Chapter 09: Kakashi's Revelation
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As the ship left early the next morning Kakashi couldn't help but feel his pounding in response to the previous day. He had absolutely no luck finding a captain willing to take them over to Uzu and yet Naruto had somehow managed in an hour. When he asked about it, the blonde confessed to making a very dangerous gamble. Despite that he was proud of the boy for his efforts and the way that he had somehow managed to temporarily, at least, mend the rift between the Konoha nin and the sailors in that port. The sea breeze was refreshing and he had the genin practicing some safe chakra control exercises for the duration of the trip. He could only hope that he would be able to try and gain some trust with Naruto soon. The Sandaime was starting to apply pressure to find out why Naruto and Sasuke seemed to change so quickly. Especially so close to the forbidden scroll incident. It was going to be a long trip.
Naruto, Sasuke and Hinata were sitting on the other side of the ship across from Kakashi staring intensely at the water balloon that they were holding. The goal was to try and add fire chakra to heat the water slightly but not enough to pop the balloon. Unfortunately Naruto and Sasuke had already melted the balloon five times and Hinata kept making the water boil rapidly. So rapidly that the balloon popped and sent water hot enough for tea spraying everywhere. The rubber layer between their hands and the balloon was making it difficult because they were trying to get the elemental chakra to the water without disturbing the container.
"ARGH! Kakashi-sensei there has to be some trick to this! Can't you give us a hint?" Naruto finally yelled in frustration. The jonin merely eye smiled at them and went back to his book.
"I know dobe. I'm struggling over here to and I thought that I had pretty good control over my fire chakra before." Sasuke sighed leaning back. Hinata continued to stare at the balloon until she cried out in triumph. The males looked over to see the water at a gentle boil and the balloon intact.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Naruto shrieked in disbelief. The heiress blushed and looked at her teammates.
"Channel your chakra into the balloon first and then change its nature after it has merged with the water. From there just raise the concentration until the water begins to boil." She lectured. Both of the time travelers blinked three times at her before screaming in frustration at the easy solution that they had missed. Within minutes they too had managed the exercise.
"Good now keep trying until it only takes five or less seconds." Kakashi ordered much to the genin's dismay. Nodding in acknowledgment they went back to work. The captain looked over at the jonin in contemplation. While he seemed far to laid back and somewhat irresponsible, Naruto-san truly seemed to respect him. As a result he had found himself begrudgingly respecting the jonin as well. While it seemed that Sandaime did indeed have an ulterior motive for sending them to Uzu, the jonin seemed to have no intention of following through with his orders. Similarly though, the jonin seemed to have his own agenda for going to Uzu as well. Shaking his head he focused ahead once again.
The whirlpools of Uzu were notorious for swallowing any vessel that dared approach carelessly. There was only one safe passage for anyone that did not know the seals for releasing the security that was in place and he was only one of two that knew it. How the invaders got on Uzu he still didn't know, however he was determined to one day find out. Immediately after hearing the news of the invasion his father had checked the other ship captain that knew the route and found that he was still in the hospital, in a coma. The same place that he had been for two years. Ever since he had refused to tell a group of pirates how to get to Uzu. Without a Yamanaka it would have been impossible to find the information and as far as anyone knew there had never been a Yamanaka in the hospital. His father had taught him the route and made him continuously take it until he had memorized the pattern. The last thing that his father had ever taught him.
"We will be there in an hour." He called out to his passengers. It had been nearly three hours since they had left and he was looking forward to seeing the once majestic island again. Having had no need to go there he hadn't been to Uzu since the last trip with his father. It was a long four hour journey however well worth the trip. He just hoped that the boy wasn't getting his hopes up. There was no one on the island. Most likely the place had already been picked clean as well. Whatever he was hoping to find was most likely not there anymore.
Naruto's heart sped up just a little at the knowledge that he was to be landing in his ancestral homeland in just one more hour. He wasn't sure of what to expect when he got there. Corpses? Destroyed buildings? Living people? Endless possibilities raced through his head and he was struggling to keep his imagination in check. Kurama had informed him that the clan library should still be intact having been guarded by very powerful seals to prevent theft. He knew for a fact that he wanted to get to that at least. He did not know near as much as he needed to decode the Edo Tensei and he would need to if he intended to prevent as many casualties as possible.
As the island drew closer the shinobi stopped their activities and moved to the front of the boat. They couldn't help but stare in fascination as the captain swiftly and skillfully navigated between the whirlpools taking them safely to port. The port was in far better shape than Naruto expected and he stared as he saw various ships from other nations rotting in the water. It was clear that whoever stepped foot on the shores of the island did not leave that day. Carefully as not to trigger any remaining traps he navigated through the docks and into the village itself. The skeletons, an echo of lives previously lived, lied on the ground some with weapons still run through them. Many of the skeletons had headbands wrapped around their foreheads or on the ground next to them. Some were no older than newborns, killed before they even had a chance. It was clear that the invaders had come with the intention of genocide.
"Stay sharp. The security system is still probably active and the Uzumaki were masters at trap building." The captain called. He had no desire to head farther into the island to see further destruction and turned to head back to his ship. Before he knew it there was a copy of the blonde next to him smiling.
"I'll walk you back so that you don't trigger any traps by accident. I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt because of me." The clone said and headed off with the captain. The real Naruto glanced around and couldn't help but feel sorrow welling up at the loss of people he never even met. Perhaps that was why he was filled with sorrow, he never met them and he could have. 'If only the Sandaime had sent them backup.' He thought angrily.
"I'm going to try and find the security system to disable it so that we can walk freely." He called out and headed off towards the center of the island. Kakashi let him go knowing that it couldn't be easy for the blonde to see so many people that he could have called family but never got a chance to. 'Did you really let all of these people die when you had the chance to save them?' he pondered of the aging man. It seemed to Kakashi as if there was far more skeletons in Konoha's closet then he thought. 'One day the skeletons will come out. What will you do then Hiruzen? It will be the end of Konoha.' If only Kakashi knew.
The path through the village center was littered with even more skeletons all of them varying in age and gender. Many of them lost their lives trying to flee from the attackers. Obviously none of them made it. A small part of Naruto snorted as he remembered the red head that had been working for Orochimaru. 'Karin I think it was. Did her family escape or was they not in the village when the destruction happened like mom?' he wondered to himself. Every so often he would stop and dismantle the traps that he found and pocket the useable supplies. The ones that were too old or would no longer work, he sealed in another scroll to keep everyone else safe. He had to hand it to his relatives they were very good at trap making. Second only to him. The thought caused the fox inside to start laughing.
'What's so funny?'
'Nothing much. Just that they would have said the same thing. They were very proud of their trap making. However, I have to agree. You are better than they are. You actually see the traps. Many of the Uzumaki accidentally set their own pranks off because they forgot where they were and couldn't spot them in time.' The nine tails mused making Naruto chuckle a little. It was not much further that Kurama made him turn to look at what was an old looking gardening shed.
'There. That is where the security center is.'
'Are you sure? Looks like a gardening shed.'
'That's part of the charm. How many people would think to look in a gardening shed to turn off village security?' Naruto had to admit that the fox had a point and entered the building cautiously. While the structure looked like it was about to collapse in on itself from the outside, the inside told of a different story. The building was intact and a seal was the only thing in the room and that was on the floor.
'Um if someone looked in here I think that they would have noticed.' Naruto said sweat dropping.
'The fact that it is visible to you only means that the seals on the building itself recognize you as an Uzumaki by blood. No one else would see this. They would see a gardening shed about to collapse and a lot of rusty tools.' That was actually a very ingenious idea. Naruto was contemplating implementing it for the barrier division after he retook the throne of Hokage when the door slammed shut.
"What the fuck?" he swore running over. No matter how hard he pushed the door wouldn't budge and it was clear that he wasn't getting out. Before he could try to look for another exit the seal began to glow and nothing but a wall of white could be seen. Soon Naruto knew nothing more.
"Do you think that Naruto-kun is okay?" Hinata asked as she looked down at the skeleton of an infant that looked like it had been clutching a small bear when it had died.
"It's dobe he'll be fine." Sasuke said. Not two seconds later a massive pillar of light rose into the sky from the direction that Naruto had run off in. Sasuke groaned and felt the need to amend his statement. "If trouble doesn't find him." The shinobi glanced at each other and raced towards the light hoping that Naruto had not gotten hit by a security measure that the island had in place.
When they found the blonde he was lying in a crumpled heap in the middle of the courtyard. His eyes were closed and his breathing shallow. After a quick check for injuries Hinata sighed in relief.
"He is just unconscious. Something drained a lot of his chakra though." She stated pulling the blonde's head into her lap. Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief and then rolled his eyes.
"Dobe you never make looking after you easy do you?" Kakashi narrowed his eyes but said nothing. "Hinata is there anyone else on the island that you can see with your byakugans?"
"No one that I can see in my range of sight." She said with a quick scan. She had even turned her head so that she wouldn't be taken by surprise if someone had been in her blind spot. She was quite proud of her dojutsu's range now that she had been improving. Sitting down Sasuke rubbed his head and looked at the jonin tiredly.
"Make sure that the Sandaime didn't put any listening seals on you. You never know with that senile fool." He snapped. Kakashi rose an eyebrow at the command but did so anyway. He had the feeling that he was about to get the explanation that he was after. After finding none he sat down and looked at Sasuke quietly.
"Naruto and I have a lot of secrets that we can't share with you at the moment. It is not because you aren't trustworthy Kakashi-sensei however we need to know just how far the Sandaime is willing to go to get the information that he wants on us. I know that he has been pressuring you to find out why we are different but at this moment we can't tell you. Depending on how things go until the next chunin exam held in Konoha will be whether we can tell you. However you need to know that we are and are not Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. We have possessed ourselves in a sense." He said looking the jonin in the eye.
"Hinata knows?" he said still suspicious.
"Just the basics. Naruto-kun said that there were things that I was better off not knowing and I believe him. He had no choice but to tell me after I confronted him the day that we graduated." Hinata explained. "I do know that they need as much help as they can get and that they need as many people that they can trust as possible. We can trust their instincts." She said with conviction.
"Will I really need to wait until the chunin exam to get my answers?"
"Depends on how things go." Sasuke replied. Nodding in temporary satisfaction the jonin busied himself in making camp for the night. He knew that the blonde would be out for a while.
Naruto awoke to Sasuke cooking over the campfire and singing birds. His head hurt and he just wanted to go back to sleep.
"What happened?"
"You knocked yourself out trying to find the security center, dobe." Sasuke said in exasperation. Naruto groaned and thought back to what had happened to him yesterday. As he tried to remember what happened after the door slammed shut rapid images of seals and blueprints seemed to flash by his eyes making his headache worse. Groaning he grabbed his head.
'Please tell me that there is something that you can do about this Kurama.' He begged his lifelong companion.
'Working on it. I have to isolate the images and then try to place them in some sort of coherent order. I know that the key to finding everything that you want to know is in here we just have to find it.'
'I thought that was the security center!'
'It was. Perhaps the seals thought that it would be easier to figure things out yourself. Or the center works differently than I thought. It may be possible that all of Uzu's knowledge is stored just like the security maps.' The nine tails replied.
'Great.' It took nearly four hours for Kyuubi to sort out the information that had been crammed into Naruto's head and by then they had already eaten lunch.
"Okay I got it. Follow me." Naruto chirped as he finally deciphered the las diagram. Uzu's layout had been much more complex than he had thought. Walking to the fountain in the middle to the village he began to weave a rapid set of hand seals. When he was done he placed one hand on the ground and the other he cut open and placed inside the fountain. As the blood and chakra mingled and elaborate seal began to reveal itself as it wrapped around the stunned shinobi and then continued out into the distance. The seal eventually stopped expanding and in a bright flash of light the village was transformed.
"Holy shit" was the collective thoughts of all those present.
:To Be Continued: