Recommended Story: 'The Black Death of Konoha' by afydith
Since I know people are curious, I just want to say I will not confirm who all is in the harem beforehand. The only members I will confirm are Hinata and Sakura, as required by the challenge. Also I want it to be clear that not every girl who acts nice to Naruto will become a member. He is allowed to know girls who are just friends after all.
Chapter Three
Late at night, Naruto finally opened his eyes. "Wh-where am I?" He quietly asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, not fully aware of his surroundings.
"Glad to see you're awake Naruto." Kakashi's voice was heard.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, his sight coming into focus. He saw he was in a hospital room resting on a bed with an IV attached to his right arm, and apparently something covering his right eye completely. Kakashi was seated beside him reading a book under a lamp and strangely enough, Sakura and Hinata were seated in two guest chairs alongside the wall. They looked like they had been asleep but were now waking up from the noise.
"Try not to move too much Naruto. You don't want to open your wounds, especially those types." Kakashi told him, then looked remorseful. "I'm terribly sorry about adding to them. I never though that Sasuke would... do such a horrendous thing."
"What did he do?" Naruto asked.
'He doesn't remember? The shock and the passing out must have made him forget.' The jounin thought.
Before he could answer Naruto's question, one of the girls embraced him in a hug. "Naruto-kun!"
Naruto winced. "AGH! Not so tight!"
Hinata loosened her hold but did not relinquish it. Her body lightly trembled and sobs could be heard. "I was so worried you weren't going to make it."
Naruto began to soothingly rub her back. "It's okay Hinata-chan, I'm alright." The Hyuuga heiress surprised Kakashi and a now-awake Sakura by leaning up and kissing him again, and Naruto did not react like this was out of the ordinary for them.
Sakura smiled but felt her heart clench. 'I guess I waited a bit too long. Naruto, I hope you're happy with Hinata.'
Naruto seemed to now notice Sakura was in the room too and looked a bit nervous. "Oh, hi Sakura. I thought you would be home or with Sasuke now."
The pinkette shook her head. "No. I wanted to make sure you were going to wake up before I left, and even if I wanted to I couldn't see Sasuke right now anyway."
Naruto was confused. Sakura just referred to Sasuke without the kun suffix and said she wasn't able to see him or even interested in it. "Why? What happened?"
"Naruto, what's the last thing you remember?" Kakashi asked.
Naruto thought it over. "Umm... I fought Sasuke and beat him, though he didn't know when to quit. But before everything goes dark, I could have sworn I saw a woman claiming to be my mother."
"Your mother?" His three visitors repeated.
"Yeah. The weird thing was she said her name was Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. Namikaze, like the Yondaime." Naruto said. "It had to be some sort of trick. Like I ever could be related to a guy like the Yondaime."
Kakashi immediately stiffened for a moment, something only Sakura noticed. "Kakashi-sensei, is something wrong?"
Realizing his mistake, but knowing he can't ignore the question, the former Anbu captain quickly thought over how best to answer. "Umm... I was just surprised, because the Yondaime did have a girlfriend named Kushina Uzumaki."
"Really?" Naruto asked, caught off-guard by this. 'Could this mean that wasn't a trick? Was she really my mother?'
"Naruto, where did you hear that name?" Kakashi asked. 'Just how informed is he? I thought he still didn't know who either of his parents were.'
Kakashi was well aware of who sired and birthed Naruto. Being the last student of Minato Namikaze did have it's advantages. He knew his sensei was secretly married; he was one of the witnesses to it. He also was one of Naruto's protectors, ensuring those that wanted to do harm to the boy growing up would not succeed. His only obstacle was that he was not allowed to raise Naruto without news of Naruto's parentage being required to be public to settle the nosy public, and Sarutobi would not allow that. As long as Naruto was anonymous, he was relatively safe. As a Namikaze, he was a target to everyone, especially the mysterious person Minato said attacked during Naruto's birth. That concerned Sarutobi more than Iwa. If Iwa invaded, Konoha would fight back to defend themselves and save Minato's son. But if the masked man who knew about Kushina and the Kyuubi came back, that was too unpredictable for the Sandaime's likings.
"After the fight, when all I could see for some reason was an orange light. A woman with long red hair and violet eyes came to me and called me her son. She told me her name and said she was coming back to me." Naruto answered. "She also sounded a little upset, saying something like someone she didn't like kept her away all this time and she thought she'd be here sooner."
'Wait. Is it possible Kushina... didn't die that night?' Kakashi asked himself. 'But then, where did she go? And why is it only now she can come back.' "Naruto, if this woman does show up, promise me you won't go anywhere with her until I get a chance to speak with her."
"Do you know her?" Naruto asked.
"I did know a woman by that name, but she's been dead for a long time. If this somehow is her, I want to know."
"Was she really Naruto's mother Sensei?" Sakura asked. Even Hinata looked curious to know.
Kakashi withheld the need to sigh. "I'm afraid I'm forbidden from saying anything. Naruto's origins are kept unclear for a reason, a reason I'm not at liberty to say. But if this woman does show up, I suppose that reason will become moot."
Naruto and his visitors soon went back to sleep and stayed with him that night. Hinata had to reluctantly let go of him and sleep in a chair. In the morning, Kakashi had to go check on Sasuke to make sure he wasn't anywhere he wasn't supposed to be. Sakura and Hinata didn't have anywhere to be so they stayed with Naruto and played a few available games. For a brief time they did leave so Hinata could check on Kiba and Sakura could check on Lee, but both came back.
The entire time they were there, Hinata was not ashamed to be close to Naruto and he did nothing to keep her away. Sakura was still confused but avoided asking anything so they wouldn't begin to feel bad about what they were doing. But the strangest thing of all was she found herself feeling a bit jealous. Not an angry territorial jealous like she felt when Ino got around Sasuke, but more of a yearning desire to be treated special by Naruto too. She didn't understand it, but she did know that for some reason Naruto actually felt a bit more appealing to her.
Night came and this time the two girls had to go home. Fortunately Tsunade declared that was the day he could go home too. She didn't understand how, but Naruto was almost completely healed of his injuries. The only abnormality was a strange condensation of orange chakra at the base of Naruto's spine that Hinata pointed out. Tsunade couldn't make any sense of it and wanted one more look tomorrow morning, but as long as it wasn't doing anything she saw no reason it would keep him in the hospital.
Naruto laid awake in his bed, wondering about the possibility of seeing his real mother again. There were so many questions he had for her. Where did she go? Why did she go? Why couldn't she take him with her? Was she really the wife of the Yondaime, making him his son too? Did she love him? And... what was her favorite flavor of ramen?
Naruto was currently looking out the window as the sun was setting, as if hoping his mother would come in thru the window like Jiraiya was known to. Oddly enough, the pervy sage hadn't shown up yet. 'Probably just busy looking at girls, trying to see their nice wet... WHOA! Where did that come from?'
A knock at his door was a welcome distraction. "Come in." He said.
The door opened and two girls walked in. One was older than him and the other younger, and the younger immediately came up to him. "Boss!"
"Hey Moegi, nice to see you. I heard from Konohamaru and Udon you were busy when they came by earlier." Naruto told his follower.
"I'm glad to see you're doing better Naruto." His other visitor stated. He saw this was Moegi's mother whom he's seen off and on throughout town.
"Hi Shinju-san. Thanks for coming by. Though would the other 'honorable' civilians get mad at you for seeing me?"
"Oh screw them. It's not like I need their permission for anything. Besides, my daughter's allowed to see her rescuer." Shinju told him teasingly. She knew her daughter admired Naruto, but ever since before the chuunin exams when a disguised Iruka kidnapped her and Naruto saved her, Moegi seemed to admire him almost to a Hinata-degree. Shinju thought it was cute given her age, and saw no harm in the young girl liking Naruto. It probably wouldn't last, and she could do worse.
"Oh, before I forget, the real reason I came by was because I was given this by one of the other council members." Shinju added before pulling out an envelope. "I mentioned I was going to see you tonight, and one of them asked me to give this to you. I thought it was weird since given their attitude most of them don't want to give you anything less than death, but I took it and brought it here." Naruto took it. "Umm... Naruto, before you open it, could you maybe make a clone and have it open the letter away from here? Just in case it contains a bomb or anthrax or something like that."
Naruto nodded and created a clone. When he did, he noticed his chakra acted a bit weird this time, but he brushed it off. The clone went outside to an empty training ground and opened the envelope. There were no explosives or dangerous substances inside but after reading the contents, the clone was so shocked and offended that it lost it's balance when running back and it tripped and landed hard enough to be dispelled.
Naruto immediately got the clones memories and gasped. "Those bastards!"
"What is it?" Both Moegi and Shinju asked.
Naruto threw off his blanket and rushed to get dressed in a spare jumpsuit Kakashi had brought him. "I need to get out of here and to Baa-chan before they get started." In his rush, he completely ignored the fact he didn't know why he had his clones memories.
Tsunade was sound asleep in her house, with Shizune in the next room. Fortunately, years of experience as a sannin and a lack of heavy drinking allowed Tsunade to still be alert when sleeping. She opened her eyes the moment the window downstairs was opened.
'Someone's trying to get in, and my gut tells me it's not Jiraiya hoping to see me in my nightgown.' She told herself, silently getting on her feet and putting her gambler's jacket over her white nightie. She wouldn't open her bedroom door, knowing the sound would alert the intruder and make them act faster. At the same time, she was cautious that this might be a diversion and the real problem would come from behind.
Soon there was no noise, and that made Tsunade all the more unsettled. 'Ok, either a silencer jutsu has just been performed, or they're not being careless. Either way, it's ninja who know what they're doing and they're in the hokage's house. This can not go unpunished.'
Not wanting to scare them off, because she can't prosecute them if they escape, Tsunade as careful as humanly possible opened her door and got into the hall. The first thing she saw was Shizune, just as alert and dressed in a pair of black pajamas with a nervous Tonton at her feet. The two women made eye contact and nodded, both knowing what to do.
'Now it feels like a waiting game. We're both waiting for the other to make a move so we can retaliate as desired.' Tsunade thought after noticing there still was no sound. She was getting impatient. 'Well I'm not going to wait forever for something to happen.'
Fortunately, she didn't have to.
As soon as he reached the house, Naruto was concerned. The door was wide open and there were Anbu posted around the perimeter, not a good sign. He instinctively came to a stop before they could see him. Shinju and Moegi were following him but hadn't caught up yet since they didn't have his stamina.
'Damn, they're starting already. Well not on my watch.' Naruto angrily thought. The spot on his lower back was starting to burn, but he ignored it. Instead he made a large amount of clones, aggravating the spot moreso, and sent them in.
The Anbu were caught by surprise but only one was taken down. The others started fighting off the clones and killing them, but the numbers never seemed to cease. Fortunately, Naruto didn't plan on them beating the Anbu, instead they were there to distract them while he snuck inside. With so many Naruto's around, no one could tell for certain which was the real one, who happened to be one of three that made it inside the building.
Inside the main room of the house were three Anbu, all three looking upset to see him. "Baa-chan! Someone's trying to-" One of the clones shouted out, only to be killed by a thrown kunai.
"You shouldn't be interfering boy." The center Anbu, the only one wearing a white outfit instead of a black one and having the Anbu insignia on his vest too, said to Naruto with disdain. He wore a mask that looked like some kind of rodent with stripes. The one on his left bore some kind of bird pattern, and the one on his right looked like some kind of lizard.
"Like hell I won't. I saw the message from the council. You're here to hurt the hokage." The other Naruto clone said. This time the Anbu didn't attack, uncertain if this would be worth it.
"This is none of your business. The hokage has proven she is unfit for the job and the council has voted to remove her from office. Village law says the council can remove the hokage from office if they have reason to believe they're abusing their power." The white Anbu told the blonde.
Both Naruto's looked madder. "Like hell! I know that law, Jiji told me about it. The council has to vote unanimously for such a thing with both sides. And I doubt the clan heads were even asked otherwise more than just the Anbu would be here. And I know for a fact one civilian member did not vote for this. You're breaking the law and you know it!"
"Oh shut up you beast." The bird Anbu said before throwing a kunai at both. One dispelled but the other kawarimi'ed with one of Tsunade's cushions, putting him behind the trio.
Naruto lunged forward and threw a punch at the nearest Anbu, the lizard one. He blocked it, but Naruto added a kick to his stomach for added measure. It stunned him, but the other two members rushed in with weapons ready to gut Naruto like a fish. Before they could, Tsunade came forward and punched them both.
"Get the hell out of my house! And consider yourself fired!" Tsunade shouted to the Anbu.
"Baa-chan! You okay?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, I heard the whole thing. Now let's get rid of these bastards." Tsunade said, cracking her knuckles. The white Anbu tried to get up, but Tsunade grabbed his vest and lifted him up as Shizune came into the room. "You're the head of the Anbu. Correction-former head. Tell me who put you up to this and I might go easy on you."
The Anbu head just laughed this off. "Go to hell demon lover. You're still under arrest for leaving the village all those years and refusing to listen to the voices of the council. That shows your loyalty to Konoha is questionable and you're ignoring the needs and concerns of the civilians. You are going to be removed from office even if you stop me here and you will be kept away to breed more Senju. More sensible, obedient Senju that is." He finished with another laugh. Tsunade punched him right in the jaw. If his jaw or neck wasn't broken now, nothing would break it.
Before she could do more, a scream outside could be heard, catching the attentions of Naruto, Tsunade, and Shizune. Since it was a woman's scream, Naruto headed back out. He was mortified to see that the gathered Anbu that hadn't gone chasing after some of Naruto's clones now had Moegi and her mother in holds with kunais at both their necks.
Naruto glared, his eyes turned red with black slits, and red chakra forming around him. But this time, there was orange mixed in with the red, with nothing but orange at the base of his spine, noticeable only by Tsunade and Shizune at the moment. "Let them go now!"
"How about I do this instead?" The Anbu holding Shinju said before thrusting his kunai into the back of her neck. "Take that demon-supporting bitch!"
"MOM?" Moegi screamed, trying to kick herself loose. Fortunately her own captor wasn't as eager to kill.
Naruto froze up, then got mad enough that his own tail cloak was starting to form with fangs and claws included. But unlike the last time, this time the chakra tail was entirely orange, no red at all.
'What's going on?' Tsunade asked regarding the strange orange chakra.
Shinju looked at the enraged jinchuuriki. "Naruto, keep my daughter safe. Moegi... I... love... you..." She closed her eyes and coughed up some blood.
Moegi broke down in sobs, while Naruto jumped at the Anbu who murdered her defenseless mother. Using chakra claws, he ripped the masked man's head off with little effort. He turned his gaze towards the Anbu holding Moegi. He let the young girl go and escaped.
Moegi ran to her mother, checking for any sign of life. Naruto dropped his cloak and checked with her. Neither found any, causing Moegi to sob into the blonde's shoulder as he held her comfortingly.
Shizune gasped. "Tsunade-sama, do you see what I see?" She asked, pointing at Naruto with a shaky hand. Tsunade nodded.
Naruto now had a tail. Not a chakra tail, but a dark-colored flesh tail with a spearhead tip.