Disclaimer: Not the cranes! NOOOoooo….My paper cranes…. When I said water, I meant a glass of water, not the entire barrels, idiots! Now I'll have to wait longer until Naruto and Kakashi and everyone in it could be mine….
AN:
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070214: fixed typos, hopefully I've got it all
Chapter 4: Where to Go When You Hit Rock Bottom
"Kuso…."
Sai had never been so relieved to hear Naruto's cussing than that moment. His blonde team-mate might had the uncanny ability to jump back up no matter how hard, how far, she fell, that true; however, after watching her slipped into four-months of comatose state he could not help but worry. On top of that, they still had not met with any success in formulating a complete antidote for the poison that she received, yet; much to Tsunade's frustration. He crouched at his friend's side and helped her to a sitting position.
"Can you stand, Dickless?"
Naruto cringed. The enemy was quite good with his sword. He managed to wound her vertically from her left shoulder down to just above her right hip. Luckily, she was able to draw her torso back even a little; otherwise the cold air would be greeting her ribcage by then. She ran an internal check and a grim smile rose on her face. Sitting was manageable, but standing was beyond her at that moment.
"Give me some time, Sai."
Her friend nodded. He then joined her to sit on the ground back to back. It was the best position that they could take considering their location. The seating arrangement provided them with the widest visual range possible. They sat there leaning to each other, trying to catch their breath and to calm their frantic heartbeats.
Ideally, they should have moved to some more secure location, however they were both too tired to move. Naruto had not yet fully recovered, and her wound only worsened her condition. Sai himself had nearly depleted his chakra after flying Naruto's unconscious body out of Konoha for five hours straight; and that including making a detour every now and then to let loose any pursuers.
After several minutes of silence, Naruto could barely contain her curiosity.
"Hey, Sai? What happened, really? Is it that bad that you guys had to smuggle me out of Konoha?"
Sai was rummaging in his equipment pouch when his comrade fired out the questions. He contemplated of what to say for a minute all the while getting a roll of bandage out. He sighed.
"Words spread quickly that you were poisoned and fell into coma. The Kages tried to keep it quite while investigating the culprit, to no avail. There were leaks and agitators, people freaked out. Suspicion was all around high, and you were getting worse. It's all lead to chaos." Sai finished bandaging his calf at the same time with his explanation.
"What, the Kages could not keep order?" Naruto was still trying to wrap her mind around the news. She might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she was smart enough to understand the report—for that what it was—that Sai was giving her.
Distrust and suspicion were certain to bring restlessness that would eventually lead to a civil breakout. In a way, a civil breakout was much more damaging than shinobi war, because shinobi would have tried the hardest to spare the civilian from harm, whilst a civil breakout would lead to everyone's attacking everyone. Ninjas would find it hard to tackle civilian mobs for their trainings, their instincts had been honed to protect the civilian first and foremost, not casting jutsu against them. And if the distrusts were also being spread among shinobi….
"No, they could not; add hundreds of Orochimaru's human experiments on the loose, hundreds of rouge ex-Ne going underground and some power hungry people with capitals on their hands into the mix, you got total chaos. Shikamaru-san also said that it was likely that we had missed some White Zetsu. The other Kages were also enraged that Konoha has failed to keep their hero safe within her own village.
It would not be so bad had we managed to find and capture the ones responsibility for poisoning you, or at the very least to cure you immediately, yet the poison was very advanced. Shizune-san, Genma-san, Mitarashi-san, Ugly-san and Tsunade-sama were all dumbfounded. Not to mention that Kurama hasn't been able to purge it out of your system. But as it was…." Sai was quite for a moment before continuing, "Konoha had burnt to the ground. We've abandoned Konoha."
The black eyed man heard a gasp from behind him.
"That... that bad?" The blonde choked on her question. "Where... where is everyone? Everyone's okay, right?" Baa-chan, Shizune, Iruka, Team Kakashi, Ino-Shika-Cho, Team 8, Team Gai, Konohamaru Corps… The list flashed in her mind, her panic was rising higher and higher. She knew they were all good shinobi and could take care of themselves, but they were her family in all but blood, the only family she had ever had, damn it! there was no stopping her from worrying about them.
Sai stood up and moved to her side. He held out a hand to help her rise onto her feet, his fake smile in place.
"We need to find a safer place to talk and to treat your wound. That boulder over there looks good enough." Sai was delaying the inevitable, he knew it; yet he really did not want to deliver the news about some of their comrades' disappearances.
Naruto took the offered hand and let Sai put her arm around his shoulder before leading her to walk behind the boulder where an enemy ninja cracked his skull earlier. She shivered at the sight, but they did not have the luxury of choices at that time. They sat face to face with Naruto leaning back against the boulder. Sai immediately helped her to remove her armour. That done, he gave his roll of bandage to Naruto and climbed up the boulder to crouch there, with his back turned. He continued his reports while the blue-eyed girl opened her shirt and started bandaging her wound. It was a slow process considering her hands would not stop shaking.
"Most of our shinobi went with Tsunade-sama to meet up with Terumi-sama in Nami no Kuni. Sasuke-san was sent out with Team Taka and a team of Chuunin to Oto's border to assess their movement one week ago. Orochimaru has been quiet. Too quiet. They haven't sent any reports other than saying that they're in position. Ino-Shika-Cho split out from the main force to intercept the Kazekage and his men before catching up with Tsunade-sama. Some teams of six or eight ninjas were sweeping out for any survivors before we departed. All in all less than 500 Konoha ninja are still banded together. Kiri and Iwa had it worse, I heard."
"Sai, catch." The blonde tossed him a scroll containing soldier pills and ration bars. The ex-Ne caught it with ease, eyes still scanning their surroundings. He took out a pack of ration bar and began munching slowly.
"Ugly-san and Raidou-san disappeared five weeks ago. They were supposed to provide medical support to team 8 who had been trapped in a riot at the southern part of Tanzaku Gai. Tanzaku Gai had also been burnt to the ground. Uzuki-san, Kotetsu-san and Izumo-san were dispatched to find them not two weeks ago. We haven't heard from any of them since."
Sai's voice was his usual monotone, bland and lifeless. Somehow the normality that was Sai helped to subdue Naruto's panic at learning about her missing friends.
The pale-looking nin studied his friend carefully from his perched up on the boulder. After moments of tensing and trembling, his team-mate's body relaxed slightly and he deemed it safe to continue his report.
"Iruka-san, Genma-san and Iwayashi-san ran afoul a band of Orochimaru's human experiments. They're alright," He interjected quickly at hearing the jinchuuriki's sharp intake of breath. "Shizune-san and team Gai reached them before things got any worse. We're supposed to meet up with them before entering the Capital."
The blonde kunoichi nodded, letting out a relieved sigh. There were too many deaths that she had seen within her twenty years of life already.
"Why couldn't Baa-chan take me with her, then?"
"You were badly weakened; Hokage-sama had hoped that you'd be able to get some rest and recuperate in a more secure location since the poison that you received had not been completely removed. Most likely all of them are going to join us, in the end. Other than that, there were no definite plans, actually. The Kages won't be able to gather together for too long, they have their own issues with each other as well."
"What happened in other villages? What day is it today, anyway?"
"More or less the same. There are factions with the more extreme military tendencies everywhere, you know that. The villages' main forces were severely weakened after the war and had not yet got back to their prime even after four years of rebuilding. There are also people with big enough capital that they deemed it were within their rights to demand some ridiculous things to be handed to them. All of them exploded by the time the news of your fall reached the other villages." The black haired ninja look up to check on the moon's position. "It's Wednesday, 8th today."
"Fear and greed then, huh?"
Quietly, Naruto pulled out a spare shirt from her provision pouch and began changing; her current shirt was too damaged and bloody. Too bad there was no water source nearby, she could use some bath.
The golden jinchuuriki was still trying to wrap her mind around the situation. Four months ago things were looking for the better; the war was over and done with, the rebuilding was almost done. She had just finished her ANBU training and service, and was just starting her apprenticeship as the next Hokage; Sasuke was back and joined the village again; the Medical Training Program was thriving. They were at peace with other villages for the first time in the Elemental Continent's history. The future was looking brighter than ever. Then she was poisoned, and things went under overnight.
In short, the hard-earned world's peace was spiralling down the gutter faster than she ever thought it would be. Was the shinobi world really needed a figurehead—for it seemed that what was all that she was, a figurehead—to maintain their peace so badly? Did people really need an (insanely strong and utterly crazy) common enemy to be able to set aside their differences and petty squabbles? Why could not they just agree to disagree and leave it at that?
All of those sacrifices made, all of those deaths during the last Shinobi War, had people forgotten about that?
"So, it'll be only you and I for a while, huh?"
It was only the both of them for a long time after that.
Three hundred and seventeen days, to be exact.
74 AKF
Madame Shijimi Private Pavilion, After Midnight
"Gomen, Jijii. But the Boss had specifically said no one gets through the door. In and out. They got things under control, so don't worry, dattebayo!"
The Sandaime Hokage quelled the need to facepalm. He finally settled for a deep sigh. "Himawari, it's the Kyuubi's chakra leaking out back there! I still remember the feeling and the aura!"
"It's not us, Jijii," The clone whispered as it looked around nervously. "Boss's got it under control."
"We can help, Himawari-san." Inoichi tried to get their points across, to no avail. The clones merely shook their heads again.
Shikaku did not even bother to say his trademark comment. He knew from experiences that both Minato and Kushina had a stubborn streak bigger than the Hokage Mountain. If the girl was anything like her parents, he knew that they had hit a rock wall. Literally.
They had been arguing for the last ten minutes since they reached the first floor. When the first batch of bunshins abruptly disappeared, the four of them had been worried that something had happened to the Namikaze's heiress, thus they had rushed to the door, only to be blocked by another batch of clones. However, whereas they had a chance to just barrel through the first batch, the later was out of the question.
These new clones were at least Kage level ones, from the chakra they exuded alone. They had seen what the girl could do when she showed them her memories earlier, and one thing that all of them noted was that she could be very, very fast. The Konoha no Kiiroi Senkou's(1) progeny, indeed.
"But surely, Himawari-san…" Chouza was still trying to make the clones to see their reasoning. He was cut short, again.
"The Boss had said 'no', Chouza-Oji. So, NO!" The nearest clone stomped its foot to emphasize its point. "Aaa, they're done. Kurama's bringing a child here, and the Boss's also taking a friend and his little brother here, too!"
The Nara clan head raised an eyebrow. "Friend?"
The informative clone scratched its neck, muttered, "Umm… From somewhere?" Okay, now it's not so informative any longer.
The Hokage was about to ask another question when Kurama glimmered and took shape among the clones, carrying a bloody little boy with grey-bluish hair in his arms. The Sandaime and the Ino-Shika-Cho immediately stepped aside to make way. The original Himawari ran toward them, dragging a dark haired nin and a little boy with light grey hair along.
Kurama laid the bloody boy upon one of the table in the middle of the room, hands deftly pulling off the boy's bloody clothes from his body. The Sarutobi and his vassals were quick to follow him in.
Shikaku immediately pulled every bandage that he had in his equipment pouch out while Inoichi helped Kurama to wrap the wounds the best they could. The boy was suffering from severe chakra burns and chakra poisoning. Chouza was taking the boy's bloody clothes out when Himawari and her friend entered the premise.
"How is he, Kurama? Did you do it?"
"I took all the chakra out; it's easy since the seal holding it was loosening. But the damage is…bad." The girl was already placing her palms on top of the boy's head and chest. "No! Don't! With your circulation problem, you'll more likely to hurt him than heal him!"
The hands were withdrawn, she settled to rub the boy's hair instead. The fox-man turned his attention to the newcomer who was putting down a little boy from his back. He grinned at the young man.
"So, you made it back, too, huh?"
"Can any of you please fill us in of what have been going on?" The Sandaime, who had been waiting patiently aside while the injured boy was being treated, finally had enough and cut their conversations off. A tick mark was growing larger by the second as Himawari turned her attention toward the wizened Hokage. She grinned sheepishly at him, unconsciously raised one hand to scratch the back of her head.
"Can we hear them?" Genma chimed in as he and Raidou passed the entrance to the pavilion. Kakashi had already settled himself, slouching against the wall by the door, nose buried in a familiar orange book and seemingly without a care in the world. Himawari had to push back a snort at the sight, years of being around the Sharingan wielder had taught her never to take the gesture as a sign of his lack of interests. The man was the epitome of deception.
She had yet to open her mouth when Asuma, Chiriku and another Fire Guardian entered the premise with their prisoner in tow.
"I think explanations can wait in favour of taking care of the prisoner first, don't you think, Hokage-sama?" Shikaku drawled from his seat and Himawari felt like glomping the man for the save. "Can we inform the Daimyo about our situation? How do you get a message through upstairs?
It was Sarutobi Asuma who answered, "I'll get to it."
Swiftly and surely, the Gama Sennin picked his way through the labyrinth that would lead them right to the inner courtyard of the Daimyo's Palace or right into the city's sewage system –you pick. It had been a while since the last time he ventured through the maze, yet he still remembered it like it was yesterday. Shizune was following closely at his heel, having no desire to get lost within the capital's underground tunnels.
In the end they had to circle half of the capital before finding a suitable place for Tsunade to regain back her composures. They had left her at an abandoned lumberjack's hut by the Western wall. The last Senju had insisted that she would be fine on her own for a while. She had promised to catch up with them once there was no more smell of blood drifting out along with the wind. Shizune had consented, but left Ton-Ton with her Shishou so that the blonde Sennin could find them faster when said Sennin decided she could join them.
Jiraiya noted that they were about to take the last turn when he heard a commotion up ahead.
He had sent a messenger toad, Koisuke, to Madame Shijimi when they were half-way to the capital to inform her that they were coming and their Estimation Time of Arrival. Koisuke had returned to him with a message that they were to proceed directly inside and into the pavilion. There was nothing mentioned about expecting an attack or whether there would be any welcoming party. 'Look like it was an unprecedented attack, then. Let's see who we have here.'
The Gama Sennin signalled Shizune to flatten her back against the wall and then cast the Touton no Jutsu(2) upon the both of them and waited.
A single masked ninja stumbled into the labyrinth, clearly injured yet determined to make his run. A simple chop to the back of the black-clad ninja's head later, Jiraiya had the man slumped on his shoulder. Both he and Shizune then proceeded to enter the Palace's inner courtyard.
Once they were out of the maze, the Gama Sennin stretched his senses and raised his brows when he detected the presences of his Sensei and another familiar chakra signature. It was already past midnight.
"Let's go Shizune! To the pavilion we go!" He exclaimed in his trademark Kabuki style, arms stretched, legs wide apart, large grin on his face and all that. The black-haired medic sighed, feeling a large sweat-drop formed behind her head.
"Hai, Jiraiya-sama."
Naruto was having a temper tantrum inside her mind-scape.
"Let me get this straight, you didn't know what will happen when someone with normal chakra reserve travelled through the crack of time and space that you had created. Yet you brought Sai along? What if he died on the way? What if he died when he got here? What if Danzo was there in the room when he changed into his grown up self, dattebayo!? And what do you mean you had no idea where he disappeared to after we got here, huh?"
"Brat, your body was lying on his lap! There was no time to separate you two. He'd be dead anyway from the pressure of our Lament! What would you have me do, leave him there to be shred to pieces just like everything else?" The Nine-Tailed Bijuu felt his low patience level was thinning out ever so quickly.
"You could have told me you brought him along. I could go and find him before we come here, dattebayo!"
"And where do you purpose to find him? Even the pale brat himself only remembered that he was put somewhere to the west of Konoha when he was trained by that cripple! There's a large stretched of land there. Your chakra is still unstable; don't tell me you're going to use Senjutsu with your current problem! Even your normal sensing isn't working right now, let alone Senjutsu! Thousands of Kage Bunshins would be too suspicious, even if you henged them to take another form. I have to work hard enough as it is to keep your humongous chakra suppressed!"
"And why do I have to suffer this… this… whatever this chakra problem is? Why can't you guys just take it to your own body?"
The large fox rolled his eyes. "We can take the excess chakra, yes. But the other hosts don't have your Uzumaki chakra and capacity. They may very well explode from chakra overload. Do you really want that?"
The slender shoulders sagged. Kurama knew that he had won this round. He grinned widely, savouring the little victory.
"No, I don't want that, dattebayo!" The girl bit her bottom lips and sighed in defeat. "You know, Kurama. I remember getting lost in the forest and being brought back by two kind ninjas as a kid, but I didn't meet my godmother then. Why is it different now?"
Flicking his tails one by one lazily, the bijuu took his time in answering, until he heard an irritated sigh coming from the blonde girl standing before him. He gave the girl an annoyed huff before gracing her with an answer.
"The Lesser Demon sensed our chakra wave when we got here, and she prompted her mistress to investigate. We're being here is not natural, as I said before there bound to be a disturbance in the flow of nature. Animals are much more sensitive than human in that regard. Remember that earthquake in Kusa? There had been reports of wild animals fled from the area one day before the quake, right? They were running away to find something that had been interrupted and lost in that place: stability in the flow of nature.
Seeing how things progressed so far, I'm beginning to think that it would be much easier for us if our arrival went unnoticed. Less complication that way."
"Yeah, so many explanations all at once. Too much talking already, and not much done." She bit her bottom lip before brightened up again. "But hey, we saved Asuma-Sensei's friends. The last time it was only the monk and Sora's dad beside Asuma-Sensei who survived. Even then, Sora's dad pretended to be dead, right? So we did do something good, dattebayo!"
The large, red eyes gleamed for a moment, "If you say so, Brat. Just remember that there'll likely other butterfly effect forming already without you realizing it."
"What kind of butterfly?" The dumb question was belied by the sparkle in the deep blue-eyes.
"Brat. Don't play dumb with me. You might be not as smart as me, but you're definitely smarter than you let on."
"Thanks!" Kurama counted to five in his head. '5, 4, 3, 2, 1'. "Hey! What do you mean by that, dattebayo?!"
The Fox Demon merely levelled her with a pointed look. The girl returned it with a pointed glare of her own before huffing loudly.
"Okay… okay. I get it. Super-smart-ass demon and all that…. Wait, how about Sai? How come he could travel back too? I'm glad he did, dattebayo, but this is so confusing!"
"See what I mean, Brat?" The satisfied grin was big enough to tempt Naruto to give a grin of her own. "This is only a guess, but I think it's because your friend is used to my chakra."
"Huh? So did many others, didn't they?"
"He's your ANBU mentor and partner. How many times did you transfer our chakra onto him during the years? You've been paired up together for two years after the war, not to mention the last year on the run. He's built his own resistant to the bijuu's chakra. That's what I think the reasons for his survival through the journey here, since us bijuu had to weave some sort of chakra cocoon to make sure you survived the journey and he was incorporated within the cocoon along with you.
It's the same with that one-eyed Sensei of yours. Why did you think it was so easy for me to give him my chakra the first time around? It's because of familiarity. His chakra was always around you, Brat. There were times during Kushina's pregnancy when her seal was loose just enough for me to look around and I was able to feel her surroundings. That brat's chakra was always there in the background, but close. He was what… your mother's personal guard, wasn't he? Even during the years before we met, his chakra was always there around you. You learned about that when we fought against that one-eye Uchiha, have you forgotten that already?"
"No, I haven't." The blue eyes dimmed when he mentioned her Sensei, and she fell quiet after that.
Kurama knew he was being particularly wicked to bring that topic out into their conversation. Yet he knew that it would shut her up immediately and besides, he did not feel any remorse for the sad glint and denial in her eyes. The Brat had refused to mourn, and it was actually eating her up inside. She had been pushing her grieve and loss aside long enough –three, four years– it's time for her to accept and deal with it.
She needed to grieve, and then maybe she could move on afterwards.
"Dickless."
The Jinchuuriki raised her head; dampened blue eyes met inquisitive black ones.
"You're thinking about Senpai again."
Naruto had always imagined that the day Sasuke return to the village, the four of them, Kakashi, Sakura, Sakura and Naruto herself would spend hours together; training, talking, laughing, joking, doing nothing at all, but together nonetheless. That there would be so many things to share and talk about with each other after years of being apart.
It did not happen that way.
After the war, the funeral, the days of mourning, and settling back in the village, Sasuke, Sakura and herself had drifted apart. They were still placed on the same team; their teamwork was still excellent, they still went on missions together, had dinner once a month and trainings together from time to time. Yet the three of them soon realized that they had little to nothing in common outside trainings and battling together.
After all the 'do you remembers' have been recalled, you could only talk so much about new training method and jutsu, including giving suggestions and advices to each other. As soon as everything that ninja related had been said and done, the rest of the time they would fell into awkward silence.
Bickering with each other had worked at first, but they, at least Naruto herself, realized that as they grew older, one could only bicker so much.
Strangely enough, Naruto had found an agreeable company in Sai. Their personalities clashed, true; she had always worn her heart on her sleeve and Sai had no concepts of personal emotions whatsoever. Naruto would prattle all she wanted while Sai was busy painting, but they both had found a strange sort of understanding. Naruto's prattler was amusing to Sai, while the pale-looking nin's quiet attitude never failed to calm the jinchuuriki.
Then the Godaime had assigned Sai to be Naruto's mentor when she ordered the Jinchuuriki to join the ANBU as Hokage-in-training, and later they were partnered together for over two years. They were only grown closer then.
She sighed. Blue eyes were staring expressionlessly at the room before they fell on the figure slouching against the wall. She tore her gaze away quickly.
"He's here, alive and well. I was both surprised and happy to see him. But I just realized that he's not the same person, and if I had my way, he would never be. I'll do anything to spare him the pain of knowing what his best friend had done to us, to my parents, to the village, the world and the future. I'll do anything to spare him the guilt of what he'd be blaming himself for without a doubt.
You didn't see him when the truth came out, Sai. When Tobi's mask was broken and he told us why he did what he did. Sensei was crushed into so many pieces in so many ways, I was so afraid I couldn't reach out to him ever again… That nobody would ever could. But if he'd never become who he was in our past… future… I…" The jinchuuriki buried her face into her folded arms upon the table, body shaking lightly.
Sai, emotionally stunted as he was, sometimes seemed to have his moments of epiphany about other people's feelings at the right times. He reached out to take one of her hands and hold it in his, although his face remained placid.
"You're not planning on telling him about yourself, about where and when we're coming from." It was not a question.
His friend shook her head slightly, face still buried in her arms. The former Ne sighed and tightened his hold on her hand.
The silver-haired nin took a quick glance around as he flipped the page of his book, the scenes in the room looked much more interesting than the content of Jiraiya-sama's masterpiece at the moment. Well, to be honest, only the scene at one corner of the room.
Genma was sitting with his back against the wall while munching some Karumeyaki(3), the servants' quarter had been re-opened and they had been busy bringing out some midnight snacks for the guests. Raidou was sprawled at the same side of the wall as Genma, snoring softly with his kokutou laid beside him. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Sandaime Hokage and the remaining Fire Guardians were helping and accompanying the Fire Daimyo interrogating the prisoners in jail, heavily guarded by a team of Palace's Guards. Madame Shijimi was at the second floor, busy supervising the children which somehow had grown in number from two in the afternoon into four past midnight.
He directed his gaze towards his point of interests at the moment.
The red-head's Kage Bunshins had spread themselves around the pavilion to stay on guard. Their warm and somewhat familiar chakra enveloped the entire pavilion, saturating the air with a sense of contentment.
The original red-head herself was sitting face to face with Kurama at one corner. He could only see one side of her face from where he was standing. Even then, the visible part of her face was partly covered by the scarlet locks curtailing down her face. Both the Uzumaki and Kurama were locked in a staring contest. They were trading glowers and scowls back and forth, with occasional snarls every now and then.
The pale ninja whose name he had learnt was Sai was sitting between the two, eyeing them with an unassuming look on his face. It looked as if Sai was observing an everyday occurrence between them, which was more than likely considering the way they had been communicating with each other since the black-haired nin made his appearance earlier. Single silver brow frowned at the remembrance.
The strange feeling of déjà vu around the girl was overwhelming. Even when the red-head was dragging her black-haired friend toward the pavilion the sensation persisted. Like seeing a different hair-coloured girl tugging her friend to go somewhere while Kakashi himself was following from behind, chuckling all the way.
Then there was the anxiety he had felt when the clones suddenly disappeared. Again, the impression that the same thing had happened before yanked at his gut.
The single dark grey eye moved back toward Genma. He suspected that the bandanna wearing nin had heard him growling when the red-head hugged her friend, since the Tokujou kept throwing him an odd look every so often. That growl had been unexpected, even he was surprised at himself.
The Shiranui raised his head from his teacup and raised a questioning brow at him. Kakashi merely gave him a blank look and returned to his book.
A slight movement from Kurama pulled his attention back to that particular corner. The odd-haired man was leaning back at his seat, grinning smugly at the red-head. While the Uzumaki was slumped back on her seat, staring down morosely at her own folded hands on the table. It looked like their staring contest had ended, with Kurama being the winner.
Kakashi raised his book to his face when the blue eyes roamed the room. It would not do to get caught spying…observing her so blatantly.
The Sai guy was saying something to the red-head; Kakashi narrowed his uncovered eye, trying to lip-read their conversation. But the guy was good, his lips were barely moving at all. They spoke in low voices, barely above whispering. A word or two drifted his way, but nothing more. He was tempted to apply chakra to his ears when the Uzumaki began talking; however their conversation seemed to be a private one despite of the place.
He decided to let his curiosity suffer for the moment. The chance that Himawari, Sai and Kurama were going to go back with them to Konoha was high. Now that she had met Naruto, there was no way an Uzumaki would leave a family member growing up alone, that much he knew from Kushina-san. And judging from the way the other two seemed to gravitate around the Uzumaki, Kakashi was certain that they would follow her everywhere she went. He would have more chance to spy… observe her later.
Kakashi returned his book back into his waist-pouch when the Daimyo and his contingent entered the room while Genma nudged Raidou awake.
The Fire Daimyo, the Sandaime and the Ino-Shika-Cho trio took their seats around the Uzumaki, their faces grim.
"So, how's the interrogation going, Daimyo-sama?" It was the red-head who broke the silence tension.
"Hmm? Kazuma was happy to talk, actually. It was almost like he was proud to babble out his plan. He said that he had received a message late last night about the Hokage coming here and was advised to execute their plan of removing the Hokage and Ourselves tonight. He was to be supported with two hundred and fifty high level ninja to perform the task.
He went to the Fire Temple yesterday morning to collect his son whom he has prepared to be their ultimate weapon. Kazuma claimed that he collected the residue from the Kyuubi's chakra and sealed it into his son." The Daimyo raised an eyebrow toward Kurama and the Fox-Man nodded diminutively. "The masked ninja were mostly silence, but some who were willing to talk, could not. They started having seizures and then paralysed completely."
"Danzou's Juuinjutsu." It was Sai who spoke.
The Daimyo tilted his head toward the black-clad nin. "Oh, you know about it? But We have searched their bodies and We have found nothing. Where did he apply it?"
"At the back of one's tongue, near the throat. I can remove it."
"Very well, you shall be escorted to prison and remove those seals from the masked ninja. Seito!"
Said Fire Guardian stood up and bowed to the Daimyo while Sai too stood up to follow Seito out of the room. They were barely took a couple of steps when a booming voice greeted them from the door.
"Behold! Mt. Myouboku Gama Holy Master Sennin, Jiraiya the Gallant is here!"
Massive sweat-dropped.
Collective face-palmed.
Group eye-rolled.
The too-wide grin fell and turned into a pout when Jiraiya noticed that nobody in the room shown any enthusiasm at his entrance. He threw his 'passenger' down from his shoulder onto the floor.
"No appreciation of a good entrance anymore, and I've brought a gift and all." The murmured words were uttered loud enough to gain another collective sweat-drop.
Seito quickly apprehended the 'gift', who was clearly part of the intruder earlier that night, and dragged the masked ninja outside towards prison.
The Gama Sennin then entered the room with a rekindled passion, wooden geta clanked loudly against the floor. A black-haired woman in black kimono trailed behind him. She bowed to the Daimyo and the Hokage before walking to Kakashi's side, tilting her head slightly as a greeting and stood at attention there.
"So, where's the beautiful Madame, Daimyo-sama? I didn't expect to have an honorary welcome committee, you know."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed before he spoke to his student. "Jiraiya, what are you doing here? And with Shizune, too? Where is Tsunade?"
"Well, you see Sensei…"
Whack!
The Gama Sennin slumped to the floor with a large bump on his head. As soon as the tall man fell, a blonde-haired woman became visible to the rest of the room.
"Here, Sensei." Senju Tsunade answered her mentor then bowed slightly toward the Daimyo. She homed in back on Jiraiya's crumpled body. "You left three hours ago, what took you so long to get here, Pervert?"
Before the white-haired man could provide an answer, the red-head had risen from her seat and headed to the stairs, murmured lowly as she passed through the door.
"I'll go get the Madame."
The blonde Sannin gawked as the girl disappeared up the stairs before whispering to nobody in particular, "That chakra…. Is that an Uzumaki?"
Naruto knew that she was practically fleeing from the room.
As soon as the room disappeared under the stairs, she slowed down her steps.
When she first realized that somehow she had been transferred into her past existence, she was ecstatic. The thoughts of meeting all of her precious people once again made her giddy with excitement and expectation. She had been blessed with another chance to safe each and every one of them, a chance that she had no intention of wasting.
However, she had never thought that it would be so painful.
Meeting her godmother, Genma, and Raidou was easy because she had thought that she had died and finally got the chance to see everybody again.
Talking to Jijii again was uncomplicated, somewhere deep down she had merely treated their meeting as another dream, just like dreaming of her father and mother.
Running into Sai was simple, because everything with Sai had always been simple.
Seeing Kakashi-Sensei again was reeling.
After the war was over and done with, she knew she had been lying to herself in saying that the silver-haired nin was only forgot the time to come to the bridge. That he was merely out of the village on a prolonged mission. That he was simply avoiding her so that he would not have to pay for her ramen bills at the Ichiraku's. That he would one day ambled to training ground three and give them, her, another lame excuse for being late, again.
She was the one who carved the names of the fallen onto the ebony surface of the Memorial Stone; she had etched his name there. However, she had always purposely skipped on reading his name every time she went to visit the Stone to pay her homages. Reading it, saying it out loud there on the Memorial would turn his absences into a fixed reality, one that she had refused to face.
In a way she had dealt with his non-attendance exactly like she did with the villagers' treatment during her childhood days. She pushed the gloomy thoughts back and aside, buried it so deep that she herself had to struggle if she ever wanted to get back there.
Kurama was particularly mad at her because of that, but she could not, would not face that one reality.
Therefore, when she turned around after finishing her daiko composition and saw that -oh-so-familiar- tuft of silver hair under the kashi tree –how ironic– orange book in one hand and the other hand in his pocket, Naruto's first thought was that her own reasoning all of these years had been proven right. That the habitually tardy jounin had finally returned from whatever mission he was sent out for, half expecting to receive that infuriating eye-smile along with his two-fingers salutation again. Waiting for that gloved-hand to land on her head and then ruffling her hair just to irritate her.
But it did not happen.
No eye-smile for her.
No two-finger salutation.
No lame excuses for being late.
No hand messing up her hair.
The truth finally hit home, hard.
After that fateful afternoon on the hospital roof, Team 7 had never put one step in Konoha together, ever again.
Naruto stopped climbing up the stairs and uncurled her fingers slowly. She had unconsciously dug her nails into the flesh on her palms. She stared at her hands as the wounds knitted themselves back together, leaving no scars on the still bloodied palms.
These people were her precious people, yet at the same time, they were not. They, for one, certainly did not know her. Despite of Genma's and Raidou's –probably Iwashi's too– protective attitude toward her, in their eyes she was still that little boy in orange jumpsuit that they had taken to watch from time to time.
Although Madame Shijimi had welcomed her with open arms as she always did in her past, this Madame Shijimi was not the same with the one from her future. This Madame Shijimi was not the one who had became her Onee-san and taught her everything she needed to know to become a strong kunoichi and a formidable Hokage. This Fire Daimyo was not the same with the uncle who kept pestering her to come to the Council Meeting disguised as a maid-in-attendance.
Iruka-Sensei still hated Naruto in this timeline. He would never going to treat her all-she-can-eat at the Ichiraku's after spending a whole afternoon in detention ever again.
This Hatake Kakashi was not her Jounin Sensei. This was not the same man who had told her that it was okay for her to find her own nindou. It was a different Kakashi who had told her that a shinobi was human first and foremost. Not the same man who had shown her how to be strong and gave her the means to do so.
He would never again tell her with that same easy conviction that he believed in her and that she was unquestionably going to surpass him and the Yondaime one day. Definitely a different person than the one who had never let her fall whenever he was around and had always tried to be around to catch her.
This Kakashi might never going to catch her even if she hit rock bottom when he was around.
That person slouching against the wall downstairs only cared for Naruto because of Minato and Kushina. The care that might never be switched into the care for Naruto because of Naruto herself, like he did in her past, his future.
The never again past, the could have been future.
Just as she came to that realization, Ero-Sennin had strolled in along with Shizune Nee-chan. It took her everything that she's got not to strangle them in a hug then and there.
Before she could even begin to control her emotions, Tsunade Baa-chan had walked in, and Naruto had no choice but running away from the room.
She felt like a coward.
Among them, her previously precious people, she was actually a stranger with memories of what could have been. Memories that she had no intention to re-live once again, just to spare them the pain of that particular could have been. She was given the chance to meet with everyone that had been precious to her once again, only to be alone in their midst.
Naruto was not sure whether it was a blessing or a curse.
"Brat, stop moping." She blinked and the bedroom door where the children were tucked in came into view. "And stop thinking that you're all alone. What are we? Chopped liver?"
"You know what I mean, Kurama. These people…."
"Are here because they care. That pale brat ran from somewhere in Ame, carrying his brother on his back, all the way here to get to you. Your pervert of a godfather and that busty blonde of an aunt ran from who knows where to get here. That one-eyed Sensei of yours, he didn't have to come but he came anyway. That old monkey was worried about you, that needle chewing guy and the scarred face…."
"Okay. Okay, I got it."
"Did you, now? Being doom and gloom doesn't suit you, Brat. If they don't know who you are, then let them in, get to know them again. Let them get to know you. Make friends. Isn't that what you always do? What's so hard in befriending your old friends all over again after you befriended me, and all the nine of us? And pay attention, your godmother is talking to you."
"…wari? Himawari? What's wrong, child?" Naruto shook her head to regain her focus and gave her worried-looking godmother a small smile.
"Gomen, Baa-chan. I just want to let you know that Jiraiya and Tsunade Baa-chan are here."
"Ah, good. I'll have Hime to take a look at little Sora's wounds." The Madame snapped her fingers and one of the servants in the room came over to her. "Go tell the Daimyo to bring the guests to the third floor, tell the blonde lady downstairs that we have a child with chakra burns and mild chakra poisoning here. And tell the cook to prepare some snacks to be served there. The ninjas have a hearty appetite, I gather. And bring some sake to the conference room, too." The maid bowed and scurried out of the room. Madame Shijimi waited until the bedroom door was closed before turning her attention back to her god-daughter. "Now, is there something you want to say, Himawari?"
"Aaa… No?"
The Madame snorted. She craned her neck into the room to deliver some hushed instructions to the maid waiting there. That done, she then grabbed her god-daughter by the hand and pushed her inside the adjacent room. Prompting Naruto to sit on the bed and she too, seated herself.
"Speak."
"Aaa…. I…." Naruto blinked back the tears that threatened to fall.
"You could have sent one of the guard or your clone to tell me that Jiraiya and Tsunade-Hime are here, yet you did not, you came yourself. And when you got here, you just stood there as if someone had slapped you in the face, hard. Now, talk. I'm all ears."
"Maa… I… I just… I've come to realize that everybody I knew had already dead, except for Sai, Baa-chan. I… it's just… I was… I'm so happy to see you again, all of you, here. Alive and breathing… but…."
"We're not the same people you've known and love. I see…. What brought this on?"
"When Ero-Sennin and Shizune Nee-chan came, I…." Naruto choked on her words, swallowed a sizeable lump in her throat before continuing, "And then Tsunade Baa-chan came in… I…." 'Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Stop crying, damn it!'
Her godmother peered into her face as if she was looking for something. After a while she stood up, "Wait here," and the Madame left the room briskly.
Naruto heard the sound of several people greeting her godmother outside the room, some whispered exchange and then silent.
She had no time to go back moping because Madame Shijimi was back within the minute with some orange material and her make-ups case in her hands. The chubby lady went back to sit beside her, handed over the orange material to her and waited.
"Huh, what do you want me to do with my tattered pants, Baa-chan?"
"Look into the pockets, Naruto."
The jinchuuriki blinked and looked down at her lap where the orange pants laid innocently. She looked at her godmother and sighed. She began tapping at the side pockets of the pants. The left side was empty. She turned the tattered material around and felt for the right side. A frown rose to her brow when she touched something hard and edgy within the pocket. Carefully, she inserted her hand into the pocket and brought out a key tied to a key-ring. She stared at it.
It was the key to her apartment door as a child, the apartment that had been destroyed when Pain attacked. But it was not the key that held her gaze; it was the key-ring. The tiny pug key-ring. The little pug wearing Konoha's hitai-ate and a nin vest with henohenomoheji drawn at the back.
Her Pakkun key-ring.
She never remembered how she had gotten the key-ring in the first place. It had always been there, maybe from the very first time she started living on her own.
Perhaps it was.
"Only one family I know in Konoha, in the entire Elemental Continent even, which holds the dog's contract." Her godmother's voice sounded so far away. "Maybe we're not the same with the ones you left behind, but we could learn to love you all the same. And you can learn to love us, too."
Naruto remained silent.
"Let's wash the hair-dye; it would be easier for you to talk to Jiraiya and Tsunade Hime as yourself, without any pretext. We could always apply the dye back on later." The Madame half-pushed half coaxed her god-daughter to step into the bathroom, and Naruto let her.
The jinchuuriki put her weary body upon the wooden stool beside the bathtub, with her back against the side of the tub and surrender herself into the care of her godmother.
Deft fingers began stroking her scalps with scented oil to soften the dye, trailing down the long tresses carefully. "Allow us to become part of your life again, Naruto-chan. We, at least your Oji-san and I, would be proud to be a part of it. And I'm certain that Hiruzen and the two assassins downstairs would like that also."
"Aaa… I…."
"And if you gave them a chance, that old pervert and Hime would be happy, too, you know." The warm hands tilted her head back, gently placing the back of her neck upon the smooth frame of the porcelain tub, her hair cascading into it. "Maybe we will not be the same ones as those in your memories, but can you at least allow us to make some new memories?"
The jinchuuriki balled her hands into a fist as she let her godmother's words sinking in. Could she do that?
Could she not having her godmother teaching her everything she knew about running a country, about being an open-minded person, about becoming a strong woman? She had already learnt all that anyway. Most importantly, the kind Madame was alive and happy –maybe not happy all the time, but in general, she was happy– and so was the Daimyo.
Not having Tsunade Baa-chan ordering her around, sending her out on missions that were certain to reduce the members of her team, not drinking sake together after a funeral when a ninja fell in the line of duty, or like after the funeral? But Tsunade Baa-chan was here, alive and, well maybe not so very happy, but she could definitely try to make her happier, right? Although, perhaps she would have to bet against Baa-chan again so that the busty woman would be willing to become the Gondaime Hokage.
That Ero-Sennin downstairs might never going to ask her to edit his so-called literature ever again, she might never going to have to save him from mobs of angry women at onsen, and he certainly was not going to throw her off the ravine to make her summon Gamabunta ever again. At least she could live without that last one. Her godfather was alive, and she could try to make sure that he would die of old age, or at least at the hands of enraged women at an onsen somewhere, but certainly not in the hands of his own student.
She could make sure that this Jijii got his retirement back so he could spend his old age in drawing and writing and walking Konohamaru to the Academy.
This Shizune Nee-chan would not be sewing Naruto's favourite battle kimono, but she would not be burning her Shishou's remains somewhere in a wasteland either.
And Kakashi-Sensei…
She would think about him later.
She could try her best to protect these people in this timeline so that they would not meet their untimely demise like their counterparts.
True, these people in this timeline were not the same as those that she had left behind…or had they leave her? but she could paint some new images with them, craft some new memories. It was not like she wanted to repeat all of those that had already been done and gone.
Yeah, she could do that.
"I'll try and do that, Baa-chan. I'll try and do that."
There was warm water poured onto her scalp and Naruto let her eyes drifted close.
The tanned girl smiled slightly as she felt her wavering resolves steeled themselves back. Who was she kidding? She had started her journey alone, making friend one at a time as she went. She would do it again. She could do it again.
She would rather having them as new friends, new family, but happy and alive than having them back as before, yet unhappy and dead.
"There, that's better."
"Thanks, Kurama."
"You're still my host first. It won't do to have you weak and teary. It'll make me look bad among my siblings."
"Love you too, you overgrown fluffy." She stretched her fist toward the fox.
"Hmph, Brat." Despite his grumbling, the demon bumped his own fist against hers. "Remember, there's only one way to go when you hit rock bottom."
Naruto gave the Nine-Tailed Demon residing in her mind-scape her own foxy grin. "UP!"
"Feels better?" The tanned girl blinked and she was welcomed by Madame Shijimi's grin.
"Hai, Baa-chan. Arigatou."
"Good, go and clean your make-ups. I shall wait for you outside and then we could attend the conference together."
Shiranui Genma watched Naruto's back disappeared behind the partition.
He had seen a glimmer of water in her eyes when the blue orbs swept over Kakashi's figure for the briefest moment. He had observed from the corner of his eyes as the now-red-head conversed with the black-haired guy. Noting how her shoulders slumped down and her back hunched on itself.
Something was bothering her, and the exuberant smile that had greeted him and Raidou yesterday –no, its past midnight already– two days ago had been dimmed considerably. She had become tensed, edgy and world-weary in general.
Approximately ten minutes after the girl withdrew from the room; a servant girl appeared to deliver some instructions to the Fire Daimyo. The Daimyo nodded, dismissed the servant and then beckoned some of the people in the room to follow him upstairs –including the black-haired nin– leaving them the lower strata to refresh themselves.
The bandanna-wearing nin nudged his scarred-face comrade to follow him outside, leaving the Hatake to entertain the black-clad kunoichi. Genma remembered her from when they were still children, but he could not recall her name at the moment. He figured they could always socialize later.
He led the way toward the large evergreen oak tree at the entrance of the pavilion before turning to face his friend. He was about to speak his mind when Raidou beat him to it.
"Something's not right with Na-Himawari." His voice was low, barely above a whisper.
"Yeah, I've noticed. What do you think is wrong with her?"
"We're dead."
"Excuse me?"
"Remember when she first arrived? She thought she was dead and was meeting us in the afterlife. She was so happy, then."
Genma scrunched his eyebrows, "and?"
"I think it's just dawned on her that we're not dead, but we're not the same person she'd known before…."
"And she almost cried when she watched Kakashi after the fight, definitely running away when the two Sannin arrived…. Shit… I'd hate to be her." He clicked his senbon against his teeth. "You know I couldn't help but loving that orange-clad scrawny little boy running around creating havoc in Konoha, right? I know you guys feel it too, and not just because of Yondaime-sama and Kushina-sama. That sad look on her face definitely wrong to be there…. What do we do?"
"My best guess is that she's worried that we'll get ourselves killed. So, what we need to do is staying alive. Keeps everybody alive. At least that way it's one less worry for her." The scarred-face Tokujou rubbed the back of his head, sighing deeply, "We have to train our ass off. Maybe taking the Jounin Exams."
Genma stared at his partner for the longest time, "That's the only way we know how, huh?"
"Yeah."
"Do you think she'd put some distance from us because we're not the same persons that she'd known before?"
"That, I have no idea."
"Let's hope not."
"Hmm."
Madame Shijimi opened the conference room's door and gently pushing Naruto inside. She then closed the door, locked them up and talked to her god-daughter, "Barrier, please, Himawari."
The jinchuuriki did as she was asked. She stood there for a moment to take note of the occupants of the room one by one from under her hood.
The Sandaime along the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were already seated on their previous seats at one side of the long table. The Fire Daimyo had taken the seat on the head of the table, hands tucked into the sleeve of his kimono, his expression calm. Both Sannin were seated across the Sandaime, eyes curious and calculating. She could see Sai sat somewhat to the side, occupying a small table to himself. Kurama was leaning against the wall behind the black-haired nin, he tilted his head at her.
Naruto was about to take a seat when Madame Shijimi held her elbow back and said softly, "Your hood, my dear."
She felt her knees weakened and gave a small "No," however the Madame smiled softly at her, a small smile that simply conveyed 'trust me'. Taking a deep breath, she finally relented. Her godmother pulled her dark hood off and then took off the cloak as well.
There were sounds of clattering wood as the Gama Sennin jumped from his seat, his chair fell to the floor as he did so. His usually kind eyes narrowed dangerously at her and Naruto had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop herself from shivering. It was not the killing intent emitting from Jiraiya that shook her, it was the look of accusations and hatred in his eyes.
It was Jiraiya the Sannin who spoke a moment later, not her godfather.
"What's the meaning of this, Sensei! Who's this…. This person… impostor…" The large table was quavering under his fist. The Nara who had acted quickly felt his chakra draining away in waves as he tried to stop the Sannin's movement with his Kagemane.
"Jiraiya, calm down, and let us explain. Let her explain." Madame Shijimi immediately tried to placate the enraged Sannin.
"Don't tell me she claimed to be Minato's sister or relative! My student was an only child when he was orphaned. You knew it, Madame! Nara, release me!"
"This girl had never said that she was Minato's sister, Jiraiya." Hiruzen too, tried to soothe his student's rage. He threw an apologetic look at Naruto who was closed to tears. She returned the look with a quivering smile.
The Slug Princess was not as enraged as Jiraiya, but she too was suspicious.
"You better have a good explanation for this, Sensei, Shijimi." Her voice was cold and edgy. "Jiraiya, sit down." She grabbed the back of his collar just as Shikaku loose hold of his jutsu.
The tall man grabbed his chair back and then threw his body down onto it. He huffed. "Fine. I'll listen, and you'd better make it good, young lady!"
Naruto bit her lips at the retort. Never. Her godfather had never spoken to her with that tone and it hurt.
The Fire Daimyo drew in a deep breath before speaking to her. His eyes also had an apologetic glint in them. "I'm sorry, child. We have not informed both Sannin about your circumstances yet."
Mentally shaking off the pain inflicted by Jiraiya's and Tsunade's words, she gave the Daimyo a weak smile. "That's alright, Oji-san. May I?"
The Daimyo motioned her to take a seat. She sat beside the Sandaime, unconsciously trying to find an anchor. She could hear Kurama humming softly through their mind-links, she could also see Sai's placid smile.
She raised her head to look at both of her pseudo-parents; she would do anything to have their trusts, to have them at her side as her family once again. 'Better deal with this now.'
Both Sannin were waiting with their eyes narrowed at her. She took a deep breath and met their gazes head on, ignoring the fight or flight instinct roaring in her head triggered by her godfather's killing intent.
"My name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. The only child of Namikaze Minato, Konoha no Kiiroi no Senkou, formerly the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and Uzumaki Kushina, Akai Chisio no Habanero(4), formerly of Uzushiogakure no Sato and the second jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko. I was named after a character in 'The Tale of the Gutsy Shinobi' by Jiraiya the Gallant." She raised her palm when she saw Jiraiya's opened his mouth to speak.
"Please, allow me to continue. I am also the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Youko, a student to Hatake Kakashi the Copy Ninja, apprentice to Jiraiya the Gama Sennin, the last holder of the Toad contracts. My father left the key to open the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (5) formed by combining two Shishou Fuuin(6) to Gerotora, who I presumed is still in your stomach this time, dattebayo!" She drew in another deep breath, looking at her godfather directly in the eyes. "Also, Gamamaru, The Ougama Sennin(7) called me as the Yogen no Ko.(8)"
Naruto could hear Jiraiya's breath hitched at her last claim. It was a tall claim, and the Gama Sennin had already lost two of his students whom he had presumed to be the Child of Prophecy. He would have to consult the toads to deny or accept her claim, and she was banking on that. She was relying on Kurama's earlier speculation about the summon creatures having sensed their arrival in this timeline.
"Naruto is only an eight years old girl dressed as a boy. You're what, eighteen? Nineteen?" The Sennin blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"Her claims are all true, Jiraiya-sama, Tsunade-sama. I've already seen her memories. We all have." The Yamanaka patriarch felt the need to support her claims. There were a lot of grounds to cover and the sooner the matter of Naruto's identity was cleared, they could move onto the more pressing matters.
"Wait… Are you saying that you're not from this timeline, from now?" Tsunade threw in her own doubts.
"Inoichi, are you sure what she's shown you weren't fabricated memories?"
Naruto bristled. She really had no wished to let Inoichi delve into her mind once again. It was hard enough to skip some of her memories the first time, and after her earlier outburst, she was not sure she could hide the nastier memories away from prying eyes again.
"You can test her claims. Let her drop some of her blood onto the Toad Summoning Scroll." Kurama's rumbling voice echoed from the corner of the room.
Naruto gave him a raised brow, "Are you sure?"
"Trust me."
The Gama Sennin gave Kurama an appraising look before shrugging his shoulders. "Fine. Don't do anything funny, young lady!"
He reached at his back to take the large Summoning Scroll from its hold, unfurling it at the table before him. The last person recorded to sign the contract was still Namikaze Minato. He levelled her with a sharp gaze. "Give me your blood. Just, stay where you are, and pass a kunai or something with your blood on it."
An ink-made bottle appeared in front of her and Naruto blinked at it. She turned to find Sai's fake smile at her side. "Thanks, Sai." The former Ne nodded and then returned to his own table.
Naruto slowly fished out a kunai from her pouch and then nipped her thumb. She let her blood dripping into the bottle while the wound knitted itself back together. She could feel Tsunade's breath hitched while she filled the bottle and she cursed herself. She had forgotten that her Baa-chan was still suffering from the fear of blood at this moment in the timeline. Well, there was no use regretting it.
She capped the lid, and then gave the bottle a little push toward Jiraiya who stopped the sliding bottle with his pointy finger. With his black eyes still trailing at her, the Gama Sennin uncapped the bottle and then dropped the blood in it onto the large scroll.
The parchment soaked up Naruto's blood to the last drop without leaving any trace. For a moment, nothing happened to the scroll. Jiraiya was about to say something when suddenly there was smoke rose from the Summoner's slot after Namikaze Minato's name. They all watched as the name 'Uzumaki Naruto' printed itself out at the empty slot, along with the tinier version of her bloody finger-prints.
…. ….
…. ….
Even Naruto herself had not expected something like that to happen. She had thought that she needed to sign the Contracts once again with her own hand before she could summon any of the toads or using Senjutsu. She performed the required seals in reflex, her hands moving on their own. Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram and slammed her right palm onto the table's surface.
Poof!
Two tiny, old-looking toads materialized right on the top of the Toad Contract. One was a green toad with white hair and bushy white eyebrows and appeared to be a male toad. The second one had a funny bright-purple hair-do with purple marking around its mouth; this one appeared to be a female. Both of them were wearing high collared cloaks clasped neatly under their chins.
The Nidaisengama(9) had arrived.
Jiraiya's eyes were bulging at the two toads, mouth opening and closing without producing any audible sounds.
"Jiraiya-chan, did you reach the point of disturbance that I told you about?" The white-haired toad croaked at the still-gaping-Jiraiya at once, not noticing their surroundings and the people presented.
"Tou-chan! Watch what you're saying, we have company!"
The two elderly toads finally noticed their surroundings. Both of them stared at the occupants of the room in which they found themselves in.
"What are you two doing here?" Jiraiya finally managed to make his voice being heard after several tries. He received a whack to the head immediately.
"Manners, Jiraiya-chan!" The female toad returned to her place upon the scroll after smacking Jiraiya's head. "We're here because the Yogen no Ko's name had appeared on the Great Scroll back home. Now, where is she?"
"Err… that would be me, Sennin Baa-chan."
Both toads turned around to face her.
"Naruto-chan. So the bijuu succeeded in bringing you back to life and into this timeline, eh?"
"You knew, Shima Baa-chan?"
"Well, not really. Ojiji-sama called us three days ago and told us to prepare ourselves to welcome the Yogen no Ko's arrival in this timeline from sometimes in the future. At least that's what we could discern from his mumbling. He did say a lot more than that, but mostly were grumblings and half-sentences. You know how senile he is." Fukasaku answered her with a mischievous smirk in his tone.
"Wait, you knew about this… about her, yet you didn't tell me? What the hell, old-toad!" Jiraiya's voice was booming within the room. It was a good thing that Naruto's barrier including a formidable sound-proof element in its property, otherwise the whole Palace would have heard him by then. He received another clouting on the head from Shima.
"No need to shout, Jiraiya-chan! We've got glimpses of Naruto-chan, that's all. Not enough to form a story and certainly not enough to inform anyone, yet."
"Kaa-chan is right, Jiraiya-chan. It was only after she re-signed the Scroll and her name appeared on the list of Summoners on the Great Scroll back home that we remembered everything about her. And it was like, what, five minutes ago?"
"So, that's what Katsuyu was talking about when she ordered me to head off to Konoha and check for some sort of disturbance in the nature of things there. A traveller from the future, huh?" Tsunade pierced the jinchuuriki with a thoughtful gaze.
Nara Shikaku cleared his throat before he too, added his two cents. "It seemed like your arrival was sensed by the Summons creatures, Naruto-chan. I guess it would also explain the unusual behaviours of the Nara herds, the Inuzuka's dogs and the Aburame's hives two days ago. Although Kakashi-san didn't mention anything strange about his packs, we can safely assume that summons and animal nin which were closest to you would be more sensitive to your present. If every summons and animal nin felt it as strong as the Toads, the road to Konoha would be packed with various ninja from all around the Elemental Continents by now. You would be in a dangerous situation, then, Naruto-chan."
"My summons also didn't mention anything strange when I summoned one of them to deliver the message to Ino-Shika-Cho trio yesterday. My guess is that you weren't close to the Saru Summoning Scroll, Naruto-chan?" The Sandaime chipped in his opinion.
"No, I wasn't, Jijii. I've never battled alongside the monkeys. Konohamaru in my time didn't sign the Saru Summoning Scroll."
"I see." Sarutobi immediately noticed what the jinchuuriki did not say. Konohamaru was the last of his direct line to survive in her timeline. Himself and his son Asuma never made it far, it seemed.
"I was closed to the Inuzuka, the Aburame and the Nara. The Nara herds even let me petted them while I came to the Nara forest to hunt for Shikamaru when he ditched the Jounin meetings." Naruto smiled slightly at Shikaku who rolled his eyes in return. "I signed the Toad Summoning Scroll and later on the Nidaisengama trained me in Senjutsu, so naturally we fought together. The toads and I even have some collaboration techniques together, dattebayo! My team-mate signed the Slug Summoning Scroll, and I've fought alongside Tsunade Baa-chan often enough, therefore Katsuyu-sama knew me pretty well. What I'm worried about is that my other team-mate signed the Snake Summoning Scroll, and he'd summoned Manda when fought together once during the Fourth Shinobi War."
"What about Hatake Kakashi's pack, Naruto-chan? You've mentioned that he was your Jounin Sensei." Chouza also added his own two cents.
"I was pretty familiar with his nin-ken, Chouza Oji, especially Pakkun. I don't know why they didn't sense anything. Or if they did, I don't know whether they've told Kakashi-Sensei yet, dattebayo!"
"Wait a minute! So, you really are Minato's little baby?" Jiraiya asked again with a pointed finger, which earned him another smack to the back of his head.
"Baka! Stop embarrassing yourself!" Tsunade then directed her gaze at the other blonde. "Is it okay if I summoned Katsuyu here? Will her presence disrupts your barrier?"
"Although I'm not exactly a baby any-more, as a matter of fact, yes I am, Kyoufu. Yes, it's okay, Tsunade Baa-chan. This particular barrier was developed with the help from the toads and Katsuyu-sama. She was able to come into the barrier without disrupting it in my time, dattebayo!" Naruto tried and failed miserably to suppress her giddiness at being able to summon the Toads again, her verbal tick was unstoppable.
"Don't call me that, Gaki!" Tsunade then closed her eyes as she bit her own thumb while finishing the seals sequel for Summoning jutsu.
"What the hell, Hime! You still doubt her yourself!" Jiraiya mumbled as he raised his head from the table's surface, only to kiss said surface once again as the Gamadou no Haha(10) smacked his head once more. "Aw…!"
"Language, Jiraiya-chan!" The Gama Sennin then proceeded to sulk in his chair, arms crossed on his chest and mouth forming a noticeable pout, grumbling all the way. The Sandaime shook his head seeing his middle-age student sulked.
"Tsunade-Hime, you called?" A small white slug with three blue linings on each side of its body greeted the last Senju as the smoke accompanying its arrival dispersed.
"Ah, Katsuyu, it seems that I've found the source of the disturbance that you mentioned a few days ago."
The slug turned its body around and then stopped as its eyes landed on Naruto's sitting form. "Naruto-chan! You're alive!"
"Katsuyu-sama! It's good to see you again, dattebayo!"
"Okay, Gaki. So you've seemed to inherit Kushina's verbal tick as well…. Hm… Show me the seal on your belly and maybe I'll trust you." Disbelieve and logic warring in his head, Jiraiya was unable to contain his curiosity.
'Finally!' Naruto complied with the request immediately. She raised both her shirt and mesh shirt that she wore, started moulding her chakra and then the double Shishou Fuuin which formed the Hakke no Fuuin Shikki on her stomach appeared, as well as the other seals on her body. Her control was still all over the place.
Jiraiya came closer to scrutinize the seal on her stomach, along with her other visible seals. His eyebrows were drawn in concentration while the other occupants in the room sat silently waiting for his verdict.
"This seal is a bit different than the one Minato sent me via Gerotora. Unless this seal is a different one and therefore you're a fake, someone's been tampering with the seal, hasn't it?"
"Aaa… I forgot about that. The seal had been loosened, since I've already used the Key that Dad's left in Gerotora, dattebayo! Also, Dad had to make some adjustment when I got both the Yin and Yang part of the Kyuubi towards the end of the war, dattebayo! Here, it's the Key Seal!" She rolled her right sleeve and the Key Seal could be seen etched on the inside of her arm, starting from the palm and ended just before her elbow. "See?"
"Whoaa… what do you mean your Dad adjusted the seal? Minato is dead!"
"Aaa… Actually he used the Shikki Fuujin to seal the Yang part of the Kyuubi into me and the Yin part into himself, as the result his soul was trapped within the Shinigami's belly. Orochimaru somehow managed to cancel the bindings with the Shinigami and used the Edo Tensei to summon the dead Hokages back to life and helped us winning the war, dattebayo! Dad sealed the re-united form of the Kyuubi into me after we defeated Madara and then his Edo Tensei form dispersed itself as he said that he no longer had any regrets which tied him to the neither world." It was a half-truth. The Hakke no Fuuin Shikki adjusted itself again after all the nine bijuu were sealed into her as separate beings, but it was an information that she had vowed to keep to herself.
Tsunade and Jiraiya perked when they heard that particular information. Hope re-kindled in the depth of their eyes. "So, Orochimaru repented in the end?" blurted out Jiraiya.
"Err… Not exactly. He helped us to win the war because the war was standing on the way of his own plans. After the war was over, he went back to his original plan to overrule Konoha and gaining immortality. Gomen, Baa-chan, Kyoufu." Naruto watched as their glimmering hopes being crushed at her words and she hated herself for telling them the truth, for being unable to tell a direct lie to answer a direct question.
Fukasaku broke the silence that followed Naruto's narrative. "So, we've found out that you had made it back here, Naruto-chan. We can continue our chat later. We'll reserve summon you to Mount Myouboku in the near future. Come, Kaa-chan. It's past midnight and we're losing some sleep since you insisted to stay awake waiting for Naruto-chan to summon us."
"What do you mean; I was the one who insisted? You're the one who made me wear my travelling cloak since yesterday morning, Tou-chan! I was fine doing my own chores and was prepared to sleep at nightfall. But nooo…. You had to be all jittery and nervous!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
Poof!
Still bickering, the Nidaisengama dispelled themselves.
"Ah, Tsunade-Hime, do you still need me?" Katsuyu asked its summoner.
"No, that's all for now, Katsusyu. Thank you."
"Naruto-chan, let's talk again sometime, yes? Hokage-sama, Daimyo-sama." With a nod, the slug too, dispelled itself.
There was a moment of silence for a while until Jiraiya finally spoke.
"So, you really are my god-daughter from the future, huh? Judging from those seals all over your body, looks like I've taught you well, if I may say so myself." Jiraiya scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at her. The entire people in the room sighed in relieve at Jiraiya's approval.
"Err… you've taught me a lot, yes. But you'd never got around in completing my Fuuinjutsu training, Kyoufu. Truth is I'm no master in sealing. Sai there, is. What sealing I know I picked up from variety of teachers, including the toads and Tsunade Baa-chan. Although Baa-chan's sealing mostly medic-related, dattebayo! so there weren't much that I could learn from her either."
"Why not Gaki? And don't call me that!" Tsunade's gaze had more warmth than the earlier part of their conversation and Naruto could not help but fell into her usual pattern when speaking to her.
"Hohoho! I think I like you, Gaki! The name's suited you, Hime!"
"Err… Medic's not for me, dattebayo! Too many things to read and all those sitting still and concentration! Not to mention the chakra control needed to perform them, dattebayo!"
"Heh, too much chakra for fine control huh? Just like Kushina! And you've grown to be a looker like your mother too!" The pervert in him shone through as Jiraiya paid closer attention to Naruto's appearance.
Tsunade was about to whack him again but Naruto beat her to it when she yelled at him, "Ero-Sennin! Stop perverting at your own god-daughter! It's indecent and embarrassing, dattebayo!"
"Ero-Sennin, huh?" Hiruzen could not stop himself from grinning at his student who immediately pouted. His grin was followed by some snickers and giggles.
Finally, the Fire Daimyo felt that as Naruto's identity had been confirmed for the two Sannin, it was time to continue their interrupted discussion from earlier that evening.
"Right, shall we carry on our discussion, Sandaime-dono? Naruto-chan?"
They both nodded and the others straightened in their respective seats.
"Hold it, what about him and him?" Jiraiya suddenly remembered the two other strangers in the room.
"Aaa… Kurama is…" The Demon Fox gave them a foxy grin and then let his transformation fell. Both of the Sannin had their eyes widened at the sight of the mini Nine-Tails. "…the Kyuubi." Naruto finished weakly.
"You… you let the Kyuubi out of the seal? What the hell, Gaki?" Jiraiya's booming voice once again shook the room.
"His name is Kurama, Ero-Sennin! And technically, he's still tied to my seal; I just gave him more room to stretch, is all, dattebayo!"
The Slug Princess pinched her nose before speaking. "Right, I don't want to know about that. At least for now. What about him, is he a demon too?" She tilted her head toward Sai who smiled placidly as everybody in the room also stared at him.
"Err… That's Sai, and he's… umm… accidentally dragged here with me when the bijuu transported me?" She flailed her hands miserably and Sai took pity at his flabbergasted team-mate.
"My name is Sai. No last name. Elite Jounin of Konohagakure no Sato, Ninja Registration Number is 012420. Used to be under Ne. Under the order of Shimura Danzou and later confirmed by the Godaime no Konohagakure no Sato I was transferred into Team Kakashi under Hatake Kakashi, Ninja Registration Number 009720 and Yamato Taichou, Ninja Registration Number 010992. Teammate consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Ninja Registration Number 012607 and Haruno Sakura, Ninja Registration Number 012601. Last occupation is Personal Guard to Hokage-in-training, Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." His monotone introduction was uninterrupted, even when some of the people presented held their breaths when he mentioned the word 'Ne'.
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, "Used to be in Ne?"
"Well, he's kinda defected from Ne, Jijii."
"How does one defect from Ne? Danzou put a seal to make his entire member stay loyal to him! Just like those masked ninja you fought earlier!"
"I was placed into Hatake Kakashi's team to replace Uchiha Sasuke who defected from Konoha in favour of following Orochimaru and to spy on the Kyuubi jinchuuriki for Danzou-sama. However, Naruto's 'special power' like Kakashi-Senpai called it, reminded me of my brother, Shin, who's supposed to be dead by the end of my training in Ne. Being around Naruto had managed to dissolved Danzou-sama's training in killing our emotions. I was able to function effectively as part of the team since Kakashi-Senpai had never talked about sensitive information around me.
Danzou-sama has not yet placed a seal on my person in this timeline, since my brother and I were just being drafted about two weeks ago, so my younger body had not had the seal, yet, while my own seal was dissolved when Danzou-sama was killed by Uchiha Sasuke."
Naruto gave up her fight and face-palmed. There went almost everything about Sasuke that she'd managed to hide from Yamanaka Inoichi before. She had not got the chance to talk with Sai for long.
The Sandaime was stunned. "Sasuke… defected to Orochimaru and killed Danzou? What did I do wrong, Naruto-chan?"
"Err, Orochimaru gave Sasuke his cursed mark during the second part of the Chuunin Exams to take Sasuke's Sharingan, Jijii. Kakashi-Sensei placed the Fuuja Houin(11) on top of it, but Sasuke lost his will to fight against Orochimaru's cursed mark and defected in the end. We've spent almost two years to track him down and to convince him to come back to Konoha, but we'd never succeed, dattebayo! Not even Itachi's parting words managed to convince him and then he even joined the Akatsuki for a while after Itachi's death. In the end, it was the Edo Tensei-ed Hokages who changed his mind. He re-joined us in the middle of the battle against the Akatsuki and Uchiha Madara." She gritted her teeth at the end of her explanations since she had just unintentionally triggered another set of questions.
"What do you mean Itachi's parting words, Gaki? What's the Akatsuki? And Uchiha Madara? He's dead at the Valley of the End! My grandfather Senju Hashirama killed him there!" Tsunade was close to yelling at the end of her questions.
Naruto flicked her gaze towards the Sandaime whose face had lost all of its colour. "Jijii? Should I…?"
The Sandaime shook his head. "My mistakes, let me, Naruto-chan." He drew a deep breath to prepare himself for the upcoming ordeal, but Naruto cut him off.
"No, Jijii. You're bonded by your oath to never discuss the matter with anyone else aside from those in the know from the beginning. We don't know what Danzou had done to ensure the oath was never to be broken. If you're willing to share it, then I'll do it. I've heard Sasuke's version of the tragedy. We could always confirm it to you later, but you can't initiate any discussion of this matter yourself, Jijii."
Sarutobi Hiruzen threw her a grateful smile and then nodded. "You're right, Naruto-chan. I didn't remember my oath for a moment there. Go ahead."
She took a deep breath to calm herself while the rest of the room waited.
"Right, here it goes. After Uchiha Madara's defection, the suspicion towards the Uchiha clan's loyalty began to rise to the surface. When the Kyuubi was released from Mum's seal, Danzou ordered the Police to guard the civilian and away from the fight itself. Yes, Mum's seal was released by a third party. I'll get to it later." She directed her words at the Akamichi who opened his mouth to speak. "And yes, as I said before, I was the third jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, the first one being Uzumaki Mito, Senju Hashirama's wife and Tsunade Baa-chan's grandmother. The second one was Mum, Uzumaki Kushina who came to Konoha from Uzushio at Uzumaki Mito's request to replace her as the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, as the Kyuubi's chakra is too massive and malicious to be contained into ordinary people. So the Uzumaki's special chakra is needed."
"Don't call me that, Gaki!" Used to ignore Tsunade from her own timeline, Naruto paid no heed to her grumbling, much to Jiraiya's glee.
"Now, where was I? Aaa… yes. After the Kyuubi attack, the suspicion towards the Uchiha grew higher, added to that was Danzou's covert agitators who spread and flamed the distrust towards the Uchiha. The Uchiha planned a coup de tat as retaliation. The Sandaime and the Councillors found out about the plan. Uchiha Itachi was drafted into ANBU by Danzou and he was asked to spy on his own clan by both the Hokage and Danzou, while Uchiha Fugaku ordered Itachi to spy on the Hokage. Itachi loved the village more than his clan, so he sided with the Hokage…" Naruto raised a questioning brow at the Sandaime who nodded his head in reply, signalling her to continue.
"Right. Uchiha Shisui, who was also loyal to the village, approached the Sandaime and offered to help in dissolving the tension between the Uchiha and the Village. Shisui planned to use his Kotoamatsukami to hypnotize Uchiha Fugaku. Danzou intercepted him on the way and stole one of his Sharingan eye. Shisui then gave his other eye to Itachi for safekeeping and then made Itachi watch as he killed himself, granting the Mangekyou Sharingan to Itachi in the end. The peace talk effort failed with Shisui's demise. Itachi then was ordered to kill his entire clan, which he agreed to with one exception, to spare his little brother, Uchiha Sasuke."
Naruto swept her gaze toward the people presented and noticed that only Inoichi and Chouza who looked surprised at her revelation. Shikaku merely looked grim, so did Jiraiya, Tsunade, Madame Shijimi and the Fire Daimyo.
"Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, Itachi trapped Sasuke in Tsukoyomi and planted the seed of revenge in his little brother's mind. I don't know why Itachi made Sasuke hate him and indirectly told Sasuke to grow stronger and to kill Itachi when he's stronger. That's why he followed Orochimaru. He felt that he wasn't getting stronger fast enough under Kakashi-Sensei's tutelage."
The Sandaime closed his eyes; his body sagged in regrets.
It was the Yamanaka patriarch who fired the next question.
"So, let me get this straight. Itachi was actually ordered to eliminate his entire clan? And then fled the village to do what?"
"Actually, he didn't kill his entire clan by himself. There was another Uchiha who helped him in the deed, and Danzou also had his Ne to take some Sharingan for him. I don't know whether he was also involved in the killing himself. Itachi then fled the village in order to spy on the other Uchiha who helped him that night. That Uchiha ran the Akatsuki from behind the screen until the puppet leader was dead in seven, eight years into the future."
"So, you know of the Akatsuki, Naruto-chan? Do you know their intention? I haven't managed to dig that far, they only interested me since Orochimaru is also part of that organization." The Gama Sennin was back in his serious mode.
Naruto was still contemplating whether to tell everything to her godfather when Sai took the matter out of her hands. His static tone captivated the entire room.
"Akatsuki. Originally created to free Amegakure no Sato from Hanzou's régime. The founder was Yahiko, a war orphan from Amegakure, supported by his two team-mates, Uzumaki Nagato and Konan, also known as the Tenshi no Amegakure. The organization changed it coursed of action after an ambush mechanized by both Hanzou and Danzou during the peace talk between Hanzou and the Akatsuki. Yahiko died during the ambush and Uzumaki Nagato summoned the Gedou Mazou to eliminate both Hanzou's and Danzou's troop. Recent goals: collecting all the nine bijuu to create world's peace. Orochimaru should quit the Akatsuki after he failed to take Uchiha Itachi's Sharingan when Uchiha Itachi first joined the organization."
Jiraiya was getting paler by the seconds as Sai's narrative progressed. In the end of it, the tall man was shaking. "I thought they were dead! Somebody gave me a report of their deaths!"
"Nagato and Konan survived and went underground instead. They hate Konoha now, since Danzou's troop bore the Leaf insignia on them. I'm so sorry, Kyoufu. Although Nagato repented in the end and he brought everybody he killed in Konoha back to life as the last act. He said something about 'It's the least he can do'. Konan took his body and quit Akatsuki." A small smile tugged at Jiraiya's lips when he heard the quotation. "He's being used, Shishou. Even the other Uchiha in the Akatsuki was being used. It's Zetsu that needs to be eliminated."
"Naruto-chan, you keep saying the other Uchiha, who? Is it Uchiha Madara?"
"No, it isn't. Technically Uchiha Madara should be dead or close to it at this point. He merged himself with the Shodaime Hokage's Mokuton clone at the end of the fight, Baa-chan, that's how he survived. The Shodai was tricked to believe that Madara was dead. Madara awaken the Rinnegan after that battle and then he gave the eyes to Nagato. I'm not sure about the timeline, though. Anyway, Madara managed to tie the life force from the wood clone into the Gedou Mazou and created Zetsu, a plant-like thing who could travel anywhere in the world as long as there's a tree around. He's the ultimate spy and he could multiply himself, dattebayo! Before he died, Madara sealed his will into Zetsu, creating the Black and White Zetsu. Madara and Zetsu were able to trap and lure another wayward Uchiha to carry on his hatred, dattebayo! That Uchiha also repented in the end of the war, but the damage was done."
"And this other Uchiha is…?" The Nara gently prompted.
"Uchiha Obito." It was Kurama who answered. The bijuu knew Naruto would never part with the information willingly as she was still trying to shield her Sensei from breaking apart, but Kurama had no such reserve. He loathed the Uchiha, anyway.
"Kurama!" She hissed, and Kurama could not help but flinched at the venom in her tone, but he stayed unmoving in his opinion.
"What, Brat? You know I detest them. They're holding my top list, Ginkaku and Kinkaku came second and your yellow head of a father filled the third place. Deal with it."
"Ehem… excuse me, but who's Uchiha Obito?" Tsunade was the only one who dared to interrupt the quarrel between the bijuu and its jinchuuriki. There was a heavy sighed and the Sandaime answered to his student, he eyed the jinchuuriki as he spoke.
"One of Hatake Kakashi's genin team-mate. He was reported to be dead during the Kannabi Bridge Assaults at the end of the last war. He gave his Sharingan to Hatake as a Jounin gift. The other team-mate, a medic nin, performed the operation."
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes as he watched his god-daughter's expression during the Sandaime's explanation. "There's more to that story, isn't it Gaki?"
Sai's monotone broke the silence once again.
"Uchiha Obito was saved by Uchiha Madara from the cave where he was reported to be dead. Madara healed Obito's injuries and then Zetsu brought Obito out in the direction of Konoha just in time to watch the incident that killed Kakashi-Senpai's other team-mate, the medic. Since Uchiha Obito loved the medic, he was devastated and fell into the Uchiha's curse. He had also awoken the Mangekyou Sharingan at that time due to his grief, along with Kakashi-Senpai's Sharingan since they were actually close to each other and separated Sharingan from the same person needs to be close to each other to evolve. It was Uchiha Obito who released the Kyuubi and put him under a genjutsu to attack Konoha when Uzumaki Kushina gave birth to Uzumaki Naruto. And killed the Yondaime and Uzumaki Kushina by proxy."
Naruto closed her eyes as Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed the top of her head in sympathy. "No wonder you don't want to inform Kakashi-kun about your circumstances, Naruto-chan."
She managed to produce a small smile toward the Sandaime.
"Right, enough of these depressing thoughts. We need to start planning to avoid the upcoming catastrophe and if the Sandaime wants to be back in Konoha by morning. Tsunade-Hime, there's a child with severe chakra burns resting on the second floor. If you could do something about him? Good. Now, Naruto-chan, you mentioned something about Civil Unrest that happened toward the end? And also what should be done to strengthen the ninja. I'll leave that part to you ninjas, but tell me about the civilian…."
Madame Shijimi's brisk voice broke them out of their stupors and soon they all followed her lead in planning and scheming all the way until dawn broke in the eastern horizon.
AN: The chapter's getting longer, xDD. I want Naruto in Konoha in the next chapter, so…yeah…
Review?
Footnote:
1. Konoha no Kiroii Senkou : The Yellow Flash of Konoha.
2. Touton no Jutsu : Transparent Escape Technique.
3. Karumeyaki : Brown sugar cake.
4. Akai Chisio no Habanero : The Red-hot Habanero.
5. Hakke no Fuuin Shiki : Eight Trigrams Sealing Style, the results of combining two Four Trigrams Sealing Style.
6. Shisou no Fuuin : Four Trigrams Sealing Style. Originated from Uzushiogakure, used to seal away any target into a human body.
7. Ougama Sennin : The Great Toad Sage.
8. Yogen no Ko : The Child of Prophecy.
9. Nidaisengama : The Two Great Toad Sage, both Fukasaku and Shima.
10. Gamadou no Haha : The Mother of the Toad Way.
11. Fuuja Houin : The Evil Sealing Method.