8

"He's telling the truth, Jiraiya. There is no way he could be lying with half the things he's told me, Kakashi, and Iruka." Naruto had just gone over the basic story of his presence in this time. Sarutobi turned his attention to Naruto, completely disregarding the looks of shock and confusion from both Jiraiya and Tsunade. Shizune was silent, just watching the going ons. Naruto walked back to sit on the couch. "When were you planning on telling me that Jiraiya was your sensei?"

"When I met him again." The blond answered immediately. "Unfortunately, this is not the situation I would have liked to see him in. As far as I knew, Jiraiya-sensei was still travelling at this point in time. I didn't expect to see him for another two months at least, during the chuunin exams."

"Hey, hey! Stop talking like I'm not here, will you?" Jiraiya said loudly. "If what you said is true, how did you get here?"

"Due to…certain circumstances, I decided to use a seal of my own making on myself. I wrote out all the symbols correctly, however, I neglected to evaluate a key part of the seal in my… distracted… state and the seal apparently became a method of time travel, as I ended up in this time when I activated the seal."

"What were you using the seal for?" Tsunade, ever the vigilant one, asked quietly, picking up on his avoidance of the subject in his explanation. Naruto looked her in her eyes with a cool expression.

"You don't need to know that."

"Hey now! I think we have a right to know! Plus, I'm your sensei, right? You should tell me at least." Jiraiya argued. Naruto picked up on the childish tone that surfaced whenever his sensei was on the losing side of an argument. He would have smiled if not for the subject the argument was on.

"As a matter of fact, you have absolutely no right to know. I grant that you are my sensei in this time as well as the other, however, in my time, you have been dead almost five years. You'll have to forgive me if it takes a while to regain the sense of camaraderie we had before you were killed, sensei.

There was silence. The slight pout that had adorned his sensei's face had disappeared and Sarutobi's expression was sorrowful. Tsunade and Shizune were just standing there, trying to wrap their minds around everything they'd been given. Then, hesitantly, Shizune spoke.

"If…if what you say is true…then what are you planning on doing now?"

"I plan to live my life again." Naruto said simply. He was growing tired. The chakra he used, the blood loss and injuries. Adding those to the surprise meeting with Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya, not to mention Tobi's reappearance… It was amazing that he was still standing. He was pretty sure Kyuu had something to do with it.

You're right. I'm making your body stay on its adrenaline high, if a little less so than before. You'll be out like a rock when you go to sleep, so make sure you've got everything you need to do taken care of.

At that, Kyuu went back to focusing on her task of healing his injuries. Naruto sent her a feeling of appreciation, then turned his focus outward. It seemed that their bonding had survived the time-travel intact, if the rate she was going at was any indicator.

"So…what? You plan to just stay here and do the same thing as the first time? You'll let all you've said happen again?" Jiraiya said, seemingly speaking without thinking, because, really, would anyone do that?

To Naruto, what he was going to try to do was obvious and Jiraiya was asking him the stupidest question he could have asked in the situation, and in his tired mind, his temper got the best of him. He snarled at Jiraiya. He noticed idly that Jiraiya's face paled. Kyuu's chakra must have been leaking through.

"Are you a fool? Why would I sit around and let the people I care about die when I can do something about it? Tell me. If you knew a war was going to break out five years from now, what would you do?" Jiraiya didn't say a word, knowing Naruto wasn't looking for an answer. "Tell me. If you knew that Konoha would be nearly leveled in an attack by an enemy attack, what would you do?" Sometime during his rant, Naruto reigned in his temper a bit, but, seeing that it was proving his conviction towards his goals, he continued. "If the target of the attack was you, and your friends and teachers died one by one protecting your whereabouts, would you just sit back until they were all dead? If you knew that you could stop it all from ever happening! What. Would. You. Do!"

Jiraiya's mouth opened and closed many times before he finally decided that saying nothing would be better. Sarutobi silently got up from his chair, rounded his desk, and pulled Naruto into his arms. Naruto shook his head and pulled back. "Thank you, Gramps, but I'm fine."

"I don't believe you."

"Okay, fine. So I'm not fine. I'm working on it."

"Kakashi told me you had a panic attack. He said that something the Uchiha said triggered it."

Naruto smirked grimly. He shouldn't be surprised that Kakashi had caught that. It had been rather obvious to anyone who had been paying attention.

"Yeah…that's not something I want anyone to know about right now…"

Sarutobi nodded, seemingly having expected that answer from him.

"So we're supposed to trust our lives to you. Without you telling us anything." The words came

from Tsunade who was looking at him stonily. Naruto met her gaze easily and smiled at her. A gentle, tired smile that made her gasp.

"I will tell you what is going on, when I get a grasp on everything. I have only been back here for two days, after all. I need to process all of this." His eyes closed for a second. "How would you deal with going back in time nine years and seeing three people who had been important to you who were supposed to be dead, learning that no one else who had died was dead yet, and being back in a twelve year-olds body? Really, I am glad that they are alive, but it's hard to grasp. I'm amazed that I'm taking it so well as it is. Tobi over there didn't really help my situation."

The other four in the room jumped. They had completely forgotten about the man. Sarutobi was the first to get around his embarrassment at the fact, his ire quickly surfacing.

"Is this the one you were talking about, Naruto? The shopkeeper?"

Naruto paused for a second, remembering his earlier hesitations at revealing the identity of his tormentor. Then he remembered his true age. He had been a ninja that ranked among the most powerful in the world. Soon, no one would be able to mess with him. Especially not any of the villagers. He nodded at himself internally.

"Yes." He hesitated. "May I wake him? I know you'll want to talk to him."

Sarutobi gave him a small smile and then gave a wide gesture towards the shopkeeper in welcome. Naruto smirked. He stood from the couch and walked past the four older ninja straight to the still form of Tobi. Then, he drew back his foot and kicked, hard. At the whimper he heard when Tobi rolled back a few paces to hit the wall, Naruto assumed the man was awake and crouched next to Tobi, leaning over him, although careful not to get too close.

"Your life is over. You don't have to thank me." He whispered. He saw the man freeze and moved back before Tobi could try to grab at him. A second later, Tobi was struggling to his feet, using the wall as a prop.

"Miyazawa, Tobi." Jiraiya started. "I brought you here so that the Third Hokage could judge your actions against Naruto not an hour ago. As it appears that he is already aware of the situation, you won't have to wait long."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at hearing his sensei talk in such an official way, but quickly switched his attentions to Sarutobi, who was now speaking Tobi.

"Aa. That's correct. I've already heard Naruto's explanation. I want to hear why you've tormented him for five years."

"Six, actually." Naruto interjected quietly. Sarutobi nodded after glancing at him. Tobi was being pinned with five glares, and Naruto could tell that Tobi knew every single one of them was against him. He knew he had finally run out of luck. But, again, after he caught the man's eyes, Naruto knew the man had gone mad. Tobi jumped at him.

A second later, there were three kunai pointing at his neck with Naruto's hand around his windpipe keeping him from moving into them. The first clone leaned forward and grinned, whispering straight into the man's right ear. "You've just signed your warrant."

The second whispered into his left. "You'll rot in prison."

The third talked a little louder, letting his kunai cut into the man's throat a little. "You'll pay back the suffering you gave me in full."

The main Naruto's expression was calm. He looked into Tobi's eyes and let his own morph into animal-like slits. "I hope prison fucks with your mind. I hope they rape you and beat you until you're nothing more than a shell of a person. You picked the wrong person to mess with. I give no mercy. Not anymore. I hope the Hokage feels the same." He sneered.

At the third clone's statement, Tobi had gone pale, realizing he wasn't going to get out of this, but at the original's, he collapsed, landing on his knees, holding his head between his hands, mumbling to himself. Naruto smirked, dissipating his clones and backing away to turn back to the other occupants of the room.

Sarutobi and Jiraiya both wore twin looks. Each had an eyebrow pulled up in question. Tsunade looked amazed, probably because he shouldn't have had any chakra left to use any techniques at all. Shizune just held onto Ton-Ton with her eyes fixed on Tobi's now rocking body.

"Sorry, I must have forgotten to mention that I had just recently become the head of the interrogation squad in my own time. Some people have problems looking into my eyes when I'm angry."

"That's an understatement." Jiraiya said under his breath, but loud enough to be heard. Naruto grinned. Then he turned to the most senior in the room.

"Gramps, I'm sorry, but could we get this over with? I have to get some sleep and be at the practice field by nine tomorrow."

Sarutobi stared at him for a moment, amazed at his nonchalance at the situation, but nodded nonetheless.

"Mr. Miyazawa. You have been accused of multiple counts of physical assault, mental assault, rape, and attempted murder. Have you anything to say for yourself. Mr. Miyazawa?"

At hearing his name again, Tobi looked up, a twinge of sanity in his gaze. He opened his mouth, only to condemn himself further. "He is a monster. He doesn't deserve to be treated like a human being. He should be used and thrown away. He can't be allowed to live. He'll kill us all-"

"You-" Jiraiya started. Naruto held up a hand, stopping the man's speech. He leaned down again, taking the man's chin in his hand, forcing him to look at him. Tobi didn't struggle and met his eyes again.

"I may be a monster, but you're something worse. You're less than the dirt this monster walks on. But, think. If I do kill you all, whose fault would that be?" Naruto grinned, an odd expression that refused to let anyone tell what he was truly feeling. His eyes were a mixture of many feelings.

As he walked towards the door, Naruto heard with satisfaction the verdict Tobi had earned himself.

"Miyazawa, Tobi. You are hereby sentenced to sixty years in Konoha's maximum security prison with no parole. Perhaps you will learn to respect the ninja around you when they are the ones granting you the privilege of living. My ANBU captain will escort you. And don't worry about your shop. The ownership will revert to Uzumaki Naruto as repayment for all the clothes of his that you have ruined."

Apparently Sarutobi had caught on to the reason for his usual orange attire. Well, that solved his problem of not having enough clothing.

xXx

He was extremely sore the next morning. He'd gone to bed the moment he'd gotten out of the shower, not bothering to put on more than a pair of boxers and slipping under the old quilt he'd gotten from the owners of Ichiraku Ramen, Teuchi and Ayame, on his birthday when he was seven.

He was awake at five o'clock and rose to get himself ready for the day. He looked at himself in the mirror of the bathroom and saw large bruises over his ribs, but all the cuts were gone. He felt along his back, hoping he would find it smooth as well, but he could feel the four slightly raised cuts he'd discovered from the night before last.

It seems that I can only heal the injuries sustained after we came back. I'll be able to take care of your bruises in a little while, but I don't want to overload your body with my chakra. We may still be bonded, but I don't want to take any risks. Kyuu said in answer to the silent question.

That's fine. At least the cuts are closed.

He continued on his morning routine, which ended with a bowl of cereal and an apple; there wasn't any point in making himself any weaker than he already was for Kakashi's test. He cleaned up the dishes he'd left in the sink the previous day, then went back to his room to change after embarrassedly realizing that he was still only in his boxers. You'd think he'd have noticed the draft.

From the clothes he'd gotten yesterday, he pulled out an outfit of khaki pants and the shirt that Naruto thought was much the same color as Kyuu's eyes. He put his kunai in the weapons pouch next to the shuriken, then pulled on his shoes. A few minutes later, he was out the door and on his way to the practice field. He ignored all the glares directed his way, too excited about Kakashi's test to care. It was exactly six thirty when they arrived on the field.

Well, we have another two and a half hours. Shall we train? I don't think I'll be lucky enough to be able to rely on adrenaline in even a spar with Kakashi-sensei. I need to get my reflexes back and I don't even want to think about my chakra reserves at the moment.

Do you want me to help?

Sure.

Naruto then summoned a clone. The only differences were the red hair and angular features the clone sported. Well, that and the fact that Kyuu had transferred some of her will into the clone. Here was a real sparring partner. Regular clones couldn't compare. You couldn't predict this one's moves.

The clone grinned, its fox-like features prominent in its excitement. Naruto grinned back.

"Shall we play?" it said.

"Let's."

They both darted forward at the same time, kunai appearing out of nowhere. The first few clashes were clumsy, but soon they were grappling and kicking and punching and throwing kunai and shuriken at each other as if it was only normal for a twenty-one year old to be fighting in a child's body. Naruto wasn't used to his body, but he could at least make advantage of his movements when he stumbled in a fight. They soon sped up the pace. Naruto and Kyuu had both agreed to no jutsu for the moment, but, for learning the true condition of his muscles, that was for the better. Almost half the taijutsu techniques that Naruto knew would be unusable until he could train his body to move more fluidly and quickly.

As it was, Kyuu had an unfair advantage in their spar. She had a link to the clone through her will and could control its movements. This meant that whenever Naruto thought of a strategy, Kyuu sent that information to the clone, which then used it against Naruto's strategy. Naruto had never managed to win in a spar against this type of clone.

Two hours later found Naruto lying out on the ground at the base of a tree, dozing slightly. He roused when Sasuke's chakra met his senses. When the Uchiha walked around the tree, Naruto sat up and slid back to lean against the tree.

"I'm sorry for leaving you like that yesterday." He said as the black-haired boy sat down.

"Why?" was all Sasuke said.

"You already know, don't you? You were listening to me talk to Gramps." Naruto said with a slight grin in his voice. Sasuke's face grew red.

"You knew?" Naruto chuckled.

"I do now." Sasuke flushed more at the realization that Naruto had tricked him into revealing that he'd been eavesdropping on his and the Hokage's conversation. "I sensed your chakra after Tobi attacked me again. I figured the only way you would have been following me would be if you'd been listening. Otherwise you would've come up to me and asked what happened."

"I was trying to find you before Tobi did, because I thought he might come after you again, after what I said to him." Sasuke started. "When I did find you, those three people were already there, and I heard you talking like you knew them. Plus, that man stopped Tobi from hurting you, so…"

Naruto inwardly snorted. More like stopped me from hurting Tobi. He must not have seen that part. Good. He doesn't need to know anything else right now.

"Something like that…" Sasuke frowned at that. "Those three were two of the Sannin, Jiraiya and Tsunade, and Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune."

Sasuke's eyes widened even more, although if he had been anyone else, Naruto wouldn't have caught it. "Okay…What happened to Tobi?" He asked curiously. "And, are you alright?"

Now it was time for Naruto's eyes to widen. He must have made a really good impression on Sasuke for the boy to show open concern for him. He smirked as he answered Sasuke's questions. "Tobi's been sentenced to Konoha's maximum security prison for sixty years. I'm fine, just a few scratches."

Liar. Kyuu said.

What? It's true…now.

Liar.

Whatever.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "You were bleeding when I saw you."

"How could you see that? It was…Oh." Naruto pouted for a second when he realized that Sasuke had used his own word-trap against him. Sasuke smirked, his pride repaired. In Naruto's head, Kyuu stuck her tongue out at him, cackling all the while.

"Where were you hurt?"

"Just a bunch of cuts and a dislocated shoulder…some messed up ribs, too." He added the last part more quietly. "Tsunade healed me."

He looked up at a dark growl. Sasuke was glaring at a blade of grass so hard that Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if it burst into flame at any moment. "Damn it. I shouldn't have said anything. I just made it worse."

Naruto touched Sasuke's shoulder tentatively. "You didn't know. Plus, your actions lead to my worst abuser being sent to prison for basically the rest of his life. If anything, I'm grateful to you."

Sasuke looked up at Naruto and they stared at each other for a long moment. Then Sasuke nodded his head and sat back against the tree, their shoulders nearly touching. They sat in silence for a long while, but, of course, that couldn't last long.

"Sasuke~!" came the familiar high pitched voice from behind them. They both groaned.