Disclaimer: To those whom it may concern I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in said story…
Enjoy the story…
Chapter 23 – Going home…
The Uzu shinobi left the village without much fanfare, as only Sarutobi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Shizune, Tonton, Hiashi and a few Hyuuga were there to see them off. Hiashi and a group of Hyuuga were going to join Naruto and Hinata's team on their trip home. Naruto was happy to see Hinata happy to have her father back, both were a little sad to be saying good bye to their place of birth, but both were happy to be heading to a place where they were happily accepted.
The groups headed out of the village the Sannin, the Hyuuga and the Whirlpool shinobi. One of the Hyuuga began the conversation. "So Naruto-sama how does it feel to be related to two of the Hokages?"
Naruto smiled at the thought. "I am actually related to three, my great-grandfather, the Second, my great-great-granduncle, the First, and my father, the Fourth. " Naruto's admission shocked the Hyuuga bodyguards.
"Why then would you not want to return to Konoha to become a candidate for Hokage, Naruto-sama?" The Hyuuga inquired.
"There are a couple reasons. First I am now living in Uzu and have pledged my loyalty to that village and it would cause a conflict with that pledge if I were to take the mantle of Hokage. Second I could not protect a village that held so much animosity towards me for something that I had no control over. Most of the village believes I am the Kyuubi incarnate. I carry her but I am not the same being as she is. She is both a burden and a treasure at the same time." Naruto explained.
"Naruto-sama is wise beyond his years. Forgive me for my impudence, Naruto-sama, Hinata-sama, Hiashi-sama." The man bowed deeply.
Naruto smirked at this as he never liked being held in truly high regard but had learned to accept it to a point. "Think nothing of it as you only asked a question that was on your mind." Naruto said with a smile, he then quickly scowled. "We are no longer alone Sensei." Naruto said as he got to a ready position.
Two figures appeared in front of the group, they were wearing black cloaks with red clouds and straw hats. "I thought you dead a long time ago Kikiyo-chan." The shorter of the two men stated in a calm voice.
"So, you have decided to show your face Itachi-chan." Kikiyo retorted. "To what do we have the honor of your showing your face?"
"We are here for the Kyuubi container. That is all we want, you may proceed afterward to your destination without any further bother." Itachi explained.
Tsunade face turned to anger. "Like hell you will! You will not do anything to my nephew, and anyone who does will have to go through me."
Itachi nodded. "As you wish Sannin." Itachi raised his hat showing his Sharingan "Tsukuyomi."
"Quickly avert your eyes!" Kikiyo yelled as everyone turned their heads. "That will not work if we do not look into your eyes."
(Naruto's mindscape)
Naruto found himself strapped to a large wooden cross. "What is going on?"
"You are in a realm where I control everything, this is Tsukuyomi. Now for the next seventy-two hours I will torture you." Itachi explained as he shoved a katana into Naruto's stomach, only to be surprised when he only grunted and didn't scream. "I'm sure this hurts, so you may scream, there is only the two of us in here."
Itachi suddenly felt his legs collapse out from under him. He looked to see the Hyuuga girl standing above him along with a beautiful red headed woman. "He is never alone, Itachi-chan." The woman taunted.
"Who are you and how did you enter my Tsukuyomi?" Itachi questioned.
"As progenitor of your bloodline, you should know better than to seek me out. Madara knew how to control me but you do not. So either explain yourself or I will kill you now." Kyuubi growled, with so much killing intent that it made it hard for Itachi to breathe.
"Madara and Akatsuki want you and all the other Bijuu for some purpose. I needed Naruto-kun to come with me to help find this purpose. I was not going to permanently hurt him. I would make sure he would not be hurt." Itachi explained.
"You, the one who killed his whole clan in a night want us to believe that you will keep him safe from that monster Madara?" Kyuubi asked.
"Madara and Pein both want Naruto-kun for what I'm not sure." Itachi replied.
"You will not have Naruto-kun, I will kill if you try to take him from me." Hinata stated with quite a bit of her own killing intent. "Now let him go or I will finish what I started. You will die in your own illusion."
"You need not worry Hyuuga-chan, I am just wanting to give Naruto-kun some taste of what the life he has chosen is like. Being a shinobi is not all that you think it is, you may have to give up your life for your village." Itachi said in a melancholy voice.
"What do you know of sacrifice? You killed most of your relatives you murdering fiend." Hinata growled through clenched teeth.
"I did what I was told by my village to avert a civil war. I also had the help of Madara in killing the Uchiha. I was able to save Sasuke and my mother from him. Though he did put some psychological damage upon my brother, I do not know the extent of it but I was ordered by Pein to keep up the indifferent brother act so that I can keep Konoha safe." Itachi said as Naruto was released from his bonds on the crucifix.
"What the hell do you mean you are preparing me for life as a shinobi? I think I have had a lot of experience that I should never have had growing up. You want to see my life?" Naruto angrily yelled at Itachi.
"No Naruto-kun, I know as one of your body guards during your youth, I know how you were treated." Itachi replied in pain.
"Then why do you wish to inflict more upon me?" Naruto inquired.
"I must keep up appearances to keep leader happy. I will contact you later, ask Jiraiya-sama about it he will have more information for you. There is also a reason I attacked you, so you could build up resistance to the Sharingan. Ask your jounin instructor about the clan she can fill you in on what it takes to be an actual Uchiha." Itachi stated.
Naruto looked at Itachi with a skeptical glance. "I guess I can ask sensei, but why did you actually attack me?" Naruto inquired.
"Leader is after your Bijuu, the Kyuubi. I'm not sure of what his ultimate plans are but he apparently needs all the Bijuu sealed in a statue to make his plan work. I will try to have Jiraiya-sama find them so that they may be protected. Until next time Naruto-kun, Hinata-sama, and Kyuubi." Itachi stated as the world faded and the real world came back into focus.
(Real world)…
Itachi winced in pain and then looked at Kisame. "We need to go now. I could not control the boy and we can't fight two Sannin, the Hyuuga head and several Hyuuga at the same time." Itachi warned as he backed off.
Jiraiya looked at Itachi and moved forward. "Guess the traitor has shown his spots." Jiraiya exclaimed as the two missing nin ran away. "Are you okay Naruto?"
Naruto slumped down to his knees only to be caught by Hinata. "It'll be okay Naruto-kun, everyone is here to help you." Hinata turned Naruto and kissed him gently on the lips. Naruto smiled and nodded as his breath returned to normal. "Jiraiya-sama we will need to talk when we return to Uzu." Hinata stated with a serious look on her face.
Jiraiya nodded and looked at Tsunade. "They are getting bold to attack while both of us are here and a person he knew. Interesting tactic, wouldn't you say Kikiyo? Also did you know he had the Mangekyou Sharingan?" Jiraiya queried.
Kikiyo shook her head. "No Jiraiya-sama I thought that eye lost with Madara-teme. Apparently I was wrong. It wouldn't be the first time." Kikiyo responded with a chuckle.
Jiraiya picked up Naruto and put him on his back as the group headed as quickly to Uzu as possible. Tsunade, Jiraiya and Kikiyo shared glances as they left the area, after the group left four figures appeared from behind a tree. "Good thing they didn't detect us, right Captain?" The man in the hawk mask asked.
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Kakashi groaned as sat up in bed. Married life was hard work, his new wife required him to make love to her repeatedly for nearly two days straight. He was happy that they did start out playing the characters in his favorite book, but two days of sex, even his stamina was beginning to wane. "Can't we sleep for a little bit, Akane-chan?" Kakashi pleaded.
Akane smirked as her head lay on his chest and she made circles on his stomach with her index finger. "Of course Kakashi-kun… but first you have to tell me why you hate the Uzumaki boy." Akane looked him in the eyes.
Kakashi swallowed hard, he saw the look from her that said 'no rest until you answer'. "Short answer is that he took my sensei from me." Kakashi answered with a smile. "Satisfied?" Kakashi asked, but Akane shook her head and Kakashi sighed. "Look, first he took Minato-sensei, the last of the people I cared about, he also burned some of my books before he left. Something about them being vile and being his favorite color."
Akane was shocked by his answer. "That is rather shallow of you Kakashi, books can be replaced and he is the son of your sensei. What would you have done if thing were different and he was still here? Or, even better if he was on your team?" Akane asked wanting to know the answer.
Kakashi looked up with his single uncovered eye as if pondering. "I would more than likely ignore him for the most part." Kakashi answered coldly.
"That isn't nice. Was it his fault that the Kyuubi was sealed within him?" Akane looked at Kakashi as he pondered the new question. "No, it was not his fault so why blame him? As for the books you can replace those." Akane then bit her lip. "Also aren't I better than your books?" She asked seductively.
Kakashi smiled as he kissed Akane gently and they both closed their eyes entering a blissful sleep.
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Sasuke was currently running for his life in only his shorts and his sandals as he scowled at Kohaku who was running beside him. "Enjoying the exercise, my husband-to-be?"
Sasuke could barely respond. "I will get you for this…" he panted out in halting words.
Kohaku giggled as they continued to run away from the 'Sasuke Fan Club'. Kohaku has apparently told them to set up groups at certain intersections to keep the girls fresh and to keep Sasuke running. Sakura and Ino continued several passes behind saying nothing as they figured it would help them in the end.
Suddenly they were passed by a boy in green spandex who just grinned the brightest smile at the girls and then took off at near twice their speed. "I will see you beautiful ladies on my next pass." The boy exclaimed loudly.
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The Uzu team and companions stopped at the gates of Uzugakure no Sato. "Team Kikiyo and visitors asking permission to enter." Kikiyo yelled up the wall.
The gates slowly opened as the group filed through them. After the last person entered the gates closed. Keiko looked at the chuunin guards with a puzzled expression. "Why the heightened security?"
The Iwa chuunin looked at Keiki with a smile. "Sound shinobi have been hitting border towns and abducting just about anyone who can use chakra and killing the rest. Killed three teams of them so far this week, trying to get into the village." The chuunin answered.
"So we're fighting Sound now? Aren't they in Rice country? What is the Daimyo thinking?" Keiko asked as the chuunin just shrugged their shoulders.
An ANBU appeared next to Kikiyo. "Are these the only Konoha shinobi to accompany you?" The man asked from behind a bear mask.
"No we were followed by at least one squad, if not two and those are not considered friendly. Hiashi-sama, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama, were you expecting any more guests?" Kikiyo asked pointedly.
Jiraiya shook his head as did Tsunade. Hiashi looked at his group and shook his head also. "All our people are accounted for. If they leave then they might be extra guards that the Hokage sent to protect Naruto-kun. If they do not leave then they are not and you may do with them as you see fit as they are not under orders from the Hokage or any of us." Hiashi stated bluntly.
The bear masked ANBU nodded and then disappeared. Kikiyo clapped her hands together. "Now that was interesting. First we need to register with Takashi-sama and then we can go get something to eat."
Naruto perked up at that statement. "Ramen?" Naruto asked as everybody laughed.
Hinata shook her head and grabbed his hand. "No, Naruto-kun. We are going to get a good meal." Hinata stated sternly as Naruto appeared to pout. Hinata and Keiko giggled at Naruto.
"You think that the Ichiraku ramen stand will move here?" Naruto asked as nearly everyone blanched.
"Naruto-kun, as much as I love you nephew, you will not make a diet of ramen. Do I make myself clear?" Tsunade warned as Naruto nodded. "If we hadn't fixed your nutrition you might have stayed shorter than Hinata-chan here." Tsunade stated as she pointed to Hinata much to Naruto's embarrassment.
"I would have loved Naruto-kun anyway." Hinata-proclaimed as everyone again laughed.
"So what will I have to do to become a shinobi for Uzu, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked.
Naruto thought as they approached the village leader's building. "While the village likes bloodlines they also do not favor them over skilled recruits. You'll have to talk to my grandfather about everything as he knows it all." Naruto replied with a smile.
Naruto and Hinata cringed as they heard a single voice ring out "Oh, Naruto-kun! Over here!" The fear of all fears hit them as they saw Taree and her team heading into the tower. "Who are your friends? You find a new girl and dumping Takara?" Taree turned to Hinata with a pout on her face that suddenly turned to a smile. "I knew it couldn't last..." Taree wore a surprised look as Hinata just smirked. "What am I missing?"
Haku laughed gently. "I'm a boy, not a girl." Haku replied as he continued to chuckle.
Taree's jaw dropped as the rest of her team just rolled their eyes. "Since I haven't gotten anywhere with Akemi, would you like to go out with me? I mean you are the most gorgeous guy I've seen next to Akemi, that is." Taree begged as Haku began to laugh.
"I will consider it." Haku graciously declined.
Naruto moved to Haku's ear and whispered. "I would advice distance from that one, lots of distance. She would just as soon take you in the middle of the market as in your own bed." Naruto just shook his head as Haku nodded.
Both of the teams, the Sannin and the Hyuuga entered the tower together.
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Four masked Konoha ANBU sat around a fire as they cooked several rabbits over the flames. Suddenly all stood and looked around. A voice came from the trees. "State your business here. You will either speak now or be considered enemies and killed as we are in conflict with Sound and you might be with them. You have five seconds to comply." The voice ordered.
Three of the ANBU looked at one as he shrugged. "We are from Konoha and escorted the Sannin here." The apparent leader replied.
"Why would Sannin need an escort?" A female in a buzzard mask appeared in the trees above them with the Uzu plate on her belt. She wore full combat armor.
"Well… the Hokage was worried that their party would run into trouble." The ANBU answered.
"What did you do when Itachi and Kisame attacked the party?" The woman asked as she changed her stance to an offensive one with her hand on her holster on her hip.
"We figured they could handle them. Why are you bothering us anyway?" The ANBU asked as he felt a sharp pain in his back and fell forward. The other three turned to face the outside but all fell seconds after. "How?" The fallen ANBU croaked out.
The woman laughed as she stayed back. "Senbon with triple poison, first a numbing agent, then a slow acting sedative, and finally a chakra blocker. We threw them a couple minutes ago when you were distracted. You will be asleep in about another minute. Nighty, night boys." The woman explained as the heads of the Konoha ANBU hit the ground as they could no longer hold their heads up. "Okay people get them to interrogation, if they are who they say they are we set them free with an apology if not we send them home in body bags. Now get to work."
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Takashi smiled as he saw his grandson enter his office. "Team six just file your report and I will look at it later. I want to spend some time with my grandson and his team." Taree frowned at not being there to hear about Akemi's adventures but left as ordered with her team. Making sure the team had left and was down the hall. "Okay Naruto. What is wrong?" Takashi asked with a caring scowl on his face.
"It's that damn village, Konoha." Naruto snapped back only to realize what he did. "Sorry grandpa…"
Takashi sighed. "Okay, give it to me from the top and feel free to sit down. I'm sure your visitors will have something to add. Greetings, Tsunade-san, Jiraiya-san and Haku-kun. Who wants to begin?"
Kikiyo guided her team to their seats and then began to speak. "Well the mission to wave was more than expected. We met a missing nin named Zabuza Momochi, The demon of the Hidden Mist." Takashi was shocked to hear this but nodded for her to continue. "First confrontation came out in our favor with Naruto in female form clashing swords with Zabuza. My team did an excellent job…" Kikiyo spent the next couple hours going over the mission and what happened in Konoha.
To say that Takashi was pissed was to say that water is wet. "Let me get this straight... Kakashi has attacked my grandson more than once, with the intent of either killing or maiming him?" Takashi asked as the group nodded. "And some brat Uchiha attempted to have his way with both you?" Takashi pointed his question at both Naruto and Hinata who both nodded. Takashi's face turned as red as his hair. "Give me one good reason we shouldn't attack Konoha and pull them both out of that village and string them up by their intestines?"
Kikiyo spoke up at this point. "Oto, is good enough reason, but we have the advantage right now with Konoha as the Fire country Daimyo is also pissed at Konoha. I propose sending my team and any other genin team that is ready to Konoha for the chuunin exams in a few months. It might turn out interesting if Naruto were to meet Sasuke Uchiha in one of the matches. I know that the teams from Konoha have little practical skill at this point and in a couple of months our teams will be ready to take on the rigors of the exam. We could also try to fit Haku into one of the teams if there is an opening." Kikiyo explained.
Takashi nodded. "Haku, is it?" Haku nodded at the question. "With all these border raids by Sound we just might have an opening, I'm sorry to say. It would either be for an injured squad member, or if one of our genin was killed in the line of duty. What are your skills, what is your origin and how do you feel yourself fitting into this village?" Takashi asked with a broad friendly smile on his face.
Haku went on to explain his childhood growing up in the Land of Water and how his father tried to kill him. He also explained the sad story of meeting Zabuza and the training he received from the man. His role as a tool was also explained but a frown came across Takashi's face at that explanation. Haku attempted to apologize but Takashi stated that there was nothing to apologize for as it was Haku's life and he was not there to judge. Takashi acknowledged the fact that Haku had a Kekkei Genkai, but did not dwell on it as Haku had feared. He only explained that it was nice that he had that gift and if he wanted to form a clan when he became sixteen he could but he would have to be of jounin rank in order to form a clan. Haku understood that he was someone who was wanted in the village, but not someone who would be hated or reviled, as was the case in the Land of Water. Takashi offered for Haku to stay in the Uzumaki estate until such time that he either wanted to move out or formed his own clan, and Haku gladly accepted.
The group met Ichiro at the Uzumaki estate and Haku was surprised at how small the estate was, seeing as the clan had more than fifty members. "Well Haku, not all of the clan stay at the estate. We have rooms for maybe twenty. We only house the head family and immediate family in the estate, thus we decentralized power of the head family so that they would not interfere with the daily lives of individual clan members. The rest of the clan will of course come here for meetings which are open to the general public but that is the most we do other than have the clan dojo here. Does that help you understand what is going on some more?" Ichiro inquired as Haku just nodded.
"Oh, by the way Haku, I live with Takara-chan." Naruto stated with a wink and a blush from Hinata. Haku again just nodded understanding. "Hey dad, do I get some more sword training or is it taijutsu this time?" Naruto asked happily.
"I don't know which is lacking Akemi-kun. Kikiyo, which does he need more work in at this point in time?" Ichiro asked as he wanted to make sure Naruto improved on an even pace and not give him lopsided performance.
Kikiyo smiled, as the team groaned at her reaction and Haku looked on confused. "I think they all could use a refresher course in taijutsu." Kikiyo responded happily as Haku just chuckled. "Haku, you're not exempt from this review either, I think you could learn a lot from doing this, but we have head a long trip and we need to get some rest and get you situated in your new home." Kikiyo explained as Haku nodded acceptance.
As the group entered the Uzumaki compound and helped Haku settle into his new room. The group said their good-byes, except for Jiraiya who had a room in the Uzumaki estate. Next were Tsunade and Keiko at the Senju house. About forty-five minutes later Kikiyo dropped Naruto and Hinata off at the Hyuuga main residence with Hiashi and his group. Kikiyo headed home with a goodbye.
Naruto and Hinata sat down to a nice dinner with Kido, Hana, Hiashi, and the five guards that accompanied them. They discussed the mission to wave and what happened in Konoha. Kido while annoyed was happy to have his old friend back again.
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Sasuke wondered if his fiancé wanted to kill him before the chuunin exam as she would just up the training each day since the Uzu group left. She was kind behind the gates of the Uchiha compound but was a tiger outside of them. He was not sure what to do with her or if he could do anything with her at all. He did notice that the other two on his team had improved, and left him alone more than before. It also bothered him that he has in some deep level, come to accept the praise and adulation from females, now that he was only getting it from the fan girls who Kohaku wanted to use for increasing his speed and stamina.
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A/N: To those of you who will remain nameless, who kept on badgering me about this story, I had it in the works just needed some time to get it straight. I needed a transition chapter so that I could go into the next arc, 'Conflict and the Chuunin exams'. Yes this chapter is somewhat short but also it wraps up a lot of loose ends for the story and I think it will be time to move along to the next part of the story. There will be surprises and some expected things going on but I hope you enjoyed this chapter so that I can move onto the next one.
I'm working on updating all my stories including Avatar and Priestess, along with adding a couple new ones as Priestess is about five to seven chapters from completion.