A/N: Many thanks to Hektols for reviewing every chapter :D That made my day to see.
aceinator: Ah. At the time I was writing that chapter I don't remember if we had yet learned how Minato's hiraishin worked, but that is something I need to take care of in the time ahead.
kagomefetish: Some things would be harder to duplicate or fake when it comes to memories, and the lack of the Kyuubi's chakra on display or being felt at all by Sarutobi, no venomous intent at all, were part of the reason he was convinced of the truth and allowed Naruto to try and explain things more fully.
Thanks Lunatic Pandora1 and Hanzo of the Salamander :)
Thank you also to those who added this story to your C2's, favorites, and alerts.
Well, it had to happen sometime. he thought as Ino glared furiously at the blond jinchuriki. Her expression showed a deep betrayal as well as mistrust of the boy and poor Sakura was caught in the middle of it.
On one hand she had just agreed to be his friend not a day and a half ago, but on the other she had known Ino for as long as she could remember. Time and distance trumps resolve, as it turns out. She scooted over to Ino with a sorry glance to Naruto and they began a harsh whispered conversation before the teacher strolled in and forced everyone to pay attention.
The two of them kept it up as discreetly as they could through out the rest of class. I wonder if this will be what breaks their friendship up 'til the Chuunin Exams? They don't exactly have Sasuke to swoon over at this point and I doubt he'd care if they did- getting Kakashi-sensei for a permanent teacher gives him as much free time as he wants these days. Naruto thought slowly, working out the situation.
He didn't want those two to have any strife as Sakura could use the additional advice and tips from her friend, considering Ino at least came from a kunoichi line, and the way things were going Kiba's mom didn't have quite as much free time as she used to since he had been told to fill in for the next few days.
Sighing as the bell rang and they were still in deep conversation he looked around for and found Kiba eyeballing him from another corner. Akamaru yipped at him and Kiba hastily looked away to gather up his stuff. Naruto sighed again. And that's one more fence to mend in time, but I doubt it'll change things over night. Give him a few weeks or something.
As he was to soon find out, Ino was bound and determined to put a stop to his 'vile corruption of my longest friend' and 'if you don't I'll... I'll get Chouji and Shikamaru to stop you!', as she had said later that day after class.
Sakura didn't show up for training either which meant that Ino had said much worse things to her if his future-teammates spirit was temporarily broken. Okaaaaay... how do I resolve this? Do I even get tangled up in trying to resolve this? Sakura has to be able to defend herself emotionally as well as physically if she has any hope to become a proper kunoichi in time. he thought carefully.
After a few more minutes of staring at the empty training field he finally decided she wasn't going to make a surprise appearance and he would be better off lobbing his concerns toward the only other adult he could go to at this point, seeing as the Hokage wasn't exactly on his friend list at the moment.
He scaled the outside wall as was becoming common nowadays and heard faint grunts emerging, along with the occasional thud or thump. Curiosity growing he slowed down and peaked in cautiously, only to find...
Yamato-taicho sitting with his back and shoulders taut, legs crossed as wooden pillars crawled up from his outstreched hands and settled down onto the floor a foot down. A hundred different windows dotted the surface of each pillar and they soon shaped themselves into a couple of different towers.
He noticed that smaller blocks were laid out beneath and around the towers and indeed, these too had windows and even doors. He's recreating... Konoha? Naruto wondered. He had never seen the older man work such art with his wood jutsu control, and it slowly dawned on him that that was exactly what Yamato-taicho was doing.
Practicing his skills and redefining his limits with them. In all their time together the jinchuriki had never once caught the man doing so, and in a way it felt like an awful intrusion into his privacy and peace. To disturb him now just felt wrong. His answers could wait for another time, when the older nin was expecting to deal with the jinchuriki.
Slowly Naruto crept back down the outside walls. He could always join Sasuke on a training run if nothing else to kill time, and it would let their own wary and tentatively growing friendship expand.
Yamato continued building Konoha a couple of structures at a time in miniature replica, even as he filed a note away to ask why Naruto didn't even stay to say something.
Kisame kicked down an old blood stained window that had managed to remain standing upright, nose crinkled at the smell coming from the still unfinished decaying corpse of the giant snake nearby.
Somehow Itachi kept his features blank, though the younger man rarely showed his emotions in the eight odd months they had been working together. "He ain't here and hasn't been for awhile, kiddo. Where next?" the shark skinned man asked.
The Uchiha flicked his eyes over the scene another few times before nodding to himself a fraction. "We head to the Land of Wind. Murmurs have his friendships extended toward the Hidden Village of the Sand." he stated quietly.
Kisame rubbed the bridge of his nose warily. "Look, I like sand about as much as any other Kiri-nin, but are you sure Orochimaru has a viable base set up there or what? The last destination was as much a bust as this was." he argued, gripping Samehada by habbit. When he got irritable shinobi usually ended up gutted.
Itachi turned to face him. "If not to the Land of Wind, would you prefer we ventured toward the Land of Water? I would think a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist were more resistant than this..." he trailed off, well aware of the insult within his words.
Kisame's eyes narrowed but he grinned widely. "About damn time I got a solid insult out of you. Eights months is a little slow for a member of our dysfunctional clan, isn't it?" he asked and chuckled.
Itachi didn't answer him directly. He turned and began to trek off and after another few moments his partner followed once more, considering how to earn another rise from the red-eyed Uchiha.
"You found what?" Sarutobi asked as he set the pen aside to look at the other two members of the Council. The distress on their own features convinced him that this wasn't going to be like the other unfortunate revelations that had shown up from the hidden Root chambers in recent weeks.
"A boy. Young, very young. He seemed to answer a summoning contract discovered behind another illusion seal in that place." Koharu explained with a noticiable strain to her voice. "He isn't the only one according to what he has said so far, but we can't find any indication of where or even how he was called here. The only name he answers to is the one on the tag around his neck." at that she turned and sat down in the nearest chair in silence.
Both of her fellow teammates watched the elder kunoichi with varying states of dismay. "... What is his name?" Sarutobi finally asked them in a carefully measured tone. We're in for another long talk, Naruto. he added silently.
Homura turned back to face the Hokage. "Sai. We gather that there are at least six children wherever he was being held, including the boy himself. He mentioned a brother distantly." and with that stated, the old shinobi's face turned postively menacing.
"The only other information he gave us is that of the description of the man in charge of where they were kept. Let me see if it jogs your memory, Hiruzen; thin and shoulder length black hair draping the face, sharp and challenging yellow eyes with purple facial markings running from the ends toward the flat nose, bleached and ragged skin." he stated.
It only took a couple of seconds for Sarutobi to realize who it was being implied to be, and he felt his sorrow and sickness toward his deceased student return once again in a sudden whirlwind of emotion.
That emotion was only sent higher and further out of control by his teammates next words. "Sai says that man exploded into the rooms where they were at two nights ago and dragged his brother off without a word." slamming his hands to the desk, Homura leaned down to stare into his eyes.
"Tell me you did not know he was still alive." he demanded. Sarutobi stared back at him in silence as he tried to process the possible meaning. And then his face twisted into a convulsion of fury and barely controlled wrath.
An instant and several hand seals later he was on his feet and Enma answered the summons. "Rush to Mount Myoboku and verify that Jiraiya did not sacrifice his life for nothing. I want to know that they found two bodies at that battle scene. If... he is still alive, follow every available lead you have to track down and ensure that his status is reversed." it had been many a long year since Enma had heard the human across from him speak so severely and painstakeningly quietly.
With a short nod the summons departed for the open window and the Hokage turned back to face his other two teammates. "Take me to this boy. I will verify his words in person." he stated, and Homura could only nod his head in turn. It was good to see Sarutobi finally acting as he was supposed to for once in a long while. Koharu remained where she was out of emotional exhaustion.
Ibiki met him at the entrance to the interrogation chambers. "Kids clean, Hokage sir. As far as we can tell his mind was altered by genjutsu somewhere in the last year or two and as a result he doesn't even know anything about the outside world." he explained. "Who he really is, any potential parents or village, none of that is even in his mind anymore due to the effects."
Sarutobi's already grim expression did not alter at these words. "Let me examine him myself." he ordered, and Ibiki stepped back with raised hands in surrender toward the anger radiating off of the elder shinobi.
"Second room on the left." he said. A few moments later and the door was pushed open with more force than necessary.
Inside a small boy was seated at an iron table with his fingers splayed apart and kept separated by chakra suppressant rope that looped over the wrists to keep them held before him. His eyes displayed little of the surprise he felt but his body flinched at the anger engraved in every line of the old mans features and posture.
"This won't take more than a minute." Sarutobi told him with a carefully controlled tone at the reaction to his presence. Don't take your anger out on the child. he had to remind himself, and leaning over the table he looked into his eyes. "Do not look away; I intend to see what has taken place through your own memories." he instructed.
Waking up in this cell in confusion.
Being interrogated by a tall and unpleasant man.
Watching his brother be dragged off by the man in charge of the building.
Clashing swords with a shark toothed boy his senior and once more losing out after a water ninjutsu of some sort is used.
Hiding behind a red haired girls back as another boy nearby is consumed in red chakra and rampages around violently.
Shaking hands loosely with the white haired boy with tired and haunted eyes.
Opening the box to find clear fluid in a bottle beside an ink brush and the small notepad beneath them.
Standing victorious over the same red haired girl as a box is pressed into his hands by the newly bandaged and ill looking man.
Pulling back and away Sarutobi blinked a few times. Far less detailing than Naruto's vision, but this boy- Sai, is just a child. Not quite as coherent as I would have preferred. he thought and then reached down to snap the ropes holding Sai's fingers apart.
"Can you tell me who the other people in those memories were?" he asked. Sai simply stared back at him blankly, and with a frown the Hokage shook him by one shoulder. With a start the boy blinked quickly and looked around himself rapidly, features undisguisedly panicked.
"I'm sorry, please don't put me back in Jugo's room!" his voice hissed out between clenched teeth, searching the small room for the same man he had last seen only moments before. Sarutobi took a step back in surprise at first before leaning down and placing a hand to either shoulder, effectively forcing the child to look at him.
"I do not know who that is, but you are safe here, Sai. Please listen to my voice. You won't have to go back to wherever that place is." he told him quietly and firmly. Sai's breathing began to slow as he was forced to look up at the calmer face he did not recognize ever seeing before, and eventually he relaxed as the panic attack faded.
"Come. It is apparent that your youth has not been spent entirely pleasantly, and while there is little to be done for now I believe it possible to restore your memory of who you once were. Do you recognize the name Konoha?" he asked after gesturing for Sai to follow, and the child slowly did so with a weary expression on his face.
"I... think so. Yes. Shin came from that place." he responded tiredly.
At the door Ibiki watched them go with a questioning look in his eyes, and Sarutobi simply said as they passed that enough had been gathered for now. And then Sai threw another wrench into the mix by adding on to what he had said before. "And Anko-sensei too."
The two boys raced around the forest at a break neck pace, dashing up trees and rebounding off limbs rapidly. The blond had a grim smile plastered to his face as the dark haired boy rushed ahead again. He's progressing so much better this time around than I could have expected. His dedication hasn't faded any but his thirst for Itachi's blood isn't quite as firmly set now that he has Lee for a training partner and friend. Naruto thought and he was genuinely happy about it.
It seemed that enough had changed that Sasuke wouldn't run off at the first chance to slaughter his brother, but time could alter things further for good or ill. Their own friendship was definitely under developed but by and large superior to what it was at the same point in the old timeline. Aah, that's the third marker. We're nearly at the end of the race. and with that thought he focused chakra down into his soles again and kicked off harder to catch up.
Sasuke had sweat dripping off his hair as he pushed himself. A part of him regretted accepting the challenge since it felt like he was leaving Lee behind, but on the other hand he was just as exhilarated to finally, finally, be pushing his limits again. Somehow and one way or another the blond idiot behind him had progressed at a sharp pace in all areas, if their tentative spar had proven anything beforehand.
A crack came from roughly a foot behind and Sasuke risked a glance over one shoulder quickly to see Naruto not only catching up, but rapidly gaining momentum. Damn, that's the final marker! recognizing the emblem etched into the tree in red ink next to his opponent the Uchiha gasped down another lungful of air and pushed his chakra even further into his legs to hold his lead.
Less than a hundred feet marked the start of the path and Sasuke could feel the air being displaced by the other boy only scant inches away. Naruto pulled up beside him and looked into his opponents eyes, and the sight of the orange highlights and flat pupils over golden eyes reminded the Uchiha of the day he was healed. I won't lose to you here! despite the fatigue settling in he found a small spark of energy to drive himself harder.
The next time they jumped a low thud hit the ground as the weighted back and chest plates were dropped. He caught the edge of a branch with his toes and kicked off harshly, drawing forward at least two inches without the increased resistance. What? Naruto thought as at the next jump two more weights slid free of the others wrists and Sasuke drew another half an inch toward victory.
Despite the sage chakra at his disposal Naruto couldn't move any harder or stronger without breaking the trees they were moving on.
As they neared Sasuke began to feel the burning of his lungs reach a fever pitch and his legs jarring with every harried leap and landing, chakra threads binding together like thin rope to reach out and take a hold of the next branch to draw him more accurately forward. At the edges of his vision darkness began to gather and the pounding of blood within his ears blocked out everything else until at last the spark of energy faded out.
In its place the world exploded into clarity. He could see the threads more sharply and clearly as they reached out from his fingertips, and as his knees bent for the next jump it almost seemed to take place in slow motion.
Then his feet slipped and he crashed to the ground painfully, knocking the air from his lungs as he rolled a dozen feet into open land. He barely heard the crack of a tree being punched through or the rush of wind accompanying Naruto's shunshin as the other boy landed at his side in a moment.
Each breath was agonizing, but above him Naruto smiled weakly. "Looks like your Sharingan finally decided to wake up."
End Chapter Twenty.