"And that's how it happened." Suigetsu had at last finished the tale to which Boruto and his sensei were forced to listen to since Mitsuki and his father had been spending over thirty minutes talking. Sarada and Karin were off to the side discussing a topic that was of apparent interest to both. Jugo stood stoically off further to the side like wolf guarding his den.
Boruto had paid no attention to Suigetsu. His mind had been on the eccentric Orochimaru. Apparently Sarada had encountered him once before, during her quest to meet her father thus, it was natural that she feel less affected by him than Boruto. This man was incredibly young. It was as if he were Mitsuki's elder brother rather than his father. But he spoke with the confidence and surety of an old man who had been a ninja for several decades, even longer than Boruto's own father and Old Man Sasuke. His appearance was quite similar to Mitsuki's. A pale complexion, golden eyes, and quite lean and tall. His long black hair was the only difference. His demeanor however, was far more threatening than Mitsuki's. Simply being in his presence had been enough to send Boruto's reaching for his weapon's pouch. The aura about him was one of great power. Mitsuki was right. For him to be Old Man Sasuke's mentor put him at a level of power similar to the legendary Uchiha.
What surprised him most was how casually Orochimaru and Mitsuki spoke to each other. They were father and son, and had not seen each other for years, yet they spoke to each other as if they were business partners discussing a deal rather than family members who'd been separated for a long time. He realized how alike Mitsuki and his father were, but they were also very different. He couldn't place his finger on it, but Mitsuki seemed to possess a sort of loyalty lacked by his father. But that should be expected since Orochimaru was once a rogue ninja. A ninja who defected from his village and marked to be taken dead-or-alive. He wondered what it was that caused him to want to help the ninja alliance during the war. He didn't seem to be the sort of man who didn't do anything if didn't suit him.
"Say Suigetsu." Boruto said addressing the older man. "What made you guys want to work for Orochimaru? Why not just stick with Sasuke?"
Suigetsu rubbed his chin as if he had an imaginary beard. "Well I suppose, it's very much because Sasuke asked us."
"Say what?" Konohamaru-sensei suddenly said. So even he's interested in this.
"Yeah." Suigetsu said as if it were obvious. "I mean it's not like he threatened to kill us or anything. It was a more of a suggestion. You see, Sasuke doesn't completely trust Orochimaru." Suigetsu said.
"So, what? You guys are here keeping tabs on Orochimaru for Old Man Sasuke?" Boruto said.
"More or less. It also seemed like the option that was least boring. None of us would last in an ordinary ninja village without losing our minds. But we would've found something else to do if Sasuke didn't come to us with this idea."
"You guys really are loyal to him huh?"
"Yeah. It's a pain but he's kind of the guy that gave us freedom. Originally we were just experiments for Orochimaru before the war who's actually gotten a lot better by the way. At least for Orochimaru. But back to Sasuke, he freed us for his little vengeance quest. Of course it was also because it suited him and he got us into a lot of deep shit, and we our ups and downs. But that didn't matter, he gave us a chance to be something again." Suigetsu sounded like he was reciting a monologue. "Man. That was really sappy. Don't tell Sasuke I said any of that. I'm gonna go get a drink of water." Suigetsu turned the corner and was gone.
"Damn. Sasuke's got himself a one loyal batch of misfits." Konohamaru scoffed, to no one in particular. It sounded like he was surprised, that Sasuke could inspire this kind of loyalty. So was Boruto. He'd always heard how Sasuke was a loner who wasn't really good at leading people. But these 'members of Taka' were loyal to him in spite of that. They knew he wasn't an ideal leader but they stuck with him not out of fear but out of true loyalty. Boruto always viewed Old Man Sasuke as just a powerful ninja. Now Boruto felt like he was falling in awe of the man all over again and he wasn't completely sure why.
Konohamaru-sensei left to go talk to Jugo. He supposed it was because of all the people here, he seemed to be the most normal, but since he was a former experiment of Orochimaru, there had to be more to him. This left Boruto alone again. Not that he minded. Loneliness was something both his father and Old Man Sasuke had been through and it made them strong. From that he was able to deduce that there must quite a bit to gain from the sole company of one's self.
Boruto heard footsteps coming down the hall. He turned to see Mitsuki walking towards with a light smile on his face as if he enjoyed the conversation with his father. "Alright, I'm ready to go." Mitsuki announced to them. Boruto looked behind Mitsuki to see Orochimaru coming up as well. His footsteps were as silent as shadows. Impressive.
"Well it's been nice having you here." Orochimaru said. "Have a safe journey back home." There was sly grin on his face.
Konohamaru-sensei scoffed. "Let's go Mitsuki. Sarada. Boruto."
Sarada and Karin said goodbye to each other. Suigetsu came stumbling back down the hall and waved goodbye with a jug of water in his hand. Jugo simply remained where he was, bowing respectfully to Konohamaru-sensei as he left. Konohamaru-sensei stole one last glare at Orochimaru before leading Boruto and the team away.
Sasuke and Sakura walked towards the Naka Shrine sided by side. Though Sasuke had been apprehensive Sakura had insisted she join him as his wife. It was not that Sasuke did trust Sakura it was something else. He simply wished he knew what it was. "Sasuke?" His wife's voice brought him back to reality.
"Oh. What?" He stammered out.
"We're here." She said.
"Right. I'll get it opened up." Sasuke looked down at the stone slab that guarded the entrance underground. It had a sharingan with four line coming off of it. Originally this truly was a shrine, but during the attack of Akatsuki proxy leader, Pain it was destroyed. It remained that way long after the 4th great ninja war. He didn't complain.
Sasuke performed the necessary seals and the stone slab slid away. "Whoa." Sakura gasped. It was her first time coming here so her surprise was expected. Sasuke led her down the dark stairs holding her hand. At the bottom of the stairs they reached the small room with torches and the Uchiha Stone tablet sitting at the end of it. Sasuke and Sakura walked over to it. Sasuke moved aside the hair from the left side of his face revealing his rinnegan and used it to read the stone tablet. There was nothing on the table that he didn't already know. "Sasuke?" Sakura spoke. "Is something wrong?"
"Oh. It's nothing. It's just that there isn't anything written here that I don't already know." Sasuke replied still looking over the tablet.
"I see. So that Jet person sent us on wild goose chase?" Sakura said.
"No." Sasuke turned to his wife. "Jet and the rest Haru's men surrendered of their own free will meaning that there is some plan they hope to implement while they're here. They wouldn't send us here for something that we already know about."
"So there's something here that you haven't discovered yet." Sakura finished for him.
"Exactly. Let's search the room and see what we can find."
"Got it." Sakura acknowledged him and began looking around the room and sliding her hands along the walls. Sasuke used his rinnegan to search thinking that there might be something something that only such an eye could see. Unfortunately all he was able to see was what he had already seen. There was nothing here of interest at all. "Sasuke. come over here." Sakura said to him. Sasuke obeyed his wife who was tinkering with a tile on the wall. "Check this out." She pushed her fingers against the tile and to his surprise, a glowing vertical line appeared in the center and the tile literally opened inwards like a tiny door. It revealed a small round crevice and there was a red gem in the center of it.
"What is that?" Sasuke asked.
"You got me." Sakura said. Sasuke had no idea what to make of this. He reached his hand into the crevice and plucked out the red gem.
"What do you think?" He turned to Sakura. He handed the gem to her and she turned it in her hand examining it like it was a piece of jewellery.
"Well there's nothing to think. It's just some red gem, maybe a ruby. Maybe Jet wanted us to find this and- wait a minute." She began scrutinizing it.
"What is it?" Sasuke was getting more confused now. He didn't like that.
She ran over to one of the torches of the wall and put the gem it. Sasuke was shocked. "Wait. What are you-" He stopped as he witnessed the flame turn a true shade of deep blood red. "What is this?" Sasuke was absolutely dumbstruck.
"It's amber." Sakura replied.
"But isn't amber supposed to be yellow or orange?" Sasuke asked.
"Normally yes. I don't know why it's so red but just by the feel and smell of it, I know it's amber. There's nothing else like it."
"And how did you know to throw it in the fire?"
She shook her head in annoyance. "Don't you know amber is flammable like coal. There's torches in the room and we find a piece of amber in the wall. You just have to put two and two together."
"Alright. No need to be hurtful. I'm sorry I'm not as obsessed with jewellery as you." He said with a smirk.
"Men." she scoffed. She took the torch and began searching the room again She took the torch up and down along the walls; back forth across the floor. While the walls revealed nothing else, Sasuke and Sakura both noticed every time the red light of the torch passed over the middle floor there red glowing markings appeared on it.
"Sakura."
"Yeah."
There was no need for further words to pass between them. They both knew what had to be done. Sakura threw torch directly in the center of the room. Instantly, intricate glowing red marking appeared on the floor in the shape large rectangle as the torch's red light spread out in all directions. "What is this?" The awe in Sakura's voice reflected exactly how he was feeling in this moment. There was so much about the sacred grounds of his clan that he didn't know that some outsiders did. "Sasuke, let's go tell Naruto about this." Sakura said.
"No." Sasuke tried to sound as firm as possible without sounding rude.
"What are you talking about?"
"There's more to this."
"What? Can your rinnegan see something?"
"Not my rinnegan. But there is something else to this. I can't leave 'till I figure figure out exactly what it is." He looked his wife directly in the eye.
"Sasuke. I know what this means to you but we shouldn't dig any deeper yet." Sakura's voice indicated that she holding back her frustration at Sasuke's stubbornness.
"Sakura. I have to dig deeper. There are secrets here hidden beneath the sacred grounds of my clan. I can't leave this." He gave Sakura a determined look. "Why don't you go back and report to Naruto? I'll dig deeper." He could tell by the look in Sakura's eye that the last thing she wanted to do was give in to his words.
"Sasuke. There really is no point in me reporting to Naruto without your presence. After all this is your clan's shrine, and your mission." Sakura was right in every way. This was his mission thus, he had to report to Naruto. He prepared himself to relent. "I guess the only thing for me to do is to stay here beside you." There was great reassuring smile upon her face. Sasuke was shocked beyond all reason.
"Are you serious? I mean you are right with what you said before." Sasuke was in fact glad that Sakura had agreed, but it wasn't expected on any level whatsoever that she would.
"Of course I'm right with what I said before." She said it with what was almost arrogance. "But this is important to you, so it's important to me. After all I'm part of the Uchiha clan too."
Sasuke wanted to run up to her and kiss her. She truly was an amazing woman, and too good for him. Instead he simply smiled and nodded as humbly as he could as she came up beside him.
"Alright. So what now?" Sakura asked.
Sasuke was actually caught off guard. He'd been so concerned with the idea of secrets beneath Uchiha grounds that he'd forgotten that they had no idea what these markings on the floor meant. "I have no idea. Maybe we should go get Shikamaru."
"No way." Sakura stamped her foot. "I am not letting that lazy Shikamaru figure out all the matters of my family before me."
"But Sakura-"
"But what?" Her voice was a fierce as lioness's roar. There was no way he could argue with her now.
"Nothing." When did I become the rational one?
They stood there staring at the red on the floor, trying make some sort of sense of it. Perhaps Jet would understand. No. He could go back to him. He could not give that man another chance to manipulate them. The markings were in the shape of a rectangle. It was on the floor in the middle of the room. "It's another door." He said as realization hit him.
"A door on the floor?" Sakura didn't sound confused, simply surprised.
"That's right. There has to be way to open it. A lock, a key, a password, something."
"Hey look at this." Sakura knelt to the ground looking at a intricate making that seemed significantly longer in length that the others. "It's a door right? What if this is the handle?" It wasn't a question. Sasuke had been thinking the same thing.
"Right. So now we need to figure out how to open it."
Sakura was already on the task. With his rinnegan he saw her inject her chakra directly into the area of the marking for what seemed to be the door handle. For a moment nothing happened. So much for that idea. Suddenly the ground began tremble however lightly. The area encompassed by the rectangle of red glowing markings began to raise on the side closest to them while the other end remained where it was as the torch rolled off and was extinguished by the time it reached the bottom. The raised piece of floor revealed another flight of stairs descending towards darkness. "Sakura." He said to his wife.
"Let's go." Sakura declared picking up the left over torch from the room they were already in as she led them down into the dark. Sasuke marveled at Sakura's determination as he followed her down.
It was a rather long flight of stairs. There were cracks in the steps, walls, and the annoyingly low ceiling. Every now and then he'd take a step and part of the stone at his feet would chip off. Sasuke wondered when it would end, or if there was anything at the bottom at all and Jet really had sent them on a wild goose chase. This staircase was clearly old and suffering from disuse.
Finally, the staircase ended and next was a hallway which was in a similar condition to the the stairs. Sasuke and Sakura dutifully followed it.
Suddenly the hallway expended into a vast dark room with the smell oil on the air. He turned to his side and could make out something like a channel built into the wall. It was in this channel that the scent of oil was strongest. "Sakura could I have the torch for a moment?"
"Sure." She handed Sasuke torch which he touched to the channel. As he expected, the flames ran along the channel until flames surrounded the room. In the center stood something of the likes of which neither Sasuke nor Sakura had seen. There were four pillars on top of each was a great red orb made of what he assumed to be the same red amber from the stone table room. These pillars were surrounding a true bed of rock, which was absent of pillows or sheets. The sides of the bed had rivers of gold running along them. "It's beautiful." Sakura said. She'd voiced his own thoughts as well. It truly was a sight to behold.
Sasuke and Sakura approached the bed of rock. On it was a flat, square piece of wood, just like the pendant he found on his mission. Sasuke held it up. There was an image of a lunar eclipse on both sides. "What's that?" His wife spoke.
"It's a pendant like the one I found on my mission." Sasuke replied. He quickly recounted what Jet had told them regarding these pendants.
"This one has a lunar eclipse on both sides." Sakura stated. "Any idea what that means?" Sakura wasn't asking what the symbols meant. He knew his wife wasn't stupid. They both knew that this pendant represented the victory of the sol over the descendants of the moon. The only problem was that the sol hadn't won. Not yet.
"Sasuke?" Sakura spoke to him.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm just trying to make some kind of sense out of all this." He turned his around scanning the room. "Four pillars. Red amber orbs on top of each one. A bed of rock in the center. And a pendant indicating the victory of the sol." He held his head in his hand. What does all this mean? He slowly raised his head having figured out the answer. "It's a sacrificial altar." Sasuke stated with a gasp. His fingers almost dropped the pendant.
"No. They were going to sacrifice Himawari." Sakura sounded shocked. "Why?"
"I think now would be a good time to go report to Naruto."
"I agree. But first we should destroy this place."
Sasuke readied a chidori and Sakura, her fists. They simultaneously struck the bed of rock. Sasuke felt himself blown back as if there were some invisible wind surrounding the altar. He turned to Sakura lying on the ground beside him. She must've been hit by it too. "What the hell happened?" Sakura groaned as she got back up.
"Of course we can't destroy this thing. Some sort barrier must be around it or maybe it can't be touched with ninjutsu." Sasuke said.
"Point is we can't destroy it." Sakura finished for him. "The best thing we can do is report to Naruto."
"Right." He turned back to the altar that seemed so beautiful at first. Now it seemed like the most hideous thing in existence.
The seventh hokage slammed his fist into the desk. They want to sacrifice my daughter? He sat back and ran his prosthetic hand through his hair. "I can't believe this." Naruto looked back up at Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru. "And this pendant." He held it up. "I'm guessing that by- by sacrificing Hima, they'll be able to claim victory for the sol."
"That seems to be the case." Sasuke's voice had the utmost sympathy in it.
"Sakura. I want you to return home. Break the news to Hinata." He said his pink-haired friend.
"Right." She turned and left with an apologetic look in her eye.
He now turned to the remaining two men in the room. Sasuke, his best friend. Shikamaru, his right-hand man. "It was naive of me to think that my family would never be in this kind of danger. After all they're the family of the hokage."
"Naruto." Shikamaru addressed by his first name. That meant he had something incredibly important to say. "Please. Allow me to place security around your daughter. No, your whole family." Shikamaru sounded sincere.
"You're free to do so. But I don't know how much help it's going to be. Haru Chinatsu has proven that ordinary guards won't be enough to stop him."
"Yeah, but this isn't ordinary security." Shikamaru replied. Immediately some sand began blowing in through the open window. It began to settle on the floor beside Shikamaru in the form of man. Recognizable features began to appear on this shape. Well-combed red hair, the kanji for 'love' on the left side of his forehead, and a gourd hanging from his side.
"G-Gaara." He was almost in awe, that his friend the fifth kazekage had shown up here at such a time.
"Hello Naruto. I had planned to come here for vacation to visit my sister and her family." He bowed lightly to Shikamaru who returned the gesture. "But I received word from Shikamaru about the attack against your family, and decided that I'd like to help in any way I can." The kazekage sounded sincere and determined.
"Gaara this Haru Chinatsu isn't an ordinary opponent. I was having a hard time keeping up with when we fought and I doubt he was using the full extent of his abilities then."
"Naruto. I've been to your interrogation division and am well aware of the magnitude of the threat that we face, but I'm here as your friend, and because of that I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to help you." The kazekage spoke softly yet firmly. Naruto and this man went far back. He was aware that now that the kazekage had made up his mind, he would not abandon this in the middle of it.
Naruto heard Shikamaru clear his throat to speak. "I've also got the sixth hokage to agree. He was supposed to be here, but I'm guessing he got 'lost on the path of life.' And lastly I sent for Killer Bee from the Hidden Cloud who's currently on his way to the Leaf. He said he said he'd be happy to come and rap for your kids." Shikamaru said with proud smile on his face.
"Hold on, hold on." Sasuke said waving his hands. "Just how many people do you think my house can take?" He said to Shikamaru.
"He's correct brother." Gaara said addressing Shikamaru. "Sasuke's house isn't quite as spacious as yours and Temari's."
"Wait. What are trying to say here?" Sasuke turned to Gaara with an annoyed look on his face.
"I mean no offense. I passed by your residence on my way here. It was merely an observation about howmuch significantly smaller your house is than Shikamaru's."
Sasuke continued to argue against Gaara, while the latter simply replied in his honest, polite, and matter-of-fact tone. Naruto couldn't help but smile at his right-hand man. He really pulled out all the stops for this.
The door to his office flung open suddenly and Team Konohamaru stepped through. "Lord Hokage we have-" Konohamaru stopped in his track at the sight of the kazekage. "Lord Kazekage?" Konohamaru's dumbfounded face actually managed to amuse Naruto.
"The kazekage? Cool." Sarada exclaimed as she ran up to him and Konohamaru tried in vain to keep to hold her back.
Gaara knelt down with a smile on his face. "Guilty as charged. And who might you be my beautiful kunoichi?"
"She's my daughter. Sarada." Sasuke spoke up which made Sarada scowl. A reaction that slightly surprised Naruto. What's going on between them?
"Sarada. You have a beautiful name. It's an honor to meet you." Gaara put his hand to his heart and bowed very gentlemanly making Sarada blush.
"Your such fan-girl Sarada." This time it was Naruto own son that came forward and began teasing Sarada. She immediately whipped her head around to look him dead in the eye. Naruto half expected her to use her sharingan.
"Shut up you moron." Sarada snapped.
"What? Are you gonna ask for his autograph next?" Boruto sad as he put his hands on his cheeks mocking a real fan-girl.
"You picking a fight?!"
"No. But if you want to fight I'll give you one! But don't think I'll go easy on you just 'cause you're a girl."
"That's fine. And don't think I'll go easy on you just cause you're a sissy!"
"What was that!?"
Boruto and Sarada continued to bicker. Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Boruto and Sarada reminded him so much of himself and Sasuke when they were younger, right down to the insults they both used. Albeit Sarada used insults that were more like Naruto's while Boruto used insults more like Sasuke's. Just as the two were about to throw a punch at each other poor Konohamaru stepped in, no doubt with the intent to stop them only to receive the full brunt his students' attacks which caused him to collapse to the floor. Next, Boruto and Sarada started bickering over who knocked out their sensei first. Although Naruto couldn't tell if it was to decide who to put the blame on, or who threw the stronger punch. Naruto sighed with a smile. Even in the midst of this crisis, Naruto was glad to find that these kids had the time to bicker over the silliest of things.
He looked over at Mitsuki who diligently stood to the side and was also smiling. Naruto however, caught a different look in eyes Orochimaru's son. There was a certain forlornness in those golden eyes. It reminded him of himself when he was the boy's age and was ostracized by the village.
"Alright!" Sasuke firmly stamped his foot. Immediately the two children went silent. "Thank you." He said politely afterwards. Gaara sighed as if he had been enjoying the display. Shikamaru closed as eyes as if he thought this whole situation was a drag.
Naruto took a deep a breath. "Konohamaru. On your feet."
The jonin instantly scrambled to obey the hokage's order. "Sir."
"Boruto. Sarada." He turned to the children and smiled at them. "You two return back to the Uchiha household without killing each other on the way."
Boruto and Sarada glared lightning bolts at each other as if they no intention of honoring the hokage's wishes.
"Hey." Naruto tried to hold back his laughter at the whole situation. "Your mothers will have something important they'd like to share with you when you get home. It's best if you don't keep them waiting." Naruto didn't have the heart to tell them the situation himself. He looked over at Sasuke who he guessed was feeling the same way.
"Fine." The two children acknowledged reluctantly.
"Mitsuki. Konohamaru. I'd like you to stay here."
"Me?" Mitsuki didn't really sound like he was surprised.
"Yes." Naruto spoke softly. "I was wondering if I could discuss something with you."
"Alright." Mitsuki replied dutifully.
Gaara and Sarada said goodbye to each other as she and Boruto walked out the door. "They remind of two people i know all too well." Gaara looked at both Naruto and Sasuke with a nostalgic smile on his face.
"Isn't that the truth." Shikamaru added.
Sasuke scoffed at the situation as if he were in embarrassment, and Naruto simply smiled guiltily. "Mitsuki. You can come over." Naruto meant for it sound like it was a question and the boy answered by walking forth and joining the men around the hokage's desk. "Gaara this is Mitsuki."
Mitsuki bowed respectfully to the kazekage and the latter returned the action.
"This is the son of Orochimaru." Naruto spoke regretfully. He didn't want the kazekage to be out of the loop in this situation in any way though.
"Is that right?" Gaara asked the boy, intrigued.
"Yes, Lord Kazekage." Mitsuki replied stoically. Gaara didn't implore the matter any further. Naruto was glad of that. Though it should be expected given that Gaara also understood how it felt to be discriminated against for circumstances beyond one's control.
"Now Konohamaru. What did Orochimaru tell you about our enemies?" Naruto wanted to get right to the point.
"Well Mitsuki was right to consult him. He told us about an organization of Sol known as the Black Sun. They originally operated overseas but then migrated here following the conclusion of the 4th great ninja war. They began hiring out their services as ninja killers."
"Ninja killers?" Gaara interrupted.
"Yeah. These guys are able to use natural energy to counter ninjutsu. They would be the best at killing ninja. Then eight years ago. The Black Sun apparently began acting more violently and erratically. Killing without cause nor prior incentive. Orochimaru suspects that a change in leadership may be the reason."
"I'm guessing leadership changed to Haru Chinatsu." Naruto inferred.
"Likely." Shikamaru said.
"This Haru Chinatsu sounds like a real psychopath." Gaara said.
"Yeah. He does, but an intelligent and powerful psychopath." Naruto said. "Anything else?"
"Not really." Konohamaru replied. "Her said how we should've executed our prisoners right after interrogating them."
"Of course he did." Naruto gritted his teeth. He didn't like Orochimaru one bit. He may have helped in the war and received amnesty for it, but that didn't qualify him to make judgements on the way the Leaf Village runs their business. He exhaled slowly. "Alright, I'll get the other details from you later. Next, Mitsuki I'd like to discuss some things with you."
The young boy stepped forth. Part of Naruto wished he didn't have to speak to the poor boy about what he was about to, but he was hokage so he had to know. "Mitsuki. You lied to us about your amnesia. You deceived us. I don't want to scare you but it is becoming a bit harder to trust you."
"I understand Lord Hokage. I am truly sorry." Mitsuki continued meeting Naruto's eyes without flinching. He's really brave.
"I believe you had some other reason for suggesting that we go meet with Orochimaru. No doubt you knew that I would send Team Konohamaru to go meet with him. I believe that you planned to got meet with you father regardless. If I'm wrong you can tell me."
"No sir. You are correct. I wanted to go meet with my father for another reason."
"What was the other reason?"
There was pause. Mitsuki was hesitating to answer Naruto realized. Naruto didn't think it was possible. Ever since meeting the boy he always had answer to everything and answered immediately.
"I had to discuss my mother with him." Mitsuki said it so suddenly. Everyone in the room was now interested. He could could tell by their dropped jaws. Naruto himself had never imagined that there was a woman who would bear a child with Orochimaru. At least not a woman who would do it willingly. "First and foremost, I want to clarify that my mother was never married to my father but she willingly bore him a child."
Naruto facepalmed in his mind. He felt like all logic had been defied. "Why did you want to discuss your mother?"
"Because her name was Himiko Chinatsu. She was Haru Chinatsu's older sister."
This was a revelation. No one spoke immediately afterwards, they were still trying to process the weight of the information. "Then Mitsuki when you met Haru on our mission, didn't you suspect something?" Konohamaru said with his mouth still hanging open.
"I did, but I thought nothing of it. Chinatsu isn't exactly a unique surname so it didn't arouse any suspicions. When Boruto and encountered that man Jet that's when things began to change. Then when Haru attacked the Village, my suspicions were confirmed." Mitsuki said with a straight face, all the while looking at the men staring at him in the eyes. Naruto could see no fear in the boys eyes, nor deception.
"Mitsuki. Could you tell us about your mother?" Naruto asked as politely as he could manage.
"She's dead." Mitsuki said this without hesitation. How can this boy be so nonchalant about his mother?
"I'm sorry." Naruto voiced his condolences. He meant it. It's always tragic for child to lose their mother.
"I went to discuss with my father how my mother was connected to the Black Sun. He said nothing I didn't already know. My mother is the leader Haru's sister and that is as far as the connection goes for all I know. Orochimaru wouldn't tell me anything else. Saying that I shouldn't have to worry about such things." Mitsuki sounded regretful.
"I see." Sasuke finally spoke up. "That's just like him."
"Yeah." Mitsuki agreed.
Naruto looked Mitsuki up and down, seeing if there was any hint of lie on him whatsoever. He was clear. "Alright Mitsuki. You may go. Sorry for keeping you."
"I understand." The boy bowed respectfully to all the men in the room and marched out as if he were going to war.
Immediately Shikamaru opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto didn't let him.
"I know Shikamaru. You think that Mitsuki might be working for Haru." Naruto said.
"It's just a possibility. I don't think we should let that boy off the hook so easily." Shikamaru replied stone-faced.
"He told us everything didn't he?" Naruto wasn't entirely sure why he was defending Mitsuki, but he felt as if he'd regret it if he didn't.
"Yeah, only after Haru attempted to kidnap you daughter." Sasuke said.
Naruto was beginning to lose his patience. "Damn it. Why do you all want to prosecute him so bad? Yes, he hasn't exactly been honest with us about everything, but I know that he didn't lie because he meant us ill."
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Gaara, close beside him. "I understand how you feel. As a kage you ought to treat your village like family but sometimes you have to except that even your family can harm you greatly." Gaara sounded mournful. Naruto had heard how his own father the fourth kazekage had made several attempts on Gaara's life. Gaara himself treat his people justly, fairly, and with love, but he understood that a kage's burden is to protect their village both from the outside and the inside.
"I believe we an work out a compromise." Konohamaru stepped. "I'll take time to train Mitsuki personally when we're not out on missions. During that time I can try to learn more about him. I'll work with him for long hours to get as much time with him as I can. I also believe that he doesn't mean this village harm so I don't want you to go the trouble of getting ANBU to spy on him." The determination in Konohamaru's voice was all too evident. Naruto was proud of him. Naruto also knew that in light of certain aspects of Mitsuki's heritage, Konohamaru wanted to give him as much personal attention as possible. "Naruto. Please, I won't fail. He won't become Orochimaru."
That was all Naruto needed to hear. "Alright. You can be in charge of watching over Mitsuki." He turned to the other two men in the room. "Any objections?"
"Nope." Sasuke replied emotionlessly.
"None at all." Gaara said.
"Okay. good. I guess you guys can go then. Except for Shikamaru."
Shikamaru groaned as the other three men left. For the first time since taking up the hokage mantle from Kakashi, Naruto felt scared for his village. There was always this slight insecurity that their peace would not last, but now a man had stepped forward to make Naruto's worst fears come true.