War: Part XIV
When Naruto and Itachi were about an hour outside of the main regiment for the Allied Shinobi forces, they stopped to release Minato from the scroll they had carried him in. They had been able to slip past most of the shinobi who were on watch duty so far. Naruto could sense that the other three Hokages had already made it to camp, but he didn't feel Sasuke and the look on Itachi's face told him that the raven had come to the same conclusion.
Minato appeared in a puff of smoke and once it looked like he was awake enough, Naruto pulled out a familiar three-pronged kunai.
"Tou-san," Naruto said, "I need you to find Jiraiya and Tsunade. Pull them aside to a place where I can meet with them alone. A place where we won't be overheard."
"Alright," Minato nodded then looked a little stunned with Naruto handed him kunai.
"All you have to do is throw it and we will be there," Naruto instructed then back peddled, "of course, you know that already."
Minato gave a quick laugh and stood to depart, "What makes you think they will trust me? I've been with you the whole time, and I am still technically under your control."
"The others are still under Naruto's control as well," Itachi pointed out.
"Right," Minato nodded and tucked the kunai ways. A shinobi under the control of the enemy, walking into the base of the Hokage with a weapon drawn was never a smart idea. The less of a threat that he seemed, the better.
Naruto smiled at his father as he confirmed Itachi's point, then his face turned serious, "Jiraiya will trust you."
Minato nodded before heading out.
000
"Hokage-sama," a timid Suna-nin poked his head around the flap of the tent and when Tsunade looked up from her temporary desk the shinobi continued, "another… um… Hokage has arrived."
"Right," Tsunade nodded and stood.
"Ah, that must be Minato," the Sandaime smiled.
Tsunade sighed, still a little stunned at the sudden appearance of the pervious Hokages, "send him to me please."
The Suna-nin nodded and moments later, the blond Hokage walked through the flap of the tent.
"It's nice of you to join us, Minato-kun!" Hashirama called.
"Shodaime-sama," Minato nodded, they had obviously been fighting already. Minato momentarily wondered how long he had been out for.
Minato glanced around a noticed there were shinobi from various village in the small tent that was not big enough to hold this many people. Some of the people he recognized while others were new to him.
Tsunade stood across from him on the other side of the small table that was being used as a makeshift desk for her. Jiraiya was standing next to her with a young boy with hair that made him look like a pineapple who was also about Naruto's age standing right behind her. Then a man Minato recognized as Shikaku Nara was standing on the other side of her. The previous Hokage's were standing next to the Nara, however, a face that Minato was expecting to see wasn't present.
"I was expecting Kakashi to be here as well," Minato mentioned walking up to the table, "I was looking forward to seeing my old student."
Jiraiya shot him a look; "I'll explain his absence later, Minato." Then the older man walked around the table and placed a hand on Minato's shoulder, "It's good to see you, although I wish it were under better circumstances."
"I know, sensei," Minato smiled, "it is good to see you too."
"Minato," Tsunade nodded in his direction.
"It's been several days since we saw you," the Sandaime recalled, "I didn't think we would see you again."
"I wondered how long it has been," Minato responded.
"How did you get away from the Akatsuki?" Tobirama asked.
"Actually," Minato started, "that's why I am here." Minato noticed that several of them were suddenly on edge. "Wait, don't attack me just yet. I come in peace."
With that everyone seemed to relax but the young boy in the back didn't take his eyes off him, which Minato thought to be very odd.
"Jiraiya, Tsunade," Minato started, "There is someone that would like an audience with you."
Tsunade and Jiraiya looked at each other for a moment. The same thought had flown through both of heads at the same time.
"Well, that's pretty obvious who that would be," Sandaime laughed.
"Your Naruto kid, right?" Hashirama confirmed.
Minato let out a breath, "Yeah, of course."
Tobirama shot his brother a look, Hashirama just shrugged.
Then the reaction from the boy in the back caught Minato's eye. The young brunette that had a shocking similarity to the elder Nara had a stunned, wide-eyed look on his face, but Minato chose to ignore it, for the time being.
"Your son has caused a lot of trouble, ya know," Tsunade shook her head, "but I will humor him. Where is he?"
"He said he would like to meet with you in a private place, somewhere that we will not be overheard," Minato said, "pick a place and he will meet us there."
Tsunade nodded then gestured to the tent, "here would be the best. There are seals around it that prevent a large amount of chakra from being used and to prevent people from overhearing. Kind of like the seals in the Hokage's office."
Minato nodded, "that's fine, but he would like to meet with you and Jiraiya-sensei…alone."
"I don't think that it wise," Shikaku stated, "even though I believe Tsunade-sama could handle him, it's not appropriate to leave the sitting Hokage alone with a very high level missing-nin, who we are also currently at war with."
"Well then, I agree" Hashirama cross his arms over his chest, "I'm not leaving."
"You sound like a child, brother," Tobirama shook his head, "but I am in agreement. Your son is a high-level rogue shinobi, which I am also not inclined to leave the current Hokage alone with, no matter how strong she may be."
"Of course, I would have to agree," Hiruzen added.
"This brat isn't going anywhere either," Tsunade pointed to the young boy behind her.
Minato let out a breath of frustration, "Then you can explain that to Naruto," Minato threw the three-pronged kunai so that it landed just inside the entrance of the tent.
In a flash, Naruto arrived garbed in his full Akatsuki uniform along with Itachi standing directly behind him. The younger blond looked around the tent then stopped on his father's face.
"What the hell happened to just Tsunade and Jiraiya?" Naruto asked as he breathed out a sigh of annoyance, then another face he hadn't seen before stepped out from behind the current Hokage and Naruto's breath caught. Itachi caught on to the affect that the Nara had on his lover and shifted his weight so that he barely brushed Naruto giving him a slight bit of reassurance.
"Shikamaru," Naruto breathed out.
"Naruto," Shikamaru replied.
Minato looked from his son to the other young shinobi, but he couldn't quiet put the pieces together.
Naruto shook his head as he finally gathered his composure, "So you not only brought the previous Hokage, but my ex and his father as well? Fantastic."
"Naruto," Itachi called, his voice somewhat of a warning, but only low enough for Naruto to catch.
"Ex?" Minato repeated and looked back at the boy Naruto called Shikamaru.
Tsunade caught Minato's eye and gave him a look that told him to drop the subject.
"Whatever," Naruto shrugged, "I guess they can hear this too."
"There will be no harm," Itachi agreed.
"What did you want to speak about, Naruto?" Jiraiya asked getting straight to the point.
"It starts with Kakashi," Naruto said.
"Kakashi?" Minato repeated.
"Well, I have my reasons for what I did. I never wanted to hurt him, and I sure as hell, didn't want to kill him," Naruto looked at Tsunade.
"What?" Minato turned sharply to his son, "What did you do?"
Naruto waved him off, "I never meant to hurt Kaka-sensei, but I needed incapacitate him. I needed him out of the fight and to stay out of the fight. The fact that he had Sasuke's sword just allowed me to kill two birds with one stone so to speak."
"Why did you need him out of the fight?" Jiraiya asked.
"How do I explain this?" Naruto thought for a moment.
"Allow me," Itachi said stepping forward, "Kakashi carries the second eye to a very powerful set of Sharingan, so Naruto kept him out of the fight in order keep the two away from each other. If that set reunites it could potentially be catastrophic."
"Who has the other one?" Jiraiya asked.
"Uchiha Obito," Minato answered, "but he supposed to be dead."
"Unfortunately, around here, the dead don't stay dead," Naruto shrugged.
"Ain't that the truth," Tsunade cocked an eyebrow at the younger blond.
Naruto shot her a look, then returned to what he was speaking about before.
"Anyways, what you need to know is that the Akatsuki isn't the real enemy, and the real fight will come when the man pulling the strings decides to reveal himself," Naruto informed them, "and you won't be able to stop him."
"Who is this man?" Tsunade asked.
"He claims to be Uchiha Madara, however I have a sneaky suspicion he is actually Uchiha Obito," Naruto looked at her.
"You are kidding, right?" Minato asked, "Obito died before you were even born, Naruto."
"What proof do you have that its Obito and not really Madara?" Jiraiya asked.
"Well for starters he only has one sharingan, and not two, and there is the fact that the information I got from Hashirama-sama does not match up with the information I've gotten from the man himself," Naruto explained, "as well as the rumor that Madara achieved the Rinnegan before he died, if this is true than if it was Madara than he would have the Rinnegan and not one sharingan. Plus, there is only one man that I know of that has the Rinnegan."
"Pein," Jiraiya stated and Naruto nodded to confirm.
"I highly doubt that Uchiha Madara would willingly give up his Rinnegan to someone else," Naruto shook his head.
"No, he wouldn't" Hashirama agreed.
"Exactly," Naruto said, "So the only reasonable explanation I can come up with is Obito, especially with some of the things he knows about Konoha."
"The other part is that this man also aided me in the elimination of the Uchiha clan," Itachi said causing everyone to turn to him, "At first he presented himself to me as Madara, I believed him then, and I didn't question him, and I asked for his assistance after I received the order for the elimination of the clan."
"I thought you did it all on your own," the Sandaime stated.
"Unfortunately, no, I knew I was not strong enough to eliminate the clan on my own," Itachi explained, "Before carrying out the massacre, I found Tobi sneaking around the village and since I believed he was the real Madara Uchiha and bent on destroying Konoha, I offered to help him take revenge against the Uchiha for betraying him decades earlier if he would spare the village, which Tobi agreed to. I do not believe he was aware that I had received orders to do so."
"I see," Hiruzen nodded.
"After the elimination was complete," Itachi continued, "I started to have my suspicions on his identity but did not pursue the matter further."
"It doesn't really matter who he is," Naruto continued, "but if I am right, then Kakashi needed to stay out of the war. We don't need Tobi to be stronger than he already is."
"Right," Tsunade nodded, "while I appreciate your explanation of your crimes, why are you actually here?"
Naruto turned his gaze to his old sensei, "You haven't told her?"
"I have, but she is the only one and she only knows some of it," Jiraiya replied.
"I see, then I guess I should tell you the rest," Naruto shrugged, "A year before I kidnapped Gaara, Jiraiya found out through a series of unfortunate events that I was still alive and working with the Akatsuki. We fought for days, but neither of us could get the upper hand. So, we called a truce, and then he convinced me to start working against the Akatsuki. He made me see the error in my ways, so since then I've been working on destroying the Akatsuki from the inside out."
"So then why have you been helping them collect the tailed beasts?" Tsunade asked.
"I'll get to that," Naruto held up a hand, "But Jiraiya there is something I never told you."
The elder shinobi gave his student an odd look but didn't say anything.
"A few months after our meeting is when I met with Madara, and he told me his plan for peace, but up until recently I thought it was a great plan, so I started working towards his goal which included collecting the tailed beats. That all changed a while ago, his true goal was to destroy the world and I just couldn't do that," Naruto shook his head.
"What's the difference between what the Akatsuki goal is versus Madara's or Tobi's or whoever?" Minato asked.
"Let's see," Naruto thought for a moment, "initially it seemed that Pein wanted to gain an unfathomable amount of power to become a god of sorts, forcing every single nation into submission and ending war and hatred altogether."
"But?" Minato pushed.
"But I learned recently that Pein believed the collecting the tailed beasts would give him the ability to develop forbidden jutsu that could annihilate nations in an instant, even if he never intended to use it himself," Naruto shrugged.
"Then why?" Tsunade asked.
"Pein intended to distribute the weapon among the Five Great Nations, allowing each nation to wield enough power to destroy one another in an instant. Nagato wanted each nation to experience pain at the hands of one another, like what we did to the Hidden Rain Village," Naruto said.
"So he didn't want to end the war, but rather create an everlasting war so that people would experience the pain he went through," Minato concluded.
"Sort of," Naruto nodded, "Peins plan would go one way or another. It would either be the end of all wars due to mutually assured destruction or the end of the world due to the cataclysmic destruction using the forbidden jutsu. It wasn't a risk I was going to take, and Madara told me this when I met with him, and he explained that his plan was use to let Pein create the weapon, but instead of distributing to the nations, we would wield it and rule, forcing all nations in to submission."
"However, I recently learned, that Madara's true plan is rid the world of shinobi, but by this time, we were on the brink of war, the tailed beasts are almost all sealed and there was no way I was going to be able to stop the Akatsuki and Madara, so I came up with a plan," Naruto smiled.
"Which is?" Jiraiya asked.
"I'm going to use the Juubi to destroy the Akatsuki and Madara."
"That's impossible," Tobirama shook his head.
"I happen to agree," Hashirama added, "You can't control the Juubi."
"We can," Naruto retorted glancing over towards Itachi.
"What? Do you have sort of an ace up your sleeve?" Tsunade asked with almost a slight bit of sarcasm.
"Oh, baa-chan, I always have an ace up my sleeve," Naruto gave her a wicked grin.
Tsunade snorted and rolled her eyes.
"I know, it is a lot to ask, especially with everything I've done over the past few years," Naruto started, "but I need you to trust me on this one. Please."
Tsunade took in a deep breath but didn't reply.
"I will be fighting alongside the Akatsuki when it comes time, but I will not be using the full extent of my abilities," Naruto shook his head, "I will be saving the majority of my power for the fight I will have with the man who claims he is Madara in order to gain control of the Juubi."
"That's if the Akatsuki are successful in obtaining the last two," Jiraiya stated.
"Unfortunately, they are," Itachi replied, "We received word from our leader that the seven-tailed beast was successful contained. They are moving her to the sealing location as we speak."
"You're kidding?" Tsunade stared at the Uchiha.
"No, he's not," Naruto shook his head, "Itachi and I are actually on our way to obtain the eight-tailed beast, but I wanted to relay this information first."
Tsunade let out another breath of frustration. This war was getting more and more complicated by the minute. "Alright, just to humor you, if we trusted you, what would you have us do?"
"Allow me to obtain the eight-tails, in exchange, I will give you the information needed to defeat the enemies you will face. I will also take care of Pein," Naruto said.
"You want us to give you the one thing that we went to war to protect?" Tsunade said, "Are you insane?"
"Some might say I am," Naruto shrugged.
"I could never get the other Kages to agree to that Naruto," Tsunade shook her head, "You know that."
"We would guarantee that the Jinchuuriki would come back alive of course," Itachi stated.
"That's not the problem," Tsunade shook her head, "I can't just hand over a tailed beast to a member of the Akatsuki, that's the literal reason that the Shinobi Alliance even exists!"
"Very well," Naruto sighed, "I knew that was a long shot. Here is another option, you don't have to give me the tailed beast, just don't exactly prevent the Jinchuuriki from joining the fight when it comes down to it. Tell the other Kage that you believe that the Jinchuuriki powers will help turn the tide of the war, or something like that. I will take care of the rest."
"I will take it under consideration, but I can't guarantee it," Tsunade replied.
"Alright," Naruto nodded, "but don't worry, I'll still care of Pein."
Everyone nodded at him in understanding.
"What else?" Tsunade asked.
"Well," Naruto started talking but he started pulling out a Kunai from his pouch which caused all the shinobi in the tent to become on edge or get into a battle stance. Naruto held up his hands in surrender, "I'm not doing anything!"
"What are you doing then?" Jiraiya asked.
"Can I show you?" Naruto retorted.
Jiraiya nodded at him.
Naruto finished grabbing the kunai and stabbed it into the table in front of Tsunade. The Kunai had a white tag with a seal on it tied to the end.
"You are going to be fighting a new enemy, if you aren't already, called a Zetsu," Naruto stated.
"We've already been receiving reports about a white enemy that's been taking out some of our forces. They are gathering on the boarder of the Hidden Rain" Tsunade nodded.
"That's Zetsu," Naruto nodded, "Unfortunately, there are probably a lot more than you've seen so far."
"More?" Tsunade asked slowly, almost like she was apprehensive of learning the answer, "how many more?"
"I think Tobi said there were around a hundred thousand of them," Naruto thought out loud.
"Holy shit," Tsunade cursed, "That's more than the entire shinobi alliance."
"Yeah, but they aren't that strong once you neutralize their ability," Naruto shrugged.
"Their ability?" Tobirama asked.
"Yeah, their main ability is cloning someone down to their chakra signature as well as their memories, and their abilities, jutsu, and so on. Basically, a shadow clone that will never disappears until you kill the Zetsu. When its copying someone, it almost impossible to tell if you are looking at the person or Zetsu."
"Great," Tsunade stated in a sarcastic tone.
"I thought you said they weren't that strong?" Hashirama asked.
"After you neutralize their ability, brother," Tobirama corrected his older brother.
"Right, right," Hashirama nodded, causing Tobirama to roll his eyes.
"Is that what the kunai is for?" Minato asked pointing at the weapon still stuck in the Hokage's desk.
"Yes," Naruto pointed to the kunai as well, "that is the only way to stop them."
"How does it work?" Tobirama asked.
"The seal on the white tag," Naruto points to it, "it neutralizes the Zetsu's ability within a meter. Copy the seal, and hand it out to all the shinobi. If a Zetsu even gets close, it will turn back into its normal white body."
"Why the kunai?" Shikaku asked.
"Because of the limited range," Naruto explained, "Zetsu knows that this seal exists and once he knows that the shinobi alliance has it, he will change tactics to long range rather hand close. I keep it on a kunai so that I can get neutralize his ability before I attack."
Everyone nodded at his explanation.
"Thank you, Naruto," Tsunade nodded.
Naruto nodded in return.
"We need to get going," Itachi stated.
"You're right," Naruto replied, "we will see you on the battlefield."
"You'll keep your word this time?" Tsunade snarked.
"Of course, Tsunade-baa-chan," Naruto rolled his eyes.
"That being said," Jiraiya looked Naruto straight in the eye, "if you take one wrong step, we will not hesitate to kill either one of you out there."
"Jirai-" Minato started but was cut off.
"The feeling is mutual," Naruto nodded, "If either side breaks the deal, all bets are off and we are free to kill each other."
"Good," Jiraiya nodded.
"Shikamaru," Tsunade turned to the brunette behind her.
"Hai?" Shikamaru straighten up.
"Go get you the other Jonins please," Tsunade glanced up at the blond, "we have work to do."
Shikamaru nodded then headed out of the tent. He and Naruto made eye contact as he passed the blond, but he refused to look at the elder Uchiha. Naruto sighed and shook his head.
"Maybe when the war is over-" Tsunade started to say.
"The damage has been done, Hokage-sama," Naruto shook his head.
Tsunade nodded, "I understand."
Although no one in the room understood what either one of the two blonds were talking about, aside from Itachi.
"What's all that about?" Hashirama asked.
"What?" Tobirama looked over at his brother.
"Between Naruto and that other young boy that just left?" Hashirama pointed towards the youngest blond and the door of the tent.
"It is not our place, brother," Tobirama shook his head.
"Oh, well I am curious as well," Minato glanced over at his son.
"Fairly sure that this is not the place to discuss my love life, father," Naruto shook his head.
"Well, if it impacts the way my shinobi will fight it is," Tsunade crossed her arms.
"Shikamaru is a better shinobi than that," Naruto rebutted.
"Not according to Kakashi," Tsunade cocked an eyebrow.
"Oh?" Naruto asked, "What does Kakashi have to say about it?"
"He saw us outside of Kumo," a familiar voice called behind the blond.
"What?" Naruto turned around to see Shikamaru walking in with the other Jonins.
"That's how Tsunade-sama found out," Shikamaru stood face to face with his ex-lover, "Kakashi saw us and told the Hokage about the meeting."
"Kakashi saw us that night?" Naruto clarified.
"Yes," Shikamaru nodded, "but you are right, this is not the place to be discussing this matter."
"We'll talk later," Naruto replied.
While the other shinobi were making their way over to the Hokage, and taking their place, Itachi reached out and placed a hand on the small of Naruto's back. It was small gesture, but it made a world of a difference to the blond. Itachi could almost feel that through the small touch.
"You summoned us, Hokage-sama?" Gai asked.
"Yes, we have some work to do. Shikaku, I need you to get in touch with Inochi," Tsunade let out a breath and glanced once more towards Naruto.
The blonde nodded then started to head out, but turned back, "oh one more thing."
Everyone stopped and turned back towards him.
"I'm not sure if it will happen, but if you see anymore resurrected shinobi, you need to seal them," Naruto stated simply, then walked away without giving any more information.
000
"Tsunade-sama, can I speak with him?" Shikamaru asked, grabbing Tsunade's attention before she walked away from the meeting when everyone was filing out of the tent, "Please, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade glanced down at the brunette, "five minutes. No more."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Shikamaru nodded.
Shikamaru started trotting out of the tent towards the set of shinobi, "Naruto," he called catching both of their attention. Both Akatsuki members looked up at Shikamaru as he walked up to them, "Can I speak with you for a moment?"
"I…" Naruto started what sounded like a 'no' until Itachi cut him off.
"I'll wait over there," Itachi gestured towards the back of the tent.
"I guess so," Naruto nodded towards his ex-lover.
"I'm sorry, Naruto," Shikamaru glanced down for a moment then back up to the blond.
Naruto had a very surprised look on his face.
"You're sorry?" Naruto repeated.
"Yes, I am" Shikamaru nodded, "When Tsunade-sama, Kakashi-taichou, Jiraiya-sama, Asuma-sensei and my father of all people confronted me about my relationship with you, I had no other choice. There was nothing that I could do. I had to follow orders."
"I see," Naruto nodded, "You have no reason to apologize for following orders. Am I mad? Of course, but what's done is done, Shikamaru."
"You mean…?" Shikamaru didn't have to finish his sentence.
"You were right," Naruto crossed his arms, "Even if everything works out, and we are both still alive by the end of all this, I'm still a rogue-nin, Shikamaru. I'm not going to ask you to choose between me and your village…"
"Our village," Shikamaru corrected.
"It doesn't matter anymore," Naruto shook his head.
"It does, because I still love you," Shikamaru felt his voice shake.
"And I will always love you, Shika," Naruto shook his head, "but we cannot work. It won't work. Nothing can change that."
"Naruto…" Shikamaru's voice was no louder than a whisper.
"I should be the one apologizing," Naruto place his hand on the side of the brunette's jaws, "I'm sorry. I should have never led you on; I should have never made false promises; I should have never put you in that position. I will always love you and that will never change, but I want you to move on. Live your life after this war is over. Find someone without the baggage that I have. Have kids. Have a family. Be happy."
"How can I be without you?" Shikamaru asked.
"You can and you will," Naruto smiled and dropped his hand, "There is nothing left. I'm sorry."
"Naruto…" Shikamaru whispered as Naruto walked away.
The blond walked over to where Itachi was standing, placed his hand the waist of his lover. He threw one last glance over his shoulder at the Nara before he flashed away, leaving Shikamaru with only his thoughts.
000
When Naruto and Itachi landed from the Hiraishin, Naruto immediately fell to his knees and let the tears fall. Itachi knelt down beside him and pulled him close. With no one around and in the arms of the man he loved, he just let all the emotions he had been holding back out. He let himself be vulnerable for that moment. He never wanted to say those words to his first love, but they were true. He had felt horrible for the position he put Shikamaru in, and he wanted to have a clean break, even if it meant hurting both of them. Even if it meant breaking both of their hearts. Itachi didn't say a word and just held on to his blond like he was going to disappear.