Revelations
Naruto yawned as he sat up in bed, He wasn't sure why but something had pulled him from the clutches of sleep.
'That was me kit, Shukaku and his jinchuuriki are on their way here'
'But it is like, four in the morning, on a Sunday!' Throwing his blankets aside the blonde moved out of his room. Making his way to the main area he almost ignored the creaking of Izuku's door opening. Turning around he raised a hand, "Morning br-?" He was greeted by Kurotsuchi standing meekly in the doorway. "Morning Kurotsuchi," Over the last month everyone had grown used to the kunoichi being in the house. Izuku gave no effort to hide the relationship but no-one really cared either. Naruto flashed back to the first time they'd encountered her in the house, where Kurotsuchi had bowed and apologized for misunderstanding the situation and her actions towards him. The resulting days had been awkward but now there was an understanding between the two. Naruto felt he could turn his back on the kunoichi without having to worry she'd attack him anymore. He shuffled towards the kitchen, intending to make himself breakfast. A lightning bolt struck, "You two didn't?"
"No Naruto, we are twelve, shinobi yes, but we are still twelve get your mind out of the gutter and for Kami's sake, never imply such a thing again," Izuku shook his head, the blond stared at Izuku before it settled in.
They weren't even teenagers
Naruto looked down at his hands and watched his fingers twitch. He was twelve, Izuku was twelve. He challenged a grown man to a sword fight, and he won without a scratch! The blond just let the information sink in, Izuku so was so mature it was hard to remember they were still children. But the fact remained.
They
were
CHILDREN
And Izuku had already killed the thugs Gato hired, Naruto had been spat on, isolated terrorized by villagers, he had watched Zabuza and Haku die along with all those men. Sasuke had seen his family, his clan slaughtered by his brother who had been set up by an evil warhawk along with the terrors Izuku and he had seen. Kurotsuchi had been willing to take his head of a month ago and she was the same damn age! Naruto clutched his forehead, pulling his yellow hair back. They were kids, but they were kids that had seen the worst parts of the world. Team seven didn't even live with any family anymore, Kakashi sure as hell wasn't taking care of them! Naruto was fucking twelve and the nine-tailed beast was the most parental figure he'd ever had, not to mention Kurama was fucking sealed inside him! Someone poked his forehead.
"Oi, oi, let's have some breakfast and then you can face your existential crisis, alright?"
"How do you do it? We're twelve bro, twelve, and we have blood on our hands,"
"I have blood on my hands, you don't just yet, and I intend to keep it that way, as for the whole, being shinobi and facing death most days, well, that's just how this ole world works I'm afraid bro," A supportive hand on his shoulder. "Come on, once we get Itachi back, we'll be good, alright?"
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto nodded numbly, "Okay,"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Ah, Gaara is here," Izuku sauntered through the room to the front door. "We should do something about Shukaku's seal, I've been feeling the Biju chakra from their residence," Naruto nodded. Over the last month Gaara had shown the seal to the trio, Naruto recognized it as a modified storage seal, one used for transportation of goods, not for holding a damn Tailed Beast, even if it was the One Tail. A promise to improve the seal had been made after the tournament was over since Gaara wanted to prove he wasn't a threat, even with the faulty seal. The door swung open and the redhead fell into the room.
"He's done it," Izuku straightened up, "He's replaced one of the guards,"
"Did you give your dad the kunai?" The jinchuuriki dumbly nodded. "Good," And just like that, Izuku was gone. "Hold on," He quickly dashed into his bedroom, returning in his shinobi gear before disappearing again.
"What was..." Sakura's head moved to follow where Izuku would have been, had he not vanished mid-run. Naruto looked at Garra and the front door. Then back at Gaara, then the front door again.
"Sasuke, grab your shit!" Naruto dives towards his room. Sand forms a wall to stop him. "Gaara,"
"Izuku said that he will deal with Orochimaru,"
"And what's to stop me using a flying raijin right now?"
"He said that Orochimaru was planning on putting a cursemark on Sasuke or you if the two of you clashed with the Sannin again,"
"The snake will just put the mark on him instead," Sasuke growled. Gaara shook his head.
"No, izuku's primal chakra will burn away the foreign chakra, thats' why he's so hard to heal,"
"Because no chakra type matches his, of course," The blond shook his head. "No, off topic, we aren't letting him," Izuku flashed back into the living room.
"Aren't letting me do what bro? I wasn't fighting Orochimaru, I went to tell Hiruzen and tip off Gaara's old man, of course the Kazekage is too proud to listen to the warnings abotu a snake themed shinobi who is literally only known for backstabbing others,"
"What else is new?" Gaara grumbled.
"So we need to figure out when the Sannin will make a move, if it's even him making a move," The greenette grimaced
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow.
"Danzo pulled a lot of the strings for this puppet show before he left, right now it's so tangled for us we don't know if someone's a puppet or not,"
"You think Orochimaru is being manipulated by Danzo?" Naruto could understand his brother's logic.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Danzo had done to Orochimaru as he has done to his ROOT agents," The greenette grumbled, "Shit," A shadow clone popped up next to him before immediately turning to smoke. "Alright, now my clones will be on guard,"
"What clones?" Sasuke stepped forwards,
"The clones Sarutobi asked me to put on patrol, all diguised with transformation jutsu,"
"Clever," Naruto smirked, trust Izuku to do something like that. "So now we just wait for him to betray Kazekage while the Sand attack and then everything can be wrapped up in a nice pretty bow,"
"They'll probably attack in the first round, when everyone is most distracted," Sakura's voice made him jump, no he hadn't forgotten she was in the house, he just wasn't expecting her at his shoulder.
"True," Sasuke nodded as he rubebd his chin, "Alright, Kurotsuchi, can you keep the Stone out of the conflict?"
"Easily, but surely we should help you?"
"No, this needs to stay between the Leaf, the Sand and the Sound, the Stone, Cloud and Mist if they hear about this, would try to capitalize on the attack, but since the Cloud didn't have any shinobi get this far and the Mist being the recluse village it is, the Stone is the only one posing a threat," izuku shook his head
"That's sweet and all but the Stone-nin lost mostly to the Leaf-nin," She grumbled, "I still don't know how after your cirriculum was screwed over,"
"We inspired a few boys to train harder, most the girls tried to be good kunoichi to catch my attention," Sasuke blew his hair out of his face. "But that's irrelevant right now, we need to get ready for the invasion," The six ninja began plotting.
"The first battle of the final stage of the Chunnin exams is," Naruto hoped the proctor wouldn't say that every round, it would get annoying quick. "Uzumaki Naruto," None cheered, many booed and yelled expletives, "Against Hyuuga Neji," The crowd roared, with the exception of the Hyuuga clan. Someone really needed to remove the sticks up each of their asses. The older genin stood at the opposite end of the ring, glaring at the blond. He really wasn't that bothered with the Hyuuga if he was being honest, yeah the three-sixty vision was a major advantage but Naruto could attack from all angles anyway with his Shadow Clones. Looking around the crowd he saw Izuku, Sasuke, Sakura and Ino sat together. It suprised him to see the blonde sat with the group but he'd be lying if he said they hadn't become close over the course of her training.
"Give up, you are destined to lose this battle," Naruto watched Neji boast, "You can not change fate, so you should simply surrender now and save yourself the embarrassment, Dead Last," The crowd snickered at his name while Neji smirked.
"So that's your gameplan, demoralize me and humiliate me?"
"It is already known you hold the Kyuubi, but you are still one of the worst students in the,"
"The Kyuubi has a name, it's Kurama, rememebr it Hyuuga, because otherwise I will beat it into you," Neji crouched low, his hands flat.
"That I'd like to see, Dead Last," The teen charged forwards and got ready to attack. Naruto twisted around the strike aiming for his sternum, pushing the stretched arm away from his body. Neji used this and leant to try and kick Naruto, who promptly ducked under the leg, spinning on his heel as he stood back up. His left arm rose as his right hand grabbed his opposite wrist to block the right hook Neji launched at him. The fight took on the appearance of a dance with Naruto elegantly weaving around the attacks without one so much as grazing him. Not letting himself get careless he knew that while Neji was a Hyuuga and thussly talented at taijutsu, the genin would wear himself out, long before Naruto would begin to tire. "Is all you can do run away? I guess after spending so much time with that excuse of a Hyuuga I call a cousin," Naruto flicked back to attention. "Her cowardice would start rubbing off eventually," The fist aimed at his temple stopped just shy of the blow, the crowd gasped as Naruto had caught Neji's wrist at the last second.
"Ex-goddamn-scuse you," He growled "But you should not badmouth a friend of mine,"
"A friend?! Ha! I suppose rejec- oof!" Neji's hauty remark was cut off midway as Naruto punched him in the gut.
"Until you can prove you're our better," The Hyuuga suddenly skidded back several feet. Neji dashed forwards again, repeating his first attack. Naruto put himself into a ready position and narrowed his eyes. His arm moved almost autonomously, his forearm striking away Neji's wrist. His other hand flat struck Neji's chest, just powerful enough to wind him. As Neji stumbled back he smirked.
"You missed,"
"Who said I was aiming for the tenketsu?" Pushing himself off the concrete, Naruto planted his hand on Neji's shoulder and jumped over his opponent. His feet the floor and as his knees bent he pulled. Neji came stumbling back into his leg and fell backwards, the blond launched him across the arena. Neji got to his feet and growled. "You see Hyuuga, I'm not a big believer of fate or destiny, the village hates and despises me right now, but I'm still going to become Hokage one day! And I'll prove it by beating you here and now!"
"You've yet to actually attack me and I doubt you could so much as scratch me, Dead Last," Naruto simply raised his hand and flexed his fingers.
"Tag, you're it," Neji glared as his hand rose to his face.
"Byakugan!" The veins on his face popped up as the dojutsu activated. "Now your destruction is all but assured,"
"Now now Hyuuga, don't go making promises you can't keep," Naruto bent at the knees, ready to fight. A clone appeared before flickering away. Neji opened his mouth before ducking under the clone's sweeping kick. His torso twisted to face the new clone but he quickly had to jump away as a second clone appeared behind him again. Naruto began running. Neji landed and stepped backwards into a combative stance. A third clone and he dodged again, with a fourth his body twisted to avoid the attacks. The original Naruto smirked as the clones all puffed into smoke, blinding Neji. The blond closed in and brought his arms together, laying one hand over the other. His wrists snapped up and knocked Neji's hands up as the Hyuuga attempted a double palm strike. Naruto pushed the heels of his palms forwards, striking Neji off balance. Immediately he followed through wrapping one of his arms around Neji's as he stepped past the stumbling Hyuuga. His body came to a dead stop and his foot lifted to hit the back of Neji's knee causing him to buckle. On his remaining foot, Naruto pivoted to lock Neji's arm behind his back. His other hand flicked to his kunai pouch and brought one to rest under the Hyuuga's chin. The whole encouter lasted less time than the smoke. As it cleared away the audience was left seeing Naruto holding Neji in a lock, ready to kill. The silence was grippable.
"Winner Naruto Uzumaki," The procter announced, the kunai was put away and Neji thrown to the ground.
"We'll see how much fate can help now you've lost to the Dead Last," The blond turned on his heel and walked out of the arena, ignoring the crowds that now cheered for him.
Izuku was standing in the corridor between the seating area and the preparation rooms. "Naruto, nice win," His brother congradulated him. "We'll have some Ichiraku to celebrate when this is over,"
"Alright," The blond nodded, just happy to be out of the arena.
"They're all going to have some questions, sit with Sasuke, Sakura and Ino, don't say anything you don't want to, and ignore the green spandex wearing clone of Guy sensei, please,"
"You got it,"
"And next time you fight an opponent, don't insult them by holding back," The greenette walked away towards the preperation rooms, "Now go sit down, I have to fight Gaara,"
"Good lock with that dude," The two shared a fist bump as they walked in opposite directions. Naruto calmly made his way towards the seating area, barely making it past the doorway before Sakura and Ino greeted him.
"That was awesome Naruto!" Sakura smiled pumping her fists, "You didn't get hit once, you gotta teach us how to dodge like that!" Ino nodded in excited agreement.
"We thought you were in trouble after neji started using the Byakugan but you had him on the ropes the whole time!" The three sat down with Sasuke, ignoring the stares from the other genin. Sasuke was sat counting a stack of bills.
"Naruto," A small stack was thrown his way. "You won with a hundred and fifty to on odds, Izuku put the week's shopping down and we're good for three whole years,"
"You guys bet on my fight?"
"Izuku did, he knew you'd win and more specifically how," Sasuke continued counting bills. "He bet not only on you winning but also using only one tool, the odds went from one-fifty to about three-thousand to one," Naruto gaped for a moment. "Izuku already claimed all the winnings, he asked me to use the Sharingan to count it all quickly, everything is going towards getting us our own place, maybe even a compound for the Uzumaki clan to restart once we're all adults,"
"Restart the clan? But Uzushiogakure was destroyed, the Uzumaki are literally all over the world,"
"Most Uzumaki are red heads, you're the only exception, even then, Izuku wants to bet it's because the Namikaze men were predominately blond," Sasuke stated plainly, "Izuku suspects Danzo will have answers, maybe even Orochimaru," The raven-haired boy kept flicking stacks with his thumb like boring flipbooks. "Most of the winnings are disappearing for funds towards the compound and an actual house, so what we're left with should cover groceries for winter," Naruto shrugged, not really caring for the money after Danzo was mentioned. The rat-bastard was a deceptive, merciless cruel waste of life, it wouldn't be surprising to find out that he had captured the Uzumaki survivors to run 'experiments' on them. Which would just entail torturing them until they died. The Cloud wouldn't have any as they were the main orchestrators of the Whirlpool villages destruction, the Stone may have a few, as well as the Rain but the Mist probably had low chance due to their kekki genkai civil-war. If Orochimaru had some insight, maybe they could beat it out of the snake sannin when he showed his face. The two boys were so engrossed in their conversation that they weren't paying attention to Izuku and Gaara brawling it out. That was, until the sand began flying. Gaara's seal was a mockery of the art to Naruto, whoever did the modified seal thought themselves a genius and for that alone Naruto wanted to smack them across the face. The seal didn't stop Shukaku's chakra from seeping into Gaara, mixing with the redheads' own chakra balance, making control almost impossible. Not to mention the fact Gaara faced serious chakra poisoning as time wore on, his pathways were already in danger after housing Shukaku so dangerously for twelve years, the boy was weakening with each jutsu. All it took was some stress and the chakra overtook the boy's mind, turning him into a crazed killer. As people began evacuating Izuku appeared on the rails in front of the four.
"Ino, Sakura, help evacuate, the invasion's coming any second now and we need fighters reday to stall for time, Naruto, handle Gaara, Sasuke on me," Gaara's physcotic laugh permeated the air as the green haired boy grabbed Sasuke and both disappeared.
"Girls, go," Ino and Sakura nodded to him as he jumped onto the rails and rushed to meet Gaara. The sand targeted him immediately and there was a lot of it. A rasengan broke apart the streams that would hit him easily but there was too mnay to defend from all at once. He pulled out a seal and threw the small scroll over Gaara's sand streams. 'Kurama, can you talk to Shukaku? We need him to try and reign in his chakra away from Gaara'
'I will try kit but I cannot promise results, the seal will probably stop Shukaku from taking the chakra Gaara is using back,'
'Perfect a war of attrition then, just try keep Shukaku calm in the mindscape, if you see Gaara there, keep him calm too'
'On it'
Naruto looked to where the scroll currently rested in the air and watched it poof into a decent sized log. Sand closed in from all sides and Naruto waited for the last second before swapping places. "Sand Burial!" The sand hit the ground and grew into a pyramid before shrinking to something abotu as high as Naruto's waist. Yup, definitely avoiding that one. Tiring out Gaara and Shukaku would take a whole lot of work, the solid defence meant hit and run tactics were useless and Gaara would lose interest quickly if Naruto wasn't attacking all the time. His mind raced for a plan that would work without doing too much damage but nothing seemed feasable.
'Kit you need to knock them out, the boy told me that the chakra has taken control, right now he will not listen to reason and Shukaku cannot pull his chakra back! They told me to tell you about the small of the back, it is the weak spot of the sand armour,'
'Alright, stick with them and let me know if they start getting control back' He stooped low and began dodging sand spears. Gaara's body was facing him but luckily that played to his favor. No-one expects you to disappear during a straight charge, especially if you reappear right behind them at point blank range. Using the ring end of a kunai Naruto jabbed the small of Gaara's back, hard. Cracks began spreading from the boy's back and outwards around his body until whole chunks of the boy began falling off, reavealing the red body of a jinchuuriki consumed by chakra. Naruto needed to end this quickly now the sand wasn't slowing Gaara down. He flickered to Gaara's front and unleashed a powerful blow to wind the boy, it would take an almighty blow to knock out Gaara in his state. His forehead protector sat tightly on his head as he grabbed Gaara's shoulders and looked at the sky. 'Kurama, please do not be mad' The world blurred until pain shot through his head. Gaara's face went slack as the body slowly peeled into human skin the sand all shrinking to the ground with a hiss. Both boys sank to their knees before laying on the ground. Naruto rubbed his forehead gingerly, Izuku would scold him for using such a barbaric move but honestly? It was the best he could think of, Kurama had taught him about how strong the Tailed Beasts were. Regular ninjutsu and taijutsu wouldn't work, Naruto couldn't do genjutsu so it was either pull out Kurama's power or get Gaara while he was disorientated and given the enclosed space they were in. It was a split second decision and Naruto would make it again.
"Okay," Gaara groaned "I think I'm ready for the new seal," Naruto began to chuckle. "Man that hurt!"
"I headbutt you with steel, course it's going to hurt," They both forced themselves to sit up.
"You boy!" They looked to see the Kazekage lowering himself on a cloud of gold sand. "Your irksome brother just saved me from Orochimaru's betrayal, even after I ignored his warnings, the Sand will be withdrawing from this tournament to start making amends after that Snake's manipulation, I suggest you go and help him before something happens,"
"Alright, but Gaara has to stay a few days so we can sort out the seal, Fuinjutsu is a speciality of mine and that seal is the root of the problems Gaara has,"
"It will be arranged, now hurry before Orochimaru does something drastic, I believe they were heading towards the Lookout Tower? Whatever that is?"
"Thank you, Kazekage-sama, I look forward to our next meeting," And with a Flying Raijin, he was gone.
"Gaara, I am sorry I did not listen to you,"
"That is in the past now father, the Uzumakis have taught me the benefit of not holding onto hate," The two slowly began leaving the building.
"Shukaku contained, situation?" Naruto came to a stop on one foot by Sasuke's shoulder.
"Well, I got the pleasure of fighting Lord First and Second while Gramps and Izuku fight Orochimaru,"
"First and Second? But that means,"
"Yes," A deep voice interrupted, "He's used a forbidden jutsu to summon our souls back into mortal coils," The second Hokage appeared in front of them, with kunai ready to strike. Insinctively Naruto kicked the arm away and pulled Sasuke back. "He's ordered our bodies to fight you, we have no control, even elder brother is struggling to fight it,"
"Well, since you have a known dislike of the Uchiha Second, I believe I shall let Sasuke fight First," Naruto grabbed the reanimated man's wrist, marking him immediately. The older shinobi forced him to move away with a kunai attack before weaving signs for a jutsu. Naruto created several Shadow Clones and they all began to charge the Second Hokage. Most attacks were quickly dispelled however Naruto was able to land some blows while creating his smokescreen. Second grunted as a Rasengan struck his stomach, a Naru-clone delivered on to his back at the same time, trapping the reanimated shinobi in between the two spheres of pure chakra. Both Naruto's leapt away as the orbs expanded, consuming the Hokage between them.
"Naruto, catch!" A kunai sailed towards him from Izuku's direction, "That tag should undo the reanimation effect,"
"If he studied my works right," Naruto grabbed the kunai and snapped the tag off it before throwing the blade at Second.
"Izubro is much smarter than you were Second, but had you not made this jutsu, we wouldn't be in this position," The silver haird Hokage avoided the blade, allowing Naruto to get close and slap the tag onto his ribcage.
"Ngh!" He fell to one knee.
"Tobirama!" First Hokage yelled, jumping towards Naruto. Sasuke was faster though, catching up to the godlike shinobi and slapping an indentical tag on his back. Both Hokages looked at the duo.
"You are strong for children,"
"Well you didn't do us many favors, there's been three Ninja World Wars, if you aren't someone's enemy, you're a target for someone else," Sasuke shook his head as he put a hand to his hip. "Not to mention Second slighting the Uchiha made them enemies in their own home, Danzo manipulated someone into killing the entire clan save for myself and my elder brother,"
"That rat, I knew he was too untrustworthy," The bodies began to flake.
"Is there any hope for peace?"
"I don't know First, we're going to find Danzo and bring him to justice, then we shall see if there's any damage control we can do," Naruto shrugged "Hopefully we can make peace once I'm Hokage myself," First laughed a hearty laugh.
"Well if everyone starts thinking like you boys, the world may be in good hands after all," The bodies fully decayed into flakes as two bright souls slowly drifted towards the sky.
"Kami if I hear Wood clone jutsu ever again, it'll be too soon, do you know hwo dry my throat is after all those fireballs?" Sasuke coughed.
"We'll get drinks at home, for now we-,"
"HIRUZEN I SWEAR TO KAMI YOU FINISH THAT JUTSU I WILL KILL YOU MYSELF!" Izuku's roar interrupted their thoughts as they turned to see the greenetted fighting the Sannin while Grampa Third was casting a jutsu. Both boys paled as they saw a ghostly apparation appear behind the old shinobi. "NARUTO, SASUKE, HOLD THE SNAKE!" The blond grabbed his friend and they were next to Izuku, who was holding a tanto again. The grappled for a moment with the snake shinobi before Naruto used several Shadow clones to hold weigh Orochimaru down. The three all turned their attention to Sarutobi and Izuku.
"Repear death seal!"
"That's a shinigami!" Sasuke realized, Naruto wasn't sure if they could get paler or not. The ghostly embodiement of death drew their tanto from the holder in their mouth and prepared to stab Grampa Third. Nobody expected what happened next.
Shliing
crash
Izuku deflected the ghotsly blade with his own, causing it to strike the ground by Gramp Third's feet.
"YOU DARE INTTERUPT A SACRIFICE BOY!!?" The Shinigami wailed at an ear piercing tone. Izuku stared down the god, his sword still as stone.
"There is no sacrifice here, return what you have taken or I will show you death,"
"YOU THINK YOU CAN THREATEN ME? I WILL HAVE YOUR SOUL FOR ETERNITY!" The wind began to buffer everyone on the tower before the Shingami looked expectantly at Izuku.
"Cute," A whirlwind began around the greenette as the floor cracked below him even the ghost hair of the Shinigami were taken by the storm. A light green flare burned around the figure, trailing into the air. The Shinigami began screeching and tried to stab Izuku. The boy's blade was coated in the same green as his body as he sliced towards the murderous article. Naruto watched with pure fear as the green cut through the grey and sent the tip of the blade spiraling through the air. There was silence as Izuku put his feet back together and his blade away. "Now return the soul and the chakra sealed away," A bloodcurdling screech filled the air, threatening to burst everyone's ear drums. All at once Naruto saw a dark red chakra ball burst from the Shinigami's chest and rocket towards him as a white whisper escaped from its mouth.
'Kit do not run, this chakra is familair' The dark flame struck Naruto's chest and dissolved into his skin. It didn't burn nor hurt, it just warmed his skin and somehow energized him. 'Oh, that is right, your father split my chakra when he sealed me' Kurama flexed in Naruto's mindscape. 'I wonder how Izuku learned that'
"Run," Izuku growled at the Shinigami before it disappeared into the wind. He sighed heavily and watched the white mist float upwards.
"Did you... Did you just intimidate a Shinigami?"
"Yes and no," He yawned "I spent a lot of time studying the Second's jutsus, the Reaper Death Seal requires a Shinigami, a god of death, they normally are immune to genjutsu of any kind,"
"So, how did you?"
"I put everyone here under a genjutsu, a Shinigami is immune because it percieves what the mortals around it percieves,"
"So by putting everyone here in a genjutsu you were effectively able to trick the Shinigami?" Sasuke shook his head "You are just full of surprises,"
"Hey, gotta put the Primal chakra to use somehow," A very heavy yawn and then everyone's focus was back on Orochimaru, who was still trapped by Sasuke and several Narutos. "Now Sannin, you saw what I could do, care to listen to me?"
"I'm a bit of a, captive audience right now Izuku, I have no choice," A coy smile.
"Good, open your mouth, but if you think of sending out any snakes I will personally gut you like an eel," The yellow eyed Sannin lowered his jaw Naruto watched in shock as Izuku grabbed the forked tongue and pulled it out. "Sarutobi, you should look at this," The Third Hokage hobbled over and gasped as he saw.
"That's ROOT marking, Danzo put it on his men to make sure they were loyal, that seal turns them into his minions," Izuku let go of the appendage and socked Orochimaru in the face, knocking him out cold.
"Well once you have your experts remove it we can start asking him some questions," Izuku shook his head. ANBU began landing on the rooftop and took the sannin away from the boys. "We'll be in your office tomorrow morning,"
"I'll be expecting you, dont' be late,"
"What do look like, Kakashi?" Even the ANBU cracked a chuckle at his quip. The three boys leapt away from the rooftop, heading for home.
"Are you guys nuts?!" Sakura stood at the door in front of the three boys with Ino by her side. "Going against the First and Second Hokages by yourselves? Not to mention you Izuku decided to go against Orochimaru again!" All three boys raised their hands in surrender as Sakura folded her arms.
"I- we're sorry Sakura, but we had to fight, otherwise the village wouldv'e been destroyed," The blond tries, "Besides the Hokage were much weaker because Orochimaru doesn't know their full power," A tic mark formed on the pinkette's forehead. "It's not like we wanted to fight them, they are the Hokages, but we just didn't want anyone to get hurt,"
"You Idiot that's what the ANBU are for,"
"The ANBU were occupied with the confused Suna-nin, the forces were ordered to retreat shortly after the seige began and then suddentl the Kazekage is there to discuss what Orochimaru had done to decieve and use them, they didn't even know about the fight until the Shinigami showed up," Sasuke quickly planted a hand over Izuku's mouth at that while Sakura's eyebrow twitched and Ino lifted a hand to her mouth.
"YOU GUYS FOUGHT A SHINIGAMI!?"
"No?" Sasuke ventured, he shrunk under the pinektte's gaze, "Naruto, tap in,"
"Uhhh," Both girls rounded on him, "We didn't fight it persay, Izuku put us all under a genjutsu to decieve it and get it to go away, on the plus it released the other half of Kurama dad took with him when he sealed Kurama into me," He rubbed the back of his head shyly, "So uh, no harm no, foul?"
"No harm no?" Sakura just gaped, "Naruto do you know what could've happened?"
"The village would've been destroyed,"
"You three could've died, as in all at once, the Hokages could've killed you, Orochimaru could've killed you and then there's a Shinigami that would've taken your souls for eternity," The blond's brain suddenly clicked as he saw Sakura frown.
"I'm sorry for worrying you Sakura, I wasn't thinking like that when the fighting was happening, I just, our bodies moved on their own," Tentatively he took her into a hug "I promise to try think before I jump in next time," He stretched out an arm and invited Ino in too. "I get you guys are mad at us but please, we didn't mean to scare you or anything, promise,"
"Alright, we forgive you, but you guys have to cook something nice tonight, we need a break from training after all that,"
"Hai, hai," Izuku waved his hand as he walked past them, "Guess it's some Ichiraku style ramen then, Sasuke you know the rules,"
"Shut it," The last Uchiha muttered as he began laying the table. As Naruto went to help Izuku Sakura gripped the wrist of his sleeve gently.
"We were really scared you were going to die Naruto," She faced the floor.
"I promise I won't do it again Sakura, Ino, I promise to try my hardest to come back everytime, okay?"
"I'll accept that for now," The pinkette nodded, "Now I think Izuku needs some help cooking," Tutting Naruto moved back on his path to his brother. This evening was a welcome pause from ninja life.
"We managed to remove the seal but we're unsure if Orochimaru is willing to talk," Grampa Third straightened some papers on his desk. Naruto watched his brother walk past him and open a window. "So I am planning to send some people from T and I over, I know catching Danzo means a lot to you but we might not be able to get answers immediately,"
"Well if getting answers is what you're after," Izuku smiled as a single black bird flew into the room. "I think I know a guy that can help," A flock of crows began filling the room until a lean figure stood in the centre of the room. They had short, dark hair, a plain crimson coloured robe down to their ankles, open toed sandals and a straw hat to finish the look. Naruto recognized them immediately.
"Itachi," Sasuke whispered as he gazed at his brother.
"Hokeage-same, Naruto, Izuku, Sasuke," The man greeted the four occupants of the room, "I recieved word from Izuku a few weeks ago that my mission became common knowledge, or at least the fact I was forced into doing it,"
"It'll have to be now," Sarutobi grumbled, "Izuku does your paperwork making abilities know no bounds?"
"Not yet Grampa, not yet,"
"Well, I would like to say that it is only me coming back but I'm afraid I am in the company of two more,"
"That's ri- wait, two?" Izuku went from knowingly nodding to shakign his head in confusion. Their eyes moved to the window as two argumentative voices bickered.
"Are you sure we're going the right direction? I feel like we've turned left too much,"
"I'm following 'Tachi's trail, shut up,"
"Oh I'm sorry my sense of direction went a bit shit after I y'know LOST MY EYES!"
"Do you want me to drop you? Cuz that's how you get dropped," A blur and suddenly another figure carrying a second landed in the room. A blond teen with eyes red enough to be Sharingan and a black haired man with a konoha hitai-ate over his eyes. Even with the feature covered Naruto recognized the man.
"Shisui?" He stepped forwards, Izuku stepped backwards as the red-eyed blond scanend the room before settling on the greenette himself.
"You," The boy gaped,
"Me,"
"But.... But how, you died, you're dead!"
"So is he," Izuku nodded at Shisui.
"Wait you mean you didn't tell them?" Shisui accused a bookcase.
"Over here cuz," Itachi coughed "And no, I didn't have the time nro the opportunity to inform them, even Izuku's Shadow Clone didn't stick around long enough for me to tell him,"
"You saved him?" Izuku whispered, "But you said,"
"It was you that gave me the idea Izuku, when you made a Shadow Clone to get Naruto while you helped Sasuke, I had one of my own find Shisui and nurse him back to a point I could transport him to the Uchiha compound, where I took your friend these last few weeks,"
"Who is this anyway?" Sasuke nodded at the boy carrying Shisui, "Hopefully he's smarter than this dope,"
"Hopefully he can cook better than the emo," They poked their tongues at each other as Izuku coughed.
"Guys this is the one I told you about, the guy I was going to save when I went back to Musutafu," Shisui was put down as Izuku drew nearer the pair. "This is the first brother I ever had,"
"Katsuki Bakugo,"