Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 68: Reunions and Love
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Konoha Hospital)
The room was silent as the two people in the room quietly watched the person sleeping in the bed. The other teams had come by to see how Sasuke had been doing. But since the majority of the teams had been on the mission to get him, and the fact they could see the looks on Naruto's and Sakura's faces as they watched in silence, they had decided to leave (Lee might had to have been dragged out of the room, they weren't really paying attention. Sai had only watched from afar, he didn't join the others and had left before anyone else had). "How's he doing?" Naruto finally asked Sakura from where he leaned against the wall next to the door. Ever since the teams had left (even before they had arrived) the silence between the two of them was awkward to say the least. Until now, neither of them knew what to say (or even speak period). He decided to be the one to break the silence by asking a simple question.
"He's doing fine." She replied, being all business. "Heart-rate is normal and so is his temperature. All-in-all, he looks like he'll be waking up soon."
"That's good to know, I guess." He said, muttering that last part to himself. It was probably something that she didn't need to hear at this moment. It probably would end with him either being sent through the window or the wall. Either way, pain would've definitely followed.
"The one thing that concerns me is the bandages around his eyes when he was brought in." She frowned slightly as she talked. "I've checked the chakra that's centered in his eyes and the eyes themselves to see if anything was damaged. I've found nothing and yet, I can't help but feel concerned." She looked over at the blonde. "Did he tell anyone in the teams there what they were for?"
He shook his head. "He was mostly asleep as we came back. And when he was awake, he didn't ask to have it taken off, so we just left it on." It might've been a little inconsiderate, but they had been more focused on getting back to Konoha (just because the Tsuchikage had shown them where Itachi had taken his brother didn't mean he wouldn't try to have them ambushed).
She heaved a somewhat irritable sigh. "I guess I'll just have to ask him when he awakes up."
He rolled his eyes. "That is if he decides to tell you what happened." He said, mostly to himself.
But she had managed to hear him. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" She asked, looking him straight in the eye. Her voice was both questioning and hard. It was a voice that demanded a swift and good answer.
Unable to look her in the eyes, he turned his head to look out the nearby window. "I'm just saying that he might not tell you. Everyone has their secrets and some of those secrets they don't want to let anyone else know about." He explained. He knew that all too well.
She accepted his reasoning with a small nod of acknowledgment before turning back to face the Uchiha in the bed. Silence came to the room again, but this time it was a little less awkward. "…Have I said thank you yet?" She finally asked him.
"Said thank you for what?" He asked back.
"For bringing him back," She clarified, gesturing lightly at the comatose Uchiha. When she saw him being carried into the village on the blonde's back (having already been cleared by the hospital soon after the Retrieval Team had left), she almost lost control and cried tears of relief. Instead, she told Naruto to take him straight to the hospital. From there, it had been all business, making sure Sasuke was okay.
"You didn't need to. It was a mission, nothing more and nothing less." He replied shortly. It was obvious to both of them that he didn't want to keep talking about it.
"Of course it was." She agreed. And yet, she had already heard about how it was he who found Sasuke first. How, on the way back, he was the one to carry the Uchiha and always kept a close eye on him when they had stopped for the night. She kept it to herself, but when she saw those two come past the gates of the village, she had a small hope that it would be a step to the three of them mending their relationship.
A small groan filled their ears, drawing their attention straight to the bed. Sasuke stirred slightly, rustling the sheets just as slightly. He cracked open an eyeball, wincing at the light, and saw a familiar pink-haired shinobi filling his vision. "I guess I'm home." He said with a whisper.
Naruto didn't say anything, but Sakura did. "Yes, you're home, Sasuke." She told him, relief filling her voice as she spoke to him. "You should know better than to scare me like that nowadays."
He weakly gave a roll of his eyes. "And I thought that you would've gotten used to stuff like this." He replied, his voice getting stronger. "We are shinobi after all."
"Just because we're shinobi, doesn't mean you get to make me worry like that." She reprimanded the Uchiha as he sat up. "We're teammates and friends, Sasuke. If something happened to you while I wasn't there, how do you think I would take it? I wouldn't be able to live with myself." She backed a little, fearing that she had said too much.
But as he listened to her and looked at her, the words of Itachi came back to him. "I want you to find someone who loves you for you and you love her in return." They whispered in his ear. Without warning, he reached out and pulled Sakura into a kiss.
It was a safe bet that two of the three people in the room were not expecting that to happen. Both Naruto and Sakura had shocked expression on their face. However, Sakura's expression soon disappeared and although it was replaced by small confusion, she began to return the kiss. Naruto, on the other hand, still had his shocked expression and could only look away as they kept kissing. All of a sudden, he felt like an intruder and yet, he somehow couldn't find it in him to walk away.
As the kiss ended, Sakura drew back, the confusion showing fully on her face. "Sasuke…what…?" She asked, unable to fully ask the question she had.
He didn't say anything at first. He just pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Sakura Haruno." He said into her ear, using her full name and making her blush. "It took me some time to realize it, but I love you." It was a short and simple thing to say, but he didn't know any way else to put it.
When she heard those words, Sakura couldn't believe it. Ever since she had first seen the Uchiha, she had a crush on him. And she had let that crush turn her into a Fangirl for quite some time. All she wanted was to have Sasuke noticed her; she had even broken her friendship with Ino so she could get it (even though they had mended their bond and became friends again). And even though Tsunade had completely obliterated the Fangirl she was, she still felt something for Sasuke. And now, he was telling her that he loved her. "…When did this happen?" She asked quietly. She had to be sure he didn't just spontaneously say that.
"I think it was when I first noticed that you weren't a Fangirl anymore, but a shinobi." He admitted. When they had originally been put together, he had no doubts that she was a Fangirl and therefore, completely useless. And even though she had proven to both him and Naruto that she had strength, she was still pretty much a Fangirl. But that had all changed when he rejoined the ranks. When he had met up with her and Kakashi, she greeted him as a friend and not squealing his name excitedly. She didn't hold back in the spar and when she stood over him in victory, instead of telling him that she was sorry to hit him like that, she just smiled and told him "Better luck next time." As she walked away, he realized that she was an actual shinobi now, not a useless Fangirl. The last thought his dazed mind had before Kakashi got him back on his feet was something along the lines of "What a woman."
She blushed somewhat at those words. She remembered that day as well and what came afterwards. After he had rejoined the ranks, she had treated Sasuke as a friend and he had done the same to her. But as time went on, she began to feel different about Sasuke. It was a familiar feeling, which was why she never said anything. She feared that it was her old crush on him acting up again. But she soon realized that it wasn't a crush, but genuine love. Still, she didn't say anything in fear of being rejected again. And now, he told her that he loved her and she could tell that he meant it. "I love you too, Sasuke." She whispered in his ear, returning the hug. "I guess it took me some time to admit it too."
"I'm glad to hear that." He replied as he pulled away, giving her a gentle smile. She gave him the same smile and they hugged each other once again.
Naruto, having watched all of this, now really felt like an intruder. "It's time to leave." He thought to himself as he turned away from the two and began walking towards the door.
"Naruto," Sasuke called out, making the blonde stop. He stayed like that, with his back to the two of them.
"Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back." He chanted to himself inside his head. But as the silence dragged on, he couldn't help himself. He turned his head slightly to the side; enough so one eye could just look upon the new couple.
"Thank you." The Uchiha told him with a smile that Sakura shared. The two of them seemed to be more intimate now than before.
He didn't know why he did what he did. Maybe it was because of the happiness that now was radiating off the two of them. Maybe it was because he had played an indirect hand in it. Or maybe it was because it made him feel something he didn't want too. But no matter what it was, it made him want to get away. For the second time in a few days, he bolted out of the room and of the hospital.
(Location: Council room)
Both Jiraiya and Kakashi stood in the middle of the room. The Clan Heads of the village (minus Sasuke) and Tsunade sat around them. The Civilian council had not been called in as the situation they were discussing didn't deal with a civilian. It was not a formal meeting, as one could tell how they lounged in their chairs (or at least, sat casually). "So Itachi is finally dead?" Tsume asked.
"We found him in an adjacent room to Sasuke. He had no pulse and he looked like he had died from a disease." Kakashi answered, as it was he who had found the body. "He held a few pieces of paper in his hand, which I extracted from his death grip."
"I take it that the body was destroyed?" Hiashi asked. It was a standard procedure to do so, but it was always a good idea to ask the question.
Jiraiya nodded. "Once we had gotten Sasuke out, we burned the body and collapsed the entire cave. Unless someone wants to dig through a lot of rubble, they're not going to get anything. And even if they did, it's highly unlikely that anything had survived." He declared.
"That is good to know." The Hyūga clan head acknowledged.
"Do you still have the papers with you?" Inoichi asked them. If there was information on the thing that was vital, they needed to know what it was.
The Toad Sage shook his head in the negative. "Once Kakashi and I had read its contents, we brunt it to ash. We felt that the information on it was too sensitive to be on paper, that it was safer to have it as word of mouth."
"Well, what was on it then?" Chōza asked the two of them.
"It revealed why Itachi had killed the elders. After the Uchiha Clan Massacre, the Sandaime had given him a mission to kill them. Apparently, they had gone behind the Sandaime's back and gave him that order because the Uchiha clan were planning a coup d'état and they thought the clan had to be destroyed." He explained.
"He also believed that Danzō influenced him into making that choice. And so, the Sandaime ordered him to kill them when he felt the time was right. After receiving that order, he decided to join the Akatsuki in order to pass the information he found to the village." Kakashi told them. As they listened to what he said, some of their eyes widened in surprise. They remembered how the situation was before the massacre. How tense relations between the Uchiha clan and the rest of the village had been. But they had no idea it might've gone to such lengths. Kami, some of them had believed things were looking up when the massacre happened.
As he regained his composure (despite not letting it show on his face), Hiashi frowned. "Could you please explain something to us, Kakashi?" He asked. "I remember Itachi being a person who would not have been easily convinced to murder his own clan. Who would've been so convincing to make him do something like that?"
"Shisui Uchiha." Jiraiya said, getting everyone's attention. "Or to be more precise, Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan was able to be so convincing."
"Explain, Jiraiya." Tsunade ordered her teammate.
"There isn't much." He told them. "But from what little Itachi wrote down for us, Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan had a unique ability called Kotoamatsukami. In essence, it would allow the user to cast a Genjutsu on someone so subtle, they would believe that they were making their own choices."
"And how would this factor into Itachi believing he had been manipulated?" Shibi asked. That was the question that was on everyone's minds at that moment.
"Because, according to what Itachi wrote, Danzō had stolen Shisui's right eye and implanted it into his own socket," Kakashi answered. "Itachi was unaware of that fact until Shisui had told him. He had met with Danzō before that meeting. That is why he believed the Kotoamatsukami had been casted on him."
The answer astounded everyone. All of a sudden, the reason why Danzō had kept the right side of his face bandaged made sense. He had been hiding a Sharingan in his eye-socket. If it had been found out, he would've been charged with treason and executed within the week. "What happened to Shisui's left eye?" Shikaku asked, realizing that Kakashi had only spoken of the right one.
"He gave it to Itachi before killing himself." Jiraiya answered the question. "And before Itachi died, he destroyed it. Is the other eye still in Danzō?" He asked Tsunade.
She shook her head in the negative. "We don't know how he did it, but Itachi escaped notice of the camera when he went back to Danzo's body a second time. He destroyed the right eye and for some reason, Danzo's right arm as well."
"Why would he do something like that?" Itachi was never someone who did things without a reason, even if he never shared those reasons with anyone else.
"We don't know. Whatever the reason, we won't know now." Hiashi said. The Hyuuga clan head was actually glad for that. Whatever Itachi's reason was, it had to deal with what Danzō had done. Quite frankly, he didn't want to know any more of that man's secrets.
"Kami take you, Itachi." The Toad Sage swore. "You had to have died now of all times."
"What do you mean by that, Lord Jiraiya?" Inoichi asked him.
The two Sages in the room shared a look. Tsunade gave him a nod of approval before breaking eye contact. He looked around the room before taking a deep breath. "While we were on the hunt for Sasuke and Itachi, Naruto had confided in me one night. He told me that he believed that there was a voice in his head that was trying to make him loyal to Konoha. After reading what Itachi had written, I now believe that Danzō used the Kotoamatsukami on Naruto at some point."
If they had been surprised by what they had learned before, now they were shocked. Even Kakashi was caught off guard, as he had not been told about that until now. "Are you absolutely sure about this, Lord Jiraiya?" Shibi asked him.
"Of course I'm sure." He retorted. When he had learned the truth and connected the dots, he was furious. Danzō had been trying to brainwash his student and was now trying to do it from beyond the grave. If he had been alive, he would be a dead man.
"And how did Naruto become aware of this?" Chōza inquired.
"From what he told me, it first appeared before we had left for Kumo, trying to subtly change what he thought and said. However, when we had returned, it started to actually speak to him." He explained.
"Why the change in tactics?" asked Hiashi.
Tsume snorted when she heard that. "We're talking about Naruto Uzumaki here, probably the most stubborn person ever to have come out of this village." She declared. "Don't you all remember that one time he kept waging a war against our dogs?" They did. Although the rest of them weren't sure of the reason, when he was about seven, Naruto had waged a pranking war against the Inuzuka hounds. Even though several people told him that he was being stupid, that he should stop and leave the dogs alone, he didn't. Even when shinobi of the Inuzuka clan went after him for pranking their partners, he still kept his war going. It was only after both Tsume and the Sandaime Hokage talked to him that he finally stopped.
Shibi understood the reasoning that she spoke of. "If Naruto was indeed being stubborn as usual, the change in tactics would be understandable. He was refusing the subtle attempts, so it is going with the obvious ones." He noted.
"Whatever it is, it must be working." Jiraiya said. "Before this mission, Naruto wouldn't have cared if Sasuke had been kidnapped. But during the entire mission, he had been up at the front of the run every day and almost seemed to be unconsciously impatient every time we finally stopped." He frowned slightly. "Unfortunately, Itachi didn't leave us a way to break this particular Genjutsu."
"What about the usual methods?" Chōza suggested. They were always useful for getting a shinobi out of the influence of a Genjutsu.
He shook his head. "I tried disrupting his chakra on the way back without his notice." He answered. "He kept on acting the same, always the one to carry Sasuke and keeping an eye on him as we rested for the night."
"And I'm guessing pain didn't work either?"
"If it did, then the Genjutsu should've been broken when he and Killer Bee had been ambushed at Unraikyō." He replied, still having that feeling of failure and disappointment rake over him for not getting there in time.
"What if I were to take a look inside his mind?" Inoichi asked. "I could probably be able to find it and help him get rid of it."
"I don't know if that would work or not." The Toad Sage told him. "This is a Genjutsu of the highest level. And no offence to you, Inoichi, but there's probably a good chance that it'll be able to avoid your probes to find it. Plus, we don't know if the Kyūbi will even let you do that much at all."
They all sat in silence for a moment before Shikaku spoke. "What a drag this is going to be." He muttered to himself before clearing his voice and getting everyone's attention. "Look, I know we all have the same question on our mind about this, but none of us don't really want to say it. So I'm going to be the asshole in the room and ask it: Should we even try to stop what this Kotoamatsukami is doing to Naruto?"
While everyone did look at him, Tsunade and Jiraiya were the only ones who gave him half-hearted glares (the reason they were half-hearted was because they knew he didn't approve of the idea). "If Naruto does decide to come back, it should be by his own decision." Jiraiya said to him. "I may be his sensei, but I will not force him to come back. That is his choice, no one else's."
"Which was Danzō tried to make for him." Tsunade finished what he said. "And I'm open to ideas that would break the Genjutsu. Anyone have one?"
They all began to throw out suggestions. At that point, it was more of a mass sounding board then any actual ideas. "Seeing as you don't really require me anymore, may I take my leave, Lady Tsunade?" Kakashi asked. She gave a wave of her hand, giving him his answer.
He walked out of the room and into the corridor in silence. When he was a good distance away from the room and the voices inside it, he exhaled a small breath of relief. If anyone who didn't know him (and even most of the people who knew him) saw him at that moment, they would've thought nothing was wrong. But it wasn't. He had been carrying a secret ever since they found Itachi. In truth, there was another piece of paper in Itachi's hand. A smaller one addressed to him and encrypted in an ANBU code he knew. Once he had read it, he had immediately burned it. But the words still echoed inside his mind.
Kakashi
I know you would be sent to find Sasuke. He is your student, it's only natural that the Hokage would send you (and I suspect, either his teammate or Naruto).
The information I am going to pass to you is something I had risked my position in the Akatsuki and my life to obtain. As I am sure you are already aware, the masked shinobi amongst has claimed to be Madara Uchiha. I do not know if you believe him but let me assure you, he is not!
As I am unsure if this will find you first or will found by someone else who knows this cipher, I cannot risk passing the information to you directly. Therefore, please understand what I am about to say:
Two Uchiha eyes traveled to the Kannabi Bridge, but only one saw it destroyed. One eye slayed someone dearest and the other eye saw it too. Now one eye serves the leaf and the other wishes to see it disappear.
I hope you know what this means.
Please watch over my little brother for me.
Itachi Uchiha.
Of course, he had been stunned by what the letter had told him. He had figured out what Itachi had meant and yet, he almost wished that he hadn't it. For it had told him that what he had thought all these years had been wrong. He almost wanted to disbelieve it, but he couldn't. Itachi had written himself that he had risked everything to uncover the masked shinobi that he knew as Tobi. "I guess I shouldn't call him that anymore." He thought almost bitterly to himself. He also knew that he should inform Tsunade of this. But he wasn't sure how to do it, especially with the concern she had at the moment.
"Hello there, Kakashi." Shizune greeted him as they passed each other in the hallway, Tonton in her arms.
"Hello, Shizune." He replied in turn. "Are you going to help out Lady Tsunade?"
"I'm going to see if she's working or if she's drinking." She said with a small laugh. "If it's the latter, I'll be forced to sic Tonton on her." The pig in question agreed with an oink.
"Don't worry, she's working hard." He assured her. Tales of how Tonton kept Tsunade working instead of drinking were well known in the village (although, never within earshot of the Hokage), so he could believe what she said. "Actually, she's in a meeting with the clan heads and Jiraiya. They might need some sake soon." It would certainly help the idea-throwing part.
She narrowed her gaze at him. "Is that truth or is she trying to make a break for it again?"
"It's the truth, I swear." He answered.
"If you say so," She replied, still suspicious. "I guess I can bring in some sake. I just hope they don't go overboard with it. I'll see you around, Kakashi." She said to him as she walked past.
He gave a small wave of his hand to say goodbye as he started walking again. While he didn't mind being around other people, he needed peace and quiet. He was still coping with the fact that the masked shinobi in the Akatsuki who called himself Tobi was in fact his old teammate who long thought dead: Obito Uchiha.
(Location: Naruto)
After running from the hospital and all the way back to the house, he had stripped himself of his clothes and stepped into the shower. As the hot water poured onto him, he struggled to understand what was going on with everything that he considered important. "I know the voice is trying to convince me to come back to the village." He thought to himself as he bent his head under the stream of water. "But is it really someone just trying to tamper with me?"
"What else would it be, gaki?" The Kyūbi asked him, trying to help him figure it all out.
"I don't know." He answered aloud. "Maybe it's a part of me that wants to come back?"
"Bullshit, completely and utter bullshit," The fox declared. "I remember quite clearly that you had no qualms about running away. And let's not forget how you kept trying to make the Konoha teams leave you alone while they were with the Avatar. This is in no way, shape or form, any part of you. Someone is tampering with you."
"If that's true, it's still not tampering with some things." He pointed out. "I came back to stop the Akatsuki and save the other Jinchūriki in the hopes of making them a part of my family. Now I'm the last of them and I don't seem to be getting anywhere with the whole stopping part. And there's this whole thing with Sasuke and Sakura. I couldn't have given a rat's ass about them. But when he was kidnapped and we found him, I was relieved. I called him teme, Kyūbi. I haven't done that since I left."
"And there's what just happened in the hospital."
"Yeah, there's that." The blonde agreed. Thinking back on it, when he had seen the two of them together, it gave him the sense that he didn't belong there in that room. But it also showed him again that things weren't the same. First it was Sakura telling him to bring Sasuke back. Now, it was the fact that the two of them were telling each other that they loved the other instead of Sakura going after Sasuke and Sasuke ignoring her.
"Was what caused you to run the fact that they looked happy in each other's arms? Or was it the fact that Sasuke thanked you for it?" The Bijū inside of him asked.
"I'm not sure. Maybe it was both or just one of them. It feels like I should care about them and yet, I don't." He admitted. He suddenly turned the water off and stood there as it stopped. "I don't think I've ever felt so alone." He said to himself as he stepped out of the shower, reaching for a towel.
"What the hell am I, an amusing stuffed animal?" The fox sounded a little annoyed, but the blonde wasn't really paying attention to his tone of voice.
"That's not what I meant. Aside from you, I don't think I have anyone I can really talk to." He explained.
"And what do you call Team Paragon or Team Avatar? You told them about me. Not to mention Azula. You're her boyfriend, right?"
"I know that, furball. But there's a difference between telling them you have a Bijū sealed inside of you and trying to tell them that I'm having second thoughts about the village and it may or may not be of my own violation." He defended himself as he began to towel off.
"So who do you think you would be able to talk to then if you can't talk to them? I'm assuming that the Super Pervert is out too?"
"Yeah, he is." The blonde paused for a moment as a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe…maybe I could've talked to my parents about this?" He mused aloud.
The Kyūbi raised an eye when he heard this. He had never heard his Jinchūriki say anything like that before. He never really spoke about his parents at all. "Why are you having this sudden wondering of your parents? You've hardly bothered to even think about them. Trust me, I've checked."
"Number 1: talk about an invasion of privacy." Naruto commented.
Gaki, I've been sealed inside of you since you were just born. Privacy went out the window a long time ago."
"Number 2: wouldn't this be something to talk about with a parent?" He asked, ignoring the fox's sarcastic comment.
"You would be asking the wrong creature." It was true. The only person the fox could technically call a parent had been dead for a long time (and who he had to share with eight other siblings).
"I should've figured." The blonde muttered to himself as he finished toweling off. "I wonder what it would be like, to have parents. Hell, to have any kind of family."
The Bijū frowned when he heard that innocent sounding comment. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure you have a family. You know, Sokka, Suki, Zuko, June, Katara, Azula, those people?"
"I'm talking about a real family here, fox. You know, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles? I don't have that. I just have…friends." He finished quietly. "Why do you think I feel alone? There are just some things that friends can't help you with."
"Ah, I see." The fox said. "Thankfully, I know a way to correct this little problem of yours and this faulty thinking, which I believe is the voice acting up again."
"What do you mean?" He asked, walking over to the mirror. It had steamed over while he had been in the shower. The Kyūbi stayed silent as his Jinchūriki reached out to wipe away the steam on the mirror, only to whip it back with a strangled shout and a curse. In the mirror was not only his face, but those of his parents.
"That's what I mean." The Bijū answered. "Now, if you would kindly turn around…"
Naruto did as he was told, not really thinking, just reacting. What he saw surprised him again was the fact that both of his parents were actually standing in front of him. He blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things. But when he opened the eyes again, they were still there. The only difference was that they were now in a white void and he was wearing actual clothes. That didn't concern him as much as the two supposed to be dead people in front of him. "Hello, Naruto." Minato greeted him with a smile.
"Are you really…here?" He asked, almost hesitantly. There was a somewhat look of wonder on his face as he examined the two of them.
"Of course we are. It looked you needed some help, so the fox—" Whatever Kushina was going to finish with; it was interrupted when the look of wonder on her son's face disappeared and was replaced with a look of anger and rage. Without warning or prompting, he stepped right up to his father and drove his fist into his face, hard.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" bellowed the younger blonde as the older one fell to the ground. "WHY WOULD YOU EVER SEAL THE KYŪBI INTO YOUR SON, YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD, AND THEN JUST DIE?!" He whipped his head to look at his mother. 'THE SAME GOES FOR YOU! DO EITHER OF YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF THE HELL I WENT THROUGH BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU DID? THE BEATINGS, THE DIRTY LOOKS NO THOUGHT I SAW, THE WAY PEOPLE LOOKED AT ME WITH DISGUST, HOW I WAS KEPT BEING TOLD HOW WORTHLESS I WAS BY EVERYONE? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA!?"
The words that spewed forth from his mouth echoed around them. Even as Minato stood back up, neither he nor Kushina said anything. They waited as Naruto's ragged breathing from the shouting slowly calmed down and went back to normal. Finally, it was Kushina who spoke, breaking the silence. "I guess there is a heart in there somewhere." She remarked with a grin. "And here I was worried that my son wouldn't have one."
"Why are you two here?" He demanded. "Where in the name of Kami is here anyway?" He looked around and saw only white nothingness.
"As I was trying to say before you so rudely interrupted me, the Kyūbi summoned us to talk to you and help you." She answered.
"As for where we are, we are inside a part of your mind." His father told him, finishing the explanation.
She looked around for a couple of seconds. "It's a little bleak and depressing." She casually remarked as she turned her gaze back to her son with a smirk on her face and a shadow of laughter in her eyes. "You might want to consider calling a fashion designer to spruce up the place."
"How the hell did the furball summon you two?" He asked, ignoring her comment. "You're supposed to be dead."
"I found their chakras in the seal after you lost control during the war." The voice of the Kyūbi answered the question, echoing all around them. "Believe me, it was as much as a surprise for me as it is for you." He had been examining the seal itself and was thunderstruck when he had found their chakras in it.
"And now, we're here to help." Minato repeated what had been said before.
"Help with what?" His son asked shortly.
"You're the one who wanted to talk to us about what's happening to you." The Yondaime Hokage pointed out mildly.
When he heard those words, the annoyed look on Naruto's face disappeared and was replaced with one of unease. "I thought it would've been wishful thinking, not actually happening." He said, trying to defend himself.
"You're welcome." The voice of the fox spoke again, causing the younger blonde to look up (or at least what qualified as up in the void. He wasn't even sure if they were floating or standing) and scowl.
"Well, we're still here." Kushina commented. "So we might as well get talking, ya know." When both husband and son looked at her, her cheeks lit up in embarrassment. "Oh, damn it. I was hoping that wouldn't come out."
"Come on, Kushina. You know I find it cute." Minato said with a smile. He did enjoy hearing his wife utter her verbal tic.
She just turned on him and gave him a scowl. "Our son doesn't need to hear things like that from his parents, you big dork!" She admonished him. The smile he had on his face turned into a goofy grin as she admonished him.
"Wow. That sounds incredibly familiar. I think you used to say something similar, kit." The Bijū commented, enjoying himself a little too much if the voice was anything to go by. "What was it you used to say? Believ—"
"I swear to Kami, furball, if you keep talking, I will hunt you down wherever you are hiding and skin you!" The now flustered Fire Paragon screamed out into the void. It was bad enough that the fox kept coming into the conversation, but he kept doing it when he wasn't needed.
Both of his parents just looked at him in silence as he shouted into the void. When he was done, Minato looked over at Kushina. "He is definitely your son." He declared. All that got him was a punch to the shoulder.
"Naruto," She said, looking away from her husband and getting the attention of her son. "Do you remember when you and your friends were facing off Orochimaru and he had me summoned?"
"How would you know about that if you were inside me?" He demanded almost instantly.
"I may just be the chakra of Kushina Uzumaki, but it was enough to see through her eyes when her soul was summoned." She explained patiently. "I saw what happened and I remembered it afterwards."
"Let me guess, you're embarrassed and ashamed of me." The voice the blonde spoke with was both sarcastic and accusatory.
"Nothing of the sort," She replied. "You made your choice and there's nothing we can do about it. Not to mention you kept your head in a situation that looked to be designed for you to lose it."
"Besides, we would still love you anyway." Minato chimed in. Kushina nodded her agreement of what her husband said.
He just stared at the two of them in disbelief for a couple of seconds. "…And here I thought you would want me to stay in the village." He finally said.
"You've made your choice, Naruto." His father said, repeating the same words his wife had just said. "If you have decided to stay away from Konoha, it is your choice."
"Then why do I feel this way about the place?!" The blonde asked, suddenly sounding angry. "Why do I have something in my head trying to convince me to come back? To rejoin the shinobi ranks?" He sounded like he really wanted the answer to the question. "Why do I feel like I care about those two when I know that I don't?"
"That's something you will have to figure out on your own." His mother told him. "But even though you don't want to be a Konoha shinobi, doesn't mean you have to cut ties with the village."
"But I want to cut ties with the village. I want to be far away from the place and to be left alone. Is that too much to ask?"
"If you wanted to be alone, then why are you in the village, helping it now?" She asked back. It sounded like an innocent question, but there was also a tone of curiosity to it. If the looks on her and Minato's faces were anything to go by, they actually were curious.
"I'm here because I made a promise to help get rid of the Akatsuki." He told the two of them. "That's it."
"He is definitely your son." This time, Kushina said that to Minato, who could only shrug his shoulders in reply. "But let me tell you something, young man. You are not alone at all." She told Naruto, sounding she was lecturing him.
"Of course I'm alone." He protested. "Look at me. I have no family to speak of. The one person I thought of a grandfather is dead. There is no I can really talk to." Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by the cry of pain he uttered when the redhead among them thumped him hard on the head.
"You're not alone, ya know!" She told him again, looking a little angry. "You have friends all around you. They are your family, ya know! Even though there are times when you wish they weren't around, they are still your friends and family!" She poked his chest each time she finished a sentence. "If you shut them out, you would truly be alone. Family isn't just flesh and blood, ya know!"
As he backed away from his mother (and her poking finger), Naruto realized she was right. His friends were his family. He had pretty much treated them as such, so why would he try to think any differently of them? There was the slightest feeling of annoyance and disappointment in the back of his head when he realized this. "AHA! I HAVE YOU NOW!" The Kyūbi declared before his presence disappeared completely.
If either of his parents had heard the fox, they didn't say anything about it. "…You're right. They are my family." He admitted quietly. "I'm sorry; I didn't know why I was thinking like that."
"You needn't apologize to us." His father told him with a warm smile. "You're troubled, Naruto. But your friends can help you."
"How can they help me with something that might be trying to brainwash me into rejoining the village?" He asked back.
"You don't know until you try asking them. Beside, you have a girlfriend." The warm smile became more of a grin. "I'm sure you could tell her anything."
"And there's the former student of F.S.-sensei." The younger blonde declared in a deadpan tone. When he saw that both of them were confused, he elaborated. "I'm talking about Jiraiya."
"What does the F.S. stand for?"
"Fucking Sadist," He answered promptly. His response made both Minato and Kushina look at each other with grins on their faces before howling in laughter. Had they not supported each other, they would've fallen to the ground.
"Oh, Kami, that is just too true." The Yondaime Hokage stated as he tried to get back up on his feet. "I wish I had thought of that when I was younger."
"It's a good one." Kushina agreed as she stood back up alongside him. But as the laughter died away, she looked at her son. "But we know you love Azula, Naruto. And we know she loves you in return. You can tell her about what's happening."
"Can I really tell her something like that? Wait, how do you know she loves me when you've never met her yourselves?" He asked them.
"We may or may not have given her a visit via a dream." Minato remarked causally.
"What? How could you even…?" He trailed off when he noticed that they were beginning to fade away. "What's happening?"
"Oh, it looks like our chakra is running out." His father commented as he looked as his own fading hand.
"What does that mean?" Naruto asked, sounding more and more worried.
"It means we'll be gone soon." He answered, a sad expression forming on his face as well as Kushina's. "We put our chakra into the seal so we could talk to you once. And now since our chakra is running out, our time is up."
"So this is…goodbye?" The younger blonde was sad to see them leave after just meeting them for the first time. He had so much to talk about with them now that he realized that he wanted to talk to them.
"In a sense, yes," Kushina answered. "But in another sense, it's not. Do you remember what you told your friend Shikamaru while the both of you were in the cemetery?"
He did with amazing clarity. "Those who you've lost will live on in you." He said, almost to himself. Both of his parents nodded their agreement.
"And so we will." Minato told him with a warm smile.
As his parents faded more and more away, the younger blonde grabbed both of them and pulled them into a hug at the same time. "Mom, Dad." He said, calling them that for the first time. "Thank you." Tears formed in his eyes and threatened to fall, but he wouldn't let them.
While both of them had been surprised by the hug, they smiled and hug him back. "We love you, Naruto." Kushina told him as they disappeared. "We will always love you."
They faded from his grip and he found himself back in the bathroom. He wiped the tears from his eyes. While he still wasn't sure he could tell the others about the voice, he was still glad his parents had corrected his thinking (honestly, how did he start thinking like that?). "Thanks for that, Kyūbi." He told the fox. When he didn't get a response, he didn't think anything of it and went for the door.
When he opened it, Azula was on the other side, hand outstretched like she had been going for the handle. She saw the state of dress he was in (a towel with still somewhat wet hair), she blushed and looked away. "Sorry, I didn't know that you were in—" She began to say, only to get interrupted when he pulled her into a tight hug.
"I love you." He told her as he held her. "I probably don't tell you that enough times, but I still love you. I don't want to ever lose you. I want to stay with you for the rest of my life."
While being initially surprised by the hug, when she heard those words, her heart melted and she returned the hug. "I love you too." She said into his ear. "I love you so much."
He smiled when he heard those words. "Thank you." He told her before pulling his head back to kiss her. She didn't deny or refuse him that kiss, she returned it. While it may have started out as a chaste one, the kisses got hotter as they continued. Hands soon began wander around, feeling the other's body.
As she traced a hand over his stomach, Naruto shuddered with pleasure in her arms. But with that one single motion, the towel fell off of his waist. She now realized that she had a completely naked blonde in her arms. "Sorry." She immediately apologized, desperately trying not to look down.
But instead of looking embarrassed, the blonde just looked at her and smiled. He went for a spot on her neck and kissed it. The sensations that went through her made her gasp and arch her back. When she did, his quick hands had opened up her vest and shirt, which fell to the ground. The only thing she now wore on her torso was the necklace of the Shodaime Hokage. "There's nothing to be sorry about." He told her once he was done kissing her neck. "If you're going to see all of me, I would like to see all of you."
When she saw the gleam in his eye, she had a feeling about what was going to happen, as she had tried to do it the night of her birthday. Suddenly, she felt nervous. "Are you sure you want to?" She asked. "You didn't want to last time."
"Last time, I was doubtful of our relationship and I didn't want to admit that I love you. I don't have that problem anymore."
"I…I'm not sure of what to do." She admitted. Thinking about it, she didn't really how she was going to proceed that night or any other night she tried to seduce him.
"Don't worry." He hoisted up her into his arms and grabbed her rear. On instinct, she wrapped her legs around him to hold and judging by the smile on his face, that was the right move. "I'll be gentle…at first." With that said, he carried her into the bedroom, kissing her the entire way.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
We all knew that it was going to happen, so I used a familiar scene to have Sasuke confess to Sakura. You know, the one where Sasuke is in the bed, Sakura is watching over him and Naruto is watching from the door. The difference here is that Naruto and Sasuke didn't fight on the roof.
They never exactly say when Danzō stole Shisui's right eye. For all we know, he could've stolen it a few days before that meeting with Itachi and then used Kotoamatsukami on him during it. Just to be sure that Itachi actually did go through with the slaughter.
Somebody had to be the asshole in the room with that question. If no one did, it would've lingered in their heads and they would've begun to think about its possibilities. It was better to get out into the air so everyone could not think of it. That's what Shikaku did.
I knew that if Naruto didn't meet his parents, there would be a few readers who would've gotten either annoyed or angry. And it was the perfect place to put it in. I do think that the chakra of Kushina would react when her soul was summoned from beyond the grave.
Yes, both Naruto and Azula are finally doing the bedroom tango. If any of you are disappointed I didn't give any details, too bad. Really, you don't need a scene where it's basically "Ram it in!" "Fuck me harder!" and "I'M CUMMING!" We've got enough of those already and most of them are generic. Besides, I'm not sure I have a hand for writing erotically.
Originally, after this chapter would've been one about Naruto's birthday (which was the tango was originally going to come in). But then I realized that with the timeline I was keeping, there wasn't really any way to make it actually happen. That and I realize the party might've been incredibly awkward.
I'll see you all next chapter!