"Naruto"- Person Talking
'Naruto' - Person thinking
"Naruto"- Demon/Summon Talking
'Naruto' - Demon/Summon thinking
Italic - Letter/ Journal
(A/N: Author's Note)
Disclaimer : I do not own Naruto.
Summary: Namikaze's are the cousin's of Uchiha similar to how Uzumaki's are the cousin's of Senju. Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Only child of the Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki among the triplets who is unable to use chakra. Only to be used as a scapegoat to the Kyuubi's attack then married to Fourth Raikage in a political marriage to prevent war from breaking out. Will she be able to unlock her chakra, will she find the love and acceptance that she always wanted...? Sharingan/Wood Style/Rinnegan Naruto. God like Naruto. Alive Minato & Kushina. Neglect Naruto. Fem NarutoXA
Chapter 5 - Shocking News
Namikaze Mansion
Naruto burst through the front door of the Namikaze mansion and ran towards the kitchen.
"Kaa-chan, Tou-san I hav..." She stopped in her tracks after noticing the other occupants of the room. Standing in the kitchen were Jiraiya and Tsunade, who were arguing with Minato and Kushina because of some reason. Menma and Mito was staring at their parents while sitting on their chairs. They stopped when they saw Naruto.
"JIRAIYA-OJI-SAN" Naruto shouted and ran towards Jiraiya and gave him a big hug.
Jiraiya returned the hug. "How is my favorite god daughter? Look at you, you have grown up so much. I remember the last time when I have seen you; You were such a shrimp back then." said Jiraiya with a forced smile after releasing Naruto from the hug.
"I am fine and don't call me that. Anyway, when did you came back?" asked Naruto.
"Just couple of hours ago. So why are you out so late and why are you so dirty?" asked Jiraiya.
Naruto was indeed dirty. She was wearing her orange baggy jumpsuit. It has many tears. Her hair was messy. She also has many scratch marks on her face and hands, thanks to performing replacement jutsu incorrectly.
"I have been training on my own and lost the track of time. Sorry," replied Naruto.
"Really. So what did you learn?" asked Jiraiya.
"That's what I want to show to all of you," said Naruto in excitement and turned towards Minato and Kushina. "Kaa-chan, Tou-san you will not believe what happened. You see after I left the school early I went to..." said naruto but stopped after noticing the solemn look on Minato and Kushina's faces. Then she noticed the sad look on Tunade and Jiraiya's faces as well. She also noticed shocked look on her siblings faces as well.
"What happened? Why are you all looking like that?" she asked.
"Naruto, we need to talk. You see, something big happened during the meeting in the land of iron and its related to you," said Minato.
FLASHBACK (Land of Iron)
They were all present around the round table inside a room.
Apart from Minato and A, Fourth Raikage, Daimyo of land of fire and land of lightning were also present. Mifune, the leader of samurai and land of iron was acting as a intermediate person between the two said parties.
Minato was accompanied by Kakashi Hatake and Shikaku Nara and A was accompanied by Darui and C.
"Please place your hats on the table," Said Mifune.
Minato and A put their hats in front of them.
"You are here because of the Hokage-dono has called this meeting. My name is Mifune and I will be your moderator. The meeting will now begin. Hokage-dono, since you are the one who has called this meeting, I request you to please proceed," said Mifune.
"Thank you Mifune-dono. I have called this meeting to end the dispute between leaf and cloud. If these disputes continued then there is no avoiding to the fourth great shinobi world war; which will result in countless deaths and bloodshed which I am sure even you don't want Raikage-dono," said Minato.
"Hmm. Even I don't want a war Hokage-dono. We all have lost many shinobi during the last war. To avoid those casualties only we have signed the peace treaty with leaf village seven years ago but even after that, these disputes continued," said A calmly.(A/N: No Hyuga incident)
"So why you have started these disputes Raikage-dono?" asked Minato.
'Oh boy! here we go,' thought Darui and C after seeing the outrage look on Raikage's face.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? IT WAS YOUR SHINOBI WHO HAS STARTED IT. THEY CROSSED OUR BORDERS AND INFILTRATED OUR COUNTRY AND YOU ARE ACCUSING US," shouted A.
'Oh man! so much for negotiations,' thought Kakashi after seeing the A's outburst.
'This is so troublesome. Minato why you have to accuse the Raikage without any solid evidence?' thought Shikaku.
"MY SHINOBI DIDN'T DO SUCH THINGS. I have given them the specific instructions to not to cross the borders as per our peace treaty," said Minato.
"OH YEAH THEN WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT THIS!" exclaimed A as he pulled out a sealing scroll from inside his robes and passed it to Mifune to examine it.
Mifune unsealed the scroll and some masks came out from the scroll.
"As you can see Mifune-dono. These masks have leaf insignia carved into it. We have killed these shinobi when they were crossing the Fire and Lightning border. When we killed them, their body burst into flames. So we captured the few of them to take the evidence before killing them. But I don't know why that kanji of Root is engraved into it?" said A.
"These seems to be genuine evidence Hokage-dono. What do you have to say about this?" asked Mifune.
'Danzo' thought Minato, Kakashi and Shikaku with clenched teeth. As much as Minato wants to kill Danzo, he knew that he has too much political power to simply execute him without any proper evidence and that bastard always cover his tracks perfectly.
Minato knew that he cannot say anything about Danzo or root. If he did then there was no chance of peace treaty and war will be imminent. He also knew that he can't take the blame, because in that case the result will be the same. So he took his chance.
"These are indeed the masks of the shinobi of the former root division of the leaf village but the said organization has been disbanded years ago," said Minato.
"But even then it was your or your predecessor responsibility to make sure that these shinobi won't cause any problem before you disbanded the root division," said Mifune.
"Yes it was. But we thought that after disbanding the root division, all of its shinobi were scattered but it seems like that was not the case. We didn't know about them until today. But you don't have to worry about that. I will deploy my ANBU to look out for them and I will also issue the kill on sight order after spotting any of the shinobi of this division," said Minato.
'Good save' thought Kakashi and Shikaku.
"They have managed to evade your shinobi and sensors for this long. You didn't even know about them until I have shown you the evidence. How can I be assure of what you are saying is indeed true and this is not some kind of ploy to lay down our guard so that you can easily strike us later," said A.
"You have to trust me on this Raikage-dono," said Minato.
"Huff! There is no trust in the shinobi world Hokage-dono and you know it." said A.
Minato was about to say something but Mifune interrupted him "I think that you should at least give Hokage-done one chance Raikage-dono. Otherwise this whole point of meeting will be nothing," said Mifune.
"Fine. I will give you one chance to prove yourself Hokage-dono but don't think for a second that we will lay down our guard. Also make sure that none of your shinobi crosses our border without the exclusive permission," said A.
"Of course Raikage-dono. If you want we can sign the peace treaty right now," said Minato.
"Treaty is nothing but a piece of paper. We signed one seven years ago but even then we are sitting here in a meeting so that we can avoid a possible war. Any treaty will not work until you kill all those root shinobi," said A.
"But it may take years to locate and kill all the root shinobi and if we don't sign the treaty now then these disputes will continue and the whole point of this meeting will be nothing," said Minato.
"I KNOW THAT. But I can't take a risk on my shinobi's life. As I said earlier this can be your ploy to lay down our guard. I may have respect for you as my rival in speed but I don't trust you enough to send my shinobi into a death trap," said A.
Silence filled the room all were thinking of a solution of this problem. Both parties were right. Until Minato kills all those root shinobi, the idea of peace treaty is farfetched and if they don't sign the peace treaty then the war is imminent. On the other hand the Raikage also has a point. This can also be a ploy. After some thinking Mifune suggested one idea.
"Well since both of you don't want a war and without the peace treaty a war will most likely break out. I have one solution that will solidify the alliance," said Mifune.
"What is it?" asked the both daimyos and kages.
"How about the marriage alliance, like how village hidden in the leaf has with village hidden by whirling tides before it's fall; after First Hokage Hashirma Senju married to the ruling Uzukage's daughter; Mito Uzumaki," said Mifune.
"That's not a bad idea Mifune-dono," said the fire daimyo.
"Indeed. It will release the tension between the two countries. What do you say Raikage-dono, Hokage-dono?" said the lightning daimyo.
After some thinking both the kages agreed to the idea and decided to form the alliance by the political marriage.
"Ok but who will be the bride and groom?" asked Raikage.
"For this treaty to work under current circumstances, bride and groom has to be a kage or directly related to the ruling kage. So Raikage-dono, who else do you have in your family and who is also blood related to you?" asked Mifune.
A frowned but explained none the less. "Well apart from me, I also have an adopted brother," said A.
"Well in that case you will have to be the groom," said Mifune.
"What? Can my brother be the groom instead of me?" asked Raikage. He could swear that he heard some snickering coming from his two body guards.
"No it has to be you," said Mifune in a firm voice.
"Fine," said A in a frustrated voice.
'Looks like boss is finally getting married.' thought Darui and C.
"Ok then its decided that Raikage-dono will be the groom. Now we have to decide the bride. So Hokage-dono, what about you?" asked Mifune.
"Well apart from me and my wife, we have one son and two daughters," said Minato.
Silence filled the room once again. Even Mifune was thinking about what to do in this situation but suddenly fire daimyo spoke up "I don't see any problem in that. One of the Hokage-dono's daughter can marry to the Raikage-dono."
"WHAT!" exclaimed Minato and A simultaneously.
"My daughters are only twelve years old and Raikage-dono is even older than me," said Minato perplexedly.
"Well among us the daimyo's family, we do sometimes get married to a person much younger than the other," said the fire daimyo.
"That might be the case but they are only twelve years old daimyo-sama," said Minato.
"Agreed. Even I don't want my people to call me a pedophile," said A in a annoyed tone.
"Even I think that we should reconsider it," said the lightning daimyo.
"Then tell me do you have any other solution?" asked fire daimyo.
They don't have the answer to this question but even then Minato voiced his thoughts.
"We can think of something else since I won't marry off any of my daughter to someone who is even older than me," said Minato.
"Think about it Minato. If you don't do this then a war will most likely break out and if that happened then countless life's will be lost and economy will also decline and don't forget about rock village. They are also looking for one opportunity to get back on us because of the last war and leaf village is still recovering from the Kyuubi's attack and Uchiha massacre. Even if we somehow able to win the war, our strength will be diminished even further and other minor villages will attack us to replace us as one of the great five ninja villages," said the fire daimyo in a serious tone if the lack of honorifics were anything to go by.
"Wait a second. Even if he somehow agreed to this, I won't agree. Because if I have heard correctly then all of his children are the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and no kage in a right mind will hand over his village jinchuuriki to any other village," said A in a firm voice.
"That might me the case but from what I heard, Hokage-dono's eldest child has only Kyuubi's body and soul sealed in her and she is also unable to use chakra. I think that she will be the best candidate for the bride and you also won't have to worry about any kind of ploy because of her condition." said the fire daimyo.
"Hmm I heard the same thing but I also heard that she is attending the ninja academy. How come she is attending the academy if she not even able to utilize the chakra?" asked A.
"Yes, you are correct Raikage-dono. She tried a lot but even then she was not able to unlock her chakra for some reasons. We didn't find anything medically wrong with her. She is still thinking that she will be able to unlock her chakra. As for the academy, Well she wants to be a ninja. It's her dream. She said that she will become a splendid ninja even if she is unable to utilize her chakra just like Maito Gai, The green beast of the leaf village," said Minato.
"See. So I think that all of us has agreed to this marriage." said the fire daimyo.
"Hey! I only told you all about her because you have asked about it. That doesn't mean that I agreed to this marriage," said Minato.
Fire daimyo sighed and tried to convince Minato and after some pondering both Minato and A agreed although reluctantly.
'I'm sorry Naruto-chan,' thought Minato sadly as some tears almost slipped from his eyes but he was able to hold them back.
"But what about her? Will she agree?" asked the lightning daimyo.
"Oh don't worry about that. I'm sure that Hokage-dono can convince her," said the fire daimyo.
"And what about her dream? Her ninja career? We are already asking too much from her. We can at least give her a chance to achieve her dream. It is the least we can do for her," asked the lightning daimyo.
"I think we can leave that decision to Raikage-dono," said the fire daimyo.
"I don't have any problem with that. I will give her the fair chance to prove herself but I do hope that my village won't be held responsible if something happened to her on a mission," said A.
"That's fine," said the fire daimyo.
"Ok then its decided. Marriage will be held in one month time and as a natural party, we will be honored to host it here in the land of Iron," said Mifune.
"But I have a quite tight schedule for upcoming months. I don't think that I will be able to attend the marriage," said the fire daimyo.
"Same here," said the lightning daimyo.
"Then you can schedule another meeting in cloud village after six months or something. That way you will also be able to check on the bride." said Mifune.
They agreed and went to their separate paths.
Kakashi and Shikaku placed a hand on Minato's shoulder, who was trying to hold back his tears.
"Let's go sensei." said Kakashi in a low voice. Minato nodded and left the chambers.
"Congratulations boss. You are finally getting married." said C in a amused tone.
"Shut up C." said A in a frustrated tone and thought 'I am getting married to a twelve year old brat. Fuck my luck'.
FLASHBACK END
Naruto couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her own father has sold her out to a different village just to save those villagers, who have tortured her on daily basis. Whatever respect she has for her father has been shattered. She has never cried when those villagers beat the shit out of her but at this moment she couldn't hold back her tears.
"Why me? Why it always have to be me? Haven't villagers tortured me enough? Haven't I suffered enough?" shouted Naruto. She couldn't help herself to voice her thoughts.
Everyone looked at her in shock. In all these years she never said anything like that. In fact this was the first time they have seen her yelling back at her parents.
"I am sorry Naruto-chan. I really am. But I couldn't do anything. You were the best possible choice." said Minato in a soft voice.
Kushina tried to say something but a firm gaze from Minato stopped her.
"I am being used as a sacrificial limb only because I am unable to unlock my chakra and I don't have any of the Kyuubi's chakra sealed inside me. Is that it?" asked Naruto.
"It is not like that. We are not using you as a sacrifici..." said Minato but Naruto cut him off.
"YES YOU ARE. First let me tell you something and after that you will definitely drop this idea," said Naruto. She was about to continue but Minato beat her to it.
"Naruto, no matter what you say, This decision is final. You are getting married to the Raikage after one month." said Minato firmly.
"But he is even older than you. At least hear me out please," said Naruto pleadingly. She was hoping that they will drop this idea if she explained that she has finally unlocked her chakra but they were not even giving her a chance to explain herself.
"That's enough Naruto. You have to accept this decision no matter what. Now take this file. It has the copy of all the terms and conditions of the marriage and as well as Raikage's profile. You can read it later," said Minato as he handed over one file to Naruto.
Naruto looked down at the file in her hands. "Why me?" said Naruto in a voice just barely above the whisper but the room occupants heard her.
Then she looked up in Minato eyes. At this point tears were streaming down to her cheeks.
"Why It has to be me. I don't want to get married. Why don't you marry Mito to the Raikage, instead of me?" Naruto almost shouted as she has lost all her rational thinking.
Mito, who was listening to all the conversation silently became shocked after hearing this but didn't said anything.
Minato lost his cool at this point and said something that will haunt him forever, without thinking rationally "Because you are useless unlike them. Now go to your room immediately,"
"Useless," Naruto repeated those words. Shock was clearly written on her face. Only one thought was running inside her mind 'Is this is what they think of me. A useless tool which can be discarded after it fulfilled its usefulness.'. She ran towards her room while crying. If she has stood there for few more seconds then everybody would have witnessed the change in her eyes. Her once ocean blue eyes has been replaced by red color eyes with single tomoe in each eyes.
"Naruto" said Tsunade and Jiraiya as they tried to pursue her but Minato stopped them.
"Leave her alone. She has to come to this term on her own," said Minato.
"You have crossed the line this time Minato," growled Tsunade.
"Minato, I will not allow my daughter to be married to the Raikage. Isn't she suffered enough. I agreed to everything that you said but not this time," said a tear eyed Kushina.
"There is no other way Kushina-chan. Fire daimyo has practically ordered me to do this. There is nothing we can do now," said Minato.
"But do you really have to be so harsh with her. You should have at least tried to convince her," said Jiraiya.
"She is a ignorant child sensei. She wouldn't have understood it otherwise," said Minato.
Tsunade scoffed and said "The only one who is the ignorant one here is you, not her. But don't worry she will agree to this marriage."
"What do you mean?" asked Minato.
"It is as I said. Do you really think that she don't know about that it is you, who is allowing the villagers to beat her. She knew everything from the start. She is much stronger than you gave her the credit for. She could have easily escaped or fought back those mobs but she allowed the villagers to catch her and beat her," said Tsunade.
"WHAT?" said Mianto and Kushina.
Jiraiya was shocked to hear this. 'Did Minato and Kushina really allowed the villagers to beat their daughter?' thought Jiraiya.
Menma and Mito were also shocked that their parents allowed such things since they were oblivious to her beatings.
"Tsunade are you sure about this?" asked Jiraiya.
"Yes Jiraiya. She overheard them when they were talking about it," said Tsunade.
"Then why didn't you informed them or did something about it?" asked Jiraiya.
"Because she took promise from me. She asked me to not to tell them anything," said Tsunade.
"But why?" asked the other adult occupants of the room.
"To save her brother and sister from all the hate and pain, and not to drown her parents in guilt more than they already had," said Tsunade.
"Tou-san, Kaa-chan is it true? Did you really allowed the villagers to beat nee-chan?" asked Mito and Menma.
Minato and Kushina bowed their heads in shame and regret. If they have raised their faces then they could have seen the horror stricken faces of their children and Jiraiya.
"But why?" asked Menma.
"After Kyuubi's attack, Villagers needed a anger outlet and Naruto was the perfect person in their eyes. First we have tried to stop them but then they turned their hate towards you two. They tried to harm you many times. Our forces were already stretched thin at that moment. I couldn't assign a whole squad of ANBU for each of your protection. But we somehow managed it. But then the things starting to turn worse. The villagers started to create a scene to distract the ANBU so that they can finish the job as they like to call it. After that I had no choice but to use Naruto as a scapegoat because most of the villagers hated her more than you two," replied Minato.
Mito and Menma openly cried at this.
"I am disappointed in you Minato. I think, I have taught you better than that," said Jiraiya as Minto bowed his head in shame, unable to meet his teacher's gaze.
"Kushina, earlier this week you told me that you want to make it up to her. right?" asked Tsunade.
After seeing the Kushina's nod she continued "I think you just lost your last chance if her outburst was anything to go by. Your last comments have broken the camel's back. Come on Jiraiya let's go. I need a drink," said Tsunade as Jiraiya and Tsunade left the Namikaze mansion.
Mito and Menma also left for their rooms and cried themselves to sleep.
"Minato-kun what should we do?" asked a sobbing Kushina.
"I don't know Kushina, I really don't know," said Minato.
Kushina rose up from her seat and started walking towards Naruto's room.
"Where are you going?" asked Minato.
"I am going to check on Naruto-chan," replied Kushina.
"Wait, Let me come with you," said Minato.
When they reached Naruto's room, both of them froze. They looked at each other and understood what the other was thinking. They have never stepped inside Naruto's room in many years. They both nodded towards each other and mustered the courage and stepped inside her room.
Her room was plane white. It has one bed, a book shelf, a study table, a cupboard but nothing else. In short it is nothing like how a usually twelve years old girl's room look alike. Minato and Kushina couldn't help but to drown themselves in the guilt even further. The level of their neglect finally drowned to them. They couldn't remember buying her a single dress or helping her to decorate her room, her hobbies, her likes, disliked, dream for the future... nothing.
Then they have seen Naruto, lying face first on the bed. They walked towards her and tried calling her but she didn't replied. They thought that she cried herself to sleep and walked out of her room. Unaware that at this moment Naruto was having a interesting discussion with a certain fox. (A/N: Will be explained later)
"What are we going to do now Minato-kun?" asked Kushina.
"We will try to make it up to her. I hope that she will forgive us. We will try to give her the best time for the remaining period she has left inside this village. It is the least we could do," said Minato as they went towards their room unaware that they will never get that chance.
A/N: Sorry guys this chapter got delayed. I was busy and I'm going out of town for a week. So I have written this chapter in hurry. So I'm asking your forgiveness in advance if the English is too bad in this chapter. Other things will be explained in the next chapter.