Title: New Future of the Legends
Author: Nakora-chan
Email: nakora(dot)chan(at)gmail(dot)com
Series: Naruto
Rating: T (may end up M later on)
Pairings: None (If I have time later on, I will create an alternate version with pairings)
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Summary: Three years have past since Naruto has left Konoha. It is about time that he returns, but when he does, he reveals things about himself and Konoha that has never been known to the public. Despite what he has become, he strives to break free from all bonds.
Warnings: AU, OC, OOC, blood, abuse, mutilation (last three will occur later on)
Chapter 3: Revelations That Are Doubted
"What are we doing here?"
"Tsunade-sama asked me to survey the area yesterday," Neji easily responded his Byakugan active and avidly searching the area. Tsunade yesterday asked him to survey the area for any signs of activity or genjutsu. Although it was incredibly odd of her to ask, he still did as she asked but found nothing out of the ordinary. The area was above the rest of Konoha, and behind the Hokage Monument. Rarely anyone visited the region there, and it was a large area for storage and for evacuations.
To many of the civilians, the area was just called the Storage District, but to the shinobi, it was called Evacuation Valley. None of the shinobi actually understood why it was called Evacuation Valley since the name stuck after being called that after so long by each of the Hokage. The area was a green forest region in a valley not so deep into the Hokage Mountain, and it was just a great expanse of green forest with nothing happening in the vicinity.
Everyone—everyone knew that there was nothing in Evacuation Valley; and Tsunade knew that and surely nothing wrong had happened for her to ask a Hyuuga to scout out the area… right?
Sakura knelt down to get a better ground perspective, and looked up at the two. "And did you find anything?"
Neji shook his head before searching the area with his eyes activated again. "No, but I think there may be something here after all."
"What makes you say that?" asked Shikamaru as he walked out from the group and looked up into the trees.
"Tsurugi-san's deception."
Surprised, Sakura spun around to look at the white-eyed brunette. Getting to her feet, she quickly asked, "What do you mean?"
The Nara sighed and rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Tsurugi was fooling all of us. Everyone in the audience except you knew that he was; his name, his appearance, and his entire personality was all fake. Nothing of it was real, we think."
The medic-nin frowned but didn't say anything. She knew that there were some aspects of individuals that more experienced shinobi could catch that she couldn't. Both Neji and Shikamaru were more perceptive of these things than she was, so she wasn't one to argue with them.
Then she realized, "Then Tsunade-sama has been hiding something really big?"
The two brunettes nodded slowly and carefully; they knew that Sakura was really loyal to the Hokage and trusted the Hokage implicitly. They had to be careful whenever they talked of anything that would draw suspicion to their superior.
Quickly trying to rectify the situation, Neji pointed out, "She was acting strangely yesterday when she called Hiashi-sama and me in to tell us about the evaluation, and I do believe, by Shikamaru's account of your own story, that she shut the door in your face."
Sakura pouted but didn't argue.
"I get it! I get it! I'll go! Don't you dare step out of this place!"
The three turned towards the direction of the voice, starting to walk towards the voice. For a moment, they thought that it sounded like someone they knew and someone that should have returned a long time ago, but they quickly dispelled that idea when they spotted a flash of long black hair.
Looking at each other, they decided not to call out him for a while, just to glean more information from the mysterious character.
"Yes, that's an order!"
Finally, as they hid behind several trees a few meters, they finally caught sight of the same shinobi they evaluated earlier that day. His head was turned back as he walked towards them and appeared to be listening to something that none of them could hear. He was now dressed in a very traditional and formal black kimono with a plain white haori. Adorning his feet were wooden geta, similar to the ones that one of the three legendary Sannin was known to wear.
"You may come out now."
Startled, they slowly and cautiously stepped out from behind their respective trees and saw a gently smiling Tsurugi with his hands clasped under his kimono sleeves. Their postures stiff and prepared for a confrontation, they watched the new shinobi carefully.
Tsurugi just turned slightly and indicated to nowhere in particular. "Would you like to join me for dinner?"
Shikamaru shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned back, his shoulders slumping down as he eased into a more comfortable stance. He sighed and said, "I don't see anything but a cluster of trees."
The shinobi looked over to where he was indicating before giving them a sheepish smile. "Sorry about that, but I have to know whether you'd like to join me for dinner or not before I say anything else."
Sakura glanced briefly at the other two males and then stepped forward, smiling benignly. "What are you having for dinner?"
"I'm making miso soup, temaki zushi, and yakisoba," replied Tsurugi.
She nodded and turned her head to look at the other two, indicating that they should trust the relatively unknown shinobi. She knew that the two naturally distrusted others that lied to them outright, and that was what Tsurugi did. But there was something about this newcomer that was familiar, though she couldn't place her finger on it, and it made her relax in his presence.
Not waiting for the other two males to decide, Tsurugi decided to go ahead. He stepped away from them and towards the direction he was pointing, bowing a bit as a gracious host. "Then, please step in."
They frowned. What did he mean 'step in'? There were in the middle of an empty forest, not a house or a semblance of shelter in sight, and he just randomly said to 'step in'. Then it clicked in their heads: a genjutsu covering an entire area, a genjutsu resembling or maybe even the same as the one that Tsurugi was using to hide his true identity.
Walking in the direction indicated, they cast an eye on Tsurugi to gauge his reactions but receive true sincerity.
They blinked.
The moment that they stepped into the area hidden by the genjutsu, they were assaulted by a spectacular sight. Trees and the green earth was replaced by a vast clearing. Looking back at the trees behind them, they realized there were only a few layers of trees separating the clearing from the rest of Konoha and acting as a protective barrier and wall. But looking at the clearing, they could understand why there was a genjutsu.
It was a mini-village in the valley. There was a large manor up front and the most prominent symbol of the owner's prestige and greatness; taking in its entirety, they could probably say that the manor was the largest in all of Konoha, larger than the Hyuuga manor and the Uchiha manor. It was no small wonder why the properties were not directly in Konoha. The architecture was truly Japanese, and in a perspective, it did look like a temple. It was a traditional Japanese manor, complete with a small temple a few hundred meters away from the main house and a dojo a similar distance away.
The many smaller houses in the clearing past the great manor could house the entire population of Konoha albeit a bit tightly, they estimated. The houses were built in a style similar to the main manor, and from the slight unkempt appearance, no one had lived in the area for a long time.
Looking down at their feet, they realized that they were no longer on cold ground, but walking on cold cobblestone. The grass had stopped a few meters behind them. Faintly, they could hear the gentle lapping of water and the occasional tap of bamboo on hard stone.
Glancing back at Tsurugi, Sakura remarked with an awed expression, "It's beautiful."
Tsurugi stepped up beside her and with them gazed at the scene with an appreciative eye. "I know." Shaking his head, he gestured forward and started walking towards the front doors. "Shall we?"
The three nodded lightly and followed.
"Sennin-sama?"
Sakura, Shikamaru, and Neji looked at each other. 'Sennin-sama?'
A faint and rumbling voice came from deep within the manor and called out, "Sennin-sama? What the hell are you trying to pull…"
In the doorway of the manor stood a white-haired man that all of them knew. They stared at him and shouted in disbelief, "Jiraiya-sama?"
"Oh. It's you three," said Jiraiya in a deflated tone. The man glanced with a perturbed expression flashing across his face. Turning a bit, he gestured to all of them. "I guess you better come in then. I wouldn't want Tenkou thinking I'm preventing him from being a gracious host."
Turning to look at Tsurugi who merely nodded in acquiescence, they walked up the stairs and changed their shoes in the genkan. They waited until their host closed the door behind him and let him pass by.
He looked at them and asked politely, "Would you like a tour of the house?"
Tsurugi took them through the manor and gave them a brief spiel about the history of the manor and why the valley was called Evacuation Valley. Tsurugi's clan was among the first to settle the region and had already starting building its manor in the valley of the Hokage Monument before the building of the rest of Konoha. Because his clan had taken up the entire valley, Konoha could only be built on the land below the mountain, and the clan had guaranteed usage of the valley and the clan properties in case of emergencies. So whenever there was an evacuation in Konoha, the civilians were supposed to reside in the living quarters that belonged to the clan.
There wasn't much about the clan history, because the clan tended to lead a very normal and secluded life that very incidents happened regarding the clan. But, apparently despite the quiet and normalcy of Tsurugi's clan, there were troubled times in the past including the near extinction of the entire clan during the Third Great Shinobi War.
He said that because there were so few members of his clan and those members were out of Konoha, in the last evacuation during the Sand-Sound invasion, the civilians could not be evacuated to the valley and into the living quarters. The entire estate was covered in a genjutsu linked to the Clan Head and invisible to everything, including the Byakugan. The only way to enter the estate was to either be a part of the clan or be invited by a member of the clan that had been given permission to give invitations. So since there were no members available during the Sand-Sound invasion, the civilians had to relocated to evacuation routes in the Hokage Mountain itself.
It really didn't matter though, Tsurugi went on to say. No one had used the valley since the Third Great Shinobi before the clan's near extinction. Nearly the entire clan was killed so that none of them could give permission to anyone to use the valley, preventing anyone from seeing the valley and using it as a safe haven; because of this massacre, the clan had fell out of knowledge and so the valley hadn't been used since then. He waved aside the worries though; he told them that once he conformed to his environment and once he settled all his affairs, he would bring his clan back from the mists of time.
Finally, Tsurugi directed them to the kitchen where they sat down at the low table on zabutons. Jiraiya, who had left them when the four had entered the manor, was sitting there as well, quietly staring at the sake that he was drinking. The Sannin had already gone through one bottle and onto his second as he looked at the sake saucer with a black expression.
He looked up at them after a while of waiting and stated, "You want to know about Naruto."
They nodded only for Jiraiya to sigh wearily.
"Naruto's still on a training mission I sent him on. It's going to take a few weeks to complete, maybe a few months depending on how well prepared he is."
Sakura protested, "You sent him out alone?"
Jiraiya raised an eyebrow curiously and leered at her suspiciously, "And? He's a shinobi."
She opened her mouth to give a retort but as the Sannin's words rolled through her mind, she closed her mouth and didn't say anything in return.
"Would you like anything to drink?"
The group turned their heads to watch Tsurugi kneel down, placing the tray of amenities down on the table and clearly waiting for a response.
Tea was the first thing on their lips, and after the extremely long-haired shinobi placed out tea cups and poured out the tea from an ornate china kettle, he sat down and took out a sake saucer, similar to Jiraiya's, and poured himself some sake from the sake bottle.
As soon as he took his initial sip of tea, Shikamaru remarked bluntly, "You're drinking sake."
Tsurugi only nodded before taking another sip.
Sake wasn't exactly illegal for shinobi of any age to drink. Hell, they could have started drinking alcohol when they were twelve, but it wasn't well looked upon for any shinobi under the age of twenty-one to be drinking simply because alcohol damages the human body as it's completing maturation. If anyone didn't really care about their bodies as shinobi, then they would have started much earlier on. There went a saying amongst shinobi that if you're old enough to kill, then you're old enough to drink. Most shinobi didn't hold it to heart, but clearly, Tsurugi used the proverb in its full context.
"It's not good for your body," Sakura admonished lightly, her medic-nin side coming out.
Again, Tsurugi nodded before taking another sip.
Jiraiya explained, "He's been drinking since he was thirteen."
They stared at the underage drinker.
"He apparently has a high tolerance for alcohol; he can hold more than three times his weight in sake," Jiraiya said with a maniacal glint in his eyes. Lowly, he mumbled conspiratorially, "Can't wait to get both him and Tsunade into a drinking contest."
Two chuunin and one jounin looked at the newcomer in disbelief. With their maturing bodies (and they of course were assuming that Tsurugi was about their age simply on his appearance), pronounced amount of alcohol would undoubtedly stifle their growth and their shinobi abilities, but before their eyes was living proof of a shinobi drinking from the age of thirteen and skilled enough to remain neck to neck with the legendary Copy Ninja Kakashi.
Silence fell as they continued to enjoy their respective drinks, and it was nearing seven o'clock.
"Jiraiya-sama."
Everyone looked at Tsurugi, who spoke very unexpectedly and very softly. The boy nursed his sake saucer in his hands reverently and didn't dare look at the four people staring at him and waiting for him to speak.
"He wants me to go back."
Only Jiraiya got the hidden meaning in those words while the other three were left in confusion.
To them, it seemed unfair that they were left out of the scope of things. Neji, as a Jounin, would have privilege to get information, but since he was only a rookie Jounin, his rank wasn't enough to pry information out of these two. Even though they didn't know exactly why the Hokage had asked them to evaluate Tsurugi, they understood that he had been out of Konoha for a very long time and had to be evaluated in order for his rank to properly reflect his skill. They also understood that for whatever reason Tsurugi was out of Konoha for such a long time had something to do with his previous statement.
Leaving them to their thoughts, Tsurugi got to his feet and smiled. "Dinner will be ready in not too long. I hope you are still hungry."
No one said anything as he left to prepare dinner.
Jiraiya waited with Naruto as the boy waved his friends off. The blonde was still under the disguise and had acted the perfectly annoying person that was his disguise. If he didn't know better, he would have thought that the blonde was replaced by a complete stranger.
Dinner had been uneventful. The three guests had been polite and didn't pry too much in their affairs, but their curiosity shone clearly in their eyes. Both he and Naruto had not given away too much information, and he himself wasn't sure exactly what Naruto wanted his friends to know, so he kept to the basics and chose not to reveal anything more than what Naruto had already told them about himself.
The dinner itself was resplendent. It only helped draw away suspicion from Naruto's disguise compared to Naruto's real character. The boy had been polite, annoying but polite, and constantly diverted the three's attention away from questions the boy knew were coming. What Naruto had learned over the past three years truly helped in the dinner conversation. He personally thought that the boy wouldn't have it in him to blatantly lie to his friends about who he was, but he thought wrong.
Once the guests were firmly out of sight and the genjutsu over the Estates once more hid them from the world's prying eyes and eavesdropping ears, Naruto sat down on the stone steps leading up to the front doors of the manor. The boy didn't even have enough propriety to dust off his seat before he sat down, but then after dinner's performance, he allowed his student some leniency.
Staring off in the direction that the boy's friends had left, Jiraiya had to ask. "You want to protect them."
Also looking the same way, Naruto nodded solemnly. He still wore the ridiculous disguise in case something happened to the genjutsu barrier that kept away wandering eyes, just like how those three had seen him out of the Estates and in the middle of seemingly nowhere.
"I want to tell them, Ero-Sennin," he replied.
Inwardly, he twitched at the brat's nickname. He had been trying for the past three years to get the brat to call me by some other name that wasn't so disparaging to his reputation.
"I really want to tell them," he repeated.
"But?" Jiraiya slowly urged.
He knew what Naruto had to say. He knew that Naruto knew that he knew, but he still wanted the boy to say it outloud. The boy had kept it bottled up for a long time, and he had no one his age with whom he could share his burden. And even now, when he had finally returned to the village, he still couldn't get the words off his chest.
Deep down, he pitied the brat. He didn't want to pity the boy at all; after all, Naruto wouldn't want his pity or his sympathy. That would only degrade the boy's pride, but still… he couldn't help it. With all the bad experiences in the past, Naruto needed all the help and support that he could get from his friends, but he still couldn't get it because of the things happening now around the world.
Naruto pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I don't want them to get hurt."
He sighed. Still standing behind the boy, he looked down at his charge and lightly admonished, "They're shinobi, Naruto. They're going to get hurt whether you want them to or not."
"I know," said Naruto, not looking back at his sensei. "I just… I just want to spare them a little bit of pain though."
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
"Your condition," started Jiraiya.
Naruto quickly interrupted, "I won't tell them." He paused before continuing, "Not unless it's necessary."
Jiraiya frowned. The boy should know better than to withhold information from his peers. If he guessed Tsunade's reaction to Naruto's jounin application correctly, then Naruto would be going on missions with his peers despite the difference in rank. That lone secret could mean the success or failure of the mission, and Naruto didn't seem– or rather didn't want to grasp that concept.
"You have to trust them."
The boy hung his head in defeat and nodded weakly. "I just don't know if I can trust myself."
He suppressed the urge to sigh. After the incident a week into their training expedition, the boy's self-confidence had dwindled, not so much that it was a total change of character, but enough where he wasn't as upbeat and bouncy anymore. If the change had happened under more fortunate circumstances, he would have welcomed the change with open arms, but with the reason why it did happen as it was, he couldn't help but blame himself.
"You're stronger than you think."
Again, Naruto said, "I know. It's just that constant feeling of doubt." Tilting his head back, he looked up at the sky. "I remember being hyper, hot-tempered, gullible… so free, but now…" He looked down at his open hands. "Look at me."
Sensing that the boy's thoughts were drifting in a bad direction, he quickly let a moment of silence hang between the two before changing the subject. He carefully repeated what Naruto had said earlier. "He wants you to go back."
Instantly, the aura around Naruto changed from a deep melancholy to a smooth detachment.
He knew that the brat would not immediately respond to a statement like that, so he calmly asked, "When does he expect you back?"
"Two weeks."
Eyes widening, he couldn't help but stare at his charge. "Two weeks? Why are you telling me now?" He stopped ranting. He then asked, "For how long are you staying?"
"Three months."
"Three months?" he exclaimed, shocked. In two weeks, the boy would be gone for the next three months in a place that he hadn't even wanted the boy to go to in the first place. Originally, he had only been at that place for two weeks at the most before leaving for a month and then going back; this time, he would be gone for a much longer period, a period of time that would make him literally bite his nails off in fear of the boy getting into trouble. He would have been fine if Naruto was just going back in two weeks, but it was the three month period that made him anxious. "Why?"
Naruto shrugged. Pushing himself onto his feet, he brushed the dirt and dust off his clothes and turned to look at his sensei. With a hard expression on his face, he explained, "He said that something big was going to happen soon, and he wanted me back to do something."
Jiraiya only nodded and mused aloud, "Akatsuki is on the move again, so his plans must move up as well." His eyes narrowing, he pointed out, "The contract—"
"Comes into effect during the three months," Naruto interrupted with unconscious rudeness. "I know; there's nothing I can do about that. I can try to get out a bit early, but—"
"If the contract comes into effect, you will get out," ordered Jiraiya sternly, leaving no room for disobedience.
The brat glared at him but without malice.
"It will compromise your mission, but your safety is more important than the mission," he explained.
In his mind, he knew that the brat would do everything in his power to use the power of the contract, and he applauded the brat for that. But, there still was the chance that the boy would be outed and harmed because of it. Retreating would be the only viable option if the contract became too much of a strain, but the brat was stubborn as a mule.
Naruto didn't say anything, but he knew that the boy knew that it was his only choice, despite all that he could and wanted to do.
"Ohayo."
Tsunade turned to greet the group of three, Neji, Shikamaru, and Sakura. Shockingly, they held themselves composed and emotionless; something must have happened yesterday after the spar evaluation. She didn't put it past them not to have revisited the Estates after what Naruto revealed during the spar.
Warmly, she said in response, "Ohayo."
All three bowed politely to all the Council members in the room, even though not all were paying attention. Homura and Koharu were already seated and discussing something with each other over Tsunade's seat between them, blatantly ignoring everyone else in the room. Tsume sat to the right of Hiashi with Shikaku, lazily talking. Hiashi, on the other hand, talked to no one but rather was going over papers that he brought as they waited.
Neither Kakashi nor Gai had arrived, and knowing those two, everyone in the room didn't really expect either of them to get on time, Gai only because he would be following Kakashi around wherever the tardy jounin would be in the morning.
The three sat down on the other side of Koharu and continued their discussion.
She let out a breath of exasperation; personally, she didn't even want to have an evaluation like this ever, especially for Naruto. The boy's skill could not be determined in a spar like the one yesterday, but only in actual combat. She would have had him join a jounin on a team, preferably Kakashi's team, and let the team evaluate his performance, but with the jounin status application, everything became much more difficult and consisted of more paperwork. Inwardly, she shuddered.
"I see we are still waiting on Hatake-san and Maito-san."
Having sensed his presence for a while, Tsunade smiled lightly and told him, "I'm glad that you haven't picked up his annoying habit of being late." She turned around and she noticed that he wore the same outfit that he did yesterday. His face was bright and smiling, a difference from the calm that she was used to seeing on his face nowadays.
Naruto put on a mocking hurt look and held a hand to his chest dramatically. "I'm hurt that you would actually think that of me, Tsunade-sama."
She was also glad that in his disguise he didn't have the nerve to actually call her 'ba-chan'.
"I SHALL DEFEAT YOU, MY ETERNAL RIVAL, YOU AND YOUR HIP ATTITUDE!"
Hearing those loud words, Naruto dropped his head into his hands and shook his head in horrified disbelief. Suddenly, he grabbed at Tsunade's clothes and pleaded with watery puppy eyes, "Please, get me out of here. I don't want to be here with—"
"WE HAVE ARRIVED AND I SHALL PROVE MY FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTER!"
"—them!"
Amused with Naruto's predicament, she smirked. "Too late."
Kakashi, ignoring Gai, walked up to Tsunade and gave a light pout. "Didn't you tell me to come here at six in the morning, Tsunade-sama?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow in growing amusement. "Yes."
"Then why is everyone still here?"
With a full blown smirk, she easily replied with an added careless wave of the hand, "Oh, I told them to be here at nine, so you're on time."
The jounin gave her a horrified look and slowly inched away from the group and towards the door. Instantly, one spandex-wearing jounin and a chuunin with extraordinary strength each held onto his arms, preventing the chronically tardy jounin from running away. ("No!!")
Brushing off the loud screaming of the one-eyed jounin, Tsunade walked away from the group and to her seat between Homura and Koharu, who stopped their conversation as soon as she got within hearing range of what they were saying. She narrowed her eyes, glancing quickly between the two teammates of her late sensei.
These two had never caused much trouble in Konoha matters before, and she doubted that they would now, but she always held the older generation with some sort of suspicion. The older generation would never openly discuss their thoughts unless they were for the good of Konoha, and they at times were harder to read than even the most stoic of shinobi under her command.
Pushing aside her thoughts for later, she sat down and glared at the attention-drawing trio near the door. The three immediately settled down and scattered to their various positions throughout the room. Sakura returned to her seat with Shikamaru and Neji, who only shook their heads; Kakashi and Gai took their seats by Shikaku and Tsume, who casually let the two new jounin join their conversation.
Naruto stood in front of them, casually and smiling gently as befit his character.
Clearing her throat to gather the room's attention, Tsunade in a formal tone started the meeting. "Two days ago, I sent a missive out concerning a shinobi evaluation I wished each of you to attend, and yesterday, we gathered and witnessed that evaluation. I now ask that each of you present your assessment of yesterday's match."
Almost immediately, Homura raised his hand and began to speak. "Tsurugi-san did not give us a performance lacking skill and ability, but I must point out that he did not show his abilities to the fullest."
Without delay, Koharu added in, "Despite that, merely having his level of skill does not by definition make him a jounin, as per his skill level. He must demonstrate skills in leadership and strategy."
"And you did not think that yesterday's match was enough evidence of strategy?"
Everyone's head turned towards Shikaku. He casually waved his hand at the two aging advisors and explained, "The boy plainly predicted every single move of the match just by identifying Kakashi's first stance; he hadn't broken a sweat, and he kept his pace equal to Kakashi's. I'd say that his strategic skills are not lacking."
Tsunade privately smirked. Shikaku wasn't only pointing out points of Naruto's performance yesterday, but he was also putting down the advisors on either side of her. She didn't doubt for the slightest moment that Tsume wouldn't do the same thing.
And just as she predicted, the dog jounin did. "The boy has been on a long-term mission; he hasn't had any contact with Konoha at all during his mission. How on earth do you expect him to gain leadership abilities without a team to lead?"
"Although I do not entirely agree with Homura-san and Koharu-san," interjected a calm collected voice, "I believe Tsurugi-san displays jounin-level skill, including jounin-level strategic skills, but as a chuunin, Tsurugi-san will learn how to harness his abilities to the fullest and gain enough experience to be granted jounin rank without taking the jounin exams."
Homura nodded slowly, seeming not to disagree but not wanting to give up his position. "Your idea, Hyuuga-san, has merit, but I must point out that the only display of genjutsu ability was his appearance, and that is not enough to warrant jounin rank."
Hearing all the Council members around her argue about the boy's skill was causing her a migraine. Rubbing her temples soothingly, she didn't intend to grumble her thoughts loudly. "If you had not interrupted me, you would have known that the boy doesn't want the jounin rank."
That certainly caused everyone's head to turn again.
Koharu at her side then requested, "Please do explain, Hokage-sama."
Heaving a mental sigh, she clasped her hands and explained, "The day that Tsurugi returned, he immediately handed to me a jounin-status application."
From the quiet group of three, Neji finally voiced his confusion, "Jounin-status application? Doesn't only apply when someone applies for a mastery of a certain area?"
She nodded, "Tsurugi gave me a jounin-status application for seal mastery."
This brought wide eyes from everyone. All of them knew that there hasn't been a single seal master since the Yondaime, and for there to be one now was extraordinary. Not that the younger generation knew but all the adults knew; in order for a shinobi to try out for jounin-status in seal mastery, he or she had to create a seal that displayed a different level of complex sealing because ever since the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi, no one has been able to display that kind of prowress. Now out of the (seeming) blue comes a unknown shinobi claiming to have done just the thing.
Koharu looked at Naruto pointedly, "You do know, boy, that there hasn't been a seal master since the Yondaime?"
Naruto merely nodded and smiled and acted his part. "I'm sure that my application will pass with my entry for seal mastery."
Silently, Tsunade handed the old female advisor the scroll that Naruto had given her the first day. She didn't spare a glance to the disguised blonde, in case someone in the room thought that some conspiracy was happening in front of his or her eyes.
The advisor took the scroll, unfurled it, and skimmed over the contents before rolling it back up and giving it back to Tsunade to hand it over to Homura, who repeated Koharu's actions. Homura passed it onto Hiashi, and by the end, everyone in the room had seen the contents of the scroll, though Neji, Shikamaru, and Sakura had little idea what the contents meant.
No one said anything until Sakura asked her question. "Exactly what is that seal supposed to do?"
Watching Naruto closely, she saw the boy turn and look at her apprentice. Apparently, the boy kept his cover and hid all his inner emotions, only showing the superficial emotions of his disguise. More calmly and coolly than she expected of him, he answered, "It's a cure for Orochimaru's cursed seal."
Immediately, Sakura stiffened.
Tsunade sighed. She had hoped that her apprentice wouldn't react the way she did to Orochimaru's name; and if things had turned out differently for Naruto, the boy would have done the same thing, not that she could blame him. But with things turning out the way they did, she had a guilty thought about the pity she felt for the boy, yet applauded the boy for his superb acting skills.
For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, Gai spoke up and voiced his opinion. "Even though I see no faults in his seal, I still cannot condone experimentation on our only cursed seal victim."
Slowly, Tsunade dropped her head into her hands. Her apprentice and her friends didn't know about Anko's situation, but it couldn't be helped. She could only hope that they won't spill anything important.
"From the information gathered by my contacts," Naruto started slowly and carefully, seeming not to want to give out the particular information. Everyone listened in. "There is a facility that Orochimaru used in his initial experiments with the cursed seal," Naruto intoned without any sort of hint of implication.
All heads nodded, understanding though Sakura gave a frown in silent protest.
Hiashi then said, "Then we will send shinobi—"
"That won't be necessary," interrupted Naruto.
The Hyuuga Head narrowed his eyes on the boy and carefully asked, "What do you mean, Tsurugi-san?"
"The contract is coming in to effect."
That was all that it took for most of the adults in the room to freeze up and pale. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Neji were left out of the loop, confused and startled by everyone else's reaction.
From the moment that she knew about the contract years ago, Tsunade knew that the clans were glad that she wasn't a part of that branch of the clan. Inwardly, she cackled with glee; this would be the first time in so many years that the clans would have to succumb to another clan, especially the Hyuuga to another. The mayhem would be great!
Naruto then reassured them despite their fears. "The contract still won't come into effect for a few months, so you can rest assured."
Tsume leaned forward and asked earnestly, "You're a part of that clan?"
The boy just smiled and nodded, causing the adults in the room, save Tsunade, to shudder in apprehension.
"Then," started Hiashi, his voice under control but his skin still ashy, "whenever you are ready to begin, please alert us."
Finally, Kakashi chimed in, his composure returned despite the upset, "I suppose that we should allow Tsurugi-kun Special Jounin rank; his seal is complete and he shows enough mastery to have made the seal."
Koharu, her eyebrows furrowed and a frown set upon her face, protested and argued, "There are still other tests that need to be given to show complete mastery."
"Yes, but those can be given after the facility is found."
The advisor didn't retort and settled down in her seat, not finding another argument to give to support her position.
Seeing that it was finally settle, and only giving the smallest mental thanks to the one-eyed jounin, Tsunade asked, "Are there any final objections?" No one raised their hands or spoke, their eyes all on Tsunade. She smiled and spoke to Naruto, "Then, congratulations, Tsurugi Tenkou, you are now a Special Jounin."
Naruto gave a soft smile. "Thank you."
She looked back to everyone else in the room and thanked everyone for their time and efforts, all people in the room understanding the dismissal and getting to their feets. Seeing that the youngest three, Kakashi, and Gai were making their way to Naruto, she also drifted towards them, stopping every now and then to talk to the other people in the room.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted Kakashi reaching Naruto first and congratulating him on his achievement, genuine sincerity written all over his face. Naruto immediately cringed when Gai started spouting off words about the 'Flame of Youth'. Sakura, Shikamaru, and Neji each gave their congratulations and talked to their friend for a while, not knowing at any time that he was their friend, before walking away and waving their good-byes. Kakashi and Gai also left the boy, smiling and waving.
Moving away from the people leaving the room leaving the room mainly empty, she walked to the last person in the room. "I suppose that you knew all along that you would get the rank, right brat?"
Naruto spun around and his smile became brilliant, showing his honest happiness. He playfully smirked and mocked, "Oh course I knew, Tsunade-obachan. After all, I'm the great Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha."
To be continued…
Author's Notes:
Yay! Chapter 3 is done! It's been exactly 2 weeks since the Interlude was put up, and I'm glad that I finished writing this on time. Right now, I'm supposed to be helping out my mom, but I needed to finish writing this. You can't believe how much I cut out from this chapter; I cut out THREE scenes! A Shikamaru POV, the sentou scene, and a Sakura POV. I'll probably make an Intermission for Sakura's POV, but I'm not really sure about that because I need to be working on Chapter 4. But if I do it, I need to finish it before the end of this week.
Chapter 3 is just about a full 15 pages long, just like I said that all my chapters would be from now on. So about those 3 cut scenes, I have to leave them cut (except Sakura POV) and you probably won't ever see them. I've started working on Chapter 4 but it'll take some time for me to finish with just the outline, since I've finally decided that I'm going to have the Gaara retrieval arc in there, so that'll take a few chapters or so and it'll give me time to revise and rewrite Chapter 8, which will end up even further into the story than I initially intended, but ah well…
This chapter isn't a really funny or serious chapter; I did try to add humor with Gai and Kakashi's arrival, but I usually don't do a good job of those. This chapter was a more informatative chapter, and it puts more problems and events into play in the plotline. So that means this is a major plot-moving chapter. This chapter had probably the least number of POV changes, since there were only 4 compared to my usual 8 or so. To let you all know, the first part was a general POV from Neji, Shikamaru, and Sakura's viewpoints, the second part same as the first, the third part was Jiraiya's POV, and the last was from Tsunade's POV. I'm trying to avoid using Naruto's POV, and I only noticed after the interlude was up for a few days that I had put Naruto's POV in there without intending, so try and indulge yourselves on the only Naruto POV (I hope) in the entire fanfiction.
At the beginning of the chapter, I was planning on putting the name of Naruto's clan, but I decided not to and to wait a few more chapters, maybe until the part of the story were I'm writing about what happened to Naruto on his 3 year trip. So you'll have to wait for that.
As a note, I'm going to be using a lot of canon points but twisting them and changing them to fit my story and eventually when I get far enough, I will start deviating completely away from canon but with some events still happening.
Zabuton - cushion (see http / en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Zabuton )
This chapter hasn't been beta'd so I'll need someone to beta this chapter as well as the rest of the story.
Review!