An: Thanks again to everyone that has reviewed as always. They really keep me going even if my pace has slowed somewhat. I'm truly sorry for that but work is quite busy. Again I thank you for your understanding and patience, your humble author S. o. t. A.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I'm doing this for fun not profit
Chapter 56: Answers and more Questions
Kushina stood at the kitchen sink in the apartment she now shared with Naruto. It was in the same apartment that Naruto had occupied since his return to Konoha. He had eagerly offered her one of the bedrooms that had remained unused. It had been a month since her homecoming to Konoha and in many regards her senses.
For most of that time, except for the buzz her showing up had caused, it had been relatively peaceful in the village. That peace had recently been disrupted by the return of a demon called Moryo. While most of the village's shinobi were assembled to stop the stone army's march, Naruto was a part of the team to protect the priestess Shion.
Kushina had volunteered to help but was denied until she passed the required tests to prove she was ready to assume shinobi duties. In the end, it turned out her help wasn't necessary as the demon was destroyed and the army stopped. If the rumors Kushina had heard were true then Naruto had played a key role in the demons final defeat.
Sighing in boredom, she moved to the large window the apartment supported and could see several groups of shinobi that had been assigned to confront the stone army returning. Figuring that meant Naruto would be coming home within the next few days she made a list of things to get from the store in order to make sure he had a good meal waiting for him for when he did get back.
As she began thinking over what to get she allowed her mind to wander to her first few days back in the village. Her entry into the village had been performed under the cover of night, primarily to limit those who would see her and to give time for a good cover story of her whereabouts to be concocted.
She had been taken to the Hokage's office where she waited with her son while the rest of his team had been sent home. Kakashi had been taken to the hospital where Tsunade looked him over while Jiraiya went in search of Sarutobi. Jiraiya had arrived first but as he stood in the doorway Kushina couldn't see any sign of Sarutobi so had asked, "Where is that old bag of bones?"
"Bag of bones," Sarutobi said indignantly peeking out from behind his student who was serving as a human shield between him and the woman he heard was quite upset with some of his decisions.
"Ah there you are," she said pleasantly as she stood but all thoughts of a warm welcome went out the window as she cracked her knuckles. Stepping forward she said, "You have until I reach you to tell me why it is you didn't tell Naruto who his father was."
The legendary professor actually took a step back as she stepped forward which gave the equally legendary Jiraiya all the opportunity he needed to jump to the side giving Kushina a clear line of sight at his teacher. Sarutobi in order to blunt her anger and give himself a few moments to think said, "I notice you didn't include yourself in that my dear."
She looked away sadly saying "I think we both know why that is."
Sarutobi nodded but said, "It was my fondest wish that I would one day be able to tell him all about the pair of you. But two things prevented me from doing so."
"That being?" she asked some of her anger returning. While she truly had understood why she wouldn't be mentioned, Minato had deserved to have his son know of him.
Taking a seat Sarutobi had said, "The first is that despite the genjutsu I had placed on you I hoped that you would one day wake to tell him yourself."
"I was told the genjutsu was supposed to keep me in a paradise thereby preventing me from escaping it," Kushina said in a huff crossing her arms.
"Very true," Sarutobi replied with a light smile as he added, "However, I had hoped that whatever madness afflicted you was temporary and that should you realize your true son was out there alone you'd find a way. A small hope, yet one nonetheless.
Kushina stared at him her eyes narrowing as she said, "I hope your second reason is better or else Tsunade is going to be looking for a new head elder."
Sarutobi swallowed heavily but said, "My second reason has to do with your son and how I hoped he would turn out."
"What do you mean?" she asked neutrally sitting against the Hokage's desk.
"As I'm sure you are quiet aware while the Hokage is the final authority there are lots of individual powerbases at play such as clans jockeying for position, councilors trying to bring more wealth into the village and their districts." He paused a moment before adding, "And others," his tone making it apparent he was talking about Root. "My hope was that if it was believed that Naruto was simply some orphan that Minato sealed the Kyuubi into then he would slip under these people's attention."
"Why," Kushina asked her tone thoughtful.
"To prevent them from manipulating him to their ends," Sarutobi said standing moving past the woman to look out the window in the Hokage's office and onto the sleeping village. "I know Minato would have wished that the village see Naruto as its savior."
"By telling them he sealed the beast into his son would have ensured that," Kushina said rounding on the elder.
She frowned when she saw his reflection smile in the glass before he turned towards her saying, "Exactly, yet since they disregarded his wishes when they thought him a lone Uzumaki. I decided to keep his parentage to myself. I feared telling people the truth would have led to him being surrounded by people who would fill his head with false platitudes expecting great things from the son of the Fourth Hokage. I hoped that should Naruto achieve his dream of being Hokage it would be with him surrounded by people who viewed him as Naruto, not by who either of his parents were."
Kushina smiled tightly before saying, "You're still a crafty old bastard." Bowing she said, "Thank you for all you've done for my family."
"Now, now," Sarutobi said, "I've made plenty of mistakes. It's only by some twist of fate that he's turned into the fine young man that I envisioned."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as they talked about him like he wasn't in the room. Jiraiya smiled placing a hand on his shoulder before saying, "I think we should still keep who is Naruto's father just between us and his team though."
Kushina looked like she was about to protest but was cut off by Tsunade who entering the office said, "I agree."
"What," Kushina said rounding on the current Hokage, "He deserves to claim that his father was the man who saved the village."
"I agree," Tsunade said moving to sit behind her desk, "Unfortunately the rest of the shinobi world might not be ready for such news. Especially Iwa, who in light of losing their second Jinchuriki might take the sudden appearance of the son of the Yellow Flash and the Red Legion as an act of war."
"What happened?" Jiraiya asked gravelly.
"Roshi has been taken by Akatsuki," Tsunade said folding her hands in front of her. "What's worse is that this time one of the attackers was identified as Itachi Uchiha."
"I still can't believe Mikoto's Itachi would betray the village and his family," Kushina said having a difficult time picturing the boy that had cherished his baby brother as the cold blooded killer Danzou's reports on the state of the village had made him out to be.
Tsunade closed her eyes before saying, "I'm afraid that is both true and not." Directing her attention to Naruto she said, "Naruto, I'm about to reveal sensitive information. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Naruto stared at her before moving his gaze to the rest of the adults in the room. Tsunade expected some outburst but instead he sent his mom a smile and said, "Guess it's over my pay grade huh?" Tsunade nodded, so he stood saying, "I'll be out in the lobby mom to take you home when you're done."
Kushina smiled as he left before directing her gaze to the current Hokage. Taking a seat she asked, "Why am I privy to this information?"
"Normally you wouldn't be," Tsunade answered, "But, considering your status as the former Kyuubi jinchuriki. I know you can keep a secret."
"I'm sorry I never told you about your grandmother," Kushina said looking away sadly.
"I know," Tsunade said holding up a hand, "She asked you to keep it from me. Before we get to the Uchiha massacre can you tell us what happened the night of Naruto's birth? You'll be free to repeat this to Naruto later, but I would like to hear the tale first."
Kushina nodded closing her eyes to remember before saying, "My first clear memory of that day ironically enough was of talking to Mikoto about my pregnancy. Biwako and I were on our way out of the village when we ran into her with Sasuke." Looking at Sarutobi she said, "I'm sorry about your loss."
"Thank you, but she died in service to the village. While not knowing about the circumstances has bothered me, I always took comfort in that simple fact."
Kushina nodded before continuing, "Well Biwako quickly dragged me away and reprimanded me for being too talkative. I won't bore you with the details of the preparations but, during the childbirth Minato was a wreck. Biwako had to keep him focused on keeping the nine-tails contained." Wiping away a few tears she added, "I only got to see Naruto for a minute or so before he came."
"Who," Sarutobi asked leaning forward.
"A masked man with only one eye-hole," Kushina said angrily, "He killed Biwako and Taji before threatening to do the same to Naruto. He then covered Naruto in exploding tags but Minato managed to save him. However I was his true target all along, he extracted the Kyuubi and even managed to order it around."
"What," Tsunade said, "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Kushina answered, "He commented on my surviving having the beast being pulled out of me before ordering it to kill me. Minato saved me before the Kyuubi could fulfill the order and teleported me to his training field where he had taken Naruto. I'm not sure what happened after he left but he returned soon enough with that furry bastard in tow."
"Yes," Sarutobi said, "I arrived shortly after but he'd erected a barrier before then. What happened inside?"
"He told me he found a way for me to be there for Naruto, and that he was going to seal half the nine-tails into Naruto."
"Half," Jiraiya said surprised.
"He sealed the yang chakra into Naruto and used the dead demon seal to seal the yin into himself," Kushina said. "Come to think of it he said something about you mentioning a coming disaster and that the masked man was probably the one who was going to bring it about."
"He must have been referring to when I though he was the child I was prophesized to have trained that would either destroy the world or remake it," Jiraiya said thoughtfully. "He must have been banking on Naruto however."
"He was," Kushina confirmed."I still don't know how I survived being impaled by the nine-tails though."
"That is easy enough to explain," Sarutobi said now understanding why the fox had shrunk during the battle between the fourth and it.
All eyes turned to him expectantly so he said addressing Kushina, "The message Jiraiya sent earlier as you traveled here indicated that you witnessed Danzou survive several fatal attacks from Naruto." When Kushina nodded he said, "Naruto also noted that several of those Sharingan eyes that covered his arm closed over the course of the battle."
"Yes, but what does it mean," Tsunade asked impatiently.
"What Kushina witnessed was an Uchiha forbidden jutsu called Izanagi," Sarutobi answered. "Danzou learned of it from the same source I did. His teammate Kagami Uchiha, the two of them often boasted of their abilities. It was during the mission we lost my sensei that Kagami in a flippant remark said he could even cheat death if necessary. Torirama-sensei had chuckled at that, but told him the price for such a jutsu was his vision. Danzou appeared most interested in that and had asked him for more details but sensei remained quiet on the matter."
"Still Minato wasn't an Uchiha," Tsunade pointed out.
"He didn't need to be," Jiraiya said stepping in, "If I'm thinking along the same lines as Sarutobi-sensei then this jutsu was a yin-yang release based one."
"Indeed," Sarutobi said, "Yin is the power over imagination able to give form to dreams. Yang is the life giving energy that gave the illusion form. When Minato absorbed the yin portion of the Kyuubi's chakra he was probably able to harness that power to heal you completely. He must have used some of his remaining yang chakra to bring that form to life. In other words to heal you completely."
"That's not all he did," Kushina said, "He's modified my seal so that I can drain the Kyuubi's chakra from Naruto. I believe it was so he could gain mastery of it."
Jiraiya nodded along with Sarutobi as he said, "That's sounds just like him, especially if he believed Naruto is going to be the one that defeats this masked man who by all accounts is probably the Third Mizukage."
"I think his treachery may even go back further than that," Sarutobi said gravely. "Considering his ability to move about inside the village, his control of the Kyuubi, and his ability to take on a whole platoon of the Anbu I had guarding the birthing room I think it is entirely possible this masked man may be Madara Uchiha."
"You can't be serious," Tsunade said disbelievingly.
"Quite serious," Sarutobi said, "I know it sounds impossible but who else had the power besides the first Hokage to control the tailed-beasts. The third Mizukage appeared shortly after the battle between Madara and the First Hokage. Kiri attacked Whirlpool after that setting off the second Shinobi World War."
"It does fit," Jiraiya admitted, "Perhaps Madara mastered some sort of jutsu along the same lines as Orochimaru."
"Perhaps," Tsunade said her tone still doubtful but changing the subject she asked, "The bigger question though is. How was Minato so prepared for dealing with the Kyuubi?"
"Not to rain on your parade Tsunade, but what makes you sure he was prepared?" Jiraiya asked raising his eyebrow at her.
"You're telling me that Minato simply came up with using the yin chakra of a tailed beast to save his wife on the fly using a variation of Uchiha technique most people never even heard of. Or that he just so happened to do so while changing Kushina's seal to drain the Kyuubi's chakra from Naruto if he loses control."
Jiraiya didn't really know what to say to that but Kushina said, "He did seem preoccupied with Yin-yang jutsu for a while after that mission to Rouran."
Sarutobi nodded saying, "I remember something of that mission. But Minato's report was rather vague on what happened. They did stop the puppet army though so I didn't think anything of it. What are you suggesting though Kushina?"
"I'm not sure," Kushina admitted, "It's just, the only time I saw him acting similarly was after I told him about my being a jinchuriki. He became fascinated by seals after that."
"That is true," Jiraiya said, "You told him shortly after Kumo tried to kidnap you correct?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
"He came to see me shortly after the attempt," Jiraiya said crossing his arms over his chest, "Perhaps Minato was given a glimpse of the future during that mission."
"Then why not avoid the Kyuubi attack all together then?" Tsunade asked.
"I think the answer to that may lie within Kakashi. He was on that mission as well was he not?"
"Yes," Sarutobi admitted.
"Well it will have to wait until after he is healed," Tsunade said putting her foot down on that matter.
A knock at the door attracted their attention. Tsunade told the man he could enter and wasn't surprised when Inoichi entered having sent for him. Bowing he said, "You wished to see me Lady Hokage?"
Tsunade nodded before addressing Kushina saying, "Kushina, we were unable to retrieve your memories of that day due to some sort of mental block put on you. At the time we thought it may have been a result of your stress, but perhaps it wasn't. Would you submit to a scan? If for no other reason as to make sure all the details match what you told us.
"No, I don't mind," Kushina said.
"Good," the Hokage said, "Inoichi anything you learn is to be classified as an S-class secret, understand?"
"Yes, milady," he said moving up to Kushina. Placing a hand on her head he began to scan her mind for all that had happened that night in order to make sure it had matched what she had told the others.
Iruka entered his classroom for what was probably going to be the last time. His long term mission to develop a curriculum for the Kiri academy was going to end with the graduation of the future genin sitting before him. "Good morning class, I hope everyone is ready for their final exam," he said good naturedly to his students.
Taking his seat he began to take attendance. When he reached the m's he called out, "Mugen…," looking up from his check list he frowned at the lack of response. Feeling the all too familiar sensation that his student was up to no good he quickly finished taking attendance before leaving a shadow clone to keep the class occupied while he searched for his wayward student.
As he moved quickly over the village he allowed his mind to wander to other concerns, primarily to how Anko was doing. He had received a letter from her that told him she was in the hospital. The letter had quickly assured him that she was fine as otherwise he'd be in Konoha. The reason had to do with a mission that had resulted from the Kazekage's kidnapping and the knowledge that Akatsuki had a spy in Sound. Anko, her team, and an ex-Anbu name Yamato had been tapped to follow up on the information and to capture him if possible.
The spy had turned out to be Kabuto but the reason for Anko's hospital visit had been Orochimaru who had known all along and had planned to kill his former partner Sasori. She hadn't gone into all the details but he got the feeling that Anko and Yamato had attacked Orochimaru while her team handled Kabuto. He imagined when he returned to the village she'd give him all the details then.
Hearing yelling, he sighed as the loudest of the people gathered was his missing student who was leaning over a log with the rest of the people as they gambled on which of the two beetles would push the other off.
"Come on you bastard," Mugen shouted as his beetle began to be pushed back.
"Mugen," Iruka shouted loudly enough to cause one of the men to jump towards the tree stump knocking it over.
"No dammit," Mugen shouted, "my beetle was going to win."
Iruka's anger spiked at being ignored grabbed Mugen by the ear pulling him from the group of gamblers. "Hey, what's the big idea, Iruka? I'm trying to make some money here."
"You should be concentrating on today's final exam instead," Iruka said dragging the protesting boy along who despite the many incredible skills he had developed over the years still couldn't escape his teachers grasp. Reaching the classroom he tossed his student in before dispelling his clone. "Good now that we are all here," he said watching as a grumbling Mugen took his seat, "who would like to go first for their exam." Iruka wasn't surprised when Jin was the first to raise his hand, smiling at his first expected graduate he said, "All right Jin front and center."
Kushina was walking through the market as she shopped for some vegetables to go along with the meal she wanted to make for Naruto's return. She had been horrified to learn that all Naruto had in his apartment to eat was ramen. While she enjoyed it as well and was known to gorge herself on it, no mother would allow it to be a daily part of her son's meals. Although remembering the first time she had eaten at Ichiraku with her son she was sure that Teuchi had dreamed of such days as they had practically eaten all of his stock.
She ignored a couple of gossips who began to speak about her being the Kyuubi vessel's mother and why she had disappeared. The official story was that she had been at ground zero when the Kyuubi attacked and had been so afflicted by it that she had been placed in a medical coma for her own sake. A true enough story she supposed, but still there were some that believed she had abandoned him.
Moving on after paying for her purchase she made her way to the home she shared with Naruto as she remembered what else happened the night of her return. Inoichi had confirmed much of what she had said but then asked, "Kushina do you remember waking up in the hospital?"
"Of course", she had answered immediately. However since Inoichi was standing behind her she couldn't see the frown that appeared on his face.
Tsunade did asking, "Is that not true?"
"It is and isn't," Inoichi said, "She remembers being in the hospital, but according to her memories that I can see not waking in it. Her memory goes frown the Fourth sealing the Kyuubi to standing in front of a window in her hospital room just before Elder Sarutobi and Lord Jiraiya enter with Naruto."
"What do you think it means?" Tsunade asked.
"That is difficult to gauge," Inoichi answered. "It could be that she was still a little out of it. Considering what happens next that is a possibility. But I'm hesitant to believe that."
"Why?" Sarutobi asked lighting his pipe.
"Because if she was out of it, her memories might not be clear but they would still be there. Almost like a person in a daze after being too close to an explosion. However Kushina goes directly from the sealing to the hospital window."
"Like the memories were erased," Sarutobi said his voice making it sound like a guess.
"I would say blocked is more likely," Inoichi said his face tightened as he began to concentrate. Inside Kushina's mind the replay of her memories stopped and instead took on the form of a hallway with many doors. Most of them were open indicating that he had witnessed what they held. However between two open doors was a closed one with many chains and seals in place. Some of which were put in place by an outside influence, but had since been reinforced by Kushina herself. Ending his jutsu Inoichi said, "I believe that the missing time is the result of someone's tampering." Directing his gaze at Kushina he added, "However, whatever happened she subconsciously views it to be such a betrayal that she doesn't want to remember it herself."
Looking at each of the people in the room Kushina asked, "Are you saying someone put me up to attacking Naruto?"
Sarutobi nodded sadly saying, "It is something I've believed for quite some time. We tried to read your memories but it was impossible due to the stress you had been under or more likely blocked by an outside influence controlling your actions. This missing time seems to suggest the later being behind it and your overcoming your desire to hurt Naruto has weakened most of whatever they had left behind to cover their tracks."
Asking Inoichi she asked, "Can you open that door or whatever it is blocking my memories?"
"No," Inoichi answered, "Only you can do that. But I think it should be done at a later date."
"Why," Tsunade had asked concerned.
"As I said, it's a memory that is painful to her. Considering all that she has gone through over the years it may be detrimental to her mental health to open it too soon. I think we should give her time to adjust."
"Agreed," Tsunade said to which everyone else nodded even Kushina. A knock at the door attracted their attention causing Tsunade to frown not expecting more people as she asked, "Who is it?"
"Shizune and Kakashi," Shizune called through the door making Tsunade frown. Giving them permission to enter the room, she immediately said, "Kakashi, you should be resting."
Nodding in agreement weakly he replied, "Something Shizune has been telling me the entire way here .But there is something I need to tell you about the apparent leader of Akatsuki."
"You could have told Shizune," Tsunade reprimanded him for his behavior.
"I had the feeling that you would want to talk to me directly because I still find it hard to believe," Kakashi said wearily as he sat down in a chair Shizune had grabbed for him.
Tsunade nodded before saying, "Inoichi thank you for your help." Recognizing he was being dismissed the Yamanaka head bowed slightly before leaving the office freeing Tsunade to say, "Alright out with it."
"Shouldn't I leave as well?" Kushina asked.
"Considering that this concerns someone after your son I'll allow you to hear it," Tsunade answered before returning her gaze to Kakashi.
Nodding his head at the unsaid command to speak Kakashi said, "The man that appeared to be in charge of Akatsuki possessed the Rinnegan."
"What," Jiraiya said his face going ashen.
"I know how it sounds…," Kakashi said sounding defensive.
Tsunade though tuned out what else Kakashi said as she watched her teammate and lover. She could tell that Jiraiya wasn't listening either even though he said, "I'm not questioning you Kakashi. If you said the man possesses the Rinnegan, I'm inclined to believe you. I'll begin researching all that I can on it immediately." Jiraiya quickly made his way to the door in order to supposedly perform his research but Tsunade had the distinct feeling that he already knew all there was to know about the eye.
Kushina raised her hand saying, "Sorry, I'm sure maybe the academy taught us about it. But what exactly is the Rinnegan?"
Kushina smiled as she remembered the professor admonishing her for her poor study habits. But it didn't last as she thought of the implications that a man with such a strong dojutsu was after her son. She only hoped that her request to be returned to active duty was granted soon. She knew part of what was standing in her way was the missing time in her memories. Deciding to take care of it soon as she felt she had enough time to adjust to her new life she began to focus on more pleasant matters. Namely her son.
Her son, she just couldn't get used to saying it even to herself. Granted there were the occasional road bumps but that was to be expected she figured. One such one was on the morning after her return she had made Naruto breakfast. His favorite at least that was what she had thought. But upon sitting down at the table he had said as she sat the food down, "This isn't Miso Ramen."
She had berated herself for making the Genjutsu Naruto's favorite without considering that Naruto hadn't had a mother to cook him breakfast. She had grabbed the plate apologizing for her thoughtlessness, but he had stopped her forcing her to leave it. He had eaten the meal all the while smiling and telling her how good it was.
It had warmed her heart to see him trying so hard to enjoy the meal especially since she could tell the vegetables made him want to gag. That was something she was finding surprising about the true Naruto which was he was nothing like the one the genjutsu had provided. While in hindsight it was rather obvious why that was, since the jutsu had no real memories by which to create the genjutsu Naruto it had simply supplied what she must have imagined the perfect son would be. Still she found it lacking compared to the real Naruto and she was just beginning to understand why. The genjutsu Naruto had reminded her of her father.
Her father was the man that upon hearing the call for an Uzumaki to contain the Kyuubi had moved his family to Konoha. His reason for doing so was so that in time his clan would earn a seat on the village council. Something that was about to happen within the next few days, as she was scheduled to be sworn in. Thinking of her father always brought the image of the stern looking and somewhat cold man that he had been. She still remembered him berating her for beating up the boys that had made fun of her dream of being Hokage as being hurtful of his ultimate goal. Yet, she admitted he was a good father and probably an even better shinobi. She supposed that was why the genjutsu had based its Naruto after him. As the genjutsu Naruto had been just as calm and focused, but somewhat emotionally distant
The perfect illustration of that had occurred in both the real and the genjutsu world. Every couple of weeks the chunin of the village spent a day going over the various reports compiled from the numerous functions they performed in the village, from monitoring foot traffic into and out of it to ordering more supplies for the armory. It was during one such meeting that each Naruto had forgotten a lunch she had made for them to take. She frowned as she figured that the real Naruto had forgotten since he was unused to such things. Naturally being the good mother she was she had brought it to them. Just as naturally some of the other chunin had teased them for needing their mommy to bring them their lunches.
The genjutsu Naruto had thanked her, but later told her not to do such a thing again, since if he was going to be Hokage he needed to project an air of independence and didn't need to be seen as absent minded. The real Naruto though had thrown an arm around her hugging her close as he turned the teasing around on the chunin by saying they were just jealous because their moms didn't seem to care if they had a good meal or not. Just before the mess with Moryo another meeting had taken place and Naruto had again left the lunch she had prepared, but this time she had the feeling it was on purpose.
That simple act had highlighted the difference between the two Naruto with the genjutsu Naruto being perfect but flawed, while the real Naruto was flawed perfectedly. He could be dense, something she sadly admitted he picked up from her. But he always led with his heart something she believed would make Naruto a great Hokage. Just like his father.
Iruka waited in front of the door to the Mizukage's office for permission to enter. The door suddenly opened and a glowering Zabuza stepped past him quickly making his way down the stairs leading up to village leader's office. Iruka tried not to smile since he wasn't sure the man wouldn't cleave him in half but found it rather difficult. Especially since many of the rumors going around the village had the recently recovered Zabuza performing tasks better suited to fresh from the academy genin. Picturing the man walking dogs dressed in full combat gear was quite a mental picture.
He caught the Mizukage waving him into her office out of the corner of his eye due to his gaze still being directed in the direction that Zabuza went. Stepping in he asked, "Is everything alright Milady?"
"Oh don't worry about him," she answered talking about Zabuza. "He's just upset about what his new role in the village is going to be. I trust those are the results of today's exams."
"Yes, I've also taken the liberty of forming some team suggestion if you don't mind."
"Not at all," she said taking the folder from him. Although she appeared equally invested in all the children that appeared in the folder, Iruka knew she was looking for one name in particular. Finding it she smiled saying, "A rather interesting team suggestion."
"Well I figure that those two will push each other to excel. If they don't kill each other that is," Iruka said adding the second part rather softly. "Plus it fits a mold we have in the Leaf where the best student is placed on the same team as the worst's."
"I thought Mugen was as skilled as Jin," Mei said a small frown on her face.
"He is," Iruka said quickly, "However when it came to actually doing his class work it was another matter entirely."
The frown disappeared instead being replaced with a small grin as she thought of the man that Mugen reminded her of, "I think these team suggestions are quite good and we'll implement them. Now have you given any thought as to who should replace you as the headmaster of the Academy?"
"Yes Lady Mizukage," Iruka said pausing a moment before saying, "I think Bundai-sensei should be the new headmaster."
"Really," Mei said her tone surprised since the man that Iruka suggested was rather eccentric.
"Absolutely, he has the spirit to never give up on a student no matter how thick headed. He's also the one that actually got Mugen to learn how to read when it became apparent he couldn't."
"Sounds perfect," Mei said standing. Sticking her hand out, she said, "Thank you for all your hard work Iruka."
"It was my pleasure Lady Mizukage," Iruka said taking the hand, "May your future shinobi all have illustrious careers."
"Thank you and may the Leaf's Will of Fire continue to burn brightly."
Kushina sat down looking around quickly to make sure she was alone. Confident she was, she smiled as she pulled the lid off of the ramen container now that the torturous three minute wait was over. Although she had reprimanded Naruto for only having ramen in the apartment she had eaten it for dinner almost every night that he had been gone.
As she dined on her noodles contently she remembered what had happened after Jiraiya had left the Hokage's office. Chiefly, that they had told her that the Uchiha had been engaged in preparing to turn against Konoha. She still had a hard time believing that a founding clan of the village would turn against the place they helped to build. Or that people she had counted as friends may have been involved.
Still her heart broke for poor Itachi, who had been put into a position to choose between his family and his village. She wondered if Mikoto had known or if she had been just been caught up in the elder's fear of what an Uchiha rebellion would mean to the village's stability.
Thinking of her own stability she knew she needed to confront the matter of her missing time. Finishing her meal she decided a month had been more than enough time to adjust. Locking the apartment she made her way to the Hokage's mansion. Waiting for Tsunade's secretary to let her into the office she felt a little nervous about what she stood to learn.
The secretary beckoned her to enter the office. Stepping past the young woman she fixed the dress she wore as she stepped inside. "Ah, Kushina if you're looking for a status update on Naruto he should be home soon."
"Thank you Lady Tsunade, but I'm actually here on another matter. I…I want to address the matter of the time I lost in the hospital."
Tsunade looked uncomfortable saying, "I can understand that it bothers you, but you don't need to rush this."
"I feel I've had all the time that I need to adjust," Kushina said, "But I need to know what happened that night."
Sighing Tsunade stood saying, "Alright let's go." Kushina followed Tsunade to the Interrogation department. They entered Inoichi's office who looked up surprised seeing the two women.
"Lady Hokage, Kushina to what do I owe the pleasure."
"Kushina is ready to undergo that jutsu you spoke of," Tsunade said sending a worrying glance the red-head's way.
"Are you sure she is ready, milady?"
"Honestly no," Tsunade said, but before Kushina could protest added, "but she's as stubborn as her son so I know she won't accept no for an answer."
"In that case please be seated," Inoichi said indicating two chairs in his office. Placing one in the middle of the room he told Kushina take it. Standing behind her and placing his hand on her head he said, "Kushina, you'll be the one who witnesses what happened that night. I'm merely providing the connection by which you'll be viewing your mind."
"I understand." She swallowed heavily before saying, "I'm ready."
Inoichi didn't say anything in response but she suddenly felt a pull and found herself in a hallway with many closed doors. Walking down the corridor she decided to peek inside one of them. As soon as the door opened she found herself standing in the room where she had met Mito Uzumaki on the day she had told her about filling the vessel of the Kyuubi with Love. She felt indebted to the woman that had calmed the frightened young girl who clutched the older woman desperately as her current self watched on. When the memory ended Kushina found herself inside the hallway again as the door swung shut.
Focusing on the task she had entered her mind for she continued to walk until she came to the only door that was covered in chains and seals. She bit her lip for a moment in a fit of nerves before tentatively reaching her hand forward. As she did so most of the chains and seals fell away responding to her desire to know what lay beyond. However one remained in place and tried to repel her from opening the door. Fighting against it, she began to pull the door open. It opened slowly the seal in place acting as the force that tried to push it close. But eventually the seal gave way flaring out of existence as the door suddenly slammed open.
She found herself in a dark area after the light that had exploded out of the room washed over her. Putting her shinobi training to work she could hear the rhythmic breathing of several people in the room. She heard one of them stir and recognized that the person stirring was her. As the younger her began to awaken the dark room began gaining details to reveal it was the hospital room she had occupied after the Kyuubi attack. First to appear in the room with her was a bed followed by a younger version of her. As the younger version became more aware of her surroundings the details of the room became clearer and more furniture appeared to fill the room.
The younger Kushina rubbed her eyes before shooting forward shouting, "Naruto…"
A hand appeared out of nowhere to push her back into the bed and the familiar voice of Mikoto said, "Relax Kushina. Naruto is safe and is being taken care of by both Jiraiya and Sarutobi."
As Mikoto spoke more and more of her became visible to reveal her sitting next to the bed of her friend. "Mikoto…what…what happened to Minato?"
"I'm sorry," Mikoto said, "He died during the sealing."
Kushina sat up, but nodded having known that would happen. But, feeling her chest and not finding a massive hole had held out a small hope that he had cheated death as well. Although Mikoto was probably her closest friend even she didn't know that she had contained the Kyuubi. She frowned slightly knowing that Naruto bearing the burden of the Kyuubi appeared to be common knowledge already.
"You seem to be taking his death rather well," Mikoto said surprised. "I think if I was in your situation I'd be a complete basket case."
"I have to hold it together for Naruto, don't I?" Kushina said sadly looking at her sheets feeling the tears that threatened to overwhelm her.
"That's very brave," Mikoto said, "By the way have you met Shisui?"
Kushina looked up at her friend surprised by the sudden change of subject and focusing behind her saw a boy a few years older than Itachi. The current Kushina watched her younger self stare at the boy an obvious question on her lips that suddenly died as she met his eyes.
Kushina watched her younger self's eyes go blank as she stared into Shisui's active Sharingan eyes before she slowly got up and went to the window that she remembered standing in front of when Sarutobi and Jiraiya entered. She half expected the memory to end which in turn would have been merciful but even though she had been under a trance her mind still on some level had known what was happening around her. Therefore it felt like a knife wound had opened in her heart when Mikoto dispassionately asked, "Is the suggestion in place?"
"Yes, she'll awake from the trance upon seeing her son. She'll believe that the sealing failed and that the Kyuubi is in control."
Mikoto nodded moving to a desk and from her kimono procured a kunai that she placed on the desk between the window and the door Naruto would enter with Sarutobi and Jiraiya. As she placed it on the desk she said a hint of sadness in her voice, "Sorry Kushina, but it looks like Naruto and Sasuke will not get the chance to be friends like you had hoped." As she made for the doorway Mikoto said, "Make sure none of the hospital staff remembers we were here."
Shisui responded by saying, "it's already taken care of. But why is this necessary?"
"To ensure the Uchiha are finally given the respect they deserve," Mikoto said leaving the room closing the door behind her.
As soon as the door closed Kushina felt a pull on her and awoke to find herself in Inoichi's office again. As she looked around the room she felt her blood begin to boil and some of the residual chakra that she had drained from Naruto begin to respond to her anger. She stood beginning to pace back and forth while the other two occupants of the room watched. She stopped near a wall and suddenly lashed out with a fist punching it hard enough to leave a hole.
"Kushina," Tsunade said snapping Kushina out of her anger. But the Hokage was just as surprised when the woman began to cry. Directing her attention to Inoichi, the blonde woman asked, "What's happening?"
"She's coming to grips with what she learned," he answered observing the woman carefully.
Tsunade made her way to woman and put an arm around her saying, "Shh, it's alright now."
Kushina nodded into her shoulder before saying dejectedly, "It was Mikoto…and a boy she introduced as Shisui."
"Mikoto Uchiha," Inoichi said surprised, "Why would the wife of the head of police place a suggestion to kill Naruto inside of his mother?"
"I'm afraid the answer to that is classified, Inoichi," Tsunade said helping steady the woman. "Do not let that knowledge leave this room?"
"As you command," Inoichi said stiffly.
Leading the woman from the office Tsunade asked, "Did Mikoto say why she did it?"
Kushina nodded replying, "She said it was so the Uchiha would receive the respect they deserved. What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure, but it doesn't matter anymore."
Hiruko was staring at his latest experiment in perfecting the chimera technique when he sensed a presence behind him. "Ah, I see you've gotten my message," he said turning away from it as the mass that represented his chimera technique swallowed a snake before taking on its properties.
"Indeed," Fan said stepping into the light. Tossing the young woman Fan had carried towards the small man, the cloaked person said, "And I come bearing gifts."
Chuckling, the Leaf missing-nin said, "As do I," his eyes going wide upon recognizing the woman with the scorch Kekkei Genkai that would allow his perfect body to master the Swift Technique.
"Do tell," Fan said, the curiosity the masked person felt easy to hear despite the voice modulator.
"Akatsuki recently contacted me in order to check the damage the nine-tail jinchuriki did to the sealing statue. The apparent leader a man named pain doesn't seem to understand what the statue is truly for though."
"Pain is but a tool for Akatsuki's true leader," Fan said, "I trust you didn't contact me for this."
"Not at all," Hiruko said his childlike voice carrying a hint of amusement. "As I said Pain doesn't know which leads me to believe this true force behind the group does and I thought you would like to know that his ultimate goal now appears impossible."
"That does warm my heart," Fan said. "Is that it?"
"No, although the statue can no longer contain all nine Bijuu and thus no longer resurrect the Ten-Tails. The statue is serving as an egg from which a new being may be born containing the power equal to the Bijuu it houses when it hatches."
"I'm not sure I understand."
"Well think of it like this," Hiruko said walking towards a small board. "The statue currently houses the Five and One tails. Therefore should it hatch now it will contain the power of both Bijuu that had been housed in it."
"So it would be as strong as the six tails?"
"Yes but you aren't quite getting it," Hiruko said with a hint of admonishment. "Each tailed beast was but a fraction of the true power held by the ten-tails. Therefore, as the statue is now, the being inside of it is as strong as the six tails. Once you get enough tails inside that it equals over nine you'll come closer to equaling the Ten-tails."
"Therefore, Akatsuki has to pick and choose which Jinchuriki to extract into the statue in order to maximize the amount of strength this new being will contain?"
"Exactly, at least that would be the case if I had told Pain the truth of the matter. But his goal is simply to use the energy the statue contains to create some super jutsu. I figured the information would be better put to use by you."
"I'll try and justify your faith in me," Fan said turning to leave.
As the Suna kunoichi began to stir Hiruko asked, "Would you indulge me a question?"
"What?"
"Well you know my ultimate goal is to possess the Sharingan Kakashi was given."
"What of it?"
"Considering your dress I have come to the conclusion that at some point in time your own loyalties lied with the Leaf and specifically the Uchiha. Does my goal not bother you?"
Fan chuckled before saying, "From what I understand of your research your chimera technique simply uses the Kekkei Genkai your victims possess to create a new one. The way I view it if you take Kakashi's Sharingan you'll be doing me a favor and correcting the mistake Obito made in giving it to him. Regardless of whether you succeed or not, you will weaken Konoha making it easier for me to extract my own brand of revenge on it."
"Well thank you for indulging my curiosity," Hiruko said noting that Fan had already left his citadel.
Tsunade was getting rather annoyed with Jiraiya. After the talk with Kushina and the revelation that the leader possessed the Rinnegan the toad Sage had left the village only leaving a note to explain he was looking for clues to the dojutsu user. But what truly had her upset was that he had snuck back into the village and had yet to see her. It was only because she had scattered slugs around the village that she knew he had returned.
Looking outside she saw that it was dark so slipped into the ridiculous outfit Jiraiya had bought her. If he didn't respond to what she wore she'd know that whatever was eating at him was no small matter. Slipping through the village praying that nobody saw her she arrived at the Uchiha shrine and slowly made her way down to where the stone slab resided.
Reaching the doorway she said, "Oh Jiraiya, I'm wearing that outfit you bought," as she henged herself to look a few years younger than normal with pig-tails.
"That's nice," he said calmly not taking his eyes from the slab.
Feeling a vein pop from her forehead she said, "I'm wearing this ridiculous outfit despite you taking off out of the blue and you can't even spare me a look."
Jiraiya turned towards her and despite his eyes traveling over her body and a ghost of his smile returning he remained serious saying, "You look just as good as I imagined you would." Sighing he said, "Sorry if my reaction doesn't meet your expectations."
"It does," Tsunade said surprising him, "It does if something is bothering you so spit it out already." Placing a hand on his cheek she said, "Let me shoulder some of the burden you feel like you did for me."
Jiraiya nodded before saying, "Sorry for taking off on you. The reason for that was so I could move some assets I had searching for Kushina into looking for Akatsuki."
"There is more to it than that though," Tsunade said her tone making it clear it wasn't a question.
"Yeah," Jiraiya confirmed before leaning against the slab. He took several minutes to compose his thoughts before saying, "You remember those brats we came across in Rain Country during the Second Shinobi War."
"The ones you stayed behind to train?" Tsunade said her tone letting Jiraiya know she wasn't sure what they had to do with anything.
"I'm afraid so."
"Afraid?" Tsunade said feeling dread well up inside of her.
Jiraiya nodded before saying, "I'm afraid because if what Kakashi says is true then it's possible the leader of Akatsuki was trained by me." Jiraiya then went into everything that happened during his time among the three Ame orphans and especially the boy that he had first thought may have been, the child of prophesy.
As Team Neji which was basically Team Kakashi minus Kakashi made its way back to Konoha. Naruto tried not to sigh as he felt Sakura and Hinata glaring at his back. "Of all the stupid times to develop foot in mouth disease," he thought thinking back to the reason both girls were glaring at him.
That being the priestess Shion who after destroying Moryo with his help and turning the mountain where his body had been stored into a volcano had asked Naruto for his help in passing her powers along. He had agreed all too quickly not realizing that she was basically asking him to be the father of her child. Luckily she had graciously accepted his refusal when he did come to that conclusion with the help of Haku, but the damage had already been done.
"And everything was going so well," he thought giving into the sigh he felt. The reason being that ever since his mom had returned, the rivalry that Sakura and Hinata often seemed to engage in around him had disappeared. Turning to look over his shoulder he quickly turned back around as both girls narrowed their eyes.
He supposed he couldn't blame them as he had attempted to keep both girls from making such an overt declaration of love by using his past obliviousness to often deflect them. Yet there he was walking right into a similar one by a girl he had known for a single mission. He wanted to explain to the girls following behind him that it wasn't his fault. After all who honestly asks to be knocked up right after a life or death battle? But obviously Kami was getting back at him for his earlier tricks on his two female teammates.
Neji followed at the rear of the group trying to understand what it was that most of the women he had encountered on this mission saw in Naruto. Although brave he didn't seem to be all that bright considering his response to the priestess. However it was easy to see that both kunoichi on the team he was temporarily in charge of were both infatuated by the boy. Looking to the only other male on the team he could tell Haku was amused by the whole exchange. Wondering why it was the Shion's proposal was even bothering him Neji put it out of his mind. If his past history was anything to go by it was obvious he didn't understand women.
Sakura still couldn't believe the floozy priestess had actually asked Naruto to impregnate her. But it simply highlighted something that she knew both her and Hinata feared. That it was possible that the days when they were the only two interested in Naruto were coming to an end. A fact that with the CRA out there for every princess or kunoichi of the week to take advantage of meant that it was possible they may be sharing Naruto with a long list of women. Although it was doubtful Naruto would take advantage of it since neither girl could imagine him simply taking a lover to procreate without feeling anything for them. They still feared the outside chance of such a thing happening, especially since he had spent three years with the self proclaimed pervert Jiraiya. Sakura took a moment to take her eyes off of Naruto's back to look at her chief rival for his heart.
Hinata for her part had more than just Shion's proposal to worry about but a fear that she was losing her mind. During a lull in the fight with the Dark Medical Ninja that the demon had tasked with killing Shion, her cousin had ordered Naruto to take the priestess on ahead. Naturally neither she nor Sakura had been pleased considering the priestess's earlier prediction that he would die. But Neji had argued that based on how her future vision worked it had to be Naruto. She could see that much like her that Sakura wanted to tell Naruto that she loved him especially since it was possible they would never get the chance. The only thing that had stopped them was Naruto's declaration not to worry as he wasn't dying until long after he became Hokage.
They had tried to put on brave faces and had for the most part succeeded since he had made it sound like his death was an impossibility until he met his goal. But as he was taking off and they set up to meet the four shinobi hounding them Hinata had once again caught a glimpse of the woman that had observed her during the battle against Root in Wind Country. Except this time the woman had disappeared right as she was looking at her. After the battle in which they had emerged victorious Hinata had broken off from all the others to search the area but found no sign anyone had been standing there.
Before she could think on the matter further she felt eyes on her. Meeting the jade orbs of Sakura she could tell exactly what her friend and rival was thinking. "The truce is over. It's on." Hinata nodded and decided to worry about her mental stability and why she kept seeing this mystery woman later. After all, there was a heart to be captured and she wasn't going to let anyone stop her from succeeding, least of all Naruto.