? The only reason Naruto even had an apartment today was that he was classified as an orphan, and hence drew a mild stipend from the orphan's fund.
Satisfied at letting out a microscopic fraction of the pent-up anger that he had gathered towards a select number of individuals over the year, Naruto continued on. "However, Yahiko-sama has decided that Konoha needs to become aware of the snake's plans." At the mention of their orange-haired head leader, everyone once again started to pay attention - they had seen how Yahiko's plans had worked out over the last few years. The only reason Orochimaru was likely even planning on invading Konoha was for revenge against his former sensei, and Iwa probably figured they had a great chance at succeeding if they had the assistance of another Hidden Village in the process.
Another ninja, who looked to be in his early twenties, wearing a chunin vest, with dark brown hair that spiked down hiding his right eye, asked, "Are we to assist Konoha above the capacity they expect us to do in the positions we are in?" This man in particular was a gate guard, whose emergency period measures would be to close the gate and lock it down. In reality, he had jonin-level strength, and was used to ferret information that various officials would let loose from their lips whenever he worked at the Hokage's office as a gofer.
Naruto shook his head. "For the most part, you should stand down from any extra duties. Sound has few ninja of any talent, and so Orochimaru is likely planning on using them as fodder. It is the Iwa nin that I am more worried about, as they are still great in numbers, and most will be of decent talent. Konoha will have the home advantage but Iwa has no qualms about using jutsus that cause property damage. All three villages will be weakened quickly. However," Here, Naruto clenched his fists tightly, "The Sandaime Hokage must not die. We will try our best to intercept Orochimaru and weaken him before the fight so that the Sandaime can injure or kill him, preferably the latter. If the Sandaime dies, the council will more than likely strangle as much power away as they can before a Godaime Hokage is appointed, and will probably end up provoking a war very quickly. If the Sandaime is alive, he will more likely than not call in one of the Sannin to become the Godaime. However, Konoha will still be too weakened to wage war against Iwa, and Iwa will not be able to press a long-term conflict."
Naruto's audience stood in silence for awhile, contemplating his orders, and the consequences of the Akatsuki's plans for the Chunin Exam invasion. The next time someone asked a question, another silver-haired male, a little bit older than Kabuto, who wore the chunin vest, spoke up. "How are we to go about in getting Konoha the information they need?"
"I'm glad you asked, dear sensei," Naruto said in response. "While several other of you have special orders that you will soon be receiving, your role will be the most important one here, sensei."
The unnamed man blinked. "What am I to do, Naruto-san?"
Naruto frowned slightly. He didn't really like having to do what he had to do, but it had to be done. "I am afraid that you will have to turn 'traitorous' to Konoha, sensei. In the process, you will be captured by Konoha ANBU, and then interrogated. There, you will claim to be working under Orochimaru, and tell about how his spy network is being put into overtime in preparation for his invasion." None asked about how the faux double-agent would be retrieved. They all knew Naruto was too loyal to his brother-in-arms to let one be executed. A couple who knew about his abilities had already worked out what Naruto would do: the Genin-to-be would use a chakra-heavy version of the Shōten no Jutsuthat the traitor would be able to control from afar. Once said traitor was executed, the T&I officials would burn his corpse, and that would allow Naruto to disperse the clone.
With that issue settled, Naruto surveyed his audience. "That said, does anyone else have any questions?"
The same blonde-haired man from earlier came up with something. "You said Han Kuroi is going to be replacing his grandfather the current Tsuchikage at the Chunin Exam finals. Where is Ōnoki going to be at the time?"
That was something Naruto had overlooked in the initial briefing, but had no problem answering. "Ōnoki is getting on in his old age. While he is still perfectly capable of defending Iwagakure, he doesn't have the strength to make the trek all the way from Iwa to Konoha and then still assist in a war." That answered, he then asked, "Any more questions?"
When none were to be had, he finished off, "Very well, then this meeting is over. You all either have your orders or will receive orders very soon. Dismissed." With that, Naruto began to power down the Gentōshin no Jutsu that allowed all of the members of the brotherhood to communicate long distance, and slowly the holograms began to flicker out and disappear.
Naruto sat back in the chair in his secret underground bunker, which he had established years prior for the members of the Akatsuki to go to in case of emergency, and for him to transmit from. It had taken a while to get it set up, particularly considering that he had to create a chakra-draining clone that would pretend to go about day to day business, live in his apartment, and having all scrying attempts by the Sandaime be redirected unto his clone. Soon enough, he would have a second roommate, a refugee from Konoha's law enforcement. With that thought aside, he let his mind drift to the last week...
Fū. Just last week he had made the trip to Ame, as he had made semiannually since the first time he was there and had dark revelations made to him. In the last two years, he had met his goddess, who was contained in the shell of a beautiful young girl with chocolate brown skin, light lime-green hair, and violet pupilless eyes. She was an amazon in her personality, yet fairly sweet once you got to know her well. She was also one of the four jinchuuriki that Yahiko had managed to bring into the fold of Akatsuki, and the only vessel not to be from one of the Five Great Hidden Villages, coming from Takigakure.
Because the Nanabi no Kabutomushi had been one of the eight original bijuu that Senju Hashirama had presented to the other nations, very few people hated Fū. Afraid of her, maybe - who wouldn't be when you contain a bijuu - but they didn't hate her, simply because the Nanabi hadn't been free in over seventy years except for between sealings. Other jinchuuriki who lost themselves to the corrupting influence of their bijuu, seal instability, or were simply bloodthirsty on their own might be loathed, such as Yagura of Kirigakure, but Naruto was the only one who was hated simply because he contained a bijuu, one who had attacked Konoha and slaughtered thousands.
As a result, Fū had been treated fairly well in growing up, and had managed to graduate from her academy at the age of nine - Takigakure had dwindled in power in the last half-century, so having a weapon of mass destruction on hand wasn't of much importance to them. She had since become a Special Jonin in Takigakure, while in truth she was a member of Taki's Akatsuki. She even geared her career path for maximum benefit - using her inhuman stamina and the flexibility of her body granted by the Nanabi, she had become a courier nin favoured by Shibuki, the current leader of Taki, and often delivered documents within half the time regular ninjas could. While she was out of the village, however, she crisscrossed the Elemental Nations, delivering important missives from member to member of the Akatsuki.
When Naruto first met her two years ago, it had been during a special meeting, in which Yahiko-sama had brought together the four jinchuuriki that were on his side already - Roshi (who had gone back to work in Iwa part-time, while working undercover), Gaara (who didn't really need to deceive his village leader, considering Sasori-sama was a willing accomplice of Yahiko-sama), Fū, and himself. The four had bonded together during the meeting, and Naruto had made good friends with Roshi and Gaara, but Fū was different. That was where he had fallen in love with her. She was fiery in her mannerisms, he was calm, but easygoing. They just simply clicked so well it was amazing, though she beat him up the first time he called her "Fū-chan". Naruto shivered. He definitely wouldn't call her that again.
When they first met, Fū was 13 - two years older than he was. The age difference was slightly awkward, but the simple difference of two years passing made it less so, and developing hormones made the relationship that much more enjoyable, as they had embraced often during the week he was in Ame. He loved the silky feeling of her hair, and the smooth texture of her skin, and holding her in his arms.
Naruto shook his head. As much as he loved to reminensce about his passion, he would have to hold that off until later. For now, he had a plan to put into motion. Tomorrow, worlds would collide, and he would need to induct another person to the house rules in his underground chamber.
"To pass this year's Genin test, you must be able to create three Bunshin of yourself. A bit of leeway will be given to the shade of your Bunshins and their features, but they must still be of reasonable quality. Any questions?" Iruka didn't expect there to be any questions, so he was surprised when he saw a hand be raised up by a blonde-haired trainee wearing an orange jumpsuit. He sighed, wondering what Naruto was going to ask. "Yes, what is it Naruto?"
"Hai, Iruka-sensei. Why is that, despite the academy records showing that for the last thirty years, the graduation test has always been randomized between the Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin, and never the same two years in a row, this makes it the third year in a row that the Bunshin being the graduation test?"
At this, several of the students in the room turned their heads around, looks of shock and awe on their faces at the class clown actually asking a good question. Naruto, for his part, actually knew the answer - the academy adminstration and several of the village councilors didn't want to see him graduate, and would do everything in their power to keep him from becoming a genin. He could just imagine their cackling with glee, hands upright and fingers pointed straight and tongue lolling when they learned he was unable to do a common Bunshin (though he could, but he deliberately botched it up every time), and the academy curriculum was 'mysteriously' changed three years ago to cut out chakra control exercises, which would instead be relegated to the responsibility of a jonin-sensei after graduation.
He could practically see Iruka sweating as he tried to come up with a solution, giving off light stammers and stutters in the meantime. He eventually came up with an OK answer. "The administration decided that every student should have a decent amount of chakra control before they can graduate." Acceptable, if it weren't for the fact they cut out the exercises.
Naruto let it go after that, not wanting to attract any more attention from his fellow classmates who were still in awe. He let out a light snort. Even if people paid attention to him, they didn't actually pay attention. That was how Nagato-sama managed to fool everyone in the village for over a year. Idly, he rubbed the back of his head, where Yahiko-sama had drawn two 'dummy' seals - they would look the exact same as the previous seals did, but they wouldn't actually work.
"Naruto, you FAIL!"
Way to lay it on there, Iruka-sensei, Naruto thought to himself. You were practically spitting it out there! Donning a look of dejection, he looked over at the sickly-looking clone laying on the floor.
"Hmm, Iruka," Mizuka said, catching his fellow instructor's attention. "We could pass him, after all he did create a clone."
Iruka shook his head. "No way Mizuki! All the other graduates made two decent clones. Naruto made just one, and it's pathetic. It isn't even standing upright!"
Mizuki backed off about halfway through Iruka's rant, and while Iruka was continuing to talk, he caught Naruto's gaze. Naruto gave the slightest of nods for Mizuki to interpret. Let the plan begin.
"What Iruka doesn't want you to know is that YOU are the Kyuubi no Kitsune that killed his parents!" Mizuki yelled at Naruto, spit and foam completing the scene of insanity as he cackled at Naruto's subsequent despair.
"I...I'm the Kyu-ubi?" Naruto asked, wailing in despair. Inwardly, he rolled his eyes. For all the good that Mizuki was doing in acting and hamming it up for Iruka's sake, he had the corniest lines. Still, it was good that Mizuki was pulling it off perfectly - he could feel the tingle at the back of his neck that indicated that the Hokage was watching the scene with his scrying orb.
For his own part, Mizuki could feel it too. Sneering at the Hokage's attitude of sitting in his office and watching the battle from afar (while pretending to be sneering at Naruto), he let his eyes glaze over a bit more. "Damn right, Kyuubi gaki! Orochimaru-sama claims you're the son of the Yondaime, but I find that hard to believe! Someone as noble as him could never be your father, you demonspawn!"
Hamming it up, Naruto repeated in his head like a mantra, but listened as he heard Mizuki shout out, "Time to die, gaki!" The silver-haired man took his Fuma Shuriken off his back, and threw it at the paralyzed genin, whose face had become even more contorted in shock at the revelation of his heritage.
He held his face in place as Iruka jumped in front of the Fuma Shuriken, taking it to his back. "W-Why?" Naruto asked, stuttering out in a manner that one could stutter only after seeing one of his trusted senseis attack another one of his trusted senseis, then reveal that his childhood hero damned his life by sealing an ancient force of nature that had wiped out a fifth of the village into him at his birth, then revealed that same childhood hero was his father, before trying to kill him, injuring his second sensei again in the process. Still, Iruka was a fairly nice guy. Naruto didn't want to cause him the pain that he was going through right now, but Iruka was too loyal to risk bringing into the brotherhood.
"Because...after my parents died, there was nobody to care for me, or acknowledge me...I turned to pranking and being a clown, just like you did, to get rid of the pain...Naruto, you must have been in a lot of pain as well...I'm so sorry, Naruto...I should've done a better job of helping you..." That was all Iruka managed to stammer out before he collapsed in the mud, his body having numbed itself temporarily, but he could still see the scene in front of him.
Naruto looked up at Mizuki, fury in his eyes. If they didn't get this over with quickly enough, others might arrive, and ruin his chance to demonstrate his 'newest' jutu. "You..." he mumbled, shaking a clenched fist at Mizuki, "NEVER lay a hand on Iruka-sensei AGAIN!" Forming his hand in a cross-shaped seal, he let out a roar that echoed throughout the forest, reaching the heavens above, "TAJU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"
Several hundred orange-clothed clones appeared, letting out a war cry proportional in volume to Naruto's earlier shout. Needless to say, even if he was controlling a clone through meditation from long-distance and only feeling a fraction of the sensations the clone was feeling, Mizuki still squirmed and cursed his leader for overdoing it on the punches.
A few minutes later, with Mizuki's clone near-dead on the ground, Iruka was astonished, as his body had recovered enough that he was able to move his arms and lower body. He could still feel his back bleeding out, but knew that it wouldn't be fatal unless he bleeded to death, which would take a while. "Naruto, come over here," he motioned to his favourite student, while he pressed his back against a tree-trunk to staunch the bleeding. Naruto let out a small "Huh?", but complied, walking over. "Close your eyes."
Naruto did so. Foolish, so easy to manipulate, he thought as he felt cold metal being pressed against his forehead. Still, he liked Iruka rather much, and even if the whole thing had been staged by him and Mizuki, he still couldn't help but feel appreciative of Iruka's efforts, as he slowly hugged the chunin who had relinquished his own hitai-ate.
The spectacle was broken up as an ANBU who donned an eagle mask appeared in the clearing. "Hokage-sama requests your presence in his office right away." The new genin and the academy teacher looked at each other, blinked together, and got up to head out to the Hokage Tower.
Funnily enough, the way this story originated was that I wanted at least one story where Mizuki wasn't a bad guy (or at least anti-Naruto), and that got me to thinking that he'd had to know Naruto a bit beforehand, and then a few random plot ideas I had smashed together (Illuminati-type organization, Yahiko living, a good Akatsuki) and resulted in this. Obviously, the forest scene differs a lot from canon now that Naruto and Mizuki are staging it for their own manipulative purposes. That, and no 'Naruto runs away and everyone follows after him' scene. Naruto knows that Iruka accepts him for who he is (or at least, who he supposedly is), and doesn't need acknowledgment. That, and I didn't really feel like writing the whole chase scene either. The same reason for why I sort of jump through the whole Genin exam scenes and Mizuki 'tricking' Naruto into stealing the forbidden scroll - I think it works well enough as a writing device while proofreading it to cut out a lot of the in-between stuff (and again I'm too lazy to write all of it through).
And now you know who the pairing is - Naruto/Fū, the seven-tailed vessel who hails from Takigakure. Damn she's hot. I wanted a jinchuuriki pairing here, and while I heart Yugito, I already have another story idea with a Naru/Yugi, and I don't want to use the same pairing in more than one story (seriously, it's sickening looking at an author with like seven or eight fics, and EVERY ONE OF THEM is a Naruto/Hinata.) Perhaps the introspective here is a bit sappy, but I want to show how Naruto has managed to find companionship, even if out of the village.
Thanks for the Yagura feedback. The main thing that I'm undecided on is the Wave mission - if I work it out that Yagura isn't being manipulated because Madara doesn't exist in this 'verse, should I still have the bloodline purge and Swordsmen revolt? Because if I don't, then I'll have to change the Wave mission or make a new mission up entirely since Zabuza and Haku wouldn't be nuke-nin.
Speaking of Yagura, is it just me or does he and Kabuto seem to look a bit similar? In grey-scale they both have the same relative shade of hair, and similar hair styles. Yagura in the artbook and on the cover of chapter 422 (or whatever chapter it is) doesn't share that much of a resemblance, but his picture in 458 shows a bit of a different pose that makes the resemblance a bit closer.
Next chapter: the Sandaime makes an appearance, you will likely end up cursing the Sandaime even more, Genin Team assignments