The daimyo´s mission
“A request?”
Naruto´s clone nodded, transforming back to his original looks from his henged form, before he plopped down to the floor in front of Naruto, the real one.
“Yeah, I overheard them. They said that they want to request you for a mission, but their partner already asked some Uchiha shinobi to take over as well. I think he´s still going to ask you, boss. Are you going to accept?”
Naruto put a finger to his chin, humming in thought.
On one hand, he likes to do most of his missions alone. On the other hand, depending on how well he and the Uchiha shinobi asked to go to the mission will work together, he might just be able to get his first major connection, aside from the Hatake.
It´s only been a few days since Naruto and Shirogane have agreed on their deal, and since then Shirogane had called on him only once, saying it was to test whether or not the seal actually worked. Naruto used the opportunity to check up on him instead, and found that the medics back at their compound have done the job very well. Not that there had been a lot to fix, safe for fatigue.
Even the kunoichi, Hina, was alright now.
Either way, the Hatake were still his only allies. He´d thought about approaching the Nara first and try to win them over, since from what he heard, the Nara and the Yamanaka were very close, even now. If he managed to win one over, he was almost guaranteed the second. Same with the Senju and the Uzumaki, with them being sister clans.
Shirogane had told him that he was close with the clan head of the Inuzuka, Inuzuka Kira, and would talk with him about Kitsune´s ambitions and plans. Naruto was expecting a letter about that in a few days.
However, if an opportunity like this presented itself, who was he to deny it.
“Sure. If they do ask for me, I won´t mind. I doubt it´s going to be Madara or Izuna though. And even if, it shouldn´t make any problems.”
He doesn´t know how this will affect his future efforts, especially with the Senju, since he can´t tell how they will react should word get out that Kitsune was on friendly terms with the Uchiha – and it will, depending on how well they do on the mission, because whatever the outcome, their clients will talk about it – but knowing Hashirama, he won´t immediately assume Kitsune to be an enemy by association. Tobirama might, but he´s not the clan head, and as much as he is stubborn and wants to convince his brother to be a little more rational, Hashirama is thick-headed. As long as Naruto doesn´t get in a quarrel with them, it should be fine.
The clone nodded in understanding and gave a quick salute before dispelling himself into a small puff of smoke, leaving the caster all on his own as he flopped down onto his back with a sigh and draped one arm over his eyes.
So the Uchiha were next.
At least he knew how to proceed, so that was that.
Still, Naruto had yet to find anyone to truly bond with. Sure, he was sort of allies or friends with the Hatake now, but they were still wary of him. The looks he´d received when he´d directly teleported into Shirogane´s office were naturally those of surprise – he had to hold back a laugh when Kane, who had been in the office during that time, chocked in surprised and ended up violently hacking up coughs, ending up with Shirogane having to pat him on his back to get him back to normal. That´s not to say he had been calm when it happened. Shirogane had dropped the sealing paper and almost fell out of his chair and on his back, only managing to just save himself from humiliation with his training – but after that, there had still ben suspicion.
He was alone right now.
“I miss you, Kurama. Wake up as soon as possible, you stupid fox.”
As expected, there was no response. Only the low humming of Kurama´s chakra in his coils when he called on it, but no snappy or grumpy voice to scold him for waking him up.
The connection was till there and Naruto could effortlessly use Kurama´s chakra, but he didn´t know how that affected Kurama´s time to wake up, so he refrained from it, mostly. Kurama needed to recover after all, and even without his furred friend, his chakra reserves were incredibly large. Enough for him to last maybe two days in battle against Kaguya, and that´s not to count sage mode, where his reserves are practically infinite, since Nature chakra was everywhere.
He sighed again, this time so deeply it almost put a Nara who was complaining about work to shame.
“I´ll just wait. You´ll wake up over time, right Kurama? Until you do, I promise I´ll protect us both,” Naruto thought, hoping that even if he was asleep, Kurama would hear. Maybe his partner would tell him to turn off the sap, or maybe he would get all grumpy again, since he can´t handle too many positive emotions at once being horribly emotionally stunted and angry at all times. Maybe he would even respond in kind and tell Naruto that he also had his back.
Either way, Naruto let himself drift into his mindscape and laid down on the grass in front of the cave, closing his eyes and letting his heart beat match with Kurama´s slow and deep breaths.
.
Masked securely on and dressed in his usual shinobi gear, with the regular shinobi pants, a simple long-sleeved undershirt and his mesh shirt over it, Naruto sat on the edge of the building where he was supposed to meet his client, silently cursing to himself.
He knew he himself had a penchant for not always giving a full report when he thought it wasn´t necessary. As a leader he learned to keep orders short and clear, since any second on the filed could cost someone´s life. Unnecessary information wasn´t something of need.
Still.
He hadn´t though that his cone would do the same.
Nor had he thought that his clone would leave out the fact that this mission was to escort the daughter of the sage damned daimyo and the daimyo himself to the land of stone.
“How is this not important information? I thought this was a normal escort mission, not this!”
In hindsight, it made sense. Hiring Uchiha was costly, since their strength was almost unparalleled.
Also, Naruto should have realized as soon as he sensed this many chakra signatures in one place, that there was something big going on.
Dozens of people were swarming down there, none of them having noticed him yet. There were servants running around like crazy and preparing the carriage for the daimyo´s daughter and what-not. Guards of the daimyo arranging themselves and already taking in their positions.
In the back he could see a woman walk towards the carriage already, probably to go to sit down. She was accompanied by a man much older than her, her father. Both were wearing traditional robes and walking with their heads high, while surrounded by guards holding a reasonable distance.
The woman had beautiful brown, straight hair that reached down to her waist, and fair pale skin. Her eyes were shining brown, in the light of dawn almost bronze. On top of her head sat a crown made of pins and other variants of jewelry, however not as excessive as Naruto had imagined it to be. She wore a red kimono with a golden fire pattern that reached down to her ankles, most likely representing the land of fire. Her father wore robes in similar fashion to hers, but unlike her, he looked much more respected than she did. While she represented grace, he represented power and wealth.
Naruto hummed, narrowing his eyes at the man. “So this is the man who rules over the land of fire. Tobirama mentioned him. A ruthless bastard and cunning as well. He admitted that it took weeks to convince the daimyo to allow them to build Konoha in his land.”
He´d spoken about the political aspects of their time with edo Tobirama, but he hadn´t actually thought about meeting the daimyo so soon. He knows that this man holds more power than even the Hokage, even if it´s not physical, and that they have to go through him for some of the more important decisions.
Not that Naruto knows much about that. While being Hokage had always been his dream, he had been more concerned about the prospect of the village accepting him and him protecting it. Never really about what it would mean for him and his relationship with high ranking people like this.
But he didn´t really bother much. If it worked out with this man last time, he has no doubt it will this time too. He might not be the one to convince him, too little political knowledge to actually be able to converse with a man who rules the entire land of fire and not just a village, but Hashirama, Madara, Tobirama and even – hopefully – Izuna this time around would be able to do that.
Tearing his eyes from the daimyo and his daughter, Naruto let´s his gaze wander around slowly, taking in the entire place. From his vantage point, there was nothing he couldn´t see while being seen. He preferred it this way for now, for all that he was pretty flashy when it came to him and his personality usually. After all, this was a time that was not his and he needed to operate more carefully than ever, no matter how unlike him.
Naruto sharpened his senses a little, trying to make out the words of the people beneath him.
“When will they arrive?” One of the servants, the head and organizer of this entire thing, going by the large scroll that he was holding and the way he was ordering people here and there around, preparing for departure. His black hair was tied down in a knot so that no strand was hanging in his face. His features were stern and wrinkled, like he had been frowning more than he had been smiling.
Another one, a boy that looked to be around sixteen, with pale greenish hair and brown eyes, fidgeted a little. “Ah – the Uchiha sent their reply, stating that they would arrive around dawn. So, any moment. Yuki is waiting at the front to escort them here.”
Seemingly dissatisfied with the answer, the head tsk-ed and turned around, waving the boy away with an annoyed shake of his hand. “They should hurry. Damn those shinobi and their lack of manners. Make sure Yuki gets them here on time.”
The boy bowed and scurried off, probably in search for the Yuki girl. Naruto winced in slight sympathy when in his hurry the poor boy tripped over almost everything that stood in his way, only agitating the grumpy ravenette even more. The man then proceeded to turn to the next pour soul to get a taste of his annoyance, which turned out to be a woman a little older than he seemed to be.
“What about Kitsune?” was all the man sad, but that seemed to be enough for the woman to understand, because she turned to face him with a patient smile on her lips as she bowed her head a little.
“He should be here soon as well. I asked for him knowing that he might be a little unpredictable when it comes to his arrival, but he´s certainly reliable.”
Naruto flushed a little as the man ranted about his “un-predictableness” and turned his head away to hide it, even if no one saw.
It was true after all. He was reliable. But he also had a habit of appearing out of quite literally nowhere and scaring the shit out of his clients and anyone around. Probably something he shouldn´t do around the daimyo and his people, but it´s not like he has cared much for etiquette before. Had they wanted someone to be, well, normal and traditional, they should have picked someone else. He´s already trying to fit in a little, but Naruto is still Naruto and there´s just some things he doesn´t do normally.
( The day he had been with the Hatake, Kozume asked him why he didn´t war the normal shinobi armor. Naruto grimaced and told him he found it uncomfortable and too loud to move in, so he just didn´t war it, earning himself a very confused, but also very curious and impressed stare from Kozume.
Senjuro just grumbled about him being weird, but he pretended to not hear it. )
Ripped out of his thoughts, Naruto perked up when he felt eight chakra signatures approach the place, all of them distinctly Uchiha. There was one that shone brighter than the others, like a bonfire at night, but the other´s certainly had their own strength as well.
He tilted his head in the direction they were coming from, trying to see if he were to recognize any of them from his time, even if Naruto knew he wouldn´t. While he could recognize them as Uchiha, the only Uchiha of this time he knew by chakra was Madara, and none of those felt like him. Madara was still in the compound, probably resting since his chakra was relatively calm and not purposefully hidden.
He watched as two squads were led inside and greeted by the same organizer that had been snapping at everyone left and right. He immediately let one of the squads get whisked away to one side of the place, probably having separate orders than the other squad.
For some reason, Naruto couldn´t tear his eyes from the group that remained with the organizer.
It was then that he noticed.
Sasuke.
His heart felt like it was being ripped open all over again and acid poured inside of the open wound. His hand clenched at his sides and Naruto stared in shock and pain, cerulean eyes wide and fixed on the sole person that stuck out to him. A voice in his head, muffled like it was being held under water, was softly whispering his name, asking to only look at Naruto one last time. The faint glow of red and purple etched into his memory and never, ever fading away. The shape of a crescent moon on the palm of the pale and bloodstained hand as it faded out of existence. The blood stench filling the air, so much more uncomfortable ever since Kurama and him had managed to heighten all of his senses, his sense of smell almost as good as the one of an Inuzuka or a Hatake now.
The sticking feeling of pain, like half of his soul was being torn out with utmost force and no mercy, leaving a half empty shell of what he once was. His moon leaving, to leave only the sun that was dimming by the second in its sadness and sorrow, in its anger and desperation.
But that wasn´t Sasuke.
Hair longer than that of his friend, tied down into a low ponytail held together by a black rubber band. The bangs look exactly the same, but the features on his face were just a tinge bit sharper. A pointier jaw, one that Naruto hadn´t dislocated in their fight. Although the man´s eyes were a little softer than Sasuke´s.
A little lighter.
He was also taller than Sasuke, by a good three inches. His build was a little fair-skinned, but still more muscular than Sasuke.
He carried a sword by his side and wore what seemed to be the usual Uchiha attire, a high-collared blue robe with the crest embedded in the back.
Naruto swallowed.
“So that´s Izuna. They´re really weren´t kidding when they said he looked like Sasuke.”
The similarities were jarring and Naruto was going to lose it if he had to end up staring at a copy of his dead soul-mate for the entire journey to the land of stone and back. The only good thing about this was that their chakra was so incredibly different from one another, that if Naruto managed to focus on that, he should be able to make it through the mission.
Unlike Sasuke, whose chakra was lighting primary and fire secondary, Izuna had a fire primary nature. Unlike the cackling chakra he always associated with the appearance, Izuna´s chakra felt much more like a bonfire, strong and hot, but also a calming presence if it needed be. He was grounding and swift, unlike Sasuke, whose chakra was fickle and trickery, almost always out of reach for anyone.
This was fine.
If Naruto could focus on that instead, he should be able to hold out.
Now that the wave of overwhelming emotions have passed, Naruto allowed himself to look over the remaining three members as well.
The on standing closest to Izuna was a young adult who looked to be around the same age as Naruto himself was. He had shoulder long brown hair that was tied into a very short high ponytail. His face was slim and sharp, but his features looked kind and relaxed, as felt his chakra. He, too, wore the same robe that Izuna wore, but his was a more purple shade than the dark blue of Izuna. It also had, in addition, chain like accessories hanging from his shoulder and attached to his hip was also a sword.
His chakra was laced with traces of fire as his primary, but wind as a secondary, which Naruto was sure was pretty rare within the Uchiha clan. It was spiking here and there as Hikaku looked around, not necessarily nervous, but a little wary and held back. However, going by the way it was unconsciously stretching towards Izuna, he trusted the clan heir without hesitation and allowed himself to relax just a little.
The woman in the back was fairly well built as well and had a painful looking burn scar stretching down from her face to her shoulder and beneath the collar of the greyish-blue colored robe she wore. The woman had dual blades strapped to her back, an unconventional weapon choice, but she seemed confident in wielding them efficiently. Her black hair was cut short so that it stopped just above the shoulder and her bangs were all brushed to one side, held together by a simple pin as for the hair not to get in the way.
Her chakra was incredibly dense and thick, but not as vast in its amounts as Izuna´s. Going by the immaculate control she had on it, her field of expertise laid more in taijutsu and genjutsu and less in ninjutsu. It was swirling in held back anger and slight sadness. Naruto wondered if it was because she kept glancing back at the squad that had been separated from them. More accurately, to the one person in that squad. The worry that spiked in her chakra was enough to confirm, but the kunoichi held strong and focused her attention on the mission in front of her.
The last person was a stern-looking man in his mid-twenties, with mid-length brown hair and the same purple robe that the man behind Izuna wore. His hair was wilder than the others, having a more wavy structure. It reached down to his shoulder blades, barely covering the Uchiha crest on the back. His eyes were heavy lidded and deep creases formed around them. Stress lines painted his features, making him appear extremely tired. A sword hung from his hip too, comfortably resting in the holster.
This man´s chakra was calm and collected. It flowed slowly through his system, matching his overall tired demeanor. However under that calmness, there was a brightly burning flame, occasionally sending sparks of heat through the man´s coils. Just like the other Uchiha, a fire primary nature. There was something fierce and predatory in the way the sparks flew through his chakra coils, but the covering mass of collected chakra hid it well.
The four of them stood in front of the organizer as he started giving instructions. Now not focusing on his observation anymore, Naruto once again sharpened his hearing, trying to listen in to the conversation.
“Now that we´ve established that, prepare to leave soon. We´re currently waiting on an additional person who will work with you, but he has yet to arrive.” The bone deep sigh that came after that, followed with the man pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, wasn´t nearly enough to make Naruto feel guilty about spending his time up here. After all, someone who was so incredibly rude could surely wait a few minutes longer.
Naruto felt a bit like Kakashi right now, but he brushed the feeling off with nothing but the feeling of spite and glee.
The shinobi behind Izuna frowned and straightened himself up a little at the mention of Naruto – not that they knew it was him – and asked, “An additional person? Who?”
The man didn´t even look up as he answered. “Kitsune.”
Collectively, sparks of surprise flickered through their signatures, but it was Izuna who regained his senses first.
“The Kitsune? There was nothing about this stated in our exchange. Why do we only hear of this now?”
Well, another thing different about Izuna and Sasuke seemed to be that Izuna could stay rational and actually had the ability to normally communicate with people other than Naruto and Sakura. And he was even being patient with it.
Naruto had the creeping feeling that over the course of time, he wouldn´t have any problems keeping the two separated from each other.
The organizer waved them off and simply huffed, like they were the ones being unreasonable. “It was a last minute decision. A colleague asked for Kitsune´s services when Lord Daimyo insisted on meeting this person himself,” Oh wow, Naruto hadn´t known that, “So we had to make necessary adjustments. This won´t pose a problem, will it?” He didn´t sound too concerned and only asked the question out of courtesy, going by the rolling of his eyes at the end of the sentence.
The kunoichi scowled and seemed to want to say something, but Izuna discreetly held up a hand, telling her to stand down, and smiled instead. A placating smile that was only used for business, his eyes curved into crescent moons in similar fashion to how Sai and Kakashi always did it. His voice was calm as he spoke.
“Of course it won´t. Our mission of to keep the Lord daimyo safe, nothing else. The Uchiha will make sure to fulfill it to the best of ours abilities.”
The ravenette scrutinized him for a moment, before deciding that he apparently like Izuna and nodded. His attention then turned elsewhere and he impatiently looked around now, having long forgotten the people in front of him.
“Now if that moronic Kitsune were to finally show up and not keep us waiting we could finally begin.”
Well, Naruto mused with a slight grimace, scrunching up his nose in a way that made his whiskers twitch in distaste, how could he refuse such a kind invitation?
Seems like it´s time for him to make an appearance.