Chapter 28

Konan was annoyed. The run-in with her former sensei kept repeating in her head and despite wanting to deny everything Jiraiya said, a doubt had formed. What was the juubi?

"I require answers," said Pein, a hint of anger in his voice. "Why have all of you failed to capture your targets?"

"Someone is warning them," said Itachi calmly. "And did you not also fail to capture your target?"

"Jiraiya of the sannin," said Kisame, growling. "He's been warning them. Him and his new apprentice, the kyuubi jinchuuriki."

"More concerning is the yonbi jinchuuriki," said Itachi. "He stated that he and the demon have become partners. They used abilities that were far beyond my capabilities alone. And now he has partnered up with the gobi jinchuuriki. If he teaches him how to become partners with the gobi then we may not be able to capture them without all nine of us working together."

"So we wait until they tire of each other as they always do," said Kakuzu. "There are plenty of unclaimed bounties still available to us."

"Do we even know where they are now?" asked Sasori, his gravelly voice cutting through the cavern.

"No, they have vanished from areas they have been known to haunt," answered Zetsu. "Even I cannot locate them."

"That is also concerning," said Itachi.

Konan had remained silent, listening as they rapidly descended into bickering and finger pointing.

"You are being awfully quiet, Konan-san," said Itachi, uninvolved in the ongoing bickering.

Konan looked sharply at Itachi at first, then her face softened for the gentle man. "I have a new concern, something the sannin said."

Itachi barely nodded. "Tell me."

"He said that we're all being used," said Konan. "The man in the orange mask is behind all of this. I tried to ask Pein-sama but..."

"Tobi," said Itachi flatly. "He is much more than he seems."

"Jiraiya said that the real goal is to resurrect the juubi, and that Tobi believes he can control it."

"Jiraiya... is not wrong," said Itachi calmly, his eyes carefully observing his surroundings for any of the other members to be eavesdropping.

Konan felt her heart jolt at that news as a new pain grasped her heart and left her feeling short of breath. "How..."

"How do I know?" asked Itachi. "I am aware of Tobi's movements. I have been since he recruited me."

"Why do you not tell everyone? We could end this," asked Konan.

"There are other things at risk," said Itachi. "For now, bide your time. If you can, provide intelligence on our moves to Jiraiya-sama. The best we can do for now is try to stifle his moves as best we can."

"Enough!" shouted Pein, silencing the room. "All pursuit of the jinchuuriki is to be postponed for two years. We must let them relax into a sense of safety. Then we strike."

The group chorused their assent.

"For now, pursue bounties and funds for our organization," ordered Pein, vanishing a moment later.

BREAK

"Where are we going, Yasha-ojiisama?" asked Naruto as he followed the limping old man to the outskirts of the village.

"I told you, we're going to the family shrine," said Yasha irritably.

"We have a shrine?" asked Naruto. "And no you didn't, you just said 'come for a walk with me, I need to show you something.' So I said 'sure' and now here we are."

Yasha thumped his cane once hard on the ground. "Bah, damned memory is the first thing to go. Don't ever get old."

"Not if I can help it," said Naruto. "Anyway, what is this shrine we're going to?"

"The Uzumaki Ichizoku no Nomendo," said Yasha.

"A mask storage temple?" asked Naruto confused. "Why are we-"

"I'll explain once we're there," Yasha interrupted, pressing on.

With Yasha's limp it took them almost another hour to reach a badly dilapidated shrine with the clan symbol carved and painted above the collapsing door frame.

"Its a bit beat up," said Naruto.

"I know, it pissed me off the first time I saw it when I arrived in the village. Anyway, it's not bad that it's in this state. The inside of the temple has remained mostly undisturbed and none of the masks are missing."

"Okay, what's so special about masks?" asked Naruto, feeling confused.

Yasha ignored the question as he clambered inside the temple.

Naruto followed closely behind him. Once inside, the temple was small, there were several holes in the walls and floor. Hanging on the back wall were twenty-seven different oni masks.

"Creepy," said Naruto, a shiver shot down his spine looking at those masks.

"Very creepy," said Yasha, "and for a very good reason." The old man reached out and took a single mask off the wall. "This mask is special, the rest are decoys that if you were to put them on would kill you instantly. But this mask, this mask is different."

"What's so special about this mask?" asked Naruto, accepting the mask being held out to him.

"This mask allows you to invoke the shinigami," answered Yasha.

Naruto suddenly held the mask as far from himself as he could.

Yasha chuckled at Naruto's reaction.

"Why would you give me this? Why do we even have it?" asked Naruto.

"Your seal, the one holding back the bijuu is an Uzumaki seal. The shiki fujin. The seal consumes whoever uses it and leaves them residing in the belly of the shinigami. Invoking the shinigami would allow you to release those consumed to pass on to the afterlife," explained Yasha.

"Tou-san," whispered Naruto.

"Yes," said Yasha. "But it's dangerous and usually kills the person freeing them."

Naruto frowned. "I understand. We need to protect this then. Make sure it never falls into the hands of others."

"Yes," said Yasha, calmly taking the mask back from Naruto.

"Thank you for showing me this place, we'll move all the masks to the Uzumaki clan building. I'll see if I can convert some of the basement space into a new shrine," said Naruto studying the wall.

"Naruto-sama," said Yasha. "I was so very proud to have served your family and protected your mother. I am proud of the man you're becoming. You will be a great clan head."

"You're making me blush," said Naruto, turning to look back at Yasha.

"But my time in this world is almost at an end," said Yasha sadly. "I'm glad to leave this world knowing you'll be here to protect and preserve our family line."

"Ah, stop talking like that," said Naruto. "You're still a young man, you'll probably outlive me."

Yasha chuckled and then slammed the mask onto his own face.

"No!" shouted Naruto but it was too late. The ghostly form of the shinigami encased Yasha.

The shinigami reached up to his mouth and removed the short knife. Then with one movement, stabbed the knife into his belly and sliced it open. From inside the belly a ghostly ball of light shot free and formed a flame that floated above the ground in front of the shinigami.

The mask fell off and Yasha collapsed to one knee as blood fell from his gut.

Naruto rushed to the old man's side. "Just hold on, I'll get you help."

Yasha smiled gently at Naruto. "You're a good boy, Naruto-sama. It's okay, I wanted it to be this way. Now help me up, I have one last thing to do."

Naruto tried to protest but the look in Yasha's eyes told him not to. So Naruto helped the old man to his feet.

Once on his feet, he roughly pushed Naruto away from himself as he began another set of hand seals. "Kuchiyose: edo tensei no jutsu," said the old man as he finished his hand seal series. The previously floating flame shot into his body enveloping him.

Naruto watched in morbid fascination as the old man's body shifted and morphed until standing before him was the yondaime hokage.

"Tou-san," Naruto whispered in disbelief.

The yondaime lifted his head and locked his eyes on Naruto. "Naruto-kun? Is that really you?"

Naruto nodded only slight as the yondaime rushed forward and hugged Naruto fiercely. Naruto slowly returned the hug, fully surprised.

After a while Naruto finally spoke. "I don't understand, how are you here?"

"I'm not," answered Minato. "Not really. The man whose body I'm inhabiting is quickly dieing. Soon I will have to leave again."

"How long?" asked Naruto.

"A day, maybe two," said Minato. "Just enough time to get to know each other a bit more. Maybe for me to teach you a few life lessons."

Naruto suddenly remembered something important. A quick punch to Minato's gut doubled the man over.

"I may have deserved that," said Minato, trying to catch his breath from getting the wind knocked out of him.

"I owed you that," said Naruto. "Now, I do believe you owe me some epic badass techniques."

Minato finally caught his breath again only to laugh at Naruto's expression. "I suppose I do. I don't know how much I'll be able to teach you with the time I have but maybe I can get you started."

"Good enough," said Naruto. "And just so you know, I already know your rasengan."

"Awesome," said Minato. "How are your fuuinjutsu skills?"

"Fair, I'm getting a lot better lately. I've been learning from my cousins in the clan," explained Naruto. "Ero-sennin has helped a little too."

Minato laughed at his nickname for Jiraiya. "Cousins?"

"The Uzumaki," said Naruto. "I'm rebuilding the clan and Uzumaki have been showing up from all over the place. Yasha-ojiisama, the man that brought you back taught me a bunch too. He's the one that got mom to Konoha safely."

Minato smiled. "Your mother would have been so proud of you."

"You think?"

"I know, cause I'm proud of you too," said Minato, placing a hand on Naruto's head and giving his hair a good shuffling.

Naruto naturally frowned at having his hair messed with but appreciated the contact all the same. "Anyway, you asked about my fuuinjutsu..."

"I'll get you started on the hiraishin," said Minato. "It will probably take years to learn and understand it but I have confidence you'll get it."

"Sweet!" shouted Naruto.

"We'll get to that," said Minato. "For now let's just spend some time catching up. I haven't seen you since you were this big," he said holding his hands about a foot apart.

"What do you want to know?" asked Naruto, offering his father a chance to ask him questions while he thought up questions of his own.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Tou-san!" shouted Naruto in surprise.

"A few girlfriends, huh? I'm kind of impressed," said Minato, unable to stop his laugh at the embarrassment he was causing his son.

"Did you have a lot of girlfriends when you were my age?" asked Naruto, trying to turn the tables.

"Nah, there was only ever one girl for me. I knew that from the first day I saw her in the academy and she loudly declared she would become the next hokage," said Minato with a laugh of his own. "Your mother was fierce even then. I remember a couple of the other boys once called her 'tomato' because of her hair and round face. Boy was she mad at that, it never happened again though, let me tell you. After her revenge, they started calling her the 'red hot-blooded habanero'."

"She sounds awesome," said Naruto, with a fond smile that matched his father's.

"She really was," said Minato. "Now what about your girlfriends?"

"They aren't girlfriends... at least I don't think they are," said Naruto, scratching his head.

"Well, tell me about them and I'll tell you if they are girlfriends," said Minato, trying to get his son to open up.

"Well, there are two girls that seem to want to be around me a lot," said Naruto. "I met Karin a while ago, during the chuunin exams, she was a Kusagakure shinobi then. When I found out she was an Uzumaki, we managed to get her brought into the clan and traded to Konoha. Anyway, she's a great friend. And then there is Fuu, she's new to the village. She's a jinchuuriki like me, but her village banished her. Anyway, we saved her from Akatsuki recently and since then I can barely get her to let me out of her sight. The last few days, her and Karin have been hanging off my arms when we're in public, they also keep sneaking into my room at night and sleep curled up with me," explained Naruto. "We haven't gone on any dates or anything but they are fun to be around."

"So not quite girlfriends but it sounds like they both want to be," said Minato. "That is if you want them to be?"

"I dunno, maybe," mumbled Naruto. "It feels kind of weird. With Fuu it feels like I'm taking advantage of her because of me saving her and the whole jinchuuriki thing. With Karin, I worry about it cause we're technically related though like eight generations apart according to the blood tests."

Minato shrugged. "So, do you like them and do they like you? That's all that should really matter, no? Something to keep in mind too. Tsunade is the granddaughter of Uzumaki Mito. Tsunade's aunt Senju Miko married my grandfather Namikaze Hayase so technically your mother and I were very distantly related as well. It doesn't change the fact that I loved your mother very much and would have done nothing differently."

"Whoa, hold up, you're telling me you're... like... the great-grandson of the shodaime hokage?"

"Yes, which makes you his great-great-grandson," said Minato. "Don't act so surprised. Why do you think we're such badasses?"

Naruto couldn't help the laughter that followed.

"So talk to the girls, maybe ask them both on a date," offered Minato.

"Together?"

"Together, one at a time, it's up to you and them," said Minato.

"You don't think it's strange to have multiple girlfriends or possibly wives in the future?" asked Naruto.

"Love is love kiddo," said Minato. "I would find it weird if you forced yourself to choose. Beside, more wives for you equals more grandchildren for me and Kushina."

"Tou-san, stop saying stuff like that," chided Naruto. "You're almost as bad as Ero-sennin."

"He was my sensei, Naruto. I was bound to pick up a few things from him," said Minato. "Besides, I'm your father and this is supposed to be one of my duties as such. I'm just glad you didn't have to have this talk with Kakashi or sensei."

Both men shivered at that last thought.

"I'll think about it," said Naruto. "No promises though."

"Fair enough," said Minato with a smile for his son. "So, why don't you bring me up to speed on your training. Academy and your sensei and all that, then we can start teaching you what you need to know to recreate the hiraishin, deal?"

Naruto nodded and spent the next few hours just chattering with his father about nothing and everything.

BREAK

"Good afternoon everyone," greeted Tsunade as she entered the council chamber. She seemed to be in a very good mood.

The general din of the room quieted as they watched their hokage take her seat. It was a regularly scheduled meeting they were all thankful for as it also meant there wasn't some kind of major disaster on the horizon.

"Just a few things to discuss today so it will be a quick meeting," said Tsunade as she opened a folder on her desk. She motioned for Shikaku to begin.

"First, I am excited to inform this council that the civilian council has officially been repaid in full," said Shikaku, not sounding at all excited.

The cheers that followed though were anything but flat. Tsume even did a little victory dance.

"Yes, now that they are repaid we need to focus on repaying our shinobi," said Tsunade, pulling out a sheet of paper from her file. "This is a plan to repay them inside of twelve months, it's a measure to reduce the village's commission on missions wherein the remainder is deposited into a special account that will be set up with a cap at the exact ryo amount we'll need to repay our shinobi. As soon as the account hits the mark, checks are issued to all of our shinobi and this bill expires." Copies were passed to all of the council members to review. "We'll vote on this at the next council meeting so look it over until then."

"Chuunin exams are coming up again in four months. Kirigakure will be hosting and have invited us to participate. The hokage has agreed and at that time, Konoha, Suna, and Kiri will ratify a new treaty between us," said Shikaku, moving on to the next subject. "Do we want the potential participants to go through SIPA again?"

"It has been almost a year since most of those that could go had their last evaluation. Would it really be worthwhile in such a short time?" asked Chouza.

"Probably not," said Hiashi. The Hyuuga clan was still a mess and a leader had still not officially been chosen. In the mean time he sat on the council without a vote just to keep his clan informed. "It is very expensive and we just got out from under the civilian council."

"For once I agree with old white eyes there," said Tsume. "Test a team if they've never been tested but I would restrict testing at SIPA to every five years following the initial testing after their graduation from the academy."

"Agreed," said Tsunade. "Any opposed?"

No one disputed the decision.

"Passed," said Tsunade. "Now in addition to the exam in Kiri, we got our hands on an invite for a single team to participate in Kumogakure's chuunin exam that happens at the same time."

There were instant refusals flying from the mouths of several people in the room.

"Enough!" shouted Tsunade. "I am only bringing this up because I asked the Mizukage to assist me in making it happen."

"Are we moving against Kumo?" asked Hiashi, the hope in his eyes and voice was unmistakable.

"Not exactly," said Tsunade. "We are trying to reopen some diplomatic relations with Kumogakure. More importantly, we needed a way to get Jiraiya into Kumo for a classified mission."

"You'll be sending Jiraiya-sama to lead a team?" asked Inoichi.

"My plan is to send a small diplomatic contingent with a single team. The team we send must make it to the finals. Jiraiya needs the extra time to make contact with certain individuals," explained Tsunade. "Who is available and would be a strong enough team to make it that far?"

"He won't like this recommendation, but my nephew's team would probably be the strongest available," said Hiashi.

"Can he keep his cool while there?" asked Tsunade.

"I believe he can... if we tell him there is an underlying mission," said Hiashi. "He doesn't necessarily need to know what that mission is, only that his team is to serve as cover."

"We can work with that," said Tsunade.

"Didn't Tenten get promoted?" asked Chouza.

"Haruno Sakura has regularly been filling in on that team," explained Tsunade. "She'd definitely keep them alive long enough to complete the exams. Plus it makes it easier to send Hatake Kakashi as part of the delegation as a body guard and sensei alongside Gai."

"A very clever ploy," said Shikaku. "We send Kakashi and Gai as both sensei and bodyguards with Jiraiya as the diplomat."

"He'll also have his apprentice along so it will be even more protection," said Tsunade. She really hoped this wouldn't cause any issues.

"A clan head as well," said Tsume appreciatively.

"Is that wise though? Won't Onoki show up at some point? And I'm fairly certain that most of Iwagakure still detests Namikaze Minato, no?" asked Hiashi.

"I believe they do," said Tsunade, a hint of vindictiveness in her voice. "I think it is definitely time we send a warning to Iwa anyway. Their dealings with Akatsuki brought this on themselves."

"An assassination?" asked Shibi.

"Nothing so drastic, not yet anyway," said Tsunade. "Simply showing off the yondaime's son with an exhibition match against an Iwa and Kumo shinobi should be sufficient, don't you think? It's something we've already arranged as part of the diplomatic visit was a fight during the finals to show off the ability of chuunin shinobi."

"Good marketing and an insult to the pride of the loser," said Tsume thoughtfully. "I like it. But can he win?"

"It is a sound method of mental warfare as well," added Ibiki. "As to him winning or not, the boy has already proven himself capable several times over."

"He'll win," said Shikaku, not an ounce of doubt in his voice.

"That settles it," said Tsunade. "Let's start looking at the teams we want to send to the exams in Kirigakure."

BREAK

"No way," said Naruto, struggling to catch his breath after laughing at the story his father just finished telling him.

"Oh man, you wouldn't believe the look on your mother's face when she found out," laughed Minato, also struggling to catch his breath. "She was beyond jealous and even more impressed."

"I never knew Kakashi-sensei had a prank in him," laughed Naruto. "But now that I think about it. I'm really not surprised. He's the sneakiest bastard I know."

"You would never think so to look at him but he really is," said Minato.

"Wow, you have some really great stories, tou-san," said Naruto.

"You have some good ones yourself. What you did to the monuments would have had your mom laughing in stitches for days. Especially the bloody nose you gave Sarutobi," said Minato, laughing a little even as he said it.

"I have my moments," said Naruto, beaming that his father liked his pranks.

"Anyway, I'd better get you started on the hiraishin or we'll run out of time before I can show you," said Minato.

Naruto nodded eagerly.

"I hope you have some sealing supplies on you," said Minato.

Naruto nodded and pulled out a couple scrolls and seal ink.

"Did Jiraiya-sensei teach you brush or fingertip sealing?" asked Minato.

"He's taught me some of both. My clan is all about fingertip seal painting so that's what I'm best at," said Naruto.

"Either is fine," said Minato. "You're going to want to use brush for the final version though."

Naruto nodded and fished out a couple of brushes from one of his pockets.

"So first you need to understand that this is a time-space technique," began Minato.

"Like summoning," said Naruto.

"Yes, similar to summoning but also very different. You are literally altering time to speed up the particles of your body and bending space to move those particles instantaneously to a beacon," explained Minato.

"That's awfully science-y," said Naruto with a small chortle.

Minato too laughed. "Your mother said the exact same thing. So I'm going to give you a crash coarse in particle physics. The body is made of billions of cells, right?"

"Yeah, I remember that from academy, biology class when they were telling us about poison and how it works. It was super boring, I think I fell asleep in the first five minutes but I do remember that part."

"That's fine," said Minato. "It's actually all you need to know about the biology part of this. So, cells are made up of even smaller pieces we'll simply call particles so as to not get overly technical."

"Right, so we're made of cells and cells are made of particles," said Naruto.

"So our goal is to alter time to make those particles move super fast, beyond fast, so fast they emit a light," explained Minato.

"How do we do that?" asked Naruto.

"Seals, very complex and difficult seals," answered Minato.

"Ooh, is that where the flash comes from?" asked Naruto.

"Exactly," said Minato with a small grin.

"The next step, once we know how to move that fast, is to bend space," said Minato, pulling out a string. "So image this string represents space or distance. What is the fastest way to move from one end of the string to the other?"

Naruto sensed it was a trick question. The obvious answer was to move from one end to the other end but he knew that wasn't the right answer. Then he remember the most important word of the step, to 'bend' space. "You bend the string so the two ends meet, right?"

"Exactly," said Minato. "So those are the two steps of the hiraishin."

"Why did I need to know that though? If the seal is doing all the work then the science doesn't matter much does it?"

"You'd think so," said Minato. "But remember, fuuinjutsu is a right nasty bitch and finicky as all hell."

Naruto laughed at his father's choice of words but he understood nonetheless.

"So knowing the science and your intention helps the seals work properly?" asked Naruto.

"Again, that is exactly right," said Minato. He then opened one of the blank scrolls and placed his hand on it. When he removed his hand a jutsu-shiki was left behind. "When you can break that down and understand it you'll be able to use hiraishin."

Naruto nodded. He was kind of glad that his father didn't just give him the answers. Some things should be worked towards and earned through your own hard work. "Thanks, tou-san. I'll figure this out in no time at all."

Minato laughed. "Take your time Naruto. This isn't an easy one to get. It took me a very long time to understand what the nidaime created with this technique."

"The nidaime? But I thought that you-"

"The nidaime passed the technique to my grandfather who passed it to me. I was the first in our family to get it and then make it what it is now. I'm sure you'll do the same," said Minato.

"I will, tou-san. It's a promise and I never go back on my promises," said Naruto confidently.

"Good," said Minato. "My time is almost up now though."

"So soon?" asked Naruto. "It hasn't even been a day."

"You really lost track of time, huh?" asked Minato. "It's been almost two days kiddo."

Naruto blinked several times in surprise. "Really? But it feels like you just got here?"

"Me too kiddo," said Minato. "You'll see me and mom both when you and Kurama are finally ready to settle things."

"You told me, I'll be looking forward to seeing you both then," said Naruto.

"Make sure you honor this man that did this for us," said Minato.

"You got it. I couldn't do anything less."

"I hope your mom isn't too mad at me. I'm fourteen years late for dinner," said Minato.

Naruto laughed despite the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Kick ass and take names," said Minato wrapping his kid in a big hug.

Naruto returned the hug just as fiercely. After a minute Minato sagged heavily in his arms and Naruto knew he was gone. And so he clutched Yasha's body and cried for a while.

They buried Yasha the next morning, honoring the Uzumaki clan's traditions.