Lord of Akatsuki
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Hello again! This is the second chapter for my Naruto Time Travel Fanfic. Note that it's also on Fanfiction.net (
Also, warn me if you notice any swear words that are showing up, for some reason the site has a habit of not censoring everything for me.
Legacy Anew.
Chapter 2.
Naruto walked over towards the fridge, his eyes darting from side to side. 'I'm being watched.' He thought calmly as he opened the fridge and picked up a canteen of aged milk. His face screwed up a little as he poured it into a cup and pretended to drink it.
'One.' His eyes darted and caught the flash of movement of an Anbu to the left. 'Two.' His eyes caught the practically non-existent intake of breath that even the most skilled Jonin wouldn't have noticed.
'Three, four.' Two other Anbu hid with such stealth and confidence that he recognised that they were veterans. 'Five, six, seven, eight—' He paused, shocked at the amount of Anbu that were keeping an eye on him.
There must've been sixteen of them!
Careful to keep his cool, he leaned forward unnoticeably and caught the obvious flash of a camera.
Just what was Hiruzen doing having sixteen of some of his best Anbu watching him? Not only that, but camera's too?
'****.' His eyes caught a flash of something he hoped he wouldn't have to see.
Five of those Anbu operatives were part of Root. Skilled ones at that. Danzo had always taken an interest in him but he had never gone so far before! What had changed?
Absentmindedly he took one long look around his room. Synapses creaked agape. Something was wrong!
Why was it made as if it were supposed to withstand a huge amount of damage? Why was it so much more pristine then he remembered?
'Calm down.' He breathed in and out, making sure to keep his breath as even as possible. A slight tingle jolted up his spine originating from his seal. He recognised that feeling well. 'They've got my seal under watch too?'
In seconds the Anbu crashed into the room, and the world went cold around him.
"Report!" The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen barked out. The aged man walked down a staircase and thundered into Konoha's top secret hospital.
"Unknown Hokage-sama." An Anbu replied. "He slept normally as usual and was fine when he awoke, if a little erratic for a few seconds." The Anbu paused, clicking his tongue. "A couple minutes after that he walked over to his fridge and drank a glass of milk—"
"A glass of milk?" Saurtobi cut in, incredulous. "Is that the reason for why an A-rank to potential S-rank alarm was set off?"
"No sir," The Anbu member answered in his drone voice. "A few minutes after drinking the milk his seal spiked on our sensors."
The legendary Shinobi ignored his loyal dog and walked towards his best Anbu operative. "Inu, did you notice anything unusual?"
The Shushou (Commander-in-Chief) of the Anbu, Hatake Kakashi looked up. "Negative, there was no sign of Genjutsu, poison or any kind of tampering with the seal."
Sarutobi sighed, but nodded. "Very well." He said as he walked into the room where the Jinchuuriki was being looked after.
As the aged man walked in he put on a look of kindness. Nearing the boy he watched as the child's eyes turned to stare at him.
Sarutobi waited, wondering when the small child would speak, but nothing came. Sighing he moved closer. "Naruto, are you alright my boy?"
The child's mouth became thin for seconds on end from holding his breath. "Yes…"
As old as Sarutobi was, he could tell a lie from truth with ease, yet when faced with this child he could never tell. The child's emotions were always so over the place that it was like staring into a mirror that had no end in sight.
Like an age before destruction, and the age after creation.
"Namikaze Naruto! Listen well." Sarubtobi stated, watching as the boy's head moved upwards to stare at him. "I've told you more times than I can count that you can tell me anything, anything at all! So don't lie, what's happened?"
The child's hands began to tighten so hard that blood began to pour out. Sarutobi inched closer, hoping to stop the boy from hurting himself further.
In a burst of speed that shocked the aged man, Naruto rushed towards him and held onto him tightly. Utterly hysterical in a fit of tears. For a few minutes the aged man just stood and watched the boy, before finally picking him up and sitting in a chair as the boy continued to cry.
Sarutobi took a breath, letting himself sigh as he waited for the boy's hysterics to calm down. He shouldn't have been surprised when Naruto's sniffles finally faded into restless sleep, the boy's features scrunching up in discomfort. He considered waking him but in the end decided it'd be best to simply ask the boy tomorrow. The boy was still a boy after all. Much like Minato was before—
The door slammed opened, and a man stepped in. "Is the child alright?" The man answered in a soft voice as he picked the child up from his teacher and placed him on the hospital bed.
"Physically he seems fine. As for what triggered the seal to spike and for him to be this way we have no idea." Sarutobi admitted in anger and confusion. "Part of me thinks this is all a very vivid dream brought on by senility or lapse in mental capability."
"This was no dream." His student replied as he inspected the seal.
Those words made Sarutobi's face become cold and harsh. "What is it?"
"The seal has become enlarged with nine extra chakra types, Sensei."
"Excuse me?" Sarutobi cut back.
"What I just said, it's as if nine other constructs decided to join the guardian in his jail." The man answered. "Definitely not something Minato intended to happen, nor should it be possible."
Sarutobi leaned back in his seat. "I'd suppose you'd know wouldn't you, Orochimaru? You and Minato were friends after all."
Sarutobi marched through the tiled floor of Konoha's feared Interrogation Department, where Naruto now lay asleep as he was wheeled in on his hospital bed. This day had left a foreboding feeling and had continued to downgrade from there. He needed answers and he wanted them now!
Even if Danzo had something to say about it.
Absentmindedly he wondered when Jiraiya would get back, he'd certainly be the help needed to figure out what had happened with the seal, being the sealing master that he was.
From the side Inoichi came up beside him, practically delirious from the sleep he had been dragged out of.
"Prepare for a walk through his mind." Sarutobi demanded. "I need to know what's happened, and I must know everything that has happened to him even if it goes back a year!"
Once they reached the chamber, Inoichi got ready to begin his work. After the preparation was finished he finally closed his eyes and formed hand-seals. Not four seconds later the man's eyes opened in shock. "The boy's brain…it…..it's in shambles…."
"Shambles?"
"Imagine a mind is narrow, you follow it down to the precipice of its formation and leave the way you came. But imagine a mind with hundreds of different sections and directions with no end in sight. Imagine that there is barriers in your way that block you from going further, and not simply Genjutsu barriers, but barriers his mind creates itself, blocking entry." Inoichi paused, then coughed, spitting a bit of blood. "It'll be next to impossible to enter his mindstream."
Sarutobi's mind began to work overdrive to figure out the dilemma put before him. "What in the world could do that?"
"I don't have a clue."
"Then find a clue! I have a worlds list of suspects right now and I need that list to be narrowed down! Either think of something to get in there or find out what could have caused this!"
"I can't walk through his mind, it's as if he can block me without knowing it."
Sarutobi all but grounded his teeth as he turned to an Anbu to the right. "Command Inu to widen the search to include all village residents, whether long term or short term. We could have someone sneaking in and stealing clan techniques."
As the Anbu thundered out the door, Sarutobi turned to stare at the child. "Now get me Jiraiya!"
Shooting up, Naruto's body writhed as his eyes snapped agape. Caked in sweat and breathing hurriedly, his gaze took in the immaculate void of darkness around him.
The vibrant glow of fire newly lit made his heart sizzle in relief. Though it only lasted a second as he took a good gaze around his mindsteam.
The Bijuu were nowhere in sight. The cage that had loomed over him for years of his life was gone. His connection with his mind was being severed somehow….
He cannot see Kurama. He can't hear him. He cannot feel him, and he could not feel even the slightest echo of his presence. His friend is gone without so much as a footprint to have ever indicated he was there.
Shaking, it took him mere moments to realise that if he never reconnected himself back again, that he'd be stuck within his mindstream for eternity.
At least, that was what Ino had told him once.
The clock within his mind started, ticking away at a rate that killed him within, as he began to look around the many strings and different passages that was his mind.
Darkness, it was everywhere within his mind. Like a leech that wouldn't leave. Like a crazed nightmare that kept slipping back into place.
To get back into his main mindstream, he'd have to combat darkness itself. Without light in sight, but that was okay, for he was a flash of light within.
He deduced that he had been asleep for some time now, which means…he only had perhaps an hour to find his way back to his inner mind and find the Bijuu.
The rush hour had begun.
Tick.
He looked around in a rush, hoping to pick out the best possible direction. But there was none.
Tick.
Breath coming out faster and heart beating, he finally began to run through the first direction that he could think of.
In an instant the darkness was gone. His eyes closed, then snapped open, blinking as he hissed at the light streaming through the spot he was lying down at, with what was perhaps curtains or something else drawn across his view. The sun burned.
Wait, where was he?
What had happened?
"Hello ther—"
Naruto had risen so fast he literally appeared as if he hadn't moved yet. An after-image taking his place and then fading away.
"Sorry…" He mumbled, eyes gazing out at everything. "Where…where am I?"
"You're in the graveyard dimension, and this, is your grave."
An uncomfortable silence followed as his gaze found a tombstone with his name written on it. His eyes dropped as he retracted the hand he had extended, taking a deep breath. Listening to the rustle of the wind and the ticking of a clock that sounded familiar.
Tick.
His eyes darted around the graveyard as the clock's sound resonated across the entire area. Everything seemed strange, chakra quiet and yet all over the place. Flickers of humming sounds, and his hands blurring.
Tick.
The silence from the man felt like a snake was crawling up his back. "Hello?" He finally spoke, waving his hand in front of the man. No reaction came.
What was going on?
"Mind telling me what the **** is going on?"
Tick.
His legs tensed and he suddenly moved so fast that he appeared at the edge of the graveyard before a millisecond could pass.
Tick.
A bloodied nurse appeared in his view and the room changed to a hospital.
"The ****?" He spoke as he rubbed his eyes. The world had become frozen, everything now a standstill. Even light no longer moved, as if time had slowed down around him. He swallowed slightly. The **** was going on?
Tick. Tick.
The man who spoke to him was there, only he had turned into a boy and was able to move. The boy's hair was blond, like his own. Too much like his own. The boy was a mirror image of himself. Synapses snapped shut. Legs became like jelly. He gritted his teeth.
His legs gave out.
Tick.
The world hummed around him and the scenery changed again.
"You're fast." The boy said. "Reminds me of my father."
Naruto blinked. "Who the **** are you?"
The boy's face scrunched up. "The **** are you?" The child returned with a smirk.
"Bad word there, don't repeat my language young man." Naruto said tersely.
"**** you."
"…Are you trying to antagonise me?" Naruto groaned.
"Names Namikaze Naruto." The boy finally said.
'…..****.'
"We found nothing at all."
"This isn't like you….do you need another few days?"
"No, there is nothing at all, Hokage-sama." Kakashi spoke up once more. "Naruto spoke to no one unusual, and reports from the camera's keeping watch on him have come up with nothing. Hyuuga have looked over his chakra and found nothing. Iwa hasn't tried anything in the last year and there's no inkling of any involvement on their part. As for Kumo, there's no proof."
"I cannot tell you to stop searching, I'm sorry."
"I understand, but I thought you should know that there is no inkling of us finding anything of value."
"…Just do everything within you're power. Leave no stone unturned." Sarutobi stated. "In the meantime I also want you to place an even higher guard on Naruto, and, to leave your duties as Shushou (Commander-in-Chief) of the Anbu in the background and watch over him yourself. Am. I. Clear?"
"Understood!" Kakashi stated as he vanished.
"You might be pushing him a little hard." Orochimaru stated as he walked over with a slight look of discomfort.
"He can handle it, he's a strong Shinobi. Strong enough to fight against you and Jiraiya without blinking. A true Shinobi, the Second Coming of the White Fang." Sarutobi walked, approaching the door, and sighed.
"He's still young, and has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders."
"He's a Shinobi, and we endure." Sarutobi stated calmly. "And I have complete faith in him."
"Maybe too much." Orochimaru mumbled quietly.
Sarutobi slammed his hand on the door. "There must be some explanation. If not, whomever did this managed to infiltrate every layer of defence that our village has while staying completely undetected? Even I would have trouble with that! And I made the damn system with Tobirama's guidance!"
"Sensei, I think it might be a good idea to calm down, Jiraiya's on the way. Hopefully when he gets here things start to become clearer."
"I don't have the luxury to wait." Sarutobi mumbled as he began to open the door.
"Where are you going?" Orochimaru asked with narrowed eyes.
"To say hello to a den of darkness and meet an old Hawk." The door was flung opened, and the Hokage of Konoha stepped out, basking in the sunlight, for he'd be within the precipice of darkness soon.
Naruto's eyes kept blinking for several seconds that went by, in what was practically an instant. "The shit is going on here?"
"Oy, weren't you talking about language before, jackass?" The child Naruto spoke.
"****ing little twerp…." Naruto mumbled under his tongue.
"Jackass!"
"Twerp!" Naruto countered with a smile.
The boy crossed his arms and began to mumble to himself with a pout.
Laughing Naruto took another look at his surroundings. "Where are we?" He looked down at the smaller him, only to see a slight flicker and the boy had aged slightly, if only a year or two.
The look on the perhaps eight year old face was a cold one that didn't hold the same amount of emotion it had before. "I'm a lot more dangerous then I look." The boy stated softly.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked, confusion racing through his mind.
"I may not be allowed into Root yet, but Danzo, my grandfather has been training me."
"What!" Naruto roared, eyes wide and hands shaking. "G—grandfather?"
"Is everything alright, sir?" The boy asked with an intuitive look.
"I—I'm just….fine." Naruto mumbled in shock, as he started pacing around the area that distorted and became the graveyard once again. "Okay, I get it now, this is my mind. But then how am I seeing my own grave?"
"Dude, you're talking to yourself."
"That doesn't matter!" Naruto said before looking around once more.
"It's a bad sign."
Naruto blinked as he turned to look at the little him with a different last name. "Names Uzumaki Naruto." He finally extended as an offer of a truce.
"****…." The boy said, eye twitching. "This—this is messed up."
"Totally." Naruto said, running a hand through his hair as he tried to think.
What had he been doing before? What had happened? Why couldn't he remember anything?
"Step towards your end."
A voice from within a void reached out to him, deep and dark as it boomed.
"Once at the end, turn towards the next tomorrow."
The voice, it whispered in his head, urging him to do as it says. It sounded familiar, so he did as it asked.
The graveyard distorted and disappeared, and his inner mind appeared before him, fixed. Somewhat at least.
"You brought the other you with you?" The being inquired.
"Who…who are you?" Naruto asked, his hands still a blur of movement as his heart beat moved as fast as possible to keep up.
"You know who I am."
He blinked. The world lighted up and they were there. All of them, as was Kurama. "Kurama?" He blurted out as he rushed over.
"Indeed." The voice stated from the side.
He ignored it as he ran over and gripped the fox's fur. "Kurama!"
"What are you doing?"
"I was so worried that I would never see yah again!"
"….Okay I get that, I am amazing, but yet again, what are you doing?"
"I'm hugging yah and crying of course dammit!"
"Did you lose your brain?"
"NO!" He denied hurriedly. "Though….my minds a little all over the place right now."
"You told me he was odd….but I never imagined….this."
"Huh?" Naruto said as he turned to the side. He blinked.
Why were there two Kurama's?
"The ****?"
"I, am Kurama." The voice answered. "The Kurama of this world line. And I, am the Guardian, the overseer of the Eight Beasts."
"Guardian?" Naruto asked incredulously as his mind worked overdrive to process the phenomenon in front of him.
"What I am doesn't matter right now. What does is that I have two jailers having walk-a-bouts in their own mindstream, and they don't know how the **** to get out because they were probably dropped as babies."
"Oy…" Namikaze said with a small pout.
"You're bipolar."
"Aren't you rude!" Namikaze said as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"As rude as I can be with a jailer like you, looks like the other me may have gotten a little lucky." The other Kurama stated, but seemed to smile slightly.
Naruto took a look at his Kurama. "Are they…are they bantering with each other?"
"….It seems so."
"I'd guess you do it too." Namikaze said with an inquiring gaze to his older self.
Naruto shook his head with a laugh, his eyes twitching as he reached out a hand. He drew it back with a gasp of pain. It was like a bomb was slowly going off within his mind with a timer. The pain writhed, as if it were sentient. A clock began within, like a warning to his end.
Tick. Tick.
His mindstream thundered. Flickering in and out. Like the depths of darkness and light. It was like a star going hyper-nova, exploding outward in an arc. His heart shook with the distortion as a blazing light boomed through. Finally, it stabilised. His eyes saw the depths of his mind, so resolute and seemingly archaic. He reached out a hand to the limitless world. Watching as it seemed to shift around him, growing larger still. And the memories came thundering back and sent him to his knees. Liquids fell out of his eyes as his heart thundered. "They…they're all…gone." He whispered, throat hoarse.
"They?" Namikaze inquired softly.
"My friends….my precious people, they're all dead..." Naruto answered to himself throatily. Synapses split agape. Heart raced. The world came crashing down around him, and everything became so….quiet.
Namikaze took a step back. "What happened to you?"
"Nightmares. They came true. They devoured me." Naruto looked at Namikaze. "And they will devour you, unless we stop this."
"What are you talking ab—"
"They all die, *******!" Naruto screamed. "Everyone. Dead. ALL dead! Because we're not strong enough!" Naruto pointed at him. "Because you do not become strong enough!"
"Wha—"
Naruto's body screamed at him. His mind flashing as he saw them. Dead and overtaken. His heart thundered. A mirror image of himself stood before him now. His inner darkness.
"I—I caused all that…" The words came out choked, he could barely speak. His throat burned and his heart churned.
"You what?" Namikaze inquired as he stepped closer.
"I—I…" Naruto began, his heart crashing down.
"You lost them all." The inner darkness spoke.
His legs wobbled, as if made of jelly. His heart shook fast, too fast, and his head was all-over the place.
"Naruto, you need to calm down, everything's okay." Namikaze spoke with a hand extended.
"We killed them all. It was all our fault."
Naruto's heart dropped, and he trembled. No. It—it couldn't be. His fingers twitched. Heart slowing to an absolute halt.
"Whatever you're imaging, it doesn't matter, and we're all here." Namikaze said softly.
"We killed the world."
"No!" Naruto screamed out, heart stopping and blood flow ending. "NO!" His hand lashed out and grabbed his throat as a coppery taste began to flood it. "Wh…" Blood flooded out from his lips. His knees hitting the floor as the stream that was his mind showed him thousands of images in a second, stopping at a vision that chilled his core. Before him stood bones, the skeletons of his team. Team 7.
"What do you see?" Namikaze asked again, but was ignored.
Naruto reached for Kakashi's bones. It dissolved into nothingness. He went and tried to grab at Sakura's. But it crumbled away. Tears stung his cheeks as he grabbed Sasuke's, watching as it turned to dust and was swept away by the winds of his mind. Rivers of liquids flooded out of his eyes as his mind become incoherent.
He was a monster.
"…Naruto?" Namikaze asked in a slight amount of fear.
Like the remnants of the precipices of his heart, the left overs of his team disappeared. His friends that were practically his family, had died because of him. "Why?" He croaked out. Silence met his words and reality kicked him in the gut. "Dammit why?" Tears flowed down his face, the abscess of his heart creaking. "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki!" He screamed out, heart shaking. "Kurama?" He called out, stopping for breath. There was no one left but him right now. They were all gone. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He can't even feel. "Dammit, why?" He drew back and let out a scream.
"Naruto, we're here! What's happening?" Namikaze shouted.
The world shattered around Naruto, and he was back in that ghastly sewer again, but he didn't care, because they were there, the last ones left….
"They're gone…" Naruto whispered once more.
"No," Namikaze gently spoke. "You—we've got new ones."
"They're dead." Naruto said and his body creaked as he gripped the smaller boy. "All dead."
"We can create new memories. Make new ones." Namikaze said.
"But they're dead." Naruto said again in desperation. He leaned forward and looked down at Namikaze. "Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Dad—" He choked, blood slipping out of his mouth.
"Things change, you make new friends, new family." Namikaze leaned forwards. "We won't fail them this time."
Naruto whimpered. "Not again." He whispered hoarsely.
"Not again." Namikaze whispered, and the boy blinked, eyes becoming watery. "Ignored, loathed. Thrown away like trash. I failed myself by being unable to change everyone's perceptions of me. Failed you."
Naruto looked up at his younger self, not being able to imagine going through it all again.
"And now we're dead." Namikaze said.
"No, now I'm dead." Naruto bitterly replied.
"What was it like? Having friends, people you found precious?" Namikaze tentatively asked.
"The best thing that ever happened to me." Naruto answered. "I was friends, no, more like brothers with Sasuke. Sakura….she was special to me, a good friend. Kakashi….he was like another father too me, or perhaps a much older brother. Hinata…." He choked.
"Oh…" Namikaze said.
"They were my friends you know." Naruto said, his heart breaking. "Mine." He bared his teeth and stared at the eight year old Namikaze Naruto, who lived for nothing but endless days of confinement and waiting to be put into the Academy. "Your family and my family." He said. "Ours."
"I guess so." Namikaze spoke. "But they're dead—or they will be." Namikaze shook. "But they're not right now."
Naruto nodded. "Well, true but—"
Namikaze lunged forwards and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Do you trust me?"
"Do I trust myself? Strangely, yes." Naruto answered with a quirked eyebrow.
"Promise me that you'll…no we'll take care of them." Namikaze said, hand on Naruto's wrist. "That we will take care of our family."
"I don't under—"
"Promise!" Namikaze interjected fiercely. "Let's not fail them like before, don't let me fail again!"
"I—" Naruto began, swallowing, doubt within his mind. Synapses splitting apart. "I promise."
"Good." Namikaze said, relaxing slightly. A sword was conjured into the boy's hands.
Naruto blinked, heart stopping. "Wh—what are you doing?"
"Have you noticed something about the mindstream?" Namikaze returned back.
Naruto looked around, before shrugging. "I don't understand, it's just my min—" He paused as if struck by thunder. "Oh."
"Oh indeed."
"This….this is your mindstream!" Naruto all about shouted out. "I—I thought…"
"You thought that this was yours."
"Bu—but how?" He asked, eyes glancing around as he looked at the mindstream.
"This was my body you hopped into. What else did you think would happen?" Namikaze spoke with a smirk. "As you can see, I hold 73 percent of the mindstream." The smile left the boy's lips. "You only have 27."
"So? What's the problem?" Naruto asked softly, though deep down he knew the truth.
"The problem is that we should have fused."
"Fused?" Naruto asked, blinking as a tug went up his spine. As a deep metallic taste gathered in his throat—on his tongue.
"We were meant to become one. But something has stopped the process, we both should have half and half. But the balance is gone and I am the—"
"Dominant owner." Naruto cut in, eyes lighting up in both wonder and shock. "And that shouldn't have been possible—" He cut himself off, shivering. "It's impossible."
"What is not possible has happened. Kurama told me what I must do to fix the balance." Namikaze blinked and hefted the sword.
"Then…then that means that sword represents—"
"My dominion." Namikaze stated. "If I stab myself with this sword. I shall give up my dominion and we shall become one."
Naruto faltered. Synapses snapping shut. "But why would you—"
"Because it's my choice." Namikaze said. "We both promised. We shall not let even the stars burning out stop us."
"But…why?" Naruto asked, face pale and his heart stopping.
"Because of family." Namikaze answered simply. "Let's take care of them, find out the truth of everything." The boy paused. "I leave it all to you, or what we will become, once this is all over we'll cease to be and become something different."
Naruto's breath quickened, and his heart gave out. "But—"
"Let's take care of them all, for us." Namikaze said.
Naruto's heart creaked like a knife had slipped into it. "We will. I—I promise—"
Namikaze looked down, bringing down his sword, but he faltered. "You know, I always wondered what it was like for those few Shinobi who lived long enough to commit suicide."
Naruto's entire body shook, his breath halting and his heart thumping slower. Liquids gathered in his onyx orbs—and dropping down his face like rivers of water. He outstretched his hand, hoping to stop him, but was unable to.
"I think I understand, even if a little." The sword began to inch into Namikaze's skin, but the boy faltered slightly again. "A new tomorrow, huh?" Namikaze finally slipped the sword into his belly, and the boy showed no signs of pain. "Let's take care of them," The boy blinked. "Or I'll return and break out of the fusion and kick your ass."
Naruto lifted his hand and cupped the child's cheek as tears slipped from his eyes. "We will not fail." He paused. "I'll make sure we live a very long time."
The boy smiled. "Let's take care of both of our Kurama's." The boy's eyes closed and he vanished into the nothingness from whence they both came.
Naruto looked down into the mindstream of their existence, of existence itself. He didn't smile, but his lips quirked as his body began to vanish in the wind.
He looked back up to see an entire new being in front of him, growing from the ashes of him.
He would create a new tomorrow.
Naruto's eyes creaked open. Rays of sunlight blasting into his vision from the drawn curtains. The sun burned his eyes, yet gave him comfort. He felt it. Power, unbelievably heavy and curtained endlessly by an unfillable hole. He felt like a different being. Felt like both Uzumaki and Namikaze yet different at the same time.
Unlike Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Naruto had been a prodigy, a genius. Though he still had been forced to work harder than anyone else, he had inherited their father's brilliant mind. Polar opposites in a way, Naruto figured, Uzumaki had been a dead last dobe with nothing behind his name. Namikaze had been a genius, perhaps more so than even Minato had been. Yet he had been hated just as all Jinchuuriki.
Being the known son of the Yellow Flash hadn't been a walk in the park. He had lived better then Uzumaki had, though had been forced into hiding thanks to Iwa attempting assassination after assassination.
But that small boy, merely eight years of age, could never bear the cold stares directed his way as he walked down the streets of his home—his village.
Tears—an untold amount, was all that the fused being could remember in the pasts of his original selves.
Naruto pushed all the memories away for now, he couldn't bear to look through them all—there was just too much pain. Too much tears—too much suffering.
He was alive. Alive and well. But they were gone, blown away within the winds of time. And he, as Uzumaki didn't do a thing. Not a thing at all. Because he was weak. He rose so fast that he literally appeared as if he hadn't moved yet, an after image fading away. His hands clenched tight, his nails almost breaking into his skin.
Even now. The clock within his mind ticked away.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It was never ending. An immaculate clock that had started booming in his head ever since he had crossed through time and space. Ever since he had defied the laws of whatever being set it all into motion. He had spat into that entities face, spat at fate to get to the past. To change destiny.
And to tell it to **** off.
A hand moved over and grasped his shoulder. He jerked, looking up and seeing a face he hadn't seen in a long time.
At least, as Uzumaki that is. Namikaze had seen this person for his entire life, she had been a figure who was like the mother he never had. Though he knew that she got a little cranky when age was mentioned near her. "Tsunade nee-chan?"
The face brightens up. "Hello little Naru-chan."
"Is everything alright?" He asked softly, heart thumping in his chest.
A frown crossed onto Tsunade's face. "Of course kiddo."
So much had changed, so much. He could see it in the way Tsunade acted. He could tell that she was happy. So very happy. It made him feel better, knowing he had failed her and that something had come from it all.
So he smiled, tried to make himself happy as Namikaze had. As Uzumaki had. Probably the smartest thing either of them had done. A smile lights up the world, makes those around you think of you differently. See you differently. See him differently.
But the immaculate smile on his face dropped. It wasn't working anymore. It didn't give him songful whispers of dreams and happiness. His hands shook. Chest caved in. Heart gave out. His breath just stopped. The reality of everything finally settled into his mind like a knife carving out his insides.
"Naruto?"
A voice called out to him, but he didn't heed it. He couldn't heed it. It….it was so dark. He couldn't move. He had lost all sense of self.
"Naruto!"
The fits of shaking had started. He was nothing but a blur of motions. A blur of non-self. His heart pumped fast, too fast. His blood writhed and boiled. His organs screamed at him as his body began to break down into matter.
"Naruto!"
He stopped, coming back to the real world with Tsunade hovering above him in obvious worry.
"What the shit is wrong?"
His heart thundered. "I—I need to get out of here." He breathed—tried to at least. But it was hard, his lungs struggled too hard to allow the suction of breath. His voice was a mere rasp now.
"You're just an eight year old who practically had a panic attack! You are not 'alright' enough for you to be further than five feet from me!" Tsunade roared, hands glaring with chakra.
He dropped back down, eyes clouded over. His face was low and sagging. He felt….nothing besides wishing to be anywhere but in a room with Tsunade. He laughed and laughed. Trying to form a smile again like he always had, hoping that it'd work once more.
It didn't.
So he laughed, laughing through his fear, through the sorrow and pain. Because what else could he do?
Tsunade frowned at him, and attempted to comfort him as she talked with him. "Come on, everything will be alright kiddo." She whispered to him.
He had lost all feeling.
Seconds. Minutes—possibly hours passed by, but he didn't twitch. He didn't listen. He was nothing.
He was a void. Immaculately full of nothing.
The woman tried to smile, but it was full of worry. "Is this room a little bland?" She moved her hand. "Here then." A plant grew in a vase, sprouting a few more—thanks to the nudging hand of Senju Tsunade's Mokuton.
Shimura Danzo stood inside of his bitter rival's office. The Hokage had summoned him without answers. To the aged War-Hawk there was no subtle politics here. This was a reminder of his place in the village and hierarchy of Konoha.
"You have not forgotten our agreement, have you?" Hiruzen finally spoke, his voice rang harsh and deep. This meeting held no false camaraderie, no friendship, or rivalry. This was a reminder of who truly held the power.
"I have not, Hiruzen." Danzo returned with a slight tinge of anger lacing in his voice. He hadn't had to leave the roots of the foundations of Konoha in a long time. Being inside of the top didn't change his opinion on his standing. He was the sword within the foundation that held it up. The Hokage's outstretched hand. As a hand he'd do as the Hokage would ask.
Even if the man was his hated enemy.
"Do not be coy with me!" Hiruzen roared, slamming his right hand onto his oak desk. "I am well aware that you've hidden Root operatives within my own guard. And that boy's own!"
"You know well that my Shinobi are the best that the Black Ops can offer." Danzo stated in an offhand manner as he took a step forward. "As for why they're guarding you. Well, you are an investment. A very special investment to me, Hiruzen." Danzo paused, pursing his lips. "I always protect my investments."
"And the boy?"
"He's my grandson, I must protect him with all of my might." Danzo stated softly. "Don't worry Hiruzen, I will not break the agreement, the child won't be allowed to be initiated into Root until he's a Chunin."
"Good." Hiruzen spoke. "Don't do anything to break the agreement. Or I will not hesitate to have you executed on the spot."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama, I know well the status quo." Danzo smiled slightly. "If you have any orders you wish to give out to me than please, speak up."
"The mistake that so many fuelled by emotions make is that they plot in the open." Hiruzen stated, his eyes glancing upwards towards his enemy.
"Trees struck by gods of thunder and lightning. Leaves that writhe in the light as the roots wreathe in the shadows to allow the rest to live." Danzo replied with a smile.
"Then go be a part of your shadows." Hiruzen stated tersely. "Remember, old friend. Do not break our agreement. Or I will not hesitate."
Danzo didn't smile. He didn't bat an eye. He just responded as he walked out the door. "Very well."
Naruto sat on his hospital bed. Watching as Tsunade frantically examined him. The much younger and happier Senju woman tried to be as reassuring as possible. Telling him how healthy he was and talking about mundane things.
It didn't work besides give him ire. But he swallowed it, sighing as he subjected himself to her examination. He opened his senses, allowing his sixth sense to allow him knowledge of where everyone was across the village.
The door slammed open, and Sarutobi stepped in, smiling gently with his aged features. "Hello, Naruto-chan."
Naruto smiled, his heart soaring. "Hi Jiji!" He turned his face, it losing its edge slightly, but he schooled his features and allowed his smile to stay. "Danzo-ojiisan." He spoke curtly.
The old War-Hawk smiled. Wait, the monstrous, Shimura Danzo smiled? The Uzumaki in him screamed at him to run—
"It's been a long time, Naruto."
Naruto felt like dying from shock, when memories from Namikaze came flooding back into his head. "It has." He replied as quickly as possible.
"Do you remember anything that could have caused your seal to spike?" Hiruzen finally spoke up, shooting Danzo a look.
Naruto glanced to the side. "No." The smile on his face had dropped, sinking into his skin as if it were never there. "I don't."
"I see." Hiruzen returned intuitively.
"I'm sorry—"
"What's there to be sorry about, Naruto-chan?" A voice crawled into the room, just as a black haired man stepped in.
Naruto smiled, though strained. "Orochimaru-san."
The snake faced Sannin pursed his lips. "You seem normal enough." He leaned down. "It's nice to have you back, kiddo."
"Yes, well, since he seems fine enough I guess we can let him go." Hiruzen lamented. "As long as Tsunade's okay with it." He added.
Tsunade opened her mouth, but closed it, looking back at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "Very well…."
"Good." Danzo stated. "Now, my boy, I must go. I'm sorry, we'll have to catch up at a later date."
Naruto watched as the old War-Hawk left the room, before turning to look back at the others. "So, where's Jiraiya?"
Orochimaru laughed. "Probably off somewhere travelling around the world. He always wanted to do that. And since Minato's death…." The White Snake of Konoha trailed off, actually seeming disturbed by the death of the man who had taken the Hokage hat from him.
"Yes, well. We all know how Jiraiya is." Hiruzen grumbled. "He sent me a message just now, saying he's in Kaminari no Kuni."
Tsunade shook her head. "That teammate of mine. Always getting himself into trouble."
"It's Jiraiya we're talking about here." Orochimaru said with a small smile as he moved his head back and laughed. "I bet he's caused the Third Raikage some ire."
Tsunade's smile dropped. "That dammed pig-headed Raikage. Did you hear that he—" She paused, looking to Naruto.
Naruto couldn't help but smile at the dynamic in front of him. "You can carry on, you know."
"No, this is not the kind of thing we talk about with children around." Hiruzen said.
Naruto sighed, getting up and going out the door, allowing himself to become untraceable as he hanged back and listened in.
Orochimaru pouted. "Do we have to protect the kiddo so much? Can't he just become a Shinobi now?"
Hiruzen looked up with a glare. "You know my argument about this."
The Snake Sannin sighed, sagging down and becoming lanky. "Alright fine." The Snake looked to Tsunade. "What were you about to say?"
Tsunade sighed. "The Raikage decided to break the normal status quo and launched a sneak attack against Mizu, intending to rule it."
Hiruzen shook his head. "Those dammed Raikage's, they're always the same."
"Well, they're all named A after all." Tsunade laughed.
"….I still wonder what was going through the First Raikage's head when he decided that was a good idea." Hiruzen muttered.
"Should we just send him after Jiraiya?" Tsunade smirked.
Hiruzen looked over. "Wouldn't that be overkill?"
"Of course not. That teammate of mine needs a good punch to the jaw from a fellow man. Who better than him?" She asked.
Orochimaru shrugged. "He's been out travelling as well though."
"He's back now."
Hiruzen blinked. "What! And you didn't tell me?" He roared.
"He told me not to." Tsunade returned. "You know how he gets."
Naruto blinked. Who the hell were they talking about? He didn't get to finish that line of thought, as a group of Anbu walked by.
Stepping back, he shifted into nothingness and went to his apartment complex. The day was long and the sun high.
He had time to look around and gather as much Intel that Namikaze didn't already know.
"Shushou."
Hatake Kakashi's head whipped round, seeing the new arrival through his dark grey eyes. "Early as usual, Karasu."
"I must ask, what exactly must I do?"
"You are tasked to be a part of a special unit of which I am part of." Kakashi paused, his lidless eyes seeing more than most. "Our goal? Protect Namikaze Naruto till our last breath."
Karasu lifted his mask of his face. "Very well."
"Good." Kakashi stated, his eyes moving to the left to watch his charge with careful suspicion of any and all subjects near. "Kids' always been smart you know. But I've noticed that he's smarter than I remember…."
Onyx eyes glanced towards Kakashi. "He's been getting smarter?"
Kakashi didn't take his eyes off of the boy. "Yes, at an abnormal rate too."
"How suspicious is this, Inu?"
"I really don't have a clue." Kakashi said with a sigh. "What I do know is that the kid will be put into the Academy soon."
"Is that so?" Karasu replied, his eye's gazing at Namikaze Naruto with interest. "Well, our experiences do shape us. Maybe it's just a phase where he wants to learn? I did something similar at his age."
"Could be just that." Kakashi said. "But as Shinobi, we must see what is underneath the underneath."
Naruto smiled in his seat. Reading through the book in his hands with care.
'It was Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara who formed Konoha in their alliance in the turbulent era known as the Warring Clans. Hashirama's renowned Mokuton has been passed down only twice.'
Someone other than Tsunade had the Mokuton? It might make things a lot easier having the entire Senju Clan behind his back along with two Mokuton users.
His memories as Namikaze were a little hazy when it came to the Senju Clan, but he remembered there being another Senju who would talk with Tsunade sometimes, though that had been a few years ago, when Namikaze was barely six. The man had been nice, but had left to travel the world.
On reflection Naruto realised that the man reminded oddly of Hashirama, just not as bipolar. Then again, no one was.
It was an hour later when he got up and thanked the history teacher. Leaving the area with a smile.
"Hello."
Naruto frowned and turned his head. "Yes?"
Orochimaru walked over, stepping in tandem with Naruto. "How have you been, kiddo?"
"Okay, I guess."
The Snake Sannin raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what everyone says? Where's the originality?" The man said in exasperation.
"It's just a thing we all do, I guess." Naruto shrugged, his mouth quirking.
Orochimau shook his head. "Sad thing, that is."
Naruto blinked, trying to stop a small smile from forming on his lips. Why was Orochimaru so different? He was actually…bearable. "I guess so…"
"Enough of that. I've noticed that you've been quieter than usual. Is something wrong?""
Naruto shook his head. "No, there's just not a lot for me to say."
"I think I can understand that." Orochimaru nodded, pursing his lips. "I'm much the same." The Snake Sannin paused, looking to the side. "You remind me very much of your father, you know."
Naruto blinked, his heart giddy. "Really?"
"Of course," Orochimaru drawled. "Everything is very similar, except the language. Your father was never really prone to swearing."
Naruto shook his head. "I think you must mean that he was awfully polite."
Orochimaru raised an intuitive eyebrow. "Quite the vocabulary you have there."
Naruto didn't bat an eye. "I read a lot."
The man smiled fondly. "Ahh, the task of acquiring knowledge, a good thing to aspire to gain." The man looked down at him. "Just don't ever take that goal to far, kiddo."
Naruto almost stopped in tandem with the wind. Was Orochimaru hinting to what he think he was hinting at? "Of course." He replied quickly, making sure to mask any visible reaction.
Orochimaru stopped and looked at him. "I know that Danzo's been teaching you in secret."
Naruto faked a freeze. "You do?"
"Of course," The Snake drawled. "Show me what you know so I can appeal to a certain someone to allow you entry to the Academy."
"Um…okay." Naruto said with a smile. He put his hands together and began to mold chakra for the first time since fused. He made sure for it to appear at the level Namikaze had been at. It would do him no good if he revealed his true power.
"I'm shocked, you have pretty much perfect control over your chakra already." Orochimaru said. "Very well." The man said as he began to walk, but stopped. "Well, you coming?"
Naruto walked with the Snake of Konoha, a look of suspicion crossing his face, but he let it go the moment it came.
It was an hour later that Naruto finally reached the destination where Orochimaru was taking him. It took him a mere minute to recognise it.
'It's the Nara's compound!'
Regardless, of whether he was happy to see Shikaku and Shikamaru, he knew this was a test. It was mere seconds after that realisation that they walked into the main houses room where Shikaku waited.
"It's good to see you both." Shikaku began in a slow measured drawl.
Naruto closed his eyes and opened them, allowing a small smile to cross his face. "Good afternoon, Shikaku-san."
"I concur with the boy." Orochimaru stated.
"It has certainly been a good day," Shikaku nodded. "The wind is calm and the clouds are many. The walk to get out of bed was almost worth it." He joked. "But the day is still yet done, and I can't help but fear we'll all be tired by the end of this." Shikaku sat down.
They kept silent for some time. Listening to the heart of the wind.
Shikaku retreated back into the shadows, away from the hearth. "For what's it is worth," He began, looking at Naruto. "I am sorry for this village's own inability to prevent nor predict an attack on our home."
Naruto looked up. "What do you—"
Shikaku's fierce gaze met Naruto's. "I'm sorry it fell upon your shoulders to bear the weight of every single living person in our home from simply being born."
Naruto's eyes widened. "My father did what he had to."
Orochimaru laughed. "That's what made that man who he was, I guess."
Shikaku glanced at the Snake Sannin, but turned his eyes back to Naruto. "The Third….is puzzled about this entire fiasco." He began. "I admit to being curious myself about all of that."
"I'd assume that everyone is confused about it." Naruto shrugged. "But I know this meeting isn't about that."
Shikaku's eyes glinted. "Danzo taught you that I presume?"
"Presume nothing." Naruto returned. "But, he may have, or may not have."
"You like your mystery."
"Of course. Keeps things interesting." Naruto replied with a smirk.
"I'd like information on Danzo." Shikaku stated. "Would you perhaps be willing to help me?"
"Why not?" Naruto shrugged, brain trying to figure out what the man was playing at.
"Is it really that easy?" Shikaku asked, eyes glinting in suspicion.
"Why don't you answer that yourself?" Naruto asked lightly with a smirk. He knew Shikaku wanted to slowly approach the entire thing and analyse it. 'You are after all, one of the best strategists in the village. Who else could foresee and plan ahead but you, the Jonin-Commander?"
Naruto knew that he had to put pressure onto Shikaku, even if it was a sword that could slice him in half later. Every Nara worked better under pressure. But he needed to make this man think of everything and anything. Else the intuitive Nara might catch on that something is off about him.
"Troublesome." Shikaku began, sighing. "But wrong. I only plan with war strategies, tactical command and intelligence."
Naruto smiled. "But isn't that what the village wants to do?" He began, slipping in the information the man wanted into a simple discussion. "Danzo has heard rumours that Kumo thinks that we are weak, and that they wish to test their mettle against us." Naruto held high hopes that the Nara would fall into this conversation that he had started to throw him off balance.
"Are you asking for advice on how our manpower is compared to Kumo's, then?" Shikaku replied slowly, as if thinking everything out as if it was a game of Shogi. "Konoha in our current state is strong enough to fight against either Iwa or Kumo." The man stopped, actually smiling slightly. "But none of this is really what you mean, is it? You want me to ask myself how I'd handle being in the shoes of a Kage? Or even Danzo himself?" Shikaku narrowed his eyes, and Naruto was certain that the man hadn't caught on to anything yet.
"Are you asking me whether I want to capitalise on this moment to make a move against the Hawk? Or if we should all band together and fight against our enemies?" The Nara moved back, staring into the clouds with a sigh. "I do not have the answer to this question."
Naruto smiled. "Then you are just going to have to trust me."
Shikaku was silent for a moment as he stared into Naruto's eyes, looking for any weaknesses and lies. But found none. "Very well." He said, nodding to Orochimaru. "I will ask Kakashi to help me enrol you into the Academy. Perhaps the Elder's would give a hand?" He shook his head and sighed.
"Knowing them, they would." Orochimaru finally spoke up. "We have a lot of things to do. Minato once worked for me within Root. He even became Danzo's adopted son. But something suspicious happened that day the guardian attacked." The man paused. "Something, abnormal."
A shiver went up Naruto's spine as a metallic taste gathered in his throat. There was one thing he had ignored since he had got here.
"Reports speak of a masked man behind the scenes controlling the beast with unimaginable power." Orochimaru shook his head. "It's said that he goes by the name…."
Naruto's heart shook, knowing the words he had hoped he wouldn't hear. He knew in his heart the reality of the situation.
"Tobi."
AN.
I must thank my good friend Infamous Storm for patiently helping me, and just being there for me. He's a good friend and a good Beta. I wouldn't have managed to attempt this story without his guidance.
Thank you.
To the rest of you readers, I hope you enjoy the story, and perhaps if you feel like it, could you perhaps leave a review? I'd like to hear what you liked and maybe didn't like. I accept constructive criticism.
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Legacy Anew.
Chapter 2.
Naruto walked over towards the fridge, his eyes darting from side to side. 'I'm being watched.' He thought calmly as he opened the fridge and picked up a canteen of aged milk. His face screwed up a little as he poured it into a cup and pretended to drink it.
'One.' His eyes darted and caught the flash of movement of an Anbu to the left. 'Two.' His eyes caught the practically non-existent intake of breath that even the most skilled Jonin wouldn't have noticed.
'Three, four.' Two other Anbu hid with such stealth and confidence that he recognised that they were veterans. 'Five, six, seven, eight—' He paused, shocked at the amount of Anbu that were keeping an eye on him.
There must've been sixteen of them!
Careful to keep his cool, he leaned forward unnoticeably and caught the obvious flash of a camera.
Just what was Hiruzen doing having sixteen of some of his best Anbu watching him? Not only that, but camera's too?
'****.' His eyes caught a flash of something he hoped he wouldn't have to see.
Five of those Anbu operatives were part of Root. Skilled ones at that. Danzo had always taken an interest in him but he had never gone so far before! What had changed?
Absentmindedly he took one long look around his room. Synapses creaked agape. Something was wrong!
Why was it made as if it were supposed to withstand a huge amount of damage? Why was it so much more pristine then he remembered?
'Calm down.' He breathed in and out, making sure to keep his breath as even as possible. A slight tingle jolted up his spine originating from his seal. He recognised that feeling well. 'They've got my seal under watch too?'
In seconds the Anbu crashed into the room, and the world went cold around him.
"Report!" The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen barked out. The aged man walked down a staircase and thundered into Konoha's top secret hospital.
"Unknown Hokage-sama." An Anbu replied. "He slept normally as usual and was fine when he awoke, if a little erratic for a few seconds." The Anbu paused, clicking his tongue. "A couple minutes after that he walked over to his fridge and drank a glass of milk—"
"A glass of milk?" Saurtobi cut in, incredulous. "Is that the reason for why an A-rank to potential S-rank alarm was set off?"
"No sir," The Anbu member answered in his drone voice. "A few minutes after drinking the milk his seal spiked on our sensors."
The legendary Shinobi ignored his loyal dog and walked towards his best Anbu operative. "Inu, did you notice anything unusual?"
The Shushou (Commander-in-Chief) of the Anbu, Hatake Kakashi looked up. "Negative, there was no sign of Genjutsu, poison or any kind of tampering with the seal."
Sarutobi sighed, but nodded. "Very well." He said as he walked into the room where the Jinchuuriki was being looked after.
As the aged man walked in he put on a look of kindness. Nearing the boy he watched as the child's eyes turned to stare at him.
Sarutobi waited, wondering when the small child would speak, but nothing came. Sighing he moved closer. "Naruto, are you alright my boy?"
The child's mouth became thin for seconds on end from holding his breath. "Yes…"
As old as Sarutobi was, he could tell a lie from truth with ease, yet when faced with this child he could never tell. The child's emotions were always so over the place that it was like staring into a mirror that had no end in sight.
Like an age before destruction, and the age after creation.
"Namikaze Naruto! Listen well." Sarubtobi stated, watching as the boy's head moved upwards to stare at him. "I've told you more times than I can count that you can tell me anything, anything at all! So don't lie, what's happened?"
The child's hands began to tighten so hard that blood began to pour out. Sarutobi inched closer, hoping to stop the boy from hurting himself further.
In a burst of speed that shocked the aged man, Naruto rushed towards him and held onto him tightly. Utterly hysterical in a fit of tears. For a few minutes the aged man just stood and watched the boy, before finally picking him up and sitting in a chair as the boy continued to cry.
Sarutobi took a breath, letting himself sigh as he waited for the boy's hysterics to calm down. He shouldn't have been surprised when Naruto's sniffles finally faded into restless sleep, the boy's features scrunching up in discomfort. He considered waking him but in the end decided it'd be best to simply ask the boy tomorrow. The boy was still a boy after all. Much like Minato was before—
The door slammed opened, and a man stepped in. "Is the child alright?" The man answered in a soft voice as he picked the child up from his teacher and placed him on the hospital bed.
"Physically he seems fine. As for what triggered the seal to spike and for him to be this way we have no idea." Sarutobi admitted in anger and confusion. "Part of me thinks this is all a very vivid dream brought on by senility or lapse in mental capability."
"This was no dream." His student replied as he inspected the seal.
Those words made Sarutobi's face become cold and harsh. "What is it?"
"The seal has become enlarged with nine extra chakra types, Sensei."
"Excuse me?" Sarutobi cut back.
"What I just said, it's as if nine other constructs decided to join the guardian in his jail." The man answered. "Definitely not something Minato intended to happen, nor should it be possible."
Sarutobi leaned back in his seat. "I'd suppose you'd know wouldn't you, Orochimaru? You and Minato were friends after all."
Sarutobi marched through the tiled floor of Konoha's feared Interrogation Department, where Naruto now lay asleep as he was wheeled in on his hospital bed. This day had left a foreboding feeling and had continued to downgrade from there. He needed answers and he wanted them now!
Even if Danzo had something to say about it.
Absentmindedly he wondered when Jiraiya would get back, he'd certainly be the help needed to figure out what had happened with the seal, being the sealing master that he was.
From the side Inoichi came up beside him, practically delirious from the sleep he had been dragged out of.
"Prepare for a walk through his mind." Sarutobi demanded. "I need to know what's happened, and I must know everything that has happened to him even if it goes back a year!"
Once they reached the chamber, Inoichi got ready to begin his work. After the preparation was finished he finally closed his eyes and formed hand-seals. Not four seconds later the man's eyes opened in shock. "The boy's brain…it…..it's in shambles…."
"Shambles?"
"Imagine a mind is narrow, you follow it down to the precipice of its formation and leave the way you came. But imagine a mind with hundreds of different sections and directions with no end in sight. Imagine that there is barriers in your way that block you from going further, and not simply Genjutsu barriers, but barriers his mind creates itself, blocking entry." Inoichi paused, then coughed, spitting a bit of blood. "It'll be next to impossible to enter his mindstream."
Sarutobi's mind began to work overdrive to figure out the dilemma put before him. "What in the world could do that?"
"I don't have a clue."
"Then find a clue! I have a worlds list of suspects right now and I need that list to be narrowed down! Either think of something to get in there or find out what could have caused this!"
"I can't walk through his mind, it's as if he can block me without knowing it."
Sarutobi all but grounded his teeth as he turned to an Anbu to the right. "Command Inu to widen the search to include all village residents, whether long term or short term. We could have someone sneaking in and stealing clan techniques."
As the Anbu thundered out the door, Sarutobi turned to stare at the child. "Now get me Jiraiya!"
Shooting up, Naruto's body writhed as his eyes snapped agape. Caked in sweat and breathing hurriedly, his gaze took in the immaculate void of darkness around him.
The vibrant glow of fire newly lit made his heart sizzle in relief. Though it only lasted a second as he took a good gaze around his mindsteam.
The Bijuu were nowhere in sight. The cage that had loomed over him for years of his life was gone. His connection with his mind was being severed somehow….
He cannot see Kurama. He can't hear him. He cannot feel him, and he could not feel even the slightest echo of his presence. His friend is gone without so much as a footprint to have ever indicated he was there.
Shaking, it took him mere moments to realise that if he never reconnected himself back again, that he'd be stuck within his mindstream for eternity.
At least, that was what Ino had told him once.
The clock within his mind started, ticking away at a rate that killed him within, as he began to look around the many strings and different passages that was his mind.
Darkness, it was everywhere within his mind. Like a leech that wouldn't leave. Like a crazed nightmare that kept slipping back into place.
To get back into his main mindstream, he'd have to combat darkness itself. Without light in sight, but that was okay, for he was a flash of light within.
He deduced that he had been asleep for some time now, which means…he only had perhaps an hour to find his way back to his inner mind and find the Bijuu.
The rush hour had begun.
Tick.
He looked around in a rush, hoping to pick out the best possible direction. But there was none.
Tick.
Breath coming out faster and heart beating, he finally began to run through the first direction that he could think of.
In an instant the darkness was gone. His eyes closed, then snapped open, blinking as he hissed at the light streaming through the spot he was lying down at, with what was perhaps curtains or something else drawn across his view. The sun burned.
Wait, where was he?
What had happened?
"Hello ther—"
Naruto had risen so fast he literally appeared as if he hadn't moved yet. An after-image taking his place and then fading away.
"Sorry…" He mumbled, eyes gazing out at everything. "Where…where am I?"
"You're in the graveyard dimension, and this, is your grave."
An uncomfortable silence followed as his gaze found a tombstone with his name written on it. His eyes dropped as he retracted the hand he had extended, taking a deep breath. Listening to the rustle of the wind and the ticking of a clock that sounded familiar.
Tick.
His eyes darted around the graveyard as the clock's sound resonated across the entire area. Everything seemed strange, chakra quiet and yet all over the place. Flickers of humming sounds, and his hands blurring.
Tick.
The silence from the man felt like a snake was crawling up his back. "Hello?" He finally spoke, waving his hand in front of the man. No reaction came.
What was going on?
"Mind telling me what the **** is going on?"
Tick.
His legs tensed and he suddenly moved so fast that he appeared at the edge of the graveyard before a millisecond could pass.
Tick.
A bloodied nurse appeared in his view and the room changed to a hospital.
"The ****?" He spoke as he rubbed his eyes. The world had become frozen, everything now a standstill. Even light no longer moved, as if time had slowed down around him. He swallowed slightly. The **** was going on?
Tick. Tick.
The man who spoke to him was there, only he had turned into a boy and was able to move. The boy's hair was blond, like his own. Too much like his own. The boy was a mirror image of himself. Synapses snapped shut. Legs became like jelly. He gritted his teeth.
His legs gave out.
Tick.
The world hummed around him and the scenery changed again.
"You're fast." The boy said. "Reminds me of my father."
Naruto blinked. "Who the **** are you?"
The boy's face scrunched up. "The **** are you?" The child returned with a smirk.
"Bad word there, don't repeat my language young man." Naruto said tersely.
"**** you."
"…Are you trying to antagonise me?" Naruto groaned.
"Names Namikaze Naruto." The boy finally said.
'…..****.'
"We found nothing at all."
"This isn't like you….do you need another few days?"
"No, there is nothing at all, Hokage-sama." Kakashi spoke up once more. "Naruto spoke to no one unusual, and reports from the camera's keeping watch on him have come up with nothing. Hyuuga have looked over his chakra and found nothing. Iwa hasn't tried anything in the last year and there's no inkling of any involvement on their part. As for Kumo, there's no proof."
"I cannot tell you to stop searching, I'm sorry."
"I understand, but I thought you should know that there is no inkling of us finding anything of value."
"…Just do everything within you're power. Leave no stone unturned." Sarutobi stated. "In the meantime I also want you to place an even higher guard on Naruto, and, to leave your duties as Shushou (Commander-in-Chief) of the Anbu in the background and watch over him yourself. Am. I. Clear?"
"Understood!" Kakashi stated as he vanished.
"You might be pushing him a little hard." Orochimaru stated as he walked over with a slight look of discomfort.
"He can handle it, he's a strong Shinobi. Strong enough to fight against you and Jiraiya without blinking. A true Shinobi, the Second Coming of the White Fang." Sarutobi walked, approaching the door, and sighed.
"He's still young, and has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders."
"He's a Shinobi, and we endure." Sarutobi stated calmly. "And I have complete faith in him."
"Maybe too much." Orochimaru mumbled quietly.
Sarutobi slammed his hand on the door. "There must be some explanation. If not, whomever did this managed to infiltrate every layer of defence that our village has while staying completely undetected? Even I would have trouble with that! And I made the damn system with Tobirama's guidance!"
"Sensei, I think it might be a good idea to calm down, Jiraiya's on the way. Hopefully when he gets here things start to become clearer."
"I don't have the luxury to wait." Sarutobi mumbled as he began to open the door.
"Where are you going?" Orochimaru asked with narrowed eyes.
"To say hello to a den of darkness and meet an old Hawk." The door was flung opened, and the Hokage of Konoha stepped out, basking in the sunlight, for he'd be within the precipice of darkness soon.
Naruto's eyes kept blinking for several seconds that went by, in what was practically an instant. "The shit is going on here?"
"Oy, weren't you talking about language before, jackass?" The child Naruto spoke.
"****ing little twerp…." Naruto mumbled under his tongue.
"Jackass!"
"Twerp!" Naruto countered with a smile.
The boy crossed his arms and began to mumble to himself with a pout.
Laughing Naruto took another look at his surroundings. "Where are we?" He looked down at the smaller him, only to see a slight flicker and the boy had aged slightly, if only a year or two.
The look on the perhaps eight year old face was a cold one that didn't hold the same amount of emotion it had before. "I'm a lot more dangerous then I look." The boy stated softly.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked, confusion racing through his mind.
"I may not be allowed into Root yet, but Danzo, my grandfather has been training me."
"What!" Naruto roared, eyes wide and hands shaking. "G—grandfather?"
"Is everything alright, sir?" The boy asked with an intuitive look.
"I—I'm just….fine." Naruto mumbled in shock, as he started pacing around the area that distorted and became the graveyard once again. "Okay, I get it now, this is my mind. But then how am I seeing my own grave?"
"Dude, you're talking to yourself."
"That doesn't matter!" Naruto said before looking around once more.
"It's a bad sign."
Naruto blinked as he turned to look at the little him with a different last name. "Names Uzumaki Naruto." He finally extended as an offer of a truce.
"****…." The boy said, eye twitching. "This—this is messed up."
"Totally." Naruto said, running a hand through his hair as he tried to think.
What had he been doing before? What had happened? Why couldn't he remember anything?
"Step towards your end."
A voice from within a void reached out to him, deep and dark as it boomed.
"Once at the end, turn towards the next tomorrow."
The voice, it whispered in his head, urging him to do as it says. It sounded familiar, so he did as it asked.
The graveyard distorted and disappeared, and his inner mind appeared before him, fixed. Somewhat at least.
"You brought the other you with you?" The being inquired.
"Who…who are you?" Naruto asked, his hands still a blur of movement as his heart beat moved as fast as possible to keep up.
"You know who I am."
He blinked. The world lighted up and they were there. All of them, as was Kurama. "Kurama?" He blurted out as he rushed over.
"Indeed." The voice stated from the side.
He ignored it as he ran over and gripped the fox's fur. "Kurama!"
"What are you doing?"
"I was so worried that I would never see yah again!"
"….Okay I get that, I am amazing, but yet again, what are you doing?"
"I'm hugging yah and crying of course dammit!"
"Did you lose your brain?"
"NO!" He denied hurriedly. "Though….my minds a little all over the place right now."
"You told me he was odd….but I never imagined….this."
"Huh?" Naruto said as he turned to the side. He blinked.
Why were there two Kurama's?
"The ****?"
"I, am Kurama." The voice answered. "The Kurama of this world line. And I, am the Guardian, the overseer of the Eight Beasts."
"Guardian?" Naruto asked incredulously as his mind worked overdrive to process the phenomenon in front of him.
"What I am doesn't matter right now. What does is that I have two jailers having walk-a-bouts in their own mindstream, and they don't know how the **** to get out because they were probably dropped as babies."
"Oy…" Namikaze said with a small pout.
"You're bipolar."
"Aren't you rude!" Namikaze said as he crossed his arms on his chest.
"As rude as I can be with a jailer like you, looks like the other me may have gotten a little lucky." The other Kurama stated, but seemed to smile slightly.
Naruto took a look at his Kurama. "Are they…are they bantering with each other?"
"….It seems so."
"I'd guess you do it too." Namikaze said with an inquiring gaze to his older self.
Naruto shook his head with a laugh, his eyes twitching as he reached out a hand. He drew it back with a gasp of pain. It was like a bomb was slowly going off within his mind with a timer. The pain writhed, as if it were sentient. A clock began within, like a warning to his end.
Tick. Tick.
His mindstream thundered. Flickering in and out. Like the depths of darkness and light. It was like a star going hyper-nova, exploding outward in an arc. His heart shook with the distortion as a blazing light boomed through. Finally, it stabilised. His eyes saw the depths of his mind, so resolute and seemingly archaic. He reached out a hand to the limitless world. Watching as it seemed to shift around him, growing larger still. And the memories came thundering back and sent him to his knees. Liquids fell out of his eyes as his heart thundered. "They…they're all…gone." He whispered, throat hoarse.
"They?" Namikaze inquired softly.
"My friends….my precious people, they're all dead..." Naruto answered to himself throatily. Synapses split agape. Heart raced. The world came crashing down around him, and everything became so….quiet.
Namikaze took a step back. "What happened to you?"
"Nightmares. They came true. They devoured me." Naruto looked at Namikaze. "And they will devour you, unless we stop this."
"What are you talking ab—"
"They all die, *******!" Naruto screamed. "Everyone. Dead. ALL dead! Because we're not strong enough!" Naruto pointed at him. "Because you do not become strong enough!"
"Wha—"
Naruto's body screamed at him. His mind flashing as he saw them. Dead and overtaken. His heart thundered. A mirror image of himself stood before him now. His inner darkness.
"I—I caused all that…" The words came out choked, he could barely speak. His throat burned and his heart churned.
"You what?" Namikaze inquired as he stepped closer.
"I—I…" Naruto began, his heart crashing down.
"You lost them all." The inner darkness spoke.
His legs wobbled, as if made of jelly. His heart shook fast, too fast, and his head was all-over the place.
"Naruto, you need to calm down, everything's okay." Namikaze spoke with a hand extended.
"We killed them all. It was all our fault."
Naruto's heart dropped, and he trembled. No. It—it couldn't be. His fingers twitched. Heart slowing to an absolute halt.
"Whatever you're imaging, it doesn't matter, and we're all here." Namikaze said softly.
"We killed the world."
"No!" Naruto screamed out, heart stopping and blood flow ending. "NO!" His hand lashed out and grabbed his throat as a coppery taste began to flood it. "Wh…" Blood flooded out from his lips. His knees hitting the floor as the stream that was his mind showed him thousands of images in a second, stopping at a vision that chilled his core. Before him stood bones, the skeletons of his team. Team 7.
"What do you see?" Namikaze asked again, but was ignored.
Naruto reached for Kakashi's bones. It dissolved into nothingness. He went and tried to grab at Sakura's. But it crumbled away. Tears stung his cheeks as he grabbed Sasuke's, watching as it turned to dust and was swept away by the winds of his mind. Rivers of liquids flooded out of his eyes as his mind become incoherent.
He was a monster.
"…Naruto?" Namikaze asked in a slight amount of fear.
Like the remnants of the precipices of his heart, the left overs of his team disappeared. His friends that were practically his family, had died because of him. "Why?" He croaked out. Silence met his words and reality kicked him in the gut. "Dammit why?" Tears flowed down his face, the abscess of his heart creaking. "Shukaku, Matatabi, Isobu, Goku, Kokuo, Saiken, Chomei, Gyuki!" He screamed out, heart shaking. "Kurama?" He called out, stopping for breath. There was no one left but him right now. They were all gone. He couldn't see. He couldn't hear. He can't even feel. "Dammit, why?" He drew back and let out a scream.
"Naruto, we're here! What's happening?" Namikaze shouted.
The world shattered around Naruto, and he was back in that ghastly sewer again, but he didn't care, because they were there, the last ones left….
"They're gone…" Naruto whispered once more.
"No," Namikaze gently spoke. "You—we've got new ones."
"They're dead." Naruto said and his body creaked as he gripped the smaller boy. "All dead."
"We can create new memories. Make new ones." Namikaze said.
"But they're dead." Naruto said again in desperation. He leaned forward and looked down at Namikaze. "Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Dad—" He choked, blood slipping out of his mouth.
"Things change, you make new friends, new family." Namikaze leaned forwards. "We won't fail them this time."
Naruto whimpered. "Not again." He whispered hoarsely.
"Not again." Namikaze whispered, and the boy blinked, eyes becoming watery. "Ignored, loathed. Thrown away like trash. I failed myself by being unable to change everyone's perceptions of me. Failed you."
Naruto looked up at his younger self, not being able to imagine going through it all again.
"And now we're dead." Namikaze said.
"No, now I'm dead." Naruto bitterly replied.
"What was it like? Having friends, people you found precious?" Namikaze tentatively asked.
"The best thing that ever happened to me." Naruto answered. "I was friends, no, more like brothers with Sasuke. Sakura….she was special to me, a good friend. Kakashi….he was like another father too me, or perhaps a much older brother. Hinata…." He choked.
"Oh…" Namikaze said.
"They were my friends you know." Naruto said, his heart breaking. "Mine." He bared his teeth and stared at the eight year old Namikaze Naruto, who lived for nothing but endless days of confinement and waiting to be put into the Academy. "Your family and my family." He said. "Ours."
"I guess so." Namikaze spoke. "But they're dead—or they will be." Namikaze shook. "But they're not right now."
Naruto nodded. "Well, true but—"
Namikaze lunged forwards and grabbed Naruto's wrist. "Do you trust me?"
"Do I trust myself? Strangely, yes." Naruto answered with a quirked eyebrow.
"Promise me that you'll…no we'll take care of them." Namikaze said, hand on Naruto's wrist. "That we will take care of our family."
"I don't under—"
"Promise!" Namikaze interjected fiercely. "Let's not fail them like before, don't let me fail again!"
"I—" Naruto began, swallowing, doubt within his mind. Synapses splitting apart. "I promise."
"Good." Namikaze said, relaxing slightly. A sword was conjured into the boy's hands.
Naruto blinked, heart stopping. "Wh—what are you doing?"
"Have you noticed something about the mindstream?" Namikaze returned back.
Naruto looked around, before shrugging. "I don't understand, it's just my min—" He paused as if struck by thunder. "Oh."
"Oh indeed."
"This….this is your mindstream!" Naruto all about shouted out. "I—I thought…"
"You thought that this was yours."
"Bu—but how?" He asked, eyes glancing around as he looked at the mindstream.
"This was my body you hopped into. What else did you think would happen?" Namikaze spoke with a smirk. "As you can see, I hold 73 percent of the mindstream." The smile left the boy's lips. "You only have 27."
"So? What's the problem?" Naruto asked softly, though deep down he knew the truth.
"The problem is that we should have fused."
"Fused?" Naruto asked, blinking as a tug went up his spine. As a deep metallic taste gathered in his throat—on his tongue.
"We were meant to become one. But something has stopped the process, we both should have half and half. But the balance is gone and I am the—"
"Dominant owner." Naruto cut in, eyes lighting up in both wonder and shock. "And that shouldn't have been possible—" He cut himself off, shivering. "It's impossible."
"What is not possible has happened. Kurama told me what I must do to fix the balance." Namikaze blinked and hefted the sword.
"Then…then that means that sword represents—"
"My dominion." Namikaze stated. "If I stab myself with this sword. I shall give up my dominion and we shall become one."
Naruto faltered. Synapses snapping shut. "But why would you—"
"Because it's my choice." Namikaze said. "We both promised. We shall not let even the stars burning out stop us."
"But…why?" Naruto asked, face pale and his heart stopping.
"Because of family." Namikaze answered simply. "Let's take care of them, find out the truth of everything." The boy paused. "I leave it all to you, or what we will become, once this is all over we'll cease to be and become something different."
Naruto's breath quickened, and his heart gave out. "But—"
"Let's take care of them all, for us." Namikaze said.
Naruto's heart creaked like a knife had slipped into it. "We will. I—I promise—"
Namikaze looked down, bringing down his sword, but he faltered. "You know, I always wondered what it was like for those few Shinobi who lived long enough to commit suicide."
Naruto's entire body shook, his breath halting and his heart thumping slower. Liquids gathered in his onyx orbs—and dropping down his face like rivers of water. He outstretched his hand, hoping to stop him, but was unable to.
"I think I understand, even if a little." The sword began to inch into Namikaze's skin, but the boy faltered slightly again. "A new tomorrow, huh?" Namikaze finally slipped the sword into his belly, and the boy showed no signs of pain. "Let's take care of them," The boy blinked. "Or I'll return and break out of the fusion and kick your ass."
Naruto lifted his hand and cupped the child's cheek as tears slipped from his eyes. "We will not fail." He paused. "I'll make sure we live a very long time."
The boy smiled. "Let's take care of both of our Kurama's." The boy's eyes closed and he vanished into the nothingness from whence they both came.
Naruto looked down into the mindstream of their existence, of existence itself. He didn't smile, but his lips quirked as his body began to vanish in the wind.
He looked back up to see an entire new being in front of him, growing from the ashes of him.
He would create a new tomorrow.
Naruto's eyes creaked open. Rays of sunlight blasting into his vision from the drawn curtains. The sun burned his eyes, yet gave him comfort. He felt it. Power, unbelievably heavy and curtained endlessly by an unfillable hole. He felt like a different being. Felt like both Uzumaki and Namikaze yet different at the same time.
Unlike Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Naruto had been a prodigy, a genius. Though he still had been forced to work harder than anyone else, he had inherited their father's brilliant mind. Polar opposites in a way, Naruto figured, Uzumaki had been a dead last dobe with nothing behind his name. Namikaze had been a genius, perhaps more so than even Minato had been. Yet he had been hated just as all Jinchuuriki.
Being the known son of the Yellow Flash hadn't been a walk in the park. He had lived better then Uzumaki had, though had been forced into hiding thanks to Iwa attempting assassination after assassination.
But that small boy, merely eight years of age, could never bear the cold stares directed his way as he walked down the streets of his home—his village.
Tears—an untold amount, was all that the fused being could remember in the pasts of his original selves.
Naruto pushed all the memories away for now, he couldn't bear to look through them all—there was just too much pain. Too much tears—too much suffering.
He was alive. Alive and well. But they were gone, blown away within the winds of time. And he, as Uzumaki didn't do a thing. Not a thing at all. Because he was weak. He rose so fast that he literally appeared as if he hadn't moved yet, an after image fading away. His hands clenched tight, his nails almost breaking into his skin.
Even now. The clock within his mind ticked away.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It was never ending. An immaculate clock that had started booming in his head ever since he had crossed through time and space. Ever since he had defied the laws of whatever being set it all into motion. He had spat into that entities face, spat at fate to get to the past. To change destiny.
And to tell it to **** off.
A hand moved over and grasped his shoulder. He jerked, looking up and seeing a face he hadn't seen in a long time.
At least, as Uzumaki that is. Namikaze had seen this person for his entire life, she had been a figure who was like the mother he never had. Though he knew that she got a little cranky when age was mentioned near her. "Tsunade nee-chan?"
The face brightens up. "Hello little Naru-chan."
"Is everything alright?" He asked softly, heart thumping in his chest.
A frown crossed onto Tsunade's face. "Of course kiddo."
So much had changed, so much. He could see it in the way Tsunade acted. He could tell that she was happy. So very happy. It made him feel better, knowing he had failed her and that something had come from it all.
So he smiled, tried to make himself happy as Namikaze had. As Uzumaki had. Probably the smartest thing either of them had done. A smile lights up the world, makes those around you think of you differently. See you differently. See him differently.
But the immaculate smile on his face dropped. It wasn't working anymore. It didn't give him songful whispers of dreams and happiness. His hands shook. Chest caved in. Heart gave out. His breath just stopped. The reality of everything finally settled into his mind like a knife carving out his insides.
"Naruto?"
A voice called out to him, but he didn't heed it. He couldn't heed it. It….it was so dark. He couldn't move. He had lost all sense of self.
"Naruto!"
The fits of shaking had started. He was nothing but a blur of motions. A blur of non-self. His heart pumped fast, too fast. His blood writhed and boiled. His organs screamed at him as his body began to break down into matter.
"Naruto!"
He stopped, coming back to the real world with Tsunade hovering above him in obvious worry.
"What the shit is wrong?"
His heart thundered. "I—I need to get out of here." He breathed—tried to at least. But it was hard, his lungs struggled too hard to allow the suction of breath. His voice was a mere rasp now.
"You're just an eight year old who practically had a panic attack! You are not 'alright' enough for you to be further than five feet from me!" Tsunade roared, hands glaring with chakra.
He dropped back down, eyes clouded over. His face was low and sagging. He felt….nothing besides wishing to be anywhere but in a room with Tsunade. He laughed and laughed. Trying to form a smile again like he always had, hoping that it'd work once more.
It didn't.
So he laughed, laughing through his fear, through the sorrow and pain. Because what else could he do?
Tsunade frowned at him, and attempted to comfort him as she talked with him. "Come on, everything will be alright kiddo." She whispered to him.
He had lost all feeling.
Seconds. Minutes—possibly hours passed by, but he didn't twitch. He didn't listen. He was nothing.
He was a void. Immaculately full of nothing.
The woman tried to smile, but it was full of worry. "Is this room a little bland?" She moved her hand. "Here then." A plant grew in a vase, sprouting a few more—thanks to the nudging hand of Senju Tsunade's Mokuton.
Shimura Danzo stood inside of his bitter rival's office. The Hokage had summoned him without answers. To the aged War-Hawk there was no subtle politics here. This was a reminder of his place in the village and hierarchy of Konoha.
"You have not forgotten our agreement, have you?" Hiruzen finally spoke, his voice rang harsh and deep. This meeting held no false camaraderie, no friendship, or rivalry. This was a reminder of who truly held the power.
"I have not, Hiruzen." Danzo returned with a slight tinge of anger lacing in his voice. He hadn't had to leave the roots of the foundations of Konoha in a long time. Being inside of the top didn't change his opinion on his standing. He was the sword within the foundation that held it up. The Hokage's outstretched hand. As a hand he'd do as the Hokage would ask.
Even if the man was his hated enemy.
"Do not be coy with me!" Hiruzen roared, slamming his right hand onto his oak desk. "I am well aware that you've hidden Root operatives within my own guard. And that boy's own!"
"You know well that my Shinobi are the best that the Black Ops can offer." Danzo stated in an offhand manner as he took a step forward. "As for why they're guarding you. Well, you are an investment. A very special investment to me, Hiruzen." Danzo paused, pursing his lips. "I always protect my investments."
"And the boy?"
"He's my grandson, I must protect him with all of my might." Danzo stated softly. "Don't worry Hiruzen, I will not break the agreement, the child won't be allowed to be initiated into Root until he's a Chunin."
"Good." Hiruzen spoke. "Don't do anything to break the agreement. Or I will not hesitate to have you executed on the spot."
"Don't worry Hokage-sama, I know well the status quo." Danzo smiled slightly. "If you have any orders you wish to give out to me than please, speak up."
"The mistake that so many fuelled by emotions make is that they plot in the open." Hiruzen stated, his eyes glancing upwards towards his enemy.
"Trees struck by gods of thunder and lightning. Leaves that writhe in the light as the roots wreathe in the shadows to allow the rest to live." Danzo replied with a smile.
"Then go be a part of your shadows." Hiruzen stated tersely. "Remember, old friend. Do not break our agreement. Or I will not hesitate."
Danzo didn't smile. He didn't bat an eye. He just responded as he walked out the door. "Very well."
Naruto sat on his hospital bed. Watching as Tsunade frantically examined him. The much younger and happier Senju woman tried to be as reassuring as possible. Telling him how healthy he was and talking about mundane things.
It didn't work besides give him ire. But he swallowed it, sighing as he subjected himself to her examination. He opened his senses, allowing his sixth sense to allow him knowledge of where everyone was across the village.
The door slammed open, and Sarutobi stepped in, smiling gently with his aged features. "Hello, Naruto-chan."
Naruto smiled, his heart soaring. "Hi Jiji!" He turned his face, it losing its edge slightly, but he schooled his features and allowed his smile to stay. "Danzo-ojiisan." He spoke curtly.
The old War-Hawk smiled. Wait, the monstrous, Shimura Danzo smiled? The Uzumaki in him screamed at him to run—
"It's been a long time, Naruto."
Naruto felt like dying from shock, when memories from Namikaze came flooding back into his head. "It has." He replied as quickly as possible.
"Do you remember anything that could have caused your seal to spike?" Hiruzen finally spoke up, shooting Danzo a look.
Naruto glanced to the side. "No." The smile on his face had dropped, sinking into his skin as if it were never there. "I don't."
"I see." Hiruzen returned intuitively.
"I'm sorry—"
"What's there to be sorry about, Naruto-chan?" A voice crawled into the room, just as a black haired man stepped in.
Naruto smiled, though strained. "Orochimaru-san."
The snake faced Sannin pursed his lips. "You seem normal enough." He leaned down. "It's nice to have you back, kiddo."
"Yes, well, since he seems fine enough I guess we can let him go." Hiruzen lamented. "As long as Tsunade's okay with it." He added.
Tsunade opened her mouth, but closed it, looking back at Naruto with narrowed eyes. "Very well…."
"Good." Danzo stated. "Now, my boy, I must go. I'm sorry, we'll have to catch up at a later date."
Naruto watched as the old War-Hawk left the room, before turning to look back at the others. "So, where's Jiraiya?"
Orochimaru laughed. "Probably off somewhere travelling around the world. He always wanted to do that. And since Minato's death…." The White Snake of Konoha trailed off, actually seeming disturbed by the death of the man who had taken the Hokage hat from him.
"Yes, well. We all know how Jiraiya is." Hiruzen grumbled. "He sent me a message just now, saying he's in Kaminari no Kuni."
Tsunade shook her head. "That teammate of mine. Always getting himself into trouble."
"It's Jiraiya we're talking about here." Orochimaru said with a small smile as he moved his head back and laughed. "I bet he's caused the Third Raikage some ire."
Tsunade's smile dropped. "That dammed pig-headed Raikage. Did you hear that he—" She paused, looking to Naruto.
Naruto couldn't help but smile at the dynamic in front of him. "You can carry on, you know."
"No, this is not the kind of thing we talk about with children around." Hiruzen said.
Naruto sighed, getting up and going out the door, allowing himself to become untraceable as he hanged back and listened in.
Orochimaru pouted. "Do we have to protect the kiddo so much? Can't he just become a Shinobi now?"
Hiruzen looked up with a glare. "You know my argument about this."
The Snake Sannin sighed, sagging down and becoming lanky. "Alright fine." The Snake looked to Tsunade. "What were you about to say?"
Tsunade sighed. "The Raikage decided to break the normal status quo and launched a sneak attack against Mizu, intending to rule it."
Hiruzen shook his head. "Those dammed Raikage's, they're always the same."
"Well, they're all named A after all." Tsunade laughed.
"….I still wonder what was going through the First Raikage's head when he decided that was a good idea." Hiruzen muttered.
"Should we just send him after Jiraiya?" Tsunade smirked.
Hiruzen looked over. "Wouldn't that be overkill?"
"Of course not. That teammate of mine needs a good punch to the jaw from a fellow man. Who better than him?" She asked.
Orochimaru shrugged. "He's been out travelling as well though."
"He's back now."
Hiruzen blinked. "What! And you didn't tell me?" He roared.
"He told me not to." Tsunade returned. "You know how he gets."
Naruto blinked. Who the hell were they talking about? He didn't get to finish that line of thought, as a group of Anbu walked by.
Stepping back, he shifted into nothingness and went to his apartment complex. The day was long and the sun high.
He had time to look around and gather as much Intel that Namikaze didn't already know.
"Shushou."
Hatake Kakashi's head whipped round, seeing the new arrival through his dark grey eyes. "Early as usual, Karasu."
"I must ask, what exactly must I do?"
"You are tasked to be a part of a special unit of which I am part of." Kakashi paused, his lidless eyes seeing more than most. "Our goal? Protect Namikaze Naruto till our last breath."
Karasu lifted his mask of his face. "Very well."
"Good." Kakashi stated, his eyes moving to the left to watch his charge with careful suspicion of any and all subjects near. "Kids' always been smart you know. But I've noticed that he's smarter than I remember…."
Onyx eyes glanced towards Kakashi. "He's been getting smarter?"
Kakashi didn't take his eyes off of the boy. "Yes, at an abnormal rate too."
"How suspicious is this, Inu?"
"I really don't have a clue." Kakashi said with a sigh. "What I do know is that the kid will be put into the Academy soon."
"Is that so?" Karasu replied, his eye's gazing at Namikaze Naruto with interest. "Well, our experiences do shape us. Maybe it's just a phase where he wants to learn? I did something similar at his age."
"Could be just that." Kakashi said. "But as Shinobi, we must see what is underneath the underneath."
Naruto smiled in his seat. Reading through the book in his hands with care.
'It was Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara who formed Konoha in their alliance in the turbulent era known as the Warring Clans. Hashirama's renowned Mokuton has been passed down only twice.'
Someone other than Tsunade had the Mokuton? It might make things a lot easier having the entire Senju Clan behind his back along with two Mokuton users.
His memories as Namikaze were a little hazy when it came to the Senju Clan, but he remembered there being another Senju who would talk with Tsunade sometimes, though that had been a few years ago, when Namikaze was barely six. The man had been nice, but had left to travel the world.
On reflection Naruto realised that the man reminded oddly of Hashirama, just not as bipolar. Then again, no one was.
It was an hour later when he got up and thanked the history teacher. Leaving the area with a smile.
"Hello."
Naruto frowned and turned his head. "Yes?"
Orochimaru walked over, stepping in tandem with Naruto. "How have you been, kiddo?"
"Okay, I guess."
The Snake Sannin raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what everyone says? Where's the originality?" The man said in exasperation.
"It's just a thing we all do, I guess." Naruto shrugged, his mouth quirking.
Orochimau shook his head. "Sad thing, that is."
Naruto blinked, trying to stop a small smile from forming on his lips. Why was Orochimaru so different? He was actually…bearable. "I guess so…"
"Enough of that. I've noticed that you've been quieter than usual. Is something wrong?""
Naruto shook his head. "No, there's just not a lot for me to say."
"I think I can understand that." Orochimaru nodded, pursing his lips. "I'm much the same." The Snake Sannin paused, looking to the side. "You remind me very much of your father, you know."
Naruto blinked, his heart giddy. "Really?"
"Of course," Orochimaru drawled. "Everything is very similar, except the language. Your father was never really prone to swearing."
Naruto shook his head. "I think you must mean that he was awfully polite."
Orochimaru raised an intuitive eyebrow. "Quite the vocabulary you have there."
Naruto didn't bat an eye. "I read a lot."
The man smiled fondly. "Ahh, the task of acquiring knowledge, a good thing to aspire to gain." The man looked down at him. "Just don't ever take that goal to far, kiddo."
Naruto almost stopped in tandem with the wind. Was Orochimaru hinting to what he think he was hinting at? "Of course." He replied quickly, making sure to mask any visible reaction.
Orochimaru stopped and looked at him. "I know that Danzo's been teaching you in secret."
Naruto faked a freeze. "You do?"
"Of course," The Snake drawled. "Show me what you know so I can appeal to a certain someone to allow you entry to the Academy."
"Um…okay." Naruto said with a smile. He put his hands together and began to mold chakra for the first time since fused. He made sure for it to appear at the level Namikaze had been at. It would do him no good if he revealed his true power.
"I'm shocked, you have pretty much perfect control over your chakra already." Orochimaru said. "Very well." The man said as he began to walk, but stopped. "Well, you coming?"
Naruto walked with the Snake of Konoha, a look of suspicion crossing his face, but he let it go the moment it came.
It was an hour later that Naruto finally reached the destination where Orochimaru was taking him. It took him a mere minute to recognise it.
'It's the Nara's compound!'
Regardless, of whether he was happy to see Shikaku and Shikamaru, he knew this was a test. It was mere seconds after that realisation that they walked into the main houses room where Shikaku waited.
"It's good to see you both." Shikaku began in a slow measured drawl.
Naruto closed his eyes and opened them, allowing a small smile to cross his face. "Good afternoon, Shikaku-san."
"I concur with the boy." Orochimaru stated.
"It has certainly been a good day," Shikaku nodded. "The wind is calm and the clouds are many. The walk to get out of bed was almost worth it." He joked. "But the day is still yet done, and I can't help but fear we'll all be tired by the end of this." Shikaku sat down.
They kept silent for some time. Listening to the heart of the wind.
Shikaku retreated back into the shadows, away from the hearth. "For what's it is worth," He began, looking at Naruto. "I am sorry for this village's own inability to prevent nor predict an attack on our home."
Naruto looked up. "What do you—"
Shikaku's fierce gaze met Naruto's. "I'm sorry it fell upon your shoulders to bear the weight of every single living person in our home from simply being born."
Naruto's eyes widened. "My father did what he had to."
Orochimaru laughed. "That's what made that man who he was, I guess."
Shikaku glanced at the Snake Sannin, but turned his eyes back to Naruto. "The Third….is puzzled about this entire fiasco." He began. "I admit to being curious myself about all of that."
"I'd assume that everyone is confused about it." Naruto shrugged. "But I know this meeting isn't about that."
Shikaku's eyes glinted. "Danzo taught you that I presume?"
"Presume nothing." Naruto returned. "But, he may have, or may not have."
"You like your mystery."
"Of course. Keeps things interesting." Naruto replied with a smirk.
"I'd like information on Danzo." Shikaku stated. "Would you perhaps be willing to help me?"
"Why not?" Naruto shrugged, brain trying to figure out what the man was playing at.
"Is it really that easy?" Shikaku asked, eyes glinting in suspicion.
"Why don't you answer that yourself?" Naruto asked lightly with a smirk. He knew Shikaku wanted to slowly approach the entire thing and analyse it. 'You are after all, one of the best strategists in the village. Who else could foresee and plan ahead but you, the Jonin-Commander?"
Naruto knew that he had to put pressure onto Shikaku, even if it was a sword that could slice him in half later. Every Nara worked better under pressure. But he needed to make this man think of everything and anything. Else the intuitive Nara might catch on that something is off about him.
"Troublesome." Shikaku began, sighing. "But wrong. I only plan with war strategies, tactical command and intelligence."
Naruto smiled. "But isn't that what the village wants to do?" He began, slipping in the information the man wanted into a simple discussion. "Danzo has heard rumours that Kumo thinks that we are weak, and that they wish to test their mettle against us." Naruto held high hopes that the Nara would fall into this conversation that he had started to throw him off balance.
"Are you asking for advice on how our manpower is compared to Kumo's, then?" Shikaku replied slowly, as if thinking everything out as if it was a game of Shogi. "Konoha in our current state is strong enough to fight against either Iwa or Kumo." The man stopped, actually smiling slightly. "But none of this is really what you mean, is it? You want me to ask myself how I'd handle being in the shoes of a Kage? Or even Danzo himself?" Shikaku narrowed his eyes, and Naruto was certain that the man hadn't caught on to anything yet.
"Are you asking me whether I want to capitalise on this moment to make a move against the Hawk? Or if we should all band together and fight against our enemies?" The Nara moved back, staring into the clouds with a sigh. "I do not have the answer to this question."
Naruto smiled. "Then you are just going to have to trust me."
Shikaku was silent for a moment as he stared into Naruto's eyes, looking for any weaknesses and lies. But found none. "Very well." He said, nodding to Orochimaru. "I will ask Kakashi to help me enrol you into the Academy. Perhaps the Elder's would give a hand?" He shook his head and sighed.
"Knowing them, they would." Orochimaru finally spoke up. "We have a lot of things to do. Minato once worked for me within Root. He even became Danzo's adopted son. But something suspicious happened that day the guardian attacked." The man paused. "Something, abnormal."
A shiver went up Naruto's spine as a metallic taste gathered in his throat. There was one thing he had ignored since he had got here.
"Reports speak of a masked man behind the scenes controlling the beast with unimaginable power." Orochimaru shook his head. "It's said that he goes by the name…."
Naruto's heart shook, knowing the words he had hoped he wouldn't hear. He knew in his heart the reality of the situation.
"Tobi."
AN.
I must thank my good friend Infamous Storm for patiently helping me, and just being there for me. He's a good friend and a good Beta. I wouldn't have managed to attempt this story without his guidance.
Thank you.
To the rest of you readers, I hope you enjoy the story, and perhaps if you feel like it, could you perhaps leave a review? I'd like to hear what you liked and maybe didn't like. I accept constructive criticism.
