Reading Time: 100 Minutes
Title: Whispers of Scales and Waves
Author: Strailo
Fandom: Naruto
Genre: Drama, Family, First Time, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, Romance, Slash
Relationship(s): Kabuto/Naruto, Sasuke/Sakura, Kakashi/Iruka/Orochimaru, Sasuke/Naruto
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Underage, Violence-Graphic. Explicit sex, canon typical violence, manipulation, abuse of power, lying, cheating/infidelity, minor character bashing, redemption, brainwashing, discussions – multiple wives for clan revival, snakes as caretakers, political maneuvering, vying for control over a person, discussion – surrogacy
Beta: CutsyCat
Word Count: 143.274
Summary: It started with a summons from some called a traitor sent to care for a young child who was hated by the village at large. It grew into a village revived and a village brought to it’s knees because of the hubris of men in power. And a relationship that helped to shape lives.
Artist: Mizu Sage
31
Naruto smiled down at Tora the Cat as Team Seven walked into the mission room, the cat purring loudly as Sakura scowled at him. She was dabbing alcohol pads on some of the new cat cuts on her arms and hands while Sasuke sometimes reached over and scratched Tora behind one ear.
“How in the world did you get Tora to not shred you?” Crow, the Daiymo’s wife’s personal guard, asked as he stared at them.
“I don’t squeeze her to death when I see her actually. I don’t smother her either. Cat’s do love attention, don’t get me wrong, but they do have their own boundaries like any other animal,” Naruto said. He was ignoring the woman who was staring at them, blinking in surprise. “That and he really likes the raw cat food that we picked up for him. Which I am expecting to be comped on,” he drawled. “It’s kind of expensive.”
“Of course,” Crow said, pulling out her check book to write the check out for him. “How much?” he asked. Naruto pulled out a small bag of vacuum sealed bags of food and the receipt that came with it. “That’s not too expensive,” he said as he read the price. “Comparatively.”
“Not horrible, no. But for a genin, yeah it can be. But it’s all natural. The ranches that deal with the animals around us tend to have some extra meat during the birthing season since once an animal gets a certain age, they’re turned into said meat. They use the leftover meat to create raw cat and dog food while still being smart in using the whole cow and priced right,” Sasuke drawled. “There’s also packs of smaller bone-in food and larger bone-in that can be done depending on the dog. I know that Kakashi-sensei pays into having his dog food raised for him.”
“I do. Just over four hundred thousand for two full cows and ten chickens every six months. I also use some of the meat for myself though and not just dogs. If I paid closer to five hundred thousand, they would do more then just butchering the meat for me. They would take the chosen cuts and cut it up into dog food for me,” Kakashi said.
“I pay something like a thousand ryo for beef, pork and chicken every three months for myself,” Naruto admitted as he shrugged. “I found it easier to buy from the people who raise it then from a third party. Granted, I have to take a day to travel out that way, but it’s worth it for really good meat that I can chop up and supplement my hunting supplies. I also get like fat scraps so I can make tallow. But anyway. Cat. Here,” he said, handing off Tora. The wife just held Tora, who was giving her a wary look.
She sighed softly, pressed a kiss to the top of his head and smiled. “Come along, Tora, dear. Let us go see if we can’t get you some of that food yes?” she cooed. Tora started to purr up loudly. “Make sure that this genin and his sensei are given good tips for the food information,” she instructed Crow, the man writing out the checks. He handed them over before he bowed and followed his charge. Naruto smiled at the fact that the tip was quite hefty and would cover his meat for the next three months, before he tucked it into a pocket, turning to Hiruzen and Iruka.
Iruka was smirking behind one hand at Sakura’s scowl as Hiruzen looked at them thoughtfully.
“Your sensei has asked for a C-Rank mission along with a side trip to Uzushio Island so that Naruto may pay his respects to the dead of the island after the mission,” Hiruzen said. Naruto nodded. “I’ve approved for both. While you are on your way, you will have a mission to pick up some information from a small city called Seashell. Jiraiya will be there to drop off information that you will bring back. It will be considered a very low C-Rank and paid as such. But the main C-Rank is an escort mission.”
An old man staggered into the room, Naruto wrinkling his nose at the wafting smell of alcohol that came from the man. Sake if Naruto guessed right based on the travel gourd that was on the man’s hip. He made a note to find out where Kakashi got his filter masks for the mission if the guy was going to drink during the trip.
The man squinted. “You gave me a bunch of brats?” he grunted. Hiruzen smiled placidly.
“I have assigned experienced genin with their S-Rank Jounin sensei as your escort,” was the retort. The man scowled but didn’t say anything.
Naruto just gazed at him, wondering if this was the fishy C-Rank that he had talked about with Kabuto and thus why they wanted Kakashi, who was known for his assassination skills, to be on it.
“Fine,” the man grunted. “Name’s Tazuna, the greatest bridge builder! You’re gonna escort me back ta Wave so I can get the rest of our supplies there. The shit is expensive but it resells really good if you know who ta talk with. We’ll be leavin’ bright and early in two days,” he said before he turned around and left without another word.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura shared a look, for once on the same page before they looked to Kakashi. “We want a trained medic on the team. This smells like fish and I ain’t seeing any,” Naruto stated. Kakashi patted him on the head.
“Who do you want? I take it Kaubto-kun is free?” Kakashi asked, Naruto nodded. “Very well. I’ll have the paperwork filled out and ready by this evening. I’m sure that you’re going to see him tonight?” he asked.
“He’s been on my couch for a week. His apartment flooded after a pipe burst. They had to rip out the walls and floors to check the other pipes and replace the drywall,” Naruto admitted. He shrugged one shoulder. “So yes, I will be seeing him tonight,” he said, shifting on his feet. “I’ll tell him to pack for a long trip.”
“Something around a couple of months worth of time,” Kakashi drawled. Sakura wrinkled her nose but didn’t say anything. The last time that she had done so, she had landed in Kurenai’s morning classes. She was still doing them.
“I should warn Kurenai-sensei that I won’t be in class for a couple of months then,” she said, Kakashi nodding his head.
“Go ahead and use the next couple of days to get ready for the trip. Bring plenty of weaponry, first aid, and extra food to have in stock,” Kakashi stated.
During the last few months, he had worked to make sure that Team Seven knew how to seal food and other things for long term missions. The three all left the office behind, Kakashi taking the mission scrolls with a smile before he waved and left.
Hiruzen sighed, rubbing at his face as he sat back. Naruto hadn’t even bothered to look at him for longer then a few seconds, only speaking with his team, his sensei and Iruka. Or Crow. He stared at the space that Team Seven had been standing in, frowning slightly. Iruka just waited for him to think things through and figure out what he wanted to say.
“I have truly messed up with him, haven’t I?” he asked, Iruka snorting in response.
“You did, yes. You should have been frank and truthful with him You should have protected him the way that you were supposed to. You allowed your so called teammates to do whatever they wanted to do without care of the laws that you created and now you’re dealing with those consequences,” Iruka told him.
He tucked his papers into his arms before leaving the room and Hiruzen behind to think about things. The man had really messed up. Big time. Between not remembering that he was supposed to be a dictator, not an elected leader, but someone who ruled at the whim of the Daiymo, and thus giving the village and his teammates too much room to mess up, he had dropped the ball. They had too many opinions that they shouldn’t have had and had done things that should have been a death sentence.
And because of this, Naruto had paid the price.
Iruka wanted to kiss the one who had taken Naruto under his wing though. He knew that his penpal had sent Nissa to make sure that Naruto had the tools to learn when he wasn’t being taught properly. The Umino had a feeling that he knew who it was, but he wouldn’t tell anyone. Not until Naruto had made his final decision on what he wanted to do in the long run.
If he wanted to stay in the village or leave it behind, Iruka would follow Naruto in the end. He had seen just how deep the darkness had been allowed to fester in Konoha, and he would help Naruto chage things.
If that meant that they would leave to rebuild Uzushio, then so be it.
He could still remember the way the sunset had played over the rocks as the scent of salt and ocean had followed him into sleep in a hammock.
32
Kabuto strolled into the apartment, coming to a stop when he spotted Naruto kneeling in the middle of a bunch of items that he had laid out in careful arrangement. Clothes. Food that would be easy to cook on the road. Food that was separated to be precooked. Various types of weaponry including the brand new tanto that Orochimaru had sent Naruto for his last birthday, books, scrolls and several large storage scrolls were all laid out.
“Is this for that C-Rank mission that you warned me about and that my boss told me that I was asked for?” Kabuto asked. He pulled off his backpack and dropped it down onto the couch after he slid on his house slippers. Naruto looked up from his list that he was working through and smiled at him.
“Yep. We’re heading out in a couple of days so we have time to prepare. We’re going to be gone for somewhere around two months since we’re also going to heading to Uzushio so I can do things there. As far as Sakura and Sasuke know, we’re just going there so that I can put any bodies that I can to rest properly and pay my respects. Kakashi, though, does know that I’m going to head there to activate some seals over a few weeks so that the island is fully protected again. I’ll also be making a lot of copies of things that I can use while I leave the originals behind in the locked archives,” Naruto told him. He shifted on his knees and gazed at Kabuto. “Are you good to come with us?”
“Yes. I did say that I would be,” Kabuto drawled as he looked over the list. “I should probably head down to my apartment to get more things from there.”
“Probably a good idea, yeah. We have two days to set things up and pack, so we should be good. Kakashi-sensei sent a message that said that we’re going to leave on Tuesday at six in the morning so I’m thinking four-thirty wake up so we have time to go over things and have breakfast,” Naruto mused. Kabuto grunted and nodded his head.
“I’ll go down to the apartment then and deal with my packing. I’ll be back in an hour,” Kabuto said.
“You want me to get your normal take out order?” Naruto asked as he called up a clone.
“Go for miso instead of nabeyaki udon please,” Kabuto requested. Naruto nodded his head and handed his clone the money, sending him to their favorite take out place while the other male headed two floors down to his apartment to get more clothes.
By the time that Kabuto had returned, the clone had returned with their chosen takeout and had laid it out. Naruto had also taken the time to start on the food prep for their own bentos His two large rice cookers were already set out and cooking the rice along with Kabuto’s own smaller rice cooker.
It looked as if he was working on some simple one pan meals that could be eaten on the run or quickly if needed. And the flat pieces of bread that were piled out of the way told him that Naruto was also going to make wraps that could be eaten one handed as they walked.
“I have my things,” Kabuto stated as he placed his travel pack by the door. It looked like the normal medic nin bag with dozen’s of pockets that held specialized scrolls and lots of supplies. He also had a dozen body scrolls that had been sealed into a smaller scroll that sat in the bottom of his bag. He figured if this was the fishy C-Rank that Naruto had told him about, and since he was going as a medic, they would need them.
Naruto looked up as he dumped the last of the vegetables that he had been working on into a small bowl before putting a lid over them. “Welcome back. How is the apartment?” he asked. Kabuto hummed.
“It should be done by tomorrow. They ended up behind because of a sudden supply issue with the flooring. Apparently your supplier learned that you are the one who owns the building and tried to charge you more. They switched suppliers and he’s finding that he’s going to lose a lot of money for the rest of the work that had been scheduled. I’ve already sent a note to Ibiki-san about what he tried while I was packing things, and I believe that he will learn not to mess around like that.”
“Considering that they were reminded forcibly that they aren’t allowed to discriminate against me and try to charge me more then what the contract states? Yeah I would say so. Iruka might crawl up his ass while he’s at it too,” Naruto said as he washed his hands. Kabuto washed his own hands and they sat down at the table as they talked about the things to prep for the next two days.
After deciding who would go shop for the rest of the ingredients that they needed and who would do laundry before they closed the apartment down, Naruto frowned. “You think Kakashi-sensei is going to send us to the Chunin exams?” he asked.
“It’s due to happen in a few months. I would think so actually. This will be your first C-Rank and there’s a thing where they tend to turn into B-Ranks at the least. So that might help you. My team is doing it again this round. I think that I will actually pass the exams though since I’ve done my medical studies,” Kabuto said.
He didn’t regret becoming a fully trained medical nin before he became a chunin since he wanted to have those skills. His teammates unfortunately had always gotten some bad match-ups during the prelims each time they did continue forward.
He had told Naruto just why he hadn’t accepted the field promotions even though he had the recommendations for it in his jacket already. But he was now ready and his fellow medic nins had started to become Chunin through more personal field tests.
Naruto smirked at his friend, winking at him before he picked up a bowl of rice and ate some kimchi with it. He had been introduced to it from one of the traveling merchants and was taught how to make it. “Well, we can hope that you make it to the end instead of having to take on a field promotion,” he teased. Kabuto rolled his eyes.
“Our mutual friend sent his well wishes and that he’s not going to be able to write to us for a few days. Nissa will be here in the morning with his letter to you,” Kabuto stated. Naruto nodded.
“I had wondered what was going on. Usually I get a message from him around now,” he admitted. He shrugged one shoulder. “Are you going to help me make the food for our travels?” he asked.
“Yes. The day after tomorrow right?” he asked. Naruto nodded. “Then I’ll do the clean up of the dishes tonight since I wasn’t here to help you with the start of the prep work,” Kabuto stated. Naruto smiled at him and they turned back to their dinner.
After the meal, they made a list of the things that they had to buy for the dinners for the next day and what they were going to store into sealing scrolls. They found the burnable bento boxes that would hold the food and Kabuto went over them as Naruto made sure all of the sealing scrolls they were going to carry were ready for everything.
As Naruto planned how to scatter certain scrolls around his body just in case, Kabuto doubted the blond would ditch his bag. He most likely had it connected to a special seal on a carefully created belt that he wore under his obi. The leather was a strong, flexible type of leather with chakra thread carefully weaved around the top and bottom of it so that it could hold the chakra in the seals so that they could work properly.
Naruto had worked on creating something like that for Kabuto, but more of a long arm band for each of his arms. Kabuto had moved most of his extra medical supplies to be sealed into them and then would hide them under his clothes.
Once they were done for the night, Naruto set up the rather comfortable couch, having bought a huge one for his new apartment when he had turned his second room into storage space. He also made sure that the curtains that were surrounding the couch was hanging right. They provided Kabuto some privacy while he was staying there.
“Who will be watching your plants while we’re out of the village?” Kabuto asked as he stared at the plants as Naruto walked along the ceiling, hanging the curtains.
“Ah, one of Ino’s cousins is willing to do it for a break on next month’s rent. I ran into him earlier after training. He’s saving up for a few things and needs the extra money to help him do them. He’s one that doesn’t really have parents who he can go to for things and he hates asking for help form Inoichi-san since the man asks them to train Ino in things. He hates teachin’ her the mind walking techniques that he knows. She gets really pissed when she can’t do it the first time, but she is getting better. At least since I’ve known her,” Naruto said as he dropped down to sit next to him. Smiling up at him. “So he’s watching my plants and won’t have to pay rent for the next couple of months. I wrote out which plants need to be placed where and watered when.”
Kabuto chuckled and patted his legs. “That reminds me, I’ll make sure next month’s rent is in the box when we leave. And maybe the month after,” he said. His friend nodded. “Along with a note that I will be gone from the apartment for the next month or so.”
“Don’t wanna worry our dear property manager after all.”
“For a woman who is in her late fifties, she scares the ever loving shit out of me,” Kabuto grumped as he started to spread out his blankets and sheets. “Are you sure that she’s not a fully trained kunoichi hiding behind her old age?” he asked.
“Nope, she’s not. She washed out because she lost her mom at the worst time and couldn’t finish training so she took over her family business. But she knows her shit since she did travel as a merchant in her younger years with her dead wife,” Naruto drawled. Kabuto groaned as Naruto bounced up to take a shower before bed, cackling.
33
Settling on a tree branch next to Sasuke, staring out at the Uchiha clan compound, Sakura frowned to herself. Her and Sasuke had started up just hanging out in a tree and stare at the compound after they had dealt with their training for the day after the first week of being Team 7. Things had changed quite a lot since they had graduated the academy and they had found somewhat a hidden companionship between them growing in the last couple of months.
“You think we’re ready for this?” Sakura asked. Sasuke grunted softly.
“Yeah. I’m really not happy that we have to have a medic on hand though,” he said, shaking his head. “Especially the on that is attached to Naruto the way that he is. I swear that guy is just trying to convince Naruto to do something stupid. Like leave and stop being the powerhouse of our village.”
“I can understand that worry,” Sakura sighed. “As much as I hate to say it, Naruto is strong, one of the strongest in the village. And will be stronger in the coming years. If we lose him to something, our power will be hurt. A lot. You’re very strong, but I’ve looked into the Uzumaki’s on my days off since introductions. They were the damn tanks of the village but not only that, they were the seal masters of it. And they willingly aligned themselves with us through treaties and marriage. Why Naruto wants to ruin all that, I have no idea,” she huffed. She stretched and lounged back on her branch, Sasuke grunting again.
“I don’t how we’re going to be able to deal with him,” Sasuke said after he thought for a few minutes. He frowned as he shifted. “Do you think that we could get him to listen to us if we’re able to get that Kabuto guy away from him? We already know we can’t get that damn snake away from him. But I really don’t want to have to deal with someone who doesn’t know their damn place.”
“It doesn’t help us at all that sensei has started to really cater to him,” Sakura huffed. She shook her head. “He should have just listened to Hokage-sama. I wouldn’t have minded learning to be the teams medic. Be able to follow Tsunade-sama’s path in being a powerful medic who can also fight on the field? It would have been nice if he would have just stayed to the damn formula. I’m still going to do it but most likely, I’ll have to wait until the end of these classes.”
“How are the classes going?” he asked. He didn’t want to think of his own classes really and the work that he was having to do every morning.
Kakashi was forcing them to do things that they hated to do, but they couldn’t stop him. Kakashi had been right in that he was their direct superior. He had gone around the Hokage and gotten permission from the Daiymo to train them as he saw fit. That particular letter had shocked all three of them before Naruto had said that it was probably a good idea that Kakashi had done that if he wanted to be able to train them as he wanted.
The other teams that had been built had already changed what kind of teams they were from what the Hokage had wanted in the first place.
They all knew that Kakashi was still hoping for a specialty team, but hadn’t told them what he was working them towards. Only Naruto had worked out just what kind he was working towards.
“You think that there’s something to what we’re being forced to learn?” Sasuke asked. Sakura sighed as she sat up straight.
“Maybe? I don’t think that we’re going to be a front line team, not like what the Hokage wanted and not with what we’re learning. Anatomy? Senbon? Stealth? Those have been the main focus beyond the honing of our skills. He’s teaching us how to do stealth missions, to take out our targets without them learning of use. My guess? A spy team, maybe an assassination team.” She paused. “You think that we could do something like that?”
“I think that it’d be hard at the start, but yes. We could. One thing Kakashi and Naruto is right about is that our skills before we trained wouldn’t have worked for a front line team. I looked into the past Team Sevens,” he told her as he looked over. She cocked an eyebrow. “The Hokage’s team is the only known Team Seven that has all of their members still alive and in the village if you don’t include their sensei. Who was the Second Hokage.
“The Sanin include a woman who is the most terrifying medic in the world but breaks down at the sight of blood; a man who writes perverted books even as he travels for his spy network and nearly always refuses to return to the village; and a traitor who is somewhere out there doing whatever it is traitors do. And that who story kind of stinks like bullshit. Then you have Jiraiya’s team Seven. None of them are alive. Not a single one. Then sensei’s team was a Team Seven member and he’s the only living member.”
“Do you think that Team Seven is cursed?” Sakura asked. Sasuke shrugged. “Huh.” They both fell into silence before Sasuke’s stomach made itself known, drawing a soft chuckle from his companion. “You mind if I crash at your place for the next couple of days?” she asked.
Truthfully, it wouldn’t be the first time that Sakura had spent the night at Sasuke’s apartment since they had become teammates. She didn’t want to stay with Ino, knowing that her friend would always take her mother and father’s side in the ongoing argument that she was in with them. She used her own money to pay for food for the household when she did and did some chores around the apartment whenever she did stay in his guest room at his apartment.
“Yeah, that’s not a problem. I need to shop tonight for food though before we head back and the bedding needs a bath,” he warned.
“That’s fine. I’m sure we can pick everything up for the mission while we’re at it. I need to swing by my parents place and get some clothes for the next couple of days and our mission. I can grab more money to help with everything while I’m there,” she said. Sasuke nodded.
They dropped down from the tree and headed to the house that she shared with her parents. She breathed a sigh of relief that they weren’t home at the moment and packed everything that she would need for the next three months at the least. Including all of her food that she had in stock for her missions. Something that the academy had worked hard on drilling into their heads.
She grabbed her stash of money and from there, they headed to the store to pick up the stuff for their meals that they would make to have on hand. One thing that Kakashi had made sure they knew how to do was have a good supply of food during missions in sealing scrolls.
Sakura used some of their lesser sealing scrolls that they had to help carry everything with them to the apartment.
Once at the apartment, Sakura took a moment to change into house clothes and place her bedding into the washer, setting it to wash as she went to put groceries away. Sasuke took the chance to shower and gather up his own clothes, glad that they weren’t leaving for a couple of days.
He got dressed, finding himself comfortable with another person in the house making his dinner and doing chores. He had never thought he would be comfortable with someone else doing things in his safe space.
He walked out of the bedroom and dropped his basket of clothes down next to his washer, finding Sakura hanging the bedding on the line on the porch.
He smirked as she blushed prettily at him, her hair pulled up into a messy bun as the scent of curry and herb filled rice wafted through the air around them. They were startled out of the moment when someone knocked firmly on the door.
Sakura shrugged when she looked at Sasuke, the male grunting before he headed to answer the door. “Ah, Uchiha-kun,” Hiruzen greeted, smiling as he waved off his ANBU guard. “I was hoping to speak with you and young Haruno-chan about doing some things for me. A secret mission that I am hoping will help the village and young Naruto at the same time,” he said, smiling at him.
Sasuke looked over his shoulder to Sakura, getting a shrug, before he stepped back. “Please, come in. Do you want dinner? We were about to sit down for it. I think Sakura was able to make enough to feed a small army.”
“I wanted to have enough for left overs while we’re cleaning things up and preparing for the mission,” Sakura huffed. Hiruzen stepped inside and pulled off his shoes, tucking on the offered house slippers.
“That would be lovely, thank you,” he said. He smiled at them before the food was dished out before they all sat down at the table to discuss what Hiruzen hoped that they would do during their time in Wave for the mission that they were about to head out on.
It was a very interesting conversation for all of them.
34
Poking at Sasuke’s arm, Kabuto rolled his eyes as Naruto stared at the puddle that they were walking up to, blue eyes flicking up to the sky with a thoughtful look. While they had been traveling for the last three days, still a day out from Wave at their pace, there had been no rain so far. Even when they had been camping, they had made sure that there was someone watching the camp and they had never seen a drop of rain.
“Really? I mean seriously?” Naruto breathed as he pulled out a tag. It wasn’t strong enough to kill whoever was hiding in the puddle, but it would knock them out and force them out of the illusion.
Kabuto and Sasuke both snorted at his quiet words. “Yes,” Kabuto drawled as Naruto dropped the tag into the water and set it off with a bit of chakra. They got ten feet past the puddle when the release of chakra made them pause and turn to stare at the two Demon Brothers who had come out of the illusion, knocked out. “Well then. I was not expecting to see them. If they are here, then it’s likely that Zabuza is close by. I do wonder why they’re around though,” he drawled as he and Kakashi stared at the sweating Tazuna.
“That…well…uh…” the man stuttered out. Naruto rolled his eyes as Kakashi worked to get the story out of the man, about how Wave was under the tyranny of Gato and his criminal empire. Seeing as Kakashi had a secondary mission to take out that man who had been trying to dig his greedy little fingers into some connections for Konohagakure anyways, it wasn’t a big surprise that they weren’t against the mission becoming an A-Rank protection mission.
Naruto clicked his tongue as Kabuto carefully sealed the two brothers into a Living Body Sealing Scroll. It was a scroll that had been created by the Uzumaki to transport prisoners and those who needed medical attention more then what could be done in the field. It was now widely used, a gift from the Uzumaki during a time of peace.
“Nissa-san, are you able to transport this scroll to Ibiki-sama?” Kabuto asked after he was done, holding the rather large scroll. Nissa hissed, relaxed his entire body, allowing him to grow big enough to swallow the scroll without any issue.
“I will meet you in Wave in a day or two,” Nissa told them. Tazuna looked pale and sweaty at the talking snake before Nissa turned and disappeared into the brush. He was whisper silent and fast as the wind as he disappeared.
Naruto turned to Tazuna and smiled sweetly at Tazuna. “Nissa has been my companion since I was a very young child. He made sure that I was able to stay alive, and eat properly. Learn things that I needed to,” he explained. “Also, I’m wondering if the seals on Zabuza’s sword are still working with Uzu’s main village down, but the Uzumaki’s still being alive,” he mused.
“You could always see if they are,” Sasuke grunted.
He had been slightly less of an ass to Naruto’s face after he had learned that Naruto was the third Uzumaki to live in the village. He had been learning what he could about the Uzumaki and Uzu, along with all of their treaties and some of their seals that made sure things were followed.
Kakashi admitted that his teammate had actually been a third generation Uzumaki, his grandmother having had him before dying, leaving his father with his Uchiha father. The Uzumaki coloring had been overridden by the Uchiha coloring since his father had married a fellow Uchiha woman. But he had been as bright and boisterous as any of the Uzumaki’s.
Naruto hummed, thinking on it before he shrugged. “Shall we continue moving?” he asked. The group continued down their path, heading for the meeting place with the boatman who would get them across the water without any issue. Kabuto looked to the side at the barest flicker of chakra before he decided to allow Zabuza’s apprentice to head off to meet his master.
Naruto gave him an amused look before he smirked as they headed for the lake.
The trip across the water was done silently, Sasuke and Kabuto carefully walking over the water, distrubing it quite a bit less then the boat did, but also offering protection for the boat. Once on the other shore, they made sure that they weren’t being followed as they continued down the pathway towards the village. Halfway to the village, a masked nin, looking like a Kiri Hunter, dropped from the trees, bowing before he walked up to the wary looking Naruto, holding out a letter to him.
“My master requests a meeting with you to discuss…things,” the Hunter said. Their voice was on the androgynous side but Naruto could feel at the edge of his senses the flicker of ice and coldness to the guys chakra.
Naruto tilted his head, took the letter and looked over it, knowing that if a Yuki was there to deliver the letter, he wouldn’t attack him. Like called to like after all and it wasn’t likely that the other would attack him when he was playing delivery boy.
He read over the request before nodding, pulling out a small pencil from one weapon pouch, writing out a date, a time and where they would meet with him. He folded the letter up and handed it back as his teammates frowned, Kakashi watching with a bored look.
Kabuto just watched with Kakashi as they allowed it to happen, not protesting what Naruto was doing, knowing that it wasn’t their business. It was clan business after all. “My response,” Naruto said. The hunter took the letter and bowed before he disappeared. “That should take care of that part of our mission,” he said once the chakra signature was gone. Kabuto hummed.
“Did I really feel…?” he asked and looked to Naruto. He nodded. “Huh. I could have sworn that they had all gone into hiding during the bloodline massacres,” he said. “Or been killed.”
“They had on both points. But it looks as if at least one of them learned how to use their bloodline and is now running around with Zabuza,” Naruto said. He shifted on his feet and turned to the others. “Shall we?” he asked. Tazuna was gaping like a fish on land while Kakashi was looking rather amused by everything.
“Yep, let’s move on,” Kakashi drawled, prodding Tazuna in his side and getting him to continue down the path. Sakura opened her mouth to question just what had gone on, Sasuke jamming an elbow in her side and scowling at her, getting a pout.
“Do not ask about things that you don’t need to know, or shouldn’t know,” Sasuke hissed softly. “That is personal business until or unless Naruto decides to tell us so. Clan business is clan business. Nothing more, nothing less,” he warned. He watched her huff before she continued to walk with the rest of her team. It took them another two hours to arrive at Tazuna’s house and be greeted by his daughter.
Kakashi smiled as he shook her hand. “I’m fairly sure that you weren’t really expecting more then a couple of us,” Kakashi chirped. “If you don’t mind, we’ll just have Sakura stay in the house as an inside guard while myself, Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, and Kabuto-san will camp outside along the woods. One of us will be on watch at all times,” he said. Tsunami smiled brightly and nodded.
“That would be just fine, Kakashi-san,” she said turning to the stairs where a small boy was coming down them. He was scowling fiercely at them. “This is my son, Inari. Dear, come greet our guests,” she called out.
“Why should I want to greet someone who will be dead in just a few hours?” Inari asked, snorting softly at them. Naruto just raised an eyebrow, eyes cool as he looked at him.
“And just why do you say that?” Naruto asked. He held up a hand to Tsunami when she went to say something about her son. “He has said something as if it was written in stone and law. I want to know why he would say something like that without any backing facts when it comes to nins if you don’t mind. He’ll end up meeting more nins in his life but with that attitude will likely just piss them off in the future.”
Inari snorted. “Gato will have you all killed. And then go on with his life without a worry,” he sneered as if that explained everything. Naruto snorted before he burst into laughter. Inari stared at him in shock at his reaction, Kakashi shaking his head with a smirk.
35
“Inari-san, Gato has a hit out on his name,” Kakashi drawled. “This means that as I am an S-Rank nin, trained in the fine art of killing someone without them ever knowing that it was me, we will be the ones who will walk out of his so called ‘compound’.” He smiled behind his mask. “And he will be in a body scroll.”
Naruto sniffed as he wiped his eyes, stopping his laughter. “I take it that you lost someone close to him? As an intimidation tactic?” he asked Tsunami.
“My late husband. Inari’s stepfather yes,” she said, looking to a picture hanging on the wall.
“I see. I’m going to guess that he went up against Gato without any plans on how he was going to protest against him or any back up right?” Naruto asked. Tsunami stared at him but nodded her head. “See, that was a hero’s move. He had no training though and no backup because everyone fears a guy who is three foot tall just because he has the money to throw around to get thugs to do his work. But he was still a hero. The thing is, my clan and Kakashi’s clans? We don’t put out heroes. We put out nins. So whatever you think will happen to us in your mind, forget it. We kill for money and our village. Gato is just a new name on our list of people to kill for said purposes.”
Inari snapped his mouth shut as Naruto turned on his feet and walked out of his house. Naruto called over his shoulder that he was going to find a good place to set up their camp. Kakashi hummed.
“He’s not wrong. Nins are, at their very base, hired killers, saboteurs and information brokers working for village. We’re doing all of the dirty work that the civilians don’t want to do. We’re the hidden military for our villages no matter how visible we may be,” Kakashi drawled. “We’re not here to be heroes. We’re here to protect your grandfather so that he can finish off his bridge, kill Gato, and work out where his estate should go,” he drawled. “Tsunami-san, if you will excuse myself, Sasuke, and our medic, Kabuto, we need to go set up our camp site. If you could show Sakura where she’s staying, that would be helpful.”
“Of course,” Tsunami responded. She sounded thoughtful while Tazuna sat at the dining room table to think about what he had just heard from the two nins.
He had known, mentally, that nins were trained to do things that civilians didn’t want to think about. All civilians knew this really. But to hear their jobs put into such stark terms had been something entirely different.
Sakura followed after the woman as she showed her her room, Inari wandering back to his room, dazed and confused. He had been shocked by the fact that someone hadn’t treated him like glass, giving him quite the reality check.
Outside, Naruto took a deep breath just inside of the tree line where he had found a well hidden and protected camping site. There was a dug out pit that would work as their main fire pit, already set up with a grate and two swinging arms to hang things from. A stack of wood sat in a small shed, mostly protected from the elements by the looks of it.
Granted, they would have to chop and store more wood though.
Kabuto walked up behind him and placed his hand on Naruto’s lower back, getting a small smile from the blond. “Are you doing okay?” the other male asked. Naruto nodded his head.
“Yeah. It’s just…I know that he’s a kid and all, but with the way that he thinks, he’ll end up killed and he’ll just accept it instead of fighting. His father most likely knew just what was going to happen when he went up against Gato. He was brave yes but very stupid. And if they had done more then just roll over and let him do what he wanted, Gato wouldn’t have such a strong hold over them.” Naruto grunted as he rubbed at his face. “Do you think that they know that they’re connected with Undertide and thus with Uzu, falling under the treaty between Uzu and Konoha?” he asked, looking to his friend.
Kakashi snorted softly as Sasuke walked past them to drop his pack near the fireplace. “Doubtful that they know. I think that particular detail was squashed hard by someone in the government under Gato’s orders. Or by someone who didn’t want them to have ties with a fallen city thinking that the treaty would be useless,” he drawled. “Or had seen how most of Uzu’s refugees had not run for Konoha.”
Naruto snorted and dropped his bag down. “I want to clean out every inch of Gato’s buildings out after he’s been dealt with. Anything that is Uzushio or Uzumaki will be collected and held until I can find the still living families who they go to. Hiruzen won’t be able to do a damn thing about it either. This now falls under the treaty that still stands and I am here at this time, I’ll take that on. Do you think that your summons will be willing to do some traveling for us when we do this?” he asked
Kakashi nodded. “Yeah. They’ll be happy for the exercise.”
“I’m fairly sure I can get the Uchiha Neko clan to help for the right price,” Sasuke said as he scratched at his neck.
“How about my herb crusted fish? I know they like that from what you said. I can catch some fish each time they come around, make it for them to have after they’ve finished dropping things off for us. They all know the hidden paths between here and the villages, yeah?” Naruto asked. Kakashi and Sasuke nodded.
Sasuke smirked at the thought of the cat summons once more going nuts over Naruto’s herb crusted fish. He had found out that they loved it when he had found Naruto feeding the ones that still hunted around the Uchiha grounds to keep the rodent problem down. They would do anything for the fish.
With that agreed upon, the group started to set up their tents around the fire pit before Naruto took over setting up the pit itself. A fairly large camping kettle was unsealed and hung from one of the swinging arms while a large pot was hung from the other. Two pans, a rice pot with lid, and a smaller pot were all placed onto the grate. They moved it when Naruto noticed that there was still a large amount of ash in the pit.
Sasuke cleaned the ash out of the pit with a camp shovel, putting it to the side in a metal container to mix with dirt and water to make a slurry for when they killed the fire after they used it.
Kabuto settled down and started to shift through their supplies as Naruto prepared for his meeting the next day with Zabuza and the Yuki who was his obvious apprentice. Naruto wasn’t really looking forward to it but he understood why they had done what they had done in their pasts.
He also settled his mind with some meditation while Kakashi and Sasuke set about cooking for them for the night. The two made a simple meal of miso soup with eggplant and tofu, rice, and lightly seared beef strips with a mixed sauce that Kakashi refused to tell them how to make.
Sakura ate in the main house after sweeping it, figuring out the layout while she was doing that chore. One thing that Kakashi had drilled into her head was making sure that she knew where to take people and how to get them out fast enough in the event of an attack.
After dinner was eaten and cleaned up, Naruto stayed up and worked on reading a book while taking first watch. He occasionally poked the fire to make sure that it didn’t die overnight. He found that it was cooler in Wave compared to Konoha at the moment, but he couldn’t complain about it when it meant that he could have tea.
As it was, he had put on fairly warm clothes and had set up next to the fire so that he could stay warm with a small candle lantern that was planted in the ground next to him. When his watch vibrated against his wrist, he put fresh water into their kettle and put it over the fire to heat. Once it was hot, he poured it over tea leaves into the serving pot with fresh leaves for Kakashi, who was taking over for him.
By the time the tea had steeped and was ready to be drunk, Kakashi had crawled out of his tent and was stretching his arms over his head with a grunt.
“Tea,” Naruto said to him, pushing the pot to him before he stood and walked over to his own tent. Kakashi hummed.
“Six AM for our morning training,” he reminded. Naruto nodded his head. He slipped into his tent, set his watch, kicked off his shoes and slid into his sleeping bag, falling asleep quickly and easily.
36
Stretching his arms up and over his head as he got out of his tent just a little after five, Naruto found Sakura making them coffee at the fire as she stirred the rice in another pot. He grunted at her before he grabbed his washing supplies and fresh clothes, heading for the river just past the tree line. While Sakura did have access to the indoor bathroom, the guys had agreed to only using the bathroom for the toilet and not the shower. They could use the lake without any issue despite how cool it was.
Stripping out of his clothes, Naruto took a quick bath in the river before he wrapped his hair up, dried and dressed for the day, joining his team by the fire. Kabuto had taken over some of the cooking, stirring the eggs around with a bit of cheese as Sakura checked the rice and placed thickly sliced bread over the grates to toast.
“Coffee?” he grunted. Kakashi handed him a cup, sweetened just a bit with honey.
Naruto nodded his thanks before putting his things away in his tent and finding a fairly small scroll that held his condiments and spices. He figured out which seal held his creamers and unsealed them before putting one in his coffee and stirring with the accompanying chopstick as the creamer pack burned in the fireplace.
“What time do you have to meet up with Zabuza?” Kabuto asked as he drank his own cup of coffee.
Naruto hummed as he took his plate with food on it. “Around three. While we’re supposed to be on the bridge so you might not have me during that time,” he warned them. “You might have a clone though.”
“Take someone with you as backup please,” Kakashi requested.
“I’ll go with him as backup,” Sasuke grunted as he drained his coffee. “I know enough clan bullshit to be able to watch his back during this meeting,” he continued.
“That’ll work. We most likely will end up needing Kabuto’s medic skills while at the bridge should someone get hurt,” Kakashi mused. The group nodded and turned to their food, cleaning up before gathering together to do some light training. They sparred against each other, against Kakashi, and then against Kabuto, no jutsu or chakra usage being allowed. Once they were done with their spars, they rinsed off their sweat before they headed out with Tazuna to return to the bridge.
Sakura took up a perch on one of the biggest pillars, which allowed her to see up and down the bridge without an issue. Naruto and Sasuke took to crawling along the bottom, making sure that no one had snuck onto the bridge over night and stuck things on it to take it down. Kakashi and Kabuto worked on talking with the workers about what to expect until the bridge had been finished.
Naruto took a moment to create four kage bushins to help them around the bridge: lifting, carrying and holding things as they watched for any kind of attack on the bridge. It would help the bridge be built faster and get them out of there faster.
Around two-thirty, as the men broke to have lunch, Naruto and Sasuke headed out to where they were to meet with Zabuza and his apprentice. Naruto left his clones behind to continue their work.
They traveled about three miles from outside of Wave to a field that held plants that were still blooming. Naruto waved Sasuke to a perch out of the way, obviously there as nothing but backup but still out of the way as Zabuza and his apprentice arrived, walking into the field.
Naruto dropped down and walked over to them, feeling the way the chakra in the large sword on Zabuza’s back sang in delight at being close to a Uzumaki and citizen of Uzushio.
“So, you are an Uzumaki,” Zabuza grunted in greeting. “Glad that I didn’t attack ya then. I would have ended up six feet under when the chakra in Kubikiribocho turned on me,” he said. He shook his head.
Naruto shrugged one shoulder as he smiled. “I’m not that surprised really. My family was very good with the hidden seals and making sure that alliances and treaties were followed as set out by the signed contracts,” he said. “I read that the swordsmen at the time of the attack against Uzu didn’t join in.”
“My mentor told me that if they had done so, they would have lost their swords and their lives within days of the attack. The Uzumaki’s may have worked on creatin’ the swords and the seals, but they had been forged by various other clans in Uzu. All of ‘em workin’ on infusing their chakra into the metal itself. It’s that chakra, that combined life-force, that is tied to our own when we take up our swords,” Zabuza told him. “They did punish those who had tried ta order the Swordsmen at that time ta go against the treaty though. And any idiot who went on that attack were killed. Either by the clans of Uzu or by the cloud of poison that was let loose once the last of the citizens either disappeared into the wilds or were killed. I know that there were those who had tried to run but they were killed eventually.”
“I heard from some of the teachers that the poison seals were creations of the Haruno and Umino clans,” the masked teen stated as he looked up at his master.
“We have them from the parts of their clans that came to Konoha when the treaties were first created. I have a Haruno on my team and Umino Iruka was our academy teacher. He was the one who helped me later in my younger years,” Naruto said. “I’m Uzumaki Naruto. My mother was, is, Uzumaki Kushina.”
“The Princess of Uzu and Red-Hot Habanero?” Zabuza whimpered, his eyes widening above his face wraps. Naruto nodded. “Then I’m really glad that I didn’t attack you. Momochi Zabuza, a third generation Umino in blood if not name. My great-great-grandmother was a Umino who married into the Momochi family and gave up her name to protect us,” he said, bowing slightly at the waist. “And my apprentice, Yuki Haku.”
“I had thought that all of the Yuki’s had been killed during the bloodline massacre in Kiri,” Sasuke drawled as he dropped down to come stand next to Naruto. His hands were tucked in his pockets and his stance non-threatening. Just curious.
“My grandmother had been smart enough to hide herself and our abilities when they first happened,” Haku stated as he pulled off his mask. He was a very pretty male but most likely could kill you in a dozen inventive ways if not more. “What are you thinking of doing?” he asked.
Naruto smirked as he looked to Sasuke. “I’m sure that you understand but this next part is clan business only. I need you to go back to the trees, far away from here while we speak. I’m safe. Neither of them will do anything.”
“I like livin’, thanks,” Zabuza drawled. Sasuke eyed him before he nodded and moved to the trees, moving far enough away to stay outside of the privacy seals that Naruto had knelt down to carve into the ground for the length of their talk.
Once Naruto was done with that, he sat on the seal, activating it and smirking as Zabuza and Haku sat across from him. Zabuza placed his sword down across his lap. He pulled out a treaty that he had worked out for such occasions, using his contact with Orochimaru to his advantage since the man had studied such things for decades. He had also worked with Kabuto, who had gone through the various contracts that the village of Uzu had kept copies of in Konoha.
Between the three of them, they had several basic contracts that he kept on him just in case he found someone that he wanted to save.
Or bring back to Uzu to help him in rebuild the village.
“I know that you want to help Kiri to get rid of the idiot who is controlling your village at the moment. The Yondaime Mizukage is Karatzchi Yagura if my knowledge is right,” he said.
Zabuza nodded. “He wasn’t always a dick. I remember it. But he held the three tailed biju for a while. Mei-san is tryin’ ta get him out of power though. She remembers him from before he took over as Kage. He was a good man. But there’s more ta things then what we know about as far as we do know.”
“She would be right. But what I’m going to offer the two of you is a safe place to work from, a list of people who will not fuck you over for your work and the fulfillment of the money that Gato had paid you as long you stay out of our way. If you help me though, Kakashi-sensei has given me permission to offer you a cut of that particular mission,” Naruto said. He held out the contract for himself before pulling out the offer from Kakashi.
Both of the ex-Kiri nins read over the contracts, signing them in the end. Naruto smiled, wrote his name on the paper that was between them before tucking it away in a hidden seal on his arm bands under his clothes. He tucked the other one into his pocket out of the way. “I’ll have Kakashi-sensei sign this and send you a copy via Nissa when he gets back. Look for a fairly odd looking snake.”
“We will,” Zabuza grunted. Naruto stood and destroyed the seal on the ground before he left with Sasuke following him.
“Everything go well I take it?” Sasuke asked, Naruto smiling at him, rather pleased with how everything had gone down.
“Yep.”
37
Arriving back at the bridge, Naruto handed Kakashi the signed contract, watching him sign his own name down, before he signed it as a witness and he sent off a clone to make a copy of it at the camp. He looked around the bridge, frowning softly. “It’s going a lot faster now.”
“Your clones have helped them a lot. Sakura is talking with Kabuto about what it would take for her to learn how to be a medic nin. We need more but there isn’t a lot of people with such pinpoint chakra control,” Kakashi drawled as they settled to perch on the railing, kneeling with their elbows on their knees. “I take it the talk went well?” he asked
“Yep. They have agreed to help you with our target and then the team can sweep in to dig through the compound with their help. If I ask Zabuza-san or Haku-san, they might even be willing to help us find anything that is connected to Kiri or their own clans so we can send shit back for goodwill,” Naruto said as he settled on his feet.
“Clans? Which ones?”
Naruto hummed. “Zabuza is actually something like a cousin three times removed to Iruka-san and Haku is a Yuki. We had a bunch of them living in Uzu when it was still around but they were mainly located in Kiri before the bloodline massacre happened.” He looked at their sensei. “Can also help me figure out how much family I have left right now and then find out where they are. Zabuza and Haku, in return for a safe place for them, have agreed to help me rebuild Uzu and create a home for my family and myself if I leave.”
“They would make a good starter council for Uzu,” Kakashi mused as he rubbed at his chin. “They would know how to rebuild things since Zabuza-san had ta help rebuild parts of Kiri after he graduated and forced them to restructure their graduation after everything was said and done.” He shifted and watched as Sasuke helped move things around. “He would have more connections to people who can help to rebuild things without what I’m doing getting out.”
“Those kind of people tend to have privacy seals on them too. Tattooed. Once a contract is signed between them and their customers, they won’t be able to tell anyone about who their contract holders are or were. They can talk about their jobs in ways that talk about what they do and such, so they can do what their new customers need, but no major details,” Naruto mused. Kabuto had told him about such companies before and how they were run. They were usually missing nins, nins from villages who had fallen, descendants from missing nins who have long passed. People who had the abilities of nins without a village backing them.
They moved around and built things for various villages under secret. Even Konoha used them to help build parts of their ANBU buildings since they could be trusted. Never the full thing, just parts of the buildings, and they didn’t know where they connected and the exits were always moved by trained ANBU who had the knowledge to construct things.
He knew that Orochimaru often used them himself when he had been trying to regain his mind to build the rooms that he could only access during his clearest moments. And to build new buildings in Otogakure.
He stood up and stretched. “My clone is here. I thought that he would have popped actually,” Naruto hummed. He frowned when the clone walked up to them and handed over three scrolls. One each for Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi. Kakashi frowned as Naruto handed Kakashi the one that had his name on it. He opened the letter and scowled under his mask, his exposed eye clearly showing just how pissed he was.
The clone quickly popped, not wanting to be there for the fallout.
“What did the idiot tell you to do this time?” Naruto asked.
“I was instructed to gather whatever scrolls that I can while in the village, even if I have to steal them from you. They are to be confiscated,” he grunted.
Naruto rubbed at his face before he pulled out a soft ink pencil and created a seal that weaved around the wax seal on the letters for Sakura and Sasuke, opening them without breaking the seal. He read over them and snorted softly, and ignored when Kakashi pulled down his mask, back facing everyone else, blowing on a wet seal that he had drawn on the back of his glove plate. He took the letters and sealed them away, the ink disappearing to hide on the silver of the plate.
“Yep, he told them to grab more then you. Weapons. Scrolls. Books. Whatever they can get their grubby little hands on. He also told them that if they could, grab skeletons that were in good condition. Most likely to draw material from them to clone or create a new child with,” Naruto drawled. “That’ll have to go into the letter to the Daimyo when I send the file against him finally,” he mused.
“Yep. I’ll make sure that I switch out my plates when we return to the camp and seal this one away,” he said, tapping it. “I take it that you slipped a privacy seal up and kept it this entire time?” Kakashi asked, smirking when Naruto showed him the side of his sandal with a seal glowing on it. “Sassy. And smart.”
“Despite what people think I am smarter then they think. Not so much on the books, but smart enough,” Naruto cooed at him before he shrugged. “This bridge has an echo to it to make it easier to keep track of people. Like hell am I letting others know my personal business. Anyways, I’ll work on my file some more. I’m giving the asshole until the chunin exams to make up for what he’s done to me so far. This is just another nail in his already mostly sealed coffin and making it just that much easier for me to leave Konoha behind,” he said.
He smiled slightly as Sakura watched Kabuto carefully heal a wound in one of the guys’ hand. He had driven a nail through one of his thumbs with a nail gun.
“It’s going to be hard to leave those I care for behind. But I really don’t want to be staying behind in a village that is run by people who are willing to drag me down. To try to steal my heritage from me and to desecrate those who died protecting their home that was doomed to fall because of the choices of their so called allies.” He frowned and shook his head.
“I had never thought that we’d be at a point where the old man would become so desperate as to do this.” Kakashi grunted. “What do you think that he will try to do next?” he asked.
Naruto sighed and squatted down, looking up at the sky as he frowned.
“To be truthful? I’m not sure. Not really.” He rocked on his feet, using his chakra to stick to the railing even as he rocked back and forth. “He’s really gone off the rails with this one. He goes back and forth on how he wants to treat me. When you think that he’s learned his lesson and is going to allow me to be treated like a clan heir without trying to interfere, he does something like this, falling back on old habits. I’ll have to tell Iruka-san what’s going on when I send my letter back to the village at the end of this too,” he said.
“Waiting until I’m done with Gato?” Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded
“When are you going to deal with him?” Naruto asked, tapping his foot and dropping the privacy barrier, the puff of smoke merging with the fog around them.
“As soon as I have the blueprints for the compound, so I’m guessing in a day or so,” Kakashi said as he watched the crew start clean up for the night. Two of the Naruto clones started to lay down warning tags on the bridge just in case someone got the smart idea to try it overnight.
“I know that Nissa is going to return with his information in the next few hours,” Naruto said after he tipped his head. “He ran across my clone before it could pop,” he told him, dropping from the railing.
“I take it that your talk with Zabuza-san and his apprentice went well then?” Kabuto asked as he walked over to them.
He knew that Kakashi and Naruto would tell him what they were talking about when they were in a private place away from the rest of Team Seven.
“Very well indeed,” Naruto chriped as he smiled up at Kabuto as Tazuna walked up to them. He was rubbing at his head as he stared down at his notebook, doing some math. “What’s the timeline looking like?” he asked.
“If we’re able to keep getting help from your teammates and those clones of yours?” Tazuna drawled. He squinted, did some more calculations on his pad of paper and clicked his tongue. “I’d say two or three weeks. We were workin’ with a smallish crew because of Gato. I’m hoping that as soon as you get him gone, we can get more people on and get a good pace goin’,” he grunted. “For now, it’s a done day.”
Kakashi beamed at him and clapped his hands together. “Alright then. Let’s head back to the house. My team and myself can make our own food. No need to put more pressure on you and your daughter any more then needed.”
Tazuna nodded. He knew that while Tsunami worried that they weren’t getting enough food while out camping, she was still happy about the fact that she didn’t have to work out how to feed them without going for more supplies more often. It was hard enough for her to get to Seashell without tipping off Gato that they somehow had more money coming in then the rest of the village.
She had learned how to collect and sell information from her late second husband. But that was still hard to do and had to be done carefully.
The fact that the team was willing to make their own food from their supplies did help them immensely though.
“Let’s get a goin’,” Tazuna grunted. He turned and lead the way to his house, watching as Sakura swept through the house to make sure that the warning tags she had put up that morning were still active. Once she had finished, Sakura joined her team to make a late evening dinner with some of their supplies and talk about their mission so far.
38
Slipping into the compound through an open window, most of the men within had already been killed with senbon and kunai through Haku’s mirrors, Kakashi looked around.
He knew that Haku and Zabuza were further in the compound, taking out everyone while Kakashi would work his way to his main target. He also knew that Naruto was sitting in a pre-planned spot for the signal to come in after he was finished with his part. Haku and Zabuza had already sealed any heads needed to collect the bounties and were using clones to take the bodies to the incinerator in the basement.
Naruto’s clone had told him that he had to kill a guy who had gotten too close to him while walking around the outer area of the compound. He had his moment of freaking out and would most likely have another one later. But he was ready and waiting.
Kakashi slid into the room he was looking for, body covered in gray clothes, his Sharingan eye spinning as he took in the scene before him. Gato was passed out with some woman next to him, bare under the blanket that rode low on her hips. From the smug smirk on her face in her sleep, she was happy to be in that bed. He kept her under with a well placed senbon, making a mental note to give Genma a thank you basket for helping him to practice his pin point ability in throwing senbon.
With her taken out, he did the same to Gato, knowing that despite what he wanted to do, he did need certain things from the man before he could kill him. Wrinkling his nose, Kakashi laid out a scroll and unsealed the various tags and tools that he would use to gather chakra impressions, skin samples, blood samples, and possibly, semen samples from the man. It wouldn’t be hard to get them, just disgusting.
Haku stuck his head in as he was drawing blood from the short man. “The compound has been cleared,” the young man said.
Kakashi hummed as he dripped the blood onto several tags, watching as they glowed and turned red before settling. “Good. You know her?”
“She’s a pirate who works with a ship that is run by a captain who has a bounty on Gato’s head. He despises the man so her sleeping with him means she’s a traitor. She’ll end up dead. The asshole tried to kidnap his partners and second in command,” Haku told him.
“Can you seal her away for me? We’ll send her on her way to her boss with any information we can find about her dealings with Gato,” Kakashi requested as he moved onto collecting the semen samples. He made sure to double up on the gloves as he grasped the surprisingly large dick for such a short man. He used a small seal to force the semen out of him and onto the tags. Once they had glowed and the wetness disappeared, leaving just the tags, he moved onto skin samples.
As he did this, Haku sealed the woman into a large living body scroll and carried it off to send to the captain that he knew.
He and the captain’s boyfriend liked to chat whenever he and Zabuza were on the ship as they traveled. He knew that the man would probably attach her to a concrete block with chains and stick her in an area during low tide to slowly let her drown. He didn’t take very kindly to those who raped, turned traitor, or worked with those that committed human atrocities.
For all that he was a pirate, he still had some morals.
Once he was done with collecting all of his samples and the tags were good, Kakashi pulled his tanto out, smirking at the wide staring eyes of Gato before cutting off his head. He quickly sealed it away and wrapped the blanket around the body itself, hauling it out of the room. Zabuza grunted as he pulled a wagon full of decapitated bodies behind him.
“Haku found a seal-run incinerator down in the basement. Clears the smoke out and makes it so that it doesn’t smell like burning bodies,” He grunted. Kakashi nodded and followed him down. They dumped the bodies down the chute to the basement before they collected the rest together.
Once they were done with the body clean-up, Kakashi sent a clone to Naruto with the all clear as he was shown where Gato’s office was. In the office, he opened the window and let Naruto in, turning on the lights making sure there was pleanty of light as Naruto stood inside the room with a wrinkled nose.
“Find everything that you can. Haku and Zabuza are already marking other spots that they know are hidden rooms but you’re still best for this job,” Kakashi instructed. Naruto nodded his head.
“Will do,” Naruto said, taking the tags that Kakashi held out and went to one wall.
He pulled out a kunai that had been wrapped hilt to tip in paper with a long seal written up and down over it. He carefully used the tip of the kunai to knock against the walls, sending a kind of a chakra echo to map it out in his mind. Iruka had taught him the trick one day, a part of being a master of boundaries made of seals, and it had come in handy when trying to find hidden spaces.
A glowing outline of part of the wall started to expand outwards, adding more and more as he tapped on each section of the wall. He found a total of four doors, two on either side of the wall and across from each other. Each of the rooms from what he could figure out were fairly large.
“I wondered about those empty spaces that I could see when I was outside. There’s no obvious doors,” Naruto mused as he tucked the kunai away.
“Well, we knew that he wasn’t too stupid,” Kakashi said as Haku and Zabuza came into the room, their own kunai in their hands.
“We found some more rooms then what we knew about. They’re easily opened though and were mostly filled with books,” Zabuza grunted. “I’ll let ya go through all of ‘em, figure out what’s in there. I never did well with books.”
“Do you know any of the books that were lost, Haku-san?” Naruto asked. Haku nodded his head. “Would you be willing to help me figure it out?” he asked as he found the hidden seal that took semen to open. “Ewwww. This guy had to come on the seal to get it opened.” He shuddered but still slapped one of his specialty tags over the seal, getting it to open.
Inside of the room were cases that held so many weapons that had been thought long lost. A single wall was covered in weaponry that had come from Uzushio alone and from the clans that had run from the village during the evacuation. Naruto sighed but looked at the book that listed everything that was stored in the room, including things held in dozens of scrolls, rubbing at his face.
“Please tell me that you have summons who are willing to help move these?” he asked. “Kakashi’s summons and the cats aren’t going to be enough. That and I don’t want the cats carrying some of these.”
“I do,” Haku said, nodding his head. “They’re rabbit summons, but they’re able to travel through the ground to anywhere that I need them to.” Naruto nodded. “Do you want me to go gather Kabuto-san?” he asked.
“Please. He has snake summons that will be able to get to where I need to return these. We talked about this just in case,” Naruto said. A small pop later and a small rabbit in a vest with a bag on his back appeared, twitching it’s nose at him.
“Can you go gather Kabuto-san from the bridge for us, Yuni-chan?” Haku asked. The rabbit nodded his head and hopped out of the window and off to where he knew that Kabuto was. “He’s fairly young for a summoned rabbit. Good to gather people that are close, but I’ll use the older, bigger rabbits to travel with things,” he said, shrugging one shoulder. Naruto smiled as he started to work his way through the weapons. He had a notepad out and made a note of where each one would have to go.
Chigirki’s and Kusari-fundo would have to be returned to Kirigakure’s hold once more. Both weapons had at one time been used by the elders of the two oldest clans that were still in the village.
Hanbo’s had to be returned to Iwagakure. It had once been wielded by the first Tsuchikage’s daughter and then later on her grandson, lost when he fell during a mission.
He found several ceremonial Odachi that he would take home with himself. They were Uzumkai weaponry that had been used each time it was time to name a new leader of the village, long before there had been Kages.
The Tsurugi that he found, long lines of seals delicately carved into the line of the two double edge swords and would be returned to Suna. He knew that the current Kage’s cousin had been using them when he had been killed and the swords stolen.
The Naginata that was a Umino weapon that combined with their ability to use barriers would be returned to Iruka once he got back to the village.
He found the stash of storage scrolls and Naruto packed the weapons into the scrolls, marking each one with where it was going. He took a moment to write short letters to attach to the scroll that stated where they had been found and were being returned on good faith from a Prince of Uzushikagure.
Haku was kind enough to send his rabbits out along with Kabuto’s snake summons with the items that needed to be sent out before they moved to the next room. That one held all of Gato’s business files and Kakashi stayed in that room with three Naruto clones to go through the paperwork.
39
It took Naruto, Kakashi and Haku a week all told to get everything that Gato held packed up and shipped out. From his various business deals to illegal practices, they had figured out just where everything was, and done the right paperwork. He had also figured out what was going back to Wave to help kick start the economy again seeing as some of the business and money had come from Uzu and Wave, so some of it would stay in Wave and the rest would go to Uzu.
Things like the legal ships and businesses connected to them would be staying in Wave while the more illegal ships and businesses with their contracts would be going to Konoha. They would be dealt with by the specialty nins that Kakashi had called in.
Certain ships were being allowed ot head out with the knowledge that the only reason that they could would be because they were considered illegal legal pirates. They were the kind that took shipments that others didn’t want to take but they didn’t take anything like trafficked victims.
Haku got the letter from the pirate captain about the woman that they had sent back to him. The letter had thanked him for the information and for her. It told them that should they want to find her, they could find her during low tide near the start of Uzu’s whirpools. He warned that she might be a little less then what she had been when he had put her there, due to the fish that ate whatever was edible.
Naruto just wrinkled his nose at that bit of information and said that he wasn’t interested in finding her body any time soon.
Packing away the last of his things, Naruto sat back on his heels, looking up at Kabuto. He was frowning heavily at a letter that he had just gotten. “He’s making you return, isn’t he?” he asked, both of them knowing just who Naruto was talking about. Kabuto nodded.
“Me and my team have been called to do some team missions to fill in for one of our fellow medic teams,” he explained. He sighed. “Our jounin-sensei requests that I return.”
“Luckily we have Haku-san and he has agreed to be our medical person for the next month,” Naruto said, standing and carefully ignoring the disappointment that his friend wasn’t able to come with them. “I’m fairly sure that he wouldn’t allow you back even if you did finish fast enough,” he warned.
Kabuto grunted. “Most likely that is true. I’m already packed and ready to leave though. Nissa has agreed that he wants to travel with me to the village to see Iruka-san. You have your secondary seal so that he may rejoin you in Uzu correct?” he asked.
“I do. It’s safe and sound,” Naruto promised as Nissa came to lounge over Kabuto’s feet, waiting to be picked up. Kabuto picked up the snake who had shifted to a smaller form, allowing him to wrap around his shoulders.
“Are you absolutely sure that you will be fine without me?” Kabuto asked, knowing just how Naruto felt about his two teammates, only trusting their sensei. While Sasuke was looking as if he was getting better, Naruto still had a number of issues with Sakura’s attitude and the way that she reacted to certain things.
Kabuto had a feeling that she was acting the way she was because of some issues with her parents or her own jealousy issues towards others. And most likely lingering issues with the fact that Naruto didn’t fit her own preconceived notion that she knew everything that needed to be known about Naruto.
“I’ll be fine. I have Kakashi-sensei at my back. Zabuza-san has also agreed to teach me some basic sword skills and Haku-san has promised to continue to work with me about basic medical things, and wants to teach me how to use senbons in new ways,” Naruto promised. He patted Kabuto’s arm with a small smile on his lips. “For now, go ahead and go back. Get to your team. You did say that you were going to become a Chunin this round so you need as many missions as you can get as a medic nin now to pad your jacket.”
“Right,” Kabuto sighed as he nodded, hugging Naruto. The other clung to him for a few minutes before they let go and parted. Haku came to stand next to him as they watched the other man disappear into the trees and head to Konoha without them. Naruto sighed as he pouted, Haku giving him an amused look.
“You really like him, don’t you?” Haku asked teasingly. Naruto huffed and pouted at him.
“Not that I’ll ever be able to do anything about it. He has other things to think about beyond his friend’s crush,” Naruto said as he picked his bag up. His clone was starting to work on the disturbed dirt of the camp site with a broom to sweep away the fact that they had been there.
Kakashi had sent the added payment for their now A-Class job to Konoha from Tazuna after his daughter had worked out who got what in Wave. He had also sent all of the needed paperwork and was just talking with the family as he collected Sakura from the house. Sasuke was leaning against a tree alongside Zabuza, the four going to join Kakashi and Sakura at the house.
Once their goodbyes were done, they headed down a path that was mostly overgrown from disuse to get to Seashell and from there, going on to Uzu. Once they had gotten to the thicker forests, they took the trees and hopped from one tree to the next. As the sun started to set in the west, they found a proper resting place for their tree hammocks for sleep and worked out who would be up when.
Naruto took first shift since he was still wide awake from not being on watch the night before, lounging in a tree next to his hammock as he stared out around them.
Haku and Kakashi took the shift after him while Zabuza and Sakura took the last shift. The next night, Sasuke took the first shift, rotating who took what shift for the next week as they traveled.
Arriving at Seashell, Haku and Zabuza went to find their own hotel for privacy while Team Seven found a nin friendly hotel with an open suite. They rented out one of the suites, each of them getting their own room even if they had to share the two bathrooms.
Sakura happily ditched most of her things, and took an hour long shower while Naruto used the other shower to take a quck shower to wash off the travel dirt. Sasuke and Kakashi followed him as they tried to figure out where they wanted to eat, Sakura joining them.
“When are we going to meet Jiraiya-sama?” Sakura asked after they had decided to go eat at a small tea house just down the road.
“Tomorrow afternoon. Myself and Naruto are set to go meet him,” Kakashi told her. “I’ll be sending one of my hounds back to the village with a basic information packet but we will be carrying the main list of information on with us to hand deliver once we are done with Uzu.”
Sakura sighed and nodded as she stood up with her team to head out. “All of this is just to help bury those who didn’t make it out during the invasion, right?” she asked.
“Exactly,” Naruto said. “Anything that we find will have to stay behind. I don’t want to set something off and not be able to do anything with it. I’m not sure things still have active protective seals.”
“We wouldn’t be removing things anyways. That is really a great way to insult the dead,” Kakashi drawled as they headed down the stairs and out the front door of the inn. “Remember this, Sakura, just because your family came from Uzu does not mean that you’re allowed to do what you will with things. You would have to go through the same tests that Naruto has done so over the last couple of years.”
“Let me tell ya about those tests: They are not nice,” Naruto huffed as he shook his head. Sakura shrugged one of her shoulders, following after her team with a smile. Despite what she still needed to do, she was just happy to be in an actual village that had proper stores and food supplies.
40
Sitting down at a table in the chosen tea house for the meeting, Naruto stared over at Jiraiya, unsurprisingly not impressed with the man. Jiraiya had looked surprised to see him there, even as Sakura and Sasuke sat at another table, watching them while they read their books and waited for the meeting to finish.
“You sure that he’s one’a the Sanin?” Naruto asked. Kakashi snorted and shook his head at his student.
“I’m sure. This is Jiraiya. Jiraiya-san, do you have the things that we need to return to the village?” Kakashi asked. Jiraiya jerked out of his surprise and shook his head to clear it.
“Yeah, yeah. I do. Didn’t think that sensei would let ya this close to Uzu. Thought he’d keep you far away from it,” he said, digging around in a bag. Naruto snorted softly.
“He doesn’t really have any say or choice in the matter,” Naruto drawled. “We all know that he can’t stop me visiting my homeland. The mission is to put my people to rest properly and then leave after we get some specialized training time in. Specialized training that my team can’t really practice while in the village if we don’t want ANBU on our ass. Or even close it it,” he said as he sipped at his tea. “As it is, he’s on very thin ice with me and Iruka-sensei. He doesn’t get a say in such matters as to what I do when it comes to my family and history. I may be a nin for Konoha, but my first line of command is still my sensei and he does have final say in a lot of things since we have the last Uchiha on my team. As per his own command after all. Can’t have the poor boy get stunted after all,” he continued, sending Sasuke a teasing smirk.
Sasuke grunted and rolled his eyes, flipping a page in his book in return.
“I…see…” Jiraiya stuttered out before he returned to digging out the things that he needed to get back to the village. He pulled the two scrolls out and handed them over to Kakashi. “One has to head back to the village fast. If you don’t mind meeting me for a few minutes tomorrow, I will need ta send another letter to. This one will be more personal but does require speed and the toads won’t do it.”
“I can take it from you tomorrow,” Nissa stated as he climbed up into Naruto’s lap. “And before you have, what Naruto would call, a freak out, I am not one of the Snake Sanin’s summons. I am Naruto’s for all that he is unable to officially sign the main Snake Contracted,” he stated at the wide eyed look from Jiraiya.
Naruto huffed. “Nissa here found me one year and has done nothing but help me learn things and stay alive even when the village hated me,” he explained as he stroked a hand down his back. “I found out that he was a summons and a free one at that. They sometimes leave the Summoning Lands to find someone who calls to them. Apparently I had been calling to him from a young age.”
“He was very sad. And when I found him, very behind the rest of his age group,” Nissa stated. “Mother had often told me that we do not always have summoners who sign the contract but rather have them who are compatible with us via chakra. He will receive my personal summoning seal finally while we are in Uzu. And if you send that sensei of yours anything about that, you will find that information will disappear from your letter.”
Jiraiya nodded. He still remembered when Ma and Pa had told him that some nins just didn’t match up with a proper summoning scroll. Instead, their very chakra, what made them them, matched up with summons through their chakra. It seemed as if Naruto had such a summons and it was a snake. Which made him worry about how things would go when he took over as Naruto’s mentor.
Naruto smiled slightly him. He was already bored with the meeting. “Are we almost done? I still have some laundry that I need tto do, and I need to repack things. I also need to go through my supplies to figure out what I need to pick up for Uzu. I’m sure that the rest of my team needs to do the same thing as me,” he said, tapping his nails on the table.
“I’m done, yeah,” Jiraiya said. Kakashi nodded and handed the letter that would be sent to Hiruzen to his pug, Pakkun, the dog having padded in from outside.
“I’ll get this ta the Hokage and be back by tomorrow mornin’,” Pakkun stated. He nodded his head as he tucked the scroll into his vest pocket that he then zipped shut to protect. “Tell that Haku boy that I said hi and I’ll be back for that bath that he promised.”
“Of course,” Kakashi drawled. The pug jogged out, saying goodbye to some of the waitresses who were cashing out their customers, getting giggled ‘goodbyes’ from them. “If you will excuse us. As Naruto said, we do have things to do before we leave for the island. We’ve set up a boat for tomorrow at noon to take us to the island and we need to be there at the docks on time. If you can meet us before then, you can give Nissa the letter then.”
“Yeah. I can do that,” Jiraiya said. He watched as Kakashi and Naruto stood, the other two of the team joining them after they paid their own tabs and thanked their waitress for her work.
Once they were gone from the tea house, he paid for the small bottle of sake that he had nursed along with his snack nad headed to his own hotel room down the street. It wasn’t the best room around, in a seedier part of town, but it allowed him to hide better while on the job.
Not that anyone would try a well trained nin, even if he was a traveling one. He paid his bills, kept out of shit and did what he had to do. That’s all they cared about when it came to him.
Sitting down at the small table that had come with his room, having set up his traps, he found paper and a pen in his supplies. He had questions that he had to ask Hiruzen about.
Sensei,
I find that I’m having to send this letter to ask some questions that I need you to answer. I already know that you will not be happy about what I’m going to ask, but I need my questions answered.
To note, what brought this on was the meeting with Kakashi and Naruto to send my basic report to you with the more imporant information one going with Kakashi.
Again, I need these answered.
Jiraiya lifted his pen, tapping his fingers on the table as he tried to work out how best to put his questions down.
He was worried about what had happened during the last years since he had stepped foot in Konoha. He had always made sure that Naruto’s bills had been taken cared of and he had a generous allowance through his book sales. Mostly because he knew that Naruto hadn’t been able to access the Uzumkai and Namikaze estates or the money that came with them.
And since he had been removed from the orphanage, his orphan stipend had been rather pathetic.
How has Naruto been treated since the last time that I was able to visit the village? You had sworn to me that he was just fine. That he wasn’t being harmed in any form. But from the few things that he had let slip in the few minutes of talking, I find myself doubting your promises of his continued health.
Did your idiot teammates say something in the village after they were supposed to keep their yaps shut?
Does he not know who his parents are? Or did someone who wasn’t you, as you were supposed to do as his guardian and Hokage, tell him about who his family was? Does he even have access to the estates?
What is going on there, sensei? Seriously. I need to know what is happening in the village. Is my mentorship still going to go through with him after the chunin exams like it was supposed to?
Awaiting your answer,
Jiraiya
Sighing, he folded the letter, stuck it in a small envelope, and sealed it. He was planning on getting his dinner before he headed to bed early. He would meet Team Seven at the docks, as he had promised, and have some easy to go breakfast for them before they caught their boat out to the island.
Not many still knew how to weave their way through the whirlpools that were a natural defense of the island. But he knew of a family who made that trip every few months to do memorial rites until a proper Uzumaki was able to do the rites themselves.
The family had set up an alter on the edge of the border of the still standing seal based war wards that had appeared after the last Uzushio citizen had either left the island or had died. The family who visited the island mourned those who had lost their lives during the invasion, the families and children mostly. They mourned the futures that could have been and would never been.
They mourned for those who couldn’t mourn, hiding away still.
Jiraiya wondered just what things were going to change with Naruto in the drivers seat. If Naruto had any plans on staying in the village at all with the way that things were going…there were things that were going to have to change.
He wondered how he would react if his godson did leave the village, and if he would be asked to follow if they were able to build any kind of relationship.
He pulled out more paper and his pen again from his pack, starting two more letters. The second letter was for Tsunade, and the third for Orochimaru. He may not see them but they did keep in touch, even Orochimaru when he seemed like his old self.
The man mostly dropped information randomly into Jiraiya’s hands though.
Still, while they didn’t see each other and his snakey teammate was considered a traitor, he wanted their thoughts. He wanted to find out what they knew.
Or didn’t know.
41
Staring down at the letter that had arrived just an hour before by dog, Tsunade sat back in her chair, arms crossing as a frown tugged at her lips. Her pointer finger tapped out an agitated tune on her arm. Her and Shinzune were in a village where she had been doing medical work that didn’t include blood of any kind. Shizune had taken up the cases the included blood for her. They had also been resting, having traveled for several weeks.
She had just paid off the last of her debts finaly, having gone to the Daiymo to talk about the fact that her persona accounts had been frozen. She had regained access to them since the Daiymo had been pissed that Hiruzen had stepped over the boundaries that he had when it came to personal and Clan accounts.
She had also, surprisingly found a therapist who knew how to help those with issues caused by extreme trauma that Tsunade had experienced without being overbearing about it.
She was already feeling better. Somehow facing things in her past, having lucked out in the therapist, and getting her debts settled was turning out to be good for her.
She had stopped feeling the need to run quite so much, and could face her history with loss without trying to hide. Even Shizune had found herself flourishing just by being able to stay in one place and interact with people for longer then a few days.
The both of them had even been able to research in peace. She hadn’t been able to do in years, having been running from her demons. The meeting with the Daiymo had ended up with her also not having to hand over her medical findings to the village. The Daiymo had been willing to allow her to put it under Uzu’s hold. She could even teach others if she wanted.
And she had started to do so. She had taken over the small village hospital to help others learn how to heal with and without the use of chakra. Shizune was teaching them how to run a surgery with various teas that could be made with the herbs that could be found near the village since they had issues getting made medications.
They were also creating and teaching them how to make dummies that could be used to teach medical students.
Tsunade had found herself happy. For once. And then Jiriaya had sent her a letter with new information about Kushina’s child. He apparently looked so much like a perfect mix of his parents that it was kind of scary.
She didn’t know how Hiruzen had been able to keep Naruto out of the Bingo book so far, but he had been. Jiraiya’s letter also said that he doubted that Naruto would stay much longer in the village. From what he had seen, Naruto was pissed at Hiruzen and for good reason. It was highly likely, in Jiraiya’s opinion, that Naruto would pack up and reinstate Uzu with whoever wanted to come with.
Jiraiya’s letter had continued on with the fact that somehow, Mei, who was leading the charge against the Mizukage, had gotten a huge influx of money that had brought her people back from their exiles. It had also allowed her to take down Yagura for good. He was still, surprising to all of them, alive, but there were rumors that there was something going on with him.
Jiraiya had circled back to Naruto, telling her that he wasn’t the bright, happy idiot that everyone had described when they had checked in with Hiruzen about him. Instead he had been smart. Sassy. And he could sniff out your bullshit from a mile away according to him, and the guy had just been around Naruto for a few minutes.
Apparently their old teammate had also been writing to Orochimaru to ask him some rather pointed questions. And to Hiruzen to get information from him. She had zero doubt that Hiruzen would try to dance around any information if he thought he could for a minute, but he wouldn’t be allowed to.
He knew his students were very good at sniffing out the facts that they needed. Especially if she went so far as to contact some people who she trusted who were still in the village and would tell her everything.
Tsunade sighed, slumping as Shizune walked into the office with two cups of coffee and a pile of paperwork. It was most likely forms that could be consolidated into just a few pieces and streamline the entire process. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she put the cups of coffee down along with the paperwork, her black eyes taking in her sensei.
Tsunade hummed, handing the letter from Jiraiya over. Shizune took a seat as she started to read over it. She read it again before she looked to the blond woman who had started to go through the paperwork with a pen, making notes on reduncencies.
“What does this all mean?” she asked when Tsunade looked up at her.
“What it means is that Hiruzen probably fucked up hard and overstepped his bounds when it comes to clans and what he could and could not do,” Tsunade told her. “And he lied to me about Naruto. Which is a bad idea since he was supposed to be receiving letters from the both of us all this time,” she stated. Shizune slowly blinked before she frowned.
“Do you think that is why Naruto never responded to your letters?” she asked. Tsunade sighed. “That Sarutobi-san was never giving him your letters that you sent is just…Wow. That’s a thought. Do you think that he gave Naruto the account that you had created for him after he left the orphanage?”
“I know he had given him that account. Naruto is the only one beyond the two of us who can access it and he has to go to a specific bank to withdraw money from it. It needs a chakra signature to get into it,” Tsunade stated. “I know that he uses the money for his bills from what I’m told. The money that Jiraiya sends go from bank account to hand as far as we know.”
“Well that’s good then,” Shizune said. She shook her head as she looked at the letter again. “What are you planning on doing now?”
“I’m going to send the oaf a letter. Tell him to come to this village before he heads back to Konoha. I’ll make sure that I give him the paperwork that will allow him to investigate everything that is attached to the Senju estate and the right seals to get onto the clan land. Have him check on things and send me a full report on what it is he finds,” Tsunade stated. “I know that Hiruzen tried to lock the accounts down, but only stopped me from getting access to them from outside of the village. Which pissed me off. But the taxes are paid and the accounts are in good standing. Nothing is going on that I didn’t approve of. But I still want him to make sure that things are good. I have a feeling that the Uzumaki estates are now under that Umino teacher’s control. And from what I’m getting from my village gossip buddies, he’s enjoying being able to smack the idiots around.”
Shizune giggled and nodded. “I remember the few times we did meet him. He seems like a good guy with a strong mind and strong willpower. I’m sure that he’s making sure that Naruto-san’s estates are in order now,” she said, smiling softly as she took the paperwork from him. “How about you write your letter to Jiraiya-san and send it off, then get us some dinner? I’ll go through these while you do that. It’s just mostly figuring out what can be cut due to all of the repetition this round instead of a full rewrite,” she promised.
Tsunade smiled at her, reaching out to pat her cheek. “Dan would be so very proud of you,” she told her softly. Shizune glowed at the words. Her guardian and sensei had made sure that she had grown up listening to tales about her uncle and mother. About her almost uncle-in-law to. But those stories had been rare, late at night and with sadness that flowed through Tsunade’s words. In the last few months thougth, the older woman found it easier to talk about her lost loved ones with fondness instead of bitter sadness.
“I can hope so,” she said softly. Tsunade chuckled before finding fresh paper and writing out her own letter. She told Jiraiya that she would talk to him in depth once they were face to face, and that she to would write to their missing teammate.
Done with her letter, she folded the letter and summoned Katsuyu in her small form. There were other slugs that she could call, but she wasn’t as connted on a deep level like she was with her friend. She asked if she could deliver the letter to Jiraiya, Katsuyu nodding and disappearing with it.
With the letter written and sent off, she left their office to find dinner for her and Shizune. She headed for one of their favorite stalls to get quick bowls of curry nanbana and kitsune soba, takoyaki, yakitori skewers and even some mitarashi dango for dessert. She also grabbed two giant bottles of the cold royal milk tea that they had come to enjoy. Especially since the bottles were made fresh in the morning and if you turned the glass bottles back, you got the next one at a cheaper price with the little wooden disc that was given to them.
Smiling and thanking the owners of the stall, she headed back to Shizune, and laid out the food once in the office, drawing her apprentice and friend away from her paperwork. The two talked about what they wanted to do in the months up to the Chunin Exams in Konoha and what they wanted to do if it did turne out Naruto wanted to leave the village officially.
42
The next day, Jiraiya did meet up with Team Seven, giving Nissa the letter to take and watching him disappear off into the bushes on the way to Konoha. “Heading to Uzu now?” he asked. Naruto gave him a long look before he hummed.
“Yes. We’re going to lay the bodies that we down can to rest. Do a proper memorial for those that we can’t. I’m hoping we can put their souls at ease,” Naruto stated. He shifted on his feet. “If you want to say your own goodbyes, just give us a couple of weeks before you come visit please.”
“I can do that. I gotta meet up with Tsunade anyways and touch base with her. Share some information that’s best not shared in letters,” Jiraiya told him. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at him. “Just because we have our differences, does not mean we don’t talk. We mostly trade information. I drop off books that I find that I think her and Shizune will like sometimes. They give me the newest gossip. That sorta thing,” he explained. “Sometimes…we get together to get drunk and remember times long past.” He shrugged. “Send me a message. I’m sure that Nissa-san will find me easily enough.”
Naruto nodded as he and Kakashi went to join Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura was looking on the grumpy side of things but were still following her teammates to the little ship that was going to take them to the island. The captain bowed lowly to Naruto, who returned the bow just as low, and took the payment for the trip. The team settled on the offered benches, Sakura sighing as she watched the ocean around them as the boat started to head out to sea.
Zabuza and Haku were already at the island, Zabuza remembering how to get to Uzu via water walking from his own mother’s journals.
“Isn’t there another way that’s by land that we could use?” she asked, turning to Naruto. Who just shrugged a shoulder.
“Not a damn clue,” he admitted. “I know that there are some underground escape tunnels that connect Uzu main to some smaller islands that appear and disappear depending on the tides. But I’m not sure as to what their status is right now. I need to see if I can find that entrance on the island and send a clone down there so I can figure out if there’s any places that have been flooded out or collapsed,” Naruto told her. “ It’s to dangerous otherwise since I can only go off of what my mom and Mito-san had in their journals about Uzu after all.”
“And you’re really just going to go put the bodies to rest? Nothing at all? Really?” Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded.
“Nothing else. Just because I’m the Prince of Uzu, a lot of those scrolls are still clan related and attached to families who have long died out. Even some branches of the Uzumaki family are gone. After all, there are branches just like with the Uchiha and Hyuuga lines. But our branches were more then just what kekkai they wielded. My mother could use the sealing chains and so could all of my direct family. Anyone who is close to that line would be able to use them to,” he said. He shrugged one shoulder. “Some lines of the Uzumaki were good with laying seals using only their hands and chakra. Mind you, we can all do that in some way, but some of the families made it an absolute art form since it was a direct part of their kekkai line.”
Kakashi chuckled softly. “I remember that your mother was really good with transferring seals from tags that she held in one hand and using her other to transfer,” he said. Naruto beamed at him for the information that he got from his teacher about his mother. It wasn’t often that they had the time or ability to talk about Naruto’s parents, and even less time to talk about Kushina and everything about her.
He would have to make sure that he had some time for Iruka and him to sit down and talk with Naruto about what they remembered about Uzu and the families that used to reside there though. He did deserve to know more information about his family.
Sakura huffed as she sat back, crossing her arms as she stared out at sea. If Naruto didn’t go hunting for that damn library, she wasn’t going to be able to do what Hiruzen had asked them to do and smuggle as many of the scrolls out that she could. She had even signed a summoning contract to do so. The Sparrows were always willing to get one over the snakes and seagulls after all.
Naruto just gave her and Sasuke a thoughtful look. He had a feeling that the letter that he had destroyed back in Wave wasn’t the first time that Hiruzen had asked them to steal from him. It was likely that he had at least asked Sakura to get what scrolls she could since she was connected to the village.
Not that it would be easy to remove anything once he had reset the seals around the island, which was going to be the first thing that he did. Anything that was removed would end up returned to the Island once it had passed the border or left the island if not done just right.
Should she get them, Hiruzen and Sakura would find any of the sealing scrolls that she sent empty and find it impossible to step foot onto the island without express permission from Naruto or his chosen guards afterwards. Not that he would allow them to, and the seals and soul of Uzu would know if they had forced him somehow.
Naruto wondered what they would end up feeling once they learned that piece of rather interesting information but he couldn’t find it in himself to really care since they had proven that they were far from trustworthy. Sasuke was okay, so far, when it came to him, but only because he hadn’t shown to be an idiot when it came to clan things and not pushing at him to do things that other clans didn’t have to do.
Most likely Hiruzen would try to push him to have many wives to have a lot of children to populate the Uzumaki family line. Sasuke didn’t have that pressure though and most likely would never have that issue since there were bastard Uchiha that would be willing to rejoin the clan once it was reestablished.
Despite what Hiruzen would want though, Naruto wouldn’t have many wives to repopulate the Uzumaki family line. Uzumaki’s were well known to only love one person in such a way and he doubted that he swung towards women enough to actually want to marry and have children with one. He had time though. Those old laws couldn’t be used on someone until they were at the youngest nineteen as it was because of the Capitol. And since he was still a dual citizen, they wouldn’t be able to force it on him at all.
No matter what Hiruzen tried.
As it was, Kakashi had shown him a seal that all men knew that he could apply to his skin every so often to kill any little swimmers. It was a basic Uzumaki birth control seal. It would make it so that even if someone was able to drug him enough to get him into a bed, they wouldn’t get pregnant by him. His mother had removed her own to have him but had worn her own version for most of her life.
She hadn’t doubted that there would be those out there that would try to force her to become a baby machine.
Naruto shook his head to clear his head as they came up to the island. He smiled as his chakra sang with happiness and the ripple of the ward that reached out to welcome him home. He smiled as Kakashi patted him on his shoulder, Sakura and Sasuke staring at the done that matched the surrounding area with ease but was turning blue to greet them.
Naruto thanked the captain again as they unloaded, Zabuza and Haku coming on and off as they unloaded the ship onto the beach. Once the captain had left, Naruto slipped past the barrier with ease.
He left a clone behind as another clone hid as a rock on the beach, walking just past the warding, the captain having promised to be there in three weeks as prearranged. Naruto sighed softly as he passed by the remains of those who had died on the island, both inhabitants and invaders. Some were small enough to be genin, scattered amongst the bodies closer to the main square, but they would have been there to help people escape through the tunnels.
He finally found the Kage Tower that sat in the middle of the village. The top half of the building had caved in. He had no doubt that once they removed the falling parts, they would find the bodies of the last Kage and their protectors. He bowed before the tower in respect before he stepped inside, removing a small, powerful flashlight from one pocket.
He headed down to the basement, remembering the map Mito had drawn out in her journal. He found the far wall, smiling at the glittering seal that greeted him.
Reaching out, he placed his hand onto the seal and pushed his chakra out into it, feeling everything around him sing in delight, a deep understanding of what he wanted to do in the future echoing through him.
Uzushigo approved of his plan and wanted to help all that She could.
43
Once the wards had settled around the island, Naruto gathered his team from the beach and found a small house that was still standing, mostly whole. The windows had been blown out, scorch marks dotting the outside, but still good enough to protect them.
Zabuza and Haku joined them as they went inside, finding that the furniture was still together, the fabric and stuffing the only part that had rotted out from the sea air.
They swept through the house to look for any bodies that might be in there, but didn’t find any. Naruto didn’t find any hidden rooms, just a tunnel that lead to the Kage Tower, and figured that the family had run through it to escape.
Once they were sure that the house was good, they started to clean the house of what they could, setting up the giant living room so that they could sleep with people to watch their back. While they were safe, they were still outside of the village and it a good idea to keep up habits.
They worked to move the furniture that couldn’t be saved, planning on turning it into firewood for their time there, and moving the rest of it into other rooms. They tossed anything that could burn into a large pit that had been created for such a reason, spreading the ash that they found in it around the trees.
Kakashi and Sasuke worked to check over the chimney to the firewood, making sure that it was cleared of anything and wouldn’t go up in flames. Once they were done with checking the chimmney, Naruto started up a hot fire to clear out any extra bits and prep it for use. Sakura went around the house and checked the water pumps, finding that they were the only way to get water into the house, the seals that were on them to help bring water in long gone.
She complained about that fact but, with the help of a clone from Naruto, gathered fresh water to refill water containers in the house for easy access once they had scrubbed them clean.
As soon as the fire was roaring hot, Haku and Sakura using it to heat water to clean things around the house, Naruto and Sasuke headed out to find any firewood that they could. They found quite a few cords of wood, more then enough to get them through the coming weeks if not months.
They grabbed a good amount of the wood before hauling it back to the house and setting it up in the wood holders. As soon as they had the house set up for them to live, they claimed their spots in the living room with their sleeping bags and blankets, sitting down together to go through their supplies.
Team Seven had bought more rice, meat that they couldn’t get from hunting, and various other fruits and vegetables in Seashell. Along with the meals that they would eat on the way back to their home, they were very well set.
Sakura got a lesson in bread making from Naruto, leaving it to proof before Naruto headed off to take a look at the village itself. He mapped a few things out, sending prayers to those bodies that he could see, silently promising them that they would be put to rest properly.
He was able to find the incinerators for cremation along with all of the ash jars that were used, glad that they were already created, ready to be filled. He also found the memorial wall that would be filled with urns by the time that they were done, noting the tools used to carve the names of the fallen on it.
He doubted that he personally would be able to do so since that would require him to find the full list that was connected to all of Uzu’s citizens by the blood that they all carried. He didn’t want to give Hiruzen or his war-hawk of a bastard teammate to hunt down anyone with ties to the village.
He didn’t know what either old man would do with something like that.
Naruto sighed as he sat down on the roof of the house that they were staying in once he was done with his scouting and stared over the land. Kakashi joined him, sitting down next to him on the roof. “You’re thinkin’ rather hard,” the man drawled. Naruto blew out a breath.
“I’m scared,” Naruto admitted after he had placed a privacy seal down between them. “I really don’t want them to get into certain things. I know that anything that is on this island will disappear if they try to take it, but I don’t…I can’t help but really worry that they’re going to try to get around the barrier somehow.”
“Did the island agree with your plan?” Kakashi asked softly, Naruto nodding his head. “Then anything that shouldn’t be here that wasn’t placed here with your permission will be removed from the village or completely destroyed depending,” he reminded him, patting him on his shoulder.
“That’s true,” Naruto sighed. He rested his hands between his knees as he kicked his feet against the wall. “I just hate that I can’t even trust my own teammates. You know that I hang out with Ino, Shikamaru and Choji right? I see how well they work together. Even with their family history they still trust each other in a different way then just three long time friends. There’s more then that history between them and you can tell. There’s trust and genuine friendship. They don’t insult or sneer at each other over stupid shit. Even Ino has stopped going after Choji for the way he eats after he sat her down and explained why he ate what he did and when he did.” Naruto blew out a slow breath.
“You bring up a good point. They’re better then but no, I do not see them being that trustworthy,” Kakashi said, hating the fact that he had to say it. “It kind of hurts to know that my first and only team so far in my life will most likely fall apart the moment that one of you become a chunin. Teams ten and eight? They’ll stay teams even if they go into ANBU. They’re well balanced, perfect for what types of teams they are. Team Seven was going to be pigeonholed into being a front line fighting team but then I decided to play to your strengths. Medical. Assassination. Seals. Traps. Justus. All of that,” he sighed. “But I doubt that this team will be able to stay together long term if something doesn’t change. And fast.”
“To be frank, Kakashi-sensei, I don’t think that I want to stay in the village. You? Iruka-san? Kabuto and the Konohamaru corps? You’re all the only reason why I haven’t left just yet. But at the rate things are going down?”
He sighed and shook his head, shoving his hand through his hair.
“I’m going to add Zabuza and Haku to the warding of the island so that they can start doing things with the island and the rebuilding without having to contact me about every little issue. I think that I’ll contact Tazuna and see if he knows if there’s anyone who would be willing to do covert rebuilding.”
“I take it you have full access to the Uzu accounts?” Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded and pulled out a small note book from one of his many hidden pockets. It was the account book that showed, in real time, what was going on with the accounts. Gifted to him by the Daiymo.
“Iruka-san found them all and contacted the Daimyo. Including where the money vault for the village is so that I can pay for things without anyone finding out. The accounts have done nothing but make money since Mito-sama, waiting for either my line to die out completely, or to be claimed. Which I did. The taxes have always been paid on time and everything. So I’ll be using them to help start the rebuilding project. I’m giving Hiruzen until after the Chunin Exams to figure his shit out before I leave the village for good though.”
“And you know that I will happily join you after everything that has gone down. Do you want me to start talking with others about what is going on?” Kakashi asked. Naruto nodded his head. “So the Inuzuka’s, seeing as they had worked closely with the Otakuges once before. The Hyuuga’s. The Nara’s. The Aburame. Anyone else you want on that list?”
“Asuma-san. I know that he’s close friends with Iruka-san and I know that he’s not really happy with his father. Maybe his sister if she wants to leave with Konohamaru. They would have to leave the Sarutobi name behind most likely, take on their mother’s maiden name, but I don’t think that it would be a big issue,” Naruto mused. “Anko-san. For all that I don’t personally know her, she’s always been very upfront with me and I have seen how she is treated by the village.”
“You care if I create a list and then get your approval for all of them before I start talking with them?” Kakashi asked him, Naruto nodding in return. “I’ll drop off a copy to Iruka-san to. I take it that he’d be on the list of people to leave?”
Naruto snorted and gave him a look. “You and I both know that he’d leave if I left. I’m his baby brother in all but blood and he’d drag you along with him,” he stated. He pulled up the privacy seal and hopped down off of the room to walk into the house to continue to make bread and help with dinner.
Kakashi smiled at the far off tower that sparkled in the setting sun. “He’s a good kid, Kushina-chan, Mito-sama. I hope that you’re both supporting him from the afterlife with what he’s forced to choose to do by other people.”
44
The first day that they worked together to gather the bodies was a day that really drove home for Sasuke and Sakura that nin life wasn’t that easy. That it could and would lead to death if they didn’t take their jobs seriously. And that they could get people killed just as easily as getting themselves killed.
Sakura worked on bringing the cart with the bodies that they found around to where they were working before moving them to the incinerators. Each body were placed into boxes to transport them from where they had fallen to the incineration room where the fires were so powerful that even bone was burned into ash. Which was good since that was all that was left of most of the bodies. Some of them had ended up mummified, but they were few and far between.
Two clones had taken up working the incinerator while the real Naruto went through the houses with Haku and Zabuza to clear out the furniture that could be saved and breaking down what couldn’t for burn wood. They also removed any of the bodies that they found, placing them outside to be placed into boxes. Kakashi and Sasuke took the bodies, placing them into the boxes and then adding them to the wagon before moving fallen pieces of building to get to others.
By the end of the first day, they all gathered in the house and took turns washing off their day, leaving their clothes to soak in the large tub after they had changed.
Sakura sighed as she flopped down in front of the small fireplace, brushing out her hair as Naruto stirred the rich stew that he had put together just that morning. He had a third clone watch over it to make sure that it cooked without issue and kept the fire at a steady heat.
“How do you process all of this?” she asked after a few minutes of watching Naruto work. She looked to Kakashi with a pinched expression.
Kakashi sighed, ruffling wet, silver hair, letting the heat that came from the stove he was near dry it for him. “You learn that our lives are now filled with death,” he stated. “Our death. Death of comrades. Death of the person on our hit list. Death of our enemies. You go to therapy. Talk with friends who live the same life. Sometimes you head to a special training ground and let loose for a few hours while someone that you trust waits for you to finish so they can take your battered, tired body home. Sometimes you break down and drink yourself into allowing yourself to feel and mourn. But you don’t let it break you. You put those who need to be put to rest, to rest, and you protect those who matter to you. This is what we’re helping Naruto do. We’re helping him put his family and lost village to rest so he can say his goodbyes to them.”
“It’s a matter of knowin’ when and where to let out the hurt and when ta keep it hidden,” Zabuza grunted, lounging back on his sleep mat while Haku worked to hang herbs that he had found to dry out. He was planning on adding them to his medical kit later on. “It’s somethin’ that you’ll learn as you continue in this profession,” he said. “You’re still young and with the way Konoha changed things about how soon they let their students become genin mean that you’re learnin’ shit later then other villages nowdays.”
“We do have those lessons, Zabuza-san. The village actually has several places where the plants don’t grow. Can’t grow with how much blood and death was spilled,” Naruto said. “But I don’t know how many of my fellow students comprehended that so many people died there to have killed the natural ecosystem. It’s just…kind of abstract for them. I’m seriously tempted to tell the teachers to start showing them the Forbidden Graveyard on clear days. They can stand outside and see the bodies that are still littering the ground for miles inside of the boundary ward.”
“The Forbidden Graveyard?” Sasuke asked. He sat up on his elbows, blinking at his teammate who had moved to relax on his own bedding while dinner finished cooking.
“Technically it was a training ground that was used in the first real Chunin exam under the first Hokage. It ended up turning into a slaughter when a set of enemy genin somehow got in under a false flag and killed everyone in the training grounds. They let out a poison that killed on contract and Mito-sama had to place a very strong seal based barrier around the entirety of the grounds. After that, all foreign teams are placed under strict observation and only allowed to go certain places in the village. They have to be logged in via chakra and the village that they’re representing and if there is tensions between the village hosting and their village, the other village doesn’t send anyone. They don’t want to deal with something like that again.
“The bodies of that first exam are still there. Some just inches from the barrier, having not made it and dying right as the barrier was dropped down,” Naruto said, shrugging. “I read her journal about that particular day. It was a dark period of time but it really drives home the fact that this isn’t all fun and games.”
“I heard about that exam actually. The village that had slaughtered everyone has been long wiped out since it was all nins and no civies. Prime target during wars,” Zabuza drawled, shaking his head. “Those who escaped ended up joining with that one village, Ame. Don’t know what happened to ‘em though.”
“I’ve been to Ame. I wonder why the teachers don’t show it as an example of what can happen if you’re not careful and to trusting,” Kakashi mused. Naruto shrugged a shoulder.
“Probably because of the size of the bodies left behind. Most of them were around thirteen, fourteen years of age. Some were even younger actually. Those genin were pushed out by war villages though instead of an actual village. Kabuto showed me the best vantage point to check it out in full with a set of binoculars. No one knows where the actual seal sits and while the poison had been filtered out, the Daiymo doesn’t wish to disturb the bodies within just yet. It’ll take centuries for that bit of land to return to some kind of normal since the air and water flows in properly but the seal has to filter it since the poison is lingering in the trees and bodies still,” Naruto told them.
Sauske and Sakura looked to Kakashi, who had put on an eye-patch after removing his hiate-ate, the man frowning. “I think I just might show you the graveyard when we return. We did put up a memorial stone with all of the names of those who died inside near the barrier. Even the three genin who set it off, but that was on a different, smaller stone, not with their victims,” Kakashi stated.
Naruto nodded his head, remembering the stones and when he had found them. The main stone was a dark black, just like the memorial stone, and carefully carved. The other stone with the three names was plain, gray, a seal carved into it to keep it from wearing out. He had read the names, finding three of his clans-people on the list from that long ago murder spree.
He still mourned that they wouldn’t return home in his lifetime. Not unless something happened and the land was cleansed.
He had plans on etching their names on the standing memorial stone near the center of Uzu if they hadn’t already been placed on it.
Naruto sighed and stood, pulling out the loaves of bread that had cooked, putting them aside to cool while they all sat up and gathered their bowls, small plates, and silverware to eat. Sakura unsealed the stick of butter for dinner and set it near the stove to soften enough to spread over bread. The group was silent as they got their food and thought about what they had learned from Naruto.
Sakura and Sasuke had never heard about the Forbidden Graveyard. They had heard rumors, like most academy students, of a training ground that had long been sealed behind a barrier set by Mito-sama herself, but there hadn’t been any concrete information that they could find about the grounds. But hearing about it made them wonder about it again.
Sasuke wondered if one of his family journals would talk about it. He knew that the Uchiha had lost four of their own genin around that time, but wasn’t sure about dates. He would have to go through them when he got home to find out if they had been caught up in the slaughter.
Sakura on the other hand wondered if any of her own family journals had information about the grounds. She knew that most of her family hadn’t come to Konoha until after the first chunin exams ever held, so she kind of doubted that they had anything about it in the journals that they had.
As she had discovered, Naruto was right: the trials to be considered a Uzu citizen after relinquishing their rights as one was brutal. And something that she was far from ready for. Just the descriptions of each trial was enough to make her shudder and decide not to take them on just yet.
Naruto shared a small smile with Haku as the two of them dished out the food, going to sit with his friend and his friend’s large father figure. The rest of the night was spent in quiet contemplation and Zabuza took first watch with Kakashi taking second while Haku took the third watch.
45
Naruto left his team behind while they did their morning exercises, having gotten permission as long as he had done his own. Which he had done so. He had gotten up two hours earlier then his teammates, done them and promised to be back in time for afternoon training. They were working on how to juggle kunai between the three of them which was an awareness and work exercise.
Naruto found the whole deal kind of boring but he knew that they all needed to do such things. But for the moment, to Sasuke and Sakura’s knowledge, he was going to see if there was any paperwork with names on it so that he could update the memorial wall that his clones had been expanding by using the notes found in the guard house.
There really wasn’t anything special about the notes in the guard house to their knowledge and he had made sure that he had hidden the information about the seals that connected to the list of living and dead from Uzu.
In truth though, he was heading down into the Archives. When the village had first been attacked, everyone who could had activated the village wide seals to transport all of the scrolls, journals, books and papers into the archive. Copies were taken with the families or had gone up in flames when someone who hadn’t been one of the inhabitatns had tried to grab them.
He knew of that particular safeguard because Mito had written down that information in her books to the future holders of Kurama. And in other books that she had been meaning to send back when the village had fallen.
He had found them all while exploring the warehouse, digging around in the various files that were stored away from the main village. It had worked out in the end due to Hiruzen’s need to try to steal things, and he was glad that she had made them all blood and chakra locked. Even if someone had a copy of his chakra, it wouldn’t have worked without him bleeding on purpose.
Stepping into the Tower, he headed down to the basement level, following the seals that started to glow and show him the way to the moment that the tower knew he was there. He found the hidden entrance and sliced his hand open, smearing it along the seal before he stepped back and wiped the left over blood on his hand as the wound healed.
He smiled when the stone facade almost melted away, exposing the hold that lead down towards the main Archives.
“I am only here to make copies of any scrolls that I am allowed to to continue my education in the history of Uzu and my family,” Naruto stated, feeling a brush of air against his back. He forced himself to not turn. If it was a spirit watching him, he didn’t want to know so therefor he wasn’t going to look. “I will make sure that I will eventually find all of the families that I am able to but I’m mostly here for that.” He paused, frowning. “There is no one here or in Konoha that can teach me, not without a lot of shifting of schedules. I need to learn what I can by myself for now,” he continued, blowing out a slow breath.
He started down the path once more, pulling out a small flashlight to shine his way through the darkness. At another door, he pressed his hand against the door and pushed some of his chakra into it, smiling when it unlocked and allowed him into the giant room. He found that there were giant shelves that went floor to ceiling, covered in boxes, scrolls, books and random bits of paper. Preservation seals crawled up the sides and along the edges, still glowing strong.
The books Mito wrote said that the Archives would be good without a new influx of chakra for a good hundred years after the village had fallen.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the book that sat just inside on a podium, and opened it to the front page, running his eyes over the seal that was there.
“I really hope that you’re still good, otherwise I am going to have to update you before I can do this and I really don’t have time,” he muttered. He used a senbon to prick his finger and let three drops fall onto the seal. He let out a deep breath as the blood was sucked into the seal and turned it bright red.
He flipped to the next page and watched as the needed information appeared. Where all of his family information sat. Where the connected lists of living and dead families were. And then finally, in alphabetical order, where everything else about all of the other families who lived on Uzu.
He looked down under the top and found another seal, paper and ink. He pressed his still slightly bloody finger to the seal and watched as information copied onto the paper, using the ink that then refilled when it was done. With that in hand, he started down the paths, following the symbols that he had learned from Mito’s books that she had created for young Uzumaki’s to learn their village symbols from.
Finding the section that he wanted, he looked around. He created four clones and found pulled out the sealing scroll that held the giant sealing scrolls that Nissa and the Foxes that he worked with because of Kurama would transport.
He smiled when he felt Kurama grumble in his head and the fluttering of paper telling him that while the Kitsune was amused, he was busy reading something Naruto had read before. Most likely setting up for winter and to den down.
Shaking his head and pulling away from where Kurama was, he made sure that his clones understood what they were going to be doing. The constructs all knew just how important their jobs were. They were to copy everything that they could and seal the copies into the scrolls before sending them off with the summons. Naruto had created summoning tags with the Foxes so that he didn’t have to sign the contract.
With that all done, he created two more clones and had them start to shift through the general administrative paperwork to see if they could find the lists he needed. Job done, he headed out of the archives, knowing that they would pop once their jobs were done with their work. And they did have some of the food he stashed in a scroll in case they hung around long enough to need it.
Not that they had really done that outside of a few times where they had been doing chakra intensive work and the food was used to feed their chakra network instead of their body. It allowed them to last longer as they found out.
Leaving the basement behind and letting the door close behind him, he headed up to the rooms that he had caved in. During the last couple of days, he and Kakashi had come to the tower to remove rubble, finding the last Kage that had worked in that office along with their bodyguards. Their ashes had already been placed into urns, ready to be placed in their final resting spots next to the rest of their families.
Naruto sighed at the memories and lit the incense in front of the small shrine to those who had died in the building. He sent his thoughts and prayers out to them. He finally stood and started to go through the paperwork that had been salvaged.
A request for a genin team to be allowed to head to the next Chunin exams.
Two field promotions.
Four field retirements due to injuries that hadn’t healed right.
A test for a new possible protective seal.
Naruto stopped and read over that information more in depth and smiled, stroking over the name signed. A first cousin who was three times removed. And according to Kushina’s journals, who had been brilliant in the way he had built seals to cost less chakra but to hold up longer and be stronger.
He put that pile of paper to make copies with to take home with him to put into his family history notes.
Naruto returned to work his way through the paperwork and then the desk. He found a false bottom that held two bottles of sake that had long evaporated, cups and saucers to drink said sake from, and a picture. It was of his mother from before she had left the village for Konoha.
He smiled, remembering that the last Kage had been his grandfather, but he had hidden the connection to his family outside of the village.
“I can only hope that I make you proud of me, grandfather. And hope that you and mum are able to be together finally with each other and the rest of our family,” he said to the photo of the man with Kushina. He would take it and place it in the photo album his mother had started.
A click that came from behind him made him whirl, a kunai in hand a jutsu sitting on the tip of his tongue, chakra coiled and ready. He stopped though at the sight of a man who smiled sadly at him from where he was standing.
With dark red hair, shades darker than his mother, but having started to soften with his age. Deep red eyes stared at him even as the spirit pushed the door open and nodded to the room beyond it.
Naruto’s eyes widened, his mind connecting the dots and understanding what he was doing for his family. One last thing before he found his peace. Naruto bowed deeply and when he stood straight again, the man was gone but the door still stood opened. He walked to the room and stepped inside, curious about what he was going to find.
Just FYI, chapters 44 and 45 are the same.
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Well, I guess Sasuke and Sakura can be written off? Or maybe they will have a change of heart and not be dicks. Maybe. Is Hiruzen being brainwashed too? By Danzo? Or is he just a dick naturally? I’m off to read more and find out. LOL.