A/N: This is my first try as an author so bear with me. English isn't my first language so don't hesitate to pm me with any fault you find, I am always eager to learn.
It seems like everyone in the reviews agrees on the fact that Minato could transport himself to any kunai, had it been thrown or not. You still have to wonder how he may differentiate two kunai, that he cannot see, placed at an equal distance from his original position before deciding to jump towards the correct destination. That said, the chakra requirement to travel over long distance or the mass he has to move around (Konan and himself) should also be taken into account in my opinion, so that will be the reason why Naruto and Konan didn't immediately leave Ame in the previous chapter.
Something else came up in the reviews, a question about whether Naruto met his parents or not in my story. Already answered the person who asked but I'll clarify it for everyone else too. The answer is no on both account. I never had him trying to rip the seal off, that wouldn't be easy anyway since he transformed it into a necklace for Natsuki when he changed the mindscape. Furthermore, he also never tried to "dominate" the Kyuubi since he had her full cooperation from the beginning. Consequently, he never met the requirements to trigger the reunion scenes with his parents in his mindscape in this story.
The moment for Naruto and Natsuki to reunite in the real world has finally come. Hope you enjoy reading it.
Anyway, welcome to the next chapter of Kaze No Kami.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other manga for that matter.
Chapter 49 : Escaping the Rain
Amegakure – Sewer Area
Naruto and Konan were still hiding behind Naruto's genjutsu field as more and more Otogakure shinobi were arriving in the village and took over the key buildings. They had seen neither Sasuke nor Tobi ever since they left the battlefield.
"Are you okay, Naruto ? How are your reserves, how will they even rise up again if you have to constantly cast that illusion field around us ?" Konan asked, worried for the blond.
"When I activate this ultimate form from my bloodline, my chakra and stamina consumptions are reduced by a half. As long as I don't cast any other high level jutsu or move unnecessarily, I should be fine. It won't be much longer, you don't need to worry." Naruto replied.
"At least let me take over on the camouflage, I think I can hide the both of us behind my bloodline too, this way you will recover even faster." Konan pleaded.
"Have you tested your technique against the Sharingan and its upgraded versions ? Because if you haven't, then that's too dangerous, let's just take our time." Naruto said with a smile.
God's Tower
In another part of the city, Sasuke was resting inside the Amekage Tower in what used to be Pein's office.
"I'm still too weak, that blond idiot used techniques that I couldn't even comprehend. My eyes are getting worse with each use of the Mangekyo Sharingan. I won't be able to face the Leaf in my current state ..." Thought the Nidaime Otokage as he looked down on his newest acquisition through the window of the office. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Suigetsu entered the room. The swordsman had a scroll with him and handed it to Sasuke.
"That's an emergency scroll from Kabuto, you should read it immediately." Said Suigetsu.
Sasuke read the scroll and his eyes widened at what he saw inside. Surprise was rapidly replaced by anger as he clenched his fist and destroyed the scroll.
"Bad news, I guess." Suigetsu said as he looked at Sasuke's behavior.
"Seems like the Leaf found out about Danzo's little dirty secrets and his involvement with my former teacher. I don't know what they plan to do with him but he's my prey, I won't let anyone else but me kill that old fool." Sasuke replied. The Elders from Konoha had been on Sasuke's hit list ever since he learned the truth from Itachi about his clan and the massacre.
"What's the plan, what are you going to do about it ? It's not like we have enough troops to face Konoha, much less the entire Alliance, right now ..." Suigetsu asked Sasuke, trying to point out the obvious gap in military strength between the Leaf and Oto.
Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration, knowing that Suigetsu was right. He also knew that his Sharingan was starting to get unstable. This made him remember Tobi or Madara's words to him and his offer to join forces.
"You're in charge, Suigetsu. Close the borders, rebuild the defenses and then report back to Kabuto once you're done." Sasuke said as he made his way towards the exit of the office.
"Wait, what about you ? Where are you going ?" The silver haired swordsman asked back.
"I'm going to get some answers ..." Sasuke cryptically replied as he disappeared from the Amekage Office, leaving a confused Suigetsu behind.
Below the City
Tobi phased out of the ceiling to appear in what appeared to be a tomb. The room was huge, decorated with numerous flowers that were all made of paper. In the center, peacefully laid the bodies of both Nagato and Yahiko.
"Finally, that woman did a good job at hiding you." He said to no one in particular while looking at Nagato's body.
"She however forgot, in her haste, that you still got some of those chakra conducting devices attached to your body. As long as I had one of those receptors you used to control your puppets with, I could trace back your presence." Tobi continued as he extended his arm above Nagato's body and then activated a Space / Time technique that transported it away.
As he was done with what he originally came there to do, Tobi slowly faded away in the darkness.
"Now that I have the Rinnegan, all that's left for me to do is to have Sasuke see things my way ..." Were his thoughts as he definitively left the tomb.
Konohagakure – Hokage Office
Tsunade was not in a good mood, the council meeting she had this morning had revealed Danzo's involvement in several crimes committed over the years all around the Elemental Nations. The War Hawk was responsible for the desecration of the Shodaime Hokage's tomb, her own grandfather, for his twisted experiments. Taking a single look at his arm, she could already see the cripple's mark all over the Uchiha Clan's massacre too.
She had to wonder if those were only the tip of the iceberg, did Danzo hide anything else beside the crap that was already revealed. This man or his organization was like a widespread cancer for Konohagakure, she knew that ROOT was everywhere, slowly eating away the Will of Fire that her family fought so hard to establish. However, the team that she had assigned to escort Danzo to the Interrogation Department had yet to report back.
Then there was Naruto, the young man was undoubtedly her best element out of all the shinobi she currently had under her command. She also knew that he was most likely even stronger than her, remembering the skills he showed during the battle in Iron Country. Mifune and the other Kage could also see it, that's why he was awarded with the position of Leader for the coalition. And yet lately he was totally unfocused, lost and detached from everything.
Tsunade was the only one in Konohagakure who knew about the source of Naruto's problems, the only ones outside the Leaf that also knew were Yugito Nii and Killer Bee, his fellow jinchuriki members. Naruto had told her one week ago when he came back from a training trip, that he succeeded in freeing his bijuu from the seal that held it captive.
The Kyuubi, or Natsuki as he called her, was a female and more importantly, she was his mate. How all of this could even be possible was beyond Tsunade, but all she knew was that he brought her to his home and refused to take any mission or even speak to his friends ever since he came back. The problem was that Natsuki was unconscious, Naruto was indeed able to give her a new body in the real world outside the seal but she had yet to wake up from the extraction.
Naturally Naruto had asked for her help to determine what was wrong with Natsuki, but Tsunade couldn't find anything wrong with the red head's health. No injuries or illness were found when she examined her, the only problem she found was the complete lack of chakra in Natsuki's body. Now Tsunade was nowhere close to people like Jiraiya or Naruto in terms of knowledge about fuinjutsu, so she had no way to know how the removal of the Shiki Fuujin influenced Natsuki's current chakra levels.
She was scheduled to visit the Namikaze compound twice everyday, just to make sure that everything was right. Naruto had decided to keep Natsuki's presence in Konoha a secret, so the safest place for her to be was right inside the Namikaze compound, where countless seals and defense mechanism were protecting her from unwanted guests.
Tsunade was about to call it a day and go visit her patient when she heard someone knock at her office's door. Her eyes widened when she saw Yuhi Kurenai walk in with said patient. Apparently the genjutsu Mistress was unaware as to who she was escorting through the village, seeing that she wasn't freaking out. Tsunade tried to remain calm, seeing that Kyuubi or Natsuki also seemed a bit clueless about the whole situation and how people would react to her if they knew her true identity.
"Hokage-sama, I found this woman in a Dango restaurant, she couldn't pay for her meal but she said something about being related to Naruto so I decided to bring her here to you." Kurenai reported to Tsunade.
"You did the right thing, Kurenai. Now dismissed, I need to talk to her in private." Tsunade replied, still trying to hide her emotions at being face to face with the Kyuubi.
Kurenai nodded and made her way out of the Hokage's office. She was a bit curious about the whole thing, seeing as she was the representative for Naruto and the Namikaze clan during council meeting but decided to ask questions for now, she may get answers from Naruto himself later.
As Kurenai went out of her office, Tsunade quickly went through hand signs and then completely sealed off the room. Natsuki remained perfectly silent during all this, carefully analyzing Tsunade's actions. She knew she could act all high and mighty anymore, at least not for the moment, since her chakra reserves were at best at an academic student's level.
"Natsuki ?" Tsunade cautiously started the conversation with the red haired woman.
"How do you know my name ?" Natsuki asked as she narrowed her eyes.
"You don't need to be suspicious of me, I've been told the whole story by Naruto himself." Tsunade said, trying to ease her guest.
It apparently worked, as soon as Natsuki heard the name Naruto, she relaxed her tensed body, a smile even appeared on her beautiful face.
"He did ? Where is he ?" Natsuki asked, relieved that she found someone she could talk to about Naruto.
"Relax, calm down please. Why don't you tell me the last thing you remember and then I'll fill you in about everything that's happened." Tsunade said as she motioned for Natsuki to take a seat and make herself comfortable.
Natsuki did as Tsunade said and sat down on a chair in front of the blonde Hokage. She then told her about her memories of the unsealing ritual, everything seemed to match what Naruto had already told her before.
"Alright, everything seems consistent with what Naruto reported. Now stay focused and don't interrupt me until I'm done please." Tsunade said, getting a nod of approval from Natsuki.
"You've been unconscious for a little more than a week since the unsealing. As far as I can tell, you are in a perfect shape. I found no evidence of injuries or illness with your body during the several check ups I performed on you through the last week. I still don't know why your chakra reserves are so low, considering how much you used to hold in the past. This is something you'll have to figure out with Naruto. That blond idiot went right to Sunagakure after the unsealing, trying and succeeding in stopping the Akatsuki from taking away the Kazekage. He then went back here and didn't leave your bedside ever since until this morning after he learned something apparently urgent enough to make him leave right in the middle of a damn council meeting." Tsunade said.
Natsuki relaxed when Tsunade finished her report about what had happened. Naruto was fine, up until this morning anyway. This was not lost on Tsunade, the blonde decided to take this opportunity to address another subject she found to be quite important.
"Okay, now that this is out of the way … There's something else I'd like to speak with you about." Tsunade calmly said.
"What do you want to talk about, Ba-chan ?" Natsuki replied with a smirk, not missing the twitch on Tsunade's eyebrows.
"Naruto is like a son to me, I'd like to know your intentions about him. I'm receiving dozens of marriage proposals for the Namikaze heir everyday, from noble and respectable parties, tell me why should I allow him to be with you, considering your history with Konohagakure ?" The blond said back, going into her "bitchy stepmother" mode.
"Okay, first of all what's between Naruto and me is our business. He is a clan head and doesn't have to consult with anyone in choosing who he wants to be with. That said, and since I know you're being honest and genuine on your feelings about protecting him, I'll answer your question anyway. Naruto is my soul mate, I may have been the one who taught him how to fight or think for himself, but he was the one who taught me how to love. All I knew before I met him was hate or indifference from both my previous hosts and any contact I previously shared with mankind. Now that I know about this feeling that is Love, I'm not about to let it go so easily. He proposed to me before we started the unsealing procedure and that was the happiest day in my very long life up until now." Replied the red head with determination.
Even though she tried to be strong and speak her mind, Natsuki was still unsure if this was the right way to answer Tsunade's question. She was actually Naruto's mother figure, as well as his boss, technically speaking. Furthermore, Natsuki knew that she stood no chance against an angered Tsunade at the moment, since she was basically at the level of an academy student while she sat in front of one the most, if not the most, powerful "human" woman in the entire Elemental Nations. She remained fearful of the blonde's reaction until said woman burst out laughing, tears in her eyes.
"Good, very good, you pass. I need a strong woman who can look and speak for herself to keep that idiot in line. I'm sure we'll get along just fine, Natsuki. Come along, I'll get you back to the Namikaze compound. We have much more to speak about and my work day is about over." Tsunade said.
"W-What is there left to talk about, Tsunade-sama ?" Natsuki replied, still disturbed by Tsunade's quick change of moods.
"Wedding plans of course ! This will be great, and call me Mother." Tsunade replied with enthusiasm while standing up from her desk and making her way to the door.
Natsuki's smirk matched the one on Tsunade's face as both women exited the office and made their way towards the Namikaze compound, already thinking about ways to spend the huge Namikaze funds.
Amegakure – With Naruto and Konan
Naruto suddenly stood up from his position and started to stretch.
"What's going on, Naruto ? Are you alright ?" Konan asked.
"It's been two hours now, it should be enough I think." Naruto replied.
"So what happens now ? How many people at the same time did you manage to transport with the Hiraishin jutsu before ?" Konan asked.
"Hmm, well you see ..." Naruto mumbled something that she couldn't understand.
"What did you say, I didn't quite hear you." Konan said.
"This will be the first time I'm attempting to bring someone else with me during a Hiraishin transportation over such a distance. I already moved with other people but it was always for short distances. I don't know what effects a lack of concentration will have on us in the middle of the intended jump." Naruto then admitted with a sigh.
"Don't worry, I believe in you just as Nagato and Jiraiya-sensei both believed in you. Let's get this over with." Konan said as she put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Okay, here goes ..." Naruto said as they both disappeared in a flash.
Konohagakure – Namikaze Compound
Tsunade and Natsuki were back in the Namikaze manor, each one was busy with different matters.
Tsunade was currently tasting the several samples of Sake and Vine, as she declared that it was her "responsibility" to select the perfect one for her son's wedding. Natsuki was going through a mountain of clothes that they both chose for her everyday life and the wedding.
The red head suddenly felt something strange happening to her hand, and when she looked at it her eyes widened as she finally remembered why she had a seal in the form of a ring just right there.
A white flash then illuminated the room where the two women were staying. As the light faded away Natsuki finally heard the sound of a familiar voice.
"Na-chan ?"
A/N : What do you think ?
Yeah, yeah evil me for stopping the chapter there. Well, still not an action packed chapter but we're getting there.
Naruto is finally back and Konan is alive, some fluff in perspective for the next chapter.
Little comedy moments between Tsunade and Natsuki, with the former assuming the step mom's role.
Took the liberty to set the tomb for Nagato and Yahiko under the city as I wasn't sure where it actually was.
What do you think Sasuke is up to ?
Read the next issue to find out and please Read and Review.
Getting close to the 700th review and 400k hits, see you guys soon :)