Chapter 11 -> Part 11

Normally, teammates were required to report in a group, but given the fact that Hatake and I arrived separate from our teammates and with an entourage of which it was obvious I was responsible, everyone reported separately. While Nagato's family waited in the hall, my hands deep in my pockets. I wasn't surprised when it took Hatake an entire hour to report, considering he had a lot of explaining to do, but I was annoyed at the wait. When he finally exited with his mouth set in a grim line, I started to wonder if I bit off more than I wanted to.

I pushed myself off the wall and entered the office without a word. Deciding that it couldn't get much worse than it already was, I sat down in one of the chairs without invitation or acknowledging the Hokage glaring at me across his desk.

"ANBU, you're dismissed."

After a moment, the Hokage stood up and locked the door, then activated several privacy seals. After a minute, he returned to his desk.

"Are you aware of Konoha's policy on foreigners?"

"Not exactly, but I know Konoha's policy on the Uzumaki clan very well. They'll be able to prove their identity with a simple blood test, you can scan their chakra, or ask them questions. They are who they say they are."

"Konoha does not accept shinobi during wartime!" He snapped.

"They're civilians!"

"The two adults have active chakra networks."

"They're Uzumaki! All of them were able to use seals, which require an active chakra network."

"They know Fūinjutsu?"

"Obviously," I snapped.

"Then they may stay as soon as their identity is confirmed."

I scowled. "I confirmed their identity. May I leave?"

"No. I asked Hatake-san several questions, to which he told me only you can answer."

"Can and will are two entirely separate things."

"You will answer my questions."

I could feel his will pressing against mine. I pulled my hands out of my pockets and broke eye contact, staring at a plant tucked away in the corner instead, and pushed back. The Hokage was at least a decade older than me before I found myself here as well as ten times stronger, so I knew it was a losing battle to begin with, but my pride would never let me just give in.

"Report," he ordered.

I had no problem with that. I started where we left the village, and quickly summarized the actual mission.

"We stopped at a house to look for some food, found Nagato's family, I confirmed their identity, offered to bring them here, they accepted, we came back and here I am," I finished.

He was not happy with that report but I was going to make getting the details harder than pulling weasel teeth.

"How did you find the family?"

"Hiding in the shadows."

"Who did you see first?"

"Fusō-san."

"Did you recognize them first or did they recognize you."

"They recognized me."

"How?"

"According to them, I look and talk exactly like my father."

"How did you confirm their identity?"

"They told me the names of both of my parents."

"That's hardly a confirmation of identity."

"Is it? Do you know their names?"

His eye twitches.

"Exactly."

"Hatake-san mentioned you knew the exact whereabouts of your official clan records. Where are they?"

"What's left of them are scattered around training ground four. I burned them." I also made a copy and that copy was sealed into the floorboards beneath my mattress, but he only asked for the official records.

"How did you obtain these records?"

"A prank on the clan library a few hours before the massacre."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why didn't you turn them into the village?"

"I didn't want to. I had no reason to. No one asked if I had them. No one told me to turn them in." Who knew pissing off a Kage could be so much fun? I was definitely going to help the next person who wanted to deface the Hokage monument.

"Did you obtain access to anything else as a result this prank?"

I could feel him trying to force me to answer, but there was no actual compulsion to do so, so I remained silent, smirking.

To my surprise, he moved on, asking questions about every detail I could remember. I gave him answers in as few words as possible, rarely using a complete sentence.

"Did you notice anything strange when you examined their chakra?"

"No," I answered. Before I finished the word, the seal in the center of my chest exploded, flooding my body with pure, indescribable pain. The next thing I knew I was on the floor curled into the fetal position. I quickly wiped the tears from my face and sat up as the Hokage crouched beside me.

"Let's try that again, shall we? Did you notice anything strange when you examined their chakra?"

"Yes!" I gasped out.

"What did you notice?"

I jerked away as he touched my shoulder. "Someone transplanted a dormant Dōjutsu into the boy."

"Now we're getting somewhere. What Dōjutsu?"

"The Rinnegan."

"Do you have any idea of the original owner of this Dōjutsu?"

I clamped my mouth shut. After a few seconds where I had no intention of answering, the pain returned and it felt worse than before. When it was over, I didn't even bother sitting up. My hitai-ate was clutched in my fist, reflecting the sun into my eyes. I threw it at him. He caught it easily.

"Why don't you want to tell me?" He asked, offering a glass of water. "You have no problem telling Hatake-san."

"I trust him. I don't trust you." I snarled, but the effect was lost considering I was refusing to look at him and lying curled on the ground. "And he waits for the whole story before he does anything."

The Hokage placed the glass of water on the desk. "Whether you accept it or not, I am deeply sorry for the Shitagau." He pressed two fingers against the seal on my forehead. It was good to know the god-awful seal had a name. "I sincerely regret that I cannot find it in myself to trust you enough to release the seal."

I snarled at him.

"From where I'm standing, my order was morally wrong, but it was not a mistake. I may not have given you any reason to trust me and given evidence to mistrust, but you gave me every reason to mistrust you and no reason to trust as well. You're intelligent enough to understand that."

"It does not justify taking away my free will!" I hissed. "How the hell can you trust if you've never tried? How arrogant can you be to expect every single person to be utterly enthralled by your 'God of Shinobi' persona? How insecure are you in yourself and your abilities that a few words spoken out of desperation from a nine-year-old, a day-old Genin, could justify enslavement to your personal whim?"

The Hokage stared at the floor for a long time before grabbing my arm with both hands and pulling me to my feet. I stood shakily and clutched the desk for support with my free hand. "Obviously, you know many things you should not and are much more intelligent and mature than your age suggests. Hatake-san trusts you enough to leave your secrets lie. For now, I will respect his decision, but I will not release the seal."

I moved to leave the same way I entered: without acknowledging him. As I walked past he laid a hand on my shoulder holding me in place. Without looking at me, he spoke.

"I am aware you have made no effort to hide your dislike of me, going so far as to speak openly on the subject. I let it slide when you only spoke with your sister, considering she's your only family and I won't discipline you for being honest with your sensei, but this will spread no further without severe repercussions. Whatever your problem with me is, it will remain solely between us. Am I clear?"

I sorely wanted to jerk away from him and stalk out, but for once he was right. "Crystal," I responded neutrally. He released my shoulder

"Dismissed, and make sure you're always wearing your haori, on-duty or not. The people need a boost in morale."

I was out of the room faster than Minato's future Hiraishin could hope to accomplish. I wanted nothing more than to fall on a soft bed with warm blankets heaped on top of me and sleep, but with the discipline Sakumo had beaten into me, I marched into the room where Nagato's family waited.

"C'mon," I murmured to them. It was nearly sunset.

Nagato's parents exchanged one of the 'adult' looks I now found more frustrating than during my previous life before silently standing and following me. I could feel their questioning gazes on my back, but ignored them as I led them back to my apartment, my shoulders hunched and gaze on the ground to block out the whispering around me.

No one was home. There wasn't a note, so I figured she would be back by morning at the latest, but I was going to find her anyways, she'd been kidnapped one too many times already.

"The Hokage said I was responsible for making sure you have everything you need. The village can't afford to give you any help setting up. You might as well live here, considering neither of us stay here regularly anymore." I yanked a kunai out of the wall and picked up several more from across the floor, as well as an odd broken blade. I tossed all of it into the apartment's only bedroom, where we kept all our ninja things then closed the door without glancing inside. "Don't go in there, it's where we keep our ninja stuff and I don't want anyone getting hurt on accident because I'm not entirely sure of how many pranks and traps Kushina and I rigged up in there."

"Where are all your security seals?" Ise asked.

"Can't use them because this is a civilian complex and Kushina and I aren't good enough to make seals that we can prove won't kill, besides, the village is mostly safe. You have full access to everywhere else, so you can do whatever you like to the place. There's money sealed in the back of the fridge if you need anything. In the morning, I'll bring you to the hospital to find out where you can help. I'm going to go locate my sister right now, there should be some ramen in the cupboards, maybe something in the fridge. I'll help you get settled as soon as I can. You're probably tired, so don't wait up for me, you won't notice me come back anyways." They didn't need to know anything more.

I shunshined out of the still-open door and clumsily arrived a street away from the mission room, annoyed at how far I missed my intended destination. As I approached the window to find statuses of shinobi, the Chuunin didn't even look at me.

"We don't share information with civilians," he grunted. "Especially not civilian wannabes."

"Good thing I'm not a civilian," I responded coldly. "Is my sister on a mission?"

He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow. "I expected you to be taller."

"Yeah, and I expected you to be more helpful."

"Fine. Uzumaki Kushina is your sister, right?"

"Yes."

His hand flicked through a sign asking for confirmation and I rolled my eyes and gave it. "She was just placed on medical leave."

I frowned and left, heading straight for Minato's apartment. I stopped at the door.

I wasn't a great sensor but if I concentrated, I could pick up familiar chakra signals and get a somewhat accurate idea of their mood. Both Kushina and Minato were asleep in the middle of the floor, wrapped in several blankets. As quietly as I could, without using any ninja techniques, I opened the door and slipped inside, locking it behind me. With a bit of dancing to get past the traps and avoiding twisting my ankle on the equally dangerous not-trapped mess inside the door, I made it into the main room and crouched beside Kushina. Normally, she was a heavy sleeper, but I wasn't surprised when she instantly woke and grabbed my wrist. Luckily, she didn't attack me like my teammates were prone to do while on missions.

"Nii-san!" Two voices cried and both Minato and Kushina knocked me back with a hug.

I could have avoided being pinned underneath the two over-eager Genin, but something wasn't right. "So why are you lying in the middle of the floor."

"Um, we had to write some reports," he mumbled into my stomach somewhere, but there was no paper to be seen.

"Liar, is everything alright? You're not normally this clingy." An undignified squeak escaped me as two children clinging to me turned into two shinobi children. "I'll take that as a no," I gasped. Sure they were kids, they probably missed me, considering I ended up mostly taking care of both of them for two years, but when Kushina shuddered and tightened her grip enough to crack a rib if I wasn't reinforcing it with chakra and Minato started crying, I figured something bad had gone down.

I laid my hands on their heads, pulsing with medical chakra. Kushina knocked my hand away before I could figure out anything. That set off practically every alarm bell I had. I scanned Minato instead. Whoever had healed him up had done a good job on the outside, but it was wartime and full healings just didn't exist. There was minor internal hemorrhaging around his abdomen, which had been healed just enough that I couldn't figure out how it happened and the pain would prevent Minato from moving very much for the next few weeks. Definitely done by one of Tsunade's disciples. There was plenty of bruising across his skin, everywhere except his face. The skin on his lower legs seemed new, which meant someone had regrown it.

"What the hell happened?" When neither made any motion to explain, I sat up. Kushina clutched a fistful of my clothes. Both of them were far too warm to be healthy and it was uncomfortably hot with both of them pressed against me and the blankets on top of them. "This isn't funny you two, I can't do a damn thing if you don't tell me anything."

"We're fine, just a bad mission," Kushina choked out.

"You're Genin, you aren't allowed on missions that'll leave you in this state," I retorted.

Kushina shuddered again and I tried to run a second diagnostics jutsu on her, but she grabbed my wrist and forced my arm away.

I pulled Minato up to sit beside me then dragged Kushina into my lap. I held my hand, glowing with medical Ninjutsu in front of her. "Let me help, Kushina, or I will knock you out and help you anyways." The hospital couldn't force treatment on anyone and formerly captured ninja tended to get their way, but I had no regard for hospital policies in the middle of an apartment with two kids who seemed to be in some sort of traumatic shock. Besides, I not only outranked he, but I was her legal guardian as well.

She turned her face into my neck and wrapped her arms around my chest, crying. I gently hugged her back and laid my hand against the back of her head. Minato had let someone heal him, or at least didn't have a choice in the matter; Kushina had not and I got the entire disgusting picture of what happened. She'd been captured, that much was immediately obvious. I was furious, but not surprised that she'd been beaten and raped. I murmured quiet reassurances mixed with death threats to whomever was responsible. It only took me about a half hour to heal all the internal damage, she hadn't been captured for long. When I looked at the external damage, I froze. Kushina had been forced to stand in some kind of fire, which left third-degree burns, and there was some kind of message burned on her back. She didn't struggle as I gently slipped the blanket off her shoulders and looked down the back of her borrowed shirt to see the kanji for 'medic' etched into her skin. Feeling sick, I quickly healed it, taking extra care in making sure I didn't leave any scarring, and hugged her tightly. I felt like something inside of me had snapped.

"Suna or Iwa?" I asked Minato, putting my arm around him as well and finishing his healing. They were the only countries who had a legitimate reason to retaliate against me specifically.

"Suna," he answered, leaning against me.

"And the team that caught you?"

"Dead. The ANBU killed them."

"How long ago?"

"I-I don't know, not long."

I struck the Sandaime off my list of people to murder for this, there was probably no way for him to have known about it before I left, in fact, he probably found out about it right after I stormed out, or might still be unaware. "Where did they find you?"

"On one of the training grounds. They killed the ANBU guarding us."

ANBU worked in two-man teams at minimum, especially for guarding two individuals. "Did they take you out of the village?"

"No, training ground forty-four."

A loud knock sounded from the door.

"It's the ANBU who killed the Suna team," Minato informed me.

"You sure?"

He nodded.

"Come in!" I called out. They could unlock the door themselves.

After a moment, the ANBU appeared out of the hall. I frowned. The mask looked exactly like Kakashi's. I closed my eyes and looked at the chakra signature. It was definitely Sakumo. Someone had a sense of irony. When I opened my eyes, he told me he and a full team was there to guard Minato and Kushina.

I signed back confirmation.

"What did he say?" Minato asked.

"It doesn't matter. You're completely safe now, both of you, at least until this war is over."

"B-but how do you know?" Kushina asked.

"'Cause he's gonna stay with us!" Minato responded, looking up at me hopefully.

"No, the ANBU are going to protect you all of the time. I'm gonna go out and beat up the people responsible, okay?"

"No!" Minato cried, twisting in my arm and combining forces with Kushina to pin me down.

"They said if you left the village again, they'd torture and kill you and then come for us and—and do all sorts of horrible things!"

Luckily, I was better at getting out of being pinned than either of them could ever hope to be at holding me down. With a complicated twist that required all my flexibility and a bit of deliberately targeting pain receptors, I crouched with my arms loosely around both of their shoulders.

"I promise you both they won't get me, at least not until I've gotten them first. The only problem is that once I get to them, they won't be able to get to me. Do you want to help?"

They both looked up at me in awe then nodded. The joys of impressionable children. They'll believe anything with enough conviction behind it, and I had plenty.

"You've been learning about sealing from Kushina, right?" I asked Minato.

He nodded.

"Good, I need you both to come up with a seal that can make me completely invisible and undetectable. Can you do it?"

"Hell yeah, -ttebane!"

"Good. I have a someone who might be able to help you get it done faster, you ready?"

They nodded. I signed 'home' into the air and pulled them along with me in a shunshin back to the apartment to meet Nagato's family. I landed the Shunshin far closer to my intended landing point than I normally did (across the street instead of a block away).

I guided the two Genin into the apartment. Instead of a traditional hello to the family finishing up their ramen dinner, I announced, "Introductions all around!" I put a hand on Kushina's head. "Everyone, this is Uzumaki Kushina, my little sister from Uzu." I put my hand on Minato's head. "This is Namikaze Minato, my adopted little brother from Konoha." I pointed at each of the other Uzumakis in turn. "That's Uzumaki Ise, Uzumaki Fusō, and little Uzumaki Nagato. Kushina, Fusō was friends with our mother. They moved out of Uzu a few years before the massacre and I found then while I was in Ame on my last mission."

Kushina looked like a kid with a hundred presents under the Christmas tree. She turned to me and gave me a hug that felt more like strangulation. "You're the best nii-san ever, -ttebane!" She shouted.

"Not for very long!" I choked before someone, I was sure it was Minato, knocked my breath away with a second hug, then a third, rather small, body, probably Nagato, leapt on my back, followed by two more sets of arms. The biggest set wrapped around everyone and when my feet started to leave the ground, I replaced myself with a pillow from one of the beds. I made a mental note to never again incite an Uzumaki-Plus-Minato group hug as everyone decided my need to use medical Ninjutsu to fix myself was the funniest thing since fart jokes.

"So, you'll be able to make that seal?" I asked Kushina, who was the first around the corner, grinning widely.

She gave me an evil grin. "You bet!"

"Then I'm going to go get permission to implement the rest of my plan." I left through the window with another shunshin, and landed in front of the Hokage tower.

An ANBU landed beside me with what appeared to be a fox mask. "The Hokage wishes to see you."

"Good, I need to see him too." I yelped as the ANBU's hand closed around my arm and pulled me into the Hokage office through the window.

I was about to speak when I noticed the Hokage glaring angrily at three shinobi dressed in the ANBU uniforms sans mask. Three ANBU masks were piled on his desk.

"It was two minutes!" One of them protested.

"It doesn't matter!" The Hokage roared back, furious. "You left your respective posts for two minutes and ten Suna Jōnin made it into this village undetected! In two minutes a team of that caliber could have taken out half the village leadership!"

"They were just Genin! How the hell was I supposed to know they have two villages gunning for them?"

"Oh, so I suppose if you were guarding the Daimyō you would have been fine leaving your post because he's just a civilian?" I snapped.

"Shut up, little Chuunin, you don't belong here."

"Like hell I don't belong here. It was my sister who was just captured and tortured! Not to mention her and Minato are Jiraiya's students and their capture would have not only controlled me, the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, but him as well, and through him, the Hokage himself, but you'd be just fine with that, right, because they're just Genin? Would you like to go explain to two eight-year-olds that you're the reason they were just tortured?"

The Hokage flicked his fingers and three ANBU descended from the ceiling and forcibly escorted them out just as the full implications of their slip-up hit them.

"I was going to call you back to make sure Suna's message didn't reach you, but I guess I'm too late."

"Far too late," I responded, ignoring the three council members observing from the corner of the room. "I'm going to talk to the fox."

"You can't!" One of them exploded.

"Stop me!" I snarled back and took a threatening step forward. The ANBU that brought me in stepped in to hold me back.

"I'll handle this," the Hokage said and waved his hand. "Please wait outside."

Furious, they left. And the ANBU released me. I angrily straightened my clothes.

"Why do you want to talk to the fox?" The Hokage demanded.

"To release the Ichibi on Suna."

Obviously, that made absolutely no sense to the Hokage. "And how, pray tell, do those two things connect?"

I shrugged. "It's a very long story, but in short, the tailed beasts are the most powerful beings in the world. I want these beings to like me. Suna pissed me off, so I'm going to kill two birds with one stone: start my crusade to free the tailed beasts and at make a very good opening through which I can kill the Kazekage, who gave the order to torture my sister. I need the Kyuubi's help to do that. Is there a specific place you would prefer me to make my agreement with the Kyuubi? Or can I sit right here?"

"I can't stop you. Go sit down somewhere out of the way. I have work to do. Afterwards, please tell me your plan for killing the Kazekage before you rush off."

I rolled my eyes and sat down in the middle of the room. It had been over a year since I last managed to properly enter my own mindscape. After a few false starts, I managed it, only to find myself face-to-face with a frightening Kurama crucified against a sphere of something.

(-_-)

My favorite way to get over a fear of public speaking was to imagine the entire audience as angry babies. It always worked for me, and it worked very well in helping me get over any terror I had in facing a being that could crush me under the tip of his claw.

For once, I decided to make Sakumo proud and be moderately respectful without being told. "Hello, my name is Kichiro, what's yours?"

Kurama just studied me carefully. You want to free the Bijū. I was quite thrilled by the fact that the hatred defining his character in my memories had not fully manifested. Either that or he was just interested enough in my completely unique way of looking at him to not issue threats of murder.

"Obviously, you were paying attention."

Prove it.

"No problem. I'll start my crusade right away, but you have to agree to two conditions."

He snorted. And what will I get out of this? I counted the fact that he was listening and considering what I had to say as a win.

"Freedom upon my natural death and if you work with me you and I might be able to make sure you are never sealed again."

Tempting, but I will escape eventually. I nearly did the day I was sealed into you.

"Yeah, and it would have done me a very big favor if you had killed me then. Just saying. You've been sealed in me for nearly six months and haven't gotten anywhere, not for lack of trying. As time goes on, people will only get stronger and your chances will diminish."

You have a point, little rat.

"Charmed. Do you want to hear the conditions?"

Go ahead.

"First, upon your release you will not attack Konoha and you will only hurt and destroy that which attacks you first, well, that which attempts to attack you first."

When he made no response, I continued.

"Second, you will make sure that I am not killed in any way except when I decide to voluntarily release this seal."

I can't fix injuries, not while in this particular seal.

"True, but if you agree to work with me, I'll see what I can do to get rid of the seal or at least reduce it. Or at least alter it so you're mostly free."

I could turn on you the second you do so.

"True, but I don't think you will."

Then you're an idiot.

"I don't think I am. You can detect negative emotions and there's something about it that you don't like. I sincerely doubt you're oblivious to the anger, the pain, and the fear of the other Bijū, your siblings, who aren't as strong as you and need someone to at least bail them out." I was crossing into dangerous territory with the fox. If I pushed to hard or implied the wrong thing, it could all blow up and bite me in the ass. Even so, a little ego-stoking could come in handy. "I don't think Konoha was really ever one of those places you genuinely hate. The people here try to do what's right, as misguided and wrong as their actions turn out to be." I tapped the seal on my forehead as an example. "You punish evil, even though innocents often get caught in the crossfire."

You've given me something to think about. Leave.

He couldn't throw me out of my own mind, but he did have much more experience inside my mind and managed to effectively threw me out anyways. My eyes flew open and I felt horribly sick. I barely made it to the trash can before I puked my guts out in front of the council and several clan heads

"So, have you realized the Kyuubi can't be reasoned with?" The Sandaime asked smugly.

"Actually, the opposite. He's cynical, justifiably indignant at being treated worse than a street-dog, has a bit of an ego, but unreasonable is not a word that can be applied to him. He seems to think of himself as a traitor but I don't think he'll go back on his word."

Just like that, I could see the Hokage's blood pressure skyrocket, even though I was still hunched over the trashcan, puking at odd intervals.

"What seal did Mito use on the Kyuubi?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need to loosen it."

There it went, the blood pressure of the entire room started to push dangerous levels. I barely held back a smile.

"Surely you're not considering—" one of the clan heads exploded.

The Sandaime quickly held up a hand. "It's almost two in the morning. I think we all could do with some rest."

The hell? It was barely dark when I got to his office.

The clan heads left, disgruntled, but the council didn't. Danzō spoke up. "This has gone far enough, Hiruzen. Every time that boy speaks you dismiss the room! How are we expected to give advice if we know nothing about this village's weapons?"

"Just shut up, old warmonger! You got your personal army, why the hell do you need his as well?" Judging by his rapidly paling face, it hit far, far closer to the mark than I expected. "The hell? You actually have a personal army?" Already?

Faster than I could blink, the man backhanded me across the face. "What could a Genin know?" He snarled, towering above me.

"Chuunin!" I spat back. Word to the wise: don't backtalk pissed-off old men with power to sling around. The drama that ensued was not the slightest bit pleasant. The man's hands came together and my eyes widened as fire flooded from his mouth. I jerked my hands up to cover my face but instead of fire from outside poring over me, fiery chakra swelled up from inside of me and a hand burst out of my chest to catch the blade which appeared out of nowhere and wrenched the blade headed straight for my heart out of Danzō's hand.

I accept your terms. The Kyuubi said. Kill him.

The blade flew into my hand, but before I could move, the Hokage's hand slammed a piece of paper into my gut.

"Five Elements Seal!" He ground out.

The Kyuubi snarled with frustration and returned back into the seal. You need to get stronger. He gave his parting shot at me. Why the hell was he antagonizing me?

Well, I was nine years old and Danzō was at least three times that. The fox could deal with it.

For some time, I was much more interested in whatever havoc was being wreaking in my chakra system than what was going on around me.

When I opened my eyes, the seal was gone and I lay on a small mattress with Kushina sprawled on top of me, sound asleep and Minato against my side, fidgeting with a hole in my shirt. Someone had removed my weapons, Chuunin vest, haori, and shoes, which had been replaced with socks. I could hear three other people breathing softly in the room. I could hate fighting and murder all I wanted, but the people who would have threaten and torture little kids didn't deserve to live and I was sure as hell going to make sure no one attacked Minato and Kushina again. At least until each of them was a big enough badass to deal with their own enemies.