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Last time: Naruto and Tsunade's battle begins. It climaxes with the two resolving to finish it with one final blow.
This time: The conclusion to the fight, and a glimpse of just what Naruto was doing while away from Konoha, along with another explanation, and a hint at what's coming for Naurto.
A hush fell over the stadium as the two slammed together with an echoing 'thud'. The duo bounced apart, blood trailing from two simultaneous face shots. Tsunade and Naruto crashed to the ground, laying spread eagle, neither was moving. Slowly, babble broke out among the crowd, mostly wondering what the council would do in the event of a tie.
Kyuubi and Jiraiya watched in complete silence. The fox was probing Naruto as hard as the weakened mental link would allow. The demon's heart nearly quit when he realized that, despite the brutal hit, the blond was still conscious. His jaw hurt. That was painfully evident, even over a reduced link.
"Dammit kid, get up!" The Toad Man murmured beside him. The Kyuubi almost felt sorry for the old codger. He knew how tight the brat and old man were. To tear the two apart would be devastating for both. Kyuubi really hoped that it wouldn't come to pass.
Tsunade was wafting in and out of consciousness. She wasn't out, but she wasn't responsive either. What she did know, even in this drifting state of mind, was that she wasn't going anywhere. If Naruto could just get back to his feet, this battle was his. She was vaguely aware of the crowd beginning to scream things at her, to get her to lift up to her feet.
'Nothing doing,' she thought dimly, wanting very much to give into the haze and slip into blissful temporary oblivion, but she just couldn't for some reason. It was as if her body wanted her to stay awake to witness the outcome. The shouts continued, but the Godaime knew that this was the end. She could barely feel her limbs and there wasn't any chance that her legs would support her. A gentle smile spread on her face and she relaxed, waiting for the end, either with Naruto getting up, or with the both of them passing out.
Naruto was in a similar situation, but he was slightly more aware. That was due to a feeble prodding in the back of his mind that refused to go away and let him go to sleep. Only one thing could do that to him. Kyuubi. That damn furball kept poking at him. It wasn't nearly as forceful as it could be, but it was annoying nonetheless, like a little brother who just won't listen to what you say. He knew what would make it stop. Getting up was the only damn way the fox would just let him be. The blond grunted and began to gather what little strength he had left.
'C'mon Naruto, get up.' The will to stand began to burn with a vengeance in his head and the former missing-nin gave a huge shove… and successfully managed to flop himself onto his stomach. Brilliant. Now he really had nothing left. He wouldn't stand without help. He felt a hard gaze on his back. When Naruto looked up, he could just barely see Gaara looking down at him with a look of stony indifference. The coldness shocked him, like the Kazekage was regretting being Naruto's friend. That cut straight to his soul. Gaara was a true friend, even a brother because of their shared fate.
No longer able to meet the hard stare, Naruto dropped his gaze, and saw a crack in the wall, just deep enough and low enough for his hand. He began to work his shoulders and chin, dragging his body across the ground just as he'd done with Gaara all those years ago. He'd show the Sand-nin that he still had it.
Sakura watched with wide eyes as her last remaining teammate crawled, almost pathetically, over to the wall. What was he going to do? She could see that he was completely drained of chakra and stamina. Naruto had about as good a chance of standing as Suna had of getting snow! But she knew deep down that the blond would never let something like this stop him. When he'd rescued her from Gaara was proof of that.
"Come on, Naruto," she whispered to no one. "You can do it."
Naruto was only feet from his goal. All that was left was to get his hand into the crack and pull himself up. Now the only challenge was to get his hand up that high. The blond dug deep down into the last reserves he had left and managed to slot a shaking hand into the crack. Now he began to strain, trying to raise his entire weight with only one weak arm.
"Little whelp hasn't changed that much," Jiraiya's comment made his demonic companion nod grimly. The blond missing-nin truly didn't know when to give up. Now he was tossing his body, trying as hard as he could to get a leg under him.
Naruto succeeded.
The blond grinned happily as he finally got his right leg into a position to help support him. Now on one knee, as if about to pop the question, he threw himself against the wall, trying to gain whatever support he could. Finally, after what had seemed an eternity, he was slouching against the wall. It wasn't good enough for Naruto though. He wanted to stand on his own.
He pushed off, and staggered out towards the middle of the arena. It was a feat just to move his legs. Each one felt like a pillar of lead. A rushing noise was filling his ears and his vision was slowly starting to resemble a view through a straw. He knew that he wouldn't last much longer.
The council members sitting in the Kage box were stunned beyond any hope of relief. Danzo was about to blow every capillary in his body as the staggering figure of Naruto stumbled from behind the tree where the blond had crawled to get to his feet.
"Sai!" He thundered. The pale-faced man was at his side faster that it took one to blink. The ROOT graduate was fully decked out with ANBU gear and served as Danzo's number one soldier, unsurpassed in skill and loyalty.
"Yes Danzo-sama?" He asked with his usual fake smile.
"You've worked with that demon. What drives him?" The ROOT leader asked, trying to figure out why his plan to expel or kill the demon was failing before his eyes and dying even more with every step Naruto took. Sai looked at the figure shambling across the arena floor and turned to Danzo.
"Naruto is driven by his convictions and determination, nothing more nothing less. The reason your plan has failed, Danzo-sama, is because your determination doesn't match his." With that simple explanation, the pale man left.
Tsunade managed a weak smile as Naruto stopped and towered over her, his grin lighting up his face.
"Welcome back, Naruto." She said in a barely audible voice. Then she was finally able to give in to the all-consuming lethargy plaguing her body and dropped into unconsciousness.
Genma smiled as he raised his hand into the air, before leveling it at the exhausted blond and shouting,
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!" Cheers split the stadium's heretofore quiet as all the blonde's friends jumped up, with the exception of the more stoic ones, crying, shouting, and whistling, making more noise that the entire stadium. And they weren't the only ones. Naruto had won many a veteran shinobi's respect with his stunts at the south wall and they were also cheering for the wayward blonde's return. Everyone who hadn't been at the wall, though, just got up and left, disgusted at the blonde's success.
"Danzo-sama, what are we going to do about this?" One of the council members asked the tense Council Spokesman. The ROOT was breathing rapidly, trying to figure a way out.
"We don't reinstate him." He replied simply, wiping a little spittle from his suddenly soaked mouth. "Yes. Yes, that's it. Matters of missing-nin reinstatement are left in the hands of the council for this very reason."
"I'm not sure I follow you, Danzo-sama." Replied that same member. "What do you mean?"
"He means the current emotional situation between the Hokage and Uzumaki." Everyone shut up to listen to what Hyuuga Hiashi had to say. He was well known for his strict running of his household, which meant that he knew the rules cover to cover. "If the reinstatement of missing-nins was left solely to Hokage and only the Hokage, that one person could possibly have strong emotional attachments to the missing-nin in question and allow their emotions to blind them to the threat posed to the village. The hope was that the council wouldn't be so blind and would deal with a missing-nin in an expedient manner, benefitting the village as a whole."
"Hiashi-sama is correct," Danzo said, nodding, "we have the final say on if Uzumaki becomes a genin again or not."
"Moot point, Danzo." It Sarutobi's old friend and aide. "We have entered into an official agreement with the Hokage. It is binding. Breaking this agreement is grounds for execution without trial, as laid down by the Shodai Hokage and the First Council." He glared at the scheming councilman, green glasses flashing. "Do you hate Uzumaki, no, Naruto-san,so much that you are willing to give up your own life?"
"Watch your tongue, Councilman! You dare attach an honorific to a demon?" Danzo's face was close to mad now, as he yelled at the older man. Clearly his hatred for the Jinchuuriki was deeper than most.
"Yes I dare!" The old firebrand returned, just as loudly. "That man has saved our village and proven himself a worthy shinobi! We would be the greatest fools in all of Konoha's history to let him go!" With a furious roar, Danzo leapt from his chair at the old man, a hidden kunai flashing from his sleeve…
Only to be stopped by a second kunai placing itself right against his throat, and one quick tap on his legs and arms that made the limbs turn into jelly. The only thing that kept his neck from being slashed was a powerful hand that seized him by the scruff of his collar and held him up.
"Thank you Kakashi-san, Jiraiya-sama, Hiashi-sama." The three shinobi nodded in return. Kakashi and Jiraiya, though in the stands, had been watching the box with cautious eyes after they sensed Danzo's agitated chakra. When the pair had spotted Danzo making his leap, both had used Shunshin to get over to the endangered councilman as quickly as they could. "Kakashi-san," at the man's call, the masked nin looked at him with a puzzled eye, kunai still held to Danzo's throat, his other hand casually in his pocket.
The bespectacled man gave him a smirk, "You're slipping. On time again. What would Obito-san say?"
Hatake snorted, understanding that the man was thanking him in a roundabout way, "He would yell, scream, and carry on before attempting to kick my ass."
Down on the field, Naruto was swaying on his feet. He heard the announcement from Genma and had a satisfied fox-grin on his face that was more dazed than coherent. Finally, his vision, which had gone from a straw to a coffee stir, went completely. With it went his hearing and Naruto keeled over, pitching forward, looking for the world as if he would hit the ground.
"Oh no!" Sakura cried as she rushed for the falling blond. She needn't have bothered though. Kyuubi had felt it coming and was at Naruto's side in a black blur, catching the blonde's arm and stopping his fall before the pink-haired girl had left her seat.
"Damn brat. Overdid it again." The possessed clone muttered, his exasperation clear. In the next second, he was swarmed by all of the brat's friends who were all clamoring at once, asking everything from who he was to if Naruto was okay.
"Sakura-chan, lets get Tsunade-sama and Naruto-kun to the hospital now. They both need healing and a long rest." Everyone turned around and saw Shizune striding towards them, already filling out a sheet on a clipboard.
"Sure, I'll get Tsunade-sensei." Sakura said and bounded over to her sensei, scooping her up in a fireman's carry. Kyuubi, conversely, just threw Naruto over his shoulder like a half-empty sack of potatoes, mutely saying that he would lug the blond to the hospital.
The first thing Naruto became aware of were the voices babbling in the background, and they all seemed to be talking, rather rudely in his opinion, to someone in the room.
"Just answer the damn question!" The raging voice was backed up by an angry bark, which meant the one talking was Kiba. The response was calm and silky; butter wouldn't have melted in the speaker's mouth,
" What's it to you, dog-boy?" The voice asked. Naruto struggled to open his eyes. He knew that voice anywhere. Kyuubi.
"Why you!"
"Kiba, calm down." The low voice had to belong to one of three people, Shino, Neji or Gaara. Judging by the fact that the speaker had used Kiba's name, the blond was willing to bet it was Shino.
"You should at least tell us why you won't leave Naruto." This newest person spoke from right beside him, close enough for him to smell. Whoever it was smelled like flowers. Sakura-chan maybe? Kyuubi's response wasn't as scathing this time,
"I don't have to say anything. If you really want to know why I won't leave, ask that catatonic baka over there."
"HEY! WHO'RE YOU CALLING BAKA, BAKA!?" Naruto yelled sitting bolt upright. He instantly regretted it, as the room spun and warped around him. Sakura grabbed him and eased him back onto the pillows, which were the stereotypical itchy linen found in most hotels and hospitals allowed him to relax and regain his bearings.
"Easy, Naruto. You shouldn't be doing stuff like that right after you wake up. Idiot." Sakura chastised as she compulsively straightened the sheets then looked over behind her. Naruto followed her gaze and saw Baa-chan lying in the bed next to him on the other side of the huge bank of monitors and sensors and various medical implements that monitored their vital signs.
"Naruto, can you tell us why the hell tall, dark, and creepy over there won't get out of here?" Naruto turned a weary gaze onto Kiba as the dog user stabbed an accusing finger at the cloaked figure standing in the corner of the room. Naruto didn't respond immidiatly as he was trying to figure out how to tell the group who this guy was without revealing that the cloaked man was, in fact, Kyuubi.
"Why don't we go outside and let Naruto see if he can't convince this guy to leave?" Naruto felt a rush of gratitude towards Sakura as the med-nin led all his visitors out and, from the sound of her words, to the break room. Now it was only Kyuubi, Naruto, and an unconscious Tsunade.
"Y'know, you can't keep avoiding the fact that one day you'll have to tell them about me," Kyuubi said, lowering his hood to reveal his demonic features. "I could tell them myself if you want." Naruto shook his head,
"No. I'll tell them myself. Not now though, I want them to readjust to having me around. I don't need to make that any more difficult for them." Kyuubi shrugged and undid the clasp of the cloak, tossing it to the blond who caught it with the hand that didn't have an IV lodged in it, and stashed it under his pillow.
"Hold it," Naruto said as the fox began to peel off his orange shirt so Naruto could release the seal and Kyuubi could once again inhabit his body. The possessed clone looked at his host with a puzzled glance.
"What?"
"Open the window before you do that. We can use that as an excuse to say you left." The fox nodded and crossed to the window, yanking it open and allowing the late summer wind to lift the white curtains with a refreshing breeze that smelled like a fresh mountain wind. Then the fox crossed to Naruto and pulled off his shirt, turning around and allowing Naruto access to the complex seal burned into the clone's back like some perverse tattoo. The blond found the mark that would break the seal and focused what little youki he had access without Kyuubi into his palm, and then pressed his hand to the mark. The crimson chakra shot over the black seal until every mark burned with the youki, before the seal let off a hissing noise, accompanied a few wisps of vapor as the black lines receded and vanished.
The clone dispelled with a second sharp hissing noise, instead of the usual 'poof' noise, and the smoke that came with it was more abundant, twisting and writhing, forming a vague shape of a leaping, snarling, kitsune before dissipating. Just in time too, because no sooner had the smoke completely than the door opened and all the blonde's friends trouped back into the room.
"Great!" Kiba close to shouted, pumping a fist in the air as he noticed the open window. "You got that asshole to leave!"
'Who's he calling 'asshole'?' Kyuubi snarled, snapping his massive jaws in play anger. He turned giant red eyes on Naruto, 'Can I kill him?'
Naruto laughed, knowing that his giant demon companion was only semi-serious. 'Sorry, Kyuubi. Kiba may be a loud jerk, but he's a good guy.'
'Sounds like someone else I know.' The fox responded. Naruto's only reply was a twitching eyebrow and to flip the fox the bird. The deep, booming laughter followed Naruto all the way to the front of his awareness.
"Naruto."
Naruto looked up at Sakura, who had resumed her spot on the wooden chair in between him and Baa-chan.
"Yeah?"
"That was…" She glanced furtively at the others who were engaged in a lively conversion, "That was him wasn't it?"
Naruto's eyes widened at the statement. He'd told her about Kyuubi during that mission to Suna a while back to rescue Gaara, but even then, he hadn't expected her to pick up on the fact that his cloaked visitor had been the demon in the flesh. Noticing his sudden surprise, Sakura smiled, almost sadly.
"I could tell. He was wearing your cloak after all."
'Huh. Maybe this little pink-haired girl is better than I give her credit for.'
'Told ya.' Naruto was back at the forefront before the fox could make a snippy response. Suddenly a wave of extreme and total lethargy rocked his system. The blonde allowed himself to sink deeper into the pillow, feeling that blissful blackness stealing towards him again. This happened every time the Youkai Kage Bunshin was dispelled. The sudden reintroduction of the Kyuubi's psyche and the resurgence in his immense chakra took a very large chunk out of Naruto's stamina.
At least it wasn't it bad as it used to be. It used to be that when the Kyuubi came back, Naruto would pass out for almost a week. That was why both of the two occupants of Naruto's body didn't use the clone that much. Thankfully, the severity of the side effects had diminished the stronger Naruto got.
"Naruto? You okay?" Sakura sounded concerned. Naruto had slumped back and had turned a little pale. Even as she watched, his eyes fluttered as if the Yondaime look-a-like wanted to go to sleep, but didn't want to because she was talking to him. Well, if he needed to sleep, she could make that happen. "OKAY!" Dead silence met her words as all conversation stopped, "Naruto needs sleep! Everybody out!" The others, really there to keep Naruto feeling included, not to actually bug him, trooped out like so many ducklings, all of them welcoming him back and telling him they'd see him around.
Once the room was quiet, Naruto slipped off to sleep, looking forward to the day he got out of here.
"Now, Naruto," Tsunade said, looking at the reinstated genin over her steepled fingertips. A week had passed since their climactic duel, and now the two were sitting in the Hokage's office. Sakura, Shizune, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and the Godaime were all arrayed in front of the wraparound windows behind the mahogany desk. The Fifth continued, "We'd like for you to fill us in on all you've done." Before the blonde could launch into what he'd done for the past five years, Sakura broke in with a question that had her eyes open and vulnerable and her voice held a tinge of desperation,
"Naruto, did you really try to kill Sasuke this last time?" Everyone gave her a less than friendly look, not wanting the girl's personal feelings for the traitor to get in the way of Naruto's report. The Jinchuuriki, however, just regarded her with the serious blue eyes that no one seemed to get used to on his face. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms, considering his answer. After a minute or two, Naruto finally opened his eyes and stared straight at her. He decided to be blunt,
"Yes." It was clear to Naruto that no one in the room had expected that particular bombshell. Sakura's shocked look tore straight to his soul. He really didn't want to go back on the promise he'd made to her when Sasuke had first left the village. When the kunoichi started to splutter half-formed questions, the Hokage held up a hand that cut off all further protests.
"Let's avoid that topic for now. Naruto, how about we start at the beginning of all this. Why did you leave the village?" Now the blond sighed, running a hand through his long blond hair. He faced the panel before him and began to speak,
"Sasuke. All of this can be traced back to him. Leaving, joining Otogakure, killing Orochimaru…"
"Hold up a minute," Jiraiya interrupted. "That was you?"
"Yeah. Like I said, my entire motivation for doing what I did was to bring Sasuke back."
Fifteen-year-old Uzumaki Naruto lay in the hard hospital bed, covered in bandages, and also out cold. It was close to midnight and the full moon was filtering through the thin white curtains. The only sound, aside from the blonde's gentle breathing, was the slow 'beep…beep…beep' of the heart monitor, the only tool in the room that was indicating that the blond was still alive.
At first there was no movement from the laid-up genin, then his eyes twitched, slowly opening for the first time in almost two and a half weeks. After Naruto had managed to get the world into focus, he was crushed by a wave of guilt, self-loathing, and various other negative emotions. All of the emotions and the knowledge that he'd failed again to bring Sasuke back was just too much for him and he wanted to just cut loose and cry, but his pride wouldn't allow it. What was crystal clear to the blond was the fact that he just wasn't powerful enough to take on Sasuke right now. Even with the stupid fox's help, Naruto had been utterly beaten.
He had to get stronger! And even Ero-sennin wouldn't be able to help with it. Naruto knew that he needed to do this on his own. His mind made up, he sat up, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that assaulted him, and staggered over to the cabinets that held his personal belongings. After several agonizing minutes, heaving on clothes that seemed to hurt him just by being in contact with his skin, he lugged his sluggish body to the window and opened it wide.
The balmy late summer night air stole his breath and made Naruto's head pound even more than it was already. The only thing that could have made it worse was if the wind was a late fall breeze. Then Naruto wouldn't have even considered the stunt he was about to pull. As it was, he wasn't even sure if he could control his chakra enough to climb down the wall of the hospital.
'Well, no guts, no glory.' With that only slightly reassuring thought, Naruto focused chakra into his feet and began the long walk down the side of the hospital. Somehow, he made it to the bottom without falling on his head and killing himself. Then the genin began to sprint for the wall, doing something he'd never done before, and actually using his stealth skills. He found that he was even better than he'd even dreamed possible, flitting from shadow to shadow, almost invisible. As he ran, the ache deep in all his limbs and splitting headache began to fade with each step he took. He wouldn't learn until he and the Kyuubi fused that the fox had been responsible for it, but at the time he attributed it to the fresh air and exercise.
He was at the wall. Once Naruto scaled and crossed that, there was no turning back. He would be a missing-nin and he would be on the Bingo Book, hunted like Zabuza and Haku. Trepidation flooded him and Naruto took one last look at Konoha, questioning his decision to go through with this. Then Sakura-chan's face seemed to ghost into existence before him and his mind was made up. He could and would do this. He had to.
The guard on the wall wasn't that attentive. He was bored; there was no two ways around it. After all, he was working the graveyard shift. His wife and single daughter were probably asleep and yet, here he was, wide-awake instead of in bed next to his wife. Could this get any more dull? The guard rubbed his head and turned to continue his patrol down the wall. He never noticed the dark blur shoot up the wall from the shadow of the house closest to the massive barrier and jump out into the night.
"So what did you do after you got over the wall?" Tsunade asked as Naruto fell into a brief silence. "We don't have the time to listen to your whole story. Give us a brief overview of what your training was like and then we'll get into what you've been doing within Otogakure."
"Fine by me. I traveled around and trained with some of the best from other villages. I never went into the towns themselves, though, because I had heard a whisper or two that a white-haired old pervert was on my trail. Didn't take much to figure out who it was."
"Hey!"
Now Kakashi broke in to the conversation. "So how did you manage to get into Oto? I was under the impression that Orochimaru didn't particularly care about you."
Naruto nodded in agreement. "No. You're right. Snake-bastard really did hate my guts, but he wasn't adverse to having the Kyuubi under his command. A nice little bit of acting on Kyuubi's part got us in. He spun this whole tale about possessing me. The idiot snake bought it, hook, line and sinker. Thought having Kyuubi under his command would give him a bargaining chip with the cloak-freaks."
"Speaking of the Nine-Tails," the Godaime interrupted. "When did you two fuse?"
"About two years ago." Glances were exchanged among the members of the panel, each member wondering if the fusion of Kyuubi and Naruto was a partial cause of Orochimaru's death. Shizune was the one who actually did the asking,
"Was fusing with Kyuubi what made you decide to kill Orochimaru?"
"Partially. It was definitely a factor. Without the fox and Isukumi, I wouldn't have been able to do it, that much is true."
"Wait, back up. Kyuubi was only a partial reason you said?" Naruto smiled slightly at Kakashi's ever-present sight into the underlying text of a conversation or situation. "What was the other part to your reason for killing Orochimaru?"
"The same reason I had for leaving Konoha, training for a year and a half, and serving that bastard for two and a half."
"Sasuke?" The Copy-nin asked. Naruto nodded. "So why the sudden change of heart? What made you change from wanting to save him to wanting to kill him?" At the question, Sakura felt her heart begin to race. Now, now she would find out what would make Naruto break his promise to her and kill Sasuke-kun instead of saving him.
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Naruto repeated the question as if it was completely foreign to him, as if Sasuke's death had been his primary goal from the start. The blonde sighed before he answered. "It didn't happen right away, first I thought that just killing Orochimaru, taking away Sasuke's source of acquiring power, would convince him to come back."
"Obviously it didn't work out like you thought," Tsunade commented dryly.
"Obviously," Naruto returned just as dryly before moving on. "I managed to kill Orochimaru and I thought that I had done it. That Sasuke would listen to reason now that his sensei was gone. But there was a wrench in my perfect little plan." Here his hands tightened into fists, as if the memory of the snag still rankled him, even after a few years.
"What was this little flaw?" Jiraiya asked now, surprised at how his student's plan was at once one of the most sensible and most stupid he'd ever heard.
Naruto scowled heavily at the mere memory, "Juin Jutsu," he growled simply. "I didn't count on it. Or, more precisely, its side-effect." Once again, glances were exchanged among the members of the panel.
"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked, knowing the effects of the Cursed Seal like the back of his hand. Or so he thought. "The corrosive effect on the mind of the user?"
Naruto shook his head. "No. A hidden effect. Its last and probably worst."
"What do you mean?" The Fifth asked, concerned about this new ability of the seal that Sasuke bore.
"Baa-chan, do you remember how fast Sasuke-bastard was able to go from level 1 to level 2 really fast during your fight?"
The Godaime nodded, not about to forget that detail so fast. "Are you saying that his fast transformation is this new hidden ability?"
"No. It's because of the new side-effect." Naruto noted the surprised reactions of everyone in the room.
"What are you saying?" Kakashi asked, clearly unable to shut up and let Naruto finish.
"I'm saying that Sasuke is now the master of the Cursed Seal." He plowed on before they could interrupt, drowning out Tsunade's questions and Sakura's pleas for another explanation to Sasuke's behaviour. "What that means is he has control over the seal. He no longer needs Orochimaru for a chakra boost because Sasuke has complete and total access to the seal's strengths and enhancements."
"That still doesn't explain why you want to kill Sasuke-kun!" Sakura was close to shouting now, not wanting to believe what Naruto was telling them.
"Really?" Tsunade asked her, a clear edge in her voice. The two had had a long talk about putting duty and the welfare of the village above her feelings for one person. Sakura had then been a subject of a brutal training session and been put on boring menial jobs for a few weeks, and not allowed to take on any mission above C rank until further notice. A tad harsh, some would say, but then, the fate of the village had been on the line at the time. The Fifth continued. "I think it explains Naruto's new goal to kill Sasuke quite clearly."
"Perhaps." Kakashi said abruptly. "But it still doesn't explain Sasuke's erratic behavior. He thought he could bring down Konoha with a head-on attack and seemed to think that he was invincible."
"Not really surprising, considering who he's been studying with for the past, what, nine, ten years?" Jiraiya added. "Orochimaru was never really stable, and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."
"I have the answer for why Sasuke did what he did." All eyes turned to the blond still lounging in the plush leather chair. "The seal had to readjust to its new master. That little transition was more than a little painful and put a lot of stress on Sasuke's psyche. Add that to the corrosion done by the seal before and the corrosion since and Sasuke is either insane or real close to it."
"How do you know all this?" Tsunade asked. Naruto had never really been a fount of knowledge before, so to see Naruto having an answer for everything strange that had been happening in the last five years was good grounds for the Fifth's question.
Naruto grinned a low-watt version of his fox-grin. "I haven't been slacking off this last year. Did you think Kyuubi and I spent all our time killing Sound-nins? We spent a lot of time, any time we weren't training or hunting Oto guys, we were studying everything we could about Sasuke and the Curse Seal."
"Speaking of Orochimaru, was that you who delivered his head to Neji?" The Hokage asked. Naruto's blue eyes widened at her question.
"Wait, that was Neji? Hyuuga Neji?" Naruto clearly had no clue at whom he'd thrown the head that night.
"I'll take that as a yes. And, yes, it was Neji." Tsunade answered.
"No shit? Huh, I thought it was some random guy."
"While we're on the subject, I have two things for you."
"What, Baa-chan?"
"The method you used to block Neji's Byakugan. Was that a Tenma Fuu?"
"Yeah. The fox was working on that one before we killed Snake-bastard. He finished it about five minutes before we got to the village."
"Did you have any idea if it would work?"
"Nope." Naruto's friends and surrogate family all facevaulted at the blonde's candor. Only Naruto would approach a then-hostile village with an untested jutsu. Once everyone had picked themselves up, Tsunade strode out from behind the desk and came up to Naruto.
"Yeah?" Tsunade wound up and hit Naruto across the head so hard that he flew into the wall, leaving an imprint of his body.
"Uh…Tsunade-hime, why'd you do that?" Jiraiya asked as the Godaime came back to her desk and sat down, brushing her hands off. At the Toad-sennin's question, Tsunade glared at the blond with smoldering brown eyes.
"Because of him I was up at four in the damn morning!" The group sweat dropped at the Fifth's immaturity.
After Naruto had regained consciousness and crawled back to his seat, Tsunade once again steepled her fingers and surveyed Naruto with solemn eyes.
"So. Now we have a reasonably good idea why Naruto has done what he did, and we also know that there is no plausible hope of returning Uchiha Sasuke to Konoha." Naruto winced as Sakura's eyes got the saddest, most forlorn look he'd ever seen in the normally bubbly girl. "Now all that remains is what to do with you, Naruto."
The man gave his classic squint face. "Not following you, Baa-chan."
"You don't wanna remain a genin forever do you?" Naruto's eyes snapped open in surprise. She couldn't be serious. Could she? The Fifth smiled as she saw her adoptive little brother's face. "The Chuunin Exam is in one month. I know you don't have a team, but I can see what strings I can pull to try and get you in. I trust you'll pass this time?"
This time, Naruto's fox-grin was full power.
"You bet!" With that, the panel broke up and began to disperse, Tsunade putting her personal seal on the report of Naruto's 'mission' for lack of a better word. Now she had to see if she could get Naruto into the exam with another genin team or see if there wasn't some kind of clause that would let her bend that rule. Seeing as the Exams were an international event, she highly doubted it.
'Well. A whole month with nothing to do but train! Could it get any better than this?' Naruto asked his constant companion as he walked down the main thoroughfare of Konohagakure, his hirai-ate glinting proudly in the sun. It was the same one he'd had when he left Konoha the first time. The long tie strands whipped and flicked in the wind that blew down the road. The meeting with Baa-chan had taken most of the day, so the sun was low in the sky.
Not quite a sunset yet, that was still a way off, but it was getting to the point where the shadows began to lengthen, and one may need a pair of sunglasses or a hat. The whole deal was made even sweeter by the fact that Naruto was home again! Now. What to do with the remaining time in the day?
'The two of us could find a nice wide training ground and beat the living hell out of each other?' Naruto grinned at the suggestion.
'Nah. That would mean the Youkai Kage Bunshin and I don't feel like passing out again.'
'Spoilsport. You take all the fun out of my life, you know that?' Naruto had always thought it odd when he heard a several-millennia-old demon whining and pouting like he was a spoiled child…
'Watch it Brat.' All further possibility for a conversation was cut off when the bickering companions wandered past a familiar place.
Konohagakure Shinobi Academy.
After a long time of just wandering aimlessly, the blond stopped walking as he caught sight of the familiar façade of the school that had trained many great names like the Sandaime and Yondaime Hokages, Uchiha Itachi, before he went psycho, and some of Naruto's friends would even include him in that list. Naruto wondered briefly if it was open before thinking, screw it, it had never stopped him before, and hopped the wall that was more decoration than function. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets, almost like Kakashi did, and strode over the grounds, looking for any change big or small.
The blonde quit walking when he spotted the swing that he used to play on all the time. A nostalgic smile crossed his face as he approached the thing, taking a seat. He pushed off, swinging gently, allowing himself a brief moment of remembrance and relaxation, the first such moment he'd allowed himself in almost five years. After a few minutes, he got up and strode to the edge of the grounds, hopped the wall like before, and headed to the one person he hadn't spent much time with since he'd come back.
Umino Iruka rubbed his tired eyes. Naruto was back in town, but the scarred teacher hadn't been able to spend much time with his favorite student because of the fiasco with the council and Naruto and Tsunade-sama pounding each other back into the ground. Not to mention he'd had to fill out a report on his involvement with the whole Sasuke deal. Everyone who'd been involved with the battle had had to fill one out. The battle was technically a mission. According to the council anyway. Iruka thought that the idiots were just looking for a way to see if Naruto could be caught in the middle of a traitorous act.
Iruka smiled at the thought. Good luck with that. Hundreds of veteran shinobi had seen Naruto's heroic efforts. The blond had really won a lot of them over. The civilians were another story, but it didn't matter as long as the people in charge knew better. Specifically Hokage-sama. Everyone and their brother knew that if the council tried anything, Tsunade would blow a gasket, and the aftermath wouldn't be pretty.
There was a knock at the door of his apartment. Who could that be at this time? Dark had long since come, and it was starting to get late. The chuunin's breath hitched in his throat when he saw who it was.
Naruto grinned at the stunned look on his teacher's face. It was always worth it to come and see Iruka-sensei. He was one of the few that Naruto could really open up to and talk about everything that happened in life.
"Heya, Iruka-sensei." The other man smiled warmly and stepped aside to allow the former missing-nin to come in.
"Naruto. What a surprise! I thought you would be tired after everything that's happened to you recently."
Naruto grinned. "Nah. I've been through worse. So, Iruka-sensei, how's life?" It was all the pair needed to get each other talking like old times. Both lost track of time and it was well past midnight when Naruto left to return to the Hokage's tower where he was staying with Tsunade and Shizune until he could find another apartment or something.
And that is all for Chapter Six. I know this took way longer than usual, but, as I believe I've already stated, I have a rotation going between my other fic, The Ultimate Ace and this one. I neglected Ace and thus this story. While we're on this subject, I have a few new ideas for some stories. Let me know (in the form of a review or PM) which one you guys want me to get started on. They are as follows:
A Crossover between RuroKen and Star Wars featuring Kenshin and Shinomori Aoushi in between Episodes II and III.
A short story for Bleach that involves a story line close to sixty or seventy years after the current plot. Will expand the story if asked.
Another short for DBZ where Cell returns and Gohan must once again save the world. Post-Buu and Gohan's still in school.
A DBZ/Naruto crossover involving Cell-arc Gohan.
A different DBZ/Naruto cross with Vegito.
Once again, let me know. You can even say to keep with two fics for now. Slim chance I'll listen though. .
Glossary. Short one this time:
Juin Jutsu (Curse Seal Skill/Technique) : The method by which Orochimaru bestows his victims with a Curse Seal. The same name is also used for the Hyuuga's Branch seal. The seals themselves are different, but the name for the technique that applies them is the same.