Once More by ItsHardToFindAPenName

Chapter 42: Confrontation, Part 3

He was surprised, though. The last time he had used the Mirror of Yata, he had needed to stay in bed for a day before he could have even moved his arm. This meant his body had grown quite a lot, and his recovery speed had also improved massively. It was a good sign, especially considering the fact that the destiny fights were getting closer and closer...

"Ah, Naruto-kun, you are awake!"

He looked at the window right next to his bed. Haku's head was sticking through the window frame with the familiar peppy smile he usually saw on her. Two seconds later, the entrance door burst open, and she ran into the room and sat down at the corner of his bed.

"Haku-chan? Why are we moving? What happened? Did we...?"

The girl put her index finger on his lips to shut him up. "Don't worry," she giggled. "The mission was a complete success. We managed to convince him, and now we're on our way back to Kirigakure!"

Naruto's face brightened with each of her words.

"Really? So..."

"Yeah," Haku answered him with a bright smile. "Just go outside and you'll see!"

Naruto was confused, but he followed Haku outside, anyway. And his mouth gaped open when he saw it.

Isobu was swimming calmly next to the ship. His single eye stared at Naruto when he saw that the jinchuriki had stepped out of his room.

"WHOA!"

"Relax, Naruto-kun," the voice of the Mizukage rose behind him. "Mr. Three-Tails here has agreed to our proposal. He is not going to harm us, at least until anyone of us breaks our words."

Naruto turned towards Mei in surprise. "So..."

"Yeah, after you used that barrier technique to protect the ship, it was Fuu-chan who stepped in and talked some sense into his head," the female Mizukage nodded with a smile. "So our successful negotiation today was thanks to Fuu-chan... and you also, Naruto-kun."

"Huh..." Naruto could only stare at her, dumbfounded.

Then he remembered. "Wait, if that's the case... Where are Fuu-chan and the old man? And Sai too? Don't tell me..."

"Calm down, Naruto-kun," Mei soothed him. "They are all right... at least for now..."

There was something in her voice that made Naruto suspicious.

"What do you mean? Why did you say 'at least for now'?"

Mei grimaced. "Well, the thing is..."

She told Naruto what happened. After hearing the whole story, Naruto also grimaced.

"So that's what happened..."

"You don't seem surprised," Haku noted. He looked at her and nodded.

"It's not like I hadn't expected this to happen. It's just... I didn't know it would happen in this manner. You know, that Sai guy used to work for a person named Danzo in Konoha."

"Danzo Shimura, huh?" asked Mei. "I heard about him a lot in the past. That guy is famous for being a war hawk, right?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I have been suspicious about why Orochimaru could know of where we were heading to and got there even before we could. It must be someone who was on the ship with us who leaked out the information, and ruling out every other person, I think the only one left who could have leaked it was someone in our teams – Sai or old man Kosuke."

"I see... so do you think Sai betrayed us?"

Naruto shook his head. "That doesn't make sense, actually. If Orochimaru had actually been supported by Danzo, he should have finished the job and left the scene before we arrived, or waited until we finished fighting Isobu then ambushed us and taken him after we exhausted ourselves fighting him, shouldn't he? Isobu is a Tailed Beast after all; even a Legendary Sannin would struggle battling him. I suspect that Danzo just leaked information about Isobu's whereabout to Orochimaru, looking forward to using our hands to get rid of that snake for him."