Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's charatcters, other anime or their characters that may be referred here.
Tsubasa
Hokage's Office
Hiruzen sighed, holding his head in frustration. One would blame it on the paperwork in front of him but in truth it was the news paper in front of him. It was hard to believe that it had only been a week since Naruto's death. Nothing good happened this week.
He told the village about Naruto's heritage and got it through the people's head that he was the prison not the prisoner. He also told them about his death. Needless to say in general the people were upset, so upset that they were ready to go out on manhunt for those responsible.
Upon investigation, much to everyone's disappointment, Hiruzen found that all culprits were ninjas of the Leaf. Even those who were glad that Kyuubi was gone were upset that the ninjas could do something as dumb as killing a baby, none the less of their late Hero. The culprits were found and executed.
This news spread far and wide. Now enemy villages were making mockery of them saying if the villagers can't trust their ninjas then how can others.
Kushina was still not over her son's death. She had been temporarily shifted to the Uchiha compound while her home was under reconstruction upon the request of her childhood friend and present Uchiha matriarch, Uchiha Mikoto. He had hoped that it would help Kushina but he learned from Mikoto that she attempted to suicide. As soon as Tsunade arrived, after learning the sad news, she was staying over the Uchihas, much to their reluctance, to help Kushina. Kakashi was doing better but something told him he'd eventually snap. That reminded, 'There is still one culprit on the run!'
The masked man was still on run with Jiraya and Kakashi on his case. Surprisingly, it still wasn't clear who the masked man was; seals mastery of 'that' level was rare throughout the world. His village was blessed with a handful which was a lot as compared to other villages after the fall of Eddy.
He snapped to reality as the door to his office swung open to reveal Jiraya. Hiruzen excused his informality, 'at least he used the door for once'.
"Make yourself comfortable Jiraya." Invited the Hokage.
Jiraya did so and said, "you may want to do the same Sensei because what I'm about to tell you isn't very good."
The old man sighed, 'Why can't things ever go alright?', then gestured Jiraya to continue.
'Unknown Location'
It's raining, raining like God decided to leave the shower on. Rain drops fall on the slant rooftops of poorly architectured buildings. Though each had electricity supply, the flats were unsightly.
But the people were not bothered by this at all. These, the people of Amegakure, were used to this, for they had lived under worse conditions during Hanzo's tyrant reign. Under the reign of Hanzo of the Salamander there was nothing but chaos, the man literally invited wars to their homes and spread oppression and tyranny in the land like an epidemic. This went on for many years till at the end of the Third Shinobi war, Pain freed them by slaying, Hanzo the Salamander, who was the former dictator of Ame and brought peace to their country. At the present he was making plans to bring peace to the world. They were eternally grateful to him and so they'd help him in this mission in any way they can.
Unknown to them, Pain watched them from the giant statue, which was at the topmost among the desolate towers. He sat at the edge of the tongue, his red hair lank and wet, covering his piercings on ear. His ears weren't the only organs pierced, the bridge of his nose, chin and his shoulders were also pierced. His black over cloak with red clouds covered his other features. But his most unique feature was his eyes. His eyes, purplish grey had ripples with no sclera.
A portal opens behind him as a figure with same cloak jumps out.
"You took your time Tobi, but personally I think you should never have shown up." The red head spoke.
"Now Nagato-san, there is nothing to be angry about." Tobi gave a cheery reply.
"Nothing, except for the fact that you had Kyuubi in your hands and you lost him for your pity revenge." Nagato scolded.
"Yeah, sorry about that, but we can always recapture him" Pain dashed at him and lifted him by his collar.
"THE JINCHUURIKI IS DEAD! YOU MAY HAVE JEOPARDISED OUR PLANS! THERE'S NO TELLING WHERE THE KYUUBI IS! HE COULD BE DEAD!"
"First of all let go of me," Tobi smacks Pain's hand of him, "Secondly, it's too early for our plans anyway, we have lots of time. So rather than arguing with me it would be better to search for Kyuubi."
"We better do find him; it would do better for you Uchiha…"
The Uchiha scoffed in reply before opening a portal and jumping in. Pain watched him jump in before continuing to watch his villagers. Paper flies over his head before forming into a woman with same cloak as Pain. She had blue hair and orange eyes, her hair had a paper rose pinned to it.
The woman puts her hand on Pain's shoulder then asks, "Nagato-kun, do you think we'll be able to find Kyuubi?"
"Konan-chan, do you believe in me?"
Konan grabs his face and kisses him in reply. They break, "Then Konan, it won't matter if we find him or not, our dream will come true," with that said they resume…
Konoha Research Lab- Area 44
The old Hokage stood shaken in his Samurai style armor. His guards weren't better off either. He didn't want to believe what he was seeing but he couldn't deny it either. Most of Jiraya's suspicions were true…
"Ah! Sensei! What a pleasant surprise!" a menacing greeting came from behind, Hiruzen turned to meet the menace.
"Orochimaru…" Hiruzen brought himself in a stance with his staff ready to smite his student. Before that he had to ask something…
"What are saying Jiraya?"
"I'm saying what I learnt from the source."
Hiruzen stands up and bangs his desk, "the source must be lying, there's no way Orochimaru would be doing such things!"
Jiraya sighs, "I wish Sensei, I wish, but I learnt it from one of our missing Jonins, and not just any, it was Hiro Aburame, the former vice-captain of reconnaissance department who had been working on the case of missing Konohites. He looked like, was a beetle-human mutant when I found him, barely conscious, we were able to identify him with help of Inoichi-san and what Inoichi saw was just terrible. People of all ages and streams of life cut up yet alive crying in pain… at mercy of Orochimaru"
Hiruzen just sat silent, lot in depressing thoughts trying his best to disbelieve, but as a Hokage he couldn't just ignore this.
"Sensei, you don't have to believe me, just check his lab out to satisfy everyone's doubt."
"Very well, is there anything else?" He asked hoping there wasn't.
"Sensei, uhm… Naruto… uhhh… Orochimaru…." Jiraya tried.
"I see, you suspect Orochimaru could be the masked man, after all he had a grudge against Minato and has yellow eyes." The old man sighed before getting up and ordering for investigation team.
"Orochimaru, was it you? Are you the one who killed Naruto?"
The snake in the bosom, stood silent as though in shame, but like a real snake he smirked and replied "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS" before unleashing wind blades on them.
Hiruzen spun his staff, catching the winds; he lifted his swirling staff in air before swinging at Orochimaru as a disk of wind cut through air and tore his body into two. The body parts melt into mud causing everyone to be on guard. They wait for the snake to slither into their presence but…
"Be calm, the traitor has already left the village." Jiraya came upon them with a few ANBUs behind.
The ninjas sighed in relief. Hiruzen was still getting over this whole thing, 'Traitor, out of all the possible black sheep I never thought my own student would be one of them, did envy really cause him to stoop so low or was he always like this?' he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Jiraya, we may still be able to catch him"
"On it Sensei!" Jiraya breathes in, as his eyelids turn red with red tear drops forming, he opens his eyes to which look like a toad's, "this way."
Uchiha Compuond- Guestroom
The Japanese style room was true to its purpose as a guest room. It was both comfortable and hospitable not that Kushina bothered to appreciate it. She was currently cradling a stuffed toy that she had bought for her then still to be born son. She was surprisingly frail, she lost some pounds, her skin was deathly pale and her eyes were dry surrounded by dark circles. Her ramen lay cold on the table untouched. And her door open.
Moikoto arrives at the scene with her babe sleeping in her arms, she sighs, breathes in before putting on a gentle smile, "you know you need to eat to live," she continues despite no reply, "you know Naruto-"
"WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME WHAT MY FAMILY WANTED OR NOT WANTED? YOU ARE NOT THE ONE WHO LOST HER FAMILY I AM SO TELL ME WHAT THEY WANTED OR NOT WANTED AFTER YOU LOSE YOUR OWN!"
The babe cries at the sudden outburst as Mikoto pacifies her child, she returns to Kushina, "Are you done? Now let me continue, as I was going to say, before you woke Tsubaki-chan up, you know Hokage-sama finally identified the masked man who killed your son," Kushina froze up at that, Mikoto continued anyway, " It was Orochimaru, that traitor wanted revenge on Yondaime-sama, he also used civilians and fellow ninjas as science experimants, Hokage and Jiraya tried catching him but the snake gave them a slip-" Before she could finish Kushina was geared up and marching out of the room.
Mikoto watches her friend leave not bothering to ask where she was going. At the same time Tsunade shows up in her kimono having returned from a hot bath staring in the direction Kushina marched.
"Good day Tsunade-san, you need something?" Mikoto asked with a smile not o genuine.
"Where did she go?" Tsunade asked.
"Oh, she went to meet Hokage-sama to interrogate him about Orochimaru."
"You told her about him, you know it's all good and well that you care about your friend but motivating someone to live based on revenge isn't really advisable."
"At least it worked better than all that goody-goody 'they would've wanted you to move on' routine, that routine is something she'll have to learn herself, for now if the revenge routine forces her to live then so be it, and that was my purpose and I refuse to fail."
They stood still for sometime before Tsunade narrowed her twitching brown eyes and said," you really are an Uchiha."
The Uchiha turned her hawk-like black onyx eyes to meet the Senju's, "When were you leaving again?"
" Oh, I'll be staying for quite some time now," Young Tsubaki starts crying, "and by some time I mean right after I wear my clothes and pack my bag" as if on cue Tsubaki stops crying and stares at the Senju with her big onyx eyes.
'Sheesh, even the brats of rosy eyes don't like me.'
"I can't read minds but I know what you're thinking," the matriarch warned. Tsunade murmured something about people too smart for themselves and rushed to pack up.
Konoha Reaearch Lab- Area 44
The old Hokage and a team of ANBUs were in middle of investigation. Right now they were trying to identify all victims of Orochimaru's project and reviewing his notes to identify his purpose.
A yellow flash lights the room disappearing to reveal a cold and furious Kushina. Hiruzen sighed feeling the upcoming headache, he preferred when she was boiling with anger, that way you knew you could still appease her.
"You let the murderer get away…" the red head stated.
"We were about to catch him, but he unleashed a swarm of monster on us."
"Liar…" Kushina hissed at the seemingly worst excuse she heard.
"I wish Kushina, I wish…" lamented the old man,"but if wishes were horses this lab wouldn't be filled with what were once humans."
Kushina turned around and started leaving, but the old man dashes in front of her and asks, "where are you going?"
"You people are obviously impotent; if you weren't then the murderer wouldn't have gotten away."
"Yeah I know how you feel, believe me I do, but going nuke won't help you, you as wife of the late Yondaime Hokage and officially the last member of the Uzumaki clan will be attracting hunter nins from Konoha and the other four major village and their allies, plus Orochimaru can't be taken lightly," facing no reaction from the red head he continue, "but if you rejoin ANBU I promise I will make you in charge of catching Orochimaru-"
"Madara." "Him too, you can even take help from ninjas of your choosing whenever you need and the other villages will think thrice before attacking you since you're under our protection."
He waits for Kushina's answer, hoping for a yes but even if he got a no he'd earnestly do anything to help her. Kushina stared at the aged man trying to know what he was thinking, trying to figure whether she could trust him. After few moments she replies, "not sure about that protection part but I'll take your offer knowing information gathering here is one of the best in the world but you'll have to hold on to the promises."
"Of course Kushina." The old man beams.
Kushina scoffs and walks away.
'Kushina-chan I'm glad that you've given this old man a chance to redeem himself, I'm sorry I was of no use when it came to saving your family but trust me I'll put in whatever my old bones have left of my former self.'
Unknown Location
A dark room with dim light coming from neighboring rooms echoes with footsteps and a cane hitting the floor.
"Switch on the lights," an elderly voice ordered and with a click bright light falls all over the room revealing Danzo holding a bundle and a man wearing black cloak with a hood his face covered by a mask covering everything but his amber eyes. The bundle starts crying Danzo stares at it blankly but sports a smirk.
"I guess Naruto-kun didn't appreciate the light," he jokes to himself, he turns to his companion,"Masaru, remove your disguise and report."
The mask and cloak are thrown into air to reveal a young boy with fair skin and crimson hair, running long and wild till his shoulder, his most unique feature are the thick cheetah tear drop marks running from his amber eye till his nose.
"The plan was a 100% success; no one suspected the switch we made between Naruto-kun and the still born which was made to look like him thanks to body replication seals, everyone thinks he is dead. Moreover Orochimaru took the blame in exchange for the bargain we made with him."
"Yes, a perfect plan worth the perfect weapon," he lifts Naruto into air and laughs maniacally, but soon Naruto is the one laughing after urinating all over the old warhawk.
Masaru smirks," looks like a lot of effort creating this weapon will be."
Danzo wipes his face and glares at Masaru before turning stoic again, "no problem, we'll put in every effort to create the ultimate weapon of Konoha," he lifts Naruto into air again," that's right Naruto you'll be the wings with which Leaf will fly at the top of the world, you are Tsubasa."