Chapter 5: Underneath the Underneath-Of Heroes and Parental Figures
Disclaimer: One day soon, they'll all be mine...
Sorry I'm late...
Warnings:
Rated M, because I'm a M(um).
I did warn you about some OOC-ness, didn't I?
This chapter is based on "The Twelve Fire Guardians Arc", "The Chuunin Exams Arc", "The Oto-Suna Invasion Arc", "Tsunade's Retrieval Arc" and "Hatake Kakashi: Shadow of the ANBU Black Ops. Arc"
A/N: There's a long Author's Rants at the bottom if you're interested...
"Gaki. Now that you are of age, you will receive your heritance. They should've been given to you when you turned sixteen last year. But we both know that the paperwork were rather scattered at the time. Not to mention all of those hassles afterwards." Scattered and hassle were putting it mildly. There was nothing but rubble when Naruto returned from her Sage training in Mount Myouboku, Pain had seen to that. Tsunade finally took a deep breath and started talking again when her twice-removed niece remained silent.
"Right. These scrolls are yours. Your inheritance, so to speak. These three are from your parents, the next four are from Jiraiya, and these four are from Hatake. They were kept at the Daimyo's vault at the Capital, so they're saved from the Invasion." She handed over the scrolls per their origins to the unusually quiet girl in front of her. She opened one of the bottom drawers of her desk and took out three more scrolls. "These are from Shizune and I. We think that it's better for you to receive what we're going to left you now rather than waiting for us to die as a couple of old hags before you can take any benefits from them."
"Huh?" Naruto had been taking the scrolls from her leader in auto-mode, her mind had not yet fully registered the full implication of the word 'inheritance' when Tsunade mentioned her Sensei's name. "Sensei….left something for me?" She half-choked half-whispered the words out; her hand flew to her collarbone, where a battered-looking dog-tag and a pair of silver bells attached to a slim silver chain were hung. "Why?"
"Considering these scrolls, I'd say 'everything' not 'something'. He had the first scroll registered after I wore the hat. The other one was registered after you left with Jiraiya, and the last two were registered just after you sailed away to meet Killer Bee before the war. I witnessed them." said The Hokage briskly, her sharp eyes bored into the jinchuuriki's as if she was trying to measure the gaki's mind. After some time, the older blonde sighed, again. "As to the reason, aside from the obvious fact that you're his genin, I'm not sure why. He was not the most talkative person out there you know, and not the easiest man to decipher. So I can't really answer that for you."
The stunned girl absently nodded her head and took to examine the scrolls one by one before sealing them into her own storage scroll. She would open them later when her mind was more composed. Tsunade handed over the last three scrolls which Naruto also put into her scroll.
"If you have any question regarding the contents of the scrolls, or anything at all, you can come to me and Shizune, you know that, right?"
"Hai Baa-chan." The young woman nodded, "Is there anything else?"
Once again, the Godaime sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. It's still early in the morning and she had been sighing for an umpteenth of times already.
The pantry door was opened and Shizune went to take her usual place just behind her shishou, Tonton held securely on her chest. She set Tonton down and the pig waddled over to her crate at the right corner of the room. The apprentice slash assistant nudged her superior's shoulder chidingly. Another sigh.
"Right. We need to discuss your next courses." The Hokage stopped to watch one of the strongest persons in the Elemental Continent fidgeted in her seat before continuing her speech. "What do you think of joining the ANBU?"
"Eh? I thought …. I'm not cut out for that particular force? And I'm still a genin, too!" The blue eyes faltered for a moment, the two older women heard the unspoken 'Sensei said' in the middle of her sentence but pretended that they did not notice the pause.
"No, you're not exactly the 'silent assassin' type," Tsunade quoted the words carefully, "but it would be beneficial to your next post if you had an inside understanding of how the elites get their job done."
"Ugh, Baa-chan, why do we still need assassins when we're at peace already?"
"They're not going to be the silent killer anymore for the most part. More like the invisible guards." The Godaime purposely left behind the fact that even though the Kage of the Five Great Shinobi Nations and the Land of Iron were all in agreement about all around peace, the same thing could not be said about the smaller countries.
True, the smaller countries would not want to be left behind from the treaty, but it was more for their own personal convenient than anything else. The idea of international peace was new, and even not every people in the Five Shinobi Nations would be easily convinced that peace was a possible state for shinobi.
Naruto would see about it soon enough.
"Look, Gaki. We've achieved Elemental Peace now, but you have to realize that keeping the peace will be a lot harder than gaining it. It's the most fragile thing out there. There are a lot of factors that might disrupt the peace. People tend to want more, Gaki. The lack of resources might provoke an invasion, the pursuit of power, borderline dispute and many other factors. You're up for one hell of a challenge, Naruto, and I'd be damned if I let you take the hat without giving you all the preparations I can think of."
"You mean people will go to war again because… Oh, I don't know, they don't have enough lumber or something?"
"Countries had gone to war for less in the past, Gaki." At her successor-to-be's disbelieving look the Godaime pinched the bridge of her nose, "Can you blame a mother for wanting the best food and clothes for her family? Or a father for wanting the best building for his family to live in? Or a captain who wants the best weapons for his team? Who do you think will have to provide them the best that money can buy? The Kage, that's who."
"What if I just tell them to be happy with what they already have? They've got to follow my order, right?" There was a petulant note in her naïve answer that the older blonde could not stop her lips from twitching fondly.
"If it were that easy, I won't be drinking my sake at ten in the morning no matter how much I love the stuff. It isn't stamping the paperwork that's going to give you a lasting headache, it's what's written in there that kills you in the most undignified way for a ninja." A defiant look settled upon Naruto's face and the Godaime smiled somewhat wearily at her, "No, you can't tell them to suck it up Naruto. What you need to understand is that a village or a country or a nation exists based on a mutual understanding that the government or the state, or whatever they called themselves, will try to provide its citizen with their needs, be it security or prosperity. In turn, the citizen pays their due by following the rules and obliging the taxes. Even fully militaristic villages like Kumo and Iwa abide to it in their own way.
When the government –in our case, the Kage– failed to provide their people, the citizen are within their rights to leave and search for a better place to live. That's what'll happen if you tell them to suck it up and be content with what they already have and then you'll be leading an empty village. What would you do then?"
Despite the Hokage's lengthy explanation, the younger blonde held her gaze stubbornly, pouring all of her Uzumaki's defiant into it. But the Godaime persisted. After a long stretched of stare down, finally Naruto relented as she remembered that Tsunade too, had Uzumaki's blood running in her vein.
"You're not going to let me get away from this, are you?" There was an accusation on Naruto's face and Tsunade shrugged, rather carelessly. "So, what's joining ANBU got to do with it?"
"There are many things that a village needs to ensure the safety and prosperity of its inhabitants. Regular shinobi deal with the 'surface' duties, they were either black or white in nature. Konoha always tries to thread in the more respectable area, but there are tons of things that resided in the grey area, Gaki. Things that are not so glorious, despicable even, but need to be done nonetheless. Sometimes a message between our neighbours needs to 'disappear' so that our village could gain a better trade agreement, and so on. That's where the ANBU comes in. Are you with me so far?" Tsunade pierced her with a steady gaze.
"I suppose." Naruto mumbled in response.
"Good. Now, being a Hokage is more than just handing out mission and corresponding with other Kage. A good Kage needs to understand everything there is to know and do in their village, including the less pleasant side of it. And the best place to learn about it is by joining the force that do the deed. That's why I want you to join the ANBU."
"But, I don't really like to have a deal based on planted information to our neighbouring villages or allies dattebayo!"
"I know. I don't like it either. But even if you're not doing it, other leaders might. You need the knowledge and the experience so that you know where and what to look to prevent other people doing it to us. There's more than just fighting to protect the village, Gaki. There're other threats beside an invasion or a full-scale war. Sabotage to our trade routes, someone's mapping out our defence system, spreading false rumours and agitating our force and many more. They all need different handling. A Kage needs to be able to recognize all kind of threat as early as possible, and then prepare and launch the counter-measure immediately."
"Sounds complicated, Baa-chan. Why can't I have Shikamaru learn about them all? I could just ask him what to do, then."
"Naruto, your advisor won't always be there all the time. Sometimes a leader has to make a minute decision without the luxury of a council beforehand. That's why you need at least the general knowledge of everything." The Godaime pinched the bridge of her nose. "You don't have to like it, Gaki. Most ANBU don't. But they do what is needed to be done to protect our village, and trust me, a Kage do that in daily basis. I'll have Sai to show you the ropes."
Head bent down, Naruto considered everything that the Godaime told her. She had realized that a Kage duty was more than doing paperwork long ago, but she always thought that when her time comes she could just delegate the less pleasant duties to her advisor. Of course it was not that simple, nothing ever was. She drew a deep breath before straightening her posture.
"I see. Shouldn't I be at least a chuunin to join ANBU? Hey! What about the Chuunin Exams? When would it be next? And where? I wanna catch up with the others already, dattebayo!" The bright golden head tilted slightly, the weary look was replaced by sparks of excitement.
"Ah, that. Well, I don't think anyone would want to face you in the Chuunin Exams. It would be unfair to other participants."
"Huh?! So I have to stay as a genin forever? That's mean, Baa-chan…." She knew it was a childish gesture, but Naruto was positively pouting. Meanwhile, Shizune was giggling in the background as the Hokage rolled her eyes.
"Brat! Sometimes I wonder whether you have another personality in that yellow head of yours. One time you're a complete idiot, other times you're like an intelligent agent." Shizune was practically laughing silently then, one hand pressed to the side of her waist. Naruto threw her an insulted look.
"Gah! Nee-chan! What's so funny, dattebayo?!"
"Listen, damn it! I'm not finished talking, yet! It means I have to up your rank, per field promotion. It's a normal procedure during or right after the war. Most of your friends will receive the similar promotion. As of now, you're officially a chuunin. Complete your ANBU training and serve for a year in the Black Ops and you'll be promoted to jounin, get it?"
"Really?! Arigatou gozaimasta, Hokage-sama!" Naruto did a one-eighty and bowed to her leader. Tsunade choose not to decipher the turn-around, wisely refusing another source of headache.
"Right then, Shizune, where did you put that vest? And Naruto, you need to upgrade your nin-card as well. Just give it to whoever sitting at the commission desk up front, got it? Here's your promotion notice." Tsunade handed her another scroll with an official Hokage's Stamp printed on top of it.
"Got it Baa-chan." Naruto was grinning widely as she received her promotion scroll and the flak jacket from Shizune. The jinchuuriki wore her orange and black jacket first before donning her new vest on top of it. "Heh! Can't wait 'till the others see me in this! How do I look, Shizune-nee? Cool, huh?"
"Well, to be honest Gaki, you clashed." Tsunade said, stating the obvious. The vest was in the lighter shade of green; differ from the usual dark green standard. It was part of the new standard uniform, the colour was a newly-sprout leaf instead of shaded green the older generation donned as their uniform. Combined with her sunny golden hair, her dominant orange and black attire, the results was quite a revolting clashed of colours. The excited teen rewarded both women with a pout and a glare.
"What do you mean, Baa-chan? I feel awesome, dattebayo! I bet you're just jealous of my awesomeness, ne Baa-chan?!"
"Well, colour-clashed aside, you do look womanly and quite sexy now, Naruto-chan." Shizune was grinning widely.
Naruto, being the tomboy that she was; spluttered indignantly at her pseudo-sister, arms flailing around, face as red as the Hokage Tower's rooftop, she drew a deep breath before opening her mouth.
"Nee-chaaaaan! It's not funny! The vest should've made me look more bad-ass, not girly! I know, you're just jealous 'cause I look better in the vest than you, aren't you?"
The Godaime, knowing a tirade was coming; cut off her rambling before it even started.
"Brat! Listen, we still need to discuss your next lessons, so calm down and sit!"
"Aa… Gomen, Baa-chan." The teen mumbled and raised a hand to tousle the hair at the back of her head, she knew the gesture would ruin her braid but old habit was hard to break.
"Good. Now, there are some things that you need to do besides joining the ANBU before you could think of taking the hat from me. You need to understand that I didn't come up with these plans on my own. It's a result of long and tiring discussions between myself, Shijimi, Jiraiya and Hatake." Tsunade stopped for a moment, expecting some sort of reaction. When there were none, she continued on, "It isn't just ninja training, Naruto."
"Huh? Why should I learn something that isn't ninja-related, Baa-chan? I'm a ninja, dattebayo! I don't need any other training than ninja training."
"You're a ninja who wants to be the Hokage, Gaki. There're a lot more than just being a strong ninja to become a good Hokage. There're etiquettes, culture, diplomacy, general history, tactics and planning. Most of these should've been covered in the Academy, at least the basic. However, after assessing your team the first time, Kakashi noted that your team was severely lacking in a lot of subjects; Asuma also reported that with Team 10 although they're not as bad as yours. The 18 Ninja Disciples aren't taught at the Academy anymore, as well as the spiritual sides, namely basic monk and miko trainings. Not to mention maiko training had been omitted from the program. I don't understand why Sensei listened to civilian demands that those subjects should be dropped. It's not like they understood the necessary skills every good ninja should have."
"They were supposed to be taught at the Academy? I thought Ero-Sennin was just being a lazy-ass when he dropped me off at the Capital and various temples during our trip."
"It was to remedy your lack of training in the Academy. Honestly, 4 years in the Academy and you lot only learned a couple of E-ranks jutsu, shurikenjutsu and basic taijutsu plus simplified local history. With the talents in your graduation batch, some of you should've already got your own entry in the Bingo Book by the time you turned fourteen. I'm going to fix that with the Educational Board now that we have some room to breathe." The Godaime folded her arms atop of her desk, waiting for the Jinchuuriki to speak. She did not have to wait long.
"What about you? Did you go through all that too?"
"Of course I did. Much as Hashirama Jijii spoiled me, Mito Baa-sama wasn't that lenient. I also know that your mother also received the same training, even though Mito Baa-sama was already weakened when Kushina arrived from Uzushiogakure."
"Mum too?" The younger blonde sighed, "Well, if mum could endure it, so can I Baa-chan!"
"Good. Now, back to your educational plans. You're going to earn your new name with Shijimi while completing your ANBU training. I give you one year to complete both courses. It's up to you whether you're going to continue to stay with the ANBU afterwards. However, you're going to train under Mifune-dono for another year before I can announce you as my successor. You'll be the Rokudaime Hokage in-training, then."
"Uh, Baa-chan, can I not be the Rokudaime?" Of all things that the Godaime had prepared herself for, it was not that.
"What, you don't want to be Hokage anymore?" Blonde brows hiked quizzically.
"No, that's not what I mean, 'tteba! I mean, Danzou was the Rokudaime. Well, sorta. Anyway, can I not share the title with him of all people, please?"
"Why not, Gaki? He's only acting as the Hokage candidate for about a month, wasn't he?"
"He still made some decisions as the Rokudaime. I don't want to share the title with someone who'd done that to Sai and other ninja in Ne! Let's not forget what he did to Amegakure and Nagato –Pain– and Sasuke's family and Itachi. Please, Baa-chan?"
"Well, I don't blame you if that's the case. I think it's doable, but I have to check the Archive first, if the laws favour your opinion, you'll be the Shichidaime Hokage then. Now shoo, and send Sai in after you."
The Fire Daimyo officially disbanded the Twelve Fire Guardian by the end of the night. The reason was simple, there were only six of them left and one of them was a traitor. Scouting, recruiting and training new talents would take years to complete. Besides, the remaining Fire Guardian had been too wary of the betrayal to be able to work cohesively as a unit anymore.
Out of the loyal Fire Guardian, Nauma had died due to severe head injury. Touu was fatally injured and had it not been for Shizune's treatment –under Tsunade's supervision, the Slug Princess was still suffering from hemophobia(1)– she would have been dead within the next couple of days from internal bleeding. Chiriku would head back to the Fire Temple along with little Sora after the boy was treated, Shizune said it would be around three to four days.
Kitane planned to stay after his concussion was treated. If Kakashi did not break his fall, he would have been dead for sure. He, along with Touu and Seito, had agreed to become Madame Shijimi's personal guards as soon as they were fitted into fighting condition again. The Daimyo stated that he could not explicitly tell the Madame not to give her guards anymore 'slips' and to take 'a walk' on her own, but he figured that he can place people with higher skill level to guard his spouse.
From the traitorous ones, only Kazuma had survived the night. Three of them had died during the rooftop fight and the other two committed suicide moments after Asuma and Chiriku left them on the care of the Palace Guards to assist Naruto battling the Ne surrounding Madame Shijimi's pavilion.
The Fire Daimyo's prison was suddenly crowded in the morning, filled with low member Ne who had been captured alive. Sai and Jiraiya worked endlessly trough the night to remove Danzou's seal from them. It was more of an act of mercy than tactical since that bunch had never even heard the name 'Danzou' so much as whispered in their background to be useful for condemning the old war-hawk. From around two hundred and fifty or so Danzou's minion, only about fifty survived the night. The ones that without a doubt were labelled as 'dispensable' actually came out of the fight alive because, as Sai pointed rather cheerily to Naruto, they were not important enough to be given an arsenic pill to end their lives should they got caught nor were they deemed strong enough to actually came out of any fight intact. Naruto had gritted her teeth at the statement and simply said "Unseal them, now," and left the meeting room.
"Please, think about it Jijii. The damage of removing most of the basic ninja trainings from the curriculum might not be seen immediately, but it's there. No matter what the civilian parents say, all of those deleted subjects will come and bite us in the butt later." Naruto placed her tea cup back on to the table as she finished her sentence, her conversation partner listened to her plea raptly.
Hiruzen clasped his hands under the table and sighed. It was the morning after the failed coup, both she and the Sandaime were having a tea together on the third floor of Madame Shinjimi's Pavilion. She had asked the wizened Hokage to accompany her before Sarutobi Hiruzen and his contingent was due back to Konoha and he had compiled.
"I understand your concern, Naruto-chan. Yet it will be hard to explain the change of curriculum to the parents, especially since the term is starting as we speak. They won't understand."
"No, they won't understand. Just as they have no idea of why those subjects are important part of ninja's training. Civilian-born shinobi have a higher casualty rate than those from ninja families simply because shinobi families could redeem the lack of subjects taught at the Academy on their own while their civilian-born counterparts couldn't. And it's not like the changes should be applied immediately, we could wait until 'Naruto' graduated to spare her another accusation. But her graduation batch must be given remedial class after they made genin." She leant forward, deep pools of blue met the greying black of the older Kage, "Which one do you prefer Jijii, facing enraged parents of alive academy students now or wailing parents of a dead genin later?"
Hiruzen certainly did not expect the question. As those unblinking cerulean orbs held his gaze, he absent-mindedly realized that the girl was one hell of a leader if the way she manipulated his soft spot toward the citizen of Konoha was any indication. He blinked.
"That's… below the belt, Naruto-chan." The girl snorted and once again the Sandaime sighed warily, "but I suppose it's true. Enraged parents are better than the wailing ones."
"Good." She leant back on her chair and the spell was broken, "Now, what about Ne?"
"Tsunade-chan gave you a complete Hokage training, yes?" The red-dyed head bopped as she nodded, "then you understand that shinobi village needs somebody to do the less favourable missions for them. The root of the great tree needs to be strong so the leaves can prosper."
"True. But there's a reason why a good farmer don't plant their papayas anywhere near their dwelling no matter how sweet the fruit might be, Jijii." She bit the corner of a shrimp dumpling as she said so, unaware of her partner's bewildered expression.(2)
Again, Sarutobi was taken aback. He stared long and hard at the girl, trying to find that loud and obnoxious brat who ran away giggling from her prank scenes with a mob of shinobi chasing after her just few weeks ago. He failed. The tanned lids fluttered and as the ocean blue eyes bore into his eyes, he realized that the little girl was still in there somewhere. Buried beneath years of hardships and loneliness.
"Something on my face, Jijii?" She tilted her head slightly to the side.
"No… nothing's on your face, Naruto-chan. I just missed chibi Naruto, I suppose." He sighed warily, "It's not an everyday occurrence that a little girl beat me in my own allegory, pardon an old man for being astonished."
"Meh, you're too hard on yourself, Jijii. Let's see…" Scratching her chin –a gesture which reminded Sarutobi of a long dead silver-haired man– Naruto suddenly perked up, "I think there's something you can try to Danzou, Jijii. You can order him to open the bandage over his eyes and hands in front of you. He's got the Sharingan implanted there, you see?"
"It won't do much Naruto-chan, we're well aware of that." The Sandaime had to school his expression when the bright eyes narrowed and turned cold in their socket.
"You knew?!" Hiruzen had expected a loud, indignant if not enraged, yell as the respond to his answer. The low hiss that the girl was uttering made him realized that she was a copy of her father more than just in looks and colourings, she also inherited Minato's temper.
The Uzumaki stood up and began pacing the room, the words "You knew" were repeated over and over again like a malicious mantra.
She continued pacing the large tea-room for another ten minutes, mumbling to herself all the way. Somehow, the Sandaime felt as if he was a ten years-old genin again, waiting silently and obediently for Tobirama-Sensei to decide what punishment he'd receive for screwing up. It took him all of his will power not to sink into his chair and wallowed in self-pity. In the end, he could not help but smiling slightly at the thought that an eighteen years-old girl could literally make him, the Kami no Shinobi, wet his pants with her angry aura alone. The smile was brief however, the reason for the oppressing aura sobered him immediately.
Finally, the pressure subsided behind him, he could hear a long suffering sigh being released and he cringed as he waited for his verdict.
"We'll talk about this later Jijii, I'm tired."
The next thing the Sandaime heard was the sound of the door closing behind him and he sighed morosely. He knew the girl was disappointed in him. He, the Sandaime Hokage, had been dismissed unceremoniously by a girl not one-fifth of his age and he could not even complain since he knew he deserved the treatment. He stared at the ceiling for the longest of time before whispering to the empty room.
"I'm so sorry, Minato."
"That's some serious moves, Gaki." Naruto glanced toward the door of the Daimyo's dojo where she practised her kata. Tsunade was leaning by the doorway on one side, arms crossed upon her chest. "That old pervert taught you?"
"No, he didn't. The toads did," smiling ruefully, the jinchuuriki completed her kumite, "He'd never got the chance."
"Why? I thought you're his apprentice." The Slug Princess followed the red-head with her eyes as the younger woman grabbed a towel and wiped her face.
"He died."
"Oh." Tsunade seemed to be taken aback for a moment, "What did he teach you during your training trips, then? How long was it, three years?"
"Two and half years. My basic education and training had been, using your own words, severely lacking. Apparently there were many subjects that had been removed from the Academy curriculum. You ordered him to complete my basic training first before moving onto the more advance subjects."
"I see. So the teachers in the Academy, they treated you fairly, then?" Naruto swallowed some water from her canteen before answering the question.
"Well, not really. Most ignored me if not downright hated me. Sometime along the way I lost interest in studying and training, choosing to gain attention with numerous pranks and acting out instead. There was this teacher, Umino Iruka, who started paying attention to me around my last year in the Academy, but the Academy had already lost it lure by then. I kept attending so I could become a ninja." She grinned sheepishly, "I failed the graduation exams three times."
The light-blonde brows hiked to her hairline, "Three times?"
The jinchuuriki hummed merrily, "Couldn't make a bunshin even if my life depends on it."
"Your Kage Bunshin is good, though. How did you graduate, then?"
"Aa, after the third failure, a sensei told me that I could graduate if I steal the Forbidden Scroll from Jijii's office and learn a jutsu from it. The Kage Bunshin was on the top of the scroll."
"Stealing from the Hokage Office? What kind of teacher tells their student to do that?" There was an underlying indignant tone in Tsunade's question. Naruto gave her a foxy grin before answering,
"Turned out he's a traitor. Told me about the demon sealed in my guts, against Jijii's law. Almost kill me and Iruka-Sensei, too." Scratching her chin, she continued, "He didn't count that I actually did learn a jutsu from the scroll."
"Oh? What did you do to him then?"
"Unleashed the Kage Bunshin on him. I think there were around three hundreds of them. Iruka-Sensei delivered him to the T&I all beaten up. He said that since I could make the Kage Bunshin, I passed the exams in his book."
The Slug Princess chuckled lightly and both of them fell into an uncomfortable silence.
"So, arguing with the old man already?" The question came out of the blue, the younger woman faltered on her way back to the middle of the dojo. She eyed Tsunade for a while before shrugging and walked back to the Sannin's side, a bitter smile adorning her face.
"Not really."
"What's wrong then? You two weren't actually saying goodbyes on the friendliest term last week."
"Aa, how to say this…" Pinching her nose, Naruto slumped against the wall beside the Sannin, "Jijii's always been… my hero… It's just… hard to chew that he's not as pure as I always seen him as."
"Oh?" Blonde brows hiked as the older woman turned to gauze her expression. "Care to explain?"
"It's about… We talked about Danzou and his Ne… I've always had the impression that the old mummy had done many unspeakable, dreadful things behind Jijii's back. I thought that Jijii had already ordered Danzou to dissolve Ne and that Jijii had no idea about Danzou stealing the Sharingan from dead Uchihas. But he just confirmed that he knew and done nothing about those. I guess it's… surprising." Tsunade snorted loudly as Naruto finished her explanation. At the girl's questioning look she sighed,
"I wouldn't say surprising if I were you, Naruto. It's downright disgusting and you know it." The girl opened her mouth to retort but no sounds came forth and eventually she closed her mouth again, "Why did you think I left Konoha, Gaki?"
"I… Shizune-nee told me about your brother and your lover… how they died and you were angry at Jijii because of that?" Her uncertainty made the sentence came out as a question. Again, Tsunade snorted.
"Well… It's true but only half of it." She walked toward a simple bench by one side of the arena and sat herself down. After a moment of hesitation, the jinchuuriki followed suit, sitting beside her gingerly, "There weren't any particular reason, really. Or should I say, one too many reason? Anyway, my… displeasures were accumulated through the years and by the end of the day, I've just had enough and bolted."
Naruto remained silent and the last Senju ploughed on without waiting for any replies, she was lost in her reminiscences.
"It started with Sakumo, you've heard of him right?" Her companion nodded so she continued on, "Sensei's always preaching about the Will of Fire, about how Konoha should, would never left a comrade behind. And then the Sakumo Incident happened. He followed Sensei's teachings to a 'T', plus his pack nature I guess, but in the end, the fact that the Sandaime let the White Fang fell into disgrace without giving any kind of support hit a nerve. Orochimaru, Jiraiya and I were sent into separate missions at around the same time and by the time we got back in Konoha, the damage was done."
Naruto was listening raptly. She had only ever heard bit and pieces about Hatake Sakumo, the (in)famous White Fang of Konoha, in spite of the fact that Hatake Kakashi was her Jounin Sensei and team leader for years. Or perhaps exactly because of that, she mused.
"But I thought his failure in completing the mission had led to another war?"
"The Third War was coming either way Gaki, every Hidden Villages believed, no needed to establish themselves as the strongest predator out there, including Konoha. Anyway, when Jiraiya came back, he was royally pissed off when he heard about what's happened to Sakumo. Oh, I was mad too, just not as much as the pervert." Tsunade blew a few strands of loose hair away from her face, "Sarutobi-Sensei was all about leaving six years old Kakashi all by himself, giving the reason that the brat was already a Chuunin at the time. Leaving him to fend off the villagers' disgusted looks and hurtful whisperings all by himself. The pervert had already established his spy network by that time, and the Sandaime pointed out that fact against Jiraiya's intention of taking care of Kakashi. After hours of shouting match, Sarutobi-Sensei finally relented and placed Kakashi under Minato's care as his apprentice. It brought about a lot of protests, one was because your father was still very young at the time, already a Jounin, but a mere teenager all the same. Other reason was that the general populace was wary of the young prodigy, being the son of a disgraced man people thought that he shouldn't be given more chance to grow stronger. There was no doubt that little Kakashi would only grow stronger, but placing him under another known genius was pushing it and didn't sit well with many people."
Naruto stretched her legs, eyeing the Sannin as she did so but otherwise kept her mouth closed. She was close to Tsunade in her timeline, but she had never had the privilege to hear the story behind Tsunade's decision to leave Konoha from the medic herself. On the other hand, she felt an unusual connection toward her former sensei. She had always wondered why the man had always seemed to understand her restlessness among Konoha's citizen. Naruto was startled to realize that he did understand.
"Nawaki had already died in the previous war and so had Dan. Caring and loving Dan. We fell in love just before the war was starting but decided to wait until after the war to make it official. That's something I regret until today. A bit of advice Gaki, if you ever fall in love, grab it and hold into it with both hands, because war is cruel. No, life is ruthless. It won't wait until you're ready to settle down, it won't wait for anything. It'll continue onward without a care." Her shoulders sagged as mist descended upon her eyes, "Back to my pity-party, I proposed to have a trained medic in each cells to decrease casualty numbers among our troops but was denied, the reason given was that we didn't have enough funds and resources at the time. I relented, thinking to re-apply the proposal once the war was over… but then it happened."
"What?"
"One year before the war was over, Sarutobi-Sensei approached me and asked me to help Orochimaru in Konoha's attempts to re-create Mokuton. He had the nerve to ask me to give my DNA to Orochimaru, he even went as far as suggesting artificial insemination so that I could bore a new generation of the Senju, and hopefully re-establishing the Mokuton as one of Konoha's manpower. That was when I realized why my medic program was being denied, the fund and resources available had already being used for human experimentation. As a Senju, it was demeaning, as a medic though, it was downright disgusting. That was the last straw for me, so I packed out, sealed off the Senju and the Uzumaki's property, picked Shizune from her training ground and left."
"I…" The red-head gulped, Tsunade's story was a lot take in, "I don't know what to say, Baa-chan."
"You don't have to say anything Gaki. Sarutobi-Sensei is basically a good man, a good leader, he would do anything to keep Konoha safe. It's just that he relied on bloodlines too much at times… And he tends to wash his hands off of any emotional baggage that his actions might've caused. You're one living example of it. The Hatake brat was another along with Orochimaru's little apprentice, and if your story about the future is to be accounted for, your friend Sasuke is another one. Sensei left you all to fend for yourself, didn't he?"
"…"
"Just as I thought." Tsunade sighed warily, "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but after I heard about the Kyuubi attack and your parents' demise, I inquired about what happened to Kushina's child and whether the new Jinchuuriki was an Uzumaki. It wasn't answered and I haven't been able to confirm your identity until now. Judging from how Jiraiya's never spent the night in Konoha anymore, I would say that Sarutobi-Sensei might've forbidden the pervert to visit you. All that after Mito baa-sama's lectures about the importance of love for a jinchuuriki."
After a while, the Uzumaki sighed, "You're not coming back to Konoha with us." It was not a question.
"No. I'll travel around to gather the herbs and other medicinal plants listed on the Medicinal Tome that you let me copied. Which reminds me, thank you for the copy."
"It's yours to begin with, Baa-chan. It's lucky that I have my inheritance sealed in one of my tattoos, otherwise the knowledge that you've gathered in the Tome through the years would've been lost and you and Shizune-nee would have to do it all over again."
"Not that I'm ungrateful, but why do you bring your inheritance along in your seal, anyway? Why didn't you leave it at your own place?"
"You sent me into endless away trainings and missions after the war was over. My place was empty most of the time that in the end I moved out of the apartment and stayed with you or in a hotel whenever I was in the village. And after what happened to the village when Pain attacked, I figured it'll be safer to keep my precious belongings here in the Capital. After I've completed my trainings and away missions, I took out my stuff from Shijimi-baa's safe before going back to Konoha, thinking that I could keep my own room then." Her blue eyes stared into a faraway place, one that the medic could not see, "I was poisoned during my homecoming party."
"Ah." What can one say to something like that? "I'll finish the research on that poison, Gaki. Those notes you kept are helpful and look only steps away from completion."
"Well, I'd got the feeling that the only reason you were unable to find the antidote was because the lack of time. Sai told me you went from one meeting into another to do some damage control after I fell into coma, leaving the antidote making to Shizune-nee and Sakura."
"That's my second apprentice, right? She any good?" The Uzumaki knew that Tsunade merely trying to avoid the issue of coming back to Konoha, but she humoured the Sannin anyway,
"Very good. A lot of people claimed that she had surpassed you in medicinal field and she managed to complete the Strength of One Hundred Jutsu of yours. You let her signed the Slug Summoning Scrolls, making her your successor," The red-dyed brows curled as if she was trying to figure out something, "which made her failures to find the antidote…"
"She your team-mate, right?" The medic's sharp mind had already made the connection of the jinchuuriki's train of thoughts, "why would…?"
Naruto sighed deeply, shaking her head before answering the unspoken question, "Meh, it's only a possibility. One that's been nagging at the back of my head ever since I woke up from my coma."
The red-painted lips thinned as Tsunade eyed the younger woman, "Something needs to be done to the girl, then."
"Nah, she hasn't done anything this time Baa-chan. Can't punish an intended crime, you taught me that. Besides, she's not the only possibility." Sighing, the younger woman brought their conversation back to the present, "Actually, I was hoping you could check on Shin. He'd died several years from now on my timeline due to a severe illness. I'm not sure what the disease is and neither is Sai. His memory about that time is blurred at best."
"I can have Shizune do that now, today, if you'd like. Anything you know to help narrowing the examination?"
The younger woman shook her head, "No, the only thing that Sai remembered was that his brother was coughing up blood."
"A lot of diseases have that syndrome. I'll ask your friend later."
Naruto nodded and they fell into another stretched silent. The red-head looked intently at the faraway gaze of her somewhat relative and realized that the older woman was trying to gather her thoughts. So she waited.
"If we're closed in your past, you know about my… problem, right?" leaning back against the wall, the blonde-haired woman finally said, "Will I… Did I get over it?"
"I know," the now-red-head wiped some sweat from her face with a small towel, "I'm not exactly sure how it happened. After Hokage Jijii passed away, Ero-Sennin took me to find you to become the Godaime. Orochimaru and his lackey had already found you by then. He wanted you to heal his sealed arms and offered to bring your brother and your lover back to life using the Edo-tensei as the payment."
Naruto stopped her narrative when she heard her baa-chan gasped. After Tsunade's breathing went back to normal, she continued her story,
"You refused. Next thing I knew you were having a seizure since Orochimaru's man had cut off his own palm and sprayed the blood all over you. I thought he was going to kill you, so I stepped in. I let his kunai stabbed through my palm to grab a hold of his fist. Then I hit him with a Rasengan, but he also hit me right above my heart. I passed out after that." The blue eyes glazed in remembrance and she chuckled lightly, "Shizune-nee told me that my heart stopped beating for a while, but you managed to get hold of yourself and healed me. You stopped shaking and when I came around, you were fighting Orochimaru who tried to kill me."
The Slug Princess widened her eyes but remained quiet as she felt there was more to it.
"You gave me the Shodai's necklace afterwards, since I won our bet. You bet I wouldn't be able to learn the Rasengan in a week but I did it."
"A bet huh? How old were you then?" Tsunade could not help but asked.
"Twelve going on thirteen. Pretty cool, ne?" Naruto smiled wistfully, "You agreed to become the Godaime after that."
"It took a life and dead situation for me to get over of my phobia, then?"
"Yes. But I was hoping that it won't have to come to that this time around. See Baa-chan, it was fine because it was me. I'm a jinchuuriki and we don't die easily. I could afford to wait for you to come to your senses, but it won't work with just anybody, dattebayo! What if it was Shizune-nee or Ero-Sennin who were dying in front of you? What would happen to them if you still had to deal with your fear first in the middle of a fight or a battle? Will you let them slip away in front of you without doing anything because you're afraid of blood?" The jinchuuriki drank from her canteen and then sighed, "Gomen Baa-chan. I didn't mean to be lecturing you or anything, but I… I think you'll hate yourself if it happened."
"I could just walk away and close my eyes from what's happening, Gaki." The renowned medic crossed her hands in front of her chest as she said those words.
"Aa, true. But do you think Ero-Sennin will stay away from the fight? I didn't mean to let him know about Nagato and Konan, you know? But he heard it from Sai anyway. And Jijii… do you think he'll sit quietly in his office after seeing my memories? Or do you despise him so much that you'd let him bleed to death right before your eyes?"
Tsunade was startled at the question. She went silent afterwards and Naruto left her be. It was a lot of luck along with Naruto's recklessness and stubbornness that had helped the Sannin got over her fear of blood the first time around. This time however, they had time to prepare themselves to the inevitable of the upcoming battle.
Ironically, knowing what the problem was with some people did nothing to help her finding a way to help them.
"Look, I'll help your plight Gaki, but I won't be doing it from Konoha. I'll go along with you today to check on the hospital but then I'll be off again. I'll leave some instructions and open a line of communication with the medics there, but it's as far as I can go right now. It hit a nerve to see just how low Konoha had fallen astray from Hashirama-Jijii's intention. Konoha was supposed to be a safe haven for all, not just for people with bloodlines or geniuses and prodigies. Maybe sometime in the future I could walk back into the village without feeling resentful but for now, a couple of weeks is the best that I can give you."
"I guess… Arigatou Baa-chan."
"Hm."
The Slug Princess then left the jinchuuriki to her training and again, Naruto let her. She knew the woman needed sometime alone to think things over, and so did she. She switched into her kumite but her mind strayed all over the places.
Uzumaki Naruto hated to admit it, but as she spent the whole week in the current timeline, everything about her condition finally sank in and the only word that could describe her feeling best was scared.
Her first thought when she realized that somehow she had ended up in her past was that there was so many things that she could change to create a better future for everyone, a better life. She had learnt a lot of things about her precious people on her previous time, had known some of their problems, secrets and insecurities. Surely she could help her once family and friends as she did before, right?
The second thing that entered her mind was the pain of meeting the familiar strangers. She had known them once before, was closed to most of them. They had fought side by side many times in her past. She had trusted them with her life and they had trusted her with theirs. However, she had to start reaching out to them all over again and it unnerved her more than she would like to admit.
And now the third thing came and settled into her awareness. Even knowing their problems, secrets and insecurities, how the hell she was supposed to help them again? She did not even realize how she had connected with most of them the first time around. She did everything blindly, without any precedent thoughts and planning, not even having a proper introduction in most cases.
She replayed her conversation with Tsunade just a while ago and could not help but cringed. It was a part of Konoha's history that she had never gotten the chance to learn before. Her heart refused to believe just how much the Sandaime Hokage –her Jijii, her first ever Hero– had screwed up, but her mind could not deny the facts that Tsunade had pointed out so blatantly to her.
This Tsunade was different than the one she knew. This Tsunade was still bitter and hurt, deeply. The facts that some of the most grievous wounds were inflicted by one of the people that she had trusted the most just made the matter worse. She supposed it must have felt like when Kakashi pawned her off to Ebisu. She still remembered the bitter taste of betrayal when it happened. Sure, she'd learnt long afterwards that it was done under the Sandaime's order…
A warm presence made itself known to her and she shifted her steps slightly toward the door to greet her godfather. The man was a prime example of her blindness and selfishness. She did not even know that the Gama-Sennin was her godfather even after he died the first time around. She had never bothered to ask why one of the strongest men in the Elemental Nation was willing to take her, the dead-last, as an apprentice, too happy to have someone who focused their attention solely on teaching her. She had never wondered why the Sannin's eyes would sometimes glaze over as he stared at her. If she had not met her father in her mindscape, the chance that she remained unaware of their connection was pretty high.
"Shishou." She had never addressed the white-haired man with such title while he was still alive in her time, "anything I can do?"
"'Shishou'? I thought I was 'Ero-Sennin' for good," Jiraiya pouted slightly, but his eyes were brilliant with wisdom, "What's eating you, Gaki?"
"What do you mean by that? I'm fine."
"No, you're not. I practically raised your sire, Gaki. You need ages to be able to hide the fact that you're troubled about something from me." He leaned on one side under the doorway, in a similar manner to his fellow Sannin just minutes ago. Naruto threw him a rueful smile, unsure of what to say or even should she say anything at all. The white brows hiked as he took in her expression, "Talk."
What was it on her face that made her pseudo-parents seemed to always manage to see straight into her? First Madame Shijimi, then Tsunade Baa-chan and now Ero-Sennin, they had not even met for more than a week!
Jiraiya waited patiently as she continued her kumite, clearly impressed by her mastery of the moves but never forgetting his suspicion that there was something bothering his god-daughter.
"I'm scared." Finally the jinchuuriki relented, she knew the man well enough to realize that he would come back into the issue sooner or later.
"Of?"
"Everything."
"Why?"
"Everything."
"Why are we conversing in one word sentences?" The tall man left his leaning post and fully entered the dojo. He dropped his scroll and haori to the floor at one corner. "Explain it, Gaki."
"You heard of how everything went wrong in my time, right? We had peace, true peace. Or so it seemed. But I'm beginning to doubt that 'peace' is an attainable state for human." She moved a little to the side as her shishou walked into the arena to stand beside her, "It was a fluke. The peace we'd gained was a temporary state, forced upon us when we're facing a common enemy. An insanely strong common enemy. One that needed the whole continent to fight off."
"Aa, 'enemy of my enemy' case?" Jiraiya followed her moves and they began dancing in sync through the kumite. "The 'Let's stop our squabbling and kick that big bad bully in the ass together so we can go back to our petty disputes later?'"
She let out a small chuckle. Trust the Gallant Jiraiya to sum up everything in such a simple sentence. She sobered up quickly though, "Exactly. I woke up alone from months of coma in a derelict cavern somewhere in the wilderness, while Konoha had been burnt to the ground. Other villages were more or less in the same state. For a while I believed the given reason, that people became wary and insecure after I was poisoned, in Konoha of all places."
"What happened after that while was over?"
"I began to see that it was just that, an excuse. We're too greedy to be able to live side by side in peace for long. There's always someone who wants something more. More power, more money, more land, more fun, more food… Just this morning I went to the marketplace, just off sightseeing and stuff. There was a hunter who sold his hunts at a steep price. Buyers, mothers, were elbowing and stepping on each others' feet just to buy more. Even here and now, people are willing to hurt each other for a scrap of meat when a bountiful harvest is just around the corner." The Sannin was frowning by the end of her rants. "And just minutes ago Tsunade Baa-chan explained to me the whole reasons why she abandoned Konoha and honestly, I couldn't really blame her."
"You're giving up on peace?"
"No, I'm not. But you have to admit that it'll never be a constant state of being, Shishou. The best thing we can have is peace through order, and you have to maintain it with iron hands." She sighed as they landed from a forward half-leap, "That… is something that I don't want to do."
"Why not? If it's all that we can get…"
"Yes, maybe you're right. It's the best we can have, so let's do our damn best to keep it. But it's a flaunt. I don't know about you, but my dream of peace is where people wanted the peace to last and they're willing to do anything to keep it, not because of punishment and threats, but because they understand that's the way it's supposed to be."
They executed the last steps of the kumite and let silent fill the room, each with their own train of thoughts.
Both of them were resting, leaning against the wall when the Sannin spoke again.
"Iron hands, huh? What's wrong with that if it can bring peace to the world?"
"Peace through fear is not so much different from what Madara wants, Shishou. Fear always brought about hatred, and hatred will only lead to more hatred. When I heard the word 'peace', 'happiness' was the first word that came right next to it. I don't think 'happiness' can co-exist with 'fear' no matter how you arrange them. Madara wants a peaceful world through illusion, a 'dream peace', but still an illusion. It's escaping from reality, Shishou."
"Hm. I understand your point." The beaded eyes bore into his god-daughter's face and he sighed as he took in her expression, "That's not the only thing that's been bothering you, is it?"
"Aa… Just some visionary adjustments about heroes, Ero-Sennin. Kakashi-Sensei always told me to look underneath the underneath, but I guess the implication of those words had never really bothered me until I spoke with Jijii last week and Baa-chan just now."
"Well, I can guess what made you need some adjustments Gaki. Just remember that heroes are human first and foremost, and human made mistakes. The greater the human, the greater their mistakes and the greater their impacts on the world around them." (3) The Gama-Sennin graced her with a lopsided grin before his brows creased, "Hey, am I included in your list of heroes? You didn't just kick me off from that list, did you?"
"Meh, you're never my hero. You're Ero-Sennin and that's what you'll always be."
"Impertinent Brat!"
"You know Ero-Sennin, that's usually Baa-chan's line, not yours."
"I'll use whatever lines I want, you Brat!" His tone was indignant, but his gaze conveyed just how much he understood her meanings. 'Ero-Sennin' was more than a simple endearment or an insult, it was the way she singled him out from the rest of the world. He reached out toward a loose strand of hair and abruptly change the subjects, "There're a number of seals that can change your hair colour permanently, you know."
"I know that. But I have no intention of staying as a redhead permanently. Much as I envy Mum's red hair, I'm a blonde. This," Naruto pointed to her head, "doesn't feel like me. Maybe it's not wise to be my kind of blonde in Konoha, but who knows."
He dropped a large arm around her shoulder and gave it a soft pat, "Come on, we'll head out to Konoha as soon as you're ready. Hime will check on your friend's brother in Konoha's hospital. Pack your stuff, although why on earth you bother to bring that daiko set is beyond me."
"I have something in mind Ero-Sennin and it's a surprise."
"Yeah, whatever Brat. Shijimi and that demon of a cat will be travelling with us to Konoha. I think she and that blasted cat are itching to terrorize Konoha genin. We'll be in the tea-room, alright?"
"Right, see you in a minute Ero-Sennin!" The jinchuuriki waved a hand as she took off running toward the pavilion while the white-haired man followed her in a more sedated pace.
Jiraiya entered the tea-room to find some of his travelling companions were already waiting there. Madame Shijimi was interviewing the black-haired kid with fervour while Tsunade sat bemusedly to the side, the corner of her lips were twitching as she watched the two people conversed. He sat beside his team-mate and raised an eyebrow.
"Something funny?" He whispered, having no intention to interrupt the ongoing discussion/interrogation.
"Shijimi's playing matchmaker. She accused the poor brat as Naruto's lover of sorts. You should've seen his face a while ago when Naruto passed through toward her bedroom. He made a good impression of a boiled crab."
"Oh? And here I thought that brat has no sense of shame whatsoever. He listened to my story ideas all night without so much as flinching, not even once I tell you!"
Tsunade was about to pummel her pervert of a team-mate to the floor when Sai's voice rose slightly.
"There's no one that can replace Senpai in her heart, I swear it's the truth Madame Daimyo!"
They shared a look and simultaneously strained their ears, eagerly waiting for the flustered man to answer the-sure-to-come question.
"And who was this 'Senpai' of yours, young man?" Jiraiya had to give the chubby woman some credit, she would definitely prosper in the T&I Department.
Said young man looked helplessly around for a polite way out of the room, but Madame Shijimi –petite though she was– was somehow looming over the dark-haired nin. He gulped before answering weakly, "Erm… the White Wolf?"
Apparently Sai had thought that it would be safe to give an ANBU codename as the answer.
"Hey Jiraiya, what's Sakumo's brat called?" Madame Shijimi was beaming triumphantly while the pale nin whipped his head around in a concealed panic. He hid the panic well enough, but as he was in the same room with three people who had decades of experiences in scrutinizing others, his attempt was moot. Jiraiya did not even hesitate, he crowed the name out loud.
"Hatake Kakashi. Ooh… Story idea!" He pulled out his ever presence notebook and started scribbling furiously, ignoring Sai's whimper.
"Hokage-sama is going to kill me."
"Why am I going to kill you, Sai?"
"Hokage-sama! I'll go get Shin." He was all but bolted from the room. The red-dyed head turned to watch her team-mate and guard left the room.
"What did you do Ero-Sennin?" The tone was sweet and uttered in a sing-song voice but said Sennin could feel cold, large sweats dripping along his spine.
"I didn't do anything! Gah! You're too much like your mother Gaki!"
"Actually it was me. I guess I've scarred your friend, Naruto-chan. He needs more interaction with regular females, not one who could literally break every bone in his body." Madame Shijimi chimed in from her seat. Naruto turned to face her godmother and sweat-dropped when she noted the older woman's expression. She looked like a cat that had just eaten the canary, all too pleased with herself. Blue orbs narrowed suspiciously but she shook it off.
"Right… I think I don't want to know." The jinchuuriki marched off toward the door, "Come on, I want to get there by noon."
The three middle-aged people waited until the girl reached the large oak tree at the end of the garden before sharing a glance.
"Hatake Kakashi huh? No wonder she bristled when I told her about what happened to Sakumo."
"Damn, that brat sure knows how to pick 'em."
"Ooh ho ho! I know just what to do. Shall we then, my friends? I've got a wolf to catch."
"Say Shijimi… how did you manage to rile up that kid? I tried all night during the unsealing but he remained placid the whole time, not even a flinch or a twitch I tell you…"
The Sandaime Hokage set aside a stack of trading proposals from Cha no Kuni after scribbling the words 'Merchant Guild Assessment?' at the bottom. He could see the merit of Naruto's comment about delegating the paperwork. True, every issue needed the Hokage's approval, but at the very least he should not be thinking about every aspect of lowering the tax rate for imported black tea on his own. The wizened Kage took the next batch and sighed morosely. Seriously, why should he deal with missing laundry, of all things?
A soft knock at the door was heard and he pushed the paperwork away in a heartbeat.
"Yes?"
Genma's head popped in from behind the door. He walked in and knelt before the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, there's a message from the East Gate. Your guests have arrived."
"Good. You know what to do once they got here. You have taken care of their accommodation?"
"It is done, Hokage-sama. Here are the keys." The tokujou stood up and put two sets of keys on the desk before stepping back.
Sarutobi took the keys and examined them. "It has been restored?"
"Yes, it has Hokage-sama."
"Thank you, Genma-kun. You may leave." The senbon-chewing nin bowed and then headed for the door when the Hokage remembered something and spoke, "I heard that you, Namiashi and Tatami had changed your dwellings, Genma-kun."
One hand at the door-knob, the sandy-haired man turned around. "Ah, yes it's true, Hokage-sama. We had some trouble convincing the landlord to fix the building, since no one wants to rent his rooms if Naruto-san still resides there. And because the last landlord who threw him out was found… err… permanently paralysed soon after, he hasn't got the nerve to do the same but refused to repair the building since he couldn't receive any additional income. We're merely trying to prove him that there are people who didn't mind sharing the building with Naruto-san. He was quite cooperative afterwards, went as far as installing a much better door and lock and fixing the plumbing."
"Ah, I see. He won't be suffering from an unprecedented permanent paralysis anytime soon then, I take it?" There was a glint of amusement in the Hokage's eyes that disappeared in a flash. Genma could not help but grinned back sheepishly.
"I don't think so, Hokage-sama. I'm sure he's on the peak of his health, although I'm no medic myself. And I must say the other guy was lucky we're the ones who found him after he's being paralysed. I shudder to think if some stray wolf were to find him first. It won't be pretty." He grimaced involuntarily at the thought. "The room's a bit tight, but we managed."
"I suppose it's true, Genma-kun. What did Tatami-kun say about it, though?" Tatami better did not know anything.
"Aa… He's quite happy to help, Hokage-sama. Anything for the little gaki, and having another fridge nearby to raid whenever he's back from the Barrier Room also helps." You have our words, Hokage-sama.
"Very well. And please call someone from the Administrative Office to come first thing in the morning, will you? Dismissed."
The tokujou bowed once more and then stepped out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Hiruzen pulled out his pipe, lighted it up and inhaled the tobacco's essence deeply.
Exactly one week after meeting the future Naruto, the Hokage was still trying to wrap his mind around it. It was not that he didn't believe the girl, the evidence was much too palpable to be ignored.
No, it was the circumstances that had her thrown back into this time-frame that was his main concern.
From what he saw in her memories, abridged and edited though they were, Hiruzen fully realized that he had made some major screw-ups, not just some silly mistakes or slips. Moreover, it seemed that some of his screw-ups were piled up on top of each other, resulting in one massive disaster in the end. Sakumo, Orochimaru and Danzou were few of them.
Letting the village shunned Sakumo and did nothing to defend his honour had led Kakashi to become a strict-by-the-rule teenage shinobi, which led to the Kannabi Bridge fiasco.
There was no other name for it than a fiasco. A believed-to-be-dead-Uchiha who wanted to 'fix' the world because his adolescence crush was accidentally killed by his own team-mate. Said Uchiha then unleashed the Kyuubi at the village for revenge, killing his former sensei and the sensei's wife along with hundreds of Konoha shinobi and civilian. Condemning his sensei's child to the miserable life of an orphaned jinchuuriki and then tried to eliminate the Elemental Continent by recreating the Shinjuu. All to achieve his twisted version of the world's peace. It did not matter that he was being manipulated, it was his choice to go along with Madara's plans.
The Hokage blew out a ribbon of thick white smoke from his lungs. He did not want to start thinking about Orochimaru and Danzou. From Naruto's memories, both of them played major parts in the catastrophe during her time. And Naruto herself…
He had messed the girl's life badly and if her reaction toward his admission that he was fully aware about Danzou's activities was anything to go by…
A soft knock on the door broke his contemplation.
"Yes?"
"They're here, Hokage-sama." Genma's muffled voice came from behind the door.
"Let them in, Genma-kun. I'll be unavailable for a while."
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
The door then opened to admit his 'guests' in.
Leaving the Hokage Office in a hurry, Jiraiya followed his quarry's chakra signature toward a little red bridge.
Stretching his senses while he was speaking to his sensei, the Sannin had located his target near the Training Ground Three almost immediately. The moment he felt the Sandaime's old team-mate approaching, Jiraiya had muttered a hurried excuse and promptly shunshin-ed his way out to avoid meeting his sensei's former team-mate in the hallway.
The person he wanted to see was staring at the Memorial Stone, shoulders slightly stiffened under the carefully-schooled front of a laid-back manner, he guessed it was due to his arrival. He had managed to coerce some parts of his god-daughter's life story in her previous timeline, and from what he gathered; this particular shinobi played a major part in it. That, and the little Ne's revealing tale… Oh yes, it would make a fine story for the next Icha-Icha. He giggled to himself as he approached the younger nin standing still by the Memorial Stone.
"Jiraiya-sama." The boy's voice already had a deeper timbre to it. Absently, he noted that it was the kind of voice that would drive most females out of their mind, but he pushed the thought aside. He had something much more important to deliver.
"Brat. Funny place to spend your free time." The shoulders rose slightly in response, "How long have you been here today?"
"Aa, for a while… Is there something you need, Jiraiya-sama?"
The older man traced the unruly, gravity defying hair of the boy before him with his eyes, the high brows and the strong but smooth line of his jaws; so much like his deceased friend. Then suddenly he realized that the boy no longer needed to crane his neck up to look at him in the eyes, he blurted out suddenly, "How old are you now, Kakashi?"
"Twenty-two?" The answer came immediately, despite of the widened of the boy's, no, man's exposed eye. Clearly he was not expecting the question, but ingrained shinobi habit made him answer his superior's question immediately nonetheless. Jiraiya chuckled lightly.
"Aa… The last time I was in Konoha, you were only this tall," the hermit levelled his palm to his chest, "Long time, eh?"
"True. It has been a long time, Jiraiya-sama"
"So, I saw that you have taken a liking to my new book. Never thought the day I'd saw you reading something that isn't jutsu scrolls. What happened?"
"I have some free time." Again, the nonchalant shrug. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow sceptically but he shrugged too.
"Good. You'll have some time to read the next in the series, then," he tossed a brown-wrapped package toward the jounin. Kakashi caught the square package in reflex, "I signed it for my number one fan! It's a hard cover, haven't been released yet. Read it and tell me what you think next time I come by."
And with that, the Gama-Sennin turned to leave, waving his hand at the not-so-obviously-confused ninja behind him, "See ya around, Brat!"
Kakashi watched the spot where the Sannin had disappeared for a few seconds before coming to himself. He looked down to the package in his hand, sighed and put it in to his waist pouch before turning his attention back to the Memorial Stone. He frowned slightly when he realized that the package added a significant weight to his pouch.
Murmuring his goodbye to his dead family, the jounin fished out his own copy of Icha-Icha Paradise and started to walk back to his apartment.
As he walked, he noticed the startled looks that pedestrian were giving him and he revelled in them. It was not hard to figure out why they were startled, since he had realized it the first time he read the book in public. Apparently, Icha-Icha was not an appropriate reading material for anyone, let alone to be read openly in public. Kakashi had shrugged it off at the beginning, but after a few times, he started to appreciate the wide berth that most people, including his peers, were giving him whenever he had the book out.
He had bought the book the moment he saw it being displayed on the bookshop's window several weeks back, purely because he had heard Minato-sensei made the promise to read it if Jiraiya ever published it. It took his sensei's sensei years to do so, and when he did, seeing that Minato-sensei could not fulfil that promise, Kakashi bought the book in his sensei's stead. It turned out that Icha-Icha was a fine reading material, and the facts that reading it in public also walled off the usual horde of peers following him and poking into his business was a welcome bonus in his perceptive.
"Kakashi, My Eternal Rival!" Of course, Icha-Icha only deterred normal people. At least he could always pretend not to hear anything until he had to.
The silver-haired jounin kept his gaze on the open page of his book as he walked, wincing slightly at the smell of dust approaching, fast. Too fast to be a natural occurrence. He prepared his ears for the sure-to-come loud greeting of Konoha taijutsu master.
"Kakashi! It's great to see you on this fine day! Yosh! To prove our youthfulness, I challenge you to climb the Hokage Mountain with one hand!" Another challenge? Sigh… "If I lose, I shall run around the village 200 times, and if I can't complete it, I shall do 300 push-ups with one hand, and if I can't…"
"Hm? Did you say something?" Manly tears on cue…
"What's this?! So hip and cool!"
Kakashi, feeling he had endured enough social contact for the day, shunshin-ed out to his apartment the moment Gai was blinded by his own (manly) tears.
The former ANBU Captain sighed in relieve as the familiar sight of his simple quarter greeted his vision. It was not much, but at least within the confine of his room, Kakashi felt no need to interact with other people.
He kicked his sandals off and shoved them into the shoe's rack by the front door. After making some hot tea, he settled down on the single tatami mat by his table, carrying the package from Jiraiya along and then began unravelling the brown paper carefully.
Kakashi set the wrapper aside after turning it inside out but found nothing peculiar on it. He took the orange-covered book, again turning it back and forth as he thought over Jiraiya's words. Shrugging, he opened the book, paying special attention to the cover. There was nothing on the front cover, so he turned to the back. He stared at Jiraiya's flourish signature for a while, wondering why the decorations underlining the words 'For my number one fan' looked familiar before he recognized it as the blood containment seal.
After casting a secrecy barrier he'd copied from the Yondaime around his room, he pulled out a kunai from the holster tied around his right thigh, nicked his thumb a little and let the blood from the scratch drop down on the seal, adding a little chakra as good measure. The seal glowed and a hidden folder slid out from within. After he took the folder out, the seal vanished completely as the small gap closed off, leaving no trace on the pristine-looking orange cover.
The folder was the size of a small notepad with another blood seal upon the folder's clasp. Pushing the Icha-Icha aside, he smeared another drop of blood upon the folder to open the clasp.
Hatake Kakashi was more than intrigued by then. The information contained in the folder must be of the utmost importance if Jiraiya bothered to protect it with layers of security measures. Even the means of delivering it was concealed as mundane as possible. He stared at the folder, wondering what kind of info that needed to be given in such a way to a mere jounin. His logic dictated that this kind of info should be delivered either to the Hokage, the Jounin Commander or the ANBU Commander. He was not even in the ANBU anymore.
However, he knew that the Gama-Sennin must have already visited the Hokage before their meeting. He had caught a glimpse of golden hair running around the village just as he left Gai in the middle of the street. Shrugging, he opened the first page of the folder, eye widened as the words sunk into his mind.
Twenty minutes later, Kakashi was holding the last page from the folder in his hand. He was out at the small yard at the back of his room, standing by his empty garbage can. He watched as Jiraiya's private message burnt down by an E-rank fire jutsu.
'We have several years at best before they start moving. Prepare yourself, Gaki.'
He peered down at the opened trash can to make sure that nothing was left before closing the lid and headed back to his room. Five minutes later he was running to the outskirts of the village, entering a derelict looking cottage as quietly as he could.
Passing a couple of doors, he climbed the stairs at the end of the short hall to emerge out in the attic. Kakashi quelled his flaring nerves as he approached an antique wooden box sitting innocently near the far wall. He sat down before the box, fingering the Hatake's eight-prong star crest deliberately.
An hour later, the cottage had all of its windows opened for the first time in fourteen years.
The Hatake was never big enough a family to be considered a clan, but they came from a long line of warriors and had been around even before the first ninja came to be. Earlier Hatake had been family of highly skilled samurai, sentinel to an ancient deity. After the age of shinobi rose and samurai was left as nothing but bedtime stories or secluded themselves in Iron Country, the Hatake had adapted instead and became a family of ninja who somehow still pertained the way of the samurai, the shibumi, with them. When Konoha was but a few years old, the Hatake came to join the village and settled down as Konoha shinobi.
Being the descendant of a long line of samurai, kenjutsu came naturally to the Hatake. Kakashi himself had enough proficiency with the swords to give Konoha's resident master of the art, Gekko Hayate, a run for his money. It was never his favourite weapon though, he always preferred to fight using the shorter blades like kunai or knives since they allowed more room for manoeuvre and casting jutsu. However, it seemed that it was time to broaden his repertoire.
He stared at the antique wooden box that he had brought down into the living room. The ancient padlock stared back tauntingly at him. Fingering the simple lock slowly, Kakashi thought back about what Jiraiya had informed him. About various S-rank missing-nin banded together to collect the bijuu by extracting them from their hosts. About the order he had received from the Yondaime to guard Kushina-san and his unborn child. The last order his sensei had given him and as far as Kakashi was concerned, the order was never been revoked and thus it was still standing.
Feeling that he was about to open a can of worms, the last Hatake pushed his chakra into the innocent looking padlock and twisted it open. Kushina-san had died along with Minato-sensei, but his child survived. He might not be worthy enough to care and nurture for his sensei's legacy, but he'd be damned if he let anything happened to the little blonde. Hatake Kakashi was not about to disobey the Yondaime's last order.
The lid opened with a light creak, proof of his negligence toward his family's heirloom. Inside, there were stacks of deeds owned by his family for centuries, of farmlands, mines, armouries and smithy. Those were not what he aimed for, so he took them out and stacked them neatly beside the box until they were all outside, leaving several trinkets at the bottom. His father's tantou was also kept in there. He traced the velvet covered-box gently but decided that no, he could not wield the Hakkou Chakura Tou -the White Light Chakra Sabre. The tantou was not made for him. Pushing it aside, he came upon several lumps of chakra conductive metal stacked neatly beneath the tantou's box.
The lumps of metal were special. His ancestors were known to chase after fallen stars every time one was reported. Unlike what most people believed, they were not chasing fairytales, they were chasing the celestial rock itself. The celestial rocks or the meteorites usually contained minerals in them, which could be extracted and then tempered to make a weapon like no other. Each Hatake's weapon was custom-made, forged and tempered with the wielder's own hands to mould a bit of their own chakra and personalities, their own soul, into it. That was the real reason why his father's tantou had broken when Kakashi wielded it, they were never meant to fight together. Not that he had known it at the time.
It was ironic the way he found out about his family history. Hatake Sakumo had yet to complete Kakashi's lessons on their ancestors when he committed seppuku. Everything related to his family's history had been removed from the house by the time he had enough courage to step back into the household, years after his father's death. The Sandaime had seen to that and Kakashi had no idea for a long time. The box was sparred simply because it was sealed and buried under the back terrace of the small cottage.
The silver-haired jounin sniggered to himself. He was breaking in and pilfering the Hokage Archive after he met Tenzou in Ne's underground base, intrigued by the techniques that the young operative had used to apprehend him. Mokuton was Senju Hashirama's signature jutsu, that much he knew. It was with that ability the Shodai managed to capture the bijuu, one that had never been seen since the Shodaime's demise. However, he was sidetracked halfway through his rummaging among the ancient scrolls, tomes and notes within the Archives when he spotted a thick tome bearing his family crest on its cover. He took the large book out of its shelves on impulse, opened his Sharingan eye and pushed a little chakra into the crest. As he read the first few pages, he knew he would have to return and nick the book from the Archive because it was clearly meant for a Hatake, and he was the last one left in Konoha if not the entire Elemental Continent.
It was spurred more by his gut's feeling and illogical urges, one that he would not normally do, but somehow he felt his ancestors' blood was boiling at the thought something that clearly belonged to the Hatake in the hands of an outsider. It was twisted in a way, considering Kakashi always tried to banish any thoughts about 'family' after his father's suicide.
After returning the Tome back into its place, Kakashi resumed his research for the Mokuton bloodline. He was glad that he did, because not long afterwards the Sandaime came into the room and gave him the files about Senju Hashirama and the attempt to re-create the Mokuton bloodline. Reading the files had cemented his decision to release the young operative out of Danzou's hold.
As he went back home, the Hatake's Tome kept nagging on the back of his mind the whole time. The Tome was left for a Hatake, it had no business laying around collecting dust within the Hokage Archive. Kakashi suspected that simply asking the Hokage to return the Tome to him would be fruitless. If the Sandaime had ever had any intention to return it to him, he would have done so already.
He had confirmed that it needed a Hatake's chakra to be opened and read. In the end, he decided to create a similar looking cover and bonded it on his old weapon and armour encyclopaedia. After painstakingly re-creating the seal –thanking Obito for photographic memory– he went back to the Hokage Archive one week later and switched the false tome with the original.
So, he learnt about his ancestors at long last. He had yet understood the Sandaime's reasons for hiding the Tome from him, perhaps the same reasons why the Hokage deleted everything about Uzushiogakure and the Uzumaki from the Academy curriculum and history books, Kakashi might never knew. He also did not know whether the Sandaime had found out about his thievery from the Archive, but the old man never confronted Kakashi for the deed so far, so he liked to think that the Hokage had not found out about it, yet. Hopefully never.
He had thought that gaining Tenzou's friendship would be enough to prevent the same thing that had happened to Kushina-san from reoccurring to Naruto. Apparently it was not so. One reason of why Minato-sensei sealed the demon into Naruto, his own child no less, was beginning to make sense to him.
If the report in the files that Jiraiya had given him was correct, and he had no reason to doubt it, in his last moments Namikaze Minato had known that the same person who released the Kyuubi from Kushina-san would come back to wreck another havoc. The Yondaime had trusted the future to his only child, and Kakashi would make sure that Naruto could fulfil her duty or die trying.
He ran his gloved fingers across each lump slowly, mindful not to let his chakra touched any of them. The Tome had informed him that his hand should know which metal would suit him best, not that his logical mind could accept it. Forgoing all reasons, he let his hand find what it was supposed to find. He remembered going back to this house after he finished reading the Hatake Tome several years back. Before he committed suicide Hatake Sakumo had hid the wooden box beneath their porch and added a note about it on the last page of the Tome. It took him three weeks of self-motivational talk to be able to set foot on the property ever again.
Kakashi felt something warm resonated with his fingertips, so it seemed that his ancestors knew what they were saying. He bent lower over the box to pinpoint where the sense had come from. A blue-whitish lump sat innocently in the middle of the pile, he removed his hand onto another lump and the feeling disappeared. After hovering his hand above the other lumps, he came back to the one that felt the warmest. He took the lump out and returned the rest of the content back into the box.
The jounin returned the box into the attic, sealed the room and locked the cottage. He then went to the back of the small house to open the small smithy adjacent to the cottage.
Kakashi had taken to learn the art of forging in his spare time after reading the Tome. Higurashi was all too happy to have an apprentice, even a temporary one, and he had taught the then young ANBU Captain everything that he could within the three to four hours each time Kakashi managed to have some time of his own.
The last Hatake stared at the lump of whitish metal as he heated the furnace. The image of an o-wakizashi wielder flashed before his eyes and Kakashi made up his mind. A koudachi would be perfect, not too long or heavy as to hinder his movements, but at the same time not too short as it would actually lengthen his reach.
He was about to put the lump into the furnace when his ANBU tattoo burnt, a sign that he was needed by the Hokage. The singular visible brow creased at the notion, since the Sandaime had made it clear that Kakashi had been officially dismissed from the Black Ops. Oh, he knew that once an ANBU would always be an ANBU, but so soon after his dismissal?
In the end he shrugged it off. He put off the flame and after sealing off the small estate again, Hatake Kakashi shunshin-ed toward the Hokage Tower. He had returned his ANBU mask, so regular outfit it was.
Kakashi had every intention to simply pop up in the middle of the Hokage Office, but the manner of the summoning stopped him from doing so. He gave Genma and Raidou a lazy wave as he opened the door and secretly glad that he had not barged in as usual.
The Sandaime was entertaining a company in his office. Both he and Madame Shijimi raised their heads as he entered the room. He nodded to both and then faced the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, you summoned?"
"Yes Kakashi-kun. I have a… mission specifically for you, or rather Madame Shijimi has." The Hokage nodded slightly toward his guest and Kakashi turned his attention toward her. The short pause before the word 'mission' was not undetected but he'd keep an open mind, for the moment.
The petite woman ran a scrutinizing gaze toward his person and Kakashi quelled the urge to flinch under the civilian's stare. Madame Shijimi might be the Fire Daimyo's wife, but she was a civilian nonetheless and a civilian's stare always made him uneasy. He was supposed to be unseen and undetected from civilian eyes...
The woman finally nodded and smiled to herself as if she was content of what she found.
"Hatake Kakashi, right?" Kakashi nodded, "I have a request, a favour if you please."
That was… unexpected. Hatake Kakashi fervently hoped that the woman had no intention of leaving her demon of a cat in his care for any length of time. He might be an ANBU, a killer in any other name, but surely he still deserved some humanity in the least?
"My niece is staying here in Konoha, she might join the shinobi force in due time. But in the mean time, I need someone to watch over her, to be her guide, escort, liaison of sorts during her stay. And if she ever join the Force, I want somebody I can trust to accompany her everywhere inside and outside of the village. Are you with me so far?"
"Yes Ma'am." Now he really was sweating bullets. The niece to the Fire Daimyo's wife meant political interference, special treatment and a lot of leeway. If this meant what he thought it was… Kakashi risked a glance toward his superior, but the Hokage's face was calm and serene. Too calm…
"Good. I'm placing a long-term A mission request to the Sandaime and he had kindly offered your name among some other candidates. Now, since I know your sensei and your father personally," She ignored Kakashi's visible twitch and continued on, "I know you're a man to be trusted and I want to ask you to become my niece's liaison while she's here or if it comes to it, her permanent team member. So, what say you?"
He shot a helpless look toward the Hokage, but the man was busy stirring his teacup and hardly spared Kakashi a glance. Political guard was… painful at best. But what could a soldier say or do?
"I'll do it, Madame."
"Excellent! I'm sure you'll do your best to help her? Oh, you two had already met last week, but she's out exploring somewhere out there. You remember Himawari, yes? Would you please catch up with her, she might've gotten lost."
Foot Note:
(1) Haemophobia: Fear of (the sight of) blood.
(2) I'm using a local wisdom here. Papaya's root is extremely intrusive. Planting a Papaya tree near a building (around 1 meter away) and one year later the root would destroy the concrete foundation, three years and the building would crumble. It's foolproof.
(3) A paraphrase from Albus Dumbledore, if you're wondering.
Author's Rants:
-Reason for lateness... Hey it's school's breaks, a mum's got no breaks during breaks.
-Someone (sorry, too lazy to check right now, might go back to it later) mentioned that I should change "Amaterasu" and "Tsukoyomi" into simple "Sun" and "Moon" instead. Sorry no can do, dude. It's a style that I've established years ago, if I were writing about western cultures, I'd write "Apollo" and "Diana/Artemis" instead (although mythologically speaking, Artemis is the Huntress and Apollo is the God of Wisdom but the misconception is largely accepted, so...meh). I do know my metaphors, allegories, ironies, sarcasms and all that. So, no. Thanks for the concern, though.
-Too much Japanese... Again, can't change that. There are words and idioms that just lost their sense of meaning once they're being translated into another language. Noted that I'm talking about the 'sense of meaning' not the literal meaning.
-Too much 'dattebayo'... Hmm, put yourself in Naruto's sandals for a moment. She was dying, the world was breaking apart, she thought she was going to meet her dead precious people. Turned out she's alive, somehow landed in the past and meeting her alive precious people... How would you feel?
Don't worry, she won't stay that way, it was necessary to portray her mental state at the moment.
-Related to the point above, I soberly use the word 'gaki' and 'brat' alternately. In my sense of language, the word 'gaki' sounds softer than 'brat' (since 'gaki' ended with a vowel and 'brat' ended with a consonant) so you have to take the context into accounts.
-This chapter is not meant to be a bashing chapter, albeit how it looks like. I'm trying to contradict most of what canon Naruto thinks and does. Reality sucks and all that.
-I'm introducing my Hatake Kakashi's background in this chapter. It'll become relevant throughout the story. I've stumbled upon the information about the Hata clan when I was browsing about Inari the Goddess in wikipedia, and the lovely Dreamer1084 kindly told me that 'Hata' is the ancient form of 'Hatake'. Eight prong star or the Kagome's Crest is usually related to Inari, and if we draw Sakumo's hand band on a flat surface, we'd get a Kagome's Crest, so...yeah...*shrugs*. Might explore more about it in "Prowling Wolf" later. (Yeah it's another reason for the tardiness. Some story ideas popped out and demanded to be jolted down immediately).
-About Kakashi's weapon of choice. I spent hours talking with some martial arts experts that I happened to know personally, and they all gave the same answer. Once a person reached a certain level of proficiency in martial arts, they tend to rely on themselves, no other tools were necessary because by then, anything can become a deadly weapon in their hands, even a single leaf or grass. Having a spare tool is welcome, but it isn't a must. If they had to choose a weapon, a short blade will be the first choice. Hence, the koudachi.
-Many of the ancient Chinese, Japanese and Javanese blades were made from metal extracted from meteorites. Historical facts, go googling if you doubt it.
-Surprisingly, J-Man is a tricky character to portray. He's tied with Itachi for the highest total stats in the data book but he's goofing off all the time. He's smarter than Orochimaru damn it!
-If Gai can't use chakra, how come he has a summons? (A ninja turtle with bushy brows... mutated turtle? Oooh the pun...mutant turtle ninja...)
-So, Review? I'm still looking for a proof-reader and/or beta by the way.
08/21/2014:
-Did some minor corrections.
-Just noticed that this story has over 250 followers and over 150 favourites already! Arigatou Gozaimasta! *Bows*
-Will try to reply some unanswered reviews later, I'm a bit tight up at the moment.