Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
"Hmm…"- Tailed Beast, Summoning, Kushina, or Black Zetsu

Chapter 17: What a Crafty Woman

"Is it done?" asked Sasuke.

Mikoto nodded. "Yes it is. But it will take awhile for you to get used to them, so I suggest that you rest for now."

"How long will that take?" he asked, touching the bandages covering his eyes.

"I don't know," answered Mikoto, "a couple of days, would be my guest. There's also the wounds from the battle with Itachi, so I would imagine that that would lengthen the time till you're back to one hundred percent. But once you have recovered to your top condition, you are to take the remainder of your team and head to iwa. Once you've arrived there, you're to wait for me to rendezvous with you."

Sasuke raised a bandaged covered eyebrow. "Iwa? For what reason?"

Mikoto smirked. "Kumo is with Naruto, so we're gonna have to need our own hidden village to back us up, as well as help us in our goal overall. That old goat will no doubt agree if we promise to join his village, as well as tell him what our plans are regarding konoha."

"I doubt that you're serious about us joining iwa," said Sasuke.

Mikoto nodded. "Of course I'm not serious. But it will help us win the old fool over."

Sasuke nodded. "Alright. But what about you?"

"I'm heading to kumo with the little kitty to pick up the hachibi jinchuriki," she answered.

"And Naruto?"

"He left for konoha a few hours ago," she said. "And Obito headed towards taki for the nanabi jinchuriki," she added.

"I see."

Mikoto patted his head like a little kid, making Sasuke twitch in annoyance. "For now just focus on recuperating, ok little Sasu?" she said like any mother who was talking to a four year-old.

Sasuke twitched again. "I gotta it."

Mikoto smiled and started to walk out. "Good. I'll see you in iwa then."

Once she was outside the hideout, Mikoto came face-to-face with Yugito. "You're ready. Good. I don't feel like waiting anymore."

Yugito nodded, a smirk on her face. "Of course. After all, you could turn to dust any second, right?"

Mikoto's eyebrows twitched. "Don't be getting ahead of yourself, kitty."

"Would you stop calling me that!" said Yugito, irritated at the nickname.

Mikoto h'mphed. "I'll think about it." She started to walk away, Yugito following her, albeit reluctantly.

"Where are we going?" asked Yugito.

"Kumo."

Yugito raised an eyebrow. "Why are we heading to kumo? And where is everyone else?"

Mikoto stopped walking, Yugito almost bumping into her. "First rule-don't ask, just do."

Yugito's eye twitched. "And why should I?" she said in defiance.

Mikoto turned towards her. "You must have forgotten, but let me enlighten you. According to the agreement between YOUR raikage and Naruto, you were to follow Naruto's orders, and his orders were to follow mine. Got it?"

Yugito t'ched, but didn't say anything else.

Mikoto smirked. "Now that that's out of the way, shall we?"

Yugito didn't respond, just opting to following her. 'This is not good,' thought Yugito, 'raikage-sama said to follow Naruto, but now I can't thanks to whatever it is that they discussed! And I can't say anything either, or else she'll get suspicious of me. The last thing I need is for her to find out that I contacted raikage-sama.' Too late for that.

"Please, kitten. Just be honest."

'What are you talking about now?' asked Yugito.

"You're just angry that your fox boy is no longer at your side."

'THAT DOES IT!'

Nibi h'mphed. "There's nothing that….wait what is that?" Pause. "THAT'S NOT FAIR! WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO YOU!" It all went quiet.

Yugito mentally smirked. 'That should keep that sex-craved cat quiet for awhile. Why does it even think that I'm attracted to Naruto anyway? I mean, sure he's strong, and handsome, and….' Yugito blushed. 'What am I thinking! I've never even talked to him properly for god's sake! It must be nibi getting to me! Yes, that's all that it is.'

Mikoto was having her own thoughts. 'Once I've convinced that old fool, I'm gonna have to get in contact with Naruto. Good thing that I remembered some of the emergency exits of the village. I should be able to get in through one of them. But the problem is going to be not being seen by anyone. There's no doubt Danzo is going to have a closer watch on him, and Tsunade might too. So how am I going to pull this off? Whatever, I'll think about that later. I have other things to think about at the moment.' She continued towards kumo, Yugito behind her.

"This place hasn't changed," said Kushina.

'Yeah, you're right,' agreed Naruto. Currently he was standing in front of the gates of the great village of konoha. He had a cloak covering his entire body, and his face, or else anbu would be on him as soon as he stepped in. He was sure of that. 'Thanks to your chakra cloak, I'm extremely fast,' said Naruto to Kurama.

Kurama nodded. "Of course. But that's not all that you can do with it, but more on that later. We should get a move on," said Kurama. Naruto mentally nodded, and started to walk towards the village.

Kotetsu and Izumo, the great duo that guarded the village's main entrance gate, both raised their eyebrows at the cloaked figure. "Excuse me," said Izumo, gaining the figure's attention. "You have to sing in," finished Kotetsu for his partner and best friend.

'Guess I'm going to have to reveal myself,' thought Naruto, walking towards them.

"It's for the best," said Kushina, "after all, you don't want to create a mess here."

'Yet.'

Kushina sighed. "Just do it."

Naruto stood in front of Kotetsu and Izumo, not saying a word. "Well," began Kotetsu, a little awkwardly, and took a sign in book, and a pen, "what is your name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

Both Kotetsu and Izumo stopped at that. "What did you say your name was again?" asked Izumo.

Naruto took the hood off. "Uzumaki Naruto." he said again.

Both guards went wide eyed, before regaining their composures. "You are to come with me to the Hokage immediately," said Izumo seriously, Kotetsu looking just as serious.

Naruto mentally rolled his eyes. 'Idiots…' he thought. "Of course," he said out loud, "lead the way."

Izumo was surprised that Naruto didn't try anything as he stood up and lead the way. 'Maybe he really is the same Naruto, and there was some kind of misunderstanding,' he thought.

Naruto was doing everything in his willpower from rolling his eyes as he followed Izumo. 'What kind of idiot doesn't check a potential enemy for weapons, leaves him uncuffed, and turns his back on him?'

"He doesn't think that you're an enemy, remember?" said Kurama.

"He's right," said Kushina.

Naruto mentally sighed. 'I suppose.'

"Just stay focus. You have to convince Tsunade that you aren't up to anything, and that you leaving Jiraiya doesn't have any other hidden motives," said Kushina.

Naruto didn't respond to her, instead he looked around the village, all the happy villagers, going about their business. 'They should enjoy it while it lasts,' he thought darkly.

'Think,' thought Tsunade, looking at the map that she requested that was on her desk, 'if I were my grandmother, how would I hide something?' But nothing came to her. 'She was a very careful woman, who alway preferred to think things through before taking any action,' she thought, but then sighed. 'There's also the fact that I distanced myself from her, so I really wasn't as close with her as I now want to be.' She sighed sadly. 'How can I ever hope to find anything? And that's if she was even up to something….'

"Tsunade-sama!" said Shizune as she barged in.

Taking in her assistant's shocked look, Tsunade asked, "What is it Shizune?"

"Well," she began, "someone is here to see you."

Tsunade sighed. "Is that really any reason for you to barge into my office?"

Shizune shook her head. "You don't understand, Tsunade-sama. It's Naruto!"

Tsunade got quiet at that, before exploding. "Well why didn't you just say that in the first place then!" she screamed. "Send him in, immediately!"

Shizune nodded, and walked out. Tsunade folded the map, and placed it inside of one of the drawers. 'The brat's back,' she thought. 'What the hell!'

Naruto followed Shizune inside the hokage's office, looking around. "Even this hasn't changed," commented Kushina.

"Naruto!" said Tsunade as she went up to him and hugged him, Naruto hugging her back. 'I have to keep up the act.' "How's it going Tsunade?" Tsunade's eyes widened a bit at that. He hadn't called her 'baa-chan'.

She shook out of it, ended the hug, and brought her fist back. "Do you realize how worried you had me!" she brought her fist forward, intending on sending Naruto flying towards the wall. To her shock, as well as Shizune's, Naruto merely tilted his head to the right, avoiding her fist.

"Now that's not very nice," said Naruto.

Tsunade kept staring at him with wide eyes. 'He dodged! He fucking dodged!'

"Are you alright?" asked Naruto, a little amused.

Tsunade shook her head, and walked back to her desk, and sat down. "Yes well, this is certainly a surprise," she said. Tsunade looked at Naruto seriously. "Do you realize how much trouble you're in brat?"

Naruto shrugged. "Not really. I mean, I was on a training trip."

Tsunade looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Because last I heard, you disappeared!"

Naruto nodded. "Yes I did. But I was training. Wasn't that the purpose for me leaving the village in the first place? So that I could get stronger and have a chance against akatsuki? Well, mission accomplished!"

Tsunade sighed. "You're twisting this all around Naruto. You left without a word, not a trace at all. Not to mention that you also ditched Jiraiya, who was suppose to be the one training you."

Naruto snorted. "Please. He wasn't training me."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow, silently asking him what he meant. Naruto sighed at that, and took off the black cloak he had on. Tsunade raised another eyebrow at his new attire. Naruto now wore standard black anbu pants, black ninja sandals, a black long sleeved shirt with the collars up, and a black cape with what appeared to be red flames at the end, and in kanji it had "The Fox Spirit" written on it in red. The Shodai necklace hanging loose around his neck.

"You should know how Jiraiya is," said Naruto, bringing her attention back to him, and at the fact that he hadn't called Jiraiya "ero-sennin". "All he was doing was his 'research' and not training me. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the purpose of the trip." He shrugged again. "And you never did say that I had to do it with him. So I decided that it was best that I didn't continue it with him."

"Oh?" said Tsunade. "Then pray tell, who did you finish it with?"

Naruto smirked. "With a few people here and there. No one really special."

"Tch. Then that means you didn't accomplish anything!"

"Now, now, just because someone isn't well known doesn't mean that he or she isn't strong. It just means that they're smart enough not to let people know how good they are."

"Fine!" said Tsunade, throwing her hands in the air. "Then what did you learn?" she asked him. 'I doubt that he learned anything new….'

"Hmm…." muttered Naruto as he rubbed his chin. "Good question. And the answer is that you'll see when I used whatever it is that I learned."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. 'This isn't the same Naruto. Not only has his appearance change, but his attitude as well. I wonder what happened…' "Then how am I suppose to know how good you've gotten?"

Naruto shrugged. "You'll see when I have to show it. Besides, ninjas need to keep secrets after all." He said the last part a bit darkly, but Tsunade didn't pay it too much attention.

'Dammit. He's really not going to tell me anything. In that case….' "Well then, I'm going to need to have to evaluate you."

Naruto sighed. "Fine. But can we do that later. I'm a bit tire from the trip and would like to relax."

Tsunade nodded. "Alright. We'll do it tomorrow morning, so you have the rest of the day to relax. Be here in my office at eight AM."

Naruto bowed. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He then walked out of the office.

Tsunade folded her hands together, bringing them close to her face. 'Something is not right here. He's definitely not the same Naruto. I need to keep my eye on him….but if I send anbu to keep track of him, and if he finds out, I'll loose his trust. Or whatever trust I have at the moment.' She sighed.

"Tsunade-sama, what are we going to do?" asked Shizune.

"I don't know," answered Tsunade. 'He might be like my grandmother in that aspect, keeping secrets.' She mentally chuckled. 'The're both uzumakis….' her eyes widened. "THAT'S IT!" screamed Tsunade, making Shizune jump in surprise.

"What's it?" said Shizune, but Tsunade paid her no mind. Instead she brought the map out that was on her desk earlier. 'My grandmother was a true uzumaki at heart. And what do uzumakis specialize in? Seals. Also a perfect way to hide something you don't want anyone else to find.' she thought while gazing at the map. 'Now the question is where can I find it? And does it even exist in the first place…..'

"Nice act, Naruto-kun," said Kushina.

'Thanks. But right now the important thing is to find whatever Mito left behind.'

"Are you sure you want to do that right now?" asked Kurama. "That senju woman might be sending someone to keep an eye on you. As well as that Danzo…."

Naruto mentally shook his head. 'Thanks to you're chakra, I can sense anyone that might be trying spy on me. And I don't think that Tsunade will send any anbu to spy on me. She cares too much about me to ever consider me a threat. Well, until it's too late that is.'

"There's still Danzo," Kushina reminded him.

'Oh yes. But like I said, I'll be able to sense whoever he sends after me. And I don't think that he'll risk sending his men out. But even if he does, I'll just say that I'm sight seeing. This is also going to be the best time for me to do this.'

"Alright…."

As he made his way towards the Hokage mountain, he noticed something. 'Looks like they added Tsunade's face up there. Not surprising I guess.' Another thought came to his mind as well. 'Oi, Kurama. You mind explaining to me what your hunch is regarding what happened with Sasuke?'

Kurama sighed. "I guess it's better to tell you now. I'm not sure if it's one hundred percent accurate, but my guess is that now the uchiha will have the mangekyo, and if that woman is as cunning as I think she is, the brat might be getting the eternal, which is in a way the final step to the sharingan, unless you somehow get both senju and uchiha DNA together like with you, in which case you would possess the rinnegan."

'I see…'

"Are you sure?" asked Kushina.

"Of course I am. The key to activating the mangekyo is for you to feel regret. There's no doubt in my mind that the uchiha brat would feel regret about killing his brother, knowing that he wasn't responsible for the massacre of the uchihas. Not that I care how or who did it, just that it happened."

'Mikoto said that konoha ordered Itachi to massacre the uchiha clan, and that they were betrayed, but there has to be a reason. Konoha loves its bloodlines after all. And a clan like the uchiha possessing such a strong bloodline….yes, something had to have happened for konoha to take such a course of action.'

Kurama shrugged. "Like I said, I don't care. I'm just glad that it happened."

Naruto sighed. 'You might not care, but I would like to know just what happened for that night to occur.'

"Naruto-kun, the uchiha clan has always been shrouded in mystery. They were always feeling like they weren't important to the village. I would know since Mikoto came from an important family from within the clan, and we were best friends back then. She told me how the elders of the clan were becoming more and more concerned with how things were going. It was the war that kept their minds off of it though," said Kushina.

'Well, I'm just going to have to ask her the next time I see her then.'

"I still think it might be a waste of time."

Naruto didn't respond to the tailed beast. 'We're here.' Naruto took the entrance for the caves within the heads of each hokage. 'The shodai hokage.'

"That's right. But I don't know what we're looking for, though," said Kurama

"We should just go the Shodai's face," said Kushina.

Naruto walked in, going through each cave within the faces, following each tunnel, until he was in the cave within the face of the legendary Senju Hashiramu. He looked around, not noticing anything out of place. 'I don't see anything.'

"Concentrate," ordered Kushina. "I'll be looking as well."

Naruto concentrated harder, looking at the cave with a shinobi's eyes instead of a civilian's. As he gazed around, something caught his eyes. "That's it!" said Kushina, also noticing it. There was an almost unnoticeable swirl at one of the ends of the cave, but more specifically, the uzumaki clan's symbol. Normal civilians would have missed it, as well as shinobi, although less likely. But if a shinobi were to have notice it, they would have dismissed it as a normal crack or formation.

Naruto walked to it, and kneeled, running one of his hands across the symbol. 'This is definitely not a normal formation alright, even though it's been made to look like it,' though Naruto.

"That's Mito-sama for you," said Kushina with a chuckle.

"That's good and all," interrupted Kurama, "but just what is this suppose to mean? Or better yet, what are we suppose to do?"

'Good question….didn't Mito give you any clues?'

Kurama shook his head. "No she didn't. All she said was that only an uzumaki could ever hope to find it."

Kushina's eyes widened in realization within Naruto's mind. "I gotta it! This has to be some sort of seal!"

Naruto whistled. 'A seal, huh? If that's the case, then she really was an expert with them.'

"Yes she was, but nevermind about that right now. Naruto-kun, I want you to run your hand across the symbol again, except this time pierce one of your fingers for your blood to come out and for it to be distinguished by the seal."

Naruto did as he was told, understanding what the seal was suppose to do. Once he had finished, the symbol glowed red, before there was a crack underneath is, and then another one, until a scroll came out. Naruto chuckled as he picked the scroll up. 'I see. If anybody were to have noticed the symbol and deduced that it wasn't natural, but that it could be something else, possibly some sort of seal, they still would never have been able to access it since they weren't an uzumaki, and therefore lacked the DNA that marks you as one, and the seal would never reveal what it was holding. So that's what she meant when she said that only an uzumaki could ever hope to find it.' Naruto chuckled more as he stood up. 'She must have place some sort of identification that only uzumaki blood could open it up, even if that person wasn't a complete uzumaki. I'm really starting to like my ancestor!'

Kushina laughed. "I know. She really was a genus. The best kunoichi that the elemental nations has ever seen."

"Let's praise her later," said Kurama. "For now, open the scroll Naruto."

Naruto did, but it wasn't what he was expecting. 'What is this?' he thought looking at what the scroll contained.

"Hmm….seems like our work is not over yet," commented Kurama.

'It's a map.' stated Naruto. 'But a map of what?'

"I know what this is!" exclaimed Kushina. "This is a map of the underground network of the village! But it looks a lot different then from what I remember….it must be from her time."

'How did you know that?' asked Naruto as walked back out.

Kushina chuckled. "Oh Naruto-kun, have you forgotten that I was the wife of Minato, who was the Yondaime hokage? I saw him handle a lot of different documents that were top secret."

"He trusted you that much?" asked Kurama.

"Yes he did…." she didn't say anything else on the matter.

'It came in handy,' thought Naruto as he stood outside on top of the shodai's face. 'Now, looks like we're heading underground.'

"We have a situation."

Tobi stopped walking and turned to look at Zetsu. "What's the problem now?"

"It would seem that the kyuubi jinchuriki has returned to konoha," answered white zetsu.

Tobi didn't have a visible reaction. "When?" he asked.

"About an hour or so." it was black zetsu who answered this time.

'Zetsu really is the best spy in the Elemental Nations,' thought Tobi. "Well, this really is some unexpected news. First he leaves Jiraiya, and now he returns to the village in his own free will. I might be going crazy, but something is not right about that. Wouldn't you agree?"

"It could be anything. Itachi did say the kyuubi jinchuriki wasn't very smart."

Tobi sighed. "That was two years ago, almost three. People change."

"But only under extreme circumstances," said white zetsu.

Tobi nodded. "That's true."

"What are we going to do about this?"

"Tell Pain that he is now in charge of capturing the kyuubi, and that I will not tolerate any failure," he answered.

"It will be done."

"And what of the female uchiha?" asked white zetsu. "She hasn't shown up yet like you predicted."

"It's still too soon," answered Tobi. "But she will come. For now, the hunt for the kyuubi jinchuriki will be put on hold. Once Pain has killed her, then we shall move on the kyuubi. And what of the nibi?"

"Nothing yet," answered white zetsu.

"For now, me and Deidara will continue searching for the sanbi. Inform me immediately if you hear anything about Uchiha Mikoto, as well as what happens with Kakuzu and Hidan."

"We're on it." Zetsu disappeared underground.

"Tobi, where are you, hmm!?"

Tobi sighed again, before going into his cover mode. "I'm right here, Deidara-sempai!"

"DAMMIT!"

"Tsunade-sama, please calm down!"

Tsunade took deep breaths, helping her in calming her down. Thank god Shizune had managed to convince her to take those anger management classes….

'They didn't find anything,' thought Tsunade in irritation. She had sent a team of anbu to the village's underground network to search for anything that might look suspicious, or anything that could be some sort of seal or anything related to that sort. But they had come empty handed. 'Looks like I was wrong. My grandmother wasn't up to anything. But why doesn't that make me feel better?'

Then there was a knock on her door, and guess who it was?

'Tch….' thought Tsunade, 'not these old farts.'

"Greetings Tsunade," said Homura in a friendly tone as he, Koharu, and Danzo walked in.

Tsunade sighed. "Alright, I'm only going to say this once-I'm not in the mood, so cut the crap, and tell me why you're here."

Both Homura and Koharu had annoyed looks on their faces, but Danzo kept his usual emotionless look. "Yes well," began Koharu, "we just heard something interesting."

"Oh? And what is that?" asked Tsunade, feigning ignorance.

"That Uzumaki Naruto has returned." finished Homura for his teammate.

"Yes he has."

Homura and Koharu were beginning to get more and more annoyed. "So? Why hasn't he been arrested!" said Homura, raising his voice a bit.

"Arrested?" repeated Tsunade. "Last time I checked, he hasn't broken any laws."

"Have you forgotten that he left the village without permission," stated Koharu, more calmly than her teammate. "Why he wasn't listed as a rogue ninja, well that I don't know."

"Rogue ninja?" said Tsunade. "Age must be getting to you." Both elders got tick marks on their heads, but Danzo just kept silent. "You are misinterpreting the whole thing. Naruto was on a training trip that I authorized."

"Really?" spoke Danzo for the first time with some sarcasm. "Because it would seem that you and Jiraiya lost track of him. I doubt that that counts as a training trip."

Tsunade snorted. "I never said that he was training with Jiraiya exclusively, did I? He merely finished his training by himself, nothing else to it."

Danzo's hand on his cane clenched. 'Is she serious….?' he thought.

Tsunade mentally smirked. 'I guess the brat's excuse worked for me as well. But I'm not finished with him…..' "Now then, honorable elders, would you mind leaving my office so that I can concentrate on my duties?"

Homura and Koharu left without another word, pissed. Danzo stared at her for a couple of seconds, and then headed towards the door. Before he walked out, he spoke, "You and I both know that you don't buy that excuse." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him. "And if you do," he continued, "then that's pathetic. I know that you care about him, but you are the hokage. That boy is up to something. I only hope that you open your eyes before it's too late." He walked out the room.

Tsunade brought her fist down on the desk, but thankfully didn't use her super strength. 'That bastard…but he's right about one thing. The brat is definitely up to something….'

"What is it?"

"You are now in charge of capturing the kyuubi jinchuriki." "Tobi expects there to be no failures."

Pain didn't even turn to look at him. "I thought I was suppose to deal with the female uchiha?"

"She comes first of course," said white zetsu with a grin, "but Tobi wanted you to know that the kyuubi will be your target once you've dealt with the uchiha."

"It will be done." Zetsu sank back into the ground, heading towards his next objective.

"It seems that you were right," said Konan softly as she came into the room.

"Yes…." Pain looked at the village from the balcony he was sitting on, where it was still raining.

Konan looked at her last remaining friend that was currently using the body of the man she once loved. 'Why do I get the feeling that things will get a lot worst from here on out?' Konan shook her head. 'No, I shouldn't be thinking that way. We will capture all the tailed beasts, including the kyuubi, and then peace shall come, not only to Ame, but to the world.'

'This place is fucked up.'

"Oh, stop your whining, Naruto-kun. Besides, we're almost there."

Naruto stopped in front of a dead end. He was currently in the third floor of the underground system. 'This is where the map points to. But there's nothing….' he stopped, and then turned his rinnegan on.

"What is it?" asked Kurama.

'Well, she really is cunning.'

"How did she know…." muttered Kushina quietly to herself.

Thanks to the rinnegan, Naruto was able to see the chakra running all along through the wall, all converging to one spot right in the middle, where a paper seal was placed. 'Only someone with a dojutsu would be able to find this,' thought Naruto.

"Indeed…." agreed Kurama.

Naruto placed his right hand at the spot where the chakra converged, flaring his own chakra, making the seal break in half. Naruto stepped back as the wall shook, and then crumbled into pieces. Naruto walked into the now accessible room, shutting his rinnegan off. He looked around before spotting another scroll stuck in the back wall. He made his way towards it with caution. Who knows if Mito had set any other booby traps. As he stood in front of it, no traps apparently, he took the second scroll from the wall.

"Something tells me that this is it," said Kurama.

"I agree," said Kushina.

Naruto opened the scroll and, indeed, there was a letter address to him. 'Finally.' He started to read it.

Greetings young Uzumaki,

There's no doubt in my mind that you have a lot of questions at the moment. But don't fret, I will, hopefully, answer all of your questions. First, let me congratulate you for finding this. This also means that everything is going according to plan. And of course, that raises the first, and probably the most present question of them all-How? How do I know all of this? The answer, whether you will believe it or not, lies within the man that history portraits as a traitor and a failure. The reason I know all of this is because he told me all of it thanks to an ability that he possesses with the final form of his dojutsu-the rinnegan. To not beat around the bush, the man that I'm talking about is Uchiha Madara.

That's right, Uchiha Madara is the man that is responsible for me knowing what I know. There's no doubt that the reason he told me the things that he did was so that I could help him with his revenge on the village, but it does not matter to me. The fact that my clan, and yours, is now gone in part because of this village is what matters to me. I know that you probably don't feel as strongly as I do about this since you never knew them, but the fact that you're reading this means that you plan to destroy the village, which is good enough for me.

Back to the topic at hand, Uchiha Madara, thanks to the rinnegan that he gained after fighting my husband and Shodai Hokage, was able to see through time after mastering his rinnegan. Yes, I know it sounds farfetched, but that's just one power gained with the unification of the Senju and Uchiha, descendants of the Sage of Sixth Paths. And thanks to it, I was able to see what would happen in the future, and who and what you are. You must be wondering what I'm talking about, but don't worry, someday you'll see what you're meant to do and how special you are.

After he told me, I planned for a way for you to find all of this out. And thanks to kyuubi, that was made possible. I knew that you would somehow end up being the third jinchuriki, but I don't know the circumstances. Madara was never specific. I don't know why, but I decided to not question it. Somehow he maintained his youth that surpassed that of the uzumaki clan, but I'm sure that by the time you're reading this, he should be dead. So while I was old and weary, near death, he was still young, not a teenager, but young, at least younger than me in appearance. I wouldn't have had a chance against him. Not that I would have tried to fight him, even if I were to be on my top condition.

Now you know how I knew all of this. The rest is up to you. I know that you will have your own method to do this, as well as your allies. I also know that taking revenge for the uzumaki clan isn't your main reason or concern, but like I said, it does not matter to me. As long as this village gets what it deserves, I will be happy. I wish you luck, and if you have any other questions left, they will be answered within time.

Yours truly,
Uzumaki Mito

Naruto closed the scroll, his eyes closed.

"Uchiha Madara," said Kurama with disgust, "I see now why he challenged Hashiramu at the Valley of the End."

"So that's how she knew," commented Kushina, "but I never imagined that Madara would be involved in this. Guess Mito-sama really was desperate."

Kurama h'mphed. "Not really. Konoha betrayed its very own founders. Well, I don't know about what happened with the uchihas, but the senjus certainly were."

"Naruto-kun, what now? We know what Mito-sama wanted us to know…."

Naruto who had been silent, started to laugh. "Incredible! Who would have thought that Mito was like this!"

"You mess with family, and you die." stated Kushina with an emotionless voice.

Naruto laughed some more as he headed back. "Uzumaki Mito….what a crafty woman!"

Yo to everyone from everywhere!

And this concludes chapter seventeen, the calm before the storm as to say. And that's right, Madara is also involved in all of this shit. But his part in all of this is far from over. That's correct, he was involved in other things as well. Can anyone guess?

And this might be some kind of rant, but it's not really one. I just have one question-why do people get so worked up over little things? I mean, this is just a fucking story! And not one of the most popular ones either. And these are just fictional characters that don't exist! So why get all worked up. Seriously! If you don't like the story, then just stop reading it. It's that simple. I also know that the uchiha clan is not innocent, but I'm writing this from different points of view.

Oh, and someone asked how Naruto and Dark Naruto were able to talk to each other if they merged. The fact is that Dark Naruto is still there with Naruto. They're one, but like two personas for the same being. If that makes sense….and when they talked, they were in one of the deepest parts of Naruto's mind and conscious which is where Dark Naruto is currently in, watching how everything unfolds.

And last thing-I'm going to Miami to spend the rest of my vacation, and when I get back, school is like the next day. So I don't know when I'll be able to update again. But then again, I might have some free time sooner than I think but I won't promise anything.

Till next time
later