Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Naruto opened the eye that was still able to close. The ceiling was unfamiliar, which was good. It looked eerily similar to the one he was used to, which was bad. He tried to sit up, only to find himself strapped to the metal plate that they probably called his bed. Not in the mood for calling or pulling another disappearing-act, he simply summoned his scales at the areas and made them shiver. It was a strange feeling, but he had gotten used to it in the first weeks when he couldn't pull them back in. After a few seconds, the leather-restraints were sawed through, and Naruto sat up. The room was fairly plain, 5 times 5 meters across, the metal table being the only object here.

Well, not quite. Naruto's right eye told him that there was a large spot of chakra on the ceiling, roughly human-sized. He sighed and focused both eyes on the spot, although the left one didn't see anything but an empty piece of ceiling. "Why don't you come down from up there? It can't be comfortable, and since we're alone, it's probably boring, if not lonely."

For a second, nothing happened, then an ANBU with a tiger-mask dropped from the ceiling and looked at Naruto. "How did you know I was here?" He asked.

Naruto smiled. "That's for me to know and you to never find out, isn't it? With all due respect, I don't trust you enough to share my secrets with you. Truth be told, I don't trust you at all. I'm assuming I'm in Konoha? It'd really suck if I landed in the wrong place."

Tora looked at him. "What will you do if this isn't Konoha?"

Naruto shrugged. "I'll leave. But I'm pretty sure this is Konoha, I saw jiji's face before I passed out. Or I think I did." He frowned. "I'll just go check." His right eye had been focused on the ANBU, who had flashed through a number of handsigns.

"I'm afraid my mission is to make sure you don't leave. Mokuton: Jubaku Eisou."

Roots wrapped themselves around Naruto, who remained calm. Once Tora he released the handsigns, he whistled, looking at the wood that was binding him. "I thought that died out with the Shodaime." Then he raised his scales, and managed to free his left arm. That was all he needed. He put his hand on one of the roots, the mouth on his palm, now filled with razor-sharp teeth, biting into it. To Tora's surprise, the entire plant withered to dust in seconds, Naruto shaking himself to get rid of said dust.

He grinned. "Mind if I try that?" The Sharingan-function of his eye had memorized every handseal, while the Rinnegan had shown him that in the final handsign, the ANBU had held Earth-chakra in one hand and Water-chakra in the other. Naruto knew how to make elemental-chakra, having learned it from the memories of his puppets and having secretly practiced it in his cell, and from Suiyoukito's memories he knew how to merge elements, although he noticed that the final handsign to make Wood was different from the one to make Steam. So Naruto flashed through the handsigns. "Mokuton: Jubaku Eisou!"

Tenzo's eyes bulged behind his mask as root shot out of the ground, each one almost as thick as he was. With his reflexes, he dodged all vines that shot at him, the plant instead grabbing the table, slamming into the ceiling and breaking tiles on the walls and floor.

Naruto looked around, before saying the only thing that came to mind. "Um, ups."

Tora sweat-dropped, but he remained focused. "Please remain calm, the Hokage will be here shortly."

Naruto's face lit up. "Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" He sat on the table he had just freed from the grip of the roots before withering them away and waited for jiji. It wasn't a long wait.

Sarutobi motioned the others to wait outside until he had received information from the kid that only Naruto could have, and to his own surprise, they actually listened. When he stepped in, Naruto actually smiled from the dept of his heart, something he hadn't done for years. "Jiji, I'm back."

Any doubt about the boy's identity that may have remained melted away. There was only one smile like that, although Sarutobi noticed that a twinge of bitterness seemed hidden in his features. "Good to see you Naruto. You have to understand that with your new looks" A short twitch in Naruto's face betrayed his emotions "just to make sure you're... well, you. Personally I have no doubts, but protocol demands certain things."

Naruto nodded. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, if my sense of time didn't completely leave me, I should be eleven or twelve. I was born in this shithole as an orphan, mistreated by nearly the entire population of Konoha, thrown out of the orphanage at four, given an apartment by you when after a month on the streets without any food and rain as my only source of water when I happened to be spotted by a ANBU-patrol, I recall two masks, a dog and a weasel. Anyways, my apartment was vandalized on a weekly basis. I got my first bowl from Ichiraku's when I was six, miso, old man Ichiraku handed one to me for free when the rest of the village was in another phase of let's-not-sell-Naruto-anything-so-that-if-we're-lucky,-he'll-starve. What was that noise?"

Sarutobi blinked. He knew exactly what that noise was, it was Kushina reducing a wall to rubble, as the behavior of the merchants and restaurant-owners had not been noted in any file. He coughed. "That was nothing, please go on."

Naruto shrugged. "Anyways, Ichiraku's has been my favorite place ever since, and I often nagged you into buying me ramen there, much to the chagrin of your wallet I assume. Then there were those fun mobs that beat me to death's door on my every birthday. And as I've just recently discovered, I'm also the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, sealed into me by my father, the Yondaime. By the way, when were you planning on telling me that?"

Sarutobi sighed. "I was planning on telling you about the Kyuubi when you graduated and were actually able to understand that you were not the fox. About your father, you have to understand that he has made powerful enemies in his time, both outside and inside of the village, who wouldn't hesitate to kill you simply because you are his son. I couldn't risk revealing your heritage before you could defend your life. I planned to tell you when you became sixteen or made Chunin, whatever happened first. But it seems that decision was taken out of my hands. I'm convinced that you're you now, but what happened to you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I was kidnapped and used as a guinea-pig."

Sarutobi looked at him. "Is that the reason that parts of your DNA match Itachi Uchiha's?"

Naruto looked up in surprise. "Itachi Uchiha? Part of my DNA looks like Itachi Uchiha? As in the Uchiha-clan? Well, I suspected as much. So now I know another one of my parents."

Sarutobi blinked in confusion. "Why are you referring to Itachi as your parent?"

Naruto gave him a serious look. "Because it sounds better than gene-donor."

Sarutobi stared. "You were injected with Itachi's DNA?"

Naruto nodded. "Apparently, amongst others."

Sarutobi shook his head. "How many do you know of?"

Naruto frowned. "Let's see, there's Kimimaro Kaguya, a servant of the madman who tinkered with my DNA. Then I heard of someone named Juugo, who was an experiment much like myself, only that he was dumb enough to voluntarily step into the trap, hoping for help. According to you, there's Itachi. The only one I actually met was Kimimaro, who in turn told me about Juugo. I know of two more in Ame, one somehow associated with Iwa, another one I only have the name of, someone I suspect came from Suna, and that's it, although there have to be a few more."

The Hokage was in shock. "Who did this to you?"

Naruto looked at him, his voice filled with loathing and absolute hatred. "Orochimaru."

Sarutobi once again cursed his weakness on the day he could have ended the man, but had chosen not to.

His thoughts were interrupted by a string of curses and insults harsh enough to make a armada of drunken sailors blush and shiver.

Naruto's brow shot up, and he whistled in respect. "A herd of a thousand camels up his ass, their fleas to his crotch and his arms too short to reach either? Creative I must say." He looked at Sarutobi. "Do you have paper and a pen? I get the feeling I might learn something."

Sarutobi gave him a harsh look. "I really don't think that's appropriate language for you."

Naruto shrugged. "Jiji, once you've been up to your elbows in a corpse, language really loses importance."

The string of curses stopped for a second, before doubling in volume and intensity. Naruto grinned. "Whoever that is, she sure has a mouth on her. Who is she cursing, and who is she?"

Sarutobi started to fidget. "Those curses are directed at Orochimaru I believe. As for who that is... I owe you an apology Naruto, actually, I owe you much more."

Naruto's eye narrowed. "Why?"

Sarutobi gulped. "Naruto, the woman outside... is your mother."

Naruto's eye widened, for a second making both eyes equal in size, before his hand shot up to cover the right one when the door opened.

The woman who stepped in gave Naruto a nervous smile. "Hello son, I am Kushina, your mother. You can take the hand down, I know about your eye. That is a one-way-mirror, so I've seen it already." She pointed at the mirrored wall.

Slowly, Naruto's hand moved down from his face. He simply looked at her, his left eye overflowing with emotion. Disbelief, hope, suspicion, hurt, betrayal, all of them were seen in that blue mirror of the soul. Finally he spoke. " I always thought you were dead. Where were you all these years?"

Kushina sent Sarutobi a look of hatred. "He told me you were dead! I woke up and you were gone, then he came in and told me you had died! I left Konoha, I just couldn't stay here after losing both my husband and my child. I'm so sorry Naruto, I never knew..."

She had come closer, tears in her eyes, and hugged him. Naruto remained strangely stiff. She eventually let go of him, and merely looked at him, without saying a word. She had explained herself, now it was up to Naruto whether or not he'd accept her. All she knew was that she would kill Sarutobi, then end her own life if her son refused to have anything to do with her.

Naruto looked at her, then his hands slowly rose, cupping her face, the palms resting on her cheekbones and the fingertips on her temples. Naruto looked into her eyes. "How do you feel about me? What are your thoughts about me? About what I am now?" He asked.

Kushina was about to answer when she noticed that Naruto's blue eye wasn't focused on her, but seemed to be looking through her for some reason. Finally, Naruto removed his hands from Kushina's face, and simply looked into her eyes again, only that tears were running down the left side of his face, the right eye unable to show such emotion. He whispered one word. "Mommy." and hugged her, Kushina wrapping her arms around him after a shock-second, tears running down her face as well. For the first time in his life, Naruto felt like a child. This was one of the few signs of caring that he received in his life, and the number of people who gave him those could be counted on one hand. Naruto strangely felt at peace, and knew that if this moment would go on for the rest of his life, he wouldn't mind.

Sarutobi couldn't help but let a few tears drop at the touching scene, although the purely professional part of his mind realized that Naruto had read Kushina's mind, the questions obviously calling up her thoughts of her son, and finding nothing but love and grief, he had accepted her. Such an ability would be perfect for interrogation, and from Naruto's comment on digging around in corpses, he probably would adjust quickly. As soon as the thought popped up, it was brutally squashed by Sarutobi's conscience, as he had long ago decided not to use Naruto as a pawn. Still, he had potential, and maybe not just for interrogation, and realizing that was okay.

When he saw mother and son finally separate, he cleared his throat. Both gave him a dirty look for interrupting this very private moment, but they listened.

"Naruto, I know this is a bad time, but will you join our ranks as a Konoha-shinobi?"

Kushina looked appalled, but Naruto seemed to weigh his options, before he finally scratched his head. "I guess so. I want to pay Orochimaru back for his hard work on my person, and the invasion seems to be my best chance, so why not? But there are a few conditions."

Sarutobi looked at him. "What invasion?"

Naruto shrugged. "I heard about it from my... caretakers. In little over a year, Orochimaru apparently planned to invade Konoha and burn it to the ground. I think he actually went as far as to build his own village for that purpose, at least I never saw musical notes on a headband before."

Sarutobi frowned. A year from now. What was in a year from now? The chunin-exams in Konoha! And he had heard rumors of a village calling itself Oto from Jiraya who had suspected Orochimaru's involvement. Still, thanks to Naruto, they now had a year to prepare. "That is worrying, but thanks to you, we may be able to prepare a few surprises for my old student. Still, what else can you tell me about this invasion?"

Naruto shrugged again. "Not much. All I know is that it happens, and that the snake wanted my body by that time."

Sarutobi blinked. "Your body?"

Naruto looked at him. "You didn't know? He has some sort of jutsu that allows him to leave his body behind like a shed skin and take over someone else, until he deems that body worthless and moves on. Creating the perfect body was his only reason for making me like this. I heard that he possessed a sword-mistress from Kusa already, and he planned to have me as his next vessel, though that failed, as you can see."

Sarutobi nodded. He wouldn't put it beyond his student to really come up with something like that. "You mentioned conditions?"

Naruto nodded. "Three. First, I reserve the right to leave this place and never return should the situation become unbearable, and I will be neither marked as a Nuke-nin nor hunted, same applies for any member of my family, should it come to that. We may also return into this village without any repercussions, unless we actually commit a crime, of course." Sarutobi frowned, but he nodded, understanding where that came from. Naruto raised his second finger. "Second, I want all information you have on Itachi Uchiha. If I am to understand what I am, I need to know what I was made of."

Sarutobi sighed. "I can't really understand what you must feel, but I have an idea, so that's good enough. Understand that there is some classified information that I can't just give you right now, as it could compromise village-security, and you have yet to show that you can be trusted with such sensible information."

Naruto nodded. "Acceptable. And finally, I reserve the right to, when not on missions, travel freely through the elemental nations. As you yourself can attest, I have a way of traveling that allows me to cover a lot of ground in little time. I will be back on time for missions, and I'll spend a lot of time with my mother, but I need to know."

Kushina looked sad as she stroked his hair, but she really couldn't argue. Naruto's voice had sounded desperate, and Kushina knew best how it felt to have something permanently eating at you.

Sarutobi nodded. "You have almost three months left until the next class graduates. I'm afraid you'll have to start a genin, like everyone else. I can't give you a higher rank, since you probably don't want to reveal too much about your abilities. So you have three free months, although I hope you won't mind if I borrow a bit of your time to talk. Both about private matters, and perhaps you can give us information that you might initially not count as important. But for now, I'll leave you and your mother alone. You two probably have a lot to talk about." He turned to leave, before stopping one last time. "I nearly forgot."

Naruto opened his hand and caught what Sarutobi had tossed to him. It was an eye-patch. "How did you...?"

Sarutobi smiled. "You're not the only shinobi with two different eyes, and while yours doesn't seem to drain you as much as his, I suspected that you may want to cover it in public, as it does draw attention."

Naruto looked at the stringed patch of leather, before putting it on and smiling. "Thanks... jiji."

Sarutobi's heart warmed, as the nickname showed that Naruto didn't hate him because of the story with his mother. He left the room and nodded to Kakashi, who had heard everything. "I think it's best we give those two some time for themselves."

Kakashi nodded. "An excellent suggestion, Hokage-sama."

Three days had passed, and it had been the happiest three days of his life. If one would ask what happened, the answer would be "Not much". He spent time with his mother, doing mundane chores and simply spending time together, cooking, cleaning, playing games, wrestling around, sword- and martial arts-lessons and snuggling together. And ordering some stuff, okay okay, a lot of stuff, for his puppets, but that was beside the point. Still, for Naruto, those were wonderful times. Right now he had a meeting with jiji, and his mother had said that no matter what you think of another person, if you have a meeting arranged, it's polite to show up a bit early.

So when the Hokage entered, he found Naruto sitting in his chair, reading through the paperwork with a frown. Then the boy looked up. "Hi jiji, kaasan said it's polite to be early, so I showed up a little early. But I have to ask, why are you doing this crap?"

Sarutobi sighed. "Naruto, I don't like it much either, but as Hokage, you have certain responsibilities you can't just shrug off, and..."

Naruto interrupted him. "No jiji, you misunderstand me. I wasn't asking why you were doing this crap, I was asking why you were doing this crap."

Sarutobi raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

Naruto pointed at some of the sheets. "Where is the necessity in informing the Hokage if Umoroka's seafood wants to start selling a new type of shrimp? Why does Sachisaku's noodlehouse need the Hokage's permission to redecorate their store? Lousy shop by the way, they tried to poison me, but I digress. Or here, for what is this sheet? Why would the Hokage care if a ship of the merchant guild sunk and they bought a new one? What does the Hokage have to do with this years cotton-harvest, small as it is? To put my question in a more obvious way, don't you have staff for these kind of things?"

Sarutobi blinked and, for the first time in years, actually critically looked at the piles that were stacking on his desk, Naruto providing assistance. What he saw made him gape. Over 90% of what was on his desk was absolutely mundane, and in some corner of his mind, Sarutobi did recall having a few people that were supposed to take care of such things. He wrote a quick note, called his secretary, a woman that, to Naruto's surprise, gave him a friendly smile instead of a glare. Sarutobi handed her the note and a trolley for the unneeded paperwork before giving her orders what to do. She actually broke out in a grin, after recovering from the shock that the dozen people that were hanging around in the lower levels of the tower sleeping and molesting women actually had a purpose. She left with a short bow.

Taro just woke up from a refreshing nap when the secretary entered with a trolley. A few of his colleagues looked up from their card-game to send a few catcalls and whistles her way. Taro straitened himself. He had the best job in the entire village, ridiculous pay and no work, and he couldn't be happier. Still, it was rare for the Hokage's secretary to come down here. Still, the woman was hot, and since his desk was the closest, she headed to him. He made a grab for her firm ass, but she slapped his hand pretty hard.

She gave him a cold glare before pointing at the trolley. "Work."

Taro snorted. She had apparently been demoted, which explained her lousy mood, and didn't know how things worked. "Send it up to the Hokage's office honey."

He saw her lip twitch. "Guess where it's coming from dipshit."

The room suddenly grew quiet enough to hear a pin drop onto the carpeted floor, Taro blinked in shock. He must have misheard the woman. "What?" he croaked.

Now the woman was smiling. "The Hokage looked over his work, and found that most of the stuff wasn't really important enough to land on his desk, so he sent it down. Oh, and he told me to read a notice to you all." She pulled out a sheet of paper and cleared her throat, a smug look on her face.

"By order of the Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, all of you are to show your dossiers that hold your daily notes and personally give detailed information on the work you've done so far. You are also give detailed reports on the work you've done the last few years, which will be officially confirmed. According to the results of this evaluation, your paychecks will be adjusted. Also, if it turns out that one or more parties have not done their work for any amount of time, they are to return their pay for the particular timeframe. Failure to do so will lead to confiscation of private property, such as house, furniture, land, personal belongings, and so on. Should the confiscated items not be enough to cover the debt, than the involved party will work the debt off. After the sum is paid back, should it be necessary, the parties involved in such an action will be trialed for fraud, abuse of power, stealing from the Hokage, treason, and other charges that may vary. Those that may be involved in such a scandal and don't directly work in this office will also be put on trail for assisting in a crime. That is all."

She looked up, a shit-eating grin on her face. "I wouldn't try anything funny, the Hokage was pissed. Not that I blame him if he really was doing all the work for years. Just in case it interests you, a ANBU has used the time I've spent talking to take a look at your workstation. Also, as long as this goes on, you may be observed to keep anyone from trying something stupid, like leaving the country or cutting their wrists. By the way, the Hokage expects that pile to be done by the end of today. If he did such piles daily, then twelve people should easily be able to do so, don't you think? Have a nice day." With that, she left.

Taro sat there, motionless. He couldn't believe it. His entire existence had just crashed. He looked around. He saw the decorations they had done to the place. He saw the poker-game, saw the cigar-filled ashtrays, saw the pool-table, saw the bar. They had turned the office into a lounge, and if that bitch had told the truth, and something in her smile told her she had, then it wouldn't do them any good even if they managed to make it look like a normal office. God, their dossiers. They had either not used them, or in worse cases used them as diaries for their more fun days. Taro understood one thing. They. Were. Screwed.

At that point, another man came stumbling back into the office/lounge, dead drunk, barely standing and back from the bathroom. For a second, Taro thought he heard a snicker, and suspected they were already being watched by ANBU. The man looked into the grimaces on their faces. "Whutimish?"

Nobody answered.

Sarutobi, now sitting in his chair that Naruto had cleared, looked at the stack of papers, hardly as thick as a magazine. He was giddy, but remained focused. "Naruto, I wanted to talk about your planned journeys."

Naruto nodded. "What about them?"

Sarutobi took a drag out of his pipe. "First of all, I have to ask you that once you become a shinobi of Konoha, you don't wear your headband while on those journeys. That way, you can make a quick exit if need be and nobody knows where you're from, plus there are places, like Iwa, where Konoha-nin aren't very welcome."

Naruto nodded. "I see. Anything else?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Yes actually. Since you said you wanted to find those whose DNA you share, and I recall you mentioning two of them in Ame, I wish to ask you to stay away from that place, at least in the near future."

Naruto's eye narrowed. "Why?"

Sarutobi sighed. "Ame is in lock-down. Anyone trying to enter that didn't announce his visit and exact route three months in advance is summarily executed. Ame's leader, Salamander Hanzo is merciless in that aspect. There is simply no way he'll allow..."

"Hanzo is dead." Naruto interrupted.

Sarutobi blinked. "What did you say?"

Naruto sighed. "Salamander Hanzo is dead, and has been dead for at least four years, probably one or two more."

Sarutobi didn't believe his ears. "What makes you so sure?"

Naruto gave him a deadpanned look. "I had his corpse on my workbench."

Sarutobi shook his head. "It must have been one of his body-doubles, he has a few of them running around. Naruto, you don't understand what Hanzo is. He is a master strategist, and in terms of sheer power, he was able to effortlessly defeat all three Sannin at the same time. Adding his contract, it is simply not possible for that man to perish without anyone noticing, he killed the Nidaime!"

Naruto massaged his temples. "I'm aware of all that jiji, but I can assure you, Hanzo is dead." Then he got an epiphany. "Maybe this will do what my words can't." He pulled down the collar of his new T-shirt, revealing a few seal-tattoos. He focused on one, and with a POOF, a large scroll manifested in Naruto's hands. "Have a look jiji, the Salamander-contract, with Hanzo's signature as the last one. And unlike the red signatures of active users, his is black. What does that tell us?"

Sarutobi stared at the scroll. He could tell it was authentic, knowing Hanzo's handwriting. He motioned to Naruto to reseal the scroll, and slumped together on his seat. "The only way the handwriting turns black is when the user quits the contract or... dies. I don't believe it. Salamander Hanzo is dead." He straitened up. "Naruto, do you even know what that is?"

Naruto shrugged. "A summoning-contract. Like yours with the monkeys, or the Sannin with the snakes, slugs and toads, why?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "Wrong Naruto. Few people know this due to summoning-contracts being very rare from the start, but there are three levels of contracts. On the lowest level are the normal contracts, for monkeys, snakes, slugs, toads dogs and so on. Then there is the second level, which has two types of contract that go in that level. There are the Ancient-contracts, and the Mythical-contracts. Both are much rarer than normal contracts, and much more powerful. There are only four contracts for the highest level, the four sacred contracts of the Divine Dragons, the Great Phoenixes, the Holy Tigers and the Sacred Turtles, although there hasn't been a summoner for any of the four in centuries, if not millenia. Salamanders are a Mythical-contract, and therefore far superior to normal summoned beasts."

Naruto blinked, shocked by the old man's words. "What other Ancient- or Mythical-contracts are currently in use?"

Sarutobi frowned. "Aside from the Salamanders, there are no confirmed reports, although rumors claim that a little girl in Mitsu no Kuni (Land of Honey) that can summon unicorns, which are actually a lot more dangerous than they sound. Why didn't you sign the scroll yet?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not sure. Didn't feel like it, I guess."

Sarutobi nodded. "What can you tell me about Hanzo's death?"

Naruto looked at him. "The one who killed him had eyes like my right one, only without the tomoe. It was strange. they were six people, yet they talked like one person. There was a woman there, but she didn't do anything but watch. The man who killed Hanzo called himself "The God of Ame, Pein", if it helps any."

Sarutobi seemed lost in thought. "I see. Maybe Jiraya can make heads and tails out of this mess. Still Naruto, now I want to ask you to not go to Ame for a while even more, as we can't predict the plans and actions of those people. And one thing I've been meaning to ask you, why aren't you using a Henge or a genjutsu on yourself?"

Naruto shrugged again. "Tried it, didn't work. My skin absorbs chakra, so they always fade away after a few minutes at best. And I still want to go on a short journey in a week or so. But fine, I'll stay away from Ame for now." When Sarutobi nodded and waved him off, Naruto muttered "Though I can't promise Ame will stay away from me."

Kabuto had just finished one of Orochimaru's experiments. After the disaster with Naruto, Orochimaru had learned a valuable lesson: Don't give your subjects abilities to escape that you can't stop. He had decided to worry about Naruto later, and go back to Plan A, get the Sharingan, worry about making it last later. If push came to shove, he could just breed himself new Sharingan-hosts, patience was something the Sannin had in spades.

Fortunately for Kabuto and Karin, they had been by Orochimaru's side when Naruto made his exit, so he never suspected they have anything to do with it, meaning they got to keep their heads, which had been more than they themselves had expected, and more than many others were able to say, as Orochimaru in his rage had not been picky on whom or what to let it out on. Still, without a Naruto to supervise, Orochimaru had eventually sent Karin to a different base to keep things in order, so the workload for Kabuto didn't exactly decrease. And he had to spend a certain amount of time in Konoha as to not be identified as a spy. He still had a few days until he had to really leave, so there was no need to hurry. Still, it was a shame Karin was gone, Kabuto had started to like her. They were similar, medically interested, bounced ideas off each other and most importantly, they were co-conspirators, which chained them together by default.

Suddenly something clicked in Kabuto's head, and he looked up. A single phrase escaped his lips. "Oh crap, Sasori-sama won't be happy about this."

Kabuto looked around nervously. This place was simply too close to Konoha for a meeting with a S-ranked Nuke-nin. Of course, he wasn't dumb enough to say that to Sasori's face. The man had demanded reports on Orochimaru's activities in the last years, something Kabuto hadn't done because with Naruto, he was simply too busy organizing schedules and making sure they were kept to give reports. But now that he had more time, Sasori was waiting for the overdue report. Kabuto had outdone himself, not only copying the entire files on Naruto, but also mixing in older copies he had made of Naruto's puppet-ideas. Still, he had no idea how to break the news to Sasori and come out with his head still attached.

Said hunched figure was standing before him right now. Kabuto bowed. "Sasori-sama. I apologize, but I do not have much time, I am on a tight schedule, so you will forgive I ask to make things short." He pulled out a scroll. "I have sealed all information pertaining to Orochimaru's actions that I was able to gather in this scroll." Then he pulled out a second, albeit smaller scroll. "And I thought you might find this interesting, Sasori-sama."

The figure nodded and the left hand extended, grabbed the scrolls and vanished beneath the cloak. A deep voice rand from the figure. "Very well. You may leave, but I expect you take less time between your reports."

Kabuto bowed. "Of course, Sasori-sama." He quickly left towards Konoha, and the last thought he had before the mental gates slammed shut and took all memories of what had happened was that Kabuto felt very lucky that by the time Sasori would read the report, he would be far, faaar away.

Sasori meanwhile looked at the larger scroll he had taken into his puppet, and unsealed the first pages. His eyes wandered down the writing, then he froze. "THAT SON OF A BITCH!"

The holographic Akatsuki-members were a bit curious. Sasori had called a full meeting, something that had never happened before. Normally Sasori simply informed the Leader, who then decided whether or not to call a meeting. For Sasori to personally call such a meeting out of nowhere, something major must have happened. Sasori and Deidara were the only real people, as Sasori couldn't show the information he had as a hologram. When all where present, Leader looked at him. "Sasori, why have you called for this meeting?"

Sasori actually seemed to struggle to keep his calm. "It concerns Orochimaru. We decided to not bother with him for now, but his latest stunt is too much! I have a spy in his organization, and the information I received is a punch in the gut."

Leader raised a brow. "What is so worrying?"

Sasori sneered. "He stole from us! Orochimaru stole from us, and we let him!"

Leader seemed confused. "Elaborate."

Sasori complied, and the more he talked, the lower the jaws of the Akatsuki-members dropped. Itachi and Nagato were the most shocked, only now realizing how their pride had made them believe to be invincible. But none of the members had noticed anything, although some in hindsight did recall unusual behavior from Orochimaru, well, more unusual than normal. When Sasori further elaborated that Orochimaru had picked a child to give every power to in hopes of later on taking the body, Zetsu snapped.

"I won't let him! I won't let him use my curse to poison others!"

Sasori let a low growl. "Sadly, we're too late. Since the snake's experiments were dropping like flies, he snatched the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and pumped everything and then some more into him. He survived, and according to my report, the kid has all our abilities."

Hidan let loose a flood of insults and curses, interrupted only by words like "Sacrilege!", "Blasphemy!", "The avatar's power to a non-believer.", or "That fucking snake will be Jashin's most glorious sacrifice!"

Finally, Leader interrupted him. "Enough. That child cannot remain with Orochimaru."

Sasori nodded. "Here the good news starts. The child escaped using Zetsu's power, his current whereabouts are unknown."

Zetsu was impressed. It had taken him weeks to learn that, and from the data Sasori had spread out before them, the kid had only had a few hours time to make it work. Still, this was, by all means, a catastrophe. Those abilities were not meant to be spread, even if the boy didn't have schizophrenia that would split him into two-yet-one people, Zetsu's DNA would not be good for his social life.

Nagato growled. "It seems we were too lenient with our old associate. Right now we lack the time to deal with him, but I believe it's about time we tie up that particular loose end."

The other members nodded and vanished, many dark thoughts of what to do with a certain snake running through their heads. Deidara walked off, muttering something about doing some art to calm down, which probably meant he was going to blow up the mountain a few miles away.

Sasori meanwhile looked at the smaller scroll Kabuto had given him. If they could, Sasori's brows would have shot up in interest. Before him, in somewhat shaky handwriting, were plans and ideas for puppets, or to be more precise, for puppet-equipment. Sasori was intrigued. He knew from Kabuto's reports that Naruto had taught himself everything he knew concerning puppetry, and this was the result of his work. Some of the ideas wouldn't work, some ideas had already been thought up before, but others were simply brilliant. Although the boy obviously didn't know anything about seals and therefore couldn't turn many good ideas into reality, the very concept of them impressed Sasori. The boy had recognized the biggest flaw of human-puppets, the fragile, irreplaceable heart and come up with an idea to keep it out of danger, even if he couldn't practically apply it yet. Yet it was, at least in theory, incredibly simple. You put a membrane around the heart, and if that membrane is damaged, the heart will be teleported to a safe location for later reuniting with the rest of the puppet that could easily be repaired. It seemed to be based on summoning and reverse-summoning, and Sasori, not having a summon, or blood to call one, didn't know enough on that topic to simply create the seals for the membrane right now. Still, it was a great idea, and only one of many in the scroll, which he would spend some time to work through. Sasori felt something he had never felt before and couldn't place, although he suspected it could be akin to parental pride for this kid that worked with his theories and notes, carrying his DNA.

Naruto blinked into the morning-sun. He stood in the garden before the Namikaze-compound, accompanied by his mother and Sarutobi. He had decided to start his first little journey, and promised he'd be back in time for dinner, as it was only supposed to be a short little scout. He didn't even have a specific goal, maybe he just wanted to fully taste the freedom of going wherever he wanted after he had been locked up for so long.

Kushina hugged him, clearly not wanting to let go of her child so soon after she finally got it back. But still she understood him an a way only loving mothers can, seeing his need to understand, to know. She gave Naruto a kiss on the forehead. "And remember Naruto, if strange people bother you, go somewhere else. And if you meet an old man with long white hair and a horned forehead-protector with the kanji for "Oil" on it..."

Naruto nodded. "Kick him in the balls and say it's from you, I know."

Sarutobi had somewhat twitched at the last statement, but when he looked at Naruto, his eyes were cam and serious. "Naruto, you remember what we agreed upon, yes?"

Naruto rolled his visible eye. "Yeah yeah, I won't go to Ame for now, happy?"

Sarutobi looked him in the eye, before nodding. "Good luck Naruto."

Said boy smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you later jiji, and I'll see you sooner, kaasan."

Kushina smiled. "Don't wait too long, we're having house-made ramen for dinner."

Naruto's eye lit up. Kushina's ramen was as almost as good as the ramen at Ichiraku's, and since they both loved ramen, it usually didn't last very long. He nodded. "I'll definitely be back before dinner!"

Kushina shook her head, hugged him tightly and gave him another kiss. Naruto, unlike most other children that age, wasn't embarrassed by his mother's affection, he loved it, mostly due to the fact that he had gotten hardly any affection for the last twelve years.

When Kushina finally released him, Naruto said his temporary goodbyes, gave a last wave and sank into the ground. He was about to learn that when you used Zetsu's ability with such a vague destination like "Anywhere but Ame or Oto", you can land anywhere but Ame or Oto. So when he slid out of a wall, he had no idea where he was. Not a good start.

Chapter 6 is done. Wasn't planning on putting another chapter up so soon, but hey, democracy decided, I oblige. Still, the next chapter may take a little bit of time, since I want to update my other stories too.

Where will Naruto land? Who will he meet? What will happen? It's my call, but I'd still like to hear your opinion. If I like your suggestion, I might use it in one of his journey's, I still have two months for Naruto to travel before the newest batch of genin graduate. Anyways, he'll be abroad next chapter, and if I don't write too much about his first free trip, he'll meet the council of Konoha. Oh the fun I'll have writing that.

Anyways, I myself say that there are certain traits of Naruto's behavior that may initially be seen as odd, so I'll explain. Naruto joked around with Tenzo because he was relaxed. He saw that there were no seals keeping him from sinking into the ground, not that he couldn't just suck the chakra out of them if they did exist, so he knew he could make an exit if needed. He was cheerful with Sarutobi because he trusted him, and he was still giddy from escaping the snake we all love to hate. Regarding Kushina, he was hurt at first, but mind-reading not only ensures you know the truth, but you also see things from their point. Naruto saw Kushina's love, worry and regret, and lets be honest, he is craving for love, having experienced so little of it in his life. He will act different with other people, although he will try to be friendly first. If they are friendly, he will be, if they're arrogant, he will ignore them, if they attack or insult his loved ones... I'll leave that to your imagination. As for why he forgave Sarutobi, he didn't forgive, but he showed the old man he was giving him another chance, as Naruto didn't have it in him to shove away the first person to ever care for him.

And yes, thanks to the Rinnegan Naruto has the potential to use any elemental-combination/fusion. But that doesn't mean he can just copy them, he has to practice. He could copy Tenzo's move because he had already gained a feeling for Mokuton from both the Shodaime's memories and a little bit of experimentation when nobody else was looking.

And when I wrote the stuff about Naruto looking like a hideous monster, I was speaking from his perspective. He thinks he is, that doesn't mean he really is. Sure, he has unusual hair and skin-tone, and he'll be wearing an eye-patch, but it's not like the shinobi-world hasn't seen stranger. Kisame is blue, I'm sure at least one of his parents was blue, and they still got children! Much stranger things have happened and have been accepted. I repeat: Naruto thinks himself to be much uglier than really the case. And transformations or illusions won't work to cover Naruto, as Samehada's part inside of him actually permanently feeds on surrounding chakra, rendering all efforts to hide his skin for extended periods of time futile.

As for cliffhangers, I used to hate them, but now that I'm writing, I understand that they are the easiest and most fun way to end a chapter. As they say, a good story-teller always leaves them wanting more.

Oh yeah, and Arynia has started her own story using dracohalo117's, not my, story-idea and already put up two chapters, which are very different from mine. Read it, it's good. I liked it.

Now onto the reviews.

To c im a dragon: Sure, and when was Naruto ever normal?

To Shiffer: First of all, I never said that every kind of animal on the planet has a harem, I just said that the basic idea is there. Take lions. One male that is laying around, waiting for his pack of females to bring him something they hunted so that he can eat the best parts. All he has to do is to defend his girls from anyone who wants to take his place. Most pack-animals don't have the one-male-and-one-female thing, and even if they do, the alpha-male usually won't stick to it, laying every female he can when mating-season approaches, of course, the alpha-female, should there be one, may then try to kill the girl who took a round with her man, but that's beside the point. So yes, a male doing different females is nothing unusual in the animal-kingdom.

To crazymexican: He'll go to the academy when they read the teams, but not before.

To Tenraku-Ichi: He'll be himself, but he'll be with his mother, who is willing to rectally remove anyone's guts who dares to even look at her beloved child the wrong way.

To Born in Fire: As I wrote above, reading minds really helps in getting to know someone, and he hasn't met Kakashi yet, but he won't be quite as forgiving with him as he was with his mother.

To Liger01: No. Naruto and Kushina's relationship will be that of a mother and child, nothing more, nothing less.

To hordac85: He won't be using his clones that much, as he really has no need to, and the Rinngan would connect them, something Naruto has to get used to first, and Kage Bunshin would still dispel if hit hard enough, as damage has little to do with these clones' durability. In my opinion, they were made to be destroyed, in order to give information to the user. And two things. First, the knowledge-absorption comes from Nagato, not Sasori, and second, Kage Bunshin would be able to absorb knowledge and thanks to the power of the Rinnegan, they would automatically send all information they have to the original, so no, they don't have to dispel to pass information.

To deltabeta26: Naruto will be able to use his abilities both separately and in conjunction with each other, although I myself have not yet worked out all possible combinations and their effects. But Naruto will be able to use the abilities of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan separately, as I haven't really come up with a hybrid-effect for that eye yet, not counting... no, you'll see. Anyways, should I decide to give Naruto the ability to split himself, it won't be into two personalities, but instead more like the Rinnegan-bodies, separate yet one. So his powers can work together, but they can also be used independently from each other.

To OnGuard: First of all, nobody forces you to read this, if my style of writing bothers you so much, you can make it all go away. All you have to do is move your mouse to the top right corner of your screen. You'll see a red or in rare cases gray box with an X in it. Point your mouse at the X and press it. And regarding Orochimaru, consider this. Orochimaru can perfectly walk around in a body he acquired only minutes earlier, ignoring the fact that his legs are not the length he remembers, the arms are different, Orochimaru's entire muscle-memory is gone. And Orochimaru himself stated that the original owners of the body become a part of him. When he took his third body, he said "Your determination will become a part of my subconsciousness.", and when Sasuke was dragged into Orochimaru's mental world, the souls of the bodies he had taken over before were there. Do you really think Orochimaru kept them as a souvenir? Maybe it wasn't stated that he takes all knowledge, but it was strongly indicated that something of his hosts merges with his subconsciousness, and I expanded that so that he gets the knowledge consciously. Since I'm the author, I can do that, and besides, less likely things have been written before.

To slicerness: Don't worry about the pun, I thought it was funny. And thanks for the compliment.

To Garts: Ouch. That was harsh. Still, thanks for your input, I'll try to work on myself, as I'm just a nineteen-year old writing for fun, I realize that my works are not as good as they could be, but cut an amateur some slack here, I'm glad that little old German me is able to get the grammar right most of the times. Still, I'm grateful for your input, and regarding Naruto's power, he is not invincible, just very powerful. Ee for example would effortlessly punch holes into him while dodging anything Naruto can currently dish out with his super-reflexes. Regarding your question, Naruto did train with the threads, but it was only briefly mentioned, so it was easy to overlook. And Naruto can use the threads, but he refuses to do the 'heart-surgery' on living people. And don't worry, I'm not mad. As I wrote before, I can easily take constructive criticism, as the people who write that are generally the ones who care most for the story and I like that. I'm angry at OnGuard since there was nothing constructive in his reviews, but I'm grateful that you show enough care for my story to spend time writing a long review, I love those. Anyways, I'm not mad, and thanks for your input.

To Goliith: He'll use it, but not often, and not like Alex Mercer. He won't absorb random people, and he won't turn his limbs into metal weapons.

That would be all for now, so

Please Review