Chapter 81
"Oh, Kurama wanted to speak to Sakura, so he came out. It's not biggie." Naruto said, as if it was just an everyday occurrence.
"No biggie?" Kakashi could only sigh at his little brother's carefree attitude. Either way, if he said it was no 'biggie' then it should be fine.
"Oh? I see you have progressed quite well with the big softy." I took the opportunity to tease the fox. I was still holding a grudge the last time he kicked me out like that. He was a big bad nine tailed fox. It was my only way of getting back at him. Well, except sealing him up, but I wouldn't do that just because. Besides, I already had the nine tailed chakra I needed.
What I meant to say was, although I was powerful now, I was definitely not powerful enough to take on a tailed beast by myself, yet. That aside, I was not in the Narutoverse to deliberately play villain. I was here to…Why was I even here? Never actually considered it. My goal had always been to gain power and see if I could get back home. Even if I couldn't, I wanted to move through the universes; Who wouldn't?
Naruto laughed. It seemed my teasing worked. I knew Kurama absolutely hated being called a softy. That Tsundere. "So, how many tails can change into?" I was a little interested. If they had grown that close, then Naruto had definitely grown far stronger that the original canon.
"Want to see?" He smiled mysteriously and slightly hyped at me.
"Maybe some other time." I only smiled at him. I saw him deflate at my words. Kakashi and I made our way towards the hokage office. The villagers did not seem different than normal with everyone going on about their normal business. Things however, did not seem normal on the low. I could see Anbu agents hiding in the dark of a few places. It seemed Konoha was taking the hit of their council member much more serious than I thought. Or was it all just a façade put on by the old man to calm and quiet the council?
When we got to the office, I was surprised when Kakashi decided to enter through the window as well. We got there and as always; the old man was swamped with paperwork. In fact, it looked like there was more this time around.
"Yo, old man." I called out to him and he lifted his head. What I saw honestly terrified me a little. His eyes were red with large bags underneath them. He looked tired and frail, like he only had a few more seconds to live. He had absolutely zero reaction to seeing us, and even none this time around with us coming through the windows. It was as if nothing mattered to him anymore.
"Old man, what happened?!" As if I reminded him of something traumatic, he began to mumble something incessantly, which to be honest, actually scared me.
"Paper. per. so much paper. Too much paperwork." He had finally lost it. Ever since they received confirmation of Danzo's death through his root agents; or should I say former root agents, Hiruzen had been extremely swamped with paperwork enough to completely outclass his entire life's work as a Hokage.
I was actually almost feeling sorry for the old man, so I decided to help him out. "Hey old man. You know, if you used Shadow Clones for the work, everything would be resolved right?" Pin drop silence in the room. Even the wind in the room seemed to be silent.
Suddenly, tears began to stream down his already red eyes, as he began to laugh hysterically. It made him look terrifying. He whooshed from his chair and hugged me so tight all the while laughing hysterically. That caught me by surprise. Even more was the display of speed he just showed; I barely followed with my eyes. "Four Hokages, and not a single one of us thought about it. Shadow clones. Hahaha!" He looked at me with the widest and most genuine smile I had ever seen plastered on his face for the first time since knowing him.
"Both of you have returned from your missions. Good. Double the rewards." He kept on laughing so happily and so loudly, all the while writing up and approving our mission sheets. I especially was quite happy; My original mission already had high rewards, and with the Daimyo's approval and satisfaction, I was already going to get a hefty reward. To have it doubled, who would say no?
His genuine happiness almost made me sad about watching him die during the Konoha Crush arc. 'Oh well.'.
Before we stepped out, Hiruzen's voice sounded behind us which made us turn our attention back to him, "No one is allowed to go on solo missions anymore. You may not know since you have been away on mission for so long, but someone may be targeting our high ups. Himura Danzo, our elder advisor has been assassinated." He paused to stare at me with a look before continuing, "I heard you had a few run ins with him."
I smirked. "Yeah. He sent more than a few of his goons after me. Killed them all. No big deal" I looked his dead in the eyes and answered him. I doubt he would make a scene out of this even if he had a lead pointing towards me, but I was ready if he intended on force me. I may be unable to take him as I was, but I could definitely leave him behind if I pushed everything I had.
Danzo was different. He was nothing but a cowardly sewer rat that had stopped practicing and decided to resort to shortcuts like the Sharingan. Well, Sharingans. Even with the cells of the First Hokake, Hashirama Senju, he only used it to help him handle the stress of implanting so many Sharingans on his body. It was no wonder Sasuke could easily kill him in the canon, even after a desperate fight with the Kages at the Kage Summit; He may have been healed first, but still. Maybe 'easy' was stretching the win.
Hiruzen nodded his head. "Danzo did have skewed principles but his heart always was for Konoha. I apologize if he caused you any problems" Well, he caused a lot of problems but that did not matter anymore since I already killed him. I was not going to tell him that though. I only nodded my head in response. Kakashi by the side had a deadpan expression as always, making his thoughts difficult to read. Seeing as there was nothing left, we decided to finally make our way out the office. Myself and Kakashi had barely stepped out of the office when we heard two 'puff, puff' sounds and a hysterical laugh. We left the old man to enjoy himself.
I decided to follow Kakashi back to their place. Yes, their place. The two overgrown, overprotective men had apparently decided to become big brothers together and take care of Naruto; They had gotten a new place together like a married couple. From what he had told me, even Sasuke had been convinced, no, tricked into moving in with them under the pretense of getting stronger. Imagining their whole set up, I had my mouth open for a while.
'Oh, I can't wait to see this' I thought to myself, anticipating the sight I was about to behold. After a bit of small talk to pass the time, we finally arrived at the place, and I had to admit, it was not what I was expecting. It was a large house; Almost the size of a mansion.