Chapter 6: Revealing Truths...
"I will start of then by telling you one of the most highly guarded secrets in the village," began Tsunade. "Seventeen years ago the village was attacked by the Kyubi, or at least that is the public side of the story."
That had been the start of a really difficult conversation for Mito to hear. Several times she had broken down and cried, burying her face in Hinata's shoulder when she did. Learning her father was the Fourth Hokage was one thing, but learning her hero Kushina Uzumaki was her mother, well that was a bit more than she could take. Naruto thought it ironic that in his world he had never heard the name of either of his parents until he was fighting Nagato to save his village, but Mito had learned all about Kushina in school. She was justifiably upset to learn the Third Hokage had lied to her every time she asked if he knew who her parents were. Each time he had told her she was named after Kushina to honor the last Uzumaki's sacrifice, never revealing Mito was actually related to the woman. It was only when Tsunade explained the need to keep her existence secret from her parent's enemies that Mito seemed to calm down a bit, though not much.
Next came the hard part, explaining Naruto's presence. Naruto took the story over at that point, answering numerous questions from Mito, Hinata, and Hiashi as the other's already knew his background. At first they all seemed a bit skeptical, at least until Tsunade and Jiraiya confirmed it based on blood tests and certain other factors. Naruto didn't mention Momo to anyone, that could wait until he knew them all a bit better, but he told her everything else. Surprisingly, Mito took the news fairly well, even accepting Naruto's cover story after it was explained to her why he would be Clan Head to protect her from being forcibly made a part of the CRA."
"As long as there are two of us alive, no one can force us into the CRA," explained Naruto.
"I always wanted family," a teary eyed Mito cried as she flung herself at him, wrapping him in a bone crushing hug. "Now I've got one!"
"Something like that," muttered Tsunade, looking between the new found family and Hinata.
For her part, Hinata had remained silent throughout Naruto's story. She had only asked two questions, both of which had to deal with his interactions with his world's version of her. It struck Naruto as a bit odd when she asked how well he knew his Hinata and whether the other her had known his true heritage. When he answered, blushing as he did it, that they had never dated but he had wanted to after the war, she smiled sadly. It was when he told her that the other girl never knew his true parentage that she nodded and the sadness seemed to leave her eyes. That did not mean she was the only one to pay attention to Naruto's answers to those questions.
Hiashi was paying very close attention as Naruto told his story, including a very watered down version of the blond's treatment prior to becoming a shinobi. He only asked one question, after Naruto had finished his story and Mito had virtually tried to attach herself to the young shinobi. Looking incredibly serious, he was almost glaring at the blond as he spoke, he asked if Naruto knew anything about his responsibilities as a Namikaze.
"I'm not sure what you mean, Hiashi-san," answered a confused looking Naruto, with a still crying Mito cuddled up in his arms. "The old man, like your's did with Mito, never told me a thing about my dad's family. The Pervy-sage died before he could tell me anything and what with the war we were fighting and all, well, I never realy had time to worry about it. I only met my dad once, same for my mom, and our time was pretty limited, so questions about family stuff was pretty much a bust."
"So, you know nothing of any standing agreements there might be between your clan and any others?" asked Hiashi, now having everyone's eyes on him.
Mikoto cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention. "Is this the right time to bring that up, Hiashi?"
"No, I want to know what he's talking about," countered Naruto, noticing that Tsunade and Jiraiya were looking a bit nervous now. "Somethings up, I can tell. What's up?"
Looking at Tsunade, almost as if asking for permission, Hiashi sighed when the blonde Hokage nodded at him. "The Namikaze and Hyuga family had formed an alliance before my brother and I were born."
"Good for them," said Naruto, waiting for the other shoe to fall, because his life was never that easy. "What's that got to do with me?"
"The alliance was to be sealed with a political marriage," explained Hiashi, looking suitably nervous as he spoke. "A main family member of the Hyuga would marry the Clan heir of the Namikaze family. It was not possible in my generation because there were only males born at the time and it was deemed too important an alliance to marry off a child to an adult, even for political reasons. So, with that in mind, the marriage was pushed back to the next generation. When the Namikaze were wiped out save for Minato, the alliance was still in effect, but would have to wait until he had a child. Minato eventually married Kushina and they announced they were expecting a child. It was glad tidings because I had just recently found out that my wife was also expecting, meaning we had another chance to seal the alliance. Yes, the Namikaze Clan was reduced to one survivor, but they still controlled a vast amount of money and businesses, most of which Minato asked me to monitor for him."
"But he had a daughter," Mito said, her head resting on Naruto's chest as she glared at Hiashi. "Can't seal the alliance if both clans just have daughters, isn't that right, Hiashi."
Naruto was a bit confused by the vehemence in Mito's tone, but then he was confused by this whole thing. "So, it get's pushed back again to when Mito and Hinata have kids, right?"
"Not exactly, Naruto," Tsunade answered. "I forgot all about that old alliance when we created your backstory, a story we've already set in motion. You are now the Namikaze heir, the first male in a generation with a marriage age Hyuga female since the alliance was first agreed upon."
Oh, shit! Naruto-kun, this could be really bad.
"No shit!"
"So, let me see if I understand what you are saying," growled Naruto, not happy how the conversation was going. "You're basically telling me that I am now going to be forced to marry someone to keep an old alliance in place? Who might this Hyuga girl be?"
"Me," answered Hinata, her eyes looking anything but happy about the fact. "My sister is already betrothed to Konohamaru Sarutobi, so that just leaves me to fulfill the alliance as there are no other main branch females our age at the moment."
Naruto was in shock, but from the way Mito tensed up in his arms, so was she. "You don't look that happy about this, Hinata-chan, why is that?"
"I'm already in a relationship, though it is not a commonly accepted one," explained Hinata, glancing at her father with less than friendly intentions. "I was made aware of the alliance between our two clans, but ignored it because I was under the impression the Namikaze Clan no longer existed. So, I sought my own love match and found it. Unfortunately I was informed several years ago, by Hiashi-san, that while I might 'dally' with my love, I would eventually need to submit to a marriage arranged for me by the Clan. The purpose of that marriage would be with the sole intent of carrying on my bloodline, the most commonly forwarded name was that of my cousin, Neji."
"Why can't you just marry your boyfriend and have kids with him?" asked Naruto, more than a little confused when Hinata blushed.
"W-well that is not possible, Naruto-san," she finally explained, every eye on the room focused on her. "You see, I don't have a boyfriend. I have a girlfriend."
"Oh, well that would explain it," conceded Naruto with a slight blush at the images that suddenly popped into his head. "Well, if you are anything like my Hinata-chan, your girlfriend is very lucky to have you in her life. If you don't mind me asking, who is it?"
Much to his surprise, Mito suddenly raised her hand. "It's me, Naruto-kun. We've been dating since we graduated from the Academy."
"Good for you, kid," voiced Anko, giving the two girls a thumbs up.
Hiashi hanging his head in shame, whispered, "I never begrudged you finding love, daughter. I just wanted you to be aware the responsibilities you still had to fulfill as my heir."
Turning back to glare at Hiashi, Mito yelled, "Oh, she knew how you felt! I remember the night she told you we were dating. Don't forget, I was there! You told looked like you were going to throw up, then you told her to forget her 'confused feelings and focus on reality.' Wasn't that the last time she ever called you 'father,' Hiashi?"
"Yes, it was," admitted Hiashi, once again hanging his head in shame.
"So, you don't want this marriage anymore than I do, right?" asked Naruto, forgetting anyone else was in the room to focus solely on Hinata. "What would be the repercussions if we didn't get married?"
"No, I can't say I'm thrilled about this marriage," admitted Hinata with a sad smile. "However, my hands are tied. If we don't marry, the Hyuga Clan will be required to immediately pay back all the money they borrowed from the Namikaze. Hiashi-san would be required to turn over control to you of all the companies he has been running for the Namikaze Clan, which would would be difficult for you to deal with so suddenly. Most importantly, the Hyuga would be forced to near bankruptcy with the loss of the money your family loaned us."
"I don't care about money or businesses, Hinata-chan," argued Naruto. "I'd wipe out the debt in a heartbeat and I couldn't care less about the businesses."
"You can't do that, Naruto-san," Mikoto quietly said. "Only the original signers of the alliance contract could wipe out the debt. All the old contracts like that are setup that way to prevent either clan from welching out on their part of the bargain."
"Fine, we work out a payment plan," countered Naruto.
Tsunade shook her head, saying, "No, I've seen the contract. The money has to be returned within one week, nowhere near enough time for the Hyuga to come up with the money."
"Hold on, if I'm backing out of the contract, shouldn't I be the one paying the penalty?" asked Naruto, looking intently between the three Clan heads present.
"The Hyuga were not as prosperous back when the contract was originally written," explained Hiashi. "The only thing we had to offer in return for the alliance was a ceremonial dagger and of course the person that would marry into your clan. It was only after we received the money from your clan that we were able to become so financially stable. Considering most of our wealth and power is built upon the money your clan gave us, to lose that money would reduce us to little more than well dressed beggars in the street."
"Oh this sucks!" growled Naruto, lifting Mito off his lap so he could stand and start to pace. "What if we do marry, but I just step aside and let Hinata-chan and Mito-chan lead their own lives?"
"I am required to have a child with my husband, as dictated by the contract, Naruto-kun," Hinata informed him. "We have one year from the wedding before I have to be pregnant, to prove that we have consummated our marriage."
Groaning, Naruto started pacing faster. "This is so fucked up, you know that right? Mito-chan, what do you think of this?"
"I agree with you, this is fucked up," the redhead agreed, glaring at Hiashi again. "Personally, I want to see this contract to make sure it's not some bullshit tactic of Hiashi-teme's to keep me and Hinata-chan apart."
"It's not, kiddo," Jiraiya said, walking over and sitting next to the young woman, pulling her into his arms and hugging her. "I've seen the contract, didn't like it much either when I learned about it. Your dad hated it too, but kind of forgot about it after he got married. I hate to admit it, but so did I until Hiashi brought it up."
"This is such crap," growled Naruto as he continued to pace. "You won't let two people that love each other get married, but you'll force someone to get married to live up to some contract they didn't even sign? How messed up is that? There has got to be another option!"
Mikoto coughed, drawing everyone's attention to her as she pulled a scroll down off a shelf behind Tsunade's desk. Naruto recognized the scroll, it was the one that contained the village laws. He had seen his Jiji studying it repeatedly when he was a little boy. Jiji always acted like it was the most important thing in the room when he opened it, but Naruto rarely ever paid attention to it. Now, watching Mikoto open the scroll and unroll it to a certain portion, he kind of hoped the answer to his problems was contained inside it.
"There is a second option, Naruto-san," she explained, though she looked a bit worried. "The solution is a bit extreme, but might work for you in this case. It might allow you all to be happy, but it would require a sacrifice on your part, Naruto-san."
"What sort of sacrifice?" Naruto asked, stopping his pacing and focusing a grim expression at Mikoto.
Looking rather worried the Uchiha matriarch answered him. "What I propose is that you willing enact the Clan Restoration Act, taking multiple wives to rebuild not just your clan, but also the Uzumaki Clan."
"What!" bellowed Naruto, now looking furiously at Mikoto. "How does that solve the problem? Now you're talking about dragging even more people into this mess! That would just rob even more people of a chance to find real love!"
"I never said that, Naruto-san," Mikoto objected, not looking all that worried as the furious blond glared at her. "Yes, Hinata-san might be required to marry you to satisfy the alliance contract, but the five other girls wouldn't be."
"Five other girls?" asked Mito, intently listening to everything Mikoto was saying. "Why only five other girls?"
"Contrary to popular belief and urban legend, the CRA only allows for three wives per clan," explained Tsunade, her eyes now looking a little brighter. "In Naruto's case as he has two clans to restore, so he would need three for each clan. Hinata would marry him under the Namikaze name to satisfy the Hyuga requirement, but Naruto would be free to meet and fall in love with the five other girls. No one would force them to marry him and if he never found any other girls, there is no requirement for him to marry anyone else."
"But how does it help Mito and Hinata?" asked Naruto, looking as if he was already dreading the answer.
Jiraiya was the one to answer, snickering as he did. "Cause if you marry Mito as well, she and Hinata could be together legally without anyone looking down on their relationship."
"What the..." began Naruto, but he was cut off.
"I'LL DO IT!" shouted Mito, leaping into the arms of her lover. "Anything to be with Hinata!"
"But you're my cousin, hell, you could be considered my sister!" Naruto screamed, blushing furiously.
"Actually, cousin is closer to the mark, given the results of the blood tests I did yesterday," countered Tsunade. "Legally, in Clan matters, it wouldn't make a difference if you were brother and sister, you could still marry."
"I married my brother," added Mikoto, looking completely unconcerned by that fact. "He was my best friend all my life, so it wasn't that hard an adjustment to make to being his wife."
"But, I barely know Mito or Hinata," stammered Naruto, all the while listening to Momo giggling inside his head.
"I don't care, Naruto-kun," Mito stated, standing up and walking towards a very confused Naruto. "Honestly, I just met you, so I don't think of you like that, but if it means I can be with Hinata-chan, I'll marry you right now!"
She was just about to reach out and touch him, but Naruto pulled away. "I need time to think."
Vanishing from the room, leaving a very worried group of people behind him, Naruto was gone in a flash of yellow light. Tsunade immediately ordered Neko and Hebi to find him, with the two women instantly taking off. Jiraiya could already tell Naruto was on top of the Hokage monument, but didn't say anything as he walked over to comfort his shocked looking goddaughter. Hinata was also looking distraught, but when Hiashi walked towards her, she just glared at him, causing him to stop short. Tsunade and Mikoto just stared at the scroll in front of them like it was a venomous snake.
It took Anko and Yugao an hour to find Naruto, who was currently sitting on his father's head at the Hokage Monument. They approached him quietly, worried that he might be thinking of doing something stupid. They needn't have worried, but as they watched the sun setting in the distance they could see tears rolling down the young man's face. It was a heartbreaking sight.
"You can join me if you want," Naruto said, never once turning to look at them.
"Are you alright, Naruto-san?" asked Yugao as she and Anko took seats on either side of him.
"Not really," he admitted with a wry chuckle. "I should have known the moment Mikoto-san said the word 'sacrifice' I was going to get shafted. It's kind of the theme of my life. All my life people have been doing things that mean I will be forced to sacrifice something, whether I know it or not. My father did it. The Third did it repeatedly. My teammates did it. Hell, I even did it several times because there were no other options. I know I've only been here two days, but I hoped this place would be different. I really did hope that for once I would get to live life the way I wanted, not having to give up my own happiness so someone else could find there's."
Watching as the sun vanished below the horizon, Naruto sighed before continuing. "I won't lie, I think I could have fallen in love with my Hinata-hime back home. For a moment, before I looked in her eyes, I was really happy when I found out I had a second chance here in this world. Then I saw the sadness in her eyes and knew it wasn't going to happen. Then I find out even if she did marry me, she was only doing it because she was being forced to. Oh, don't forget if she doesn't she bankrupts her family. The topping on the ramen being she's already in love with someone and I would be robbing her of that as well."
"Oh, but don't worry, we've got a solution to solve the problem, Naruto," he said in a mocking high pitched voice. "All you have to do is marry multiple girls, who may or may not love you for you and not your wealth."
The two women next to him remained silent as Naruto continued to rant. "You know what the CRA really is? It's the absolute epitome of marriage for political and financial gain. Forget that crap about rebuilding your clan, it's really about money and political power. You just have to forget about love, but don't forget all the gold in your bank account, 'cause the girls that would be interested in a marriage like that sure won't forget. Sure, Hinata and Mito get to be happy together, but what about me? Once again I get to sacrifice my happiness for someone else. I'm fucking tired of it."
"You're a good guy, Naruto," Anko finally said, laying a hand on his arm. "It might look bad now, but you'll figure something out."
"Oh, I thought of lots of ways out of this while I was sitting here," grunted Naruto. "For example, I could cancel the alliance and demand Hinata in payment, then marry her to Mito as a clan issue. Downside, I leave the entire Hyuga clan homeless."
Anko and Yugao stared slack jawed at how ruthless the plan was, but Naruto was still talking. "I could also commit suicide, leaving Mito as my heir after marrying Hinata. Downside, I still leave them in a position where they have to marry again to have kids. That and I don't like the idea of dying quite yet."
"None of my options are good," Naruto, said after a long pause. "If I had known about this even a few hours earlier, before I took my test, I could have just left the village and never come back. Now that people know the truth about my heritage, even if it's a limited number of people, that's not really an option anymore. Hell, Jiraiya would track me down if Tsunade asked him to. Even if he didn't find me, Mito would become my heir by default and the burden would still fall on her and Hinata to have kids with someone they didn't love, with their kids having to put up with this bullshit situation."
"Or, you could marry them and do your best to be happy, kid," cut in Anko. "I mean, every guy dreams of having multiple hot women all to themselves."
"Fuck you, Anko!" roared Naruto, causing the dark haired ANBU to jump back from him in surprise. "Would you be happy if you were told you effectively had to rape an unwilling woman and force her to have you child. Oh, let's not forget, you are being forced to do it because her entire family is being held hostage until you do? Screw you, bitch! I'm not like that!"
"She didn't mean it like that, Naruto-san," Yugao said, trying to calm the blond down as chakra started to leak out of his skin, scaring the crap out of Anko. "She was just making a poorly timed joke."
"It's not a joke!" yelled Naruto, now turning and glaring at Yugao. "I know people seem to find my pain funny, but I'm sick of it! Just once I want someone to put what I want first! I'm sick and tired of being the brunt of Kami's sense of humor and giving everyone else around me a fucking chuckle! This shit isn't funny, not at all! I just had to give up everything and everyone I love to come here! Isn't that a large enough sacrifice to ask of me?"
I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun. I there was any other way I would have taken it, but there wasn't.
Naruto could hear that Momo was sobbing as she spoke, but at the moment he just couldn't control his rage. Standing, he strode over to a large rock formation, easily the size of a two story house. Gathering all his rage and chakra into his hand, Naruto slammed his fist into the solid rock. The resulting explosion reduced the solid rock to fine dust in a cataclysmic display of power. The two ANBU were literally shaking in fear at the sight, knowing not even Tsunade could do something like that with one hit. A moment later when a full platoon of ANBU arrived to investigate, along with Tsunade and Jiraiya, Naruto ignored them.
One foolish ANBU tried to stop Naruto when the blond started walking towards another large rock formation. Jiraiya tried to stop the fool, but he wasn't fast enough. As the ANBU codenamed Pig drew his ninjato to attack, Naruto was suddenly in front of him. Faster than anyone could follow, not even Jiraiya, Naruto broke the masked man's arm before he could draw his weapon. A second later the man was flying over the edge of the monument when Naruto kicked him in the chest. It was only thanks to Jiraiya's fast work that the man was saved from falling to his death. However no one else noticed that as the ANBU guards attacked Naruto all at once. They never stood a chance.
Seconds later Naruto was standing amidst a ring of injured and moaning ANBU, still looking furious as he spoke. "This is the power that I was forced to wield, a product of every sacrifice that was forced upon me. Once I wanted nothing more than to use this power to protect my precious people, but now I would trade it all for one person to really care about me. I was always told, to the point I couldn't help but believe it, that all those sacrifices would be worth it someday in the future. Funny thing is, I'm still being asked to make sacrifices, but I've yet to see the worth of any of them."
"Naruto," called Jiraiya, trying to calm the young man down. "I know what you mean, but this isn't as bad as you think it is. I mean, look at the upside of this. You're going to end up with several women..."
Anko and Yugao both tried to warn him not to finish his sentence, but it was too late. Naruto was moving before anyone could respond, grabbing Jiraiya by the throat and lifting the struggling man off his feet. Tsunade tried to stop him, but Naruto had begun unconsciously channeling Nature chakra, so that when the Hokage tried to knock him away from her husband she just managed to hurt her hand when she it him. Naruto barely turned his head to glare at her before he turned back to this worlds version of his mentor.
"Because in whatever world you exist I know you're a pervert at heart and don't mean anything by your comment, I won't snap your neck," growled Naruto, dropping the now blue faced Sannin on the ground. "Next time someone thinks to make a joke about my current situation, I'll be far less merciful."
Suddenly Naruto vanished in a show of pure speed, Jiraiya was winded but could detect the boy's location in the Namikaze compound. "What the fuck was that?"
Anko sighed, watching as Yugao tended to their injured comrades who Naruto had only knocked the wind out of rather than anything more serious. "Naruto-san is not happy about the current situation. He feels that he is being forced into a loveless marriage because the Hyuga family is being held hostage by the contract between his family and theirs. He also feels that he is being asked to sacrifice his happiness to promote someone else's."
"From what he was saying, this type of thing has happened several times in his past," added Yugao, helping a young ANBU agent to their feet. "In fact, from the sound of it, this has been happening repeatedly all his life."
"Yeah, evidently he was in love with someone back home and had hopes that he might rekindle that relationship here," continued Anko, not going into too many so not to give away any secrets she shouldn't. "For a moment he thought that might be possible here, but when he learned the truth of the situation he was convinced this was just another situation where he would have to make a sacrifice to aid someone else."
"The topic of the CRA also seems to be a sore subject with him," Yugao pointed out as she finished looking over her fellow ANBU. "He feels that being a part of it will rob him of the chance to meet and fall in love with anyone due to them knowing he is the last of a clan, so they will only want him for his money and power."
"That doesn't excuse him from attacking my ANBU, or nearly killing one of them," Tsunade shouted, looking at her obviously overmatched ANBU.
"The idiot was never in danger of dying," countered Jiraiya, holding up a spool of fine wire. "Kid tied this around the idiot's belt, making sure he might get the shit scared out of him, but he wouldn't die. Not bad considering this little moron was going to attack the boy for no reason."
"He was trying to leave!" barked Tsunade, but Jiraiya would have none of it.
"And what right did you have to stop him from doing so?" asked her husband, his face now as serious as she had ever seen it. "Yes, the boy destroyed a rock. Big deal. He didn't attack anyone and he was just venting his frustrations. I seem to recall that you've done similar for less reason, so you're going to tell me it's ok for you to do it but not for him? That's a bit too much hypocrisy for me to stomach, Hokage-sama."
Everyone cringed, including Tsunade, because everyone knew Jiraiya only ever called her by her title when he was pissed. Really, really pissed. As it was, the Toad Sage wasn't done with his lecture. Looking every bit the Sannin he was, Jiraiya glared at his wife and then everyone else in the area. A snap of his fingers as he looked at the ANBU guards had them vacating the area as fast as they could, afraid of what he might do to them if they didn't.
"You forget, Tsunade, just two days ago Naruto was fighting for his life in a war comparable to all three of the shinobi wars we've fought here, combined," continued Jiraiya, turning back to his wife. "Two days ago he won that war, by himself, but the price was he was forced to leave his own world and come to this one. That's a hell of a thank you for winning a war, might as well of been a kick in the nuts. Hiashi should have kept his fucking mouth shut after hearing what Naruto told him, give he kid time to settle in and come to terms with his loos, but he just had to drop another bomb on the kid. Then Mikoto adds her two Ryo, presenting it as a means to make the girls happy. Sure, she pointed out he could meet other girls, but the kid has the right idea about the CRA and you know it."
"But, it would solve both problems," argued Tsunade, though she didn't look fully convinced of her own words. "They could be together and he could find someone to love."
"The chances of that in a CRA marriage are slim to none, and you know it, Tsunade," replied Jiraiya coldly.
"Not to mention he feels he is being forced to rape, his words not mine, Hinata to satisfy the wording of the contract," added Yugao. "I sort of see his point, Hokage-sama."
"The kid just wants someone to love him, to care more about him than what he can do for them," Anko continued, hanging her head and sounding depressed as she spoke. "You heard what he said, he would give up everything to feel like someone cared about him and wasn't asking him to sacrifice something more for them. Honestly, I agree, from the sound of it he really has sacrificed too much as it is."
Finally realizing that what she was hearing was the truth, Tsunade bowed her head. "There has to be a solution."