Manicherryblossom33
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“As a result of a memory seal I placed on Naruto when he was thirteen, the situation got worse when it finally released him. Within the space, any sealing jutsu are impowered and strengthened to the maximum. As a result, Naruto’s capabilities as a Jinchuuriki are far above the norm. However… Because of the memory seal’s increased strength he now has amnesia…”
“And you took advantage of an amnesiac jinchuuriki in order to gain power.” Guy accused.
Uri was shocked. “No! That’s not it at all! I…”
His eyes shook, like he was in intense pain.
“I… I knew lord Minato and lady Kushina. They are Naruto’s parents, you see.” He said, mostly to Naruto’s unknowing friends. “A few years ago, I DID track down my long lost twin sister, Kushina. As her brother lord Minato deemed me a trustworthy person and a valuable asset. He entrusted me with two secrets that even now Konoha will do anything to keep hidden: one, they were already married. And two, they were going to have a son. The reason for Konoha’s secrecy on the matter is because of lord Minato’s reputation. It was too great, and it often attracted trouble in the form of assasins or spies. He ahd to be very careful when he ate out with friends, or he would discover a tasteless, odorless poison was slipped into his food. Some enemies are more honorable. Though they hated Minato-sama, they respected him. In a way, he was precious to them too. But others would jump at the news that Minato-sama would be a father. They would have come here and kidnapped Naruto, and tortured him to death, whether he was a child or a baby. They might have killed Lady Kushina as well. For his own safety, his parents’ identities are secret, and he was given his mother’s surname for his own protection. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
“After I met Minato-sama, I began working for him in secret. I placed secret jutsu symbols on his enemies, ones designed to keep them from ever getting anywhere near Naruto, whose chakra would be similar to Minato’s. That was a very happy time for me, actually. I felt I had been given a purpose, and I was glad to have my sister back in my life. However, my joy was short lived. One day, I returned to Konoha to learn that Minato-sama and my sister had died. Naruto was hidden away somewhere. I was ordered by the third not to approach him ever, and I left the village…”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “Why did he tell you to leave?”
“Yeah.” Kiba looked a little pissed. “You were his family. You could have taken care of him.”
“It was because of a certain skill that Uzumaki sometimes possess.” Uri answered. “Not a kekkei genkai, but a strange power of a different sort. It has many names, but I like to think of it as a kind of mental scan or radar. You see, we Uzumaki are physically, mentally incapable of killing each other, ever. That’s because, when we are near each other, we can feel the others prescence in a way that causes us intense pain when we injure one of our own, though wounds inflicted via accident or by other people don’t register nearly as well. It allows us to identify a member of our own family the moment we come into contact with them. The moment this power awakens, and its not very hard if we are around our own, it never ever goes away.
“During the time Naruto was travelling with Jiraiya, I met him. I was not aware he was my sisters child, since I forgot to ask him his name. He did remind me of Minato-sama, which was why I talked with him at all. I did not notice the resemblance, and then things went wrong. Naruto’s power kicked in, just enough that he was starting to identify me. I panicked; I didn’t want to explain the truth to him while he was still so young. I placed a memory seal on him and ran away.
“When I heard he had disappeared, for some reason I immediately gave up hope. I was sure he had died young, like his father and mother before him. Like some of the children from our clan. I was consumed with guilt and shame. I wanted to go to my sister’s grave and beg forgiveness, but I don’t know where it is, and anyway it is probably located within Konoha. With no destination and no allies, I wandered. I was sure it would continue that way forever. I did my best to lie to myself and to others. I tried hard to forget Naruto, Minato, and Kushina. I heard that a crack had appeared in the great Naruto bridge and decided to stay there. Even now, I’m not sure why. By coincidence, that was the very time and place where the space decided to release Naruto. I should have known that immediately when I saw the eddy.”
“Why?” Tsunade asked.
Uri sighed and tapped his finger against his headband. “Uzumaki means whirlpool. There is a legend that the first Uzumaki was born when a senju was trapped in a great whirlpool. That’s just a story, but that is why we chose to settle in the land of eddies. Anyway, a great whirlpool, large enough to cause a tsunami, is the signal the space generates when both appearing and disappearing.”
Sasuke and Hinata both looked at each other. The day Naruto disappeared, they had both heard churning, violent waves as clear as day.
“But… If there was a whirlpool at the bottom of those mountains it doesn’t make sense that Naruto’s still alive.” Sakura argued. “I’m not complaining, but it’s illogical. The fall alone should have killed him.”
Uri placed his hand over his heart. “As I mentioned before, the space is alive. It doesn’t take the heirs to be cruel. It loves the Uzumaki heirs. It holds them captive so it can observe them, because that is all it is capable of doing. It would never allow one to die. In fact, it probably appeared when it did for the sole purpose of saving Naruto.”
Sakura still looked skeptical. Sasuke didn’t blame her. That wasn’t exactly an explanation.
Uri smiled kindly. “When I found Naruto after dispelling that whirlpool, I was… I’m not sure how to explain it. Happy doesn’t really explain it well enough, nor does any other word. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.”
Nobody argued.
“With the help of that family of land of the waves citizens, I was able to reduce the recoil, the side effect from spending extended, dangerous amoutns of time in the space. Naruto slept, and I sent that message to you. However, when he woke up, he looked so confused. He is still the same person I knew when I met him for the first time. Odd, kind, determined, and strong. But his memory was a trainwreck. He could hardly remember anything at all. Most of his memories were based off movement, speech or jutsu. The faces I saw when I searched his mind were so blurry I can’t even tell you which ones were boys and which ones were girls. There were a few solid memories, and the one most clear was that of him being tied to a stump while a boy handed him something.”
Sasuke jumped. The bell exercise…
“If Naruto was in the space for two years, how did he not die of starvation?” Sai asked, looking apologetic to everyone around him.
“I told you, it loves the Uzumaki heirs.” Uri repeated. “For that purpose, it bends the laws of nature. Within the space, air, food and water, amongst other things, are unnecessary.
“Having been born into the clan, and raised by them for the first few years of my life, I’m aware that memory seals, especially those placed upon a person while they’re still children, are dangerous.” Uri clenched his fists. “I must apologize. I shouldn’t have panicked back then. How bad would it have been, really, for him to know who I really was? I’m such a fool…”
Ino held her hands out and shrugged. “Whats the big deal? Can’t you just remove the seal and give Naruto his memories back?”
“No, its not that simple.” Uri squared his hsoulders and grit his teeth ashamed. “Maybe it would have been before, but not anymore. The space made the seal too powerful, too tight. Its taken too much from him, and practiacally left him with nothing. How do I explain it…? Its like… Like a cup of water. A very, very shallow glass cup that’s been overheated. You can either sit and wait for it to cool down, or pour in the cold water and let it break. The one time I loosened the seal, just a little, to try to get him to adapt to the pressure of even some memories rushing back to him, he… he almost died. He fainted and stopped breathing… we had to hook him up to a life support system, and he didn’t wake up for three weeks.”
Uri clapped his hand over his eyes and griped his head.
Sakura felt guilty now. Before she wanted to pound him into tomorrow. Now she wanted to give him a hug…
“Wait a minute, we?” Shikamaru asked, picking up on a key piece of information as usual. “Who’s we? I thought it was just you and Naruto traveling together…”
Uri straightened up, drying his eyes as he spoke. “Not too long after we ran from you, Naruto and I met up with a large group of Uzumaki clan survivors and descendants. The older ones had tracked each other down after the massacre, and started to rebuild their famil by rescuing some of the kidnapped children. Those children grew and had children of their own. But most of them are purebloods, and the half bloods like Naruto are sort of… ostracized. Even so, I knew traveling with them would make things easier, so I pressured him to accept their offer of joining the clan. We’ve been with them ever since. In order to gain money for food and supplies as we hide in the shadows 24/7, we sometimes engage in criminal activities like the shinobi coliseum.”
Lee raised his hand. “Excuse me! What is that?”
Sasuke was familiar with it. “Its an underground arena where rogues and bandits fight it out and earn large amount of sums. The tougher your opponent, the more money you get.”
“Naruto has stepped into that arena many, many times.” Uri said with awe and pride that immediately got everyones attention. “He remembers all of his jutsu from before his time in the space, but in order to protect him, I told him that using those techniques in front of the clan or the public would ultimately be bad. I and the other elders taught him our sealing jutsu techniques and other skills. Though he proved to be useless when it comes to medical ninjutsu, he stands as one of the strongest in our family. He is a legend in that arena, and he trains using his other techniques in mental battle simulations so he won’t forget them. The children especially, adore him. Half blood or not, he is loved by our people.”
“Whats the big deal with being a half-blood?” Sasuke asked.
“It is our clans most ancient law.” Uri explained. “Love outside the clan is forbidden.”
Ino clapped her hands together. “So Naruto’s parents were star-crossed lovers? How romantic…”
Sakura gave her a look that said: “now’s really not the time.”
Uri laughed. “Hardly. Our people apparently believed Kushina was dead. They stil do. They’ve never heard of konoha’s uzumaki naruto, after living in caves and tunnels for so long, and not really trying to gather much information of the world above. I am the only one who knows the whole truth. However, there is one that is beginning to catch on, and he…” Uri’s expression turned dark and serious. “Is the reason I’m here now.”
“Who is it?” Tsunade asked.
Uri turned to her. “His name is Hiro. He is my great uncle—”
“What the?!” Choji jumped. “Just how is he alive then?”
Uri pointed at himself. “How old do you think I am?”
Choji stared at him for a while. “20? 21?”
“I am fifty three.”
“That’s impossible!”
“Are you using lady tsunade’s technique?” Sakura asked, pointing at Tsunade’s forhead mark.
Uri knew it wasn’t the same thing. “Regeneration… No. What I and most of our people use is very different. A training that was beaten into us at a very young, young age and which we practice daily still. It helps us retain our youth, and allows us to handle pain better. We rarely fall ill or die young. Some of us can live to unbelievable ages.”
Choji faltered. “Uhh… I’ll take your word on that…”
“Back to what I was saying before,” Uri continued, “Hiro has begun noticing that Naruto is an amnesiac jinchuuriki. He has started trying to get close to him , in order to bend him to his will. However, that is impossible, because Naruto hates him. And he knows it. He’s begun to get desperate, and since he is one that was not born with the special power I mentioned earlier, and he is cruel by nature, he would more than likely try to force him to do what he pleases by threatening the rest of the family. Naruto is strong, but Hiro has been fighting for decades, and is far more powerful than even Naruto and me combined. I’ve been trying to convince him to run off and leave the family, for his own protection, but… He’s positive that if he does that, he will end up hurting the others in multiple ways. Hiro might even destroy them simply to get back at Naruto.”
“So… He’s trapped.” Sasuke concluded.
“Yes…” Uri looked more desperate than ever. “Its all my fault, for forcing him into the family like I did. For allowing him to get close to them. It might have been entirely selfish. I… miss my sister and our parents so much I was ready to cling to whatever remained of the past.”
Sasuke looked away, deciding not to respond to that.
“I told Naruto I knew of people who could help us.” Uri turned to all of them. “You konoha shinobi specifically, though I didn’t tell him that. He told me to go and ask you to help us. I wanted him to come with me, I early begged him to come but he just smiled and said he would wait with the rest of the famil, promising he would be fine.”
Sasuke glared. How annoying. Was he trying to pull an Itachi? Unforgivable.
“Where is he now?” He demanded.
Uri pulled out a map and rolled it over Tsunade’s table. It showed over a million little red xs drawn in certain areas.
“We are now a nomadic clan, so we move around a lot.” Uri jabbed his finger at one of the xs within the hidden rain. “But judging from where we were when I left, the family is probably here.”
“Amegakure…” Tsunade bit her thumb. “Not good.”
“Who cares?” Lee raised his fist. “Lets go!”
“Yeah!” Tenten agreed.
Sasuke glared at the whole lot of them. Idiots were getting ahead of themselves.
“Hold it all of you.” Tsunade got to her feet, crossing her arms. “You can’t ALL go.”
“But lady Tsunade—“ Ino started.
“No butts!” Tsunade snapped. “The norm is a four man squad, maybe two squads together in case of emergencies. But not now. This mission absolutely relies on speed and stealth. Too many of you and we could lose him for good. Only four will go.”
“Then it has to be team 7!” Sakura stated, slapping her hand down on Tsunade’s desk. “Kakashi-sensei, sai, sasuke and I will go.”
“Sakura, I’m sorry but I have to refuse.” Sai said, grabbing her shoulder. “That is unfair to the to the others. One member from each squad should go.”
“I second Sai.” Shikamaru said.
“SHUT IT.”
Everyone turned to Sasuke who glowered at them all like a basilisk.
“Sakura and I are definitely going. Smiley has no place in this, and Kakashi I couldn’t care less for.”
“Sasuke!” Sakura scolded. “You can’t say that!”
“I have no intention of going, Sasuke.” Kakashi assured him. “As long as the four bring him home safe I have no complaints. I’m sure the others have no complaints. That said… Are we actually bringing him home? You said it might be dangerous.”
Uri met his eyes. “I was going to leave it up to him to decide. I’m not sure what to do at this point.”
Everyone was silent for a while.
“Alright.” Tsunade said. “We leave it up to Naruto. Whether he decides to come home or stay on the run, either way I will convey this news to the other kages and we will dispel the search parties. However the four who go must stay with him no matter what. Sasuke and Sakura makes two. Who else?”
Hinata clenched her fists and spoke up. “I am going. Definitely.”
Sasuke looked at her calmly. What was up with her? She was always the most odd one of these oddballs, if not more level headed. And she was never a fangirl of his.
He made a face at that thought. What was he turning into? Some egotistical playboy?
“Alright, that’s three. Who else?” Tsunade asked.
“How about Kiba?” Shino asked, surprising everyone.
“Why Kiba? I think you would be better for this mission, Shino. Our moves aren’t nearly as flashy. Besides Akamaru would have to come. It could ruin everything if we bring a ninja dog. They’re no stealthy at all.” Sakura told him.
“I agree, but Kiba’s sense of smell could come in handy.” Shino stated.
Uri was blunt. “The Uzumaki use special jutsu and techniques to confuse any tailers. Tracking will not help, especially not by smell.”
“Even so, I am sure Kiba should go.”
Tsunade mulled it over and nodded. “Alright, I’ll allow it. We’ll have back up ready in case something happens, but don’t expect it. Amegakure is very strict about its privacy. Expect some chaos. Uri will lead you to Naruto. Do whatever you can to ensure his safety. You head out in half an hour.”
“And you took advantage of an amnesiac jinchuuriki in order to gain power.” Guy accused.
Uri was shocked. “No! That’s not it at all! I…”
His eyes shook, like he was in intense pain.
“I… I knew lord Minato and lady Kushina. They are Naruto’s parents, you see.” He said, mostly to Naruto’s unknowing friends. “A few years ago, I DID track down my long lost twin sister, Kushina. As her brother lord Minato deemed me a trustworthy person and a valuable asset. He entrusted me with two secrets that even now Konoha will do anything to keep hidden: one, they were already married. And two, they were going to have a son. The reason for Konoha’s secrecy on the matter is because of lord Minato’s reputation. It was too great, and it often attracted trouble in the form of assasins or spies. He ahd to be very careful when he ate out with friends, or he would discover a tasteless, odorless poison was slipped into his food. Some enemies are more honorable. Though they hated Minato-sama, they respected him. In a way, he was precious to them too. But others would jump at the news that Minato-sama would be a father. They would have come here and kidnapped Naruto, and tortured him to death, whether he was a child or a baby. They might have killed Lady Kushina as well. For his own safety, his parents’ identities are secret, and he was given his mother’s surname for his own protection. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
“After I met Minato-sama, I began working for him in secret. I placed secret jutsu symbols on his enemies, ones designed to keep them from ever getting anywhere near Naruto, whose chakra would be similar to Minato’s. That was a very happy time for me, actually. I felt I had been given a purpose, and I was glad to have my sister back in my life. However, my joy was short lived. One day, I returned to Konoha to learn that Minato-sama and my sister had died. Naruto was hidden away somewhere. I was ordered by the third not to approach him ever, and I left the village…”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. “Why did he tell you to leave?”
“Yeah.” Kiba looked a little pissed. “You were his family. You could have taken care of him.”
“It was because of a certain skill that Uzumaki sometimes possess.” Uri answered. “Not a kekkei genkai, but a strange power of a different sort. It has many names, but I like to think of it as a kind of mental scan or radar. You see, we Uzumaki are physically, mentally incapable of killing each other, ever. That’s because, when we are near each other, we can feel the others prescence in a way that causes us intense pain when we injure one of our own, though wounds inflicted via accident or by other people don’t register nearly as well. It allows us to identify a member of our own family the moment we come into contact with them. The moment this power awakens, and its not very hard if we are around our own, it never ever goes away.
“During the time Naruto was travelling with Jiraiya, I met him. I was not aware he was my sisters child, since I forgot to ask him his name. He did remind me of Minato-sama, which was why I talked with him at all. I did not notice the resemblance, and then things went wrong. Naruto’s power kicked in, just enough that he was starting to identify me. I panicked; I didn’t want to explain the truth to him while he was still so young. I placed a memory seal on him and ran away.
“When I heard he had disappeared, for some reason I immediately gave up hope. I was sure he had died young, like his father and mother before him. Like some of the children from our clan. I was consumed with guilt and shame. I wanted to go to my sister’s grave and beg forgiveness, but I don’t know where it is, and anyway it is probably located within Konoha. With no destination and no allies, I wandered. I was sure it would continue that way forever. I did my best to lie to myself and to others. I tried hard to forget Naruto, Minato, and Kushina. I heard that a crack had appeared in the great Naruto bridge and decided to stay there. Even now, I’m not sure why. By coincidence, that was the very time and place where the space decided to release Naruto. I should have known that immediately when I saw the eddy.”
“Why?” Tsunade asked.
Uri sighed and tapped his finger against his headband. “Uzumaki means whirlpool. There is a legend that the first Uzumaki was born when a senju was trapped in a great whirlpool. That’s just a story, but that is why we chose to settle in the land of eddies. Anyway, a great whirlpool, large enough to cause a tsunami, is the signal the space generates when both appearing and disappearing.”
Sasuke and Hinata both looked at each other. The day Naruto disappeared, they had both heard churning, violent waves as clear as day.
“But… If there was a whirlpool at the bottom of those mountains it doesn’t make sense that Naruto’s still alive.” Sakura argued. “I’m not complaining, but it’s illogical. The fall alone should have killed him.”
Uri placed his hand over his heart. “As I mentioned before, the space is alive. It doesn’t take the heirs to be cruel. It loves the Uzumaki heirs. It holds them captive so it can observe them, because that is all it is capable of doing. It would never allow one to die. In fact, it probably appeared when it did for the sole purpose of saving Naruto.”
Sakura still looked skeptical. Sasuke didn’t blame her. That wasn’t exactly an explanation.
Uri smiled kindly. “When I found Naruto after dispelling that whirlpool, I was… I’m not sure how to explain it. Happy doesn’t really explain it well enough, nor does any other word. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.”
Nobody argued.
“With the help of that family of land of the waves citizens, I was able to reduce the recoil, the side effect from spending extended, dangerous amoutns of time in the space. Naruto slept, and I sent that message to you. However, when he woke up, he looked so confused. He is still the same person I knew when I met him for the first time. Odd, kind, determined, and strong. But his memory was a trainwreck. He could hardly remember anything at all. Most of his memories were based off movement, speech or jutsu. The faces I saw when I searched his mind were so blurry I can’t even tell you which ones were boys and which ones were girls. There were a few solid memories, and the one most clear was that of him being tied to a stump while a boy handed him something.”
Sasuke jumped. The bell exercise…
“If Naruto was in the space for two years, how did he not die of starvation?” Sai asked, looking apologetic to everyone around him.
“I told you, it loves the Uzumaki heirs.” Uri repeated. “For that purpose, it bends the laws of nature. Within the space, air, food and water, amongst other things, are unnecessary.
“Having been born into the clan, and raised by them for the first few years of my life, I’m aware that memory seals, especially those placed upon a person while they’re still children, are dangerous.” Uri clenched his fists. “I must apologize. I shouldn’t have panicked back then. How bad would it have been, really, for him to know who I really was? I’m such a fool…”
Ino held her hands out and shrugged. “Whats the big deal? Can’t you just remove the seal and give Naruto his memories back?”
“No, its not that simple.” Uri squared his hsoulders and grit his teeth ashamed. “Maybe it would have been before, but not anymore. The space made the seal too powerful, too tight. Its taken too much from him, and practiacally left him with nothing. How do I explain it…? Its like… Like a cup of water. A very, very shallow glass cup that’s been overheated. You can either sit and wait for it to cool down, or pour in the cold water and let it break. The one time I loosened the seal, just a little, to try to get him to adapt to the pressure of even some memories rushing back to him, he… he almost died. He fainted and stopped breathing… we had to hook him up to a life support system, and he didn’t wake up for three weeks.”
Uri clapped his hand over his eyes and griped his head.
Sakura felt guilty now. Before she wanted to pound him into tomorrow. Now she wanted to give him a hug…
“Wait a minute, we?” Shikamaru asked, picking up on a key piece of information as usual. “Who’s we? I thought it was just you and Naruto traveling together…”
Uri straightened up, drying his eyes as he spoke. “Not too long after we ran from you, Naruto and I met up with a large group of Uzumaki clan survivors and descendants. The older ones had tracked each other down after the massacre, and started to rebuild their famil by rescuing some of the kidnapped children. Those children grew and had children of their own. But most of them are purebloods, and the half bloods like Naruto are sort of… ostracized. Even so, I knew traveling with them would make things easier, so I pressured him to accept their offer of joining the clan. We’ve been with them ever since. In order to gain money for food and supplies as we hide in the shadows 24/7, we sometimes engage in criminal activities like the shinobi coliseum.”
Lee raised his hand. “Excuse me! What is that?”
Sasuke was familiar with it. “Its an underground arena where rogues and bandits fight it out and earn large amount of sums. The tougher your opponent, the more money you get.”
“Naruto has stepped into that arena many, many times.” Uri said with awe and pride that immediately got everyones attention. “He remembers all of his jutsu from before his time in the space, but in order to protect him, I told him that using those techniques in front of the clan or the public would ultimately be bad. I and the other elders taught him our sealing jutsu techniques and other skills. Though he proved to be useless when it comes to medical ninjutsu, he stands as one of the strongest in our family. He is a legend in that arena, and he trains using his other techniques in mental battle simulations so he won’t forget them. The children especially, adore him. Half blood or not, he is loved by our people.”
“Whats the big deal with being a half-blood?” Sasuke asked.
“It is our clans most ancient law.” Uri explained. “Love outside the clan is forbidden.”
Ino clapped her hands together. “So Naruto’s parents were star-crossed lovers? How romantic…”
Sakura gave her a look that said: “now’s really not the time.”
Uri laughed. “Hardly. Our people apparently believed Kushina was dead. They stil do. They’ve never heard of konoha’s uzumaki naruto, after living in caves and tunnels for so long, and not really trying to gather much information of the world above. I am the only one who knows the whole truth. However, there is one that is beginning to catch on, and he…” Uri’s expression turned dark and serious. “Is the reason I’m here now.”
“Who is it?” Tsunade asked.
Uri turned to her. “His name is Hiro. He is my great uncle—”
“What the?!” Choji jumped. “Just how is he alive then?”
Uri pointed at himself. “How old do you think I am?”
Choji stared at him for a while. “20? 21?”
“I am fifty three.”
“That’s impossible!”
“Are you using lady tsunade’s technique?” Sakura asked, pointing at Tsunade’s forhead mark.
Uri knew it wasn’t the same thing. “Regeneration… No. What I and most of our people use is very different. A training that was beaten into us at a very young, young age and which we practice daily still. It helps us retain our youth, and allows us to handle pain better. We rarely fall ill or die young. Some of us can live to unbelievable ages.”
Choji faltered. “Uhh… I’ll take your word on that…”
“Back to what I was saying before,” Uri continued, “Hiro has begun noticing that Naruto is an amnesiac jinchuuriki. He has started trying to get close to him , in order to bend him to his will. However, that is impossible, because Naruto hates him. And he knows it. He’s begun to get desperate, and since he is one that was not born with the special power I mentioned earlier, and he is cruel by nature, he would more than likely try to force him to do what he pleases by threatening the rest of the family. Naruto is strong, but Hiro has been fighting for decades, and is far more powerful than even Naruto and me combined. I’ve been trying to convince him to run off and leave the family, for his own protection, but… He’s positive that if he does that, he will end up hurting the others in multiple ways. Hiro might even destroy them simply to get back at Naruto.”
“So… He’s trapped.” Sasuke concluded.
“Yes…” Uri looked more desperate than ever. “Its all my fault, for forcing him into the family like I did. For allowing him to get close to them. It might have been entirely selfish. I… miss my sister and our parents so much I was ready to cling to whatever remained of the past.”
Sasuke looked away, deciding not to respond to that.
“I told Naruto I knew of people who could help us.” Uri turned to all of them. “You konoha shinobi specifically, though I didn’t tell him that. He told me to go and ask you to help us. I wanted him to come with me, I early begged him to come but he just smiled and said he would wait with the rest of the famil, promising he would be fine.”
Sasuke glared. How annoying. Was he trying to pull an Itachi? Unforgivable.
“Where is he now?” He demanded.
Uri pulled out a map and rolled it over Tsunade’s table. It showed over a million little red xs drawn in certain areas.
“We are now a nomadic clan, so we move around a lot.” Uri jabbed his finger at one of the xs within the hidden rain. “But judging from where we were when I left, the family is probably here.”
“Amegakure…” Tsunade bit her thumb. “Not good.”
“Who cares?” Lee raised his fist. “Lets go!”
“Yeah!” Tenten agreed.
Sasuke glared at the whole lot of them. Idiots were getting ahead of themselves.
“Hold it all of you.” Tsunade got to her feet, crossing her arms. “You can’t ALL go.”
“But lady Tsunade—“ Ino started.
“No butts!” Tsunade snapped. “The norm is a four man squad, maybe two squads together in case of emergencies. But not now. This mission absolutely relies on speed and stealth. Too many of you and we could lose him for good. Only four will go.”
“Then it has to be team 7!” Sakura stated, slapping her hand down on Tsunade’s desk. “Kakashi-sensei, sai, sasuke and I will go.”
“Sakura, I’m sorry but I have to refuse.” Sai said, grabbing her shoulder. “That is unfair to the to the others. One member from each squad should go.”
“I second Sai.” Shikamaru said.
“SHUT IT.”
Everyone turned to Sasuke who glowered at them all like a basilisk.
“Sakura and I are definitely going. Smiley has no place in this, and Kakashi I couldn’t care less for.”
“Sasuke!” Sakura scolded. “You can’t say that!”
“I have no intention of going, Sasuke.” Kakashi assured him. “As long as the four bring him home safe I have no complaints. I’m sure the others have no complaints. That said… Are we actually bringing him home? You said it might be dangerous.”
Uri met his eyes. “I was going to leave it up to him to decide. I’m not sure what to do at this point.”
Everyone was silent for a while.
“Alright.” Tsunade said. “We leave it up to Naruto. Whether he decides to come home or stay on the run, either way I will convey this news to the other kages and we will dispel the search parties. However the four who go must stay with him no matter what. Sasuke and Sakura makes two. Who else?”
Hinata clenched her fists and spoke up. “I am going. Definitely.”
Sasuke looked at her calmly. What was up with her? She was always the most odd one of these oddballs, if not more level headed. And she was never a fangirl of his.
He made a face at that thought. What was he turning into? Some egotistical playboy?
“Alright, that’s three. Who else?” Tsunade asked.
“How about Kiba?” Shino asked, surprising everyone.
“Why Kiba? I think you would be better for this mission, Shino. Our moves aren’t nearly as flashy. Besides Akamaru would have to come. It could ruin everything if we bring a ninja dog. They’re no stealthy at all.” Sakura told him.
“I agree, but Kiba’s sense of smell could come in handy.” Shino stated.
Uri was blunt. “The Uzumaki use special jutsu and techniques to confuse any tailers. Tracking will not help, especially not by smell.”
“Even so, I am sure Kiba should go.”
Tsunade mulled it over and nodded. “Alright, I’ll allow it. We’ll have back up ready in case something happens, but don’t expect it. Amegakure is very strict about its privacy. Expect some chaos. Uri will lead you to Naruto. Do whatever you can to ensure his safety. You head out in half an hour.”
