Chapter 2: Conversations
AN:
A bit of suggestion for reading this chapter: To get the feel of what daiko/taiko is, try searching daiko/taiko in youtube dot com.
All of the background info in this chapter could be crossed-checked with the Most Knowledgeable auntie Wikipedia.
Mr./Mrs. Guest: I have an unhappy costumer. Kind Mr./Mrs., to be fair, are you saying that you're reporting every single one of the Female Naruto stories in this site?
I've been called many names before, but to be honest a feminist for a widely-confirmed tomboy is new. Thanks!
em: Thank you!
And many thanks to those of you who had reviews, favourite and follow this story. Cookies for you!
I'm still looking for a beta, anyone?
Disclaimer: What do you mean I already said that Naruto and and Kakashi and their cronies aren't mine? It's real, then? *grumble grumble*
Year 74 AKF
The Fire Daimyo's Palace, early morning
Madame Shijimi's pavilion was located at the eastern part of the Fire Daimyo's Palace. The Madame had commissioned the pavilion for her private use right after the recent Fire Daimyo had been inaugurated, and more often than not she used it for the purpose of entertaining her own guests. The pagoda-like structure was small for someone of her stature, but the intricate carvings adorning the woodwork, not to mention the extensive garden and glasshouse made up for the size of the main building. The rectangular traditional house itself was built within the inner wall of the main palace, while the garden was facing outside toward sunrise to give the plantation optimum advantage of the sun. The first floor was one big hall where the Daimyo's wife received and entertained her guests, with a kitchen attached at the back. The second floor was divided into six large bedrooms with private bathrooms where her guests could rest and refresh themselves or staying the night. The highest level was a conference room, used sparsely when she needed to have a private meeting with her guests or households.
Madame Shijimi had shepherded Naruto and Kurama to the Capital of the Fire Country after the fox bijuu explained their arrival. The Madame had hastily written a letter and given it to Raidou and Genma to be delivered to the Hokage with an expressed order to explain that the chubby woman had took her godchild away with her, and that the Hokage must come to the pavilion to discuss everything else. Both Konoha shinobi were also prohibited to mention anything about the Kyuubi and the-now-grown-up Naruto. After having a filling lunch of roasted rabbits, the two assassins excused themselves back to Konoha; and Madame Shijimi half-drag half pushed her god-daughter and her companion back toward the Capital. Tora the cat had found her mount on top of the fox's head and proceeded to sleep all the way there, much to Kurama's ire and Naruto's glee.
Once they reached the Fire Daimyo's Palace, Madame Shijimi had smuggled Naruto and Kurama into the Fire Daimyo's private chamber, introduced them to her husband and then held a lengthy conversation about their current situation. In the end, the Fire Daimyo had agreed to support the Jinchuuriki and her bijuu with their plight. The Great Madame then showed them to her private pavilion to let them get some much needed rest.
At both of Naruto's first meetings with the Fire Daimyo, be it on her previous timeline or the present; the Daimyo had spotted Naruto as a fellow prankster with similar well-crafted mask like his own and had taking a liking to the whiskered girl immediately. In their previous time, the Daimyo had often pestered Naruto with invitations to join his council meetings, much to Naruto's frustration. The blonde kept refusing since she found it hard to hold her laughter while watching her Oji-san's reaction to the commotion made by the so-called noble councillors. Whereas the Daimyo had always been trying to get her into those meetings because he said he'd got a kick out of watching her trying to rein her laughter in. Madame Shijimi actually laughed the loudest at their antics, even to the point of calling them as her private court jesters.
It was on the third floor of Madame Shijimi's private pavilion that the guests for the time being settled themselves on the second day of their arrivals in the current time.
The two of them had awoken refreshed and contented after a good night rest in one of the guest rooms. Early after dawn, Madame Shijimi had sent her personal servants to see to her guests' needs including providing a very large breakfast and changes of clothes. She also sent a package of high quality make ups and hair dye for Naruto to use to obscure the whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks and to disguise her hair colour. They had agreed that Naruto's natural hair colour was too unique and noticeable; and the whisker marks, although much thinner than they used to, were a dead give-away for her identity.
Donned in a lovely peach-coloured yukata(1), blonde hair turned dark red falling down her back; Naruto stepped down to the first floor to have some breakfast. She left her wooden geta in her room, opting to go with her tabi(2) for the moment. Kurama had disappeared early on, saying something about hunting for breakfast in passing.
After cleaning the content of the extensive breakfast table, which consisted of several bowls of steamed rice, a large pot of miso soup, slices of grilled salmons, plates of tamagoyaki(3) and various pickles, Naruto then picked up the tea tray and sauntered to the third floor. She had asked a servant to bring the snacks' tray into the conference room and the little servant girl had also brought along a basket of fresh orange and plum before excusing herself.
Left alone with enough food to feed a small family, Naruto perched on a southern window and started nibbling at a slice of youkan(4) while trying to gather her wits.
She was still much of a hyperactive as when she was a newly-minted genin despite of various training that she had received during her two and half years training trip with Jiraiya and the four years courses as the Hokage-in-training. Not so much of a knuckle-head, but that trait was still there and surfaced every now and then. Therefore, she accepted her current displacement in time with a stride and saw fit to use it in her favour.
There were so many people she could safe, and so many changes that she could make to alter her ruined world for the better. And her godmother had promised to help, too.
Naruto smiled fondly to herself at the thoughts of Madame Shijimi.
In her original timeline, she only met the kind woman after she became a genin and was given the 'Capture Tora' mission at that time. Madame Shijimi had told her god-daughter everything when Tsunade sent Naruto to complete her kunoichi and Hokage training in the Capital after the Fourth Shinobi War had ended.
The Madame had recognized her right away when they came in to return Tora, but resisted to claim her since the Sandaime had not informed the Daimyo's wife about whose child Konoha jinchuuriki really was. She had assumed that it was a random orphan who happened to be available for the sealing and did not inquire into the matter any deeper. A rookie mistake it was and she was no rookie.
It would be precarious for everyone involved if the Madame claimed to be Naruto's godmother then and there. She did not know why Sarutobi never bothered to inform her about Naruto. It could be that he had no idea that Minato and Kushina had asked the Madame to become their child's godmother, or it could be some hidden political agenda. Since from what she saw during their brief meeting, Naruto was considerably healthy and happy, albeit lonely; the Madame had decided to wait until she could gain some more Intel.
When the Sandaime was killed by Orochimaru not long after their first meeting, Madame Shijimi had lost the opportunity to confront Sarutobi Hiruzen and once again decided to wait and see.
It was a great relief for her when Jiraiya contacted her after Tsunade was inaugurated as the Gondaime Hokage, and told her about Naruto. Apparently, the Sandaime did not have any clue about Madame Shijimi's role as Naruto's godmother. The knowledge was lost along with the passing of Sarutobi Biwako and Jiraiya had never suspected that the Madame had never been informed about Naruto. The decision to announce to the world at large that the whole Namikaze household had perished during the Kyuubi attack had been a front to protect the surviving heiress from her parents' enemies, not to hide Naruto's existence from those who needed to know. However, the current Madame Shijimi did not know about that, yet. The jinchuuriki had opted to let the Sandaime to explain it by himself, as she needed to hear it herself.
Jiraiya had taken Naruto to meet with her godmother the first thing when they were beginning the two and a half year training trip. It was a bubbly Daimyo's wife who had welcomed them to the Daimyo's Palace and introduced her to the real kunoichi training. Naruto had spent the first year of her trip in the capital, without anyone in Konoha aside from Tsunade being the wiser.
Madame Shijimi and Jiraiya had put her through the beginnings of her Miko(5) and Maiko(6) trainings as well as drilling the Ninja Juuhakkei(7) relentlessly. It was during those trainings that they discovered Naruto's aptitude toward Fuuinjutsu, since both Miko and Maiko trainings demanded a proficiency in calligraphy.
The old pervert had abused the then thirteen years old girl's calligraphy training to help him editing his so-called 'literature', though. Complaining on the outside, Naruto was actually glad that she could do something for the man who had been willing to take her as an apprentice. However, the Gama Sannin never had the opportunity to complete Naruto's fuuinjutsu trainings since he had been killed not too long after Naruto returned to Konoha.
Jiraiya and Naruto left the Capital after one year mark, with a promise to return as soon as possible to finish her Maiko training and perform her Erikae or the Turning of Collar Ceremony. However, it was not until she had turned nineteen that she'd finally managed to return to the Capital in order to complete her Maiko trainings. It was Madame Shijimi as her Onee-san that bequeathed her a new name, Himawari, or the Sunflower. She addressed the Madame as Baa-chan since the Daimyo's wife was her godmother but during certain occasion they would shift into the role of Onee-san and Imouto-chan.
A whisk of chakra disturbed her musings and she waited patiently for the fox bijuu –Kurama– to materialize in the room.
After the Fourth Shinobi War ended, Naruto felt that it was no longer necessary to confine Kurama and his siblings within her seal. She had told them flat out that she saw them as her friends, her comrades, and friends do not tie each other to obey the other's biding. If she needed help, she would ask for it, and even then they were free to choose whether to help her or not; and vice versa. They were still tied to the seal on her stomach, but she vowed never to use it to contain any of them ever again. Naruto had found it funny that the nine bijuu decided to stick around as much as they could with her after that. Kurama had told her it was because even the Rikudou Sennin never gave them that kind of freedom. Technically, Naruto was the jinchuuriki to the nine bijuu, but they kept the information from the rest of the world. Sasuke knew of course, but he too, agreed that it was much better if they kept it a secret.
Kurama had conceded that he needed to appear in a reasonable size when indoors and among other people, so he took the size of a normal fox indoors and outdoors or transformed into his human form, unless they were in the middle of a dire battle. He retained his tails, though, claiming that the tails were part of his identity there was no way he'd change those and Naruto had to agree to that point. He could always compress the tails to look like one fat tail, anyway.
The Nine Tailed Fox appeared near the snack's table not long after, tails swishing lazily around. He eyed the food spread on the table with a bored look and then hopped to sit beside her by the window.
"What's with the look, Kurama? Still hungry?" teased Naruto.
"Brat. You know I don't eat human food. I like my meat fresh, thank you very much." The bijuu answered grumpily. "Your godmother is on the way."
"Aaa…Thanks." Naruto took another slice of youkan and stuffed it into her mouth. Swallowing, she threw Kurama a look.
"What, brat?" The fox grumbled.
"You know, I still can't believe that you actually cried when I died, dattebayo! You do care about me after all, ne?"
"You're never going to let me live it down are you?" was the sarcastic answer.
The tanned girl was grinning widely at the comment and shook her head strongly once. "Nope" She pursed her lips to pop the 'p'.
The fox merely rolled his large eyes. There went his dignity as a thousand years old demon.
"Ano saa… I've never heard about this Bestial Lament before. What is it exactly?"
"Ah, that." Kurama flicked hiss bushy tails one by one before answering, "It's exactly as it sounds. When the beasts were mourning and crying for the loss of loved ones, we lament."
"So, you guys can cry, big deal. There's nothing wrong with that." The young woman moved to sit at the tatami, grabbing a ripe plum along. "What's so special about it?"
"Yaban'na Nageki or the Bestial Lament has only happened twice since the bijuu's creation: the first time it happened was when our father, Otsutsuki Hagoromo passed away, the second time was when you died. In both times it promoted a massive change in the world. The first time around, the Lament re-formed the elemental maps. Mountains crumbled and re-erected differently than before, shores shifted, rivers and oceans re-routed. Total map's changing.
However, the second time had a bigger impact. We actually obliterated everything through time and space. I suppose it's because father is family, it was natural for us to feel and mourn for the loss, beast or not; nothing special about lamenting a family member. With you though…" The chakra beast trailed off and stared outside the window for a while, lost in thought.
Naruto soon got tired of waiting, she threw an orange toward Kurama and the innocence fruit bounced back toward her waiting palm. The bijuu did not even flinch, but the thrown orange did get its attention back to the present.
"Insolent Brat. As I was saying, with you, you're not family; it was unprecedented that we demons would mourn for your –a human– death. We're not even talking for the most part of your life. But you managed to place yourself as equal among us beasts. Not the superior or inferior being most human seen us as, but you regard us as creatures with feelings and thoughts of our own, and you shown your respect to that. You allowed us to choose and actually listened to our choices. Furthermore, you lead people to see us as you do. Losing you was…strangely devastating. I think that what made all the difference."
"What's with the ripping time and space thingy? And me dying and live again? If you could do that to me, why didn't you do that to old man Rikudou when he died, dattebayo?"
"I'm not sure why we could rip everything that you have been through along the time and space. And since your life had touched so many people and places, well, suffice to say that we shredded everything in your timeline up to this point. I don't know why this point in time, before you ask. Perhaps even the deities were impressed by you, brat, it's like they're giving you a second chance. Though the reason why they bother with you is lost to me. You're still that baka and insolent little brat.
As for your revival, it was said that our tears could revive the one that we cried for if they died before their time. The nine of us needed to shed a tear each for it to work however, and it wasn't really our intention to revive you when we wept for you; we didn't even remember that part. I guess it wasn't your time to die, then. As for father, he died of old age and it was his time, I think."
"If you shredded the time and space conti-thingy, why didn't you take me to the future, then?"
"It's time and space continuum, Brat. As for taking you to now instead of the far future, how do you think the future would look like when pretty much of the past had been erased, albeit unintentionally? It'll be all jumbled and tangled; you wouldn't know anybody or any-place."
"I see. And why did my kiddie self need to be absorbed by me? I mean, we could both be like, I don't know, family, right? I could've been her sister or auntie, dattebayo! She wouldn't need to feel lonely like I did."
"Your grown-up self don't belong to this timeline, Brat. You need your kiddie's body to tie you down to the present. Besides, you're unique. There can be only one Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto."
"Aaa….I see now….Wow. You're actually very smart, Kurama. I didn't know that before, dattebayo!" The comment earned her a miffed huff.
"Brat. I'm always smart; it's you who's too dense to notice. Be thankful that I am smarter than you, otherwise you'd be dead on your first mission outside the village."
The Namikaze-Uzumaki perked at that. "Heh. We can save Haku and Zabuza now, right? And we can save Jijii, Asuma-sensei, Ero-Sennin, and Neji, dattebayo! and Yugao-nee's fiancé, Itachi, Nagato, Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei…."
"I don't know about that, Brat. If it's their time to die, they'd die."
"Huh, you're no fun. You know what, Kurama? You need more optimism, dattebayo!" She nibbled at a slice of orange and grimaced when she tasted it. "And by the way, where are the others, Kurama?
"They merged with, or to be exact, absorbed their current selves, much like we did. Since our future selves are better and more developed, those parts became the dominant part. As for you and I, I'm whole again whilst your past self only had half of me, not to mention that your chakra network and capacity after housing the nine of us is way larger than your past self. That's why your age was reduced slightly when we got to the present time, you're adjusting to your past self, but the need to accommodate your extensive chakra allowed you to retain most of your grown-up self; so to speak."
"What? They're back as in sealed within human again?"
The bijuu grinned at her. "Not exactly. They can get out of the seal, if so they chose; we're still tied to you. However, it will also take our past selves out, and the vessels would die then. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
The jinchuuriki narrowed her sapphire eyes at her partner, suspicion clearly seen. "You mean you actually take my feelings into account?"
"Don't let it into your yellow head, Brat. You only have so much brain capacity, you might damage it. No, it wasn't really your feelings that we considered. It's our selves. We bijuu are chakra constructs and just like every other things in the world, we respond to those around us. Malice, hatred and other negative emotions are easiest to respond to, because those emotions actually screaming out loud to be noticed, their vibes are sharper and more defined. You humans are always quick to notice when you're miserable, aren't you? Whereas the good emotions: happiness, love, contentment and the likes are much more subtle. Even human themselves took some time to realize that they're happy.
The easiest thing to see is your plants. Have you ever notice what effects you share with your plants when you're talking happily to your greeneries? They grew faster and bloom larger, didn't they? If you're being doom and gloom all the time around them, they'd still grow, but not as pretty as when you're happy. It works both ways, you know. You influence them and they, you.
And there's water. You've heard that water sources near a lively temple are always pure and clear, right? Doujutsu users can attest that water near temples would become clearer during masses and prayers. Good prayers. Water resonates to good things, like prayers and music, too. That's one of the reasons why water in human settlements turned bad, you know. It's not only the garbage that you human thrown into the water that corrupted the water, but also the hatred, petty jealousy among housewives and rivals, grief and sadness around that change it. The denser the population, the water quality is also worse.(8)
And if you paid any attention, it's easier to turn something good into bad than the other way around.
We chakra constructs are exactly like that. We react to everything around us. Since we're actually creatures with minds and power of our own, we could spread more damage in the world and at a much faster rate, too. All those negative emotions clouded our minds, you see. It's not really to our liking when we became mindless creatures bent on the destruction of everything around us, but it's hard for us to deny them.
Now, back to you. You're closest to us now. Maybe not physically all the time, but mentally, we are. Your mental health actually becomes our concern because it will affect us, greatly. It's in our interests that you stay happy."
"Aaa….So in short, when I'm happy, you guys are happy too, right?"
The bijuu snorted. "In a way, yes."
"Aw….That's so sweet, Kurama. You can't deny that you like me now, ne?" The huge grin on her face almost split her face in two and Kurama rolled his eyes in annoyance. "And I still have this Sun tattoo-thingy from your old man, too. Does it mean Sasuke still have his?"
"No I don't think so. I don't even think he'll ever regain it in this lifetime."
"Huh? Why not?"
"You are the Chosen One. The one that tips the balance; the Saviour or the Destroyer. You had chosen to safe everyone and you did, once; but in your death you had also brought the destruction of the world as we knew it, because your death lead us bijuu to unleash a power that even we never knew existed. In a way you had became both by choice.
To answer your question about the Uchiha, it's like this: The Sun will always shine, with or without the Moon. However, the Moon needs the Sun to glow. Besides, think about it. Do you honestly want to go through all of those craps with Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, Pain, Obito and Madara all over again so that Sasuke can get his Mark? Besides, you can save him faster now, the Massacre had just happened. He hasn't drowned too deep in darkness this time around."
The scarlet crown dipped as she stared at the wooden floor. Naruto shook her head slowly. "No. It's not worth it. Too many lives lost as it were…. You're right; I can reach out to him earlier and stop him to fall into the path of revenge." She perked up at the thought of meeting her brother in all but blood again. "And speaking of which, why couldn't we arrive before the Massacre? There're so many people died who didn't have to die. Or before Obito attacked Mum, we could have saved both Mum and Dad, and hundreds of Konoha citizens, couldn't we?"
"I have no answer to that. As I said before, even the nine of us did not know that we could shred time, space and everything in between into pieces, let alone to determine how far the destruction would spread. Take what you've got and make the most out of it, Brat. Isn't that how you lived so far?"
"I guess you're right, we've been given another chance; we'll do what best we can from here on. Mou, what about Isobu, then? Does it mean he's back under Obito's control? He's free now, right?"
"We talked last night. He's still trying to break Yagura out of the Tsukoyomi as we speak. He needs to be as delicate as he can about it. We don't want to tip the Akatsuki this early, do we? We might need to help him as soon as you're ready, though."
"Hey. I'm ready now, dattebayo! What are we waiting for? Those poor people in Kiri don't need to die, dattebayo! We can even save Obito first thing, too!"
"It's not that simple, brat. First, I have no idea how merging with your kiddy self might influence your abilities. You've lost around five years of your original age, you might still remember your techniques, but can your body actually pull it off? You need a thorough assessment before jumping into a fight, you know?"
Naruto pouted and threw the rest of her sour orange fruit into the trash bin in the corner of the room. "Right. I'll borrow a training ground later today. I think I can use Baa-chan's dojo or something."
"You do that. And ask for the permission to use the hunting ground while you're at it. I need to eat, too. The hunting ground has more meats than the local forest."
"I don't see why you wouldn't eat the roasted duck last night. It was very good dattebayo! Hmm, I think I'll order some ramen to the kitchen later. It's been a while since I had ramen, dattebayo!"
"Secondly, we can't just break Yagura out of Tsukoyomi and then leave him and Isobu to themselves. You –we, need plans. You do remember what happened when Yagura outlived his usefulness to that one-eyed Uchiha, right?" Kurama redirected their conversation back to the more pressing matters. When allowed, Naruto could talk about ramen for hours on end.
The tanned girl gulped. She remembered alright. "Obito had Yagura killed and then Isobu disappeared and after being reformed he was loose in the wilderness later on."
"There you have it. It'll take a lot of planning. Long time planning to be exact. Not your strong suit, eh?"
"No. You're right. We need help. A lot of help." She sighed, "Wish we have Shikamaru here."
"The others are going to try to prepare their 'hosts' for the Akatsuki. Those who could already think things through to make their own decisions, like Roshi, Han, Killer Bee, Utakata and Nii Yugito are going to be informed of the Akatsuki. Shukaku and Chomei are merely trying to keep their 'hosts' from going insane for now, as well as teaching them to survive. That leaves Isobu with the hardest task of them all aside from me."
"Huh? What's so hard for you to do, Kurama?"
"Keeping you from putting your foot in your mouth, what else? Everyone agreed I have the hardest job."
"Are you saying I can't keep my mouth shut?" The jinchuuriki narrowed her sapphire orbs toward her partner.
The fox rolled its eyes, again, and decided to let the matter drop. After a while his ears twitched toward the door.
The door opened and Madame Shijimi hopped into the room with eyes shining and mouth grinning widely. She held the door to let Tora stalked inside before shutting it close again.
"Naruto-chan! You're awake! Have you had breakfast, yet?"
"I'm always ready for a second breakfast, Baa-chan!" The tanned girl answered cheekily, hands twining behind her neck.
"Ah, you're truly Kushina-chan's baby. Your kaa-san always put my cooks to the test when she was visiting, you know." The chubby woman remarked, her eyes glazed in remembrance. "Hiruzen will have lunch with your Oji-san. They'll come around after that."
"Aaa. Should I go and change, then?"
The black-haired woman eyed her god-daughter before shaking her head. She herself was wearing her usual black button-down silk shirt, a black knee-length skirt and a pair of heelless black shoes. The ever-present handbag was dangling from her wrist. "It's fine, for now. You're family, and family doesn't need formality with each other, ne? But you'll need to change to meet Hiruzen and his contingent."
"Good. I like these yukata, Baa-chan. I don't think I need to change to meet with Jijii, too. It's too warm for an iromoji(9), dattebayo!"
"You can keep it; it was your mother's. She used to wear it when she's visiting here. But Hiruzen would bring along some other people too, you know. You told me you've already received the dressing lesson, but it seems to me that you're forgetting them. Do you need a remedial class?"
The young woman pouted in hearing the words 'a remedial class'. She narrowed her eyes accusingly at her godmother. "Baa-chan! Not fair! You always threatened me with remedial classes before….or later? Argh! This is so confusing! Never mind that, how do you know I hate those classes, dattebayo?" She whined miserably.
Her godmother chuckled heartily before answering. "You're your kaa-san's daughter. Kushina-chan hated those classes also!"
The sapphire orbs lit up at the comment. Naruto loved it when people mention her similarities to her parents. The only time she hated being compared to either parent was when the reminiscing person had a sad glint in their eyes, like Kakashi and Tsunade, and later on Genma, Raidou and Iwashi, did.
The young woman scratched her nape and consented reluctantly. She had no fancy in wearing formal clothes, despite her knowing the importance of wearing such clothes. "Okay. You got me, Baa-chan."
The older woman smiled knowingly. They were not that much different anyway. Understanding and liking rarely ever went together in the matter of women's garments.
"So, I named you Himawari, huh? It's a good name if I may say so myself. Funny I don't remember naming you, though. Since I don't know what you can do to earn the name, would you like to show me your skill, Himawari?"
"Mou, I'm not that good at it, Onee-san, in your own words, I'm merely 'passable'."
"Aaa…but you have completed your training, right? Surely you understand my meaning when I said 'passable'?" The Madame took a seat beside her god-daughter and motioned the girl to turn so she could do the hair.
"Neh, I really am passable, Baa-chan. You said something about starting a bit too late, you know." Naruto conceded and presented her back to her godmother, showing her long golden-turned-scarlet tresses to the older woman. Madame Shijimi then procured an ivory comb from within her ever-present handbag and began combing the hair. "Besides, I've been running around in boy's clothes for far too long before I received any real kunoichi trainings. The only thing that I play well enough is the daiko."
"You have such lovely hair, Naruto-chan." The older woman's fingers were moving deftly in dividing, twirling and arranging her god-daughter's hair into a tight braid. The hair was rather hard to manage due to its silky nature; it took fast and precise hands to be able to arrange them neatly.
The former blonde blushed slightly, it still took her a lot to take a heart-felt compliment; she was so used to being ignored and considered a nuisance all her life before. Her comrades had only started to take her seriously after the fated Chuunin Exams. Even then, most of her age-groups still treated her as an annoying little knuckle-head. Sasuke's defection and retrieval mission had changed most of Konoha Eleven's attitude toward her, but she left with Jiraiya soon afterwards. It was only after she returned from her training trip that the hatred and fear-filled looks began to wane. And finally, it took the destruction of Konoha in Pain's hands for the villagers to treat her better. If nothing else, the villagers' treatment toward her before and after Pain's Invasion had taught her to differentiate between sincere compliments and sycophants.
"Mum's hair was better." She mumbled.
"The colours are different, yes, but the textures are the same, you know. I used to do your mother's hair when she spent the night here. Your hair felt exactly the same as hers in my hand."
"You've never told me that before, Baa-chan."
"Really now? Looks like I can still surprise you, eh? There, done." The Madame had tied the end of the braid with a tiny rubber band and then wrapped it with black-coloured ribbon. The braid fell just below Naruto's behind, with the loose end curling slightly.
Naruto turned around and faced her god-mother. Smiling softly, she bowed in her seiza. "Arigatou gozaimasta, Onee-san."
Madame Shijimi merely nodded slightly, accepting her thanks as well as announcing her position as Naruto's Onee-san. The corner of her lips twitch slightly in mirth, however; showing that Naruto was more than her Imouto-chan.
"Speaking of which, I have to ask you about those two tokujou from yesterday. You seemed to be quite familiar with them, but I don't trust them. They kept staring at your body like some perverts. Do I need to be wary of them?"
The blue-eyed girl laughed mirthfully at her godmother question. The Madame raised an eyebrow, clearly confused at the laughter.
"Kami, no. You don't have to worry about them, Baa-chan. They're used to be Dad's personal guards along with Tatami Iwashi. The three of them took it upon themselves to watch over me whenever they could, you know. They're like my overprotective, scary older brothers. You should see them the day I stopped wearing boy's clothing, dattebayo! They, along with Iruka-sensei were glaring daggers at whomever staring at me a second too long. When I couldn't get a date, I blamed them afterwards, dattebayo! And you know what they said? They actually had the nerves to say that none of the boys were good enough for me!"
"Ah, really now? Now that you mention it, is there someone that had caught your fancy?"
The laughter died instantly. "No. There hadn't any, Baa-chan."
The chubby Madame could see clearly that it was a forbidden subject. There were uncertainty and immense sadness that went through her god-daughter's eyes. She surmised that there had been someone, but judging from her reaction, it was highly likely that that someone had died in her timeline and Naruto was still grieving. She decided to let it slide for the moment; there would be time to bring it up again later. Madame Shijimi wisely changed their topic, then.
"Never mind that," 'for now' she added in her mind, "I had sent messages both to your perverted godfather and Tsunade-Hime to come over as soon as they could last night. They've just sent their answers."
The golden head snapped at the remarks. "Seriously, Baa-chan? What did they say?"
"Apparently they were heading to Konoha for some reasons and quite near from here. They'd probably arrive after lunchtime. If I didn't know any better I'd say they'd sensed you're coming."
Kurama who had been silent ever since Madame Shijimi and Tora entered the premise suddenly perked at the words. He had no interests in indulging with what he called 'petty talks' and much more interested in watching the black feline chase his tails around. He had known Tora in the previous timeline and had grown to respect the cat, to the extent that he deemed to call her 'the Lesser Demon'. His sudden interests in the women's conversation did not go unnoticed. Naruto turned her head toward the bijuu who was still lounging at the window sill.
"What is it, Kurama? Something we need to know?"
"Both of them are Summoners, yes? I think their summons might've sensed something, a disturbance, an anomaly, in a way that they couldn't explain." The bijuu stated calmly, "It's very likely that any other creatures from the Summon's world had sensed something too."
A pair of scarlet brows was drawn into a single line at that. "Wait, would that mean Orochimaru would know about us too?"
"Not necessarily know, but if his Summons ever mentioned the disturbance, or any anomaly at all, that had happened during our arrival to him, then he might suspect something has happened. Since what we did was the first occurrence and most likely the last, he'd need to have one of us to actually telling him directly. Not much chance in that, I'd tell you."
"What about the other Summons? Temari's Katamari and there's Kakashi-Sensei's pack too! And jijii's monkeys, Gai-Sensei's turtles! And Pain's Summons? What about them, dattebayo?"
"Ah. My speculation is that those who felt the disturbance are those who were closest to you, I meant the Summons, not only the Summoners. Those who've already in tune with your chakra. But we'll have to wait and see about them."
"What? You're not sure? What happened to the 'I'm a thousand years demon, I know a lot more than you do' dattebayo?!"
"Naruto-chan," Madame Shijimi deemed it necessary to cut through her god-daughter's tirade before it truly began, "I think the fox is right, he said it himself: what happened with you was the first of its kind, there's no use to over thinking things now. Just stay alert, okay?"
The whiskered girl pouted; clearly she thought it was far from over, her glare certainly declared that she would pursue the issue later on. However, she also realized that both Kurama and Madame Shijimi were right. Speculation would get them nowhere.
"Fine." She stood up and stretched her back, "I'm going to ask for some ramen from the kitchen, Baa-chan. You told me your cook can make some tasty ramen, and from what I remember, it was okay. Nowhere near Ichiraku's, though, but better than nothing. I'll be right back." She strolled out of the room as she spoke.
Both bijuu and the remaining human in the room watched her back disappeared behind the door.
"Oh, my. She's not sulking, is she?" The Madame threw the Nine-Tails a look of exasperation.
Tora had finally given up chasing one of the fox's tails and climbed in between Kurama's front paws instead. The bijuu merely flicked his ears in humour before answering the question, "Nah. She knows that you and I are both right, but she's just too stubborn to let the matter drop."
The Madame's lips twitched into a fond smile. They settled into a comfortable silence for a while, both watching Tora turning around on her self-proclaimed throne until the feline found an acceptable position to lie down. Kurama addressed the Daimyo's wife, then.
"You know that your spying seals are useless with me around, don't you?"
The Madame, feeling that there was no use in denying the existence of such seals, nodded slightly. "I know. Both of you have too much chakra on your own that any spying seals are rendered useless when you're in the room. It happened with Kushina, too, I suppose your chakra acts like a buzzer. Anyway, the seals are there for people who refuse to answer some questions or if they're questionable themselves." She raised her hand to stop Kurama from talking.
"I realized that there are things that you'd kept to yourselves, and I won't hold you or Naruto for that. What you both knew and what you both have been through are yours and yours alone. The fact that you're both here in this timeline is a clear indication that things don't have to stay the way it was, that your memories don't have to be our memories in due time. I'll trust either of you to impart any information that you deemed important for me to know.
It's the same with the Daimyo, you know. We may like to fool around and make a mess every now and then, but we do know that there are things which are forbidden to be threaded lightly. The world's welfare is one of those things."
"Ah. Good. We understand each other, then."
A chubby finger was wriggling in front of Kurama's face, the owner clearly amused.
"No. You understand me, but I barely scratch your surface, O, Great Fox. Yet I am content with that. There are things that never meant to be fully understood by us common human. I accepted that long ago."
Kurama let out a loud harrumph noise through his nose and the clever eyes rolled in their sockets in what suspiciously looked like a suppressed fondness.
Ever since he decided to give Naruto a chance in friendship, there had been a number of human following her soon after. The first human that had accepted him right after Naruto –the Nine-Tails Demon as a comrade– was a man who had also suffered a great loss during Kurama's rampage in Konoha all of those years ago. Kurama had grown to respect that man amidst the war. Unfortunately, the man had died before the war was over.
However, the number of human who accepted the demon as a comrade grew quite rapidly. Madame Shijimi was one of them. She had not only accepted Kurama quite readily, but the bijuu had also learnt to respect her, which was a rare thing for him. That respect extended to Madame Shijimi of this timeline, since she actually always had an open minded opinion of the world; never one who was prone to prejudices.
Talking to the Madame had always been an entertainment for Kurama, no matter what the topic of their discussions.
Naruto opened the door as wide as it could go to let a servant girl pushed a trolley full of ramen bowls into the room.
"My, that was fast, Naruto-chan."
"Heh, I've already asked for some ramen when they're serving breakfast early on. They've had the noodles and the soup ready when I came into the kitchen, dattebayo!" The young woman's face was beaming above the arrays of ramen bowls of various tastes. "Hmm…Ramen!"
The whiskered girl proceeded to sit down on a tatami, grabbing a pair of chopsticks, breaking them into two, clasped her hands in front of her chest, chopsticks held across between her thumbs and her palms, and with a joyful "Itadakimasu!" started her Ramen Fest.
Madame Shijimi gave some whispered instructions to the servant girl while her god-daughter indulged herself with ten bowls of ramen. The little girl bowed and then withdrew silently from the room. The Madame turned her attention back to Naruto and blinked. And blinked again.
She had spoken to her maid in less than in one minute, and by the time the little girl was out of the room, Naruto had finished five bowls of ramen down to the last drop. She did not heard any clinking sound of the chopsticks meeting ceramic bowls, meaning that the blonde still applied her table manners perfectly except for the speed eating.
And speaking of speed, while the Madame was busy musing her Imouto-chan's table manners, said girl had managed to clean the rest of the bowls.
The blonde sighed in bliss; she bowed before the bowls and a satisfied "Gochisosama deshita!" was heard, earning a low chuckle from her Baa-chan and an eye roll from Kurama.
"So, Himawari, I had the maid to set a chuu-daiko(10) at the courtyard for you. I'm asking for a performance soon."
The ramen-induced happy glow dimmed slightly at the soft-spoken remarks. Suppressing a groan, Naruto straightened her back before bowing, "Hai, Onee-san."
"Good. Go and prepare yourself. Don't forget to create a bunshin and henge it into your eight years old self. Naho will be joining us outside, and people may notice things, see?"
It was a surprised Sarutobi Asuma who greeted the Sandaime Hokage and his contingent in front of one of the many hidden gates of the Fire Daimyo's Palace. After a stiff greeting to his father, the burly man turned around, murmured "This way, gentlemen." And lead the groups along the hidden passage to the Daimyo's private quarter.
Asuma's team of three had just relieved the night's shift in the Palace when the Daimyo called him into the private chamber. The Fire Daimyo then informed the brunette that he was expecting some people for private lunch. Asuma alone was to show them in through the myriads of hidden passages in the Palace and bring the guests straight to the Fire Daimyo's private quarter. The young Sarutobi had complied and went to the appointed gate to wait.
He had never suspected that the private meeting would be with ninja from Konoha, let alone his own father. Normally the meeting between the Fire Daimyo and the Hokage would be held in full assemble of the council from both sides. However, not only the Daimyo had underlined the secrecy of the meeting, the Hokage's contingent themselves were not of Konoha Council. He could understand Kakashi, Genma and Raidou's presents, most likely they came as guards; what he failed to comprehend was the present of Ino-Shika-Cho clan heads.
'Maybe it is a personal matter.' He mused, noting the absence of the Hokage's cloak and hat. However, he was still at lost about what kind of personal matters that the Sarutobi House had with the Fire Daimyo. From the slightly raised silver eyebrow that he had noticed before he turned around earlier on and Shikaku's not-so-bored expression, the people accompanying the Hokage had no clue either.
Deciding to let the matter drop for the moment, Asuma opened the inner gate which would admit them directly to the Daimyo's quarter. He stepped aside to let the guests in before discreetly pushing the hidden panel to return the hidden door to its former camouflaged state. Not that being discreet would matter much with these kinds of people, but he had to follow the procedure.
The Fire Guardian resumed his position as guide and led the Konohan into the appointed room within the Daimyo's quarter.
The soft knock was answered immediately.
The Fire Daimyo himself opened the door and heartily greeted the Sandaime and his contingent. He ushered the older Sarutobi and the Ino-Shika-Cho into the room and instructed Asuma to accompany the younger ninjas.
"Our wife is expecting them, young Sarutobi. We think it would be prudent to show your young friends the way to her pavilion and wait for us there." He waved them off before closing the door behind him, leaving the five younger ninjas outside.
"Aaa…that was weird." Asuma scratched the back of his head in confusion and addressed his friends, "What was that all about?"
A collective blinks were all he got for answers. He sighed and beckoned his temporary guests to follow him toward the Madame's pavilion. Faintly, he could hear the beating sound of a drum from that direction.
"So, how are you guys doing?" He have not seen much of his friends for the last couple of years, ever since he was drafted as one of the Twelve Guardians; he might as well as use their current situation to catch up.
"Well, not much, really. You know the usual; missions, missions and more missions. Another year and I think I'll never erase Raidou's face from my memory." Genma drawled. "Kakashi's been demoted, you know. I think they'd finally had enough of him around. He's one of us regulars, now."
"Huh, last time I saved your sorry ass you swore to never ask for a different partner, Genma." Raidou chided his permanent team-mate.
"Meh, I was poisoned back then. Delirious and such, see?"
"Right. I told you they were toadstools, not mushroom. Did you listen to me? Nooo…. You'd just had to taste some, and I had to throw away my best pants that you've re-dyed with your puke. Lucky I remembered to bring two pairs of extra pants; otherwise I'd have to carry your ass back without my pants on. I pity whoever's going to replace me as your mission partner."
"What's the matter with that? You've got some fine ass, nothing's wrong with flaunting them around!" Genma moved his ever-present senbon to the right side of his mouth and leered at Raidou. The scarred tokujo face-palmed in a frustrated sigh. There's just no cure for Genma.
The young Sarutobi heard Kakashi giggled behind them. Thinking that the stoic jounin had finally decided to join their conversation, he looked back toward his friend and blinked. The now-regular-ninja's nose was buried behind an orange-covered book, one hand in his pocket and giggling. 'Isn't that porn?'
Genma, who had noticed his gaze elbowed him on the ribs and mock-whispered, "See, told you so."
Asuma rolled his eyes. He fished for a pack of cigarette out from his pocket, took one stick out and lighted it. He inhaled deeply and threw Raidou a look.
"What's with him?" He tilted his head slightly toward Kakashi who was still deeply immersed in his book. Raidou merely shrugged his shoulders, telling that he was not sure himself.
However, he could sense that both Genma and Raidou were throwing nervous glance toward the Hatake every now and then.
There was a subtle change in Hatake Kakashi's gaits that the Fire Guardian noticed immediately. He could not really pinpoint the difference between this Kakashi and the Kakashi that he had known before he joined the Twelve Guardian of Fire a few years back, but the shift was there. Genma had mentioned that the Copy-nin had been demoted to regular force, could it be that leaving ANBU –not that anyone really ever quit the ANBU once they were in– had done Kakashi some good?
Another giggle.
Well, reading porn in public was definitely new. However, the burly man had noticed the difference even before the ex-ANBU pulled the book out from somewhere. The face –well, quarter of the face– was somehow less troubled and the body language was definitely far more relaxed than he had ever remembered Kakashi being.
Asuma was about to call to his silver-haired friend when he noticed that they had already came to the ancient oak tree that marked the entrance to Madame Shijimi's pavilion. The sound of the drum had intensified; he beckoned his friend to enter the large courtyard and stopped.
Raidou had caught on Genma's attempt to diffuse his nervousness around the Copy Nin.
After the meeting with the Hokage the night before, they both had begged Iwashi to let them spend the night at the sensor ninja's room. Iwashi, slightly disoriented from having had to spend three days in a row within the Barrier Room; had blearily let them in and went back to sleep. They were both avoiding a sure-to-come interrogation from one Hatake Kakashi about the whereabouts of their pseudo-sister, there was no denying that. Thinking that by early morning they would be out of the village and therefore safe from a certain masked jounin's probing, both himself and Genma had fallen asleep almost immediately.
Imagine his surprise when the first person that he and Genma had encountered while they were waiting for the Sandaime at the Northern Gate was the Copy-Nin himself. Genma had actually groaned when they first sensed the fast approaching chakra signature. Fortunately for them both, the Sandaime and the Ino-Shika-Cho had arrived not a second later.
Much to his –and Genma's– relieved, they had sped up through the trees in silent. The scarred-face tokujo was praying fervently that by the end of this particular journey they would have no need to explain anything at all to the ex-ANBU. He really had no wish to find out whether Kakashi had earned his infamous nickname as the 'Friend's Killer' or not.
Hatake Kakashi eyed the two tokujo's from behind as they were following Sarutobi Asuma through the myriads of hidden passage within the Daimyo's Palace. He was trying to analyse their unusual behaviour toward him ever since they met that morning at the Northern Gate.
When his internal alarm clock rang at 0430 that morning, Kakashi coaxed his body up to leave his comfortable futon. Showering, putting on clothes, preparing and taking breakfast took him about forty-five minutes. After locking up and putting up the traps littered around his apartment, the jounin went to pay his morning visits at the Memorial Stone. Over an hour mark of talking to his dead team-mates, he remembered that he had delayed looking for Raidou and Genma the night before, as he was too weary to move around much longer. He then headed out to Genma's quarter only to find that it was dark and locked up. Hoping he could catch up with the senbon chewing tokujo at Raidou's place, he leapt up to the adjacent building toward Raidou's room. However, the apartment was also locked and empty.
He had arrived at the Gate at 0700 to find Genma and Raidou huddled and whispering close together. The ex-ANBU was about to greet them when the Sandaime along with the clan heads of Yamanaka, Nara and Akamichi showed up, thus Kakashi pushed his curiosity to the back of his mind for the moment.
The Hokage greeted them all a cheery good morning and told them that they were to leave immediately, his Kage's robe and hat noticeably absent. The six ninjas fell into formation at once and sped through the gigantic trees that lent it canopy to Konoha's protection.
As a front-line combatant and advanced tracker, Kakashi had taken point, flanked by Shikaku to his right and Genma to his left. Raidou followed behind the Nara's clan head while Inoichi fell behind Genma, putting the Yamanaka's clan head sensor ability at the best position. Akimichi Choza closed the formation at the back and with the Sandaime in the middle of the formation, they had all sides covered.
They travelled in silent, the Hokage clearly had indicated that they were to arrive as fast as they could and all of them being veteran ninjas had complied without much ado.
The sun goddess was smiling merrily high above their head when they arrived at the capital. The Sandaime had taken to lead them to a side wall then, where they met with a surprised Sarutobi Asuma by a hidden door. They then followed the Fire Guardian inside through a maze of hidden passage that Kakashi knew ended up within the Fire Daimyo's private quarter.
Kakashi had often guard Uzumaki Kushina through the same maze when she was visiting Madame Shijimi for tea; and he had deduced that the meeting between the Hokage, the Fire Daimyo and Madame Shijimi was not of a public matter. Considering what the Sandaime had told him the previous night, it was highly probable that Konoha Council had no knowledge about the nature of the meeting. Also, judging from his companions' expressions, only Genma and Raidou had the needed information.
They left the Hokage and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio with the Daimyo, following Asuma through the inner path that Kakashi knew would lead them to Madame Shijimi's pavilion. Suddenly feeling crowded with the memories of Kushina-san's excited laughter and suppressed giggling while she was ruffling his hair; he took out Jiraiya-sama's newly published book from his waist pouch and began reading. Mentally shaking his head off the images from the past, he half-heartedly listened to his comrades' conversation with the sound of a beating drum in the background.
The sight of the large kashi or the evergreen oak tree at the entrance of Madame Shijimi's pavilion had him cringing at another memory.
'Here 'Kashi, wait for me here under the kashi tree, okay?' giggled.
Huffed.
Another giggle.
Kakashi was brought out of his reverie when he noticed that his companions had stopped walking. Confused, since he knew that they were still steps away before reaching the pavilion, the silver crown raised and he too, stopped.
There were crowds of maids gathered at the edge of the courtyard. The jounin could see Madame Shijimi lounged on a wooden divan in front of her pavilion, a four year old girl with brown hair sat at her lap. A little to the back Kakashi could see little Naruto sitting quietly, transfixed.
They were watching a young woman playing a single chuu-daiko in the middle of the courtyard, and Kakashi's good eye too, drawn to the girl.
She was facing Madame Shijimi and had her back to the crowd. The girl was garbed in a soft-coloured yukata, both ends of her sleeves were tied up away from her elbow. The yukata was tied loosely, showing that she wore a similar colour hakama(11) underneath; providing her with easy movements. Her long hair was red bordering brown, braided and tied low below her waist.
Kushina-san?
Kakashi blinked.
He realized that the girl's hair was much of a darker shade of red than Kushina-san's.
She was playing a traditional bondori(12) rhythm.
The red tassels at the end of her bachi(13) spun and twirled along with the falling and raising of her hands.
The strokes were powerful and precise.
Her kata were exact and fluent.
A gentle leap of the feet and a sharp descent of the body.
Sweet summer breeze.
A snap. Her hair was loose. The strands were flying like flame.
A fast succession of double beats.
Thunderstorm rolling by.
A gentle tap of the bachi.
Water dripping on the leaves.
A soft nudge at the drum.
And everything went back to the way it was.
There was a collective claps and the spell was broken.
Having bowed toward Madame Shijimi, the girl then turned around to bow to the crowd and Kakashi heard a sharp intake of breath from Genma, he tucked away the gesture to be pondered upon later.
The Madame noticed their presence then, and she motioned Asuma to approach her. Obligingly, they followed the Fire Guardian into the Pavilion.
Inside the large reception room, they found little Naruto and the four years-old brown-haired girl chattering excitedly with the red-head. When said red-head sensed the four shinobi's presence in the room, she raised her pointy finger before her lips and made a soft shushing sound which stopped the incessant chatter immediately. The oldest girl bowed at them, Naruto waved merrily toward Genma and Raidou, while the youngest merely stared at the strangers before the eldest girl excused themselves and then led the two younger girls up the stairs.
The Madame then told them to have lunch there at the pavilion before she too, excused herself up the stairs; leaving Asuma, Kakashi, Genma and Raidou in the care of her servants.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Akimichi Choza and the Fire Daimyo passed through the first floor of Madame Shijimi's pavilion where the four younger shinobi were resting after being served an elaborated lunch. The Daimyo waved off the Konoha shinobi's bow and proceeded to climb the stairs up to the second and third floor in fast yet unhurried steps. His guests were following close behind him, their faces expertly schooled to that of a blank mask. The Sandaime signalled his shinobi to stand their ground as he walked by them. The four younger ninjas nodded their understanding.
They entered the conference room where the Daimyo's wife was waiting for them by the entrance along with a red-headed girl sitting at an inconspicuous corner with her head down. A fox was lying by her side, its tails twirled around one of the girl's hand. Soon after everyone had been seated, Madame Shijimi closed the door and promptly locked it tightly while the red-head raised her hand in a single hand seal. The occupants of the room felt an immense burst of chakra and could see a powerful barrier had been erected. After a moment of intense silence, the Fire Daimyo tilted his chin diminutively toward his wife.
"Right. Let's cut through the pleasantries. Naruto-chan, if you please?"
The red-head raised her head slowly while standing up; gasps of surprises could be heard from the Daimyo's guests.
When the Fire Daimyo had finally explained the reasons for calling him to the Capital, Sarutobi had raised his eyebrows in surprise. He had thought that the Daimyo was jesting with them, but the usual gullible front was missing from the Daimyo's face and the Sandaime realized that the man was serious. As far as his knowledge, time travel was only a speculation upon paper. To think that his surrogate grandchild had travelled from a destroyed future was, to put it lightly, unprecedented. However, he noticed the 'Aha!' look on Shikaku's face, and he was willing to listen to the Daimyo's brief explanation. The Professor was still somewhat doubtful when he followed the Fire Daimyo to Madame Shijimi's pavilion.
However, looking at this girl….
The girl was staring straight at the Sandaime's eyes, her ocean-coloured eyes glimmering with unshod tears while her body coiled tightly as if it took everything she had not to shake. The wizened Hokage did not even realize that he too, was standing up.
"Jijii…."
The nickname was barely audible, but Hiruzen heard it loud and clear. More like his heart had heard it than his ears. He scrutinized the red-head's face minutely, not wanting to miss any details. The hair colour was different, the eyes' shape was different, hell, even her age was different from the last time he had seen her not five weeks ago; but there was no mistaking that expression. It was the same longing expression that he had seen countless of time on little Uzumaki Naruto's face when she asked about her parents and family. The same adoring look that one little bundle of sunshine had bestowed him when he took her out for ramen.
He did not even realize that he had opened his arms until the girl was gripping his waist in a relieved hug. The Sandaime closed his arms around Naruto's lithe form then, one hand stroking her hair and the other tapping at her back soothingly.
Sarutobi held the sobbing girl in his arms for hours, or seconds, he did not really know.
Naruto tried and tried to stop her falling tears without any success, but she had missed Jijii so very much. It was his kind smile that had warmed her heart when she felt so alone and cold inside. It was his tender gaze that had strengthened her resolves when she was about to break down and gave up. It was his gentle tap on her back that had helped her moved forward toward her goals.
For the longest time, Jijii had always been there for her and she had missed him every day of her life since he died at Orochimaru's hands.
After what seemed to be hours, her tears finally dried out and she coaxed herself to loosen her grips on Jijii's waist. She reached to one of the Sandaime's hand, inhaling the burnt tobacco's scent that screaming 'Jijii' deeply and took a step back.
"I'm so sorry, Jijii."
She was sorry for many things. Sorry for crying, sorry for letting the Old Man died once before, sorry for not being able to stop Sasuke from defecting Konoha, sorry for allowing Asuma-Sensei died while protecting her from the Akatsuki, sorry for not being able to save countless of Konoha's citizens: be it ninjas or civilians, sorry for failing her duty as a Hokage and so many of her other failures.
The look that the Sandaime gave her made her thinks that Jijii did understand.
Wrinkled knuckles wiped away the remnants of her tears and she blinked.
They had a conversation due, one which the sooner it was done the sooner they could start planning and scheming. The sooner they could hopefully steer the future away from the path of destruction. Baa-chan had said to cut through the pleasantries. 'Right, that's what I'll do, then'.
She turned to face the Yamanaka clan's head and bowed slightly, still holding the Sandaime's hand in hers.
"Inoichi Oji-san," she murmured, "If you please, you can start your Shindenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Transmission Technique) on me to speed up our meeting. I can enhance the technique for you so that everyone in this room can see and hear what you do. I must warn you all, though: There are things that I'd like to keep to myself, as I don't think they've any relevancy to the crux of the matter."
Inoichi eyed the girl before him carefully, and then threw a minuscule of a glance toward Choza and Shikaku. He sensed rather than saw both of his best friends nodded their agreement. He sighed.
"Alright. I take it that you're familiar with the technique?"
The red-head nodded and sat down in front of him, her hand still gripping the Sandaime's tightly. "I am. Whenever you're ready, Inoichi Oji-san."
The Yamanaka drew a calming breath and put the palm of his right hand on top of the girl's head. Faster than any other mind probing that he had ever done before, images started to flood his mind. Some were too fast to be discerned, but others were considerably slower so that he could watch them with clarity.
Naruto showed them many things and skipped on others.
She showed them Orochimaru's placing his Cursed Mark on Sasuke and Otogakure's Invasion, also fighting Gaara and Shukaku on the outskirts of Konoha, but she skipped the Sandaime's death. Meeting Itachi for the first time, finding Tsunade, battling Orochimaru alongside Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune. She showed them Sasuke's defection and her promise to bring Sasuke back, but skipped on their battle at the Valley of the End.
Her training trips with Jiraiya and her courses with Madame Shijimi, saving Jiraiya from hordes of towel-clad, angry women from various onsens, editing the boring book that Jiraiya called literature were happily shared.
Returning home to Konoha, how she and Sakura defeating Kakashi with spoilers and saving Gaara. She showed them chasing after Sasuke and Orochimaru, intensive elemental training with Kakashi and Yamato-Taichou, battling Hidan and Kakuzu alongside Team Ten but skipping on Sora's rampage in Konoha and Asuma's death. How they were trying to contain the Sanbii, chasing after Sasuke, again, and meeting Itachi, again.
Skipping on Jiraiya's death but showing them her Sage training at Mount Myouboku, coming home to an obliterated Konoha, sensing the missing chakra signatures, battling the six Pains, meeting her father in her mindscape, talking to Nagato and Konan and the revival of the fallen Konoha shinobi.
Another Sasuke's chase, meeting Tobi/Madara and learned about the Uchiha Massacre, Danzo as the Hokage, her bijuu training with Killer Bee and Gyukii and the happy memory of meeting her mother. How she extracted the Kyuubi's chakra with Kushina's help. Becoming an Empath like Uzumaki Mito.
The Fourth Shinobi War. The devastation, the desperation, ninjas fighting Edo Tensei-ed loved ones. Fighting dead Jinchuuriki, breaking Obito's mask, Sasuke's return, battling alongside the Edo Tensei-ed Hokages against the revived Madara. She showed them how she and Sasuke died and being revived. Finally, along with Sasuke, managed in defeating Madara for good. She skipped a whole lot of other's death, including Inoichi's and Shikaku's death.
Showing them the aftermath, the temporary peace and in the end, the calamity that had led to her death before the nine bijuu revived her once again and brought her back to this timeline. She skipped the part where all the nine bijuu are tied to her seal, albeit loosely.
Naruto cut out her mind connection with Inoichi and straightened her back. There were muffled steps and the next thing she knew she was wrapped around Madame Shijimi's embrace and Jijii had unknowingly gripped her hand to the point of it being painful.
"My child," Naruto turned around to face the-now-sitting-down Sandaime, "I am deeply sorry for all the hurts I've caused you."
And the Kami no Shinobi bowed before her.
Before she could utter a single word to ease the Sandaime's guilt, there was a quick rap on the door and then the gruff voice of Sarutobi Asuma echoed through the room.
"Daimyo-sama, I'm very sorry to disturb your meeting, but we're under attack!"
Footnote:
1 Yukata: Informal, loose kimono for outdoor (summer) use
2 Tabi: Ankle high socks with divided toe to be used with geta/zori (wooden sandals/woven flip-flops)
3 Tamagoyaki: Rolled omelet
4 Youkan: Dessert made of thick jelly, red bean paste, and sugar
5 Miko: Japanese shrine maiden, kunoichi often disguised as wandering Miko
6 Maiko: Geisha apprentice, ninja often placed in tea-houses, onsens etc. disguised as Maiko
7 Ninja Juuhakkei: The Eighteen Ninja Disciples
8 Emoto, Masaru "The Message from Water" series
9 Iromoji: Single coloured kimono for tea ceremonies
10 Chuu-daiko: Medium-sized Japanese drum
11 Hakama: A divided knee-length skirt
12 Bondori: Traditional festive rhythm
13 Bachi: Daiko sticks. Straight, thick drum sticks.