MissAzuka: Glad you're enjoying it. The main reason behind it is because Menma looks cooler and the universe is because I haven't seen RTN. As for Kabuto, both he and Orochimaru are very good ninja, but they both share a major flaw - arrogance. With Team 7 being stronger this time around I figured it would fit better. If people don't like it they can always imagine Sasuke using his curse seal too. I probably should have added that in, but oh well. As for reviving him? Hmm, I hadn't thought of that.
Chapter 14
(Konoha)
"Not interested," the blonde said.
"Tsunade, please. You know I can't do it, I have to run my spy network," Jiraiya pleaded.
"They'll find someone else to do it. Shizuna and I are leaving Konoha."
"Shimura Danzō," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "He's the one that will become Hokage if you don't. You remember what sensei told us about him, don't you? What do you think the first thing he will do is? He'll force you to come back. You'll either be stuck here anyways, or spend the rest of your life running from hunter-nin along with all those debt collectors."
Tsunade paused briefly before snorting and continuing her packing. "They wouldn't make him Hokage."
"They're already trying." He pulled out a file and dropped it on the table. "Minato's kid used the Kyūbi. You saw it just like the rest of us. The villagers are ready to burn him at the stake. Danzō has convinced them that he can control the boy and the Kyūbi."
Tsunade picked up the file and started flipping through the pages.
"What do you think he'll do if he becomes Hokage? He'll turn the boy into a weapon. He'll start wars, Tsunade. Either you'll be running from hunter-nin or in the middle of a war healing ninja. Is that what you want? Is that what you want for Shizune? You know some villages out there won't hesitate to target medics."
Tsunade sat down as she studied the file more closely. "He's after the last Uchiha too?"
Jiraiya frowned. "The villagers remember the rumor that the Kyūbi had the Sharingan in its eyes the night it attacked. They were suspicious of the Uchiha before the massacre. The fact that he was trying to bring Menma into the clan was leaked. Combine that with him summoning the thing? They're coming up with all kinds of crazy theories now."
As Tsunade sat reading over the pages Jiraiya pulled out another larger file. Tsunade raised an eyebrow curiously at the large file.
Jiraiya hesitated before placing it on the table. "Sensei could never prove it, but he believed Danzō was the one behind the Uchiha Massacre. This file contains everything else he suspected Danzō had a hand in."
Tsunade picked up the larger file and began flipping through it. Her eyes grew larger as she read more.
"Tsunade... please become the Godaime Hokage. You can save the village. Save Minato's son."
"I... I need some time to think about all of this."
Jiraiya nodded and walked over to a window. He paused and turned back before jumping out. "Remember - a village full of Shizunes."
She turned to glare at him but he was already gone. 'Of course the old perv was spying on us.'
Tsunade was drunk. She was trying to decide if she should become the Godaime Hokage, so she had needed a drink. While she had been drinking she had come across a huge discovery.
The village was full of Shizunes! Over there! And there too! And that one behind her!
In her infinite drunken wisdom she had decided to climb up the Hokage monument to get a better view of the village full of Shizunes. At the top of the monument she came across the first person that wasn't Shizune. She squinted at him. It was the brat she had come back to the village to run those tests on. What was his name again?
"Memma?" She slurred out.
He turned around to look curiously at the person that had addressed him. "Menma, but close enough. Are you... drunk?"
"You'ere right! The fillage is vull of Shizunes!" She pointed at some random bald guy down in the village. "Look! Shizune!"
"Uh... huh... how about that," he agreed.
They had talked for awhile. Talked about the past. Talked about the position of Hokage. She became more and more sober as time passed. Eventually he asked her what she thought it meant to be a ninja. She couldn't answer.
"Sacrifice," Menma said. "That's probably what Dan and Nawaki believed. That's what my father believed. They sacrificed everything to protect what was precious to them."
He glanced over at her to find her staring down at the village below. "You're on the right path, Tsunade. I'm sure you'll be a great Hokage."
With a wave, he vanished, leaving her to her thoughts.
It had been a week since he had met Tsunade on the Hokage monument. If the rumors were to be believed she had decided to become the Hokage. It hadn't been easy, however, as half the village wanted some old cripple as their Hokage. Apparently they were supposed to be deciding today, or announcing who won today, or... something. He didn't really care.
During the week he had met the white-haired guy from the invasion once again. He learned he was Jiraiya, the third and final member of the sannin. He had officially met all three of them now. The man had even offered to teach him one of his father's techniques - the Rasengan. He had made good progress on the technique, completing the second stage already. He had been told it was a three stage process, and although he hadn't been told the final stage, he could guess what it was.
It was during one of his attempts at figuring out the third stage himself that he realized something was different about his Sharingan. He would admit he was lazy regarding it. Where other Uchiha might add little bits of chakra until they reached the stage they wanted, or even remember how much chakra to use, he just dumped chakra in until it couldn't take any more. Like pouring water into a bucket, he just stopped once it was full. When he had done the same later in front of a mirror he had seen the change. Lucky for him he had access to Uchiha archives.
He found out that day that Tsunade had become the Godaime Hokage.
(Hokage's Office)
It had been a month since Menma met Tsunade on top of the Hokage monument. Danzō had been bitter over the loss of the Hokage position and had fought tooth and nail to get his hands on the boys.
Tsunade placed the scroll she was looking over on her desk and sighed.
"What's wrong, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.
"Go find the biggest lecher in the village and drag him back here. I want to punch him until I feel better."
"I'll help willingly if I can avoid that beating." Jiraiya stepped in through a window.
Tsunade sighed and tapped the scroll she had just placed down. "They're demanding something be done. If I can't find a way out of this Danzō will get both of them." She spat the name out with venom.
Jiraiya read over the scroll. "What if I take one of them on as an apprentice? It'll keep one of them safe and give the other some measure of protection, being the only true Sharingan left in the village."
Tsunade laced his fingers together in front of her face. "It's probably best if you take Menma. The villagers still fear Kyūbi."
Jiraiya nodded. "I'll go tell him the good news."
(Hokage Monument)
"Why not just take both of us on as apprentices?" Menma asked. He found himself spending more and more time either hidden away in the Uchiha compound or on the monument since the invasion.
"I had a team before. It didn't end well, so I'm sticking to one."
"Take Sasuke," Menma replied.
Jiraiya sighed. "Whoever I don't take gets taken by and old warhawk named Danzō. He'll break you down. Turn you into a machine. We can't let him get Kyūbi, so I don't really have a choice. It has to be you."
"Even if I'm not really an Uchiha he is my brother, you know?" Menma looked back at him with a glare. "You expect me to condemn him just like that?"
"I'm sorry. Either way, we have no choice. We won't leave for a week so you have time to say goodbye to your friends."
Neither of them noticed the raven-haired boy that had been eavesdropping quietly slip away.
"And your family... be ready to leave in a week," Jiraiya said before vanishing.
Menma ground his teeth as he looked out over Konoha. Like hell he was going to let some crazy old cripple sink his claws into his family.
(Uchiha Compound)
Sasuke had also been given a week to prepare himself.
Menma had been pouring over the Uchiha archives trying to find anything that would help. He had heard about an Uchiha that had used a Mangekyō Sharingan technique to brainwash people. Maybe he could use it on that old bastard. If not him, maybe on Jiraiya to convince him to take on Sasuke as his apprentice instead.
He couldn't find any information on the technique, unfortunately. Perhaps it was unique to the man that used it. He did find information on another, more common, technique to Mangekyō Sharingan users, however.
"Tsukuyomi, huh?" Menma said as he poured over a scroll. "Not quite the same thing..." He would end his evening after learning of several techniques common among Mangekyō users. He had the knowledge, now all he needed was actual practice using the techniques.
Menma awoke confused and hazy. He glanced out the window to find it was still the middle of the night. He glanced around his room trying to figure out what was going on. He was in bed. 'Bed? I was sleeping? I don't remember going to sleep.'
Normally the only times he slept were when he talked to Kurama, in which case he slept the entire night away, or when he trained himself into exhaustion. He wasn't in a training field so the second one was out. He glanced out the window again. 'Yes, still night. What's going on?'
He swam through the haze trying to remember what had happened earlier. He started at the beginning of the day. 'Er... what day is it? Ah, right, the day before that old fool gets Sasuke and I get dragged off by Jiraiya.'
Most of the day had been spent doing nothing unusual. He had spent it like most days since the invasion, hiding from the village. Sasuke had been acting strange all day, though. He spent most of it trying to spend as much time around him as possible. He had managed to drag him out for lunch. He even made dinner. 'He never makes dinner...'
A memoried emerged from the haze partially. 'Something about... sake? He wanted to share a drink because we wouldn't see each other again for years...'
He staggered to his feet and out the door to the hallway. He still felt off but it was getting better. He made his way to Sasuke's door and put an ear to against it to listen. After several minutes of silence he knocked and listened again. Nothing. 'He's not in there?'
He opened the door and froze. It was empty. Not just missing a body, but most of his possessions were gone as well. 'He ran. He drugged me so he could run away. That asshole.'
It took him another half hour before most of the drug had been flushed out of his system. Once he was able to function normally again he quickly gathered up his gear and ran out into the night after him.
(Forest Outside Konoha)
It was dawn. Menma had passed an unconscious Sakura on a park bench along his path so he had no doubt that the village was already aware and chasing after Sasuke as well.
He had caught up to a group of four people escorting Sasuke towards Rice country. They had a music note on their forehead protectors. "Sasuke. Just where do you think you're going?"
"I know about Danzō," he replied quietly. "I know what he'll do to me. If I'm going to be someone's puppet I'd rather be Orochimaru's. He'll at least help me find Itachi."
Menma narrowed his eyes. "You still want revenge?"
"No," he said. "Well, if I don't like his answer, I might. I have to know the truth. I have to find him to learn why he killed everyone."
Menma stared at him before cautiously looking over the four other people. 'He just wants one of us, right? It doesn't matter which one it is?'
"You understand, right? You understand why I have to do this," Sasuke said.
Menma dropped his head until his hair shadowed his face. He understood. Sasuke felt backed in to a corner, just like Mizuki. He felt this was his only choice for a future. He understood. This is what they had all been trying to teach him. What it means to be a ninja. He dumped chakra into his eye. "Yeah... I understand."
Sacrifice.
He lifted his head to stare Sasuke in the eye. "Tsukuyomi," he said quietly.
Menma grabbed him and lowered him to the ground as he started slipping into unconsciousness. He pulled off his headband and placed it in Sasuke's hand. "I'll be back for this some day. I'll also find Itachi for you, so be patient," he whispered.
Standing he turned to the four Sound ninja. "Let's go. No doubt Konoha is right behind me."
A redheaded girl glared at him. "We kind of need duckass there, shithead."
Menma glared at her, his Mangekyō blazing. "Would Orochimaru rather have a boy with a regular Sharingan. Or me, with both the Mangekyō and the Kyūbi?"
One of the others spoke up. "He said either one. If you're coming with us, let's go."
Menma sent one last look at Sasuke. The sun fell across the boy's face as he lie. He turned to follow after the Sound ninja and smirked. The path through the trees was still dark.
Kakashi, Maito Gai, and Asuma showed up around ten minutes later to find Sasuke unconscious.
"The Uchiha's flames of youth are too dim! We must take him back to Konoha!"
Asuma grimaced and turned to Kakashi. "This is odd. You think he pushed himself too hard and passed out?"
Kakashi stared down at his student before looking up towards where Menma and the others had fled. They had detected them briefly before they vanished. "I'm not sure what happened, but I guess we got lucky. Let's get him back to the village."
It wouldn't be until days later when Sasuke finally woke that they found out Menma had swapped places with him. In the end, Jiraiya was right. He had no choice, he had to train Sasuke.
End Chapter 14
A/N:
A question for those that care to answer. Would you like to see some of the things Menma does while with Orochimaru or should I just go straight to the 3 year skip like canon does? Personally I'm leaning more towards the time skip. I suppose I could go watch some of those Naruto movies that I hear take place during that time and type them up differently, but... does anyone even care about them?
Also, there will be a sort-of pairing for Menma in shippuden. Would you guys rather see a Konoha girl, or a Sound girl? Hinata is out, sorry. She's overdone and I just don't like her. Kin is alive, as she was supposed to revive the final Hokage that never made it for whatever reason, so Orochimaru kept her around. Let me know what you guys think.
As with the last couple of chapters, this one is raw. Feel free to inform me of grammar mistakes and typos.