To say that things were hectic in the week following the invasion would be a significant understatement.
As soon as Asuma, Sakura, Shikamaru and I made it back within the village, I was sent off to the hospital to be examined, where I promptly passed out as the adrenaline from the fight and the energy boost from the soldier pills I'd used both finally faded. I woke up a day later to find my back had been healed (didn't even leave any scars thanks to the miracle of medical ninjutsu!) and was immediately given a lecture on the safe use of soldier pills. The Hokage came by to take my report on the Gaara mission, and then I was released.
After that, I was quickly put to work alongside the other genin helping to repair the damage done to the village during the invasion. It was tedious work, but at least I was getting paid. Speaking of money, I was also paid for an A-rank mission for going after Gaara, as well as given the considerable bounty on Orochimaru's head. The Hokage had also given me the Kusanagi no Tsurugi, saying that, since I was the one who killed Orochimaru, I should be the one to get his sword. The sword possessed its anime appearance: that of a one-handed straight sword similar to a Chinese jian with a teal magatama emblazoned above the snake-patterned guard and white ray skin wrappings. It seemed to somehow possess a presence of its own, such that just looking at it gave one the feeling that it was deserving of respect. I was very much looking forward to mastering this impressive weapon.
On the political front, Suna immediately sued for peace after the invasion failed. Since they had found evidence to prove that Orochimaru had murdered and impersonated the Kazekage in order to pull them into his plans in the first place, they were let off lightly: the Leaf-Sand alliance was renewed and reparations would be paid, but there would be no serious repercussions for the Hidden Sand. Kumo apparently also received some kind of compensation for the endangerment of their genin during the attack, though what exactly that consisted of was not generally known. Oto, meanwhile, seemed to go to ground. Since their leader was dead, their forces were decimated, and no one even knew where they were located beyond 'somewhere in Ta no Kuni', it was decided that a retaliatory invasion would be far more trouble than it was worth.
Disturbingly, Kabuto had apparently escaped from his prison cell sometime during the invasion, though no one could figure out how. He had been chained up in a maximum security cell with his chakra sealed, yet when he was due for interrogation after the invasion, his cell had been found empty and his Anbu guard murdered by slitting of the throat. Personally, I suspected one of Danzo's schemes, though I admit that could have just been paranoia. Not everything that went wrong could be because of that one guy, right?
Anyway, with things finally starting to calm down, I was called in to the Hokage's office. When I got there, I found Naruto and Shikamaru both waiting to be seen as well, and we were quickly let in.
"Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-kun, Makoto-chan," the old man greeted us, smoking his trademark pipe. "All of you, please line up." We did as he asked, standing at attention as it was obvious this was serious business. Hiruzen addressed Shikamaru first. "Nara Shikamaru, your performance in the exams was exemplary. Despite being outmatched, it was clear that you were in control of the battle, and you displayed both a keen understanding of your own limits and the ability to recognise a losing situation. Because of this, you are hereby promoted to the rank of chuunin." He reached into a box on his desk and handed Shikamaru a dull green flak jacket.
"Don't suppose I can say no?" Shikamaru joked, though he looked proud to accept the promotion.
"Uchiha Makoto." I was next. "Your match was cut short by the invasion, but you displayed impressive tactical acumen as well as combat ability beyond the rank of genin. Furthermore, you not only led a team in a successful mission to capture an A-class enemy shinobi without any casualties, but you also managed to eliminate an S-class missing-nin in the form of Orochimaru, very possibly saving my life in the process. In light of these accomplishments, you are hereby promoted to the rank of chuunin." He smiled. "And I believe the rank of jounin is not far off for you if you continue to impress."
"I am honoured, Hokage-sama." I took my flak jacket, and he turned to Naruto, who looked to be having great difficulty remaining still.
"Uzumaki Naruto. While I do not believe that your battle with Shikamaru-kun was enough to promote you, your actions on the subsequent mission to subdue Sabaku no Gaara more than make up for it. You displayed the combat ability, teamwork, and determination to protect your comrades that mark an exceptional shinobi of Konoha. I hereby promote you to the rank of chuunin." The blonde stared at the flak jacket for a few seconds before taking it, smiling wide.
"Thanks, Ojiisan! Now I'm one step closer to Hokage, dattebayo!" Hiruzen chuckled, then turned serious.
"Shikamaru-kun, Makoto-chan, you are dismissed. Naruto-kun, there is something I must discuss with you now that you have made chuunin."
On the way out of the Hokage's tower, I was surprisingly greeted by one Anko Mitarashi, who I actually bumped right into.
"Sorry, Mitarashi-san," I nervously apologised, half expecting the sadomasochistic summoner to have her snakes bind me and leave me in some uncomfortable position or other. Instead, she just looked away thoughtfully.
"Uchiha-san…" She looked to be contemplating something for a moment before, unexpectedly, I was engulfed in a tight hug form the purple-haired special jounin. "Thank you. Thank you so much for finally killing that bastard."
"N-no problem," I stuttered out awkwardly, completely unprepared as I was for this.
"Troublesome," Shikamaru grumbled from beside me before a kunai flew past his face, leaving a thin red line across his cheek. Apparently he got the message, as he immediately turned pale and walked away at a rather more brisk pace than usual.
Danzo Shimura had mixed feelings about the outcome of the invasion.
On the one hand, he was of course glad to see his village weather the storm and come out with renewed strength and purpose. On the other, Hiruzen had survived his battle with Orochimaru, apparently due somehow to the intervention of the young Uchiha, though he had no clue how that had been possible. Regardless of how it had happened, it had put dampers on his own plans to take the Hokage's hat for himself. He would have to watch Itachi's sibling more closely. After hearing about that business with their gender and identity paperwork, he had assumed they had finally broken from whatever trauma Itachi had inflicted and gone mad, and had written them off as useless to the village. Instead they had shown a level of dedication and competence that reminded him greatly of their older brother. If they held the same unwavering loyalty, perhaps they would be even more useful to him. He might even see about bringing them into the Root once Itachi was out of the picture – having a loyal, powerful Uchiha who lacked the personal animosity Itachi held for him would be no small boon to his power. Something to consider in future.
The death of Orochimaru was also a mixed bag. The man had been useful to him over the years: he had been responsible for the creation of his special right arm and for the existence of one of his most useful pawns, even if Tenzou had since left his service. However, he had also been growing brazen recently. He'd even sent a message demanding that Danzou and his Root stay out of the invasion and that his spy be released, otherwise their association would become public knowledge.
He had, of course, turned this to his advantage. Staying out of the invasion would ensure that Root remained at full strength even if the village's regular forces were diminished, keeping his personal power intact. And the commands he'd implanted in Orochimaru's man with the power of Shisui's eye would ensure that, even with Orochimaru himself dead, he would still have access to the resources he left behind.
Overall, he had come out of this in at least a reasonably favourable position, and that would have to be good enough.
I was just leaving the tailor after picking up a replacement cloak (three actually, it never hurt to have spares) when I was stopped by Kakashi.
"The flak jacket suits you, you know."
"I'm not sure, I think the green clashes horribly with my new outfit."
"All the more reason to keep working hard for another promotion then. The jacket is optional once you get past chuunin."
"I'll keep that in mind." Kakashi fell in alongside me, and we started walking in the direction of the Uchiha compound.
"So what happens to the team now that Naruto and I have made chuunin?"
"That depends on you. I'll still be training Sakura until her promotion, of course, but you two have the freedom to take whatever missions you want with whatever teams you want. Most genin teams do tend to stick together a lot after reaching chuunin, but it's not mandatory. That said, if you want to run C-ranks with Sakura and I every so often, we can arrange that."
"Sounds good to me, Sensei."
"You don't have to call me that anymore. You're your own woman now, not just my student."
"I know, but I still value your input and advice… Kakashi-senpai." He laughed and ruffled my hair.
"I know I've said it before, but I'm proud of you, Makoto."
Kabuto Yakushi was frantically searching through his old master's research notes, looking for anything that could help him. The situation was dire: without Orochimaru's immense charisma, shinobi were deserting Otogakure left and right. On top of that, Kabuto himself had no idea what he was doing. Sure, he was probably one of the best medical ninja in the world, as well as possibly the single greatest spy in the world, but in truth he had zero faith in his ability to operate without direction. Perhaps a few more years under Orochimaru would have remedied this, but as he was right now, he just wasn't ready. He lacked the resources, he lacked the power, and frankly he lacked the confidence. He couldn't go back to Sasori either, since with Orochimaru dead, the puppet master had no more use for him, and would probably just end up turning him into another human puppet. Nor could he go to Danzo – while the two of them could do great work together, and had already come to an arrangement, even that man's influence wouldn't protect him from execution if he was ever caught in Konoha, at least before the man was made Hokage and could pardon him.
Going freelance would make it extremely difficult for him to keep his obligations to Danzo, but he was just beginning to think that it would be necessary anyway when he stumbled across something that could solve his problems: Orochimaru's research notes on the Edo Tensei.
His old master need not remain dead forever. He could use the hand from his original body that Itachi had cut off for a DNA sample, and he had a perfect candidate for the human sacrifice, too. Poor, sick Kimimaro would no doubt jump at the chance to serve as Orochimaru's vessel, even if it would happen a little differently than originally intended.
He just needed to keep the boy alive until he had sufficiently mastered the technique.
Gathering up all the relevant notes, Kabuto sat down to begin reading.
"Absolutely not." Jiraiya was firm in his refusal, just as he had been when the same offer was made almost fourteen years ago.
"Jiraiya-kun, please! We both know I'm too old to hold onto this position. Hell, I was too old when Minato-kun died!" Hiruzen was certainly not begging, but he wasn't far off from it either.
"And I'm just as ill-suited for it now as I was then. Plus I have my spy network to watch over. Find someone else."
"Damnit, Jiraiya, there is no one else!" The Hokage's fist slammed on the desk. "No one else in the village is ready or able to take the job!" He sighed. "If I were to die tomorrow, Danzo would end up taking my place. Is that what you want?" Jiraiya was silent. Neither of them wanted that old warhawk to take the hat.
"What if… What if there was someone else?" he finally suggested.
"Who?"
"Tsunade-hime." Hiruzen laughed incredulously.
"She wants the hat even less than you do."
"But if I could convince her?" He considered it. Tsunade was extremely well respected, both in Konoha and internationally, and while she had left the village after the Second Shinobi World War, she had never been recorded as a missing-nin, so there would be no legal or political problems with her ascension.
"Alright Jiraiya-kun. I'll authorise a mission for you to seek out Tsunade-hime and bring her back. However…" His eyes hardened. "If you fail to convince her, you will be taking my place as Godaime Hokage, no objections. Are we agreed?"
"We are." Jiraiya opened the window and was about to jump out when he had an idea. "But if that's your condition, I'm adding a condition of my own. I get to take Naruto with me."
"Fair enough."
The notes of her flute died down as her final pursuer's lifeblood was splattered over the trees, and Tayuya was once again alone. After Orochimaru's death, there had been no reason for her to remain in Oto, so she had slashed her hitai-ate in the traditional manner of missing-nin everywhere and headed out on her own.
The other members of the Sound Four had mostly scattered as well, with only Kidomaru remaining loyal. Unlike the others, whose allegiance had been to Orochimaru and Orochimaru alone, he had been loyal to the man's ideals (or at least his professed ideals, no one knew if the snake actually believed what he preached) and had been content to serve Kabuto in lieu of their former master.
She didn't get it, and she didn't want to. Now she just wanted to get away from Oto, and away from the men Kabuto had sent after her. She wondered if Sakon and Jiroubou had escaped too, but quickly quashed that thought. It wasn't like they were her friends or anything.
Even if she did kind of miss their stupid faces.
With nowhere else to go, she figured she might as well head east to Umi no Kuni, then take a ship back to her original home, Mizu no Kuni. Rumour had it that a civil war was brewing, a rebellion against the Yondaime Mizukage's bloodline purges, and that the rebels were in need of experienced recruits.
Maybe it would be nice to fight for an actual cause, instead of just for power.
That evening, I found Naruto alone at Ichiraku, being uncharacteristically quiet. After sitting down and ordering myself a bowl, I gave him a playful nudge.
"You know, the flak jacket really clashes with your outfit."
"Huh? Oh, hey Makoto-chan." He looked down at his own flak jacket, which he was wearing underneath his normal orange-and-blue jacket that he now wore open. "Heh, guess you're right." He looked distant.
"Cheer up, Naruto, we just got promoted!" His smile was weak, strained.
"Sorry, I've just got some stuff on my mind right now."
"Get some bad news?"
"No, nothing like that. It's just… Hokage-ojiisan told me about my parents."
"That's great, isn't it? You finally know where you came from."
"Yeah, but it's kinda heavy. Turns out my mom was the Kyuubi jinchuriki, and my dad was the Yondaime Hokage. So I'm kinda… Dealing with the fact that my dad put the Kyuubi in me."
"Sounds rough."
"You don't care about me having… it… inside me?" he asked cautiously, and I shook my head.
"No way. You're like a little brother to me, Naruto."
"Little brother?"
"I'm a couple months older than you." Actually more like a decade and change. "Point is, where you came from and what you've got shoved inside you don't change a damn thing for me." I grinned. "Besides, I already hang around with one giant grumpy fox. What's one more?" He laughed a little. It was short, but it was genuine. "So, besides the fox, did you inherit anything from your parents?"
"Well, my mom's clan had this big compound Ojiisan is having cleaned up for me, and I got this scroll with some kind of crazy technique in it. Ever heard of Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Jutsu)?" I almost choked on my ramen.
"The Yondaime's secret teleportation technique!?"
"Yeah! But I can't figure it out. It was on the scroll I learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu from too, but it didn't make sense to me then, either." I gulped at the idea of Naruto mastering the FTG. Combining that technique with the number of clones he could make would be absolutely terrifying.
"Well, it's not like you're on a time limit to figure it out. If you don't get it now, you can set it aside, do a little more training, and come back to it later."
"Right. I'll get it down eventually, dattebayo! If I can master a Hokage's jutsu, that'll definitely get me closer to the hat!" I smiled as he started properly wolfing down his ramen, enthusiasm returning to normal Naruto levels.
A/N: About Naruto's promotion: I am fully convinced that the only reason he didn't get bumped up to chuunin in canon is entirely due to politics, probably Danzo working behind the scenes to keep him low-ranked and controllable. No way should anyone be fighting Shukaku and still ending up stuck a genin. This time, Hiruzen didn't die, so he was around to push Naruto's promotion through. The old man finally does something good for once!