Chapter 26
EDIT- I’ve merged the chapters already and I’ve put both author’s notes here with a number.
Two weeks later
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Naruto found that it was harder than she had originally assumed to hide her new status and promotion from those around her. There was no use in hiding said promotion from Jiraiya or Orochimaru but the others were a different case.
The sandaime had clearly stated he wished to keep her promotion as hush as possible as Koharu and Homura would disagree with it and Danzo would insist of having her in ROOT. The former two would insist on keeping her within the village as often as possible but her flame mark did the exact opposite of their wish.
She wanted to tell her team though, considering she would be going on lots of missions without them and she didn’t find it fair to them for her to just up and leave them without any warning.
ANBU had a minimum number of missions they had to complete a year as long as they didn’t take long missions so she would try to fill that small roster and do as many missions as she could with her team as well.
At present time, she was sat in Minato’s apartment eating dinner with Team Minato minus Obito and Team Kushina. She had to grudgingly wear a full sleeved top, something she usually went without considering she was as hot as a furnace most of the time.
They had paused their small talk when Minato called for each of their attention and Naruto was immediately suspicious by the large smile on his face, it was goofier than usual.
“I invited all of you over so abruptly for dinner because… well, I proposed to Kushina yesterday and she said yes.” If at all possible his smile became goofier and it seemed to be contagious as they all couldn’t help but smile as well, even Kakashi but she could see the underlying sadness in his eyes and she knew it was because Obito would have wanted to be there.
The mission to Kannabi bridge had been roughly when they had gone to their mission at the border, which was several months ago. By now, Obito should have been healed physically so all he would require was physical therapy and psychiatric attention, both he could easily receive.
She had thought it out, sort of. With Kiri out of commission due to her last mission there was simply no way in hell they were going to kidnap anyone from Konoha to seal Isobu into.
Because of that, Madara wouldn’t be able to brainwash Obito, a point in her favour but she knew the longer he stayed, the bigger the chance would be for him to not be the Obito they all knew. Madara and Zetsu had been spouting some convincing nonsense but for Naruto and the Allied Shinobi Forces, they had been words of madmen who planned on destroying the world.
She gave Minato a smile and congratulated the couple on their engagement, asking when they planned on having the wedding, “Sometime in July when the flowers will be in full bloom.” Replied a smiling Kushina, her hand holding Minato’s tightly with their fingers interlocked.
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As hokage for several years, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to face the harsh reality of their world and the fallout from his actions and he had always taken it in stride. He was not supposed to second-guess his actions as the Professor but when the younger girl had shown him her memories via the Yamanaka clan technique, a technique she had been taught by Ino Yamanaka, he had doubted himself.
In his heart, he believed all the wrongs had been his fault and his alone. Allowing Danzo to keep the Foundation running, not granting Kushina’s final wish, allowing people to smear Naruto’s name, allowing the village to distrust the Uchiha, keeping Naruto from her godparents, allowing Itachi to shoulder the blame of the Uchiha clan, not stopped the coup, allowing Orochimaru to carry on in his path into the darkness, keeping Kakashi in ANBU and so much more.
All of it was his fault.
As such, he knew he had to fix his mistakes but doing so was impossible. There was nothing he could do personally other than help Naruto in her crusade to fix the mistakes he and his predecessors had created. He would also make damn sure that his council wouldn’t interfere with her nor Minato’s decisions. He trusted both of the Namikaze’s decisions enough and knew they wouldn’t harm Konoha, only doing what they believed and knew would be for her benefit.
It was that though that brought him peace of mind as he went into his old office and insisted that Minato create his own council of people he trusted.
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After another week Naruto had finally gotten Kurama to agree in helping her retrieve Obito from Madara.
During the week she had invested in an apartment away from Jiraiya and Orochimaru, not because she didn’t want to see them but they weren’t at an age or rank where they acted like lovesick teenagers. No, she didn’t want to hear them at night time so she had taken to renting an apartment in the shinobi district which was coincidentally right above Kakashi’s own apartment.
She hadn’t like the size of it, originally, however after talking it through with the landlord he agreed that as long as she got permission and paid for it she could knock down two of the apartments next to her and expand it, she just had to keep in mind her rent would be higher than everyone else but that didn’t really bother her.
Back to present time though, she was stood in the hokage’s office with Team Minato, Team Kushina and Obito’s grandmother, saying she had a pre-wedding gift for them as long as they didn’t hate her when she gave it.
When she had been told they’d love whatever she gave them, she used the hiraishin and teleported over to Obito, only to see white Zetsu and set him on fire after eliciting a scream.
“Is that you Naruto?” spoke a familiar voice behind her and she turned to see Obito.
Since the mission hadn’t gone the same way as it had in her time, his upper body was fine minus one missing eye. His lower body seemed to have been the issue since he had two white legs the same colour as Zetsu from the shodai’s cells no doubt.
His face was the same as the last time she had seen it, no swirls and only an eye missing. She was actually pleased by this turn of event, she didn’t know how she would react to him if he had looked like crazy Obito.
She gave the boy a strained smile and nodded, but when she was about to speak, she heard a voice that haunted her nightmares and whose voice got Kurama in such a foul mood, his own side of her mindscape became dark and gloomy.
“And who do we have here?” asked Madara.
Naruto’s eyed turned yellow as Kurama’s chakra cloaked her and a moment later she was holding a rasenshuriken which she threw at him.
A jutsu he moved out of the way of with the help of Zetsu.
Not the white one.
“What brings Ashura’s reincarnation here?” he asked and Naruto felt her blood boil but she decided against paying him any attention and instead paid attention to behind Madara, the Gedo Statue.
The last time they had destroyed the Gedo statue, the ten tails broke free however this time, it didn’t have any of the bijuu inside of it.
She smirked as she placed a small amount of her chakra in the cave and latched it onto the statue. Her own chakra, not Kurama’s.
Just before Madara or Zetsu could attack her, she grabbed Obito and teleported back to Konoha where everyone was waiting for her return.
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Minato sat in his office, amused, as he waited for his little sister. He didn’t understand why she wanted to make a show, to such a point where she had invited even his late student’s grandmother to witness it.
He tried to squish the annoyance he was feeling when he had found out about her promotion the previous day. He had been going through the ANBU roster and had been surprised and angered when he had seen her name and the fact she had chosen that division out of all the other options available to her.
Iruka was talking to Rin as Kakashi and Shisui spoke about a new seal they planned on using in their next spar with Naruto whereas Kushina was striking small talk with Obito’s grandmother.
Just as Rin began talking about chakra infused fists, Naruto teleported back into the office which was when he knew he was dreaming because there was no way Obito was standing- crouching?- in front of him.
Gasps were heard all around the two in the middle of the office and it was Obito’s grandmother who got there first surprisingly, crushing her grandson to her as she sobbed into his hair, murmuring words of relief about his return.
Minato could see Rin with tears streaming down her face and a smile adorning her, lighting her features, similar to Kushina herself. Iruka had a shocked expression and Minato couldn’t read the expression marring his silver haired students face.
He did, however, notice Shisui not paying his cousin too much attention and instead chose to go over to his little sister and take a hold of her arm and looked at her with furrowed brows, asking her a question too low for him to hear and he was also positioned in a way where he couldn’t see what he was saying either.
He didn’t pay it much thought, they were children who were close friends, it was only natural for him to be contemplative about whatever he was asking her.
Instead Minato chose to rise from his chair, a trigger for everyone else as each of them went forward to group hug the boy they had assumed was dead.
He didn’t notice Naruto and Shisui not joining them in this hug, nor did he notice Iruka going over to them. He also did not notice both of them catching her as she fell unconscious to the ground, but he did notice her scream which jolted everyone apart.
Shisui raised her right sleeve to reveal one of her seals activating, a seal Minato didn’t recognise nor would he be able to break it down to understand what it was in enough time to help her however Shisui seemed to know what to do as he activated his sharingan and pumped some of his chakra into the seal, calming it down and allowing her to breathe easily again.
Shisui and Iruka looked up impishly and Shisui answered his unasked question, “Ignore us, we’re used to this. Carry on the reunion, we’ll take her home.” Both boys worked together to raise the girl and placed her on Iruka’s back since Shisui looked slightly tiered after the chakra infusion. Hastily, he went over to Obito and gave him a quick hug, exclaiming his happiness about his being alive with a slightly strained smile and left with Iruka, both setting off via window with a wave.
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Shisui looked down at his sleeping teammate and let out a sigh, trying to ignore Kurama as he made his way around the apartment. The fox seemed to like coming out of the seal whenever he was alone with Naruto, although he could never tell why.
Gazing at Naruto he thought about what he had been thinking about for several months, the mere though that the girl in front of him was actually, technically, 25 now was absurd considering she looked 9 and claimed to be 9 as well.
Truth be told, he hadn’t believed her at first but he had been forced to believe her when she had revealed his sharingan in her socket he had believed her. She had lied about the sharingan at first, and he had believed her however at some point in the mission when she had been sleeping and having a nightmare, she began muttering things and jolted, asking him a bunch of questions that made no sense.
She had revealed everything then, the truth about her and her past but he didn’t feel betrayed, instead he felt a weight off his shoulders and had been relieved. Relieved that she trusted him enough to tell him this.
Upon their return to Konoha Lord Orochimaru had said not to get his hopes to high as her revelation had most likely come from her new founded addiction to his chakra.
He had never heard of such a thing before but when Kushina sensei explained it was something people usually got when they drank the blood and chakra of an Uzumaki, it had made some sense. Naruto would often heal them with small doses of her chakra and when they were worse off, she would sue her blood.
Apparently, Naruto’s blood had mixed with his own and also mixed into his chakra system. So when he had been infusing Naruto with his chakra, she had gained an addiction. Whenever she didn’t, for a lack of better term, feed off him, her chakra and seals would act up and she would be in pain but that was only when she went too long without it.
According to Kushina sensei, when someone became addicted they needed several transfusions a day however Naruto’s stubbornness meant she could go days and even weeks without it which was a relief. But that also meant her addiction would never go away which had been less of a relief.
He was bought out of his musings when he heard a knock at the window so he left his teammate to go and take the message. The hawk allowed him to take the mini scroll which meant it was for him and he clenched it in his fist when he noticed it was from his father.
He had been avoiding the man recently, not enjoying his toxic attitude and behaviour which reminded him so much of his mother. People always assume Shisui didn’t remember his mother considering she had worked herself into an early grave ad was hardly ever around but that wasn’t the case.
He remembered her perfectly. She looked like all the other Uchiha, black hair, midnight hair and a sour attitude. She worked brilliantly for the Uchiha Military Police Force and for the sandaime hokage on whatever missions they gave her however she was toxic when she was at home.
She hated almost everything. Always shouting at her father, always yelling about Shisui’s uncharacteristic behaviour which was ‘unbefitting’ of the Uchiha. She also made sure to always let him know that she had never wanted him- that her duty had been put on hold because she was pregnant with him.
She liked to avoid him when she could and would always drink far more than she should have, going on and on about the mistreatment towards the Uchiha clan and now, as Shisui saw his father, he was sick of it.
Perhaps it was because he knew what would become of this behaviour or because he was actually sick of it on his own. Whatever the reason, he wanted no part of it.
He loved his father, they had always been close since his mother had no time for him. Kagami was a father one could be proud of and he was equally proud of his son however ever since he had been made aware of his mangekyou, his Uncle Fugaku had been pushing his father into a corner which seemed to have bought out a part of his father he had never seen and wished would go away.
He had contemplated whether or not it would be worth using his mangekyo on him but Naruto had bought him out of that thought- temporarily. She had said to hold off and she would try to help him as much as she could without him having to use his eyes. And if that didn’t work then he would be allowed to use his eyes.
She also said she would heal him.
He went into the living-room where Kurama was reading a scroll of transformations. Huh.
“I have to go. My father’s calling me home so let her know when she wakes up that we have a team brunch tomorrow at 10 with Team Minato at Kushina Obito’s house.” With that he left to his house via shunshin, thinking about the nickname he had been given in Naruto’s time- Shisui no Shunshin aka Shisui the Teleporter. He liked it.
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46 months- February
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Naruto swore she was going to torture Minato with weeks of paperwork for this. He had sent ten shinobi into different planes to test them, including the Forest of Death.
Their testers had been ANBU, who they had to fight over a four day period and for a whole week they had been at their mercy to do as they pleased within Minato’s boundaries which apparently went pretty far.
The task had been far more gruelling than her ANBU inauguration or even her inauguration into the Hunter Corps back in her time, both operating on the saying ‘You may have been chosen by one, but it is the majority that rule’.
Not that she had a problem with their inauguration, the test Minato put them through had consisted of torture and interrogation by allies within their homeland, a place where they should feel safe. Fighting the ANBU, making sure they weren’t found and making sure their teammates weren’t killed.
Which was very hard when against ANBU commander. Screw with the fact that they themselves were in ANBU, mostly. The only ones she knew to not be in the Corp were the four she didn’t recall the names of and Shisui, everyone else was in ANBU if she recalled properly.
She saw the benefit of such things, she had been hokage once, so she knew it was a way to get rid of those who would hinder him and his plans. But that didn’t mean she had to like it.
“You know, I’m sure someone will have something to say about how hazardously you’re laying down, Naruto.” Spoke Raido and in return she flipped him off.
“I don’t care right now. I’m comfy and I can sense everything around me. I’m alert is all anyone should care about.” She replied, groaning as she felt the ANBU come near.
She didn’t bother to move her whole body, instead she made a few hand signs and erected a barrier around them using fuinjustu, causing her to be on the receiving end of multiple glares since she could do such a things so effortlessly.
“I envy your ability to that so easily.” Groaned Iwashi as he glared half-heatedly at the girl who merely sent him a cheeky yet tiered grin.
“You won’t envy it when you’re forced to erect barriers all the time to the point you get all filthy and smelly.” She scrunched her nose in distaste as she could smell herself, “I need to take a soak in the river.” She added as an afterthought.
“I’ll join you.” Replied both Raido and Genma causing Shisui and Kakashi to glare at them for her.
A cough and bang against her barrier drew their attention to the hokage and ANBU commander, both looking (feeling) pleased and irritated by her very effective barrier which seemed to have slightly burnt the commander’s hand.
Oops.
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Minato looked down, pleased by the results considering he already knew who would and who wouldn’t pass his gruelling test. Out of the ten people propositioned to be part of his platoon, only six had made it and he was mostly pleased with the fact that it was the six he had chosen and not the four that the elders had chosen.
Perhaps it was petty, but he didn’t like them on sheer principle. They were old and thought they knew everything as well as their hatred of Kushina and his sister all factored into his dislike of them. Which of course meant he got to gloat and rub it in their faces whenever he was proven right and they were proven wrong.
“Congratulations, you six have done two things over the past few days. One, you have passed my little test and two, you have proven that I was correct in my decision.” The smile on his face and statement made it clear to Naruto, Kakashi and Shisui why he was so happy. They too enjoyed messing with the elders.
But there was something all six noticed, his use of the words ‘little test’ as if he had given them a written exam and not seven days of hell.
“Raido Namiashi, Genma Shiranui, Kakashi Hatake, Iwashi Tatami, Naruto Namikaze and Shisui Uchiha, from today, you six will be part of my direct security- something I like to call ‘The Hokage Guard Platoon’.” He looked around and saw Naruto’s eyes sparkle as if she already knew where he was getting with his and he honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she did.
“I had chosen you six because of very simple reasons. One, you are all young which means you can be easily taught new techniques which you can adapt into your current techniques. For all intents and purposes, I will be teaching you things which are not for public disclosure in the sense they cannot use what I teach you.” He looked to each of them to make sure they understood and carried on only when he was sure they understood.
“The second reason you were all chosen was because you each have shown an interest in fuinjutsu, some more so than others. The final reason is because I trust each of you, minus Shisui, each of you is a member of the ANBU black ops with the rank of Tokubetsu jonin or above.” Naruto and Shisui had been given the rank of Tokubetsu sometime ago after applying for the test.
Iruka had been given the opportunity to join them however he stated he wished to wait till he had a specialization before taking the test because, unlike them, he didn’t have a kekkei-genkai.
Naruto had no doubt that Iruka would become a great fuinjutsu user as that seemed to be the specialization he had chosen a few weeks later and it miffed her a lot to see how create he was. He used his prankster side to create seals which made grown men cry and Naruto was proud of what she had created. She herself could make them weep.
“You’ll all be encouraged to master this seal, a variant of the hiraishin called the formation seal.” he raised a scroll with an enlarged version of said seal, a seal which had been her reason to enter the world of fuinjutsu.
Ero-sennin had taught her the very basics of the art and when he died she hadn’t entered into again. However during the war, she had taken an interest in her father’s hiraishin and asked the Hokage Guard Platoon and Kakashi sensei to teach her more of the art.
They had readily done so, believing her to be one who was able to bring back the art of her clan to Konoha and they had been right. Under their long tutelage she had revived the bloody art and taught it to Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon and several others of both her generation and the next. She had even left scrolls to them and the key to her scrolls vault so they had access to her work should anything have happened to her.
She swallowed the lump in her throat as she recalled the sleepless nights where they would take turns to teach her and her clones what was right and what was wrong and their hard work turned into her being able to use the hiraishin, something she couldn’t do when she had been sent to the past.
“I also intend to make you all Seals masters to a certain level at least with the help of Kushina and Naruto.” All eyes went on her as hers widened in shock.
She pointed a finger at herself and said, “Me?!”
Minato gave her a small smile, “Of course. You can already use the hiraishin in a way that even I cannot. Your capability in fuinjutsu is incredible to a point where Kushina thinks you’re not even my sister and just pure Uzumaki. It’s a skill I intend to teach to others. Uzu may have fallen and their art forgotten but Konoha will not smear its memory and shall revive it.”
Naruto’s eyes filled with tears as she recalled her mother’s memory of Uzushiogakure and her own memory of what the place had become after Kiri an Iwa had invaded it.
PART 2-
To know that others beside herself would be learning and teaching the art was a weight off her shoulders she hadn’t known she had been carrying.
“This seal, however, is not meant for one person alone. It needs a minimum of three people, and the central point of this will be the hokage. With three people activating it, it will take you to the hokage or it can bring the hokage to you. I have my hiraishin to get me out of a tough spot if necessary but for the future generations of hokage- this will be helpful.”
Naruto’s eyes clouded as he spoke, knowing that with Kurama’s heavy chakra and her large reserves, she wouldn’t be able to help them with the formation and as such raised her hand, “I won’t be able to use the Formation seal since it requires fine chakra control, something I don’t have despite all my training.”
It had been a problem in both lives, her reserves had simply been too large for her to be able to have that level of control- her terrible bunshin’s attested to that. Even though Orochimaru had tried his best with her chakra control, it only went so far. Granted she was a lot better thanks to his teachings but if she tried to use the formation seal she would overcharge it and end up blowing up the seal.
“I chose you to teach them Naruto, and then you could even create your own variation of this seal so it could make up for where you lack. Although, we will go back to fine tuning your chakra control as best as we can.” Replied Minato, outwardly unbothered by her proclamation.
Minato didn’t understand why she thought the way she did when it came to such things, even when it came to her genjutsu skills she had point-blank stated she couldn’t do it and he had seen her failed attempts. But that was it, she tried a few times and gave up with those two subjects a lot more than when it came to others. Usually, she persevered and carried on till it went her way.
He intended to rectify this flawed thinking of her control as soon as he could.
Genma was the next to ask a question, “Why would you give us this seal though, Minato-sama? Whilst I know a little about the hiraishin thanks to Naruto a few years ago, the hiraishin is fundamentally yours- I had heard it had been patented in the Forbidden Scroll.”
Genma had a point there, “Not quite. The hiraishin was originally the second Hokage’s work and I completed it. Of course Naruto mastered it to a degree I could never hope to accomplish, but no. I never had it patented because unlike my rasengan or Kakashi’s chidori, these are techniques which can be taught and utilised to save lives without the risk of one’s own life.”
Naruto muttered a ‘yeah right’ under her breath causing all heads to turn to her and her face flushed at being heard.
“What do you mean by that, Naruto?” asked Iwashi, looking quizzically at her.
She replied whilst twisting a lock of her hair behind her head, “Well… fuinjutsu… whilst it doesn’t seem like it’s dangerous, it can be deadly if not used carefully. If you overcharge the seals, you’ll end up either making it blow up in your face or something else dangerous.
“Take the hiraishin seal. If someone put too much chakra into it, they may end up at a different seal or at a different time placement than originally intended.” She cringed as she recalled the first time she had been studying the hiraishin.
She had been learning from what Kakashi and the Platoon recalled from memory of the seal so when she drew it up and used it, she had ended up late and not at the same time.
She had given everyone a heart attack but she had mastered it with the kunai in the end, becoming the second coming of the Yellow flash also known as the golden flash given she usually only used the hiraishin when she was in her golden cloak.
Minato noticed the look on their faces at her comment and gave them all reassuring smiles, "It's very unlikely that you'd actually put in too much chakra. Outside the Uzumaki, Senju and Uchiha clans, people don't have the reserves to overload a seal. If anything, you'd be more likely to under-power the seal and make it useless."
There was a mischievous smile on his face and Naruto couldn't help but snigger when she heard Genma say, 'Now they're fucking with our heads.' honestly, it hadn't been planned but Naruto had always been one to adapt to the flow.
There had been small talk after that, everyone asking questions and Minato giving out the answers and then demanded they all take a well-deserved break.
Naruto and Shisui had given a small thanks up above. After all they had been going on many B and C rank missions as of late. And Naruto herself had been going on A ranks that thankfully didn’t take very long and the occasional S rank which left her drained for days after returning home.
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51 months- July
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The weather was nice, the sun was bright and the clouds gave the Land of Fire some respite from the heat as the wind blew in a cool breeze.
Everything looked amazing. From the decorations in the hall to the set-up she and the others had done in the Forest Pavilion. A beautiful set of red and blue flowers adorned the tables as well as the alter.
A smile found its way onto Naruto's face as she listened to her brothers and sensei's vows, tears prickling her eyes when they placed the wedding seals on each other. She had never heard of such seals till Kushina mentioned them and had been shocked, there had been no such thing when she had first lived.
"And together we are one." They said together once their seals had been drawn and her blood grew cold.
Suddenly her vision changed, the beautiful hall suddenly changed to a tent and the happy couple before her also changed. From red hair to spiky blonde and from electric blonde her suddenly changed into black in an oh so familiar style.
“And with this union we are one!” they had yelled their union with pride, a shock to everyone since Shikamaru had actually raised his voice for something but the smile on Temari’s face was his reason when asked.
Their smiles were brighter and Naruto placed a hand over her mouth to stop herself from being sick. Others must have assumed she was overcome with joy and she had been, till she heard those words. The words had been so similar to those that Temari and Shikamaru had spoken at their wedding.
She tried to forget, to push the memory away but instead more memories rose to the surface. Temari, blood soaking her back where she had been slashed as she held her child, Shikadai, to her chest.
As she forced the memory away another came, the memory of Shikamaru returning from the battle to see his dead wife the anguish had shown on his face however the anguish he felt within his chakra had been worse and Naruto had to bring out her Hunter persona to stop herself from crying.
She looked up from the bridesmaids side of the hall and looked directly opposite her where a pair of sharingan eyes were looking into her own and she felt herself calming down at the sight as they reigned her back to the present.
This wasn’t the Allied Shinobi War.
This was years before that and the third war had ended. Shikamaru hadn't been born yet which meant his wife was currently in Suna clutching the garbs of her mother as the woman was most likely tending to Kankuro.
Her thoughts bought a smile to her face and she removed her hand from her mouth, wiping away her tears and nodded at him, he deactivated his sharingan however his eyes never left her.
She was thankful that she had spoken the ladies out of making her wear makeup since it would be useless. Naruto wasn’t vain but she knew her original skin was pretty without all those layers. She had conceded to a small amount of makeup on her eyes and a lipstick but other than that... no layers.
She was also quite pleased with her dress. Kushina had ordered her a kimono she hadn't been allowed to see, only allowed to be measured for and she was pleasantly surprised.
It was a long dress which went to the ground, the chest was black and the rest was blue. Somehow she had managed to get a blue that matched her eyes perfectly, the same shade as Minatos own eyes. It had embroidery at the bottom going up, dark blue and black flames. The only downside to the dress had been the fact it was sleeveless and she hadn't been allowed to wear anything to cover her hands not her arms which meant everyone could see her seals on her arm, the sun mark on her palm and the ANBU flame tattoo on her upper arm as well.
She winces at the memory when Kushina had seen her all dressed up. She hadn't had a chance to tell her sensei exactly what division she had joined which consumed most of her time and Naruto knew as soon as the woman could, she would go on a rampage about her 9 year old student being sent to dark recess of a shinobi’s work.
A few minutes later, the new wedded couple made their way out of the room, Kushina’s white kimono with red and blue embroidery trailing behind her before Minato lifted her princess style causing the red head to squeal and for everyone else to either aww or chuckle.
As soon as the couple left to go to the pavilion, everyone else left, however upon return everyone had to go in their escorts. Naruto had gone with both Iruka and Shisui however the former had to leave to the Pavilion with Anko. Obito, Rin and Kakashi had entered together, Obito in a wheelchair as he was still receiving physio-therapy and when it was time to go to the pavilion he had to go back to the medical ward due to his fragile mind.
Apparently, Madara and Zetsu had managed to brainwash him a little during his ‘stay’ in their little cave with the Gedo statue. A statue she couldn’t move. She tried several times without actually going into the cave and she had turned up with no results. Either Zetsu was blocking her or she needed more training.
Personally, she thought it was both.
Without her knowledge she and Shisui were already at the pavilion, eating before they would all have to dance whatever the couple wanted them to dance. Naruto had sadly not been in the village often enough to be part of the wedding preparations but from what Shisui and Iruka had told her, she had been lucky but that meant she didn’t know a lot of what Kushina and Minato had planned for them all.
The speech part of the evening consisted of continuous teasing upon Minato and how long it had taken him to propose to the red head and his awkward youth. Even the daimyo who had been invited and made his barbs at the kage, much to the yondaime’s embarrassment. It had been funny to watch the legend himself be publicly embarrassed by those around him.
Soon after was the dancing portion of the evening and Naruto didn’t understand what the need was, it wasn’t even tradition but she was being forced to danced.
Sure, she knew how to dance because of her training for ANBU and the Hunters had said it was mandatory given the wide range of possible missions she could be given.
That didn’t mean she had to like the fact that she was made into some sort of spectacle when dancing with her Uchiha teammate. She didn’t seem to foster that much muttering and gossiping when it she had been dancing with her other teammate. In fact, she had to dance with several other people and the only other person she had gotten that many people riled up with had been Kakashi- for obvious reasons. The boy had after-all rejected a dance with Rin.
Perhaps it had been the fact she had danced a lot dances with him? It hadn’t even been by choice, apparently it had been part of the planning she had not been a part of. When she got her hands on the couple she’d throttle them for putting her on the spot like this.
After 2 consecutive hours of dancing in heels, she was finally given mercy. Shisui had taken her to a corner where there was plenty of alcohol which she planned on devouring and made sure to do just that, earning an amused yet concerned look from Shisui.
“Should you really drink so much?” he asked.
She shrugged her shoulders and took another swing of her bottle, “It doesn’t do anything to me if you recall. Kurama burns through it like water. He doesn’t like how defenceless it makes me.” she rolled her eyes, not at Shisui but at Kurama, as she finished the bottle frowning when she noticed it had gone.
Shisui’s hand clenched around her wrist as she reached for another bottle and she looked at him with furrowed brows, “Are you feeling better?”
She didn’t need to know what he was referring to, so she nodded with a teary eyed smile. A lump caught in her throat and tried to swallow it away but when had that ever worked?
Not even a moment later, she was being held to Shisui as she quietly cried, the first time she had allowed herself to actually cry for her lost comrades. She made sure to hold back as much as she could, after-all, she only needed another year or so to see her comrades again. And this time she would get to see them grow up instead of growing up with them.
The thought of baby Sasuke made her giggle but then she recalled something, Indara’s reincarnation was supposed to be older than Ashura’s. However Naruto was technically older now and had Ashura’s souls which essentially meant Sasuke wouldn’t have Indara’s soul.
Which begged the question of who would get or already had Indara’s soul.
.
.
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