Naruto felt as if he was underwater. He could feel pressure on his lungs, and it was hard to breathe. He had no idea of the time or where he was. Suddenly he became aware of the pain. His whole body was on fire.
He felt like all the bones in his body were broken at the same time. His tenketsus were burning. He retreated to his mind to see Kurama asleep. He checked his friend, and he had low chakra, probably due to keeping him alive.
He could feel Shisui beside him in the real world, and he didn't want to face him yet. He stayed in his mindscape for a while, going through some memories. The fight didn't go as his plan. He was mad at himself.
When Kuro and other foxes worked on making the containment seal, they sent the translations to Konoha. There was extensive research done on the battle. Some older clans had stories of gods, but no one knew how to defeat one.
Their best bet was for the two dojutsu clans to send one of their top fighters. The cave was small, after all, and they couldn't use large-scale jutsus or numbers to win the fight.
They had no idea how strong the god could be, so Naruto and others were like a test. If they failed, Genma would return to Konoha, where they would send a large battle force that was ready for a signal.
Naruto was glad that they made it out alive. The god, while not too destructive due to the lack of chakra, was really hard to kill. He could see how eagle and crow struggled to even scratch the god.
They wouldn't have succeeded if it wasn't due to weakness in lightning. Naruto could feel the place he took a blow for Shisui burning. He was so glad he could save his comrade, but he wasn't ready for the lecture.
Finally, he felt Tsunade enter the room and kick out Shisui. Tsunade used a general scan over his body. "I know you're awake," Tsunade said.
Naruto sighed and opened his eyes. he blinked a few times to bring his vision to focus. The light was still bothering his eyes, but he kept them open. Naruto wanted to say something, but his throat was so raw.
Tsunade noticed and brought him a cup of water. He couldn't lift his arms, so Tsunade had to help him. "Well, gaki, since I know you are going to ask, I will just tell you. I'm pretty sure you know your tenketsus are shit. You shouldn't use any chakra for at least a month."
"The bite marks on your body are not throbbing anymore, just bruises that will heal with time. You also have chakra burns in your lungs and around your mouth. Those should heal in a few weeks."
"You managed to redirect the attack from hitting your heart, but your left lung was punctured, and two of your ribs were broken. Shizune had to perform surgery on you. Also, you lost so much blood by the time you got here that you were lucky bear was a match, and we could give you a blood transfusion." Tsunade said.
"Thank you so much, Tsunade-sama. I didn't want to ask about my health, but others. Is everyone safe?" Naruto rasped in a small voice.
"When you guys put the barrier in the cave, things here went to shit too. The patients suddenly got out of bed as if under mind control they started attacking others. We managed to subdue them before anything serious happened, but it will take a while longer to get everyone back on track."
"Kuro-san confirmed that no one was affected by the vile chakra anymore, and in the last three days, patients have managed to make little progress. We should be done in a week, and then Shizune and I are off on our way." Tsunade said.
"Tsunade-sama, before you leave, I need to speak to you about some important things," Naruto said.
"Look, brat, you are not going to convince me to come back with some grand speech. Just give it a rest and go home." She said.
"No, Tsunade-sama, I won't convince you of anything. I just want you to look at a few files and make your own decisions. All the things I will show you are secret documents, and if you doubt their authenticity, you can check with Orochimaru-sama. He is the only other person aware of these documents."
"I promise you that whatever you choose after reading them will be respected by both the Hokage and the ROOT. We will not bother you with this matter again." Naruto said.
"Fine. Just give me the damn documents." Tsunade said with a sigh.
Naruto then gave her a letter. It was from Orochimaru in a secret language only the three sannin knew and was invented by them to provide each other sensitive information. It was a summary of the information she was going to be given and how he had confirmed them.
The first documents were from the third war and how Danzo and the ROOT were involved in dragging out the war by rigging the missions or compromising the people on those missions.
Then there were the things Danzo did after the war, how he started to kidnap orphans and clan children to expand the ROOT, how he experimented on them and sealed them so that they could never speak of his crimes.
Naruto then gave her the documents about how he tried to shun Orochimaru so that he would become isolated and join the ROOT, and then there were documents about how he was planning to eliminate the Uchiha.
Of course, Naruto also gave her documents related to how he and Orochimaru got in the way of that plan and the fact that those relationships were still shaky.
Now the hard part came. Naruto gave her documents related to the third war, where Danzo would ensure that many Uchiha fell in the battle for Danzo to steal their eyes and dispose of their bodies.
Then there were the experimentations which led to stealing the Hashirama cells and implanting the eyes on his arms. Tsunade was fuming and ready to murder, but in the letter, Orochimaru told him to read all the documents before making any decisions.
Naruto wasn't ready for this one but gave her the documents. The death of Senju Nawaki. Nawaki was in a team under Orochimaru as a sensei. And it was a death that Orochimaru blamed himself for to this day.
It was during a high point of the second war. Team Orochimaru was sent on a carrier mission. They would give the shinobi in the borders their schedules for the month. It was supposed to be a simple mission.
Orochimaru was carrying the scrolls and was careful with his team the whole way. They used the usual wartime formation. The sensei would go in the front to protect his team from any dangers, and the students would be on both sides and behind him.
There would usually be a sensor in a team for these missions, which would stay in the back and focus on sensing the enemies rather than seeing them. It would also give the sensei advantages of a better view and more effortless protection and reaction.
Nawaki was the sensor and in the back. They had just finished a few run-ins with enemies and were close to their destination. After finishing another batch of shinobi Nawaki and the rest of the team were getting a little cocky.
They believed themselves invincible with their sensei and decided to run ahead for a little. Orochimaru knew that Nawaki was an excellent sensor and wouldn't do so if enemies were close by.
He was the one who would always point out the enemy even before Orochimaru noticed them. Orochimaru believed him to have an ability similar to the Nidaime. He was about to shout for them to wait and get ahead of them when Nawaki walked into the trap.
One second his team was happily laughing, and the next, there was a massive explosion. He ran ahead and saw the whole area destroyed. Nothing was left of Nawaki's body except the necklace he brought to Tsunade.
Orochimaru blamed himself, but Tsunade knew him and knew that he wouldn't do this on purpose. Orochimaru was always the observant one on his team and the one who saved his teammates the most.
If he didn't notice the trap ahead, there was no way for anyone else to detect it as well, and if he were in the lead formation, it would lead to all of his team dying, including himself. Tsunade could never blame him for being alive.
For years they believed that the explosion trap was the work of the shinobi the team last fought. They thought they didn't want the information to get through, so they made sure that they would die even if the team passed them.
But it wasn't the truth. The patrol schedules were for the border with Ame, and Danzo was planning to establish relationships with Hanzo, who was just starting to make a name. Danzo was planning to give them a safe passage to Taki and, in return, have a safe way for his soldiers to pass through Ame into Iwa.
They were the ones who initiated the trap in those two border locations. They planned to get rid of the actual teams and then send their agents in their places to deliver a rigged schedule.
By getting rid of the actual teams, all they had to do was pretend to be ANBU, and then it would be a sad story of how the ANBU found the dead body of the team. They were successful in one border, but Nawaki paid the price for his team.
His team wasn't supposed to go on that mission. Another team was assigned, but after the Jonin sensei got injured in a mission, Orochimaru accepted the mission to give his team some experience.
Tsunade was fuming with rage now. Luckily Naruto had asked her to put a privacy seal up, and no one could hear her. She was screaming and crying and so angry. Naruto waited for her to calm down. Nothing he could do wouldn't result in her getting even more enraged.
Then he gave her the final letter from Orochimaru. About what he was planning and how he wanted to get rid of Danzo. It wasn't a simple matter. While the act of killing could be accomplished easily, they weren't ready for the backlash.
Right now, the ROOT has a force about a third of the size of the Konoha ninja force. Half of this force were spies in different parts of the world. Of the rest, half were active and usually on missions, while the other half were working on particular skills.
They were those who were working on things like medical areas, seals, poisons, ciphers, T&I, and other divisions. Basically, the ROOT was like a mini Konoha. They had people in all areas to ensure their independence.
While Naruto was publicly the heir, it wasn't true inside the ROOT. He didn't have the power to command the agents or their loyalty. He needed more foothold. There were plans that every agent was informed of.
If Danzo was to die, there was a particular protocol in place. All the agents would be informed by a seal that would disappear from their wrists. Then they were to take steps to ensure a shinobi war.
The purpose of the war was for Naruto to get a solid standing as a jinchuriki and a war hero. He would then Join the ANBU and take over the ANBU force. Once he had enough power, he was to go for the position of the Hokage and re-establish the ROOT. Then there was a second seal Naruto had to activate to call back the agents.
It was a solid plan, and Naruto hated it. He could only use the call-back seal, but the agents were only to answer when other conditions were met. Naruto knew that, realistically, some agents might not have the desire to come back. That there was also a seal to kill whoever decided to disobey.
It was a tricky situation. Danzo wasn't a mastermind for no reason. Naruto had spent a lot of time with Orochimaru trying to come up with ways to counter the plans but they had to time everything and they needed Tsunade as well.
Tsunade read through everything carefully. It was clear that she wanted nothing more than to run to Konoha and kill Danzo with her bare hands, but she knew the consequences now.
No matter what she said about Konoha, she was a healer at heart, not ready to destroy the village her family built and loved for revenge. It took a bit longer for her to calm down and fully assess the situation.
"I will be the one who will finish him. Is that clear?" Tsunade said. Naruto simply nodded. He wasn't about to argue with her.
"I will need some time to calm down, but I will return to Konoha with Shizune within the month. What will be our cover?" She said.
"The official plan is for you to start the medical plan proposal. All academy students will have additional medical lessons in their curriculum. They must all become competent in first aid and treatment without the use of chakra to become a genin."
"Once they become genins either the member with the most interest or best suited would be chosen for medical training. There are also specialization courses that would be offered for academy students and every student is required to learn at least one of such specializations to become a genin."
"We don't expect them to be experts, but they must be competent in one of the areas. The areas chosen for now are Kenjutsu, Genjutsu, ciphers, trap making, fuinjutsu, medical jutsu, and poisons. These areas should be easy enough for academy students to attend." Naruto said.
"I have to give it to you, gaki. It is a solid plan. Many lives would be saved using these skills. However, you forgot to tell me how you know Orochimaru and why he trusts you?" She finally asked.
"I first met him when he was helping ROOT with a few projects. I think it is better if he explains everything to you since it is not my place. But over time, I used to sneak out of the base to meet him, and he taught me a lot. He doesn't like to show it but he is really good with children." Naruto said.
Tsunade burst into laughter. She never thought anyone would say Orochimaru and children in the same sentence. "Ok, gaki, it's been a long night. Shizune will change your bandages in the morning. You can return with your friends as soon as you are more stabilized." She said.
"Thank you for everything, Tsunade-sama," Naruto said and handed her two more scrolls. "The first scroll contains more evidence about all the things that you learned today and the second is a secret no one must know for now." Tsunade took the scrolls and opened the second one.
Her eyes widened as she quickly scanned the lines. She was shocked. "This is treason. I will take a better look at them later. Now is time for you to sleep." She then put her hand on Naruto's head and put him to sleep with a quick jutsu.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXLINEBREAKXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto woke up in the morning to Shizune changing his bandages. He felt a bit better. His limbs felt so heavy that he could only move his head and hands, but Shizune said it was normal. His headache was a lot better.
Shizune gave him some more heavy sedation to keep his pain down. When she got out, Shisui came in. his eyes were a bit red and puffy, and there were dark bags under his eyes. Naruto knew that he didn't sleep well. Naruto didn't know what to say, so he just looked down at his lap.
Shisui got close to his bed and took one of his hands. "Naruto. Please look at me." Naruto slowly raised his head. There were tears in his eyes, and he tried to blink them away. "Do you know how stupid the thing you did is?" He said. There was anger in his voice but also sadness and worry.
"I'm not going to apologize for saving you, Shisui. I would never let you or any of my friends get hurt. I will do it again in a heartbeat." Naruto said, voice shaky and small but with a small fire in his eyes.
"Naruto. You are only a child. You can't throw away your life like that. I know how strong you are but I'm still older and more experienced than you. I'm the one who is supposed to protect you. You are so precious to me. I don't want you ever to get hurt." He said as he reached with his other hand to wipe tears from Naruto's cheeks.
"That is not how it works, Shisui-nii. You are my brother, and I love you too. I can't stand you getting hurt either. Plus, my body just moved on its own." Naruto said as he leaned into the hand on his cheek.
"Smart brat. But still, you must promise me never to do that again. I can't lose you, Naruto. I was so scared. There was so much blood, and your pulse was so slow when we brought you to the hospital."
"I thought I lost you. I couldn't stand it. They almost lost you in operation. Your body was so strained, and you were out of chakra. They couldn't use healing jutsu and…" Shisui couldn't finish his sentence and just pulled Naruto close to his chest, burying his head into Naruto's hair.
Naruto fisted his hand on Shisui's chest, crying. "I can't promise that, nii-san. That's not who I am and you know that." Naruto said so softly voice muffled in Shisui's shirt.
"I know, otouto. I know. But it doesn't mean that I'll like it." Shisui just held him like that until they both calmed down. He gave Naruto some water and a tissue to clean his eyes and face.
Naruto never felt like this before. He really thought of shisui as a brother and the love he got from him was a unique feeling. He felt content and warm. He felt safe and protected. He decided that he would never let Shisui get harmed no matter what.
"Shisui-nii, I have to explain things to you and eagle about that night. Can you call him in?" Naruto asked. Shisui nodded and gave his forehead a kiss before leaving the room.