The blonde ANBU made it home in time to see Hikaru walk from the bathroom to the bedroom on his hands, singing about the new ANBU in Gama squad. Angel blinked, Naruto face palmed, and both just quietly collapsed on the couch, vowing to never speak of the incident again.
…Naruto.
Naruto shot up half an hour later when Kurama's voice rang in his head. It had been awhile since the fox had called him anything resembling a non insult.
Yes, Kurama?
…It's nothing. Just go to sleep. Kurama grumbled after a minute. Naruto sighed at his sort of friend's attitude.
No. You've been like this since I failed to use four tails, Kurama. What is with you?
Go to the forest of death and enter your mindscape. We'll talk there. Confused, Naruto replaces himself with a shadow clone, letting Angel sleep on the fake's stomach and silently put on his shoes. With a look back towards his bedroom door the blonde quietly leaves for a place he dreaded.
With Dragon hours earlier…
The commander of ANBU had to be the best in the forces. He had to be on par with a kage, be able to keep a cool head in the most dire of situations, and have the ability to step in if the Hokage died in battle.
Dragon had all those things, and still found it difficult to face his underlings, both of whom were technically older than him.
"We'll discuss this later. For now, Kakashi prepare the lighting ninjutsu and Tiger try to keep him boxed in with your Mokuten. No, go!" Dragon ordered and activated his cursed eye.
Han stared impassively at his attackers- clearly Konoha- but inside both he and Kokuo were nervous. So far he could pick apart the two shinobi but this new one…
Be careful, that one has the Mangekyo. He's dangerous, we should retreat. Kokuo was advising frantically. Han would head that advice, if only it wasn't impossible with this empty terrain. Perfect for his boil release as targets couldn't hide.
It was also perfect for his new opponent as well it seemed. Only crossing his arms in an x stopped a shunshin to the throat. After images filled the space around him, making the Jinchuuriki have to dodge both a shunshin master and wooden spikes.
"Lightning style: Electromagnetic murder!" Kakashi pushed his chakra into Han, managing to puncture the mechanism for his steam.
"Shit" Han cursed and did a spiral spin to avoid multiple wooden spikes. Contrary to popular belief, Han was very flexible, and was able to get inside his opponent's openings. With two hand signs a stream of steam shoots out of his hands at the Mokuten user. Only for it to catch fire as a wood clone. Ducking, he avoids a cartwheel kick and grabs the Dragon-masked one's leg and crushes down hard. The man just hisses and another lighting jutsu impales the other side of his armor, this time paralyzing Han for a moment. Four tails of his version one cloak erupt again after disapeering when he believed the fight to be over- before the fast one joined in-and he was regretting it now. Still swinging his capture around Han caught Kakashi in his range.
"Errupting strong foot" using the last of his boiling steam Han rockets the copy ninja away towards Tenzo, and only survived as his Sharingan allowed him to see the attack in time to block the brunt of it aimed at his chest. Needless to say Kakashi would be hurting in the morning.
"Wood style: smothering binding technique" Tenzo wheezed, a bit out of chakra. His reserves were never anything special and today was taxing them. Wooden vines captured Han, immobilizing and draining the demonic chakra. Han was already pushing through it, though he dropped Dragon and the man used a shunshin to land next to Tenzo.
"Chidori!" Kakashi said as he
"Susanoo: Tsukomo" An inhuman looking chakra image of a warrior like creature rises above Dragon. Its ribcage opens and several chakra spikes shoot forward, impaling Han and the land around the Jinchuuriki before dissipating once Dragon drops the technique and clutches the eye. Han lay dead, the demonic chakra already spreading everywhere. "Ugh, it's been too long since I used that." Dragon groaned. His subordinates dropped to the ground as well, Kakashi and Tenzo both sporting burns and cracked ribs, Dragon himself having a possibly fractured leg. His shunshin was useful, but it left the user open for a counter strike. It's how he lost his first eye all those years ago. He wraps the leg up after some medical ninjutsu, deeming it able to last till they got back.
"Dragon-sama, how" Tenzo tried but Dragon stopped him.
"Once we're safe at home. That chakra will be felt by reinforcements and they'll be here within several hours. For now, make your wood go away, Kakashi, add some more lighting marks while I position the bodies and hide our trail." Rain started puttering due to it being the wet season, a small blessing as it would aid in masking their scents.
"Yes sir" They both said, though neither could look at him.
The things he did for Konoha…
Back in Konoha, present…
"And we made it where Iwa will suspect Kumo, just as you ordered, Hokage-sama." Dragon finished his report, him and the others sitting down, the Hokage looking older than ever. They were in the black ops room, the place where missions that didn't exist were handed out. Dragon had been here many times, the worst still when he was given that mission.
"Thank you, Dragon. While it pains me to possibly start a war between the two villages, Konoha wouldn't have survived had they sent Han and Roshi. At least now we stand a solid chance."
"Of course, Hokage-sama" Dragon bowed his head. Kakashi and Tenzo- who was unmasked- had blank looks.
"We have around five years give or take before the Gobi manifests again, at which Iwa will scramble to reseal it. Until then only Kumo has two, putting us at an advantage as we hold the Kyubi, though I hate thinking of Naruto that way."
"Mouse knows his duty, and he's happy. He just has a chakra battery of sorts, one that will help both him and Konoha in the long run." Sarutobi assents and sighs.
"Now, I think you need a few minutes alone with your team. This room is secure, I'll be taking a stroll. You have authorization to tell them what you wish, even the whole truth." The weight of that statement hit the commander as his leader stood up and walked away. Soon they were left alone. The three powerful shinobi, one S-rank and the other two A-ranked, sat in silence. Finally, Kakashi spoke.
"Why? Why did you let us think you were dead, Shisui?"
For the first time in years, Dragon took off his mask outside of his sealed room. The face of Shisui Uchiha, thought to everyone but his Hokage to be dead- until now, that is- stared with one eye at his old comrades and friends.
"It's…hard to explain."
"Try us" Kakashi quipped. He had been on the same squad as Shisui for a short time before the younger man became a one man team for a special assignment for the Hokage. Kakashi and Tenzo had both tried to keep in contact with their friend, but he drifted apart, eyes becoming more worried.
And then he committed suicide, though many blamed Itachi. It was another failure on Kakashi's part, even if the rational side assured him he had no way of knowing what was happening. And now Shisui sat in front of him once again, not dead, but instead a different person, as the commander, a more serious but still joking individual.
It was too much. Kakashi had to know why.
"Fine, just, sit back and don't interrupt, okay?" The two nodded slowly. Taking a deep breath Shisui spoke, taking Sarutobi's advice and getting the weight off of him. "It all began when Danzo Shimura set his eyes on the Sharingan. After Naruto's birth he did everything to sow discord among the clan for his own desires. My cousin, Itachi, was caught in the middle. The most loyal shinobi I know, Itachi tried his hardest to stop it, but Danzo and another party didn't want the Uchiha stopped, they wanted them dead." On and on Shisui spun the tale of the Uchiha's tragic demise, two enraptured shinobi his audience.
With Naruto…
Naruto sat in a tree house his captain had made for the squad during their training last month. Getting into the lotus position he dove deep into his mind.
Waking up in the sewer like seal was never a fun moment. Naruto blinked quickly but struck off towards Kurama.
Kurama held his breath as his container approached. He wasn't sure if he should be hopeful or spiteful. Hope that this weird child that was a certain type of genius with a silly side was the one? Or be spiteful in the knowledge that he was like every other human since father?
Kurama didn't know.
Naruto ambled in and smiled slightly at Kurama, not realizing before then how much he had grown to begrudgingly care for the fox in his head.
"Hey, Kurama. What's the deal dragging me out here?"
"You're here to meet me." A voice very much like Naruto's own yet dripping with malice spoke. From the shadows a clone of Naruto though with black holes for eyes, walks out, a cruel smirk under his mask.
"You're not a shadow clone" Naruto deduced. "Yet you look like me- minus the eyes. Who are you?"
"Why I'm you! Or, the real you, that is" The clone mocked, walking around Naruto like a predator. Kurama watched silently from the shadows of his cage. The creature in front represented the deep darkness in his container's heart, the rage that Kurama could gather up. If Naruto couldn't beat it, he'd be taken over, and Kurama would be released. The fox didn't know if he wanted that. Before meeting and talking with Naruto, he'd have done anything to escape, but now? Now, he wasn't sure that having a human that was approaching friendship status dying was what he wanted. Not even for freedom. As he observed, Kurama just sighed and realized either way things were changing. "I'm the darkness, the rage you want to unleash. I'm what the villagers created. I'm the killer in you. Give in, we'll become powerful with me in charge!" Dark Naruto, as the origional began thinking of him as, said while pointing to himself.
"No. I won't let you take over, things are different now! I have friends, comrades…" The two clashed, Dark Naruto aiming for vital points, Naruto doing the same. Punch for punch they match, blocking every thing the other throws, any cuts disappearing as it was in the mindscape. "The village is better now, I my squad, my family, is enough. The shinobi sector accepts me!" They break apart and glare, both realizing a battle of strength would do nothing. So, words were the ammo now.
"Yet you can't walk around the village except in your ANBU gear without jeers and fearful looks." Dark Naruto countered. Naruto shook his head.
"They'll change, and I don't need them. The ANBU and jonin"
"See us as a weapon! We remind everyone of father or their pain! Not even our Godfather wanted us…you still refuse to see the truth. Remember this?"
A scene in the water played out. It was of Naruto, barely an age to read, yet kicked out of the orphanage. An ANBU- Kakashi he realized- watched impassively from the tree nearby, simply signaling for the Hokage to be called, never comforting Naruto as he sat on a swing in the dying light. The Hokage had sighed when he arrived soon after, and had let Naruto sleep in his office that night. The council had decided to put him in an apartment after that, and Naruto had always been alone.
"That was years ago! It's in the past" His protests died when another scene appeared. This time a ten year old Naruto had cried to his 'Jiji' that his papers were being graded wrong, but the Hokage just brushed him off with a 'don't accuse our chunin of such things without real proof. Keep working hard, Naruto, and I'm sure you'll pass soon.' Naruto had gone on a pranking spree after that, no one bothering to notice how cunning they were or how far he'd grown. Multiple other memories appeared, each painful in their own way.
Being glared at when he failed, the jeers barely whispered.
Walking into his apartment vandalized again on his birthday while he was at school. No violent acts, but still to have his books torn and food kicked around a bit was disheartening. He'd never pressed charges, even the times they caught the ones responsible, as he wanted them to accept him and 'be Hokage.'
"Now do you see? They need to pay! With Kurama's help we could rampage, make them fear us, make them respect us."
"No" Naruto said, after looking at another memory, this time of one of his lonely camping trips into the forest while eating fish. He met his dark half's gaze. "I will protect the village."
"Why?!"
"Because…it's the right thing to do. Not everyone hates me. A lot of others are growing to like me, actually. I have comrades, a best friend even if he is an idiot and calls me a stupid nickname."
"Our dreams died because of the village!" Dark Naruto pointed out. Naruto snorted.
"No, they changed. Why be Hokage stuck with paperwork when you can be a shinobi who protects their village on the field instead? I can be a jonin sensei one day, an ANBU captain. Heck, if Dragon-sama ever retires- he's ageless, I swear- then I could be the commander!" Naruto rambled on, and Dark Naruto growled.
"So you'll leave me behind? Here to rot while you make us the village's attack dog? What's the point? I'm…useless." Naruto smiled a bit.
"No, you're not." Both Kurama and Dark Naruto shot him looks. "You're the one that kept me alive, that made killing for the village doable. You made me…no us, balanced. For there can't be light without darkness, or good without bad. No one is all good, not even the sage. We just need to get along." Naruto said, remembering the lesson on ying and yang that the Hokage taught him. "The past is the past, it's a part of who we are. But let's not let the past shadow the future, okay?" He held out a hand, pulling down his mask and smiling a genuine smile. Dark Naruto gazes at the hand like it could be a trick, but hesitantly takes it. After a minute he too copies and pulls down his mask for a smile. Two whiskered blondes stare at one another, even as Dark Naruto's eyes become blue and he fades.
"Thank you" were his last words, before Naruto had a feeling of completeness, a feeling he didn't realize he'd missed before now.
Kurama's mouth was slightly agape. His container merged with his darkness, beating it not by force but by acceptance. Strangely, Kurama couldn't help but be impressed with the display.
"Hey, Kurama!" His human…friend, Kurama decided, said. Yes, Naruto could be a friend, even if his methods were delusional. "Liked the show, I hope, my friend?"
Humph. As if you could be my friend. Get out of here, gaki, your prescence annoys me! Kurama snorted, insulting Naruto, hiding the hopeful glint by the shadows.
"Bah! One day you'll see the truth: you like me! Just you wait."
Whatever…Naruto. Neither understood that that night under the crescent moon in the viscious forest, the buddings of the most powerful partnership was born.
Even if it was in its infancy and dominated by insults. Some relationships were just like that.
Unknown to Naruto, his captain and big brother/sempai were on their own emotional rollercoaster.
With Dragon…
Dragon-no Shisui, they reminded themselves, looked hopeful after telling the first two people after the Hokage everything.
"So you were supposed to make Fugaku stop the coup with your Sharingan."
"Yes."
"And then Danzo stole one eye so you went to the Hokage and instead of killing the basterd right there he had you fake your death by putting Itachi in a genjutsu and giving him your 'other eye' which was really your mother's who had died years ago. The coup happens, and now Itachi is a double agent for the village in an organization that wants to rip the kyubi out of sensei's son."
"Yes. At the time we didn't know about the second man pulling the strings, or that Danzo helped organize the coup by manipulation. His plan was to use my eye to get Naruto under his control as Hiruzen would think it's his own choice. He succeeded too, but I reversed it, making Danzo freak out thinking the eye only worked as a pair. He went underground, keeping Root close. Hiruzen refused to believe his friend went that low, so I had to 'gather sufficient evidence' in his words, before I can kill him and take my eye back. Technically I could kill him now, but Root has to be eradicated with its shinobi either joining or dying. Root was supposed to be controlled by the Hokage but Danzo has kept most of them as his private army, doing dirty work that has actually harmed the village, not helped it. The plan now is to take him and his lackeys out right after the exams, letting the chaos of Orochimaru and Suna's plans be a mask for what amounts to mass murder. If some escape the initial cleansing we can tell the public they're Suna spies instead of kidnapped and brainwashed members of clans. Out of the three hundred Root agents, estimates from our mole inside is that only a hundred- the children- will be salvageable."
"An inside agent?" Tenzo asked with a raised eye brow. His time in Root showed that usually moles were quickly turned or…eradicated.
"Yes, the agent used to follow Danzo blindly but they've since started to question his methods after being on a long term assignment in the village. They sought the Hokage and I out awhile ago, letting us put a tracking seal on him and an Aburame bug to gather intel. Because of them we're ready."
"Good, let's take the creep out" Kakashi states. Shisui blinked.
"Oh hell no. You two were told just to keep you quiet and that I wanted to let two of my old friends know the truth. You guys can just keep things running while the Hokage and I do this."
"Nope, sorry, Dragon-sama," Kakashi replied with an eye smile and sickly sweet tone, "but according to you he tried to take Naruto and make him his own personal pet, and he already attempted the same thing on Tenzo here. We can be of help."
"Sempai is correct; let us help, we are comrades and friends." Tenzo added. Shisui smiled at them.
"Alright already," He held his hands up in surrender. "You win, I'll write you up in my strategy. Now" here he puts on his mask again and slightly shifts into Dragon once more, even if they were basically the same. "Let's go get some medical attention before I go break Mouse's defenses again" he rubbed his hands together gleefully. Kakashi and Tenzo sweatdropped.
"Um, Dragon-sama? Why do you keep breaking down Naruto's seals and replacing his food every night?" Tenzo asked. Dragon tapped where his chin would be.
"Hmm, well it's a good mental work out for me, disabling his traps and seals. That, and it makes Mouse keep improving security while also keeping him dedicated to Guy's training. That, and it's fun" he added as they walked- or in Dragon's case tried to not limp- over to the medical section where med-nin would be waiting.
An hour later the three made it to the appartments, Kakashi and Tenzo deciding to help in the mischief. They see Naruto casually walk into his door. Tenzo frowned.
"He's not supposed to be up this late! Oh, someone is having corner duty during our next Hokage shift" Tenzo muttered. Kakashi snorts.
"Tenzo, calm down, you're his captain, not mother. Naruto is a ninja and if he wants to stay out until three am in the morning that's his problem." Tenzo gaped at him while Dragon chuckled.
"I have to agree he shouldn't be punished, as tomorrow is just a training day not a mission. Also, I find the best punishment would be letting Guy help 'aid his flames of youth' earlier than normal, ne?" Two devilish smirks met his hidden one. Dragon knocked on Guy's door, and the green beast answered with a blinding grin. "Greetings, Guy. Mouse was so heartbroken that you left him behind yesterday and I think taking him early would cheer him up. Him and his temporary roommate just love early morning workouts." Dragon said cheerfully. Guy rambled on about YOUTH before zipping by with the training gear, already in Naruto's apartment, Kakashi and Tenzo having already gotten it untrapped for him.
"NOOOOO" were the duel cries as Naruto and Hikaru were manhandled for their special training.
"How did you know Naruto missed training yesterday?" Tenzo asked idly once they left. Dragon turned towards him.
"I'm the commander; I know everything" And when I'm not here, my crow is he added silently.
"Right, sure."
When Naruto later limped into his ninjutsu lessons with Jiraiya, who had returned and planned on showing his godson the five pronged seal and another earth style move, he was twitching, with bags under his eyes.
"Youth. Youth. Damn youth. I will get my revenge!" The boy cackled madly, making Jiraiya wonder if the fox was taking over.
In the seal Kurama had his ears covered, not wanting to hear that cursed word again.
Meanwhile, a disheveled Hikaru arrived for team seven's training, in a similar state as his younger friend.
Iwa, later…
Onoki raged against his desk. Kumo- their supposed allies- had killed one of their Jinchuuriki, meaning they would be down to only one for four to six years before it reformed.
"Bastards" Onoki muttered. The evidence pointed to Kumo and that some of them got away, but it would be stupid to go to war now, before they could prepare. Onoki turned towards his trembling assistant. "Send word to Orochimaru; we won't be helping in his invasion for personal matters. Call Roshi back, he's to be confined to the village. I won't have another of our Jinchuuriki dead."