Invitations
Izuna, Akito, Kasumi and another one from Akito´s squad were on guard duty during the meeting, meaning that Naruto, Hikaku, Rasa and two others were left for the day.
Per Hikaku´s request, Naruto joined him in the early evening to further study on seals. They were going over simple trap seals, nothing too out of the ordinary. Hikaku objected, saying that his definition of simple was an understatement and he should keep his mouth shut about it.
Oh well.
They´ve been at it for quite some time before Naruto´s senses peaked as a chakra signatures rapidly approached them. It wasn´t exactly human, but it still had enough chakra to be easily spotted by Naruto´s senses. His eyebrows furrowed and his gaze swept to the window, squinting at where the chakra was coming from.
Hikaku was busy reading the notes they had been going over, but once Naruto turned his attention shifted as well and he frowned, matching Naruto´s expression under the mask.
“Is something the matter, Kitsune?” With eyes still glowing a soft red, the older of the two – Hikaku was actually almost two months older than Naruto – now let his eyes wander to the window as well, tomoe spinning to catch sight of what might had gotten the blonde´s attention.
Naruto simply hummed, tilting his head. “I´m not sure. Something is approaching in this direction, but it´s not hostile. The chakra feels familiar, but I can´t place it.”
The second part of the sentence startled Hikaku and he blinked as he looked over to his friend. Then, after a few seconds once the signature got closer, Hikaku´s features lit up in recognition. A falcon appeared in the distance, gracefully flying through the sky at high speeds. Naruto´s eyes widened as well.
Sasuke´s second summons.
While Sasuke had shared a summoning contract with Orochimaru after defecting from the village, sometime after gathering team Hebi he somehow managed to get ahold of the falcon contact. Or were those hawks? Either way, Sasuke might not have used them often, but those were definitely the same.
Naruto had long stilled and was blankly staring at the hawk, but Hikaku was already up and on his way to open the window and reaching out his arm for the hawk to land on.
“Don´t worry, this is Lord Madara´s hawk. Likely to return the message. The chakra might have felt familiar to you because Izuna shares the same contract.”
Wait, Madara had hawk summons?
Naruto hadn´t once seen the man use hawk summons. In fact, the only time Madara had ever summoned something was during the war, when he had tried summoning Kurama out of Naruto´s body.
Disregarding the question of how that was even possible since Madara´s name wasn´t even on the fox contract, Naruto had to hide the sheer surprise at that.
Something grumbled inside of him and Naruto recognized it as Kurama waking up from his nap. Naruto responded to the mental tug, making sure to keep his attention on the hawk in case something went wrong while also listening to what Kurama would have to say.
“Something the matter, Kurama?”
Kurama grumbled again, but this time it was more annoyed and negative than before. It was most likely the mention of both Madara and Sasuke at once, the latter only mentioned in the blonde´s mind, that put him in a rather bad mood.
“I´m suspecting this is some sort of reincarnation thing. Indra shared the same contract, although his name was never written down. The summons always seem to find their way back to their original summoner, although I´m certain that Indra and Ashura were the only cases of reincarnation.”
Naruto blinked, processed the information, and the spluttered, “Wait are you serious? Does that mean Ashura and Hashirama had the toad contract? Or did they have the fox contract?”
Kurama´s tails flickered lazily behind him as Hikaku was carefully reaching for the letter died down at the hawk´s leg. The giant bird remained on the window still even after Hikaku removed the message and was now preening at him with a dangerous glint in those beady eyes. Naruto didn´t even flinch at the intelligent eyes on him and simply tilted his head in silent challenge. Summons were smart creatures, and this one was Madara´s. Who knows what kind of information would be relayed to the man.
“Ashura and father both shared the toad contract, but I´m not sure about the tree hugger. Neither had the fox contract, since that one was usually in the possession of the Uzumaki, after the scroll was found somewhere on Uzushiogakure. There´s a reason your lot was so compatible with me and my chakra when becoming my Jinchuuriki.”
“Huh, I didn´t know that.” Naruto mused, pleasantly surprised. He knew for a fact that the toad summons were loyal to Konoha, so it wasn´t too far of a reach to assume that it was simply reached further down the line, despite the contracts always finding their way back to the reincarnations. After all, unlike Indra, Ashura was all about the concept of sharing, teaching and bonding with other people, so he assumed the same applied to his summons. If he allowed others to inherit those as well, it didn´t come as a surprise that Jiraiya had gotten ahold of the contract.
Naruto hummed and leaned back in his seat, carefully watching Hikaku as he set the letter aside. One of his eyebrows raised in question. “You´re not going to open it?”
With that he earned himself a look from Hikaku that clearly asked if he was being serious with his question. “It´s not mine to open. Izuna isn´t here right now and Masae knows to come to me in those cases. I´m putting it aside for him.” Hikaku sighed and placed the scroll on the table next to him, stroking the feathers of the hawk with a small smile, before sitting back down again.
Masae, because that was the summons names apparently, remained where she was and continued to preen. Naruto was getting slightly uncomfortable with the way that damned bird kept staring at him, feathers ruffled and bristling, because apparently Naruto´s presence was bothering her.
Naruto pointedly tried to ignore it and turned back to Hikaku instead who was still reading through their notes with a frustrated crease between his eyebrows. “How come Lord Uchiha is sending a message? Did something happen?”
Naruto could practically feel the way Kurama started to violently bristle at the title, because he too was overcome with the sudden urge to squirm, too uncomfortable with using such pleasantries. Baring his teeth, Kurama crouched low and growled, tails violently swishing behind him. “Don´t call him that, it´s revolting. Neither I nor you, my Jinchuuriki, will ever submit to the likes of that madman, so don´t go calling him Lord now, of all things.”
Inwardly rolling his eyes Naruto send a mental nudge back at his partner, trying to calm him down a little. It wasn´t like he wanted to call him that either, but edo Tobirama had made sure to at least hammer some respect into “His thick and uneducated skull” – Tobirama´s words, not his – so he wasn´t going to make these lessons for nothing. Besides, this is the warring states era. As much as he didn´t want to do this, he kind of had to.
Not that Naruto cared much about positions of power and authority before, but he had matured a little and could at least do the bare minimum.
Hikaku didn´t even bother looking up and just dismissively waved a hand. “While you were gone, Izuna sent out a letter. I´m not sure what he wrote, but Lord Madara…,” he paused, face twisting in a mixture of exasperated and amused, “worries a lot. So I´m assuming Izuna simply sent an update on the situation and a confirmation of his wellbeing.”
Well, that would makes sense. The only problem was that out of all things, Naruto would have never described Madara as the type of person to worry about others.
At all.
Then again, it´s not like he knew this version of Madara. The one not yet corrupted by anger, grief and hatred at the hands of Zetsu. If Izuna was the catalyst, then surely Madara had felt deeply for Izuna and cared on him on a much more complicated level than Naruto could comprehend at this moment. He would have to see the man, feel his intentions before being able to make clear judgment.
“Madara… was not a bad person. He was grieving his brother, that is all. When we had been children, his dream had been the same as mine. Peace.” Those had been Hashirama´s words, and while the man tended to sugarcoat some things and generally had a more positive outlook on not only life, but also on the people he came across, Naruto could tell that what the man had said was not only genuine, but also true to some extent.
Naruto doesn´t know Madara like Hashirama does, but Hashirama and Tobirama both admitted that Madara and Sasuke were at least a little similar, even if Sasuke was more bitter and more easily swayed by emotions than Madara was. The man had held out a war and managed to live with the murderer of his brother for a few years before it all went to shit. Sasuke could barely manage not to kill the person who even mentioned Itachi before he found out the truth.
Naruto was pretty sure he could deal with that. It´s what he does best. Interactions between others, understanding the wishes and desires of the person in front of him and bonding with them. Madara won´t be an exception.
And no matter how much Kurama seemed to protest in his mind, grumbling about leaving that man alone and not associating with him at all, both of them knew that that wasn´t an option in the slightest, not one they could take. If Naruto wanted to fix things, he would have to remain where they went wrong and work from there. Fixing things from the shadows never ended well. One just had to look had the Uchiha – and also people like Danzo or Orochimaru – who took that path and it was clear just how much of a bad history of choices these people had.
It never ended well.
“I see,” the blonde let out a slow exhale before leaning forward again, snatching one of the notes right from under Hikaku´s nose, “Then let´s just continue.”
.
Naruto later on left for his room to be able to put the mask off for at least a few hours before they departed. It was late in the evening and they had about three hours before they made their way back, so Naruto had hoped to some time for himself. While he generally enjoyed being around friends and people, he also needed to take a break from that mask. Naruto couldn´t understand how Kakashi had done it.
With a low groan he tossed the mask aside and let himself flop onto the sheets with little grace. The bed didn´t even creak under the force of it. Talk about some high quality beds.
Kurama had long gone back to napping. Just because he was finally awake again didn´t mean that he was back at his full strength just yet. Besides, fuuinjutsu bored him and Hikaku wasn´t exactly interesting, nor really threatening, so Kurama chose to tune out and lay low instead. As much as Kurama enjoyed Naruto´s company, though he would never admit that, ever, he wasn´t keen on seeing every second of the blonde´s life. The fox had claimed it was boring to watch when nothing interesting was going on and that it was the same thing he did with Kushina and Mito, although that had been a permanent state.
Distantly, Naruto was aware that Izuna was with Hikaku by now, likely reading whatever letter his brother sent, and while he was curious, he didn´t necessarily want to be there at the moment. He doubted that Izuna would share what was written anyway, since Naruto was not part of their clan and only a very recent and tentative friend. As open and easy going as they might be with one another, there were still a certain set of topics and boundaries that would not be breached by either side.
He let his eyes close and leaned back into the soft sheets. Everything was going so surprisingly well, that Naruto couldn´t help but be suspicious.
He´d expected something… more. More anger, more hatred and more difficulties. Sure, he´d been stabbed and poisoned and probably threatened a few times by not only the Uchiha, but the Hatake as well, but no one that he had approached so far had yet tried to seriously kill him. Had it always been this easy to make friends – allies?
He ignored the small voice in his head, the one that wasn´t Kurama. Vicious and dark as it spoke, like a creeping nightmare that made itself known to keep him humble and on his toes, to not let him experience happiness for too long.
It´s because they don´t know who you are. To them, you are Kitsune. They don´t know Naruto, they don´t know the boy who has lived to see the end of the world. They don´t know the monster the village knew.
And that´s the thing, isn´t it?
Naruto knew – he did, really – that he was not a monster. Not the one that the village had scorned and hated for a long time. He was a monster when it came to strength, to willpower, to endurance and to his unshakable stubbornness.
He was not a monster. He was Naruto.
But no one knew that. Not here.
Naruto didn´t know how Obito managed to keep up his mask for so long. To live by a name that wasn´t his and disregard his true self. To fool himself for so long that three personalities formed one, mentally unstable individual that has lost his sense of self. Naruto wouldn´t do that to himself, for he knew that Kitsune and Naruto were the same person, only with different appearances, but sometimes he wondered if everything would have gone as smoothly as it did would anyone have known that he was Uzumaki Naruto.
A name he carried with pride. Not only his parents´, but also his master´s legacy that he proudly declared to the world in his time.
But he couldn´t do that here. Not yet. Not when his name alone would be enough to blind the people with prejudice and make them assume things about him that weren´t true. Not here when his name, his Uzumaki legacy, would automatically bind him to the actions of another, because that´s not something he could afford.
And it hurts.
To know that all because of a name, because of a label, Naruto would probably have way more difficulty finding his allies than he did now.
How long would he have to stay nameless? How long would no on in this world know Uzumaki Naruto? Until Kitsune convinced them to unite the clans? Until everyone has learned to forgive to some extent? Until Zetsu was gone?
Naruto doesn´t know, and that´s what´s eating him, making an ugly open wound rip up in his soul.
That´s where he stopped and violently shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts. He knew he was spiraling right now, and he also knew that that wasn´t something he could afford at this moment. He needed to focus and keep his eyes on his goal in order not to stray from his path. He had a world to save and a will incarnate to seal. He had clans to unite and peace to make.
Naruto had been ready to sacrifice everything for the future, surely he would be able to hide his name – his self – for just a little more.
Right?
.
The journey back to the estate of the fire daimyo was eventless. Boring, one might even say.
There were no more ambushes, which was really surprising to be honest. Naruto guesses that the fact that Kitsune was guarding the carriage as well had gotten out already, so some preferred to stay away. It would make sense, since he can´t sense the archers at the mountains anymore. By now, they had moved and were long gone. They were probably the ones who spread the word, and knowing shinobi, rumors go around fast.
They were worse than gossiping housewives, really.
What was slightly different though was the tint of content in Izuna´s chakra. His signature seemed smug, or maybe even content in some way that suggested something good might have happened. The man was smiling as they walked side by side, and occasionally threw a few glances over at Naruto, probably thinking the man didn´t notice. However, since the mask didn´t cover as much of his peripheral vision as one might assume, Naruto did notice and ended up wondering what it was about.
The only thing that happened during their stay was the letter incident, where Madara´s summons brought a letter for Izuna. Naruto assumed that that was probably the reason for the light and swirling chakra of Izuna. Whatever had been in there was likely good news.
Naruto´s own mood was a little dull however. The small slip of his thoughts was nagging at him, making something ugly in his gut churn. The mask on his face still felt heavier than it should be and his steps felt too loud, too heavy. Blue eyes unsurely darted left and right as he tried to get a grip on himself and keep his senses out, just in case, but the jittery and down-weighing feeling wouldn´t go away.
So, in order to distract himself, Naruto chose to start a conversation.
“You seem happy, Lord Izuna. I heard a letter from Lord Uchiha came. Did you receive good news?” His head tilted back a little in order to make eye contact without directly facing the man. Izuna perked up at being addressed and inclined his head in the same way, mirroring Naruto and showing that he was listening. It was an open stance, less guarded than at the beginning of the journey, that showed Naruto just how much progress they made in such a short time.
Izuna hummed, a small but genuine smile on his face. “Indeed. After I sent a letter, my brother was quick to reply. They´re good news, but I won´t tell you just yet, Kitsune.” Then the small smile was replaced with a smirk and for some reason Naruto could feel a feeling of foreboding settle in his gut.
Izuna´s expression was very much smug. Naruto would know, because that´s the expression he always wore when he prepared a prank and someone was about to fall into his trap during his genin days. That was absolutely not good news.
Naruto´s own features became suspicious, and he regarded the clan heir through narrowed eyes. “You´re saying “not yet”. Should I be preparing for something here? Because I feel that this is somehow going to affect me.” He would forever deny the nervous note that tinted his voice.
That somehow just seemed to make Izuna grin and the man simply proceeded to wave him off. “Oh, you´re definitely involved. But I´ll wait until we´re back in the fire country to tell you.”
Ah, well, that wasn´t exactly reassuring. There could be at least a hundred thongs that involved him when it came to the letter, and somehow the most outcomes Naruto could think of, ended up with Madara being very much angry at him. Naruto wasn´t planning on fighting the clan head in fights that weren´t spars just yet, never if everything went as planned, actually. While he was confident in his ability and pretty sure he would win, fighting the clan head could jeopardize the good relationship he currently had with Izuna, since the blonde had no doubt the clan heir would skin him with no hesitation should he actually attack the man´s brother.
The last Uchiha brother Naruto knew killed an entire clan for his younger brother. He wasn´t about to find out what an Uchiha from the warring states era planned to do in his overprotective-brother-mode.
The blonde suppressed a small shudder.
A madhouse, that´s what the Uchiha were. It didn´t help that both Sasuke and Obito agreed with him when he´d told them that.
With a low grumble Naruto put his hands in his pockets and decided to drop the topic, lest he drive himself crazy from overthinking. He was curious by nature and whether or not Izuna was aware of the fact, he was using it against him anyways, intentionally or unintentionally, it didn´t matter.
.
The days passed and Naruto didn´t bring up the topic again.
Right now, they were resting in another small village for the last time before finally making their way back home in one go. The next stop would also be the last stop, the daimyo´s estate.
In the meantime, Hikaku, Naruto and Izuna were having a heated argument while the rest was watching in amusement.
“I did the exact same thing you two did, why is it not working?” Izuna groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Hikaku snickered and Naruto grinned under the mask as the clan heir despaired over their notes.
Izuna, having watched the two work on this for multiple days, decided to give it a try as well, however unlike Hikaku, the man did not have an innate talent for fuuinjutsu. Instead, he managed to blow himself up twice with small explosions in the span of fifteen minutes, all while Naruto and Hikaku were watching the display of free entertainment.
When the first explosion sounded, the few in hearing range came running to see what might have happened, only to stumble upon Naruto cackling, Hikaku snickering and Izuna covered in soot and slightly singed hair. They then decided that whatever was going on was not dangerous and settled in the same room to see the rest go down as well with no little amusement.
“No you didn´t.” Naruto pointed out between laughs, only making Izuna hiss in offense, like a slightly feral cat.
“Yes I did!” He thrust the charred piece of paper right into the blonde´s face, as if that was proving a point.
Hikaku shook his head, taking the failed containment seal out of his clan heir´s hand before the man succeeded in sticking it to Naruto´s mask. “You added the containment component into the wrong dimension. In fact, you squeezed everything into only one dimension. It´s a wonder the explosion wasn´t bigger than this.”
Naruto nodded, confirming his students – technically, Hikaku was his student now, since Naruto was teaching him seals, even if it was weird to have a student older than you. Hikaku didn´t seem to mind though, so Naruto supposed it was fine – correction. He pointed to the sealing array in order to show exactly where his mistake was when Izuna´s face only twisted in confusion.
“The components itself aren´t wrong, but by not sorting them into their respective dimension you created too much pressure on the seal itself. The chakra you sent into it caused it to overload and therefore explode into your face. Since this is a special containment seal, you only suffered the amount of damage that you pushed into it.”
Silence fell into the room where Izuna just looked at him with a dry look in his eyes while Hikaku quickly scribbled what he said down on a sheet of paper.
“Right,” the raventte pointed out dryly, “because that definitely made sense just now.”
The blonde sighed, scratching his mask where his whiskers were and ignored the sound of choked laughter as Rasa made his amusement very clear and earned himself a sharp look from Izuna.
“Let me explain it a little differently then,” he took the seal from Hikaku´s hand, who didn´t protest, and carefully placed it in front of Izuna. Following his actions, Izuna leaned forward now, but not before throwing one last narrow eyed look at Naruto.
“Normally containment seals only have one dimension because they have on job. To contain. This one however is a little different,” he pulled out a new piece of paper from the seal on his arm and quickly drew on the very same seal Izuna tried to do. The man watched in amazement as he effortlessly completed the brush strokes necessary before placing the right seal next to Izuna´s in comparison. The components were the same, like Izuna said, but the arrangement was very different.
“This one contains the attack, stores it, reverts it and attacks back. Meaning this one consists of three dimensions. Three, because “contain” and “store” can be merged with one another because of their similarities. You could make four as well, it would probably make the seal more stable too, but three are more than enough. What you did, was you placed all these in one layer, causing an overload because the seal tried to do everything at once. Therefore, the amounts of chakra you sent into the seal was sent back to you in an explosion before the seal could be properly set off. Do you understand now?”
Silence.
Naruto found himself on the other end of many unimpressed stares, except for Hikaku. His student was still scribbling down his words while absently nodding at the explanation. To him it apparently made perfect sense.
Izuna on the other hand simply stayed silent before letting his head flop down onto the table with a low thud, causing Naruto to yelp in surprise.
As the blonde wanted to ask what was wrong, Izuna simply raised a hand to shut him up before he groaned even louder than before. “You know what, I think I´m going to leave you and Hikaku to sealing. My brain is exploding.”
Huffing, Naruto rolled his eyes.
Uchiha and their dramatics, really.
.
Seventeen hours later they were finally back at the estate. Upon their arrival they were immediately greeted by the daimyo´s staff, who proceeded to swarm around them. Those who were exhausted from the long journey and belonged to the daimyo´s personnel, namely the samurai and the servants that came with them, were lead away and replaced by others. Meanwhile Akito´s group joined their group as they stood together, waiting for their final orders.
The mission was done now after all, so they only waited for their dismissal before they would be allowed to go to their respective homes. Naruto somehow found himself dreading exactly that. He enjoyed the company of the Uchiha a lot, especially Hikaku´s team and Izuna, but he was aware the mission was about to come to an end. The only thing that brought his sour mood up was the thought that if everything went as planned, he would see them again during peace, in Konoha.
It made saying goodbye now way easier.
They fell into easy conversation as they each waited for their respective orders, as well as their pay. Naruto sort of forgot that he was also being paid for the mission, but thinking about how this was the daimyo, he was sure he would be able to get some really good money out of this. Enough to last him alone for a long time, especially since he didn´t need to pay rent, living in the stone wall and all that.
…
“Maybe I should get an actual house,” he mused, frowning slightly. How the idea hadn´t come sooner was a mystery to him.
Although admittedly, Naruto had been on the run during the fourth war the entire time, especially after everyone was dead. On second thought, he hadn´t been in his house even before that since Tsunade deemed it a better idea to send him to a journey around the world in order to keep him from the war.
Well, see how that turned out.
Either way, the idea of living in a house, having to pay rent and actually having a bed and a roof over the head that wasn´t a hidden niche in a mountain seemed so incredibly foreign that it made him cringe ever so slightly. A house was hardly hidden and could be found easily, even if Naruto sealed it with protection seals. The mountain was simply a lot safer. Not only that, but he also had a better vantage point from there. He would have never heard about the Hatake if he hadn´t been living in the mountains, after all.
“No house it is then. That means I can save up for some new armor, clothes and supplies. Sage knows how many of my sealing papers and ink stashes we used up during this travel.”
He was ripped out of his thoughts when their group was approached by a servant, who cleared his throat in order to get their attention. After a second glance Naruto immediately lit up, because would you look at that?
It´s the organizer from before! The on that had been cursing him out earlier at the start of the mission.
“Oh, it´s you! It´s good to see you again!” Naruto visibly lit up and even with his mask on, they could tell that his face was brightened with a grin. He excitedly waved a hand at the man who immediately scowled at the blonde. Seems like the memories of Naruto weren´t so fond, because the man´s chakra started to swirl in distaste, showing that the man very much did not agree with that particular sentiment.
That on the other hand made Naruto only giggle in glee and mischief. Apparently, that seemed to infuriate the man even more than before, because now his eras were glowing red in anger and he gripped the two envelopes in his hands so tightly that that they began to crinkle.
Rasa snorted at the reaction, very much aware what Naruto was doing was meant to rile the man up.
“Yes,” the man drawled through clenched teeth. The last bit of self-control he had was currently hanging from a small thread that Naruto was very much threatening to cut through with only his presence alone, “A pleasure to see you again as well, Kitsune.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Naruto didn´t mind. Instead, he played oblivious.
“You´re flattering me, really! I assure you I have also been looking forward to seeing the nice man that has been nothing but kind to us so far, don´t you all agree?” His voice was sweet and cheery as he turned to the back group. Izuna choked on his laughter and Rasa didn´t even bother to hide the snort that escaped him. Kasumi at least had the decency to clasp a hand over her mouth and turn her head away in a poor attempt to muffle her laughter, while Hikaku just looked very much amused by his games.
“Absolutely,” Izuna agreed as soon as he was properly breathing again, laughter still evident in his voice.
The poor man looked like he was about to bust a blood vessel, so Naruto did his best to subdue his own laughter. He didn´t want to tease him too much after all. If he was correct, then that was his payment in the man´s hand. No need to risk the organizer “accidentally” ripping it.
With a low grunt, the man simply shoved one of the envelopes into Naruto´s chest, probably aiming to throw him at least a little of balance given he was using all his strength, but being a little shit, Naruto remained perfectly still and calmly accepted the envelope. As is a civilian of all people would make him stumble.
Izuna received his envelope with much more respect than Naruto did, probably because the man was the clan heir of the famous Uchiha clan and the organizer did not want to lose his life.
“Lord Daimyo and the Lady will not be able to see you off. However, they have sent me with your pay for this escort mission, as well as a word of gratitude.” Well, that was clearly a lie, Naruto thought, but at least he was trying to be polite. “Your mission ends here and we wish you a safe journey home. Good day.”
Not even giving them any chance to respond, the man bowed and threw one last venomous glare at Kitsune before stomping off. Naruto watched the retreating back with an amused raised eyebrow, before letting out a long-suffering sigh.
“Well, that certainly was a heartfelt goodbye.” He scoffed, sarcasm clearly dripping in his voice.
Running a hand through hair, Naruto turned to the group that stood behind him.
Suddenly, the chakra in them swirled oddly. Naruto paused in the motion, hand still in his hair as he narrowed his eyes at the group. Izuna wore a smile, but the rest was looking away from him, specifically looking at Izuna with expectance in their eyes, similar to how they had done it the day Izuna and the group came into his quarters to express their gratitude.
The atmosphere was light and should not be suspicious, but that sense of foreboding Naruto felt a few days before during his conversation with Izuna very abruptly resurfaced, making him hesitant.
“Alright, what´s going on? You have that weird look in your eyes that tells me I´m missing something,” Naruto asked, not one to beat around the bush. He absently stored the envelope in his storage seal, making sure to keep his eyes on the group as Izuna gave his own envelope to Hikaku, who stood closest to him, before pulling out a letter from his pouch with a large grin on his face.
The clan heir´s chakra was filled with a sense of excitement that set Naruto slightly on edge.
Looking closer at the letter in Izuna´s hand, Naruto´s eyes widened as he recognized where he´d seen it before.
Madara´s letter!
It was then that the words Izuna had told him during their journey back resurfaced in his memories. Something like telling him how he was involved in Madara´s message as soon as they were back in the fire country.
By now, nervousness had made its way beneath Naruto´s skin. Enough to cause Kurama to crack an eye open to see what his friends jumbled feelings were about.
“What´s going on? Your chakra is going wild, Naruto.” Kurama grumbled, tails swishing behind him in anticipation. His teeth weren´t bared, not yet, but the tenseness in his frame was enough to let Naruto know that the fox was prepared to face danger.
To deescalate the situation, Naruto inwardly raised a hand, motioning for Kurama to lay low. “I´m not sure myself, but we´re about to find out.” His voice lacked the usual energy, showing that he was very clearly guarded.
Izuna stepped forward, still holding the letter in his hands and still smiling. There was no malicious intent in his actions, nor in his chakra, so Naruto let him.
“As you know, my brother sent me a letter a few days ago after I informed him of the incident during our journey,” he began, instantly capturing Naruto´s attention.
He continued, “I told him of your presence during this mission, as well as your deeds. I informed him of what you’ve done for my Hikaku and for myself, as well as the fact that the Uchiha clan is in your debt.” His voice was even as he continued, but the smile never faded.
In the inside of his mind, Naruto could feel Kurama stiffen at the words and was immediately on high alert. “Kurama? Kurama, what´s going on? Am I missing something?”
Kurama only groaned and set his head on his paws, looking like he wanted to bury himself. “I think I know what this is about, kit. You should have expected it, honestly.”
Feeling utterly lost, Naruto simply glanced at his friend, asking for the meaning behind his words, but Kurama refused to answer him in any way.
Izuna, oblivious to his inner turmoil, held out the letter for Naruto to take. The blonde did so, albeit hesitantly, but didn´t open it just yet.
“I´m glad to inform you that Madara and I came to the decision to, as a sign of our gratitude, invite you to the Uchiha clan compound. Madara wants to meet you and is therefore formally extending an invitation to you, Kitsune, in hopes that you accept.”
Naruto blue-screened.
Kurama suffered.
“Wait – what?!” Naruto flailed, almost dropping the letter in his hand. When no one answered he scrambled to open it and quickly skimmed through the contents.
It´s true. Madara actually formally invited him to the Uchiha clan compound as Izuna´s guest, wishing to speak with him.
“Holy shit. Holy shit, Kurama what is this? Is the Madara Uchiha inviting me over to the clan compound? The Madara that was hell bent on destroying the world? As a sign of gratitude? Am I hearing this right?” On the inside, Naruto was flailing and kind of freaking out, but on the outside, he appeared to simply be surprised and quiet.
Kurama, absolutely done with this situation, just seemed to want to bury himself even deeper into the earth. “I don´t even know why you´re surprised. I don´t think you understand how important titles such as clan heir or clan head were during this time. You saving that bastard´s brother as well as his cousin definitely put you in their good graces. Seeing as you never had any trouble with them before this, as well as no connections to any of their enemies, it´s no wonder they´re inviting you. To my absolute dread, accepting the invitation is the only right thing to do in this situation.
Madara is a bastard, but he is a clan head and knows the customs. He was surprisingly well mannered when it came to things such as this during this time, even if he went mad later on.”
Naruto had to admit that he was only half-listening to what Kurama was saying, still shell-shocked by the news.
He turned to Izuna, eyes wide in disbelief. He´d visited a clan compound before, once, and that was the Hatake clan, but that was because they called him via the seal. To be officially invited like this somehow seemed to carry a lot more weight than Naruto was emotionally ready to handle just yet.
“You – Lord Uchiha is really inviting me? Why?”
Izuna looked at him with a dry look before rolling his eyes. “I´m not going to answer that question since it is, frankly, a stupid one. Just know that my brother asked for you presence in seven days. At midday in one week, we will sent a group as an escort that will meet you at the base of the Naka river, at the village gates closest to our compound. They will then accompany you to out compound, even if I´m sure that you would have found your way on your own. With your sensory range, it wouldn´t be surprising if you could.”
Kurama tsk-ed in his mind, narrowing his eyes into dangerous slits as Izuna talked. “They might seem like they´re inviting you, but by the way this brat is wording it I doubt they´re hardly giving you much of a choice, kit.”
Naruto nodded, both in agreement with Kurama as well as with Izuna, showing that he understood them both.
“Yes, I – I know where that is. Right,” he murmured, still a little baffled but at least functioning again.
Izuna suddenly had that same cheerful smile on that face he had when he had been dealing with that organizer on the first day, right before their departure. It appeared kind, but was more of a business smile than an actual one, even if the Uchiha´s chakra was still light and easy-going.
“Great! We will be waiting for your arrival then, Kitsune! Make sure not to be late!”
Still slightly helpless and lost, Naruto turned to Hikaku in search for help, but the brat only looked very amused at his situation. The brunette shrugged, not particularly bothered when cerulean eyes landed on him with a pleading look.
Traitor.
Izuna stepped forward, coming to a stop right before Naruto, before putting a hand on his shoulder. It was warm and heavy, sort of grounding, enough so that Naruto turned back to the clan heir whose sharp eyes were fixed on him.
Cerulean blue clashed with onyx black, like it had done so often in the last few days, and very suddenly Naruto came to the realization that every time their eyes met, Izuna somehow tested his resolve and virtue. And each time, whenever Izuna´s chakra flared with satisfaction, Naruto could tell that he did not disappoint.
“Well then Kitsune, have a safe journey home,” he concluded before turning back to his comrades, “We´re leaving, everyone.”
And with that, Naruto watched the retreating backs of the Uchiha as they left one very confused Uzumaki behind.
What a mission…