125VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE, PLEASE READ! To those you who have jumped straight to this chapter, I have changed a few things from chapters 1-6, including some more scenes with Naruto in the labs and changing the 3rd Hokage's death to retirement – because I realised that I actually needed him alive for this.
I suggest you read the add-ons if you have the time, I believe they make the story far more interesting. I will be improving the other chapters at some point, when I get around to it…
Chapter 18
"Danzo? You aren't supposed to be in here. Where's the Hokage?"
Jiraiya strode around the chair to stand – almost protectively – between his newly discovered godson and the meddling old coot; intruding upon their interrogation like he owned the place.
"The Hokage is currently being detained with witness reports; I have no doubt that she will be along shortly. I see the claims concerning the return of the Kyuubi were correct, then? "
Jiraiya was thankful for the many years of practise he'd had of keeping his composure in stressful situations, otherwise he would likely be seething by now.
"I see no Kyuubi. The only inhabitants in this room are recognised ninja of Konoha." Although he kept his tone light, there was an undercurrent of warning running through it; Danzo would do well to leave the matter alone. He ignored the way Naruto twitched at his statement, as though uncomfortable. Although he clearly did not see himself as a Konoha citizen, it was possible that he still partly considered it his home.
"His attack on the village – and his current appearance – suggest otherwise."
"I did not attack the village! You attacked me!
Naruto had craned his neck around in an attempt to peer over his shoulder at the old war hawk. Jiraiya ignored him, allowing his large frame to act as a physical barrier between the two – Danzo would have no access to his godson; visual or otherwise.
"I'm afraid that the witness reports say otherwise…"
"Is that what this is about?" Jiraiya's voice came out much sharper than he had intended, but he was rapidly losing patience with the man's constant scheming. He knew exactly where Danzo was trying to take this, but it was a very bold move for the man to make considering that Jiraiya had been the one to confront Naruto in the first place.
"You want Naruto locked up, don't you? Preferably in a prison of your own choosing, no? I was present when the first blow was thrown, and it didn't come from him."
"I am simply trying to ensure the safety of the village. All we know about this boy is that he has spent the last three years in Orochimaru's care –"
"Because he was kidnapped!"
"-and could well have been turned into a spy during that time. He is an unknown and therefore unsafe, he cannot be allowed straight back into the village."
"That is the call of the Hokage, not of you Danzo, as you well know."
Jiraiya grinned as Danzo stood aside, allowing room for Tsunade to enter; accompanied by none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi. Behind him, Naruto's shifting froze abruptly and he let slip a small noise of surprise.
"Jiji?"
The shifting started up again – more frantic this time – and Jiraiya glanced back just in time to see the boy tug hard on his restraints, splitting them easily and jumping out of the chair. The ANBU were on him immediately, two hopping down to stand in front of the Hokage – old and new – whilst the other two moved to lock down Naruto.
Naruto held his hands up slightly in a vague gesture of surrender and stood still, sandwiched between Ibiki and the ANBU guards.
"I'm not trying to break out – yet. It's just getting really annoying, having my back to everyone."
"Then you would not object if we were to restrain you again, as long as you could see?" Ibiki's hands had been poised in the last seal of his immobilising genjutsu, but his voice was still perfectly calm as he spoke.
"Sure, for all the good it will do you…"
Ibiki blinked and turned to the Hokage for orders. Tsunade waved her hand in a dismissive gesture and said:
"It's fine, I didn't particularly want to talk to the back of his head anyway, and it's getting a bit crowded over your side of the room."
Jiraiya watched Naruto frown in confusion, glancing back and forth between the 3rd and Tsunade, and it hit him again just how long Naruto had been away for. He wouldn't know anything about Hiruzen's retirement, or his team mates advancements, or even the attack on the village by one of their own S-ranked missing-nin. Though the state of the village had undoubtedly been one of the last things on his mind.
"He retired kid, Tsunade's the 5th."
For some reason, Naruto's eyes narrowed at the revelation.
"Is that really you Naruto? How did you escape from Orochimaru?"
Sarutobi's voice held only a hint of suspicion, after all, it would be laughably easy for a ninja to see if the boy in front of them was wearing a henge. The technique was made from a strong genjutsu – useful for layering another person's appearance over your own, but useless for changing your body into anything elaborate or large. If his tails had been a henge, they would have been able to see straight through them; though that did beg the question of how Naruto had been able to fool them before when there should have been a shimmer wherever his tails were.
Hmmm…
But Naruto had not had tails three years ago, so they weren't a very good indicator of who he truly was. His smell clearly showed a relation to Orochimaru; who else could so sufficiently mark another with his signature reptilian smell? The other indicator was his bright, scarlet eyes which let through his emotions so very easily, even when the rest of his body was completely shut off. Kushina's eyes had turned that colour whenever she lost control, and he could see both her and Minato in the unsure face before him.
Jiraiya had sent all of this information with the messenger toad he'd ordered over to Tsunade, telling her to bring their sensei into the interrogation as quickly as possible. He had no doubt that at least one of the ANBU in the room was from Danzo's little program – how else could he have appeared so quickly once the son of the 4th Hokage had been revealed?
He did not have the status within the village to go against Danzo's orders (officially anyway)…but the Hokage did.
"Yeah, it's me. And with no help from you, that's how!"
Naruto was momentarily shocked by the amount of venom in his voice as he addressed the old man. He was hoping he could supress his feelings towards the whole 'being left to Orochimaru's mercy for three years,' but being in his old village was making it difficult to keep his emotions hidden.
'And why should you? They all deserve to die, the whole lot of them! We should start here and then make our way through Orochimaru's minions until he's the only one left! The knowledge of his failure will make his death all the more satisfying.'
He could feel Kurama grinning in his head, and could practically feel the wasteland of carnage the fox was imagining with unrestrained glee.
'I'm not going to kill them all – apart from Orochimaru obviously, he's as good as dead when I get my hands on him –so you can get that idea out of our head right now! All I want to do is get out of here and … travel around a bit. We can have some fun'
He realised that the old man was speaking to him again, so he quickly phased back into his surroundings.
"… nothing that could be done. We were able to track you down to the valley of the end, but the trail went cold from there on. I had the best trackers in the village out looking for you, and none of them could find even a hair! I called Jiraiya into the village as soon as possible-" he motioned to the white haired man who stunk of toads, "-and he circled his network for a long time, trying to find out where you had been taken."
Jiraiya nodded at this and turned towards Naruto to continue when the old Hokage stopped for a breath.
"I specialise in information gathering kid. I've been calling in favours and sneaking around ever since you disappeared, only to catch the very tip of Orochimaru's tail. Every time I found someone working for him, it was a dead end. It's almost like he dropped all of his other projects and holed himself up with you!"
Naruto looked away from the sincere eyes boring into his own red orbs. That was exactly what Orochimaru had done, but surely with all those elite ninja searching for him someone could have picked up his stink! Orochimaru was an incredibly tricky character, that was true, and even Naruto – with his heightened senses – couldn't sniff him out when he didn't want to be found. A sore spot of several of his training sessions.
"How can he be better than all of you combined?"
He ignored the slight waver in his voice when he spoke. He had gotten over his captivity long ago, he didn't care anymore that no one had ever rescued him from the slimy basement; and the excruciating experiments he had suffered through. He didn't!
"It's like how I'm incredibly awesome at espionage kid. Orochimaru has trained himself extensively in evasion – especially from Konoha – and is the best I know at completely disappearing off the face of the Elemental nations."
"Perhaps… we should take this to a more private setting."
Naruto didn't think he could ever get used to the old man not being in charge, it was very odd seeing him defer to the busty blonde woman beside him.
"Surely even you cannot be so stupid as to suggest we allow this boy out of a highly secured room, through the very village he just tried to attack, Hiruzen?"
That bandaged old coot was really starting to get on his nerves...
Jiji stayed quiet as the new Hokage stepped forwards, invading upon Danzo's personal space. Just in front of him, he smelt a slight change in one of the ANBU members guarding him. Where before he had been slightly wary and a lot ready, his attention had now shifted to the events behind him, and Naruto was picking up a hint of… anger? He gave no outward sign for his confliction of interests, but there was definitely a noticeable change in his internal state – for Naruto anyway.
"Oh? I received many reports suggesting this boy was attempting to get away, when a member of the ANBU forces aimed an explosive projectile at him. Do you agree, Jiraiya? Apparently you were present at the time."
Jiraiya nodded, scrutinising Danzo as he did so. Naruto did the same, wondering what reaction they were looking for. To his credit, the man was either very good, or had nothing to do with the incident; surely they were supposed to attack an unknown in the village anyway?
"Village laws dictate that any potential hostile in the village be given a chance to give themselves up for questioning before force is used. The ANBU member who disobeyed these orders is conveniently absent, I do wonder why he did not come to me with the rest of his squad to report."
"Perhaps you had an infiltrator within your forces?" Danzo's voice had softened slightly, a touch of suggestion entering his tone. "Which is why I don't see your reason for allowing this boy into the heart of the village, were he here on a mission you could have a disaster on your hands."
"Your presence is no longer required here Danzo! You will leave at once." He steely tone left no room for argument, and Danzo hesitated only slightly before obeying, his cane clunking heavily as he vacated the interrogation chamber.
"Naruto, I know this village has failed you in the past, but now you are back I can't just let you leave."
He stared at the blonde woman incredulously, taking in her serious eyes and firm tone with an expression of disbelief.
"You can't seriously want me to stay here? Ya know, Orochimaru taking a fancy to me only accelerated my leaving, I never wanted to stay in this village anyway! The only thing I learned here was how to run away, at least that snake freak paid attention to me!"
He could hear the increasing volume coming out of his mouth, but he didn't really care. His eyes were fixed on the third Hokage now, he had nothing to do with the 5th, and he didn't particularly want to start.
"Do you honestly think I'd be anymore welcome in this village than I was before? I'm an abomination! A freak of nature! Look at me!"
He flared out his tails, ears twitching in agitation. Behind him, he could hear the other interrogator flinch back in surprise as one of his appendages came close to brushing against his chest; not even a hardened shinobi could stand to be near him.
A growl ripped its way out of his throat as he stared down the old man, waiting for someone to say something, anything to dispute his words. He wanted, no, needed someone to shout at. He wanted to rage and scream and get rid of all the negative emotions that had been building up in him since he could talk. Suddenly he couldn't take it anymore. He needed to get out, needed his freedom. He could feel Kyuubi gearing up inside of him, getting ready to feed him his power. Thoughts of destruction and death filled his conscious mind, Kurama's frustration was bleeding through their link and adding to his own. The ANBU in front of him held their Kunai in front of them in a reverse grip, waiting to see what he would do.
'Che, they won't get a chance!'
He was so close to losing it, all it would take was one shift; one act of hostility from the ninja around him and he would be lost. He wasn't expecting what came next.
The Hokage, his Hokage, started walking towards him, arms tucked behind his back like always and expression grave – yet somewhat understanding. He hissed as the ANBU moved, trying to block his sight of the old man. One shake of a wrinkled face and they backed down, watching warily as he strode closer.
It was fitting that this man should start the destruction of his own village; that Naruto should start with his death before all the others. All of the words Orochimaru and Kabuto had whispered to him about his abandonment and the hate from those in the village swirled around in his mind. He was a monster, born to destroy; that was all he would ever be.
Only two steps away. He wondered what Jiji would try, a knife perhaps? As the God of shinobi, traditional ninja weapons would fit him per-
His mind ground to a halt; he wasn't sure how to react. The warmth of old arms encased him, the familiar smell tickling his nostrils and making his eyes burn with unshed moisture. In one instant, all of the fight went out of him. He just wanted to get away from all of the overwhelming emotions, he didn't want to feel anymore.
He struggled in the old man's arms, pulling back against the tight hold on his slim frame, but Jiji was too strong for him; he couldn't escape. After what felt like an age he finally gave up. He hung limply in wrinkled arms – not covered by thick white cloth like he was used to.
Who was he? He didn't remember anymore. In Jiji's arms, he felt only like the child he used to be – upset from the latest beating from the villagers, wishing he had somewhere he could belong and crying because he knew he didn't.
He could feel the hot tears rolling down his cheeks now from wide eyes that couldn't understand the situation he had been forced into. The past years flashed through his mind, coming and going because they no longer mattered; because he was home.
Not in the village though, the village could never be his home. But this man, he was family; he was Jiji, and that would never change.
"I'm not asking you to stay child; I would never do that to you. I ask only that you listen to what we have to say, I don't want to leave you on your own again."
Against his will, Naruto found himself nodding mutely, Kyuubi pushed far to the back of his mind and all of the built up malice drained from his system.
AU: well that turned out far more emotional than I anticipated.
Suffice to say, I didn't finish in time for the competition but hey; maybe next time. Many apologies for the long wait, but it's hard and un-advisable to write when you don't have the motivation. I hope you all enjoyed he chapter! And if you are confused by any of it READ THE NOTE AT THE TOP! It might help.