Retake: Taking the Road not Taken(1)
AN:
This is a Time Travel female Naruto story, mostly drama and adventure with a bit of romance.
I'm a KakashixNaruto-KakashixfemNaruto worshipper, so the main pairing will be just that.
This story is rated M, at the very least it'll have swearing, blood and dying people. I'm not decisive about lemon, we'll see.
Definitely an Alternate Universe.
Earlier character development, some of you might find them a bit OOC.
I'm using the standard writing form. Bold letters are only for Titles, Chapter Titles, end chapters/story's markers and notifiers.
English is not my mother tongue, so anyone finding any mistakes would you please point them to me so I can fix them.
Reviews and constructive criticisms are welcome.
Can I lure/trap someone into beta-ing this story? Pretty please?
Disclaimer: No, I'm not going to say it. I refuse to state that Naruto and Kakashi and their comrades and enemies aren't mine. If I said it, it will become a reality. Nope, never.
Chapter 1: Let Us Reintroduce Ourselves
74 AKF (After Konoha Founding)(2)
Somewhere between Konohagakure no Sato and the Fire Daimyo's Castle(3)
Dawn was almost over. The golden and red ribbons of Amaterasu had just begun to stretch in the eastern horizon, cutting through the dark blanket of Yomi, bringing forth the promise of life. Stray night's creatures were bustling back to their dens, while day's creatures were popping out of theirs; ready to start the day's business. The morning music had yet started, and the only sounds were the far and between hooting of owls returning to their nests. Most humans were still curled in their burrows, latching to the last bit of sleep that they earned.
A weird, slightly chubby figure was seen walking leisurely on the side road leading to Konohagakure no Sato. The dim light of early morning defined the figure as a woman in her fifty's, and upon closer inspection it could be seen that her weird stature was due to the fact that she had a black cat curled around her shoulder; its tail whipping lazily every now and then. Despite her slightly heavy figure and the 'leisure' way of her steps, her paces were quick, light, and precise. If an observant ninja ever saw her then, she would easily be categorized as a seasoned ninja. However, since there were no ninjas around to observe, everything about her movements went unnoticed. At her current pace, she would reach Konohagakure no Sato around eight in the morning; and she would unleash her terror on the village by then. Not that any dwellers of said village were aware of her plan, of course.
Her short-curly hair was bobbing along with her springy steps, which were not in lieu with her build and age, really. The small-beaded black eyes were darting cleverly around, taking notes of anything worth noting. Everything from the slightly wilted leaves to the dry wind blowing silently as it shepherded the small flocks of clouds further away toward the shore, were noted and tucked away carefully back in the recess of her mind. Meanwhile, her beloved cat was busy treating itself to its morning bath; licking its paws tediously and religiously as if the world would come to an end if there was a single fleck of dirt left between its furs.
It was their traditional routine walks. The ones that she performed several times a week depended on her mood or circumstantial needs. There were days when she visited Konohagakure no Sato to meet with a dear old friend to tea, chat, exchanging gossips and all around having a good laugh at her tabby's expenses. However, said friend had passed away several years before, along with the successor. And it seemed that there would be yet another successor for years to come. Nowadays she performed her visits without definite person to go to; reminiscing the old ways that she and her deceased friend had inherited from their predecessors, wondering whether she would ever be given the chance to pass on their tradition. Madame Shijimi let out a suffering sigh.
The womenfolk of the Land of Fire had had their own network of information exchange since the beginning of their establishment. The exchange of information between the women of the feudal lands and the hidden village was done over teacups and showing off their newest purchase of silks and jewellery. A warning was given over the suggestion of trying out a new recipe; a caution to watch over a threat was delivered along with the promotion of a new bargain, and so on. Several prominent figures that publicly known as social butterflies in the Daimyo's household collected gossips on the marketplace, shops, parties, and onsens, whereas their counterparts in the Hidden Village done pretty much the same thing in their village before reporting anything worth mentioning to their superiors, namely the Daimyo's wife in the feudal castle and the Hokage's wife in Konoha during teas. Later, any necessary gossips would be traded out between the Daimyo's wife and the Hokage's wife during one of their visits to each other.
Both representatives usually would give some advices to their spouses later, namely the Daimyo and the Hokage as they took their relaxing afternoon tea, over hurried conversation at breakfast table, or if the issues were dire, they would resort to bedrooms talks. Everything was delivered to the men as gentle suggestions, stray ideas, and subtle hints. There were never any demands, threat or sulking when they were delivering the issues of the land, the people. Those matters were too delicate to be handled in such a childish way. Demands, threat and sulking were made to pursue their own selfish whims, therefore affordable to failures; the people's issues were not. Right now the village's ends of the vine were severed along with the passing of Sarutobi Biwako and Uzumaki Kushina.
"And we're just finished training Kushina too, huh, Tora?" The great Madame scratched her prized cat behind the ear, sharing her frustration out with the Genins of Konohagakure's Menace. The black Persian purred lowly as if in agreement with its mistress. "Huh, you think so? I'm not sure about that, Tora, the Nara's matriarch is good, but the Nara's men are too lazy. They wouldn't move their bum without lethal threat to their well-being. We'll have to look elsewhere for Konoha's end, don't you think?"
The feline meowed softly, her tail brushed her mistress' cheek lightly.
"And to think that the Uchihas were wiped out in a single night. We need the Konoha's end of the grapevine, badly." Madame Shijimi once again blew out a desperate sigh, remembering the Massacre of the Uchihas not a fortnight ago.
She had been aware of the brewing tension between the Uchihas against the village, of course. The miscommunication among them had always been there from the beginning of Konoha. After the Kyuubi attack eight years ago the friction was escalating in an alarming speed. The Fire Daimyo was aware of the fact, and of course she, as the Daimyo's spouse knew it all too well, too. She was contemplating in pulling Mikoto Uchiha into the vine when the distrust against the Uchihas rose higher faster than one of Tora's wild chase around the village that she had to abandon the idea.
It was hard to maintain harmony among the citizens of the village when the village's end of the vine was not present. Madame Shijimi must scrounged what gossips she could during her brief visits to the village, which never took more than half a day each time. That was the reason she had caught wind of the Uchihas' plan of coup d'etat too late, and she took it as a personal failure. She had her own suspicion on the whole mess called the Massacre, but she had no ways or resources to prove it. It was not like she could just barge into Hiruzen's office and demand a military report given to her.
The Madame snorted derisively at the thought. Hiruzen might be considered one of the smartest ninja, but he was absolutely clueless about everyday life's issue. The Professor, The Nidaime Kami no Shinobi might be able to spot a ninja spy within a minute or performed hundreds of jutsus flawlessly, but the old man never once suspected what Biwako was doing for the villagers' welfare. His Council, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were none the better. Homura was forgivable, he was a male after all; but Koharu was a joke, really. The old hag had always been rapping on kunoichi's prowess but had never suspected what other women were doing right under her nose. And she did not even want to go over Shimura Danzo. They were the same, the lot of them.
Out of the whole ninja village called Konoha, only a handful of shinobi had came to realiz what the prominent women had been doing for their beloved village's welfare, and in conjunction, spotted Madame Shijimi's role among them. There was Tobirama Senju, the man was an epitome of the word 'observe'; and he supported his sister-in-law involvement in the betterment of Konoha. That was one of the reason he set the example of placing one kunoichi in each of Konoha's shinobi teams when possible, however; he failed miserably with Koharu.
Then there was the goofy pervert, Jiraiya the Sennin. His knowledge of women's gossips was likely earned from his habits of peeping at the women's bath and his closeness to Senju Tsunade who were taught the trade by her grandmother. The Gama Sennin spotted the Daimyo's wife's role in the grapevine after a while and they had exchanged gossips from time to time; between shouts of 'pervert!', of course. However, the self-proclaimed Super Pervert rarely ever set foot in Konoha; as he was running around the elemental continents with his own spy networks, posing as a porn author, doing the so-called research, and indulging in his own personal hobby of peeking at women as well.
Unsurprisingly, Namikaze Minato also joined the little circle of shinobi 'in the know' and the chubby woman smiled fondly at the thought of the deceased Hokage. The man was a breath of fresh air among the upper echelons in Konoha, always ready to greet anyone with a smile in his eyes, always sharp and understanding; despite his traumatic experiences with hordes of fan-girls the man was always ready to support both Biwako and herself in their vigils however he could. It was the Namikaze who encouraged his wife Kushina to join their grapevine of seemingly meaningless gossips.
The tell-tale thin smoke of a dying camp-fire a little farther off the road caught her attention and Tora also sniffed her nose with interest. The black Persian was one smart feline; after all, her ancestors in the far land in the west were considered sacred and often placed as guardians for princess, queens and royal tombs. They were more than just smart, they were also vicious and deadly; but more importantly, the Persian cats have impeccable instincts. Madame Shijimi had an absolute faith in her prized cat's instincts; so she watched her pet carefully, waiting for any signs of hostility that Tora might caught.
The little tigress suddenly jumped off of the Madame's shoulder and walked leisurely toward the smoke, stopping at the edge of the road to throw her mistress that plainly says 'follow me'. So, follow the cat she did.
Tokubetsu Jounin Namiashi Raidou stretched his body languidly by the camp-fire, trying to work out the kinks out of his weary joints. His team-mate, Shiranui Genma, was out to deal with his morning nature-calls behind some bushes, leaving the scarred man with the other occupant of their camp.
Both he and Genma were heading home after a two weeks long mission, a tiring and drawn-out mission. Too weary to continue the last couple of hours back to Konoha, they had decided to break for camp at the clearing off the road to the village and resume their trek home in the morning. He eyed his uninvited sleeping camp-mate with a mixture of fondness and annoyance.
The brat had trudged into their camp just before dawn, surprising both shinobi since they had only sensed the intruder right before he entered the camp; without triggering any one of the traps littered around the camp beforehand to boot. The eight years old boy looked tired and hungry and generally at lost. His dimmed blue eyes had brightened up when he spotted the Konoha hitai-ate on both ninjas' heads and he had immediately begun telling them how he had been walking for hours to get back to Konoha. Raidou had rolled his eyes at the child while Genma was amused at the flailing of hands and exclamations followed by a loud growling from his stomach. Genma had actually guffawed at the sound, much to the boy's shame and ire.
Apparently the boy had gotten lost after running away from a vendor that he had pranked. Both ninjas were quite surprised to hear that the boy, the blonde-haired blue eyed boy, had actually gotten lost; considering his ability to outmanoeuvre chuunin, jounin and ANBU alike in the village. Raidou had deduced that the child had actually relied on the familiarity of the village's layout to disappear. The forest outside Konoha was absolutely a novel experience for the boy; what with similar gigantic trees stretched out as far as the eyes could see, especially when you could not travel through the ninja's highway above the treetops.
Genma, always the relaxed one, had told the kid to just wait until morning with them and they would take him back along with them to Konoha, much to the boy's relief. Uzumaki Naruto had munched down the last of their offered provision with gusto then –kid got endless stomach– and promptly fell asleep by the fire afterwards.
"Yo, Raidou! Our guess up, yet?" Genma, who had completed his morning business, appeared from behind a large bush and flopped down near the fire. The brat stirred slightly at the noise and then curled his body tightly into a small ball, still fast asleep. The senbon between Genma's teeth moves to the other side of his mouth, "Not yet, huh? You need to go?" The last question was directed at Raidou. The scarred man merely nodded and stood up before ambling away to find his own bush.
Genma began collecting the traps spread around the camp, throwing curious glance toward their 'guest' as he dubbed the boy, every now and then. The brat slept like a log, as he barely flinched when Genma flops back down by the blonde's side, dropping his backpack on the ground as he did so. The bandanna-wearing ninja poked the dying embers of their camp-fire, ruefully remembering that the last of their taste-bud-friendly provisions had already been gone by dawn. He did not fancy of having soldier's pills for breakfast and steeled his stomach for a late breakfast.
Absent-mindedly Genma wondered whether the Hokage had realized that Uzumaki Naruto had not been sleeping in his own apartment that night, or worse, whether The Wolf had known yet. He shivered at the thought. 'I sincerely hope not.'
He then promptly got up and dug some soil with his foot to put the camp-fire out, still too tired to perform any jutsu, even an E-rank one.
"What's with the look, Genma? Saw a hungry bear behind some bushes?" Raidou teased his partner when he returned back to their camp just in time to see the senbon chewer shivered thoroughly. Genma cursed under his breath before answering.
"Damn! Don't do that! You'd shiver too if you knew what I was thinking!"
"Really, now? And pray tell, what would make me shiver in fright like a rabbit caught in a wolf's claws? And what's the rush?"
Genma hissed and nearly choked on his senbon at the word 'wolf'. Sometimes, Raidou had the knack to get under his skin without so much as trying.
"I was wondering if The Wolf's knew that this pup was not in his den last night!" He almost spat the words out. His team-mate visibly paled.
"Shit!"
"Shit indeed! We've got to get going. You take the backpack; I'll carry the brat, and let's just hope that he's out of the village on a mission or something."
"And pray that the village is still standing if he weren't. Right, let's go!"
Both shinobi shivered once more at the thought and began moving quickly. All of their remaining fatigue and hunger disappeared faster than the Yellow Flash decimating Iwa's platoon.
They knew exactly who Uzumaki Naruto was. They knew more than the general populace of Konoha, whom the older generation known as the demon's brat, and the younger generation known as a good-for-nothing, better-to-stay-away-from delinquent. It only took one look and they both had realized who the boy was, or to be more precise, who his parents were.
Had any of his parents were still alive, they would had had turned the village upside down if they found out that their son had went missing. And despite of the fact that both of his parents were dead and buried, there is one other person who is just as capable as the Uzumaki's parents in razing the village to the ground if anything were to happen to the boy, aside from the Hokage himself. Experienced A-class assassins they might be, but they both knew they held no chance against The Wolf in this particular issue.
Raidou had just finished tucking in his swords in their sheaths and Genma was just about to pick the sleeping brat up when several things happened rapidly in sequences.
Madame Shijimi came upon the Konoha ninja's camp just in time to see the scarred-face shinobi teased his team-mate about a rabbit and a wolf. 'Namiashi Raidou, Tokubetsu Jounin, kenjutsu, assassin, Shiranui Genma, Tokubetsu Jounin, projectiles-poison, assassin,' she noted absently while her black-beaded eyes roamed around trying to find where Tora had went. They had not noticed her present yet, as she actually had been trained to suppress her chakra to the point where it merely resembled a rather large normal wild animal, and she did not want either shinobi to know she was there yet, or ever.
She paused searching when she hears Genma hissed the words 'The Wolf' and her mind automatically supplied the picture of a grey-eyed, silver-haired middle aged man with a kind face for a moment, before she remembered that that particular 'wolf' was dead. 'Must be speaking about the son, then.' Another picture of a grey-eyed, silver-haired boy wearing a dark face mask flashed in her mind. She tallies in her head and realized that the boy would have grown to be a young man by then.
She spotted Tora standing near a bundle of orange and yellow on the other side of the camp and she narrowed her eyes to take note of the sleeping figure. Sun-coloured hair, tanned skin -too bright to be a Yamanaka, upturned nose, full lips….Her gasps of recognition broke the silence in the camp. Both shinobi started, shifting to their battle stance and at the same time, Tora hissed menacingly at the bundle on the ground. The short woman reacted quickly when she noticed what had riled her black Persian up.
"Tora-chan! Here girl!"
'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Genma cursed in his mind when he registered other intruders to their camp. It was bad enough that they did not sense the Uzumaki kid earlier, albeit how tired and worn out they were. Now a civilian woman and her cat have just waltzed into their camp and neither he nor Raidou had realized it until they were upon them. He shifted to cover the still sleeping blonde and notes his team-mate was doing the same to the side. His brown eyes swept over the intruder and recognized her immediately as Madame Shijimi, the Daimyo's wife; he relaxed his body then. A growling sound was heard from behind them and both of them tenses back before loosening again when they recognizes that the growling had come from the menace of the genin teams, Tora the cat.
'We're not paid enough for this shit.' Raidou's trains of thoughts were not far from that of his team-mate. He forced his shoulder to relax when the black cat slithered between them to get into her mistress and faintly noticing the way the cat's furs standing on ends. That was when he felt it. Cold, dark, intense feelings of an incoming doom. He turned around slowly with trepidation, fight and flight instinct roaring in his gut.
All three of them, two war veteran shinobi and one middle aged woman, watch in horror as red, malicious chakra began to bleed out of every pores of the sleeping form. The blonde was turning and trashing wildly now, his eyelids were still closed but they were scrunching in pain, his breathing was short and harsh.
Raidou risked a glance when he felt Madame Shijimi started to walk forward, her hands blurring in a series of hand seals. After what seemed to be over a fifty something hand seals, the civilian woman pushed both palms outward and with a whisper of "Dome!" erected a purple five meter wide dome barrier around the Uzumaki; big droplets of sweat ran down her temples. 'What the hell?!'
Genma let out a whistle-choked sound through his teeth, eyes still watching warily as red chakra continue to swirl around the boy and unable to find any outlet; started filling the barrier dome until they no longer able to see the thrashing blonde at the centre from the thickness of it. Vaguely he saw the black cat hissing on her hackles, green slit unblinking, directed at the content of the barrier.
Both shinobi knew that one of them had to run and warn the Hokage while escorting the civilian royalty out to safety. The other one will have to stay, to try to contain and delay the chakra monster should it ever got out of the barrier –which seems to be any-time soon– not that any one of them could do much against such power.
They were still debating with their eyes about which one of them should go, both insisting that they should be the one staying when the red chakra turned into soft golden hue and spiralled back into the centre as if being sucked off through a giant straw.
All the four of them –cat included– warily took a step forward, trying to prepare themselves for whatever sight they might find in the middle of the dome.
They found that the boy had stopped moving, his ragged breathing was slowly returning to normal pace. There were no traces of the red chakra left that could be seen, although that fact did nothing to quell their cautiousness. After a long intense silent, Tora the cat glided gracefully to their side of the barrier and began pawing at the purple dome. She was purring softly, tail switching in a lazy manner and her fur was flat and slick against her back. Madame Shijimi blew out a relieved sigh.
"Are you sure, Tora-chan?"
Both seasoned shinobi nearly fell on their behinds when the feline menace turned her head slowly and gave her mistress a pointed look.
"Alright then if you say so." The Madame lowered her outstretched arms and released the barrier; her breath coming out short and ragged. It was the strongest barrier in her arsenal, one that Uzumaki Mito had taught her for emergencies a long time ago. 'Raging red chakra pouring out certainly was an emergency,' she mused. Turning her head to level both of her assassins-in-company in her best holier-than-thou stare; she hissed under her breath, "Talk about what you just saw I did to anyone, and both of you will be chasing Tora-chan for the rest of your ninja carrier, and after."
Genma and Raidou nodded in unison. Their "Yes, ma'am!" were quick and absolute. Any ninja –sane or less-than-sane– in Konoha would do just about anything to avoid that particular mission. And they considered themselves sane enough, thank you very much.
"Good. And now you can start telling me why Konoha deemed it prudent not to inform me that my god-daughter is still alive, please."
Genma spatted out his senbon in surprised. Now, that was something they had never known before. He heard Raidou gulped loudly, and he wondered briefly if they had unknowingly trespassed through a holy shrine or something along the way to deserve these shits so early in the morning. The sun had not even fully come out yet! 'Before breakfast, too.' The wise guy in his head added.
"D-don't you mean godson, Ma'am?" was all that Raidou managed to croak out. His partner nodding frantically beside him, desperately missing his senbon.
Madame Shijimi snorted. Trust men to miss the obvious. The blonde was definitely a girl, there was no way her eyes could be wrong. The hair might be cropped short, the clothes might be all boy's and baggy, but there was no bulge between the thighs –not even a small one.
The veteran assassins were sweating bullets by now. A girl! No wonder the Hokage had always been overly protective of the Uzumaki, not to mention The Wolf…. Each one of them were already began planning to trick the other to report this incident to the Hokage, and how to escape a certain masked shinobi right after. Not that they had any chance of actually managed to avoid him for long, but a man got to try his best to survive.
Meanwhile, Tora the cat was busy licking the sleeping blonde on the nose, purring and mewling softly at the Uzumaki to wake her up. Madame Shijimi's glare softened when her eyes landed on the girl. Kushina's and Minato's child! Alive! After all this time, after Kami knew how many buckets of tears she had shed when they told her that all of them were dead! She started to approach the scrawny looking girl, eager to hold her god-daughter for the first time. 'Eight years too late as it is, but better than never.'
Her posture stiffened back when thick, warm chakra started to pour out and swirled around the blonde's body once more, golden chakra instead of red this time. She jumped back and prepared to form another barrier when the Madame noticed that Tora was still purring softly at the girl. She waited, then; hands still poised ready to perform the needed seals. The two ninjas behind her groaned at the sight, and she felt the Konoha shinobi drew their weapons out.
Namiashi Raidou had seen a lot of strange things during his twenty-seven years of living in a ninja village, including watching a blonde Hokage ducking out of several kitchen's-tool-turned-into-ballistic-ammunition –one whom had decimated hundreds of enemy ninjas in a blink of an eye– while being chased around the village by a furious red-headed kunoichi, her hair splitting into nine separate tails behind her; but what he saw at that moment took the cake out of everything, yet.
Golden chakra began to siphon out of the blonde boy's, 'no, girl's', he corrected silently; belly and gathered at one point to her side, slowly beginning to shape into a laying animal form. He ignored the strange chakra in favour of watching the Uzumaki's body as it literally stretched and filled out before his eyes. The round and chubby face lost its baby's fat, her cheek bones and jaw edged away, leaving a defined heart-shaped matured face, the jaw line was somewhat softened into a smooth curve. The whiskers on her face thickened into three pairs of stripes before thinning out again. The short spiky hair lengthened until they reached her knees. Just as her height reached around the number of 170 cm, she shrunk back, although not by many, staying at approximately 165 cm. Her hair stayed, though; the golden strands were curling softly around and upon her body. His estimation was that the girl would be around eighteen years of age. All in all she looked like the perfect mixture of Yondaime-sama and Kushina-sama. If the people of Konohagakure refused to acknowledge her similar colouring to their late Hokage before, nobody could remain blind now.
Her orange and blue jacket had ripped apart along the seams at the sleeves, barely covering her long torso and curvy assets. It looked like she was wearing some kind of funny tank-top and arm-warmers as the result. He could see some sort of strange tattoos along both of her arms and on her shoulders. It took him a moment to realize that they were seals. Brown brows rose to his hairline when he noticed the oh-so-familiar ANBU mark just below her left shoulder; the colour was red with blue thin lining –Honsho? But there was also a black dot in the centre of the swirl. There was a complicated Uzumaki spiral-like seal on her flat stomach; the Tokubetsu Jounin surmised that it must be the seal that locked the Kyuubi in. The formerly baggy orange pants now looked like a pair of legging shorts; they were stretched tightly on her thighs, stopping just above the knees. She had taken off her ruined sandals before sleeping and her feet were bare with long slender toes slightly curled in discomfort. There were also intricate-looking seals along her calves. Her skin was a tad lighter than before; it's a healthier looking tan now. As soon as the whole process of instant growing up stopped, the tattoo-seals disappeared, leaving the ANBU swirl alone.
Everything happened in less than two minutes.
"What the…?!" By the sound of it, Genma had choked on his senbon, again. Not that the scarred-face shinobi could blame his partner for that. He would have had choked too if he had something in his mouth.
A chubby palm was thrust right under his nose then and a hissing "Cloak!" was heard. Groggily, Raidou unclasped his travelling coat and put it onto the awaiting palm. Another hiss, commanding them to "Turn around, idiots!" had them turn their backs in a split of a second.
Raidou took the opportunity to glance at his team-mate and figured that he himself must have had the same stunned-silly look on his face, too. The bandanna-wearing shinobi glanced at him then, and they both knew that they had the same thoughts in mind. As their Nara comrades would stated: Troublesome.
Madame Shijimi approached her god-daughter laying form and swiftly covered her half-naked body with Raidou's worn-out cloak, carefully clasping the collar backside to the front so the material would stay on her front side even if the blonde moved. Her black beaded eyes were taking every feature lovingly and she blinked away the unshod tears that had been hanging on her lashes for a while. She had a very good inkling of what was happening, her sharp mind had already processing each and every fact that she had seen so far; all she needed was the confirmation from the still sleeping girl. Tora-chan meanwhile was still purring at the girl, rubbing her silken black fur against the back of her hand.
All they had to do was waiting for the blonde to awaken. The thought drew her eyes to the sleeping girl's eyelids, wondering what colour her irises would be. Would they be violet as Kushina's or blue like Minato's? She would find out soon enough when she saw that the blonde's eyes began moving rapidly beneath her eyelids. Taking a few steps back, she snapped her fingers to let the two Konoha shinobi know that they can turn around again.
"What did they name her?" Madame Shijimi asked the ninja flanking her left side.
"They named him…err…her Uzumaki Naruto, Ma'am!" Genma answered in a rush. He was still trying to make head and tails of everything that has been happening so far that he had barely heard the question directed at him.
"Uzumaki Naruto, huh? Minato and Kushina had been so certain that their child would be a boy. Baji's examination confirmed that(4). They hadn't bothered to prepare a girl's name. I guess they did not have time to find a proper name when she turned out to be a girl, then." Madame Shijimi murmured to herself in reminiscence.
Both Konoha shinobi remained silent at the remark. They remembered the week before the Kyuubi attack when Kushina-sama had some cheery morning tea with the Daimyo's wife. However, none of them had realized that the black-haired Madame had been asked to become the godmother of Minato-sama's child. 'Does Sandaime-sama even aware of that?'
Genma raised an eyebrow toward his friend in question and Raidou answered with a slight tilt of his chin. The scarred-face ninja had no idea what to make of the situation they found themselves in, either. None of his training as a shinobi had ever mentioned anything remotely similar to their predicament at the moment. Nothing in the shinobi guidelines, not in the shinobi handbook and not even in any of history book he had ever read. Heck, he was sure even the ANBU training had no similar incident to refer to; and those bunch deal with the unusuals as a norm. Although he had a suspicion that if he ever had had the opportunity to pick out Minato-sama's brain he might, just maybe, found something. There was no guarantee that he would be able to understand them, though, so it was a moot point.
The kenjutsu master refocused his attention back to the sleeping form of Uzumaki Naruto. Who'd known the obnoxious, scraggy, skinny looking brat would turn out into….that?
She was a looker. A drop-dead gorgeous looker if he ever saw one. The skin was flawless and smooth looking tan. Hair of liquid gold with a few strands of crimson here and there, long and slightly curled cascading down almost her entire figure. Lean, long arms and legs, muscles deceptively soft on the surface but tight and supple beneath the skin. Curves at the right places and with the right proportions, too; nothing was too big or too small. All she needed were cat-like looking eyes and a low, drawling voice and she would be the new definition of sensuality.
As personal guards of the Yondaime Hokage during his short-lived ruling period in Konohagakure; the three of them: he himself, Genma and Iwashi, had come to see the sun-kissed brat as the late Kage's legacy. One that they would be guarding and keep safe as long as they were still breathing. They were very excited when Minato-sama and Kushina-sama were expecting. And even though they had known that it would fall on Hatake's shoulder to train the then soon-to-be born child; they had already had training exercises for the heir written down. Their plans have not changed when both loving parents fell at the end of the Kyuubi attack over seven years prior. If anything, the tragedy just solidified the plan even more.
However, they had never added the fact that the boy was actually a girl to the equation. 'How are we supposed to protect her from the rest of male population now? Scratch that, how are we supposed to protect her from the rest of the population now?'
Minato-sama, being as protective as he was; would had had a barrier set up to ward off any males from hundred of meters around his daughter; Raidou was sure of that. As of now, since he himself, Genma and Iwashi had taken to guard the boy-turned-out-to-be-girl whenever they could, albeit from the shadow, the job would fall on them, would it not? And Hatake Kakashi, who had always been territorial about the Uzumaki before would had drag her into a cave and place a boulder over it if he ever saw the girl now for sure. 'Huh, guess I'll leave that job to The Wolf, then.'
Before any of that, though, they had some more pressing matters at hand. Could they be certain that it was still the same Uzumaki Naruto that he had taken to watch out from time to time, laying in front of them? What if she were not Uzumaki Naruto, but some enemy ninja in disguise? He and Genma had absolute faith in Yondaime-sama's seal, but right then and there he could feel the shadow of a doubt rose in his mind. What if the Kyuubi had taken over? Sure, her chakra was warm and calm, but how could they be a hundred percent certain? 'Damn, we're not getting paid enough for this shit. Where are the geniuses when you need one?' Raidou let out a frustrated groan as his mind processed everything he had seen.
Another groan pulled Raidou's attention back to the blonde's laying form. She was waking up.
Almond-shaped blue eyes snapped open, the irises moved around in their sockets; trying to register the surrounding. After a while the girl sat up in one smooth graceful move and Raidou felt his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach at the motion. He hoped, wished, prayed, that at least her voice would sound like most girls' he'd met: normal, high-pitched, thin voice. But then she noticed them and spoke; and thus all of his hopes went out of the window. If he had had ever heard bedroom voice before…
"Baa-chan! Tora-chan! It's good to see you again! Genma-san? Raidou-san? Ugh, sorry guys. I just didn't expect you two would be part of my welcome-to-the-realm-of-the-dead party! I'm glad to see you guys too, dattebayo! But I was expecting different people here, you know! I thought I get to meet everyone who'd died. Where is everybody else, then? Where are we? Do we have to go and meet them? I miss you all, dattebayo! And I miss Mum, Dad, Jijii, Ero-Sennin, Kakashi-sensei, and Tsunade Baa-chan too, and Shizune Nee-chan, Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme!, and Asuma-sensei, and Neji-kun!, and Gai-sensei!, and Gaara!, and Shikaku Oji!, and Inoichi Oji! And Shikamaru, Choji and Shino…! and A Oji-san and Bee Oji-san!, and Onoki-Jijii! And everybody else, too! Tell me, did Ero-Sennin get to meet with Nagato? Did Sasuke get to meet with Itachi? And does Kakashi-sensei still wear that damn mask in the afterlife? Did you two get to see his face? Huh?! Genma-san? Raidou-san?"
Raidou and Genma barely noticed the torrent of words coming out of her heart-shaped lips, the meaning lost to their minds. They were too stunned in hearing her voice; it's low, smooth, silky, and had a slight timbre to it that make you think 'bedroom' no matter what she said. Kami! They would have to put her in a fortress to protect her!
A low growl turned everyone's attention to the right of the rambling girl and they saw a whitish-reddish yellow fox face-palmed….pawed?
"Idiot gaki! I've fell asleep for five minutes and you started rambling at everyone you meet!" It…he…she…? rumbled.
"Kurama! You're here too! Does it mean we get to see…"
The fox bopped the excited blonde on the back of her head and hissed through rows of sharp-pointy teeth, "Shut up!"
It then turned its horse-sized head toward the three older people in the camp, taking in their flabbergasted appearances before blowing out a mouthful of air.
"What year is it?" The fox asked their audience in a-matter-of-fact tone.
The tanned girl raised her hand to rub her head where the fox had hit her, pink lips pouting and clearly annoyed at being ignored by the fox.
"What the hell, Kurama! Can't you be nicer now that we're dead? And what do you mean 'what year' dattebayo?! Dead people don't need calendar, do they? Hey, damn bijuu, listen to me when I'm talking to you dattebayo!"
Their audience tensed at her last sentence.
"W-who…h-ho…w-what are you?" Genma finally managed to form an audible question. The now-confirmed bijuu sighed.
"Kyuubi no Yoko, at your service. And this baka over here is Uzumaki Naruto… Hey, Gaki! They're asking questions! Go introduce yourself like a good kit you are...not." The tone was…sarcastic was the best way to describe it. The fox put its hand…paw upon the girl's head and turned her to face them.
'Did it…he…she just say Kyuubi?' Raidou gripped his sword tighter, ready to strike at any given moment.
The blonde finally registered their tensed expressions and battle stances. She stood up slowly, palms up to show she meant no harm and her demeanour changed into a formal one in a blink of an eye as if someone had turned on a switch.
"Ugh, right. The name's Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto, Ninja Registration Number 012607, Team Kakashi, used to be under Hatake Kakashi, Ninja Registration Number 009720 and replaced by Yamato-taichou, Ninja Registration Number 010992. Teammates: Uchiha Sasuke, Ninja Registration Number 012606, Haruno Sakura, Ninja Registration Number 012601 and Sai, Ninja Registration Number 012420. Jounin, Gama Sannin, Sandaime Jinchuuriki no Kyuubi, and umm I guess since Baa-chan died before I did it meant that I'm also the new Shichidaime Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato, dattebayo!"
"Whoa…slow down… Do you even know who we are?" Genma spluttered. The girl nodded, a wide foxy grin spread on her face.
"Of course I do, dattebayo! Shiranui Genma, Tokubetsu Jounin, Ninja Registration Number 010203, Namiashi Raidou, Tokubetsu Jounin, Ninja Registration Number 009717. Both of you are part of the Hokage Elite Guards along with Tatami Iwashi, Chuunin, Ninja Registration Number 012021." She paused before turning her attention to Madame Shijimi. Blue eyes misty. "And you…are Madame Shijimi, wife to the Fire Daimyo. You were asked to become my godmother before my mother had the baby shower ceremony by both of my parents one week before I was born."
The black feline that had been licking her paws studiously until then suddenly glided over to the girl and nipped her left foot lightly with a soft purr. The blue-eyed teen started, looked down and then bent over to scratch the cat behind the ear before picking Tora up to her chests. Her long golden hair cascading down over one shoulder, they shone like liquid gold under the morning light. The girl's back, barely covered with the formerly orange jacket, was free for all to see. Raidou and Genma dipped their heads down in reflex, cheeks reddened at the sight.
"Tora-chan! You died too, huh? I thought only dogs gone to heaven, but I'm glad to see you, dattebayo!" The self-proclaimed Hokage paused at a thought and looked at her audience, "We're going to heaven, right?"
She sounded too cheerful to be dead.
"Come here, Naruto-chan. Give your godmother a hug." The Daimyo's wife stepped forward, then, arms outstretched; offering an embrace that the girl welcomed heartily by throwing herself into the hug.
The fox-bijuu sighed once again and rolled its red pupils.
'Does bijuu even breathe air like human?'
"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. You. Are. Not. Dead. I most definitely am not dead. Mass of concentrated chakra here, remember? Now," the not-so-big bijuu levelled the two Konoha assassins with a bored stare, and intoned his question slowly, "What. Year. Is. It?"
"Err… Year seventy four, err…Sir?" Was all that Raidou could uttered. Smaller than he remembered the fox might be, but the bijuu's appearance was still intimidating and scary. 'And it's out of the seal!' His gut was positively screaming bloody murder.
Naruto blinked from within Madame Shijimi's embrace when she heard Raidou's answer, mouth agape. Seconds passed by and she finally snapped her mouth close and blinked some more. Slowly, the blonde-haired teen pried herself out of the chubby woman's arms and then turned her whole body toward the fox. Hair blowing with the raising wind, jaws locked tight and warm blue eyes narrowed. She took a few calming breathe and spoke.
"Explain."
It was only one word and could barely be heard above the breeze, but both Raidou and Genma could feel the order and the power in that one word even though it was not directed at them. They had to quell their instincts to obey and answer to it with all of their will powers.
'Did the fox just shrink?' Was all that Genma could think of. They, Genma, Raidou and Madame Shijimi, all turned their attention toward the now-slightly-scarred-looking bijuu. The fox flicked its golden tail nervously around and the large tail separated into nine parts. Its head tilted to one side as if it was listening to something far away while its eyes trained at the youngest human in the vicinity with something akin to fear in their depth. At long last it let out a sigh and accommodated its body into a more comfortable sitting/laying position before speaking.
"Put some decent clothes on first, gaki. Your belongings should be intact within their storage. And put on some privacy barrier while you're at it, I'll explain what I could afterwards."
They were locked in a stare-down for a while before the girl finally relented.
"Fine, but you'd better make it good and long and easy, heard that?" The blonde's tone was sharp; she accentuated each word with a stomp of her foot. The kyuubi merely rolled its large eyes.
"Fine. Now go!"
After erecting a large dome of golden barrier with a single hand seal Naruto started to move, but her audience reached out their hands toward her simultaneously; eyes warily trained toward the bigger-than-normal fox. The girl gave them a confused expression.
"What is it, dattebayo? I won't be long, I promise."
"The bijuu…the fox…?" Genma whispered.
"Aaa, he'll be good, won't you Kurama?" She directed her stare at the fox, whom once again rolled its red eyes. "See? You guys can relax. He's not into biting people, dattebayo!" And with those parting words the blonde disappeared behind the nearest bush.
The chakra monster was actually grinning widely at the remaining humans after Naruto left, sharp teeth bared for all to see; which made them doubted the self-proclaimed Shichidaime Hokage's words about 'not into biting' even more. However, Tora was unimpressed in seeing the rows of teeth. She stalked toward the big bad fox, sniffed one of the large front paws once and climbed atop said paw. After circling around for a few times, the black cat actually yawned and stretched her body; and then promptly laying down to resume her morning bath without a care in the world. All the while, the bijuu merely watched her from behind half-lidded eyes; thoroughly bemused.
Madame Shijimi relaxed then. Raidou and Genma meanwhile had stopped expecting anything, well, normal.
True to her words, Naruto went back from behind the bush not five minutes later, fully decked in something similar to ANBU gear. She now wore a short-sleeved dark orange tank-top, layered with a sleeveless black mesh shirt. A pair of fingerless black wrists length gloves decked her hands. The muted grey metal plate on the back of her hands had different insignias; the right one had the Leaf insignia, while the left one had the Uzumaki spiral on it, both engraved in burnt orange colour. Her ANBU armour was muted dark grey, as well as the elbow length arm-guards. The black pants were ANBU standards, enclosing her slender legs perfectly, not too loose and not too tight; allowing maximum movements. Her feet were decked in a pair of black open-toed knee-length boots, and they can see there were long slits on each side of her pants from the knees down, carefully tucked into the boots. She had a long dark grey travelling coat thrown over her right shoulder, Raidou's off-white coat was clasp in her right hand; while in her left she held what was left of her blue and orange jacket and pants. The hair was still down on her back, rippling as she walked with unconscious grace toward them.
Once the blonde had come over, she returned Raidou's cloak to its owner with a murmured "Thanks."
The scarred-face assassin received his cloak with a nod, not believing his own voice. Genma let out a muffled groan. Even fully clothed she still looked indecently sexy. Madame Shijimi threw him a nasty glare.
"I don't look that bad, do I?" The girl directed her sapphire orbs toward Genma, and the senbon chewer shook his head furiously.
"No, you look fine." 'Too fine.'
"You look gorgeous, Naruto-chan" Madame Shijimi reached out a hand with a smile which the girl accepted gratefully.
"Oh, good then. I've never like this outfit, but these are better than the other one I had in my seals, dattebayo!" The young woman beamed at her godmother before turning her attention toward the amused-looking bijuu, eyes narrowed, "So, spill."
"Right. You better sit down, then. All of you. This is going to take some time."
Konohagakure no Sato –Hokage Office
Sarotobi Hiruzen reached down to one of the drawers on his desk, pulling out his pipe while eyeing his two shinobi with unreadable expression. An open sealed scroll lay in front of him.
Namiashi Raidou and Shiranui Genma had just submitted their mission report half an hour ago, and they had asked for an immediate audience with the Hokage. There was nothing wrong in their mission report and it was unusual for either of them to ask for an audience, so the Hokage concluded that their request might have something to do with their lateness. They were supposed to be reporting in early in the morning and it was almost sundown when they came in with their reports; although unusual for them to be late, but it was also not unprecedented. Logically, the Professor granted their request.
It had been a hectic morning. With the entire Konoha Military Police force being wiped out not six weeks ago, the shinobi force was spread thin. Every ninjas were required to run back to back mission, along with maintaining order within the village. Civilian matters, which were normally dealt with by the Police, now found its way to the Hokage's desk; adding another mountain of paperwork for the Hokage to deal with. It had not been easy, but the reinstated Sandaime believed that his village would pull through.
The problem was, with the sudden decreased of their number, the Hokage were forced to make a new arrangement in circulating the shinobi workload. One of those adjustments was the withdrawing of the protection detail for their jinchuuriki. Sarutobi was well aware that the blonde girl was quite safe from physical attacks, no villagers were foolish enough to openly harm the little heiress; and there was nothing one could do to change the cold, contemptuous look that most villagers thrown her way. They were grieving and it would take time, at least that was what the Sandaime told himself. So, as usual, the good of the many won his inner debate and the protection detail was cancelled.
Early before the sunrise, there had been a commission among the Inuzukas. Their canine companion had started to grow restless and began howling for almost an hour. A disgruntled Inuzuka Tsume had came to report that there was no apparent trigger for the dogs' behaviour, nothing that they could find; the dogs were also incoherent, therefore the Inuzuka's matriarch was unable to question their companions for the moment. The dogs had calmed down for the time being, but still unable to answer any questions, so Tsume had stated that she would come by when she had managed to communicate with their companions later on.
Just as the Inuzuka's Clan Head excused herself, Aburame Shibi had also come to report that their hives had acted unusual that morning with no apparent cause. They were buzzing excitedly and flew around in strange patterns. The queens of each hives were too agitated to be understood, but right after an hour mark, the hives had calmed down on their own. They were still uncommunicative, but the Aburame had promised to notice the Sandaime if he managed to talk to their bugs.
Lastly, Nara Yoshino came into the Hokage office with the report that the Nara herd had been prancing around for an hour in unexplainable frenzy. It was like they were waiting for something big to happened, or someone important to come. She explained that Shikaku was out in the Nara forest observing the deer further and would report if anything else unusual happened. The Nara's matriarch then excused herself as briskly as she came.
The Professor knew that the strange behaviour of the animal-nin should have an explanation, but for the life of him he could not come to any conclusion. There were no records of similar happenings that he knew of, and he had read every history book available in Konoha. He even wrote a large number of them. So, he decided just to wait it out and let time unveiled what needed to be known.
When the first batch of paperwork was delivered to his desk this morning, he found a report of vandalism by 'the village's blonde terror' from a vendor among them. He dismissed the report after a customary glance, but it did remind the Sandaime that he had not checked on his surrogate grandchild since the day after the massacre and proceeded to take out his crystal ball to check on the little girl. Imagine his trepidation when he failed to find the jinchuuriki within the village proper. Belatedly he recalled that the group of ninjas that he knew made a routine in shadowing the girl whenever they were off duty were all out in some mission or other; otherwise he would had already been informed if something had happened to the child. He promptly sent a team of ANBU to search for his successor's only child immediately after that.
The ANBU team that he had sent to look for Naruto had searched the village high and low, and they have not yet reporting in way after midday. The old Hokage feared that Naruto might have run out of the village's gate without anyone being the wiser.
Amidst Sarutobi's growing trepidation about the little blonde's whereabouts, Hatake Kakashi's team reported in with a failed mission. Every members of his team was back safely despite of their beaten up appearances, but the mission objectives had been aborted in favour of their safety. He dismissed the rest of the team to have their injuries treated at the hospital but asked Kakashi to stay. The ex-ANBU would picked up that his sensei's child had been missing within the next hour anyway, so Sarutobi deemed it was better to inform the man of their predicament right away.
The Hatake did not comment nor made any other movement besides raising an eyebrow as he listened to the Hokage's explanation. At the end of the narrative, the elite Jounin merely said that he would search the village himself and excused himself out.
It was almost an hour ago, and the man had not reported back in, yet. He was still in the village, otherwise the last remaining student of the Yondaime would have had reported that the jinchuuriki was found or asked for permission to leave the village to search further. That was when the two assassins standing nervously before him asked for an audience.
The Hokage reread the letter that the two Tokubetsu Jounin had brought with them. It was short, terrifyingly so.
Hiruzen,
I would like a good, long and detailed explanation as to why I was not informed that my godchild is alive after all this time. Make it quick.
I'm taking the child back to the capital with me for now.
Bring along your vassals if you must. And the messengers. I don't need any old coots in here.
I'm waiting.
The letter bore the Fire Daimyo's wife, Madame Shijimi's seal at the bottom end.
Both Namiashi and Shiranui had explained the circumstances that lead to their current predicament and the Sandaime realized that there was nothing that could be done then but to comply with Madame Shijimi's request. Blowing out a long puff of smoke, Sarutobi contemplated their next steps.
It was a summons; that what the letter was. He had every intention to keep the situation from his Council, so he had no qualms in following the directions given to him. He would have to head off to the Capital early in the morning; however it would have been suspicious if he went out all on his own. Bringing along the Sarutobi houses' vassals would certainly be considered enough guards, but not important enough to be considered 'urgent'. In a way, Madame Shijimi had provided him with a safe way to thread on this new development. He turned his attention to the present ninja.
"Go get some rest; we'll head out early tomorrow. Meet at the Northern Gate at 0700."
"Yes, Sir!"
"You do understand that you are not to speak of this matter to anyone, right?"
"Understood, Sir!"
"Dismissed." Sarutobi waved his hand and both Namiashi and Shiranui excused themselves out in unison.
The Sandaime sighed wearily the moment the door closed behind the two men.
He did not doubt Madame Shijimi's claim to be Naruto's godmother. He did know that Kushina was close to the Daimyo's wife. They were often being seen running around the village together in a shopping spree during the former jinchuuriki's earlier state of pregnancy. He suspected that the chubby woman was slowly introducing the red-head into the upper part of society, with the full support of his deceased wife, Biwako.
Uzumaki Kushina had already known her way among the higher part of society before Minato took office. She was the third granddaughter of the late Uzukage and had been living with the Honourable Uzumaki Mito when she came to Konoha. However, the spit fire of a woman chose to forgo the uptight way of society living in favour of becoming a formidable kunoichi. And what a kunoichi she had been. Kushina was Minato's pillar as Minato was hers. He recalled how she was beaming with love, pride and faith when Minato was inaugurated as the Yondaime Hokage no Konohagakure no Sato. She was still beaming the next day when she and her husband visited Hiruzen and Biwako in Sarutobi's abode; and then had blamed the Sandaime profoundly because Biwako had told her that she needed to take a 'refresher courses in housekeeping as the Hokage's spouse'. They all had laughed at that.
The reinstated Hokage had known that the happy couple had asked his student, Jiraiya, to become the godfather for their unborn child; and the Gama Sennin had happily obliged. As Minato and Kushina were both orphan, the Sarutobis had been asked to become the Honorary Grandparents and they had agreed wholeheartedly. Yet somehow they never discussed the Godmother.
'I guess now I know who they asked to become the Godmother. It proved that Minato was not as gullible as most people took him for.'
Sarutobi Hiruzen took out his pipe from between his lips and put it down in its holder on his side table. Sighing deeply, he nicked his thumb with a paper knife from his desk and summon a messenger monkey to deliver his messages to the three vassals of his house; the Ino-Shika-Cho houses. Ino-Shika-Cho would know that it was a social call and not military matter which they were going to deal with at the Capital from the use of the monkey summons, and would treat the invitation accordingly.
As he watched the messenger swinging out of the window and jumping away rapidly; he let out another sigh and addressed his seemingly empty office softly,
"Get me Hatake, please. Now."
The Sandaime could heard his ANBU guards gulping, before one of the invisible guard's chakra flared slightly and disappeared to fetch their former captain just as Amaterasu slid down to rest in the western horizon.
Hatake Kakashi was not a happy camper.
First, the normal, routine mission had gone awry due to one chuunin newbie who refused to kill their enemies. He did not blame the chuunin for not wanting to eliminate their enemies, there were ninjas who just did not cut out to be out in the field, it was a given. He did not even mad when the enemies whom they had spared turned the table on his team, resulting with serious injuries to his comrades. It was all part of their job; it was as expected to happen on the field. No, he was mad at whoever it was that had passed the meek chuunin for field duty. Some stupid bureaucrats who had been sitting behind the desk for much too long they're getting comfortable, he was sure. Those bureaucrats were lucky that none of his team-mates had been killed, otherwise Hatake Kakashi would made sure that they regretted the day they sat their bums behind the desk.
Coming back home with no scratch on himself, he had planned to soak in an onsen to wash away the filth and grime that had clung to his body like some persistent glue while reading the newly released Icha-Icha, after visiting the Memorial Stone, of course; then getting some filling dinner and sleep the night away at his apartment. He was due to a couple of days off anyway, and intended to use it this week. The Ninja Academy Graduation was scheduled to be next week, and he wanted to be in his finest condition before torturing the fresh graduated team assigned to him this time.
However, there were a quiet restlessness among the patrol and unusual pattern in ANBU movements that he had noticed on their way to the Hokage Tower. Furthermore, the look on the Sandaime's face when they reported in was much too schooled to his liking, and he had a suspicion that he would not like whatever it was the Hokage was going to tell him when Sarutobi Hiruzen dismissed his team and asked him to stay behind.
Kakashi hated it when he was right.
How could a village full of ninjas lose sight of one child in orange?
The first thing he did after leaving the Hokage Office was sauntered into the Mission Assignment Desk and asked for the list of on-mission ninja to check who was in and who was out of the village yesterday. His clearance was high enough for him to demand most information without any hassle, and if it weren't enough, his reputation would be. The chuunin on the Mission desk had promptly handed the requested paperwork without much ado, sweating all the way.
Glancing down the paper, the Hatake noted that everybody who were often keeping an eye on Sensei's only child were out of the village yesterday, except for Tatami, who was stuck in the Barrier Room for three days on end already, not good. He scowled at the offending paper before asking for Gate Duties Assignment. The now-pale-looking chuunin scattered half of the paper on his desk before handing the correct form. He read the Gate Duties Assignment, committed them to memories and tossed the paper back to the trembling chuunin before shunshin-ing out.
Once outside the Mission Office, Hatake Kakashi summoned his packs to search for Naruto's scent within the village before heading out toward the West Gate to check on the guards and to see if he could scent her there. He would check every gate for any sign of his Sensei's only child. He'd put the North Gate for last because Izumo and Kotetsu were there. Both were known to have a soft spot for the village jinchuuriki, it was unlikely that they missed the child passing through. Biding his hot bath and quiet dinner goodbye, the former ANBU captain sprinted out toward his destination in a blur.
By the time he reached the East Gate the jounin felt that his boiling point had come close to the surface. There were no sight, sound or scent of his quarry and the ninjas guarding the West and South Gates were clearly did not give a damn about Naruto's whereabouts. None of his nin-dogs had reported yet, which meant that they were also unable to find any trace of her. And these chuunins manning the East Gate were no different. Taking a quick glance at the Ninja Traffic's Record, Kakashi noted that Raidou and Genma had just returned half an hour ago, but nothing on the little ball of sunshine. Gritting his teeth in agitation, he was about to head out toward the North Gate when a flicker of chakra announced someone coming his way. He opted to wait until the incoming ANBU finished his shunshin and raised an eyebrow. Bear.
"Sir. Hokage-sama requests your present in the Tower immediately."
The former ANBU sighed and nodded to the messenger, signalling he understood and would comply to the summons soon. Thinking things over, he decided to let his ninken continue the search before headed back to the Hokage Tower. He would know whether he needed to stop searching or to resume his vigil after talking to the Hokage, however it would not hurt to make sure to be thorough. He could not lose the only person with some semblance to a family that he had had left. Not if he got any say in it. Mind made up, he shunshin-ed to the Tower.
"Hokage-sama, you called?"
Sarutobi inhaled his pipe deeply. Contemplating the best way to approach the jounin before him about the situation.
The Hatakes were loyal to a fault, it was a given. If that particular trait was missing from a Hatake, their canine companion would refuse their contract, not that it ever happened before. The Professor had learnt that particular titbit of information when he interviewed Shiro, Hatake Sakumo's familiar as he was researching and recording the Clans and Families' Traits for the Konoha Archive. Hatakes also think and act with their pack in mind. It was the main reason why Hatake Sakumo chose to safe his team-mates, his pack, at the time, and abandoned his mission which later led to his suicide and the young Hatake's depression. Being shunned by the pack would inflict unimaginable mental pain for any Hatakes; it was not something that could be easily explained to your average ninjas and villagers.
Hatake Kakashi was no exception. The ex-ANBU was as loyal as any other Hatake before him; the only question was to whom the loyalty laid. The Sandaime would bet his best pipe that the young dog summoner's loyalty first and foremost would always be toward his sensei, Namikaze Minato and his family and by extension, Uzumaki Naruto; his dead team came second. The current Hokage and the village must be content to be put as the third and fourth on the line after a bunch of dead people and a little girl. And now, with the Namikaze's heiress went missing, it would be hard to reign the Sharingan wielder in.
The jounin shifted his weight slightly to the right, obviously became impatient. Hiruzen puffed out a lungful of smoke, a flare of chakra and the privacy seal in the office was activated. The Hatake raised an eyebrow.
"Kakashi-kun, Raidou-kun and Genma-kun had just returned from their mission. They've met Naruto-chan in the woods just outside of Konoha. Apparently she ran away after a prank and could not find her way back."
The Copy-nin visible eye closed for a moment, the only sign that he was relieved. He knew however, that it was not the crutch of the matter. If it was all, the Hokage had no need to activate the privacy seal. He waited.
"However, they met one Madame Shijimi just when they were about headed back to Konoha. Tell me Kakashi-kun, do you know that Madame Shijimi happened to be Naruto-chan's godmother?"
The lone eye widened at that, before a memory that usually being suppressed deeply flashed in Kakashi's mind.
"No, Sandaime-sama, I did not know of it. But I think I recalled when it was likely to happen. It was a week before…the incident. The baby's shower, I think." The baritone faltered for a moment.
"I see….Well, the kind Madame had taken Naruto-chan back to the capital with her and I am to go there tomorrow at 0700. Would you like to come, Kakashi-kun?" The wizened Hokage took out his pipe, waiting.
Hatake Kakashi considered the offer, for that what it was: an offer. He was allowed to choose. In the end he nearly snorted, there was nothing to think over, Sensei's child came first. The unruly silver head nodded diminutively.
"I would like that, Sandaime-sama."
"Good. I'll see you in the morning, then."
"Hokage-sama." The Copy-nin nodded and shunshin-ed out.
Sarutobi Hiruzen moved to the large window at his office and stepped out onto the small balcony.
The conversation that had just passed in his office had confirmed his suspicion about the young Hatake's loyalty. The offer was to measure just how far the jounin would go to protect and follow the Namikaze's heiress. There was actually no need for the Copy nin to come along, since the Hokage was going to go himself. However, by opting to come along, the ex-ANBU had just confirmed Sarutobi's suspicion of his loyalty. He had the answer that he had been looking for. At least he had one less worry in the event of his demise, because he knew then that there was someone who would go far and beyond to protect Uzumaki Naruto. The Sandaime felt at ease for the first time after the Uchiha Massacre.
Footnote:
(1) Yes, I'm alluding to Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken".
(2) I am using a rough calculation based on the duration of each Hokage's rule in Konoha. Since Konoha was the first established Hidden Village, I deduced that the Elemental Countries would use Konoha's establishment as the starting point of their calendar, therefore it is called AKF; shortened for After Konoha Founding. I presumed that the canon story started around 78 AKF; and this story starts roughly 4 years before canon, just around the Uchiha Massacre. At this point in time, using the data book as the reference, Konoha 9 would be just starting the Academy. Everyone's age should be 4 years younger than in the data book at the beginning of canon.
(3) I'm not sure in which direction from Konoha that the Fire Daimyo resided. It's not in the map, so anyone who could point it out will have my gratitude and a cookie!
(4) Yes, there is around 0,001% chance that pre-natal gender test result is wrong. It happened to my son. The USG, taken 3 times mind you, stated that my baby was going to be a girl, and I got a boy instead. I'm not complaining about the gender but it took us almost a month to decide on a new, appropriate boy's name.