Naruto ch 27

Chapter 27

 

 

Naruto looked at the large group of refuges from Konoha gathered near the edge of the arrival area overlooking the Caldera Valley; from up here they could see almost to the other edge of the mountain range on the other side of the valley. Naruto smiled as several academy age kids leaned on the railing as they pointed out some feature or another they spotted, while not everyone seemed excited it looked like most of them were happy or relieved. Moving over so he could be seen Naruto cleared his throat loudly, “Welcome to Caldera Valley, Whirlpools capitol city…and now your home.”

Now that he had the group’s attention he pointed to the line of academy students along the wall, “We have some guides to take you to the clan estates and to help guide you around town for the rest of the day if you want them to stick around. I know you are probably tired from your long rip and want nothing more than to relax so I had some common food stuffs delivered to all the estates so you should have enough for a couple of days at least.” Pointing to the tall building of to one side he grinned, “The citadel is the hub of the village, and my office is on the top floor if you need to see me. Jiga my aide can schedule you into my day or point you to who you need to see if it’s not me,” spotting the group near the mind walker and his Ice Dragon Naruto waved the academy students up before walking over to the group.

“Uzumaki-sama,” Satori bowed as he used his hand to point out his three companions, “the leaders of the first wave, Aburame Hisako wife to clan leader Aburame Shibi. Inuzuka Hana, Daughter of clan leader Inuzuka Tsume, and finally Nara Yoshino wife of Nara Shikaku nephew of the Nara clan leader.”

Glancing back to see that the academy students had everything well in hand, including helping some of them carry belongings or little kids and Taidachi was welcoming the branch family members that escaped the Hyuuga control Naruto turned back as he took in their tired eyes, it could not have been easy to leave behind the village that they grew up in. “I know you’ve been on the trail for the past week and a half so you might not know that Tsume and Shibi along with a few others were brought here so they could watch their sons compete in our Chuunin exam. We had several days to talk things out and for them to arrange for a bunch of D-Class missions to clean and fix up your estates, including doing a grocery run this morning, so you’re a little better prepared than you thought you were going to be.”

Seeing he had their undivided attention still he sighed, this next part was going to shock them, “Things have not so much spiraled out of control, but certain facts have come to light so I need to know as soon as possible what else needs to be done before the rest of your clan gets here in two days.” Now he could see their shock and the looks they shared between each of them, “from what I was told every non active duty clan member has been sent out of Konoha until such time as they are able to help the Third regain control. Truthfully I’m not sure how much of the Shinobi forces will be left after the traitors are purged from the forces.”

“This is most troubling,” Hisako looked around to her fellow leaders, “We of course will prepare for the arrival of the rest of our families, do you know what if anything they were able to bring with them so we know what we need to secure?”

“I was told,” Naruto waved the three academy students who stayed behind up, “that they took everything, leaving empty houses behind them.”

“I see,” Yoshino frowned as she thought about the best way to get things ready; shaking her head she looked back up, “we have taken enough of your valuable time Uzumaki-sama. I see our escort is ready so if you will excuse us we can quickly find out what needs to be done so we can tell you we are prepared for our family to arrive.”

Falling back Hana put a finger up to tell the guide just one more moment before she stopped near Naruto, “Uzumaki-sama, do you know if my family…the Clinic did they abandon the clinic?”

Frowning at the question Naruto motioned for her to walk with him, passing by the academy student he grinned as he tapped him on the shoulder and waved for him to join them, “Hana-chan you might have the hardest time preparing for your family to arrive. From what I was told they are using the contingency plan to evacuate all your patients, so not only will they be arriving in two days time, you will have to be ready for the influx of patients that will be arriving with them.”

“But we aren’t anywhere near being ready to receive patients, we don’t even have a place for them,” Hana looked horrified at the thought.

“You have a large clinic as part of your estate, it’s been cleaned and anything needing mended has been fixed,” Naruto slowed down as they walked through the street, not too much farther they would need to part ways. “Your mother spent a lot of time inspecting the clinic and detailing the mission to bring the clinic up to where it needs to be, I think if you lay in some emergency supplies knowing that the rest of your family is bringing along all the clinics supplies you should be alright. After all you just need a few hours to unseal all your regular supplies, if it comes down to you not thinking you will have the manpower needed then go to the mission office tomorrow and request a slew of D-Rank’s to help you out.”

Stopping when Naruto stopped Hana calmed down, Naruto-s words not only had a calming effect but broke her out of her panic giving her an option she never thought of. Smiling she nodded, “Thank you Uzumaki-sama, I might just have to do that.” Glancing down at the young teen waiting to show her to the estate she smiled at him, “I hope you and your team are ready for some work, we’ll need to lay in some supplies quickly and I haven’t a clue where to buy them.”

Watching the two walk down the path Naruto caught out of the corner of his eye a blur rushing towards the Citadel, following the figure with his eyes he flashed away using his father’s technique when he noticed the messenger was heading towards his office.

Arriving barely before the messenger Naruto turned to see the Jounin jump to his window sill, “Uzumaki-sama, there is a messenger from Beach country along with a delegation from Marsh country to see you they wish to talk to you about an alliance like the one you agreed to with Wave.”

Before Naruto had a chance to answer he felt a buildup of chakra that felt like a summons, and with a loud pop and quite a bit of smoke from the corner of his office he watched a tall red Fire Lizard appear, great he thought I knew it had been way to peaceful to last.

Rotating his neck around with his yes going in opposite directions Lord Tokage spotted you he was looking for, “Excuse me summoner of kings but I have come on a mission to find and bond our selected summoner to our contract.”

Eyes narrowing in search of you the lizard could be talking about Naruto help up a hand before turning to the messenger who was staring wide eyed at the summons. It was very rare and great privilege to be searched out by the summons who wanted you to be theirs. “Please inform the delegation that I will be in two hours, make sure they are comfortable and given the opportunity to refresh themselves. Maybe give them a snack until I can get away to talk with them. Also send someone to inform my advisors so they may keep them company while I finish up.” Turning back to the lizard once the Jounin saluted and jumped back out the window Naruto stared at it for a moment as he tried to think of anything to say, finally he simply shrugged, “If you tell me who you are looking for I should be able to help, or at least I hope so.”

Nodding his body in a slinking fashion Lord Tokage moved closer to Naruto and grinned, not sensing any discomfort from the young lord surprised him, then again he thought of the summons he was bound to, they did not bond to people easily intimidated. “Now that the breeding season is over for our lower cousins, one of your young men stood out to us. He could have easily fought when he was caught up in the madness of the breeding pairs; instead he humbled himself and allowed himself to be used. He caught our attention and I have had some of the younger ones keep watch on him, and he still impressed us.”

Nodding slowly Naruto thought back to the day of the exam and the snickers he and Haku shared at the young Genin’s misfortune, and now it seems that he would be rewarded. Going over to his desk he pushed the intercom button, “Please have Shimizu Che report to my office as soon as possible.” Turning back to his guest Naruto smiled as he pulled out a box of sweet bean Dango, “Most summonses I have met have an incredible sweet tooth can I offer you some Dango?”

Intrigued Lord Tokage moved closer and spied the plate with an eye pointed sideways before nodding slowly and picking up one of the sticks and examining the sweet dough impaled on the little stick. With a flick of his tongue the stick was in two pieces and he was chewing slowly as his body shivered in delight, his whole body shivered like a snake crawling across hot sand. “This is quite good…and tasty, thank you.”

Smirking Naruto put the plate on the corner of his desk, “Help yourself, I’m partial to the sesame ones.”

Half an hour later Che knocked nervously on the door frame interrupting Naruto and Tokage comparing the different types of Dango and arguing slightly over which was better. Staring at the large lizard arguing about sweet soy sauce Dango being better than the sesame because in his opinion the sesame seeds reminded him to much of little wood beetles because of their crunch, stepping back he shook his head before looking back in the room and finding he was not hallucinating, there was a very large lizard in there discussing the finer points to Dango with Uzumaki-sama. “Um…Excuse me Uzumaki-sama, I was told you wanted to see me?”

“Come in,” Naruto waved to the confused Chuunin as he put the pile of Dango cartons in the trash, “Che-san this is Lord Tokage, he is the lord and…” thinking for the word he chose one close enough to fit. “Lord Tokage would be considered the Daimyo of the Lizard summons, and he has come here looking for you.”

“Me,” Che squeaked out as he moved sideways, giving Naruto-sama a quick look to see if they were in danger. Considering the Dango competition mere moments ago he relaxed. “I’m not sure I understand Uzumaki-sama.”

“Please allow me summoner of the kings,” Tokage twisted his upper body around so he was looking straight at the young Chuunin. “We fire lizards have not had a summoner for almost two hundred years, and because you have impressed me I have come searching for you to offer you the chance to become our summoner.”

Che scrunched up his face in confusion before turning to Naruto, “Uzumaki-sama I’m not sure I understand…why me?”

“Because young one of what you allowed to happen to you so your friends could get away…and for having the foresight not only to not struggle but to mimic the females in heat so you could survive,” Lord Tokage snaked his head in a half bobbing motion so he could look at him squarely. Pointing to the scroll that he had unrolled on the table top once he popped into this dimension he bobbed his head again, “you have proven yourself to me, you have both courage and show flexibility under dire circumstances that I wish for those who summon my people to have.” Sniffing the air with his tongue ever so slightly as he talked he smirked, you also still have the scent of our cousins seed on you proving I’m right.

Naruto having moved over to glance down at the contract noted only three names listed and each name had a space several hundred years in between the other, “Che, your feeling of being unworthy or confused aside. The Fire Lizards chose you, not only did they choose you they sought you out. The choice is yours but I know that anyone else from your age group would be jumping up and down from being picked.”

Walking over to the table Che studied the contract before looking up, determination building within him, “What do I have to do?”

“You need to sign your name in your blood; you also should use the hand you will sacrifice blood from when you summon, and then place your bloody print next to your name.” Naruto instructed him, “Since you don’t have my healing ability you might want to choose your non throwing hand.” Watching the young Chuunin slit his thumb with one of his knives and sign, “I’ll teach you the summoning Jutsu tomorrow morning when the mission office opens up, depending on how well you do I might need to teach you a couple of chakra building exercises so you will have the capacity to summon on the larger size.”

Nodding in understanding Che quickly wiped the blood off his thumb before looking at his new summons, “Thank you for allowing me the honor of becoming your summoner.”

Rolling up the scroll Lord Tokage grinned, “Yes you will do nicely. We will talk again once you have learned to summon me my young summoner.”

Watching the lizard poof out Naruto grinned at Che’s face, he looked so bemused he thought, “I’ll see you in the morning Shimizu-san.” Waiting until the bemused Chuunin left his grin left his face as he studied the map on his wall for a moment, with the two delegations waiting to talk to him there would seem to be no buffer left between his country and Fire country except for Water country and his ally Zabuza.

Seeing Naruto-sama deep in thought over by the map Jiga walked over slow enough he would not interrupt his thoughts, the message he had was not important after all.

Sensing Jiga walk in Naruto glanced his way, “Granted the bloodline extermination that is ripping Water apart is several years old.” Tapping the map right on Fire country he continued as he stared trying to come to another conclusion, “Now Konoha is developing a civil war, this time it is civilians against Shinobi. And once again those with bloodline abilities are going to be caught in the crossfire because they are the ones who are most loyal to the ruler of the village, the Kage.”

“And no one knows if this is how Water’s Bloodline extermination started,” Jiga moved to the wall and stared at the map, “the question is who and what they are after?”

“Who would be nice to know,” Naruto frowned as he examined the direction his thoughts were going. He really hoped it was not what he was thinking, “How good is our spy network?”

“Not up to the level of Jiraiya of the Sannin’s level but we…” Jiga shook his head, “Not as good as I thought it was a few minutes ago.”

Turning to look at Jiga Naruto's frown slipped off his face, expression hidden he asked, “Is it good enough to find this Jiraiya person?”

Tilting his head in thought Jiga started to say yes but stopped, instead he looked back at the serious look on Naruto's face, “I think so.”

Looking back at the map Naruto made the decision to kidnap the man, “Get him here as soon as you can, use whatever means you need to including force.” Mumbling under his breath he stared intently at the wall, “Someone is pushing five of the bigger Shinobi villages towards war…WHY.”

Sensing Jiga moving off to do as he asked he stopped him, “Jiga, one other thing. Send a message to my advisers that are meeting with the two representatives to handle the initial meetings.”

Waiting to see if Naruto-sama was going to say anything else Jiga nodded when he didn’t, “Hai, Uzumaki-sama I’ll take care of it for you.”

Standing in the doorway Haku called out, “Actually Naruto-kun I’ll handle the diplomats for you, that way Jiga can concentrate on finding the Sannin for you.”

Naruto smiled, “Thank you Haku that will be helpful.”

 

They had made good time, knocking almost two whole days of the return trip. Sasuke had noticed a day ago that the Whirlpool team seemed to be slightly distracted, as if they had spotted something. But it lasted only a couple of hours so he would have put it down to imagination, but some instinct was telling him it was important. Shaking off his thoughts he let a small smile out as he saw the tall walls in the distance, “Team Kodochi I would like to welcome you to Konoha.” Sasuke chuckled softly as they approached the gate guards and saw their double takes when they spotted them. Snorting he expected it after all they left several weeks ago as Genin and returned as Chuunin.

As they walked through the gate Sasuke noticed something troubling, everyone seemed off. Looking closer he changed his mind, not everyone. Pointing out different points of interest to the whirlpool team he used the excuse to examine the village as they walked towards the Hokage tower, there was an undercurrent running through a large portion of the people they passed. Spotting several shop with closed signs on the window his eyes widened ever so slightly when he noticed they were empty, those shops had always been in the same place as long as he could remember. Glancing around with a new understanding he started to pick out what was bothering him, part of Konoha was missing, not the structures it was the people. And from the tense postures of several of the Shinobi working in the Hokage tower he knew Naruto was right, Konoha really was at war and the enemy was itself.

“Hokage-sama,” Kurenai bowed as she entered the Thirds office, “Team eight along has returned from our escort mission.”

Looking up from the map he was studying the Third nodded, seeing the proud newly minted Chuunin he smiled at them as he stood up. Moving over to the side table he picked up two of the Chuunin vests he had readied for them, “Shino, Sasuke I want to congratulate the two of you on how well you did during Whirlpool’s Chuunin exam. It did an old man’s heart proud to witness how far you have grown in such a short time,” handing each a vest he smiled, “I found the test was more than satisfactory and agree with the decision to make you Chuunin.”

Bowing his head slightly as he took the vest Shino thanked the Hokage, “Thank you Sandaime Hokage-sama.” Carefully removing his rank pin he pulled his vest on making sure to pin his hard won rank pin back on.

“Thank you Hokage-sama,” Sasuke smiled as he let the fabric of the vest run through his fingers before he two donned his vest and fixed his rank pin on the front.

“Traditionally new Chuunin are given a week to recuperate and to ease into their new roles in life, but with the way things are going right now all I can afford to give you is a couple of days,” the Third turned away to look at the team from whirlpool with a wary look when he saw the scroll the Jounin had in his hand. If it was from Naruto and his well connected spy’s it could not be good…not good at all.

“Greetings from Uzumaki-sama,” Mitzu held out the scroll to the Hokage of Konoha, “A short message along with the request for me and my team to spend a week here while you formulate your response. Uzumaki-sama has promised young Kiba-san here that my Genin team will be his partners in the upcoming Chuunin exam. For that to happen I would like the three of them to work together over the next week before we have to go home and we will return two weeks before the exam so they can practice their skills with each other so they are comfortable with how each of them will react to any given situation.”

Reading into what wasn’t being said the Third took the scroll and weighed it in his hand as he, he could prepare quite a few to evacuate in a week’s time, and his grandson being at the top of the list as there had already been an incident. Moving around to his chair he sat down while pulling his pipe out while he rearranged things in his mind, “Kiba, Shino I will find you a third person for your team later on tonight, most likely it will be Haruno Sakura. She has been training with several other teams, mostly team ten.”

“Excuse me Hokage-sama,” Kurenai butted in nervously, “We, as in Kakashi and I were going to suggest that Sasuke join team eight since they proved they work well together in the exam.”

Shaking his head no, the Third looked at Sasuke, “What I have in mind for Sasuke to do will keep him busy for the foreseeable future. I do believe you will interact with him from time to time, but I will need him to help out with the Chuunin exam which means he cannot be on your team Kiba.” Smiling softly in response to the downcast look from the Inuzuka boy, “It will only be for a short time, and she will not be on the ream Naruto-dono so generously offered you.” Giving him a look of understanding, “Kiba you and Shino are dismissed, I am sure your parents will be happy to see you back.”

“Tora, Hishi go along with Kiba, I’ll meet you later at the Uchiha compound, in say three hours,” Mitzu glanced at his team with a subtle nod.

Once they were alone the Third looked at Sasuke and asked as he lit his pipe, “Did Naruto by chance give you the apprentice paperwork early?”

 Nodding Sasuke carefully remove d the scroll Naruto had given him of the techniques he needed to learn and unrolled it on the corner of the desk. Molding chakra into his hand he touched the small seal near the bottom, a puff of smoke later a scroll stood upright on its end where the seal was, handing it over as he allowed the scroll to roll back up Sasuke smiled, “Here it is Hokage-sama.”

“Thank you Sasuke,” taking the offered scroll the Third gave it a quick look before nodding; it seemed to be the standard contract. “I am making an assumption from the fact you were willing to be teammates with Shino and Kiba. And the fact that team Kodochi would be joining Kiba in the Chuunin exam that you had already made arrangements to house the team in the Uchiha district.” Getting a serious nod back he leaned back in his chair and puffed on his pipe for a minute. “Sasuke please return in two days time at eight in the morning, I will describe your assignment then and introduce you t the senior Jounin who will be administering the exam.”

“HAI,” Sasuke snapped to attention and bowed his head slightly before walking out of the office, if he hurried he would be able to catch up with the guys.

Once the door was closed again the Third stared at Mitzu deep in thought, “I understand the polite fiction that will more than hold up to scrutiny with you staying for a week before returning, but if I allow this I would like you to escort a group of children back to Whirlpool with you. The group will include my grandson.”

“Things are really that serious, I noticed the tension as we entered the village…but it has gotten that bad?” Kakashi was shocked at the admission that the Hokage would send his family to safety.

Sitting back up suddenly the Third looked around the room before jotting down a quick note, “Kakashi you will meet with Aburame Shibi and help them with the academy evacuation plans. Only three people are to know what the new plans entail, Aburame Shibi and Inuzuka Tsume, not even I am to know the plans.” Looking at Kurenai now the Third sighed softly, “Besides training your team and doing missions I need you to quietly evaluate the other Genin teams. Schedule assessment spars with the other Genin teams, most importantly look for signs they have been compromised. We have found far too many spies for me to be comfortable with thinking the Genin teams are not compromised.”

Holding his stare until the Jounin nodded slowly he turned to the Whirlpool team leader, “I am not so naive to think Naruto only sent you here to build teamwork with Kiba’s future Chuunin exam team. I am not going to have you followed to find out where and who is spy’s are. He is being more than helpful to me when he has all the reasons in the world to despise me and this village. It is one of his best qualities that he has not lost compassion, all I ask is that you pass on what information you can without waiting for it to go to Whirlpool and then come back to me.”

Not saying anything because the Hokage had pegged his mission correctly Mitzu nodded in understanding.