Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters, except for original characters created by myself.
Seven long days after they had left, Tsume trudged back into Konoha.
She felt like shit.
The mission was a complete failure. Three days after fruitlessly waiting, Orochimaru gave the order to return. No one had made it into any of the ports of Hot Water with Naruto. Tsume hadn't even seen anyone with a child enter Hibachi.
She was silently debating the wisdom of not checking the land routes as Hikari had suggested. True, there wasn't much of a well-defined border between Hot Water and Frost; just a vast expanse of coniferous forests, somewhere in the middle of which the territory of Hot Water ended and Frost began. Very few towns were even there, and the country was small enough for a determined and healthy shinobi to traverse in a day, without having to stop anywhere.
They would have to stop at Frost though, for rations before crossing the cold desert marking Frost-Lightning border. They could have alerted Shimogakure, who were allies. Yes the news would have gone out, but…that would also increase the chances of them actually getting back Naruto. Would Shimogakure try to betray them?
She was doubting a lot of Orochimaru-sama's wisdom over their return journey.
Her weariness was more mental than physical; still, it was a bitch to have to report for debriefing immediately.
The Hokage listened impassively as Orochimaru did most of the talking. Then he sighed, lighting up his pipe.
"Very well. You did what you could. Orochimaru, please stay a bit longer. Rest of you are dismissed."
As they all bowed and turned towards the door, the Hokage called them again.
Also, as of late, I have had to implement a new law. Any information pertaining to Naruto Uzumaki and the Kyūbi Jinchuuriki is now classified as an S-rank secret. Any violations will be punished by dishonorable discharge and incarceration.
Tsume stopped, trying to process what she had just heard.
"This was a logical conclusion." The voice of Danzo came from the doorway, where he stood, looking like a dark spectre. "We can't afford for this news to get around. This is a matter of utmost concern for the security of both the village and the Land of Fire."
Tsume bowed and silently walked out of the office along with the rest.
She wasn't dealing with this now.
She had to get out before she lost her patience and murdered someone.
Raira stepped onto the small dock, followed by Naruto. Luckily, the kid didn't seem to have any sea-sickness. Raira herself always fared poorly in such situations.
With wide eyes, filled with wonder and a little bit of fear, the child looked around. He tried to grab her hand tightly as she led him into the unknown land.
"Welcome to the Land of Lightning, Naruto-chan." she said.
"It's cold…and stinks." he said, scrunching his nose.
"Well, it's a fishing port, so it smells like fish. You should be glad; you are among your own kind now, Naruto-chan~."
"Not fair, Raira-nee…"
The kid stuck out his tongue, and Raira led him towards the little shack that served as the harbor master's office.
The man sitting in the makeshift office, a civilian with balding hair and a portly body, was busy with some papers as they walked in. He Looked up from behind his table, which was made up by a plank over a few crates. Then he screamed and dived to his side where there was a small window. Raira watched as he got stuck in there briefly, before struggling a bit to get his pot belly out, finally crashing headfirst outside. Then he picked himself up and dashed like a headless chicken. Cries of help were coming out of his mouth the whole time.
The child was scared shitless. Raira went around his table, and the reason became clear to her.
Wanted posters. Her, Jei and Commander Sendō.
That bastard A…
"Relax, Naruto-chan. He just went to call the welcoming party."
Naruto was scared out of his mind. No matter what Raira-nee had said.
Speaking of which, he hasn't seen her since the other shinobi showed up and separated them.
At the port, she had told him to relax and wait, and not long after two shinobi-oji-sans busted inside, swords out. Raira-nee had calmly put down her weapons pouch and knelt down on the dusty floor. "He is the objective of an S-rank mission I have been sent on. You better be careful what you do with him or me." She had told them. "Contact Kumo. Tell them Team Sendō has come back from our mission."
Much time and confusion later, they were finally let out of the office, and escorted to a pair of carts, guarded by more shinobi-oji-sans. There was a small crowd outside and Naruto had felt like hiding from them, but for once their eyes were not raining hatred.
They looked at him, and also her. With curiosity.
The road was long and bumpy, and nobody would talk. They'd ignore his questions. Raira-nee was in the other cart too. Naruto felt hungry now. They had landed in the morning. It was almost evening now.
Finally, the cart came to a stop.
A few more moments later, an oji-san's face peered inside the cart. His hair was white.
"Sorry Raira-san…he doesn't look like a Hyūga to me."
Naruto couldn't hear what was said in reply, but whatever it was, it caused the oji-san's eyes to widen.
"I see...you guys, get him out."
Naruto blinked as he was gently taken out of the cart and placed on the ground.
Raira-nee was there, one shinobi was removing her cuffs. The gray-haired oji–Naruto now noticed it was an onii-san, despite his hair–looked at him curiously.
"Sorry for the strange welcome…I'm Darui by the way. You alright kid?"
"I'm hungry."
"Ah…sorry about that.." the onii-san rubbed the back of his head. "So what would you like to eat?"
Darui observed the child slurping miso ramen with absolute bliss.
Kyūbi Jinchuuriki.
Raira was radiating smugness. This was going to be a pickle.
Konoha's official accusation arrived two days ago. Furui Sendō had spectacularly committed an assisted suicide, taking a lot of Hyūgas. There was no mention of anything else though.
The Raikage had strongly condemned his own and his subordinates' actions, updating the bingo books with all three. It was a tactical decision. Even if Raira and Jei managed to escape, the doors of Kumogakure would be closed to them, and they'd be hunted down as fugitives.
That they would actually pull off the mission was beyond anyone's wildest imagination.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"You can ask the Konoha Anbu who got slaughtered near Valley of the End." Raira snapped back.
"Sorry, but…a proof would be nice."
"Would you like him to go full Bijuu here? In the middle of the town?" Raira sneered. "Take my cuffs off, I can arrange that."
"I think I'll take your word."
Raira again focused on her food.
"So Jei didn't make it?"
Raira spoke with a mouthful of Teriyaki. "We got separated during the chase. He's probably dead."
Probably.
Not good enough.
The fact that Konoha didn't mention him at all could only mean he was still on the run or captured. The latter seemed more likely than the former.
Darui didn't see the merit in executing all the conspirators in the first place; just the ringleaders would have been fine, given how Kumogakure forces were still recovering from the Third War. But A wanted to make a point.
He was an Anbu, and his capture was... not good, to say the least.
And then there was Raira.
She had already been declared a nuke-nin now. As per the condition of her mission though…she'd have to be reinstated properly, with full honor.
Oh well, that was A's problem for now.
He again looked at the kid, who enthusiastically asked for another bowl.
He looked a bit malnourished…was ramen all he ate?
Uzumaki Naruto.
Darui didn't know how to feel about having an Uzumaki become their latest weapon.
He wasn't born when the Uzu invasion happened.
He didn't have any particular grudge against them. But there were a lot of people in the shinobi forces who did.
Like Raira.
Darui stole another glance at her.
She seemed to be taking this rather well.
Maybe he could discuss this with A too. Would it affect morale if an Uzumaki was enlisted as their new Jinchuuriki? Or should they rename the kid?
A new name, in a new place?
"Kyūbi is gone, but we know its chakra itself is potent enough to empower a normal human immensely." Danzo spoke with conviction.
Orochimaru stared at him. Trying to guess from the man's body language how his mission went.
Danzo was a master of expressions.
While anyone meeting him would outright deny Danzo was capable of any emotion at all, Orochimaru knew the man was just too good at hiding those.
With bandages half of his face and one eye was obscured to start with, but with the rest Danzo was able to make a variety of expressions.
He made them subtle though, giving the impression of a stoic man whose mask of indifference was frayed at the edges at best. And he could do them on command, making himself seem to be outraged or distraught when actually he might have been the exact opposite, and vice versa.
Orochimaru didn't think he could tell them correctly yet. Perhaps a Sharingan could show more subtle tells which were involuntary and therefore, genuine.
His sensei was an open book compared to him.
"You are thinking about the Gold and Silver brothers." He said.
"Precisely. I think with enough chakra of Kyūbi, we can make pseudo-Jinchuurikis. Nowhere as powerful as the original, but more controllable, therefore more useful on the battlefield. And Kyūbi is thought to be the strongest of the Bijuus, so a pseudo-jinchuuriki might be enough to match some of the real Jinchuurikis."
"And who would become said pseudo-jinchuurikis?" Lady Utatane spoke up.
"Volunteers of course. Preteens or younger would make for suitable candidates, their chakra networks still not fully matured and therefore malleable to host Kyūbi's chakra." Danzo said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"There we go with child soldiers again…" Lady Utatane sighed.
The meeting erupted into bickering. Orochimaru couldn't tell if Danzo had gotten his hands on Minato and Kushina's child.
"Your concern is absolutely appreciated, Koharu," Sensei tried to placate her, "...but we need this. What would we do if Kumo pressed for war? They have three tailed beasts now. They will mow through any forces. We aren't Shodaime, or Sensei…or even Minato-kun."
As always Danzo has sensei twisted around his fingers.
"If you have already decided, then I don't see the point of this meeting, Hiruzen," Lady Utatane said. "You could just spare us the pain of climbing these stairs if you are going to ignore anything we say anyway."
"We need the council's approval to start." Sensei said.
Lady Utatane turned to her other teammate. "And what do you have to say?"
Homura Mitokado sighed.
"Always putting me between a rock and a hard place..." the elder sighed, "...I have to agree with Danzo here. The direness of our condition outweighs my sensibility. Sorry Koharu. I am sure Hiruzen would use his power as Kage to override the decision anyway, even if I agreed with you."
That might have actually made Sensei actually come out from hiding behind Danzo for once.
"Alright then. Now, as to why we have made you sir through this all, Orochimaru-kun."
Orochimaru looked at his sensei, who in turn looked at Danzo.
"We are granting you access to one of the restricted sections of the village. Harvest as much residual chakra as possible. We may need multiple trials." Danzo spoke.
AN: Special thanks to DescriptivePessimism-DAA for beta reading. Read and review!