Ch 22

"When I broke out of my cell after the lights went out and told Rea and her friends to run, I went back in to see who was attacking the police station," Naruto began, once again drawing several sets of eyes toward him- including the Hokage's- once he began doing a breakdown of the night's events. "I ended up ambushing this prick when I lured him into a ruined corridor and dropped down on top of him through the ceiling. After he was done stumbling around after taking three dozen knife stabs to the face, he ripped off his mask and showed me that ugly mug. Scar and all." The blond then slipped his hands into his pockets. "He managed to slaughter every single Jonin and Chunin in the police station all by himself. It was crazy. I was actually really lucky I didn't get killed."

Had his encounter with the assassin taken place under normal circumstances- squaring off in the day time, out in the open, with no corners or obstacles to hide behind, and both of them were fully aware of the other's presence- Naruto was a hundred percent positive the man would've killed him.

No. Not just killed. Destroyed. The element of surprise, topped with the fact that the mysterious murderer grossly underestimated him when they eventually ended up meeting face to face- and had decided to take that time to monologue instead of get the job done- meant that Naruto was able to escape with only a few minor cuts and bruises.

There was no way, even with his impressive taijutsu skills and toughness, that he would've been able to beat the guy on his own.

After gaping at the paper for several seconds longer, as he too recognized the person printed over it, Gai's gaze quickly snapped back to the blond. "What else do you remember about him?"

"That the guy was fast… that he moved like a black haze, I'm guessing from a shunshin technique… and that he wore an old Uchiha war mask with a flame pattern on it," Naruto continued without missing a beat, his composure not losing out for a second. He then turned to glare at the sketch in front of him. "He also used this really strange technique that made things go through him- kunai, shuriken, fire, metal, everything. Heck, he even managed to walk through solid walls like a ghost… almost like he could make himself intangible. I'm guessing that's how he was able to kill all those Uchiha so easily when he entered the station, because he could slip through everything they threw at him."

The only reason Naruto had been able to touch him was because he was able to get the drop on him when his back was turned and the guy had no idea where he was. Not to mention the assassin could only phase through things if he wasn't already interacting with them- e.g. touching the harmless insulation sheet that fell over his head, which then allowed Naruto to trap him.

Kurenai could only shake her head as she heard everything that came out of the boy's mouth. "And you managed to get all of this information from just one encounter? How the heck did you manage to escape him?" Surely someone that efficient and powerful wouldn't have let a kid spot him and then run for it. He probably would've run him down and killed him before he even had a chance to breathe a word of his discovery to anyone.

At this, Naruto grinned and shrugged. "I blew him up… along with the entire block." He then casually raised his hand and waved. "You're welcome, by the way."

Everyone was stumped. After hearing what Naruto had to say and in processing all of his information, all the adults in the room could do was shake their heads and stare at the child like he'd grown a second head. Disregarding the fact that he actually survived a brush encounter with a dangerous assassin and caused the explosion that damaged a good portion of the Uchiha Clan's district, but he also managed to bring them a profile of a person that they all thought to have died long ago.

When Naruto noticed several of the men looking down at the picture with mixed expressions of disbelief and confusion, the blond frowned and turned his attention to Kakashi. "You all know who this guy is… don't you?"

The silver haired man nodded slowly. "Yes… Obito Uchiha. He was my old teammate… and friend."

"I thought he died… years ago," Asuma chimed in, at the same time giving his colleague a stern glare. "During the Third Great Shinobi War, back when you and your team were…" When he saw Kakashi was still staring at the picture without even the slightest intention of looking away, the man with the beard wisely stopped and stepped off a bit. "It was a very long time ago. So much so that I can barely even remember when-"

"Now's not the time to reminisce," Koharu suddenly chimed in, quickly putting an end to the group's melancholic mood and redirecting attention back to the portrait in front of them. "We still have a very serious issue to resolve here."

"Agreed," Hiruzen spoke, at the same time looking around at his subordinates carefully. "Thanks to the information brought to us by young Naruto, we can safely say that the attack made on the Uchiha Clan last night was mounted by not one, but two individuals- both of whom are highly skilled and very dangerous shinobi. Their actions have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people and punched a sizable rift into the village's community that, while not impossible to fix, has left a great many of us saddened and shaken. Right now we should be doing everything in our power to ensure that the survivors of this tragic event are properly looked after and the people responsible for this chaos are brought to justice. That means hunting both Itachi and Obito down and capturing them."

Shikaku nodded and looked up at the rest of the council. "If this information is accurate, we're going to have to reactive Obito's original status from KIA to Alive, and classify him as a missing-nin with a danger level of S-Class. Until we can fully verify that he has been dealt with, we'll have to assume that he too may have survived the explosion, just as Naruto had."

This news had Naruto frown a little in displeasure. "Damn. And I was really hoping for a kill count added to my profile." Quickly getting over it, the young man then straightened up and faced the Hokage seriously. "This Obito guy… I remember him saying that he knew my father. Do… any of you guys know what that means… or could you tell me about how my family is involved in this?"

Once again the conference was interrupted by another question, which had Hiruzen and most of everyone in the room staring at Naruto in awkward silence.

When he saw no one was answering him and that many of the adults in the circle were appearing quite hesitant in speaking up, the whiskered delinquent furrowed his brow and sighed. Obviously this was a bit too much of an ask, which gave Naruto all the motivation he needed to move. "Right. You guys are in the middle of something. Sorry for interrupting." His piece said, he then casually strolled passed the Jonin on his left, who watched the child wander over to the window, open it, and then hop onto the seal. "If anyone needs me, I'll be at Ichiraku's Ramen… or at the playground. Whatever."

"Wait, Naru-" Hiruzen started, only to stop when the blond leapt out the window and disappeared, leaving the Jonin to their secret council meeting. The elder then exhaled and looked back at the others. "Ah. He's been through a lot lately."

"So we can tell," Inoichi commented, crossing his arms as he returned his gaze to the desk. "Still, the kid's got spunk, I can give him that."

"I heard he's been spending a lot of time by himself lately… training on his own and working on his combat skills. The kids at the academy often see him doing gymnastics and practicing his katas in the clearing outside of the play area," Asuma said while crossing his arms. A smile then broke across his lips. "Guess that partly explains how he was able to get all that info on the assassin and evade him in the Police Headquarters. Though he's unorthodox, I can tell the child's got quite a lot of talent for his age. Not to mention he's incredibly driven." Believe it or not, but that was actually quite a big contributing factor to a child's growth- as many of them could attest. His comments regarding the child had the other Jonin standing in the circle nod.

Adjusting his cap, Hiruzen once again shifted his focus back to the matter at hand. "I'll speak to him about his parents a little later. But for now we have to talk about how we're going to manage with the surviving Uchiha… and work on moving them back into the folds of the village."

"We also have to figure out how we're going to break this news to Mikoto when she gets back from her mission," Kurenai added, which had several of the men pale a little when her name was brought up. The red-eyed woman tightened her lips anxiously. "She's not going to be happy when she returns and finds out about her son."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one," Kakashi murmured, also finding the thought of bringing up this issue with the matriarch a difficult one.

The last time something like this happened- namely the time Mikoto found out her best friends Kushina and Minato had died- she grabbed her bow and arrow, slammed the door behind Fugaku, and was not seen for the next month.

When she returned, she came back with the heads of about twenty A-Rank missing nin from the bingo book.

The thought of finding out what she will do after she finds out about Itachi's massacre on their clan sent chills down all their spines.