Chapter 16: Of Bugs and Family
____
As Naruto waited for the Sandaime's decision he began to contemplate his next action should the Sandaime refuse. He knew that the man was trying to find a way to control him and he would not allow that. His actions and ulterior motives for allowing the trip to Uzu had told him as much as he needed to know. How the Sandaime had gotten away with pretending to be someone he could trust for so long still alluded the blonde.
"Surely you understand Naruto that the rules state that you are to receive no less than three days off as a way to help you recuperate from your mission injured or not, right?"
"Surely you understand that rule only applies to village missions and not clan based missions right?" Naruto countered the Sandaime making him flinch. He had somehow outsmarted him without even trying.
"What is so important that it can not wait for you to get some rest?"
"As I said before the well being of a clan member." As the two locked eyes and began an intense staring match Kakashi merely nodded in confirmation to the unspoken question on Zabuza, Haku's and Kurenai's minds. Yes, this had become the norm between the two.
"With or without your permission I can go. I merely decided to try and go about this without forcing the use of my clan's name. To many people do that lately thinking that their clan is more important than who they are." Naruto snapped at the older ninja. Everyone in the room was silent as they watched the verbal war between the two.
"Be that as it may, you are still a genin and as such you are forbidden from the leaving the village on your own. Kakashi would be sent on a village mission to escort you and as such I can not send him and I refuse to take the jonin from any other team so that you can go for two weeks." Hiruzen fired back.
"You don't need to. As a genin I may be forbidden from leaving the village on my own however, as a foreign diplomat of Uzu, so long as there are shinobi from Uzu to escort me you can't stop me from leaving nor can you retaliate for me leaving. If you hadn't noticed, there are two Uzu shinobi behind me." Naruto countered once more. For once the Sandaime didn't reply right away as the laws were turned on him and he was left staring at the blonde before him. How had he gotten so proficient with the laws regarding the line between clan, village and foreign affairs? How had he not noticed this?
"Very well. However, I want you back in..." The Sandaime never finished as the blonde cut him off once more.
"You can not place a time constraint on a clan matter nor can limit how much time I have to spend on a mission not involving Konoha." Gritting his teeth the Sandaime scribbled a quick note and handed it to Naruto who looked it over, nodded and then made a copy. As soon as the copy was made he gave it to Sasuke for safe keeping. Sasuke just nodded and slipped it in his hip pouch sealing it in a storage seal as soon as it was out of sight.
"Zabuza, Haku let's go." Naruto said turning and leaving the room. Nodding they followed after the Uzu prince.
"Hinata, Sasuke, Shino you are free to go. Kurenai please wait outside while I discuss a few things with Kakashi." The Sandaime ordered and the aforementioned ninja bowed and left the room.
"Well? What did you find? Did you discover anything?" The Sandaime said as soon as the door was closed.
"Just that the port villages that used to work with Uzu have absolutely no love whatsoever for Konoha or its shinobi and believe that the village had something to do with Uzu's destruction. Naruto is very clever and highly observant when it comes to traps and the invading forces left almost nothing to salvage. Most of what we managed were, as I said before, clan census records and a family tree. Outside of the headbands that Naruto scavenged out of what was a store house there was nothing left. The whole place is a wreck and I think it was picked clean at one point." Kakashi lied smoothly. He had been trying to come up with a viable lie that would work with the Sandaime ever since he found out about Konoha's role in Uzu's destruction.
"I see. Has Naruto opened up any about anything?"
"Just that he thinks that you and the village are unnecessarily smothering him and that he wants it to stop. He also believes that it could be possible to revive Uzu by tracking down any survivors that may have escaped. However, to my knowledge has no plans to actually do so. He has been hiding his true strength this whole time because the village has not given him a reason to believe that he wouldn't be sabotaged more than he already had been." Kakashi lied once more. Hiruzen leaned back and sighed. He had been afraid of that. Perhaps the boy had not been as loyal as he had once thought that he had been. Had his exuberance and hyperactivity in regards to what he thought was a 'familial' relationship just an act too?
"What of Sasuke?"
"He has been hiding his strength as well in order to prevent the village from worshiping him more than they already do and treating him as they did Itachi." Hiruzen nodded and motioned for Kakashi to leave and send in Kurenai. Obeying the copy ninja sighed in relief at getting away with the lie. Although he would hate to be Kurenai right now.
With Naruto...
As Zabuza, Naruto and Haku raced through the forest towards their destination the only thing on their minds was how the Sandaime had fought fervently to keep Naruto from leaving on clan business. Zabuza knew, from experience with other clan shinobi, that the behavior that the Sandaime had exhibited was abnormal. Not even Yagura, after he began to act weird, would have protested that adamantly. Looking ahead of him he saw Naruto had his teeth clenched and his hands balled up into fists. Somehow he had the feeling that there was more going on then he had originally thought.
"Hey Zabuza, do you know why the Rikudou Sennin was so revered?" Naruto suddenly called out.
"All I know is that he was apparently the first person to use chakra and created the moon after defeating the ten tailed beast." He called back.
"That is why, but the thing that is never said is that he couldn't have done it alone. His brother helped him. It wasn't just the Juubi that they sealed away either. They sealed away their mother the Rabbit Goddess. The moon is one layer of the seal itself." Naruto replied making both shinobi stop in their tracks.
"What?!" Haku and Zabuza squeaked.
"It's true." Naruto said turning around looking at his companions. "The only thing that is really sealed in the moon is the Juubi's body and the rabbit goddess herself. The Juubi's chakra was split into nine fragments."
"Then that means that the Bijuu are just fragments of the ten tails itself."
"Not 'just' a fragment. They are their own person. They have their own personalities and quirks. Likes and dislikes are also present in their personality. By definition that makes them human does it not?"
"When you put it that way, Naruto-san, then yes they are human." Haku replied softly.
"Why did you decide to bring that up now?"
"I just wanted to make sure that you understood that I will allow no disrespect of the Bijuu in my presence." Naruto said softly. He had endured more than enough of hearing the bijuu constantly referred to as beasts for his liking. Turning and continuing his trek forwards he was contemplating the way that he would be able to accomplish his goal without causing a war.
Heading into the Hyuga manor, Hinata quietly made her way down to her father's study knowing that he was probably worried about her. Knocking on the door she waited for the stern man to given her permission to enter. After hearing a very quiet 'come in' she entered the room and flinched a little at seeing the council in the room as well.
"If this is a bad time father I can come back." Hinata said knowing that the council would probably complicate some things.
"No its fine." Her grandfather Hisashi said looking over at the incompetent female. He had never approved of her soft spoken and gentle ways but no matter what he did he could not get his son to see that allowing her to take over the clan would only bring disaster. Furthermore, he couldn't get his son to remarry and produce a male heir. Hiashi narrowed his eyes at the older Hyuga and then glanced at Hinata.
"How did your missions go?" He asked surprising the council of elders.
"It went well. Both missions were completed in record time. On our way home we were ordered to go and back up team eight who had some difficulties. Unfortunately, Kiba and Sakura were rushed back to the village in critical condition. Akamaru was badly wounded as well. However, we were able to finish the mission despite the appearance of Zabuza Momochi, Maro the Mantis, Goro the Unyielding, Ryusuke the Dragon Tamer and Hiyari the Mistress of Torture. The bridge between Nami no Kuni and Hi no Kuni has been successfully completed and I am on a mandatory three day break because of the missions. I think Kakashi-sensei said that between the time that we left and the time that we returned we had completed 2 C-ranks, 2 A-ranks and an S-rank mission." She informed the clan head making everyone's jaws drop in shock. None of the ninja that she had mentioned were easy to defeat by any means on their own. Yet Hinata, the most gentle person they knew, was standing before them having survived encountering all five of them!
"I take it that the jonin did most of the work." Hisashi said arrogantly.
"Kurenai-san was ordered to stay with the client at the time that we raided Gato's base so she wasn't even there. Kakashi-sensei did indeed take out Goro the Unyielding but Sasuke was the one who took out Maro the Mantis. Naruto-kun took out Ryusuke the Dragon Tamer by himself as well. Shino and I were the ones that fought Hiyari the Mistress of Torture." Hinata squeaked. She knew that her grandfather was looking for any reason to discredit her hard work and she wasn't going to let him get away with it. Before the old fool could say anymore Hiashi was in front of his daughter looking for missing limbs and/or irreparable damage.
"What was Kakashi thinking letting you fight them on your own?!"
"We didn't know that they were there. They managed to avoid being detected by the scouting team that had been sent to determine how many people were working with Gato. We only found out that they were there after the fights started and we had already split up to make sure that no one escaped and we had covered all of the entrances." Hinata said quickly trying to prevent her father from reviving the plans to build a tower to put her in.
"Still he could have been far more careful." Hiashi said sitting back satisfied that nothing was missing. Giggling a little Hinata gave her father a true smile. She had missed him.
With Shino...
"I'm home." Shino called out entering his clan's compound. While he had expected his parents to be worried he had not expected them to nearly asphyxiate him.
"Are you alright?!" His mother nearly screamed at the boy who nodded mutely. Shibi could understand his wife's concern. When they had heard that over half of his son's team had returned and were in the hospital in critical condition he had been very concerned over his safety. He had immediately run to the hospital to try and see if anyone could tell him where Shino was only to be told that none of them had regained consciousness and that they had been brought to the hospital in a stasis scroll by one of Kakashi's ninken. He had been fretting over his son's safety ever since.
"I'm fine." He said and then proceeded to tell them everything as they headed into the kitchen to get some tea. He had missed being home.
Several days later...
As the entrance to the village loomed ahead of them, Naruto, Zabuza and Haku took a breath and then headed into the Takigakure. Stopped by one of the guards Naruto calmly explained that they had need to see his cousin, the Takikage. Eyes widening the guard ordered them to stay put while sending his friend to inform their Kage of the visitors. It didn't take long before the nin returned and led them to the office of Shibuki, the Takikage.
"My ninja told me that you proclaim yourself my cousin."
"This is true. I am Naruto Uzumaki the heir of Uzu." The blonde announced to the man before him. Before Shibuki could say anything the blonde dropped the family tree on the desk and watched silently as he read through it.
"You'll notice that the name of my father is blurred for my safety. I am trying to locate and confirm the health and safety of all surviving Uzumaki now that the traitor to Uzu and the reason it fell, Ryusuke is dead. As Taki was the closest that we had a treaty with I decided that I would come here to check on the well being of both of my cousins. Speaking of which where is your sister, Fu?" As soon as the words left his mouth he felt the atmosphere change. It was almost as if Shibuki had gone from being a friendly person to a frigid monster.
"Fu is out on a mission and won't be back for some time." He said curtly.
"Really? Your refusal to let me see her wouldn't be because she is the jinchuriki of the Nanabi now would it?" Naruto fired back just as curtly. The ninja in the room were waiting for the opportune moment to flee knowing that there was no way that they would survive being caught in a fight between them.
"Even were that the case, how did you know that she was a jinchuriki?" He asked frigidly.
"Takes one to know one now doesn't it? I know who all the jinchuriki are and where they are right now. I know that Fu is in the village just as I know that she is in the building." He replied keeping his gaze even.
"What business is it of yours what I do with that abomination that killed our parents?" Naruto's eyes widened slightly and then a fierce killing intent spread through the room as he struggled to contain his temper.
"You will either bring her here in one piece and in good health or I will find her myself. I will not repeat my orders to you as the heir of Uzu. Have I made myself clear, Uzumaki Shibuki?" He hissed vehemently. The kage recoiled from the blonde in fear. The killing intent coming from the blonde was stifling and it felt monstrous, inhuman even.
"What are you?"
"A pissed off Uzumaki with enough power to blow this country off the map at my disposal but enough common sense not to. Are you going to bring her here or not?" Zabuza and Haku looked at each other briefly and felt themselves gulp a little in fear themselves. He wasn't just pissed off he was in a murderous rage. After a second Shibuki motioned to one of the guards and they bolted from the room as quickly as they could. The killing intent died down a little and Naruto began to tap his foot impatiently. After a few minutes the nin returned with a petite girl who looked as if she hadn't seen enough sun lately. Her mint green hair and orange eyes were kind of an interesting mix.
"Hi there Fu, I'm Naruto your cousin!" The blonde chirped making her eyes widen a little in shock. "So how's Chomei doing?"
"How did you know Chomei's name?"
"She told me. Now do you wanna come home and live with me? I am trying to rebuild our clan and as you are a member of it that includes you."
"Absolutely not!" "Can I really?" Came to replies simultaneously.
"I wasn't asking you Shibuki so shut up. This is a clan affair and that means that you are not invited."
"I am a member of the Uzumaki clan!" He yelled indignantly.
"You are? I thought that you were worthless as a human being and were impersonating an Uzumaki my mistake. I'll fix that immediately." Naruto replied picking the family tree off of the desk and making a few marks on it. "There the mistake has been rectified. Now then Fu as a member of the Uzumaki clan would you like to go home with me?" Haku was trying to contain her laughter at the expression that Shibuki was making.
"I would love to but Shibuki won't let me go."
"Shibuki doesn't have a choice. As a member of the Uzumaki clan I have final say over my clan members and as you are one I can bring you home with me without his permission as I feel that you are in danger here." Naruto said shrugging. "If he doesn't like it I am sure that I can get a hold of your maternal aunt and let her know what has been happening. I am sure that the Daimyo would love to be informed of your treatment at the hands of your ex-brother." Shibuki said nothing as his face turned an interesting shade of red. After a second she nodded and the blonde smirked at the fuming Kage and turned to leave the room. After a few steps he snapped as if he had just remembered something that he had forgotten.
"Right I almost forgot. Haku, those tags that I gave you on the way here can be used now." Haku's eyes widened in realization as she disappeared from view and quickly placed a tag on each of the people in the room's back, outside of Zabuza, Naruto and Fu. Nodding they headed out of the room and just as Shibuki was going to yell for the shinobi nearby to stop them Naruto sent a wave of chakra into the tags causing the seals on them to activate. With nothing more impeding their exit Naruto's group was out of the country before the affected shinobi knew what had happened.
"What did you do to them?" Fu asked in curiosity.
"I erased their memories of your existence. As far as they know, nobody named Fu ever lived in the village and if I am right when it comes to how you were treated then the rest of the village won't care enough to say anything." Naruto replied giving her a foxy grin. Giggling she followed her cousin through the forest as they headed for Konoha. Fu didn't care where they went so long as she remained with family that cared for her.
By the time that the group returned to Konoha's gate, Fu had undergone a startling transformation. No longer was she pale and looking starved. She had gained a healthy look to her and she was rather tan. In addition, she was wearing a very flattering white battle kimono that Naruto had picked up for her. They had spent the extra time training her massive strength in order to get it under control as it was obvious that her old village had not taken the time to do so. Passing by Izumo and Kotetsu they headed straight for training ground seven knowing that Kakashi would be there. Most likely training Sasuke, Hinata and taking over some of Shino's training as well. True to his thoughts they were there.
"Hey sensei!" Naruto called out making the four ninja turn to look at the group.
"Dobe!" Sasuke said happy that his friend was safe. He was worried that perhaps he had been attacked by the Akatsuki while he had been gone.
"Shino I want you to meet your third teammate this is my cousin Fu, she holds the Nanabi inside of her." Naruto said chirpily making the girl falter. How could he so easily say something like that to someone? Doesn't he understand how that could affect their relationship as a team?
"It's a pleasure to meet the queen." Shino said softly. If one looked closely they could see a small tinge of red under his collar.
"Queen?"
"Shino is an Aburame and his clan use their bodies as a nest for kikai insects. As a result in their eyes the Nanabi is their queen and thus you are to be protected. Besides all of my close friends know about the Kyuubi so it won't affect their relationship with you." Naruto explained making the girl nod in understanding. Perhaps she did have a chance here in Konoha after all. A chance to be happy and make friends. Perhaps even find that someone special.
: To Be Continued: