*Been a few months, hasn't it? Well, here's your new chapter after the long wait.
Please go to my profile and answer the poll there, it regards the pacing of this fanfiction
Thanks to Sir Tan for beta reading it for me*
Outside of a nice house stood Naruto, dressed in a nice casual outfit he had just bought not even three hours earlier. The house he was outside of belonged to the Uzumaki family, where he was supposed to be for a long overdue dinner.
The dinner had been proposed two months ago as a means for them to thank Naruto for saving their son, with it only postponed due to multiple difficulties on the part of both parties. Both of Kimura's parents were advisors to the different clans. As a result of such technicality, neither were considered members of the Uzumaki family.
Shaking away the thoughts, Naruto took a deep breath and knocked on the door. A few seconds later, Korren opened the door in an extravagant sun dress. The Namikaze's heart dropped at the sight as it appeared he was heavily underdressed.
"Oh fuck." He whispered to himself until he saw a man walk towards the door in even more casual clothing than his own. The red hair on his head and giant beard told him it was the man of the household, Kyou Uzumaki.
"Ignore my daughter, she likes wearing dresses." Extending his hand out, he offered his name as well. "Kyou Uzumaki, nice to finally meet you, Masao." Naruto took his hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Nice to meet you as well, I can see where Korren gets her masculine appearance." The man threw his head back in laughter as the masculine girl tried to hit the younger male. "I'm glad you have a good sense of humor as well."
Noticing that his guest was still outside, Kyou stepped to the side. "Come on in. Korren, would you mind taking him to the dining room?" His daughter rolled her eyes but did begin to lead their guest down the wood-furnished hallway.
Kyou watched the two walk and took notice of how they joked with each other along the way. 'Their chemistry is good, but it feels off.' He thought to himself. The chemistry between the two didn't feel like romance but it gave a familial vibe.
Shrugging it off, he followed behind them and soon was in the dining room. Inside, Naruto was already meeting the mother, Mai Uzumaki, who was a blonde-haired woman that was a spitting image of Korren, or rather, Korren was a spitting image of her.
Once Naruto was done meeting the parents, he looked around to look for his friend. Noticing, Mai whispered into his ear. "Kimura wanted to buy you a gift but when he went to buy it, it was sold out so he's probably running through the shopping district trying to find something."
The younger male chuckled a bit. It was just Kimura's luck that something like that would happen. "Well, while we wait on Kimura, would you like to see what the two beautiful ladies prepared for us?" Kyou questioned, getting an eager nod.
After being led into the kitchen by the women, Naruto took notice of seven trays sitting on the counter each with its bowl of rice, soup, and a small plate of sashimi. Adding those together, Naruto realized it was kaiseki, a meal meant to show the utmost hospitality and convey respect.
"We wanted to express as much gratitude as possible and we all know that the best way is through the stomach," Mai said, giving the smile normal adorned by a mother.
Naruto nodded, there was nothing better than food for that, except maybe a gift but food was a good gift. It was such a good gift because good food refuels the body and mind simultaneously. "Well, thank you very much for doing this."
The two parents nodded at him. "It's nothing compared to what you did for us." Naruto looked around while the silence stiffened the air. "So…may I ask why there are seven meals?" His answer walked through the door and made him freeze.
"Sorry we're late, Minato needed to give some extra instructions to Kotsuzui." The red-haired woman said, dragging in her blonde husband. When she caught sight of Naruto, she tilted her head.
"Hey, you look familiar." If Naruto had a beating heart, it would've skipped a beat. 'Oh fuck, did she notice?' Kyuubi quickly ended the boy's suspicion. "If she knew who you were, you would be engulfed in a hug that would crush your bones."
The Namikaze took a deep breath and nodded in his mind at his bijuu's words. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that I jumped into your back garden trying to escape Korren when she was stalking me." All of their eyes turned to the girl and Naruto grew a grin.
"Oh? Kimura didn't tell them about that?" The teen watched the chaos unfold and got so into it that he jumped when Kimura touched his shoulder. "God dammit. I'm gonna get you a bell, I swear."
The sweating boy merely glared and thrust a bag into Naruto's arms. Placing the bag to the side, Naruto helped Kimura into the dining room to sit down. The rest of the family followed them in with Korren grabbing the gift bag.
"You don't have that much stamina for an Uzumaki." Naruto joked, patting the now-seated Kimura on the back. Mai did the same while handing her son a bottle of water. "I guess now would be as good of a time as any to start dinner," Kyou said, going back into the kitchen to grab the food and drink.
Mai soon followed after getting an "I'm okay" from her son. With the two other adults gone, Minato started speaking. "So, Masao, I hear you're doing very well in the academy. Any thoughts on what division you plan on joining?"
Naruto shook his head, trying his best to hide the joy from his father acknowledging him. "I haven't gotten there yet. I've been trying my best to practice for school." Minato nodded. "That's a wise decision but it's always good to start early. May I ask what type your zanpakuto is?"
The son racked his brain for a second to remember what he was classified as by the school. The attacks were sound based but they gave the same effect as the wind so he was classified as a wind shinigami.
"It's a wind type." Minato rubbed his chin. "Alright, so then divisions 1 and 11 are out. The 11th division only takes physical types and the 1st requires prior time in the divisions. Can you heal or do you like kido?"
The Uzumaki parents came in to break the conversation with the trays of food. Once everyone had a tray, equipped with a cup of water, they bowed slightly and expressed their thanks for the food.
"Oh, Masao, we normally speak while eating so don't worry about that but just make sure not to talk with a full mouth. What were you two discussing while we were in the kitchen?" Kyou questioned, looking at the two Namikaze men. "I was helping Masao figure out which divisions he could enter," Minato said, looking at his friend.
"The answers to your questions; No, I can't heal and kido is alright but I much prefer using my zanpakuto," Naruto said before eating. Once he had swallowed his food, Minato responded.
"There goes four and five then. The rest are pretty much preference but you have narrowed it down a bit so it'll be easier later." Naruto nodded his head. "Thank you." The rest of the dinner was relatively silent with some banter between the adults until Korren spoke up.
"Kimura, how much did you spend on this?" She questioned, holding up the small bag. The boy in question widened his eyes and shook his head. "You don't wanna know," Korren shrugged and placed the bag back down on the floor beside her.
"What did you get, anyway?" Kushina questioned, breaking her silence. Kimura grinned at his godmother. "You're gonna have to wait and see." The older Uzumaki shook her head."I hate when you do that."
Luckily for everyone, they didn't have to wait long as soon everyone was done and they gathered in the living room. "It seems like today is turning into a birthday party." Mai joked while watching Naruto hold the present.
The sentence brought the memories of Naruto's previous birthdays into his head but he hid his emotions instantly. "It seems so." He said, reaching into the bag and pulling out a small rectangle of glass that looked like a mirror.
Considering the surprised reactions of those around him, he figured it was a little bit more than a mirror. Gazing into it, the teen watched his reflection warp and change into an image of Deidara that he frequently thought about.
It was the face she had made just before he left her for the last time, filled with joy but also worry. Seeing her face made him lose it, he couldn't hold back his welled-up emotions anymore. The sadness and joy of seeing not only his parents but Deidara again were too much.
The family watched the tears flow down Naruto's face and silently handed him a tissue. They all knew it was common for anyone who got that mirror to cry. After wiping his tears, Naruto turned to Kimura.
"What is this?" The silver king smiled. "It's called the mirror of reminiscence. It brings a memory that you always think of out of your mind and puts it in there like a picture. If you don't mind me asking, what did you get?"
Naruto thought for a second if he should tell the truth and decided why not. "It was the last time I saw my girlfriend before I died." Standing up, Naruto pulled his younger counterpart into a hug. "Thanks, man, it means a lot."
Kimura patted his friend on the back and sat back down. "Don't worry about it. Now, I'm sure my family has some questions for you. They're always nosy about everything." Naruto chuckled and turned to the Uzumaki adults.
"Go ahead." Mai was the first to ask a question. "Is it true that you entered the white state that day?" Naruto was confused, what the hell was a white state? "The white state is when you start to use life force in place of your energy and it causes your body to age. Normally, your hair turns white first so that's why it's called the white state."
Naruto perked up at the sudden speaking of Yosai. 'Oh, you're done with your old man nap?' Yosai had been taking daily naps ever since the shikai had been unlocked. Moving on from that, Naruto nodded at the Uzumaki.
"If you're referring to my hair turning white then yes. I'm told I was in it for so long that it required the 4th division's captain to personally intervene. To be honest with you, I didn't feel much pain nor do I really remember it so don't worry about it too much."
Mai nodded and it seemed that it had become ladies first as Kushina threw in a question. "Where are you from? I feel like I know you from somewhere other than the time in the garden." Naruto shrugged.
"I was an Iwa shinobi so I doubt you'd know me in the human world." Naruto joked. "Especially considering how much my people hate your husband." Minato became a bit sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Don't worry about it though. I know that in war everyone has their reasons so I can't exactly blame you for killing all of the soldiers." Kyou smiled in his chair. "I like the way you think but I feel we're getting a bit gloomy on his supposed celebratory occasion."
Leaning forward in his chair, he offered a much more upbeat question. "What's your favorite class in the academy?" Naruto shrugged. "Based on teacher or material?" Kyou tilted his head side to side as to say "Either or" to which Naruto nodded.
"Hakuda then, the teacher is great and the material is amusing." The glance Naruto gave to Kimura while saying amusing caused a glare from the boy. "Very well, would you like to spar a little?" Kyou questioned.
The Namikaze teen smiled. "Of course, that's a nice way to gain experience." While Kyou led Naruto outside, Mai sat with her forehead in her hand. "And he wonders why no one ever comes over."
Minato merely chuckled. "C'mon, let's go watch the old man get schooled." He said, walking out with his wife. He had a feeling the fight was going to be fun.
*Human World, Temple of Omoikane in Kawa no Kuni(Land of Rivers)*
Deidara sat on a nice soft bed for the first time in four months with her hair still wet from the hot shower she had just taken. Perhaps it was a wonderful thing to be stationed at a temple. A knock on her door got her attention and with a quick, "It's open" the door opened.
In the doorway stood a bald dark-skinned man that Deidara had grown to know as Gei, the head monk of the temple. Said monk bowed and smiled at the girl who had sat up, "I see you have already begun to enjoy our facilities. If you plan on eating dinner, please follow me after you get dressed."
Closing the door behind him, Gei left with another bow. Deidara smiled a bit at the door, she missed hospitality in her daily life. Her eyes drooped as her thoughts floated toward her dead lover.
She bit her lip slightly while falling back and grabbing her necklace. Leaning over, the Harumyo turned off the lights and curled up. There was no longer any hunger in her body for food, the only thing she craved was her little genius back.
*Omoikane temple courtyard, thirty minutes later*
Gei and Sasori sat on the steps on the pathway while staring at the setting sun. Sasori had just finished a prayer to the god of wisdom, Omoikane, and requested Gei's assistance in deciphering the god's words.
"You know just as well as I do that the gods talk about things that are way beyond our comprehension. As many years that I've been here and helped out people such as yourself, I still don't understand them fully."
Sasori sighed. "I know. I know but don't you think 'The cause of your ailment will soon become the answer' is too broad? I mean, I have so many ailments that I can't even keep up with them." Gei looked at the man with a raised eyebrow.
"Your body is a puppet. You can fix any ailment quicker than a human could." Sasori waved his hand in the air. "Not physical, mental ailments. The decisions I have made in my life weigh heavy on my soul and so do the deaths of my many comrades that I could've prevented."
Gei stood up beside the puppet and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Let me tell you something that I've learned from my many years spent here. The past is often heavier so the future may be lighter."
After giving his 'advice' the bald man left via the path, leaving Sasori to himself. "I fucking hate when people try to act wise like that." Staring into the night sky, the redhead thought of the 'wise' words given by the bald man.
If the past was supposed to make the future lighter, why was his conscience so heavy about what could happen in the future? Sighing, he stood up and retreated to his room. There was no point in thinking about it.
*The following day, Omoikane temple*
The blonde bomber stood in the hallway leaning against a wall when Sasori walked in. "What're you doing?" He questioned. The girl motioned him over and he started to faintly hear voices from the other side of the wall.
Looking up, he saw the sign that said "Classroom" and figured it was a lecture. "So what have you learned so far?" Deidara shrugged. "More of a refresher but I heard the creation of heaven and earth."
Faintly, Sasori heard the Monk start another story titled the destroyer of Curses. Keeping quiet, the two kept listening in. "Hundreds of years ago, there lived a man favored by the god of rage, Aizen. He was so favored in fact that he was the first and only crusader of the gods. He carried out their will for years and grew more powerful under the teachings of Aizen, even creating a technique of his own. Sadly, it was destroyed by time but he is still mentioned at the Great Aizen Temple in Fire Country."
One of the students spoke up and questioned the monk. "What happened to him?" Silence followed for a moment as the monk built dramatic effect. "He died." Sasori started chuckling as Deidara's face fell and he could only imagine the young children doing the same within the room.
Hitting the young girl's arm, he caught her attention. "Come on, one of the monks wants to go pick some herbs and one of us needs to accompany him." The blonde followed her brother and they were soon in a bedroom with a monk strapping a basket onto his back.
"Good morning," Deidara beckoned, earning a kind-hearted smile. "Good morning miss. I figured it would be a nice morning for a walk." The blonde nodded, it was indeed a lovely morning.
"Alright, I'm gonna stay here while you go escort him," Sasori said to his sister before leaving. With the redhead gone, the two walked out of the room and the temple. In the courtyard, the monk was called over by a few children.
"Ajahn, can you help us please?" With his hand up, he pointed out a disc stuck within the tree. The monk placed his basket down and got ready to climb up the tree whenever Deidara stopped him.
"I got it." Rising on a pillar of earth, she easily nabbed the disc and handed it to the child. "There's no need to waste energy, Ajahn." Walking away, Deidara was quickly caught up to by the monk.
"I'm glad to know that your kindness hasn't been hindered by your trauma, miss." Deidara gave the man a side-eye. "Call me Deidara, miss makes me feel old and I'm not even in my twenties yet."
Continuing the walk, the monk nodded. "That's understandable. Is there anything you'd like to discuss while we're walking?" Deidara sighed, she should've known. "I knew it was suspicious that he gave up on leaving the temple so easily. As I've told him, I'm fine."
The monk shook his head. "But you're not. I can read people, my mother said it was a gift from Kami so I know you are not okay. It's not your fault." Turning her head and stopping, Deidara stared at him.
"It's not your fault." He repeated. "I know." She responded, her voice low. Placing his hand on her shoulder, Ajahn looked her in the eyes. "It's not your fault that Naruto died, nothing you could have done would have prohibited it."
Feeling the hairs on his neck stand up, Ajahn knew Deidara was getting emotional, specifically angry. Stepping back, the monk did a small prayer as he watched Deidara's hands start to form signs.
"Raiton: Sanda" Flicking her wrists out, a hellish lightning fence raced toward her opponent. Jumping back, Ajahn dodged, he knew she wasn't trying to kill him, just release a bit of anger. "Zeusu."
Ajahn no longer had time to think as the lightning uppercut hit his jaw and launched him up a good five feet. Whenever he hit the ground, a groan went through him as Deidara walked up beside him.
"Do those herbs you need to pick even exist?" Nodding, the monk got pulled up by the woman. He would've explained why he needed the herbs if he could speak but his entire lower face was numb.
"You're going to have to lead the way to the herbs now and don't try to open your mouth, it'll only make it worse." Ajahn simply gave a nod of understanding and they began to walk again. Only after they got to the first herb did they realize their lack of something.
"Ah shit, your basket." Seeing the pieces of it still stuck to the cloth on Ajahn's back, she knew its fate. "We'll just use my pouch, I don't keep much in it anyways." As the two walked in silence, Deidara thought about what the rest of the Akatsuki, she knew most of them were working as kill squads along the borders except for Sasuke, he said that something personal had come up and he needed to go off the grid for a while.
That was two months prior and they had yet to hear anything from him. Based on his last message, he was somewhere in fire country.
*Fire country, Orochimaru's hideout*
Sasuke paced up and down a dark hall while Karin sat on a chair beside him. "Calm down, your worrying won't do anything," Kabuto said, walking up with his hands behind his back. "Where is she?" Sasuke frantically questioned.
His answer walked out of a room wearing the uniform he'd long associated with Otogakure, mostly because of the Konoha Crush. She wore the tight black undergarment with the thin tan vest overtop and the facemask hanging from her pouch.
Her outfit wasn't the only thing that was different as her childhood short hair made an appearance. "Nice to see you again, Sasuke." She said, twisting her hair with her finger. "Likewise, judging from your choice of outfit, you're going along with the plan?"
The Yamanaka nodded just before Orochimaru rolled a coffin out of the room Ino came from. "There you go, one fake Ino Yamanaka body made of Zetsu. He wants you to know you owe him a favor." Sasuke nodded and waved his hand.
"Yeah, yeah, how many people are we taking?" Turning the cart around, Orochimaru motioned for them to follow. "Counting you three, three more. Four will follow the cart on foot while two sit on it."
Their plan was for Otogakure shinobi to deliver the 'body' as a show of goodwill because despite them fighting side by side for months, they still hadn't forgiven them for the Konoha Crush despite them forgiving Suna.
"Speaking of which, Sasuke, Karin, go change. I have outfits in each of your rooms. Whenever you're done, head outside and you'll find the rest of your squad waiting for you." Sasuke and Karin branched off to their rooms, leaving the three others to themselves.
"I still don't understand, how am I still alive?" The blonde questioned, getting a shrug from the two medical geniuses. "I have absolutely no clue, your heart was cut in half yet it repaired itself within mere seconds. The only thing I can think of is a god intervened whenever you tried to enter the afterlife."
Ino looked up, why would a god save her? "I will enjoy watching you try to seduce Sasuke," Kabuto said, earning a laugh from his master. "Agreed, how long until Karin fights her?" Kabuto pulled out his wallet and placed 600 ryo into Orochimaru's hand. "One week, and that's only if Sasuke is around them the entire time."
Ino shook her head at the two, they were wrong about one thing, she no longer cared for the ravenette. Sure, he was still attractive but if he and Karin were what she thought, she wasn't going to get between them.
A few minutes later, Ino stood with the three other Otogakure shinobi beside the wagon, her mask on of course. Using her sensory abilities, she'd gotten that each of them was high-chunin level, perhaps almost special-jonin.
She would've conversed with them but it didn't feel right. Her dilemma was solved as the other two walked out of the hideout and quickly got upon the wagon. Apparently, Sasuke was the only one who could operate the thing.
"This is a nine-hour ride, get ready," Sasuke said before taking off. In nine hours, the six masked shinobi would deliver the fake body of a Yamanaka princess to her family.
*Soul Society, Naruto's dorm*
The brown-haired teen sat at his desk, rubbing his chin while staring at a notebook in front of him. One question was written on the page and it had been circled multiple times. "What is the problem with women?" The Uzumaki was stumped, he couldn't think of any reason why women are so weird.
Closing the book, he sighed and looked at his ceiling. His body ached from the previous night's spar. Who knew that Kyou could throw hands like that?
*The previous night*
Naruto stood hunched over, spitting out blood from his swollen mouth. The old man hit hard. "Aren't you supposed to be the gold king or something?" Kyou questioned, the only bruised thing on him being his knuckles.
"His shoulder," Kyuubi said, trying to help his human. "He's not using his left shoulder very much, there might be a prior injury." Naruto internally nodded and rushed forward, studying the shoulder movement as he threw his own punches.
The fox was right, the left shoulder had barely any movement compared to the right and his left hand stayed close to act as a shield. "Be careful, it might be a purposeful feint," Yosei mentioned.
Keeping both pieces of advice in his mind, the teen pressed. A left hook was blocked by Kyou's right hand and another hook to the stomach was blocked with the left. Seeing an opportunity, the Namikaze slammed his head forward and caught his forehead onto Kyou's chin.
The Uzumaki popped his jaw and raised an eyebrow. "I heard you used your head a lot but I didn't expect it to be so literal," Naruto smirked and lifted his right foot, hooking it behind Kyou's knee.
With a little tug, the man fell a bit but made sure to fall on top of Naruto. The two Uzumaki ended up in a pile on the ground, with their spectators dying in laughter. "Alright, I think that's enough lollygagging," Kyou said, hopping up and yanking Naruto up with him.
*back to Naruto*
He still couldn't believe the durability of the old man. Naruto shook his head, of course, an Uzumaki would be durable as hell. Standing up, the Namikaze walked to his bed. It might have been mid-day but he was tired and it was his only day off work and school. Plus, not having slept probably didn't help him. Pulling his curtains closed, he laid down and turned his bedside fan on. The wind reminded him of his nights with Jiraiya, a sense of home that he'd never quite gotten rid of.
Slipping into a comfortable position, the former blonde fell into a slumber. Not long after his vision went blank, a light hit him, forcing him awake. Groggily looking around, Naruto saw he wasn't in his dorm anymore. No, he was in the apartment he grew up in.
"What the fuck?" Getting out the bed, the teen looked around once more, entering each room to make sure it was real. "Is this a dream?" A grin appeared on his face. "Cool, this must be one of those lucid dreams." He closed his eyes, trying to change the scenery like he heard people could do.
It seemed successful as the light breeze hit him. Opening his eyes once more, he was on top of his father's monument. Taking a seat, Naruto stared at the sunset over Konoha with a smile. The only thing that would make the scene better was if Deidara was there with him. Reconsidering, Naruto thought about all the people he would've loved to have sat with him in the sunlight.
The teen chuckled to himself, the one he wanted to sit there with him the most wasn't his girlfriend. "It's been a while, Dobe." Not even bothering to turn, he knew the person that sat beside him just by voice.
"Sasuke, I do wonder what you're doing in the world right now. Hopefully, you haven't been eaten by Orochimaru yet." The teen finally turned once he felt something wet on his arm. It was blood, blood dripping from Sasuke's hand.
The black-haired teenager he once knew was hardly recognizable, covered in blood and wearing a uniform he could've sworn belonged to Ame. "The war hasn't been too kind to us, Naruto."
The Namikaze scrunched his eyebrows. "Why are you wearing an Ame uniform?" The form of the teen changed, becoming the boy known as Inari. "Sasuke became a partner of the Akatsuki soon after the war began. After you died, he let go of his hatred and swore to get revenge on Iwa for you."
Before Naruto could ask any questions, the boy's head snapped to the side. "I've got to go." Jumping forward, Inari lept off the mountain and turned into a white fox before becoming a plume of smoke that was swept away by the breeze.
"What the fuck kind of dream is this?" Naruto asked himself, standing up. He'd heard that yelling would wake you up from a lucid dream and he wasn't dealing with the weirdness anymore. The teen would've yelled if he could open his mouth, looking down, Naruto found a sword going through his throat.
Suddenly, the sword was yanked to the side and Naruto found himself beheaded. As his head fell to the ground, he saw the person holding the sword. It was a beautiful woman, she had long silky black hair and a face of a goddess.
Once his head hit the ground, his world went white and he found himself standing up in an infinite white room. Upon inspection, his head was back into place with no sign of an earlier beheading.
"Maybe I should stop walking near the Division barracks on the way to work, the stuff they smoke is messing with my head." Looking around a bit, the woman from before stood a little too far for Naruto to see her fully but he knew she was there.
"Am I trapping myself in my mind or something?" Trying to yell again, he was once again quickly beheaded. Once Naruto was back in one piece, he stared at the woman in the distance. "Alright, that's it." Yanking his shirt off, he placed his hands on his two-shoulder tenketsu by crossing his arms.
He'd successfully remade the seals using spiritual energy a month prior and had been building them since. Along the way, he'd released them a few times and discovered that his spiritual pressure made a loud ass howling when it was releasing so it would probably wake him up.
Naruto pressed his fingers to the two kanji and twisted, making the words fade. Once they were completely gone, a howling overcame the infinite room and the woman in the distance faded away.
Soon enough, Naruto found himself in his dorm again. "I get the weirdest dreams." Getting up, he threw on some clean clothes and walked out of his room. After a nap like that, some food was in order.
In the hallway, the teen noticed all of the boys were standing around. One of them walked up to Naruto and questioned him. "Did you hear that too? What kind of animal howls that loud?" His face almost filled with guilt but he decided to hold it back.
"Maybe it was the werewolf clan? Maybe one stumped their toe." Laughing with the boy, Naruto patted his shoulder. "I'm going to get some food, I'll see you later man." While walking away, Naruto lifted his shirt and saw his seals were gone so when he pulled them off in the dream, he did it in real life too.
It was weird though, two of his seals were gone so his spiritual pressure should've been pouring out, why wasn't it? "Naruto, your seals. They've been emptied." Kyuubi said, earning a confused Uzumaki. Stopping in the middle of the hall, Naruto questioned the fox. 'What? All of them?' He felt the fox nod his head mentally.
'Are you saying that dream took all of the spiritual pressure from my seals?' Kyuubi shook his head. "Not just your seals," That's when Naruto felt it, he was almost out of spiritual energy. 'Just what kind of dream was that?'
Naruto didn't get a chance to hear the answer as Reito walked up to him. "Hey man, you wanna go get some food? I got something to talk to you about." Still deep in thought, Naruto agreed subconsciously and began walking with him.
'Who was that woman?' He questioned himself, never finding an answer. "Hey, I'm thinking sushi, that fine with you?" Snapping out of his stupor, Naruto nodded at his friend. "Sounds good to me. Can I ask you a question?"
Reito nodded. "Have you ever had a really weird dream after walking next to the Division 7 barracks?" The Kira burst into laughter, "Oh yeah, more than once. I have a cousin that's stationed there and my aunt makes me bring him lunch all the time. I've passed out on the way home many times because of the hallucinations."
Naruto sighed, maybe it was just a dream and he… no, there was no way a regular dream would drain his energy like that. "You seem to have something on your mind, was that dream that weird?"
The Namikaze didn't quite know how to respond, if he lied then it would be another lie he had to keep up with. 'Ah fuck it.' He cleared his throat. "I saw a friend of mine from when I was alive. He was covered in blood and then his body changed into a kid I saved whenever I was a genin."
He took in a deep breath. "This kid spoke to me like he was a completely other person and described what is going on in the real world right now. Then the kid got scared of something and jumped off a cliff we were on before turning into a fox and poofing into smoke. After that, I tried to escape the dream, because I was conscious it was a dream, by screaming and some lady beheaded me."
Reito looked at him with an open mouth. 'Just what kind of shit is Division 7 smoking these days?' Naruto wasn't done yet as he swallowed his spit to continue. "After I got beheaded the first time, I appeared in an infinite room where every time I would scream, the lady would kill me. I released a shit ton of my spiritual energy to break the dream and when I woke up, my spiritual energy was gone so I released it in my dream and here."
The Kira stared for a few seconds. "Isn't your zanpakuto spirit a guy?" Naruto nodded. "Then it can't be that, I can talk to my dad and see what he thinks about it. He used to be a Lieutenant in the Fourth Division so he knows a few things about the drugs Division Seven smokes. Well, I wanted to wait until later to ask you but can you help me with Zanjutsu? We can go to my clan's compound and ask my dad about your dream."
Naruto smiled, guiding towards a restaurant on the side of the street. "Yeah, that'll work, thanks. Now, let's get some food."
*Konoha*
Ino nervously twiddled her fingers as she sat next to Sasuke on the cart. They'd arrived in Konoha a few minutes earlier and had requested her father come to them. She was sitting on the wagon because her legs couldn't handle the thought of facing her father again or seeing him mourn.
"Stop twiddling, you're going to raise suspicions," Sasuke said in a cool tone, once again reminding Ino just what kind of guy he was, emotionless. "Once again, I ask you, what's in the cart?" Izumo questioned, he wasn't going to be the reason a bomb went off in Konoha.
"The only person I will show the contents to is Inoichi Yamanaka," Sasuke responded firmly. "How about I take a look for him?" A voice said, appearing behind the cart. Turning around, Ino saw the woman who had mentored her for a few months.
"Lady Hokage, I don't think it's a good idea," Kotetsu warned, only to get waved off by the Sannin. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Sasuke sighed inwardly, he knew this was going to happen.
Giving a nod to Karin, who stood next to the rear of the cart, she pulled the tarp to the side and allowed the Kage to get up into the cart. Once the two women were in the back, Karin moved the lid to the side and slid back the cloth covering the body.
Tsunade stared for a second before closing her eyes and lowering her head. "Close it back. Kotetsu, let them through." She jumped from the cart and began walking in front of it. "Follow me, any wrong move and I'll smash you into a paste."
Ino gulped, she knew that woman wasn't joking. As they moved, the people stared and judged. Why were Oto shinobi in their village? The one they attacked mere years earlier. Along with her citizens, Tsunade had her thoughts.
'How did they know Inoichi just got back from the field?' The timing was a little too perfect and she didn't like it. 'Damn you, you snake bastard. You and your fucking spies.' The anger within the woman quickly dissipated as she saw Inoichi walking towards her, his uniform still dirty from the field.
Shaking her head, she told the man to wait. The best thing to do was to get the cart to a safe location and away from prying eyes. Within a couple of seconds, they caught up to where Inoichi stood and he began to walk with his Hokage.
"What do they want? Do they have a hostage or something they need me to break?" Tsunade took a deep breath, she knew this would be hard. "Go get Noriko and meet me at location M."
Inoichi looked confused, his wife was a civilian, why did she need to come to an interrogation? More so, why location M? That was the medical base where the high-value shinobi were taken care of.
Not wanting to question his Hokage, he nodded and jumped off. The rest of the walk was very silent as Ino twiddled her thumbs more. She couldn't think of how she could handle both her parents grieving.
"Do not worry, Tsunade isn't going to let us go to Location M. We're heading the wrong way anyways, she's going to have us hand off the casket," Sasuke whispered, giving some relief to the young Yamanaka.
"Did you say something?" Tsunade questioned. "Just talking about where we found her," Sasuke responded, earning a death glare from the woman. "And where was that?" The Uchiha looked around at the empty dirt road before he leaned forward.
"In a chest at a shinobi camp. She was being held in Northern Ame by Kusa shinobi." Tsunade wrinkled her brow. Northern Ame? Her body was last seen in Taki so what was it doing in Ame? "Is there any other information?"
Sasuke sat back. "Any further information will require a much safer environment and a promise we get out alive." The teen glared directly at the trees where several ANBU lay in wait. "It would be unwise to make any further action, Ms. Senju. Although our villages have been on opposite sides before, we are still your allies in this war and the gods know you need allies."
Tsunade grit her teeth, she would've loved to beat the shit out of the boy but she knew he was right. "Very well, Inu, if you don't mind." The small convoy stopped and a dog-masked ANBU dropped from the trees to form a barrier.
"This is not a safe area, Lady Hokage," Sasuke said with a weirdly cool voice that irked the woman. "It's either here or nowhere, I don't want you in my village longer than I need to." Sasuke shook his head and turned to Karin.
"Then I guess nowhere, go ahead and take the cart by yourself." Jumping down, he walked towards Karin as she placed her hand on the barrier, breaking it. As they walked out, a kunai screamed toward Sasuke.
The Uchiha caught it beside his head and turned, revealing his spinning sharingan. "Don't play with me, Tsunade. I came here to deliver her body out of respect for being my comrade." Tsunade growled at the teen.
"Sasuke, I thought you would've been snake food by now." The Uchiha laughed. "Stalling? Really? I thought you would have some honor left." Tsunade didn't like how calm all of them were. They were deep into Konoha and escape would prove difficult even for Sasuke.
"We didn't come here to fight, just have a little fun." The ravenette pulled off his mask and used the captured Kunai to slit his own throat. Watching in horror, Tsunade witnessed all of the team follow Sasuke's example.
Only after everybody hit the ground did they begin to change into their true forms. One by one, Tsunade recognized the faces they changed into. Each one was a rogue shinobi that had defected in the past month.
Out of 'Sasuke's' pouch slithered a white snake, holding a scroll in its mouth. After promptly crushing the skull, Tsunade picked the scroll out. 'I hope you like my gift, Tsunade-hime. Although the blonde one is quite unfortunate, I took the liberty of embalming her and prepping for the funeral. Please keep in mind that I'm not seeking to be your enemy anymore. In two months, meet me where the Hanso River meets the Fire country border. P.S. Bring the Toad geezer too."
Tsunade crumpled the scroll. "That fucking prick." Turning around, she began her orders. "Take those bodies to the morgue, I'm taking the cart by myself." Once her detail was gone, she grinned a bit.
She'd love a chance to beat the scaly bastard one more time.