The day was passing fairly slowing for once, Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi thought idly, reviewing the sheet of paper held in his left hand as his right hovered with a pen nearby to sign his affirmation.

So far Naruto had been remarkably quiet, and the report given to him on the boy's daily activities were a cause for some worry.

"A day with Naruto lost in thought is a night of mischief just waiting to unfold." Those were the words he had murmured at the time he had read the scroll, and indeed they came unbidden to his mind again as he went over the same paragraph for the third time in so many minutes.

Finally catching on to what he was doing, Hiruzen set the unsigned sheet and pen back down atop the rest and stretched, feeling every bit his age for the moment.

The massacre of the Uchiha clan only six months ago had left more stress lines and doubt behind than any event since the Kyūbi's attack eight years before, especially with the loss of Minato and Kushina, and he could feel the weight of his choices as Hokage that had failed to prevent the Uchiha situation from spiraling out of control only growing heavier with each day.

Between those thoughts, and his usual duties in addition to trying to keep the villagers in line against Naruto and the boy's own rarely-harmless pranks against them in turn, looking over the stack of paperwork he had to handle was quickly sliding out of his attention span.

"Perhaps a few words may deter him from whatever it is on his mind, and a few more ought to relieve my own from that particular distraction," he mused aloud.

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As was to be expected, Naruto was found at his seemingly favorite place, the ramen stand.

Unexpectedly, he was not sitting at it nor eating, but rather standing a short distance off and staring blankly ahead. As Hiruzen approached he cleared his throat to try and alert the child, but no reaction occurred.

"Good luck with that, Hokage-sama. He's been standing there for the better part of an hour now. If his chest wasn't rising and falling, I'd say he was dead." Teuchi called out in a quiet, concerned tone from behind the bar.

Hiruzen frowned even as he gave a brisk nod of his head toward the shop owner.

He placed a hand to Naruto's right shoulder as he came around and knelt to the ground slowly, looking into the distant but not glazed-over effect in the boy's eyes, and silently performed a variance of the technique that young Yamashiro-kun had picked up not long ago for mind-reading.

What he felt was a strong presence he was unaccustomed to when inspecting Naruto's mind, one that went beyond the usual vague sense of rage associated with the bijū dwelling somewhere deep within, but more akin to a sense of inherent strength.

Before he could inquire any further Naruto blinked several times in rapid succession and looked up at him.

"Ah.. Old man Hokage..." he greeted somewhat slowly. Hiruzen did not move or release his grip on the boy's shoulders at the words, instead examining the child's eyes carefully.

"Naruto? Is there anything you'd like to tell me? Any... adverse reactions you've been feeling lately?" He inquired softly.

Naruto didn't seem to notice the intensity of the elder shinobi's expression just yet, but after a moment he did glance around at their surroundings and then smiled widely as if in remembrance.

"Could it wait 'til after a few bowls of ramen?" He asked in turn.

That seemed to satisfy the Sandaime for the moment, and he again nodded his head.

"Very well." He agreed vocally, letting go and rising to his feet quickly. Naruto grinned and launched himself at the nearest seat, placing his hands onto the table amicably.

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Several empty bowls of ramen noodles and the better part of twenty minutes later and the duo were within the Hokage's office.

"I believe you had something to say?" Hiruzen reminded him after they were each sitting across from one another.

"Ah, yeah. About that..." the boy trailed off uncertainly.

His mind was racing through how best to explain what he had to explain, but seeing the Third alive and well again was putting him off of jumping straight into the thick of things.

"Yes... ?" Hiruzen pressed after several moments of silence.

Naruto grimaced. There's no easy way around this, he has to know to make the right preparations.

"You know the Kyūbi attack eight years ago? The one that required dad to sacrifice himself in order to seal the fox inside of me?" He asked awkwardly.

Hiruzen looked more than a little surprised at the mentioning of Minato as dad, and silently made a note to find out who it was that had revealed that particular set of state secrets to Naruto, but rather than interrupt wherever this was going and possibly scare the boy off of his point just yet, the Hokage merely nodded his head.

"Well, uh.. it wasn't wholly the fox's fault. I mean, it probably hurt a lot of people and I know it killed some of them, and nearly destroyed Konoha, which I'm sure it was just as happy to do after so long cooped up, but it was kind of directed to the task." Naruto explained in a rush.

Hiruzen cocked an eyebrow at him. "And you know this, not to mention are able to confirm it, how?" He questioned in a mildly unamused tone.

Naruto met his gaze evenly. "I kind of met the guy at fault, among other things. Madara Uchiha." He spoke sharply.

At that name Hiruzen grew still and his eyes became genuinely cold, recalling quite clearly the second-hand information of that night, and when he spoke his lips hardly moved.

"When?" He demanded without any of his usual warmth to it, knowing for a fact that there was little to no chance that man could still be alive, and running through the ways the child before him could have come to associate Madara to the Kyūbi incident.

The list was fairly short; either one of the few older Jōnin present for that battle had spoken out against his orders, which would cover why Naruto would refer to the Fourth as his father, or the seals preventing the Kyūbi from accessing Naruto's mind were beginning to crumble.

"Ah..." glancing around them and feeling for any other familiar chakra sources nearby, Naruto leaned in closer. "Can I get your word that you won't repeat any of this to Danzō or the rest of the Council?" He asked evasively, a sudden look of wariness present in his blue gaze.

Hiruzen did not answer him for a long moment, but at length he gave his response. "That will depend on where you are going with this." His voice had not changed.

Naruto sighed. "I'm going to meet him in about eight more years, as history goes," he stated evenly.

Seeing the Hokage's unamused look he hurried forward quickly. "To make a long story short, he's still out there as a part of the Akatsuki, trying to gather up the rest of the jinchûriki and their bijū to merge back into a single ten-tailed beast again!" He explained in a rush, hoping to convince the man that had been like a grandfather to him for so long now.

Silence filled the large room after that as Hiruzen processed what Naruto was saying; the boy seemed genuinely confident in what he spoke, but than again he always stood by what he said, true or no.

It seemed more likely that what he said would align to the second possibility.

"I am most displeased that you would dishonor the sacrifice of the Fourth Hokage in such a manner. When did the Kyūbi manage to convince you to let it have this much control, Naruto?" He asked.

Naruto grimaced again. "It didn't," he stated. "It's still locked up with dad's seal in place inside of that stupid sewer, growling angrily at me."

"Please do not lie to me. I've seen how much different you are within." Hiruzen countered.

Naruto's look changed to puzzlement. "You did?" He asked in surprise.

"As I have for several years now, to insure you do not succumb to the Kyūbi's control or tainted chakra. It would appear that I should have been more vigilant in that manner." Hiruzen answered, almost too softly to hear, and almost to himself more so than the boy before him.

A sick feeling grew in the pit of his stomach as Naruto heard those words.

"You've been spying on me?" He questioned in disbelief.

The Sandaime realized how his words could be viewed in such a context and in turn grimaced, raising one hand in a calming motion.

"Not in the way that you think! I have only gone so far as to verify the Kyūbi remained at length from your conscious mind." He responded firmly.

Naruto stood up. "Unbelievable. Y'know what? I'll show you proof that I'm still me and telling the truth!" Naruto stated in a pained tone, stepping back from the Hokage and performing the basic hand-seals of the Shadow Clone technique.

Hiruzen acted quickly to counteract whatever Naruto was about to perform- no doubt a trick of the Kyūbi, he thought as he rose in an instant and flung himself over the desk, and then his hands caught Naruto's and pressed the boy against the wall.

Only to have the body explode into smoke before him.

"What?" The elder shinobi asked as if disbelieving his eyes.

A short laugh caught his attention from behind the desk.

Turning about he saw a trio of Naruto's sitting smugly in his chair or hanging off the edges. "This, as you well know, is the Shadow Clone jutsu. A forbidden technique currently wrapped up in a large scroll somewhere in here. Seeing as you have it under a fair guard and you would have caught me long before I successfully read it, will you finally listen to what I have to say?" Naruto asked him.

Hiruzen stared at them in further disbelief, for it was true that the technique was as he said.

A moment later and a flicker of motion as the Sandaime turned completely serious saw three kunai sailing at them at a far more deadly pace.

Two of the knives cut through the clones on the left and right armrests before they could react and left them vanished into puffs of smoke, while the third yelped and only just ducked the third such weapon.

It's tainted edge sliced into one cheek as it was intended.

"Ow!" Naruto complained, holding a hand to the leaking wound and scowling at the old man. "What was that for?" He demanded.

Hiruzen walked forward slowly and leaned over his desk, drumming the fingers along its surface quickly in agitation.

"You should feel the sedative-poison leaking through your bloodstream any moment now. I am sorry, Naruto, but whatever it is that has happened to you of late, I can not allow it to continue. Whatever lies the Kyūbi has told in order to establish a hold in your chakra, whatever it has managed to teach you, must be undone." He said in a hard tone.

Naruto shuddered without answering, having never heard or felt the intensity of the Hokage's words now as he had before, or been harmed directly by his hand like this.

He could counteract the poison if he used some of the fox's chakra, but that would only convince the Sandaime of the danger he represented at the moment.

Which meant, unfortunately for him, that he would have to gut it out and try to get his point across again. He simply couldn't do what he had planned since waking up this morning almost a decade younger without the the elder shinobi's help.

Breathing in sharply through his mouth as the unfortunately swift moving poison rushed through his veins, Naruto stubbornly sat up and stared into Hiruzen's eyes.

"Here, dig around until you get the answers you need! I'm not going to give up-" his words were cut off as he coughed suddenly, feeling ill as much as tired.

Looking back up at the Hokage, he gripped the edges of the chair tightly and settled his head against the soft material, looking straight into the old mans eyes.

Hiruzen stared at him for another long moment before reaching a hand forward and placing it directly to the boys head, choosing to utilize the Yamanaka families preferred technique in place of Yamashiro-kun's derivative on it, and slid into Naruto's mind.

It was not a pleasant ninjutsu to perform even at his age.

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Meeting Sasuke on the team for the first time, actually sitting down and speaking for more than a simple sparing lesson, and immediately disliking him.

Fighting with the other boy in the Chūnin exams, and the Forest of Death.

Struggling against Gaara as the other jinchūriki transformed piece by piece into a monster.

Learning of Orochimaru's attack and the loss of Sandaime.

Jiraiya teaching him the methods of the Rasengan, using base materials easily bought.

Spinning, rotating, inverting the simple objects at last.

Creating his first Rasengan successfully in battle.

Meeting with Tsunade and winning their loose bet over the technique.

Utilizing the Rasenshuriken in battle.

Arriving at a demolished landscape, and learning it was Konoha.

Entering Sage mode and protecting the Godaime from Pain's attack.

Falling to the Kyūbi's dominion at the loss of Hinata.

Speaking with his father at last.

Destroying the last of Pain's assumed bodies and hunting down his true self.

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Tearing himself from Naruto's memories, if indeed they were such, Hiruzen leaned back and gripped the edges of his desk tightly to keep himself upright.

The sheer flood of emotions...! He thought, eyes looking over the small child before him.

Naruto was shivering as he resisted the urge to throw up and collapse to the ground unconsciously, eyes flickering before half-lidded and wide open and mouth set in a frown even as he panted.

"Does... that... convince you... old man... Hokage?" Naruto questioned, shuddering again and slamming his mouth shut, breathing rapidly through his nose to keep the bile back as his lunch disagreed with the poison.

Hiruzen did not know how to react. He had seen memories before, had experienced them when needed, and the only difference was how firmly attached Naruto was and how deeply involved his emotions were linked to them, compared to the almost-detachment others held for the majority of their memories.

Quickly diving out of the chair and out of sight of the Hokage, Hiruzen was spared the sight of those ramen noodles coming back and earning revenge after all these years on Naruto's unending hunger as he at last succumbed toward the inevitable.

After a few moments Hiruzen pulled out a small vial of antidote from his pockets and walked around, kneeling by the shuddering child and placing a reassuring hand to his back as he tried to ignore the smell emanating up at him.

He didn't notice how Naruto managed a faint upturning of his lips in victory, which faded again as he finished up with his afternoon meal and sagged toward another patch of the floor almost unconsciously.

Leaning Naruto back in the lull between motions, Hiruzen uncorked and pressed the small vial to the child's mouth, and Naruto didn't hesitate to swallow the bland liquid.

The sedative trying to drag him down gradually lightened, and he inhaled slowly and deeply and clamped his lips shut to keep it down, focusing on controlling his stomach after a few seconds to keep any more from coming up.

In a couple of minutes he felt weak but otherwise mostly recovered, and Naruto stood up tiredly.

"Sorry about your floor, Hokage-sama." He stated sincerely, looking embarrassed at the mess.

Hiruzen lead them both away from it and toward an open window. "Do not worry yourself over it," he responded softly, still contemplating just what to do.

After several seconds of silence the boy spoke up, "If you saw the same things I did, then does that convince you?" Naruto asked softly.

"I do not know what I believe, Naruto." Hiruzen responded evenly and heard the other suppress a sigh.

"You know there are space-time techniques, right?" He asked.

Hiruzen nodded his head without answering.

Naruto glanced at his reaction and continued. "Madara uses one to teleport himself or anyone else wherever he needs with just his Sharingan, and Kakashi-sensei uses his Sharingan to manipulate dimensions for a similar result." He paused to gauge the reaction again.

Hiruzen remained silent, not showing an outward expression but inside growing a little more worried.

"I kind of got caught in between them when I was in Sage mode about eight and a half years from now," Naruto continued, "the natural energies got entangled with the space-time energy of the jutsu and... well.. as far as we can tell, I got blasted back in time. But I don't know if this is the same dimension as the one I'm supposed to be in." Naruto finished, staring at Hiruzen and almost demanding that the old Hokage acknowledge him.

Further silence won out for another minute until Hiruzen sighed. "Tell me everything you know, Naruto. Everything you can that I haven't already told you about at your age but planned to in the years ahead," he answered him.

Naruto grimaced. "Aw, c'mon! You didn't share a whole lot before the Chūnin exams! Can't I just say where ero-sennin is or something at this time frame and you send out a shinobi team to verify?" He complained, finding it hard to believe after everything else.

Hiruzen shook his head. "Not quite the same," he answered, though inwardly he agreed that it could be a useful way of truly solidifying what he was being told.

Naruto huffed in indignation and sat down on the floor, sighing.

"This is gonna take a while. Lemme consult myself a few times to make sure I've got it all set," he stated, and as before with the proper motions he summoned three more duplicates.

Hiruzen frowned but stepped back as the foursome pressed heads together and whispered among themselves for several minutes.

End Chapter One.

After hearing his words repeated back at himself yet again - or near enough that he had good reason to believe them, Hiruzen nodded his head with a grim expression on his face. The four Naruto's let out a collective sigh of relief before high-fiving one another and grinning. A few more moments passed before they quieted down and the duplicates dissipated into smoke once more, leaving the original sitting on the floor and looking up at the Hokage eagerly, having recovered some of his strength by that point.

"You must understand, Naruto, that what you have told me is unsettling. The knowledge you hold of the future is a burden you should not pass on to others without strict consideration," Hiruzen told him in a tired tone, closing his eyes in thought.

Naruto agreed easily. "Of course. I didn't even want to tell you, but I kinda need your help for most of what I want to alter," he responded seriously.

The older shinobi frowned at him without opening his eyes.

"If you change one thing than you are liable to change many more as an unintended result; we must discuss the merits and risks of whatever it is you have in mind before even beginning to implement the first alteration," he responded in the same tone.

"Aw, c'mon, Old man Hokage. How much could shift out of place by making a few friends earlier?" Naruto asked him with a frown.

Hiruzen turned toward the jinchūriki and finally opened his eyes with a raised eyebrow at the boy- no, this teenager, in mind and maturity if nothing else, he silently corrected, and said, "Who did you have in mind? I sensed something about the youngest Uchiha during your memories with Jiraiya-san, and a similar if different result from the red-haired child."

"Oh... well, Sasuke sooner or later. Probably sooner to try and keep him from becoming too introverted and focused on killing Itachi and getting revenge above all else," Naruto answered. "And Gaara definitely ranks up there. Even now he's probably fending off an assassination attempt in his home village! If I can befriend him as a child it might help contain how murderous he'd become later!"

Hiruzen shook his head slowly in sorrow at hearing such a situation awaited each boy in the times ahead. "Is that all?" He questioned.

Naruto shook his own head no.

"Friend-wise probably, but there's a lot of other stuff to get a handle on before it's too late, Old man Hokage. It might be possible to wrangle up Yakushi Kabuto and get a foothold into Orochimaru's network for starters." He responded, then with a nod of the head he added, "Maybe we could try and do something about Amegakure before Nagato becomes completely lost inside of his grief and Pain-persona - I do not want to fight his Six Paths or the Rinnegan again! He could have helped out in so many ways if he had lived, and I know he has it in him to perform good again!"

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While jinchūriki and Hokage spoke nearby, an unwelcome pair of ears listened in from below. The wood beneath the sash of the window captured every word and detail intimately, as it had been so since Tenzō was enfolded into the ANBU - and the hidden Root immediately thereafter - three years prior.

In part, the Mokuton-endowed nin's nature was to be sure that the Hokage would always have a ready-guard prepared to react and as a warning in place should an attempt to kidnap or even kill him occur, or a henge-user try to replace him at some point in order to deceive Konoha and the Council. But in truth, his primary reason for the deception was to record down anything that might help the Root secure the future of Konoha. Any mission that might be seen as too awkward to be carried out upon the Hokage's orders, either in public or in private, whether the Sandaime chose to present the details to Danzō-sama or not, would be dealt with at the discretion of the hidden Root in secret, and often at certain lengths and a healthy time-dilation to be sure the Hokage or those who had brought the information forth in the first place would never grew suspicious as their goals were fulfilled and enemies neutralized.

The information that Tenzō overheard that afternoon both alarmed him and, he was certain, would need to be relayed to the elder figure at the earliest opportunity.

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"Enough, enough. Yes, Naruto, your ambitions are fair and just! But we can not just set about altering every little thing that you would like to see done." Hiruzen argued after hearing the rest of Naruto's plans for the weeks ahead.

His eyes narrowed to thin slits and his frown sharpened unconsciously. "Why not?" He questioned in annoyance.

"To begin with? You yourself said this may not even be the same dimension you were born in, and though much of what you declared of the future aligns with what I would likely had done in the the same situations, I can affirm that there are discrepancies here and there regarding your information that point to the odds of even more differences in this world. We can not guarantee that events have fully transpired the same in this past or will stay along similar routes in the future if you continually poke at them!" Hiruzen answered in slowly rising annoyance as well, if disappointment.

Naruto hmphed to himself in frustration and pushed up to his feet, feeling uncharitably irritated. This was not going the way he had thought - foolishly hoped, even - that it would have, which was why he had not initially wanted to alert the Sandaime to his presence. The desire to speak with the old man well and alive again had been too strong to ignore, however, and now it seemed that he should have tried harder to do just that anyway and kept at things on his own.

"Fine. Have it your way! But I'm not just going to sit here on my haunches all day long and wait around for the Akatsuki to get a move on picking us all off at their leisure!" With that said he pushed to his feet and headed for the open window's ledge.

"Where are you going?" The Hokage demanded as he strode forward as well, again preparing to stop Naruto if need be.

"Training!" Naruto snapped over one shoulder as he rolled out the window toward the ground below.

He hit with a low thud and rolled through it, popping back to his feet with a slight slouch of disorientation from the size difference between his older body and the younger one - just one of the things he would need to adjust to before he started gallivanting out of the village.

After a moment Naruto shook his head to clear it, then began jogging quickly off toward the old training grounds he had used for so long as a child the first time around.

The Hokage watched him go with a feeling of unease replacing his anger. You really should have handled that better, Hiruzen, he thought slowly, turning in the direction of the door as someone stepped in without knocking.

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Stupid old man! Thunk. Stupid Madara Uchiha! Thunk. Stupid me! Thunk.

With every annoyed thought he threw an old and shoddily-cast kunai toward the mark on the tree down-range about thirty feet, nearly half an hour after departing the Hokage Tower. The slightly battered tools strayed off the path he was aiming for every time, but all he cared about at the moment was that they were at least staying in the crudely drawn chalk circle he had put there who-knows-how-long-ago.

Another few throws later and he had to go and fetch them again.

A hastily summoned Shadow Clone moped as it leisurely walked forward and tore the objects free with more force than needed, leaving rents in the surface of the wood deeper than the knives had originally penetrated.

"Come on, come on! Haven't got all day!" Naruto grumbled.

His duplicate heard from across the distance and made a face, responding in distaste, "Yeah, we kinda do!"

"Well what are we going to do about it?" Naruto shot back.

His Shadow Clone frowned in thought, stopping where he was.

Naruto eyeballed himself standing there, considering. "Don't bother. Kyūbi and I already went over the facts - mostly growls and threats on the fox's part - and old man Hokage's the only one we can confide in for the moment." He stated.

A low whistling sound pierced the air as a proper kunai thrown with practiced ease and surety sunk into his duplicates forehead and carried on into the tree behind, wedging itself deep enough for the tip to emerge from the back and leave a narrow fissure splintering off from the point of contact.

Naruto spun around to see a tall nin wearing a dog or fox-faced-plate and the usual black and gray clothing of an ANBU, worn armor scarred from odd scratches, striding easily around the underbrush some distance away.

"Huh?" He uttered in surprise; normally the ANBU tasked to keeping watch on him avoided such a blatant approach, and to see one just boldly step out of the shadows put him slightly on guard after the better part of a day in thought. Mizuki's betrayal was suddenly bright and fresh in his mind.

"Sshh," the voice that emerged from beneath the mask was slightly hollowed due to the porcelain, but it was one that after a few moment's thought he recognized, drawing a curious frown across his face.

Naruto relaxed his guard momentarily as he stared at who he suspected to be Yamato beneath that mask. Did the Hokage change his mind, after-all? He wondered. I doubt a Jōnin would just show themselves so easily otherwise, and perhaps he chose one I would trust, outside of Kakashi-sensei.

Still, he hesitantly asked, "Yamato-taicho?"

The other shinobi did not show any signs of recognizing that name. He simply carried onward and only slowed after the distance had been cut down to several feet of open space. Naruto watched him uncertainly. Turning and walking around to observe the boy, the face-plate tilted to the side as if in silent curiosity, and after doing two full rounds the presumed-man stopped slightly behind the jinchūriki's back.

That same flicker of uncertainty held for an instant - just one overly-long moment - before he felt it strengthen immediately into unease, and that further into doubt.

This isn't right!

Shunshining away and turning around to face the ANBU, his eyes honed in on the flashing hand-seals being performed in that time and was instantly put on guard again. "I don't know if you are who I think you are," he began, molding chakra and raising a handful of tentative clones with the practically-ancient hand-seals for them, and then the world seemed to shudder beneath all of their feet and whether he was on guard or not no longer mattered.

The ANBU's own final hand-seal had come and gone during his short-lived warning, and the chakra already sent into the field only minutes ago, shortly before emerging, was manifested into Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide. A yawning fissure divided the land from underneath Naruto and his clones before they could even react, delivering the lot of them into the underlying Wood Release: Four-Pillar Prison Technique.

Naruto's eyes widened as he fell into the open cage and was instantly crushed against the miniscule bars at the front of it. Tendrils and branches surged forward and upward to drive his body into an awkwardly arched position, splaying his fingers apart to prevent any further hand-seals, and nearly smothering him as his chest was compressed. He gagged on the branch that spread into his mouth and trapped his upper and lower jaw apart, shoving his tongue toward the back of his throat to keep him from crying out.

His clones were crushed into smoke again and those cages melded into his own, forming a dozen handholds all around it. "Nggh!" The panicked sound barely escaped from his mouth. He tried reaching for the Kyūbi's chakra, but a dense barrier seemed to have arisen between he and the tailed beast, and Naruto was suddenly, absolutely certain, that the man ahead of him was indeed Yamato. No one else was capable of such Mokuton creations, or suppressing a bijū.

Breath! He thought desperately, struggling to inhale enough air through his nostrils. He could barely keep his thoughts from spiraling out of control, but it came to him that the Hokage would not have sent Yamato to bind him in such a manner. His fears bespoke of another man that might very well seek out a future-sent jinchūriki - Danzō himself. He couldn't have - it shouldn't be possible - he began to hyperventilate.

The ANBU rose from his momentarily-kneeling posture and strode forward calmly. Unlike Naruto, his mind was clear and focused on his duties to the village - and the hidden Root. If the Hokage would not mine the information from the future, even if partially inaccurate, than it would be utilized as such information had been for years now, to benefit Konoha from out of the shadows. Lifting the light-yet-firm prison and its query into the air and then settling it over the shoulders, Yamato kicked off from the dirt a short distance before turning back and closing the divided land once more. With that done, he rushed back into the forest around them.

If his attention had not been focused singularly upon Naruto and covering his own tracks, however, he may well have taken note of the other boy within the area, who was only just approaching that particular training field when the ANBU had struck.

The youngest Uchiha stared after them for a very long time.

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The Hokage looked at the unexpected and, more so, bold intruder to his office.

"Kakashi-san? What can I do for you at this moment?" He questioned mildly.

Hakate Kakashi sniffed at the air in curiosity before blanching. "What died in here?" The Jōnin wondered aloud, momentarily distracted from answering.

Hiruzen let out a grim laugh. "A slight accident with Naruto. I'll have it dealt with later- come over here if you wish to discuss something, the smell is kept at bay through the wind drifting inward." He responded.

Kakashi nodded his head and stepped forward quickly. "I wish to take-over the Uchiha survivor's education and well-being," he stated firmly in answer to the Sandaime's question.

Hiruzen quickly riffled through any action the Copy Ninja had displayed over the last few weeks that might have forewarned of this action, and then further back still. Unfortunately, he couldn't recognize a single instance leading up to this moment.

"What brought this about?" He asked, giving Kakashi his full attention.

"As the sole other Konohan-shinobi capable of the Sharingan, to begin with, I can teach him to bring it out sooner and gain dominance of the power in a safe manner. Relatively speaking." He answered.

"'Relatively speaking'?" Hiruzen quoted dryly, and Kakashi nodded his head.

"Of course. He is a ninja-to-be, after-all, and there will be danger involved for him; but hardly as much as he would have to endure on his own, and I can guide him and train him in preparation for the difficulties laying ahead of him as the last Uchiha," the Copy Ninja responded. "He remains in just as much danger as the Hyūga-heiress of being kidnapped by another village, and frankly, I'm amazed no one has dared to try - not even Kumo." When the Hokage made no motion to speak, he added, "But aside from that, I suspect that without a proper force in his life to guide him and teach him, the chances of him safely making it to even Chūnin level fall's with every passing month."

Hiruzen remained silent for such a length of time after that that Kakashi began to wonder if the Hokage had taken ill, but at last he sighed. "Very well. If he will agree, you may take Sasuke Uchiha on as your unofficial pupil." He stated wearily.

"I could easily- wait, what?" Kakashi began and paused in mid-protest. "You're agreeing?" He asked, not quite able to accept that things had been accomplished so easily.

Hiruzen gave him a low scowl. "Yes, you have my permission to take the last Uchiha under your wing, Hatake!" He answered shortly.

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask. "I didn't expect it to be that easy after such a length of silence," he responded honestly.

Hiruzen's face didn't change. "Drudge up the required paperwork after you have his agreement and I'll sign the waiver." The Hokage warned in an ominous tone that unsettled the Jōnin, "You will be responsible for Sasuke Uchiha's survival from that point forward!"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," he answered respectfully at last. Turning and retreating back through the door he began working his way toward the Uchiha compound as a starting point to search out the child.

Hiruzen grimaced once the Jōnin was gone.

"Look at what you've already begun in the wake of your arrival, Naruto. The only reason I even agreed to this is to try and maintain what loyalty, what few ties to Konoha that I can for the boy!" He exhaled warily, not liking what was to come for the youngest of the three remaining Uchiha-line at all if history stayed true to its path. "Better to interfere now and hope to guide the sails of change reluctantly rather than not at all."

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Look what you've managed to wrap us up into now, boy! A vicious snarl echoed across the walls of the sewer.

Naruto grimaced at the fox. "How was I supposed to know he'd do that? Yamato never showed any signs of this in the future, even if he did threaten to use force as an instrument of training." He responded defensively.

Really? The Kyūbi demanded in a tone that if it weren't the fox, Naruto might have taken as sarcasm rather than a biting rhetoric. I thought you were supposed to be smarter after eight years; but of course not. Your attention has wavered ever since the moment you left that office! It growled at him.

Naruto growled right back at it. "I can get us out of this if you'd let me return to my body!"

The Kyūbi's eyes flared and the full brunt of his killing intent stabbed at Naruto sharply. Do not presume to argue with me, child! You think I desire to speak with you? The damage you were invoking in an effort to break free would have destroyed us if I allowed it to go onward! The fox roared.

Naruto picked himself up off the floor about five seconds after being blown over by the rush of chakra-suffused wind, grimy water dripping off of his hair and clothing.

Do not fight the cage. Have you forgotten the control over my fellow bijuu that the line of Senju possesses? That cursed blood and nature is imbued within our captor, and you will not escape as you are- so invoke your precious Sage Mode if you want a way to weaken the bindings and slip free! The Kyūbi growled at him.

Naruto stared at it almost blankly for several seconds before smacking himself in the forehead for not thinking of that sooner.

But he noticed a flaw in that plan. "He's gonna freak out and really draw on the suppression techniques if I do that." He argued.

Kyūbi's tails flicked back and forth in rapid agitation before he settled down onto his front paws again, looking away from Naruto. Do as you will, if you do not kill us first, it stated, and with that dismissal Naruto found his form drifting back and away from the cage of steel and rising toward consciousness again, to return to his own cage of wood.

End Chapter Two.

Naruto blinked several times as he returned to consciousness, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes from the wind streaming into them. His heart still thumped quickly in his chest, but the near-panic that had consumed him earlier on was strangely calmer after his meeting with the Kyūbi. Perhaps knowing that he had a means of breaking free again was the difference.

The cage shook and jostled around upon Yamato's shoulders as the older shinobi carted him through the dense foliage - far too much vibration to try and grasp the stillness required of nature chakra. I only need a few moments, he thought, forcefully exhaling and then inhaling slowly only to repeat the breathing exercise. It took more effort of will to simply slow his lungs down than he would have liked, and most of his body was beginning to protest against the unnatural shape he was contorted into now that he was aware enough to acknowledge the pain.

He blinked again and closed his eyes. It was just too blurry for him to make out any kind of viable guess for where they were, or where they might be going. He couldn't even judge the shadows on the ground thanks to the current cloud cover blotting out the sun at the moment, leaving their direction as much a mystery as the rest.

With nothing to do but wait for the opportunity, Naruto continued to work on his breathing and tried to ease the aches developing everywhere, and only then did he begin to think on what would happen when he could finally reach out and enter Sage Mode - and how to handle a confrontation with Danzō Shimura when he did.

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"There you are." Kakashi stated as he finally entered the training ground clearing, mildly put out that it had taken so long to find his potential-charge.

Sasuke was still standing in place with a contemplative expression on his dark features, and he turned toward the elder shinobi but said nothing as he was approached. Unlike the orange-clad idiot he had seen wrapped up and carried away earlier, he kept his guard up and reached for one of the kunai at his back cautiously.

Kakashi noticed the reaction and slowed, raising his hands in a showing of peace. "Calm down," he said softly. Sasuke eyeballed him and took a step back, sliding into a fighting stance he had learned before from his brot- that man, he corrected himself, who had killed his entire family.

Kakashi did not like how this was starting off.

"Relax, Uchiha. I'm not here to fight you." He said.

Sasuke tensed at his last name and gripped the kunai tighter, mistrust clear in his eyes.

The Jōnin sighed and slowly drew back the hitai-ate over his left-eye, opening it up and displaying the red energy and trio of black tomoe therein.

Sasuke let out a shout at seeing the Sharingan again so soon after the destruction of his entire family and the arm holding the kunai began to tremble. He wanted to turn and look away with every passing moment, but a paralyzed numbness swept through his body as if trapped.

M.. move... move! He struggled to pull his thoughts together as the events of that night half a year ago flooded the forefront of his mind; so much blood, his parents slumped over beside the table with glassy black eyes, and his brother calmly stepping forward to finish the job... Sasuke's whole body shook, staring up at the man across from him and seeing only those swirling red eyes.

Kakashi felt even more mystified than before over this reaction to what he had thought might be a comforting sight. What exactly am I doing wrong here? He silently asked, frowning when the boy's grip slackened from his shaking - that kunai was in imminent danger of dropping and digging into his toes.

Something is definitely amiss. Making up his mind and striding forward, Kakashi watched as the motions seemed to stir the last Uchiha's body into action. Desperation suffused the angles of Sasuke's face, and with only a foot of distance separating them the boy abruptly lurched; his fingers clenched down and then the kunai was thrown with as much force and accuracy as he could, and even as his arm was descending he pivoted on one foot and turned to race off in the other direction.

Kakashi caught the object in mid-motion with one hand and dashed forward, slipping past and then turning to catch the child by the shoulders with his other arm, and dropping down to one knee all in the process of just seconds. "What troubles you so?" He questioned in a quiet, calm tone.

Sasuke trembled violently in his grip and managed a low snarl, glaring at the Sharingan with a look of mingled hatred and burning terror for what it had last brought upon him.

I've made a mistake; this isn't helping, the older shinobi realized at last. Reaching up with one hand to cover Obito's eye with his forehead protector again, Kakashi stared down at Sasuke and repeated his question.

Sasuke went silent, hands balled up into fists.

Lowering his head with a sigh Kakashi released the boy and stood up. "I know you miss your family dearly, and I had hoped to raise you and train you in lieu of your father and brother to do it." He stated, hoping that clarifying why he was there might finally get them on the same ground. He did catch how Sasuke made a noise of objection at the end of that statement and yet his feet remained firmly planted where he stood, not moving an inch. "If you change your mind and decide to talk to me, I'll be waiting at the edge of the Uchiha compound."

Stepping around him Kakashi made the hand-seal for the Body Flicker technique and paused in mid motion as the child murmured something beneath his breath.

"Hm?"

Sasuke repeated himself just barely louder. "I can't hear you." The Jōnin lied having clearly heard the words the first time.

He waited for the boy to turn and face him, and Sasuke finally did so and said in a loud and angry tone, "Why? Why would you want to?"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side. "Do I need a reason to help?" He asked. Sasuke managed a fairly accurate glare at him. "Okay, yes," he amended a moment later before growing silent for several seconds, debating the reasoning over one more time in his own mind before giving it to the boy. "One of your uncles... Obito Uchiha was one of my teammates a long time ago. We didn't often get along until... his final mission. He sacrificed himself to save both my life and our other teammate, and even gave up his newly awoken Sharingan for me at the end. I've never had the chance to repay his sacrifice, and I never will now that his clan, your clan, is gone... not unless I help you." His voice grew somewhat faint as he visualized that day and the events therein.

"... You're just using me to make your guilt go away." Sasuke stated in a quiet but no less angry tone.

Kakashi startled him by laughing grimly. "In a way I am, yes." He conceded, and before the child could say anything he continued in a kinder tone, "But, I genuinely want to see you live a long life, Sasuke. I want you to rebuild your clan when you've grown old enough for that responsibility, and I want you to be capable of defending yourself - and, if need be, killing - anyone that tries to kill you first." He said firmly.

Sasuke pondered that. He wanted to make his broth- that man pay dearly for destroying his family, and to do that he would need a lot of time and training to grow strong enough. He had always been so far behind, never reaching the same heights at the same ages as the other shinobi.

"... I'll do it." He said quietly.

"You will?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke nodded his head reluctantly and Kakashi smiled sadly beneath the mask overlapping his lower face. "Then let's gather up the paperwork and go visit the Hokage." He stated.

The child nodded his head before saying, "Just don't carry me away in a cage like that fox-face did the idiot."

Kakashi stared at him blankly. "What?" He asked. Sasuke repeated himself.

"Cage? Fox-face? Do you mean an ANBU member?" the Jōnin questioned. Sasuke nodded his head. "An ANBU dragged off someone you consider an idiot."

"Who else would run around in orange, shouting 'believe it!' all the time?" Sasuke asked with annoyance lacing his tone.

It took a moment for that to click into place. What reason does an ANBU member have to cart off Naruto-kun in a cage of all things? He thought, grimacing.

"Right. We'll have to postpone the paperwork. Hop on!" leaning over and offering his shoulder to the child he waited for Sasuke to climb up. The boy made a face at being toted around like a five year old and stated that firmly.

"Okay then, express it is." Turning and scooping Sasuke up into his arms, Kakashi gave him only a moment to grip on tightly even as he protested before shunshining toward the Hokage's office.

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The wind died down as the lurching of the cage slowed, and Naruto's eyes flashed open in an instant, blinking rapidly to clear his gaze and take in the darkness of the cavern they had just entered. The wide and barren hall was only faintly illuminated by a handful of lights bracketed to the walls, and ahead branched outward into three directions, Yamato trotting down the left-most of them. His future teacher seemed to be more at ease now that they were nearing the end of the journey, taking his time around the dry, sloping terrain.

Naruto's pulse was back at a normal rhythm, and he was breathing evenly despite the difficulty of his position. Slower and shallower breaths than he would have liked, but at least it was under control, and that aside he could sense nature chakra as if it was just out of reach. It was teasingly close, but until the cage was dropped, he simply had no other alternative but to bide his time.

They passed through several narrow halls in a row over the next few minutes, passing one or two other members of the hidden Root. Those others gave Yamato a wide berth even before they took in what he had clasped within his cage, and though it wouldn't have been noticed had he been in any other position, the jinchūriki recognized the slight tension that flared across his captor's shoulders and neck whenever that occurred.

He almost frowned. His muscles couldn't quite shape to that as they were, but even still. Whatever the reason, Yamato seemed to be the lone-man-out within this group, and it was something that couldn't be suppressed in whole.

Naruto's sympathy's were set aside as they exited the final hall and emerged into a wide, open chamber surrounded by screens depicting certain sections of the village; the deserted Uchiha Compound, empty even of Sasuke at the moment; the outer edges of the Hyūga clan grounds, a few of their disgruntled branch-house members serving the main-house in flowing gardens; and the rotted civilian sector where Naruto made his own home.

The first two would have been surprising enough, but that Danzō Shimura had eyes on his dilapidated area of the village unnerved Naruto greatly. It didn't make sense at all - unless he was ensuring that nothing happened to the Kyūbi's vessel, as had been attempted with Hinata only a few years before.

Danzō himself stood facing away from them, his single visible eye perusing the screens as if in deep thought. Without turning around, he spoke up lowly. "Set the boy aside and close the way up behind you, Tenzō. Return in thirty minutes to remove the barrier."

Yamato bowed at the waist and slung Naruto's cage carefully to the ground at one side, dropping him the last inch and rattling his bones. Naruto grunted and bit down on the wood blocking up his mouth, eyes narrowing in pain, and the masked shinobi departed through the sole opening after a murmured, "Hai, Danzō-sama."

It was impossible to see from his current angle, but both of them heard the rustle of roots stirring to life in the next moments and the overlapping clack of wooden bars crisscrossing. In less than a minute the noise had vanished, and the leader of the hidden Root turned to face his prisoner at last; it was in that moment that golden-yellow eyes opened up, narrow flat pupils replacing the usual blue orbs, and red highlights bled up from the pores around the sockets in opposing slants.

Naruto flexed his body and burst through the first bars at the same time his potential opponent met his gaze. The calm the jinchūriki had developed seemed to flourish even further as he pushed up and broke his left arm free, gradually peeling himself up and out of the remnants of the cage.

"Hello, Naruto Namikaze. I see your actions speak far louder than the words I've overheard this afternoon."

End Chapter Three.

Naruto blinked at having his father's name applied to him in place of his mother's.

I suppose he would have been one of the few to know about that, he conceded after a moment, maintaining his combative stance. He didn't know much of what the old council member could do or how he would react, only having heard bits and pieces from Sai on occasion over the months when they had worked together before the Fourth Shinobi World War, and that mystery unsettled him a little now that he had to confront the man. If he had had his way, they would have never met face to face until after things were well and truly underway, after having a chance to actually find out more about the council as a whole to see if they too would react as the Hokage had after learning about him.

A faint niggling on the back of his mind told him to just burst through Yamato's Mokuton contraption sealing up the doorway and make a break for the village proper, but he ignored it for now - even if he did get through it quickly, the rest of the hidden Root would be waiting for him throughout the base, to say nothing of Yamato himself, who was likely stationed nearby even now. He stepped away from the door and glanced at the screens again.

Danzō took his silence in stride. "As I was saying, then," he began neutrally. "I've heard the truth of your situation and you make no motion to deny it. I admit my curiosity over your fate, and though our respective desires to protect the village may differ in their execution, Namikaze, that you were so easily ambushed immediately after your arrival here proves that I made the correct decision in having you brought before me now." He paused to give Naruto a chance to respond, but at the further silence he continued, "Were you captured by Kumogakure, or even Iwagakure in my stead, it is probable the Nine Tails would return to wreak havoc upon our village yet again in short order, to say nothing of the information they would have extracted from you before your execution. It would be an utter disaster not unlike the day of your birth, and this time there is no Fourth Hokage to sacrifice himself for our greater good."

The barb made his hackles raise. "So you weren't planning to harm me, but to test my mettle and teach me a lesson?" Even as he said it that sounded absurd in his own ears. "If it was anyone other than Yamato that had tried to capture me today, tomorrow, or next week, I could have broken free with little trouble and alerted the ANBU trailing me to the situation."

The elder man inclined his head, closing his eye in thought. He spoke up again after a few seconds. "Ah. I see," he stated softly, then reached over to lightly drum his fingers across the metal container over his other arm idly, seemingly shelving the matter for now. "Tell me then, Namikaze. What would you desire to do with the knowledge that you have? I have heard some part from Hiruzen already, but elaborate for me. Perhaps we can come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial; with what you know of to come, and what I already know of what is, our village would be better protected than any other in the elemental nations."

Naruto blinked again. For a moment he seemed thrown by the subject change as much as the more welcoming tone of voice compared to before. His arms crossed over his chest as he thought about it - it did sound reasonable to him, for some reason.

And what Old man Hokage had said earlier on about how certain events could be and already were slightly different in this timeline compared to those that had come to pass in his original one meant that Danzō was probably right - maybe by sharing his foreknowledge he could better help to defend Konoha from Orochimaru; from Nagato; the Akatsuki; and of course, Madara Uchiha. All of those threats he would have to track down on his own as it was if he wanted to do something about them, for it seemed clear that the Hokage would not willingly aid him. But if he had an ally in the endeavor, particularly one in position to convince the Hokage to go along with things, then it might very well be possible to fix what he wanted to fix and ensure the village was completely safe from the trouble to come. The ANBU would know to be wary at all of the right times, the Hokage prepared to directly intervene, the council alert for misinformation flowing in from their scouts abroad.

He opened his mouth to answer and that niggling sense on the back of his mind redoubled, a faint howl radiating up from the depths of his mind. He recognized the sound after a moment as being the voice of the fox growling at him, and it instantly brought back memories of their irritation and struggle against one another throughout the years until finally culminating in the encounter where he had defeated the Kyūbi and gained full access to its chakra. He pushed the Nine Tails' quiet threats down again and tilted his head up to stare at the older nin, momentarily shaken. "How do I know you won't misuse that information?" He asked. "I know Old man Hokage wants to do what is best for everyone, and so would you."

Danzō drummed his fingers more heavily against the metal shell, the sound reverberating like a steel drum. "Be that as it may, Namikaze, would you rather not attempt to convey a sense of impregnable defense and strength about Konoha first and foremost, so that when our envoys are sent out to work on a peace treaty some day with the rest of the hidden villages, they know that they must take our offers seriously?" Naruto began to speak, but he was cut off as Danzō continued. "You need look no further than the Hyūga incident four years ago to see how they view us now, Namikaze. We have been humiliated too often in the past, and will continue to be in the future, of what I have heard."

Naruto sighed, an abrupt tiredness coming over him. He felt like he wanted to trust the old shinobi, but at the same time as if he knew that he should not. The fox's howls had diminished when it became clear that he would not answer them, but they still rippled against the edge of his attention span, refusing to vanish altogether. It was an annoyance that, when coupled with his unease, was getting under his skin. Danzō only exacerbated the issue with that constant drumming of his fingers in an almost-irregular rhythm of taps and pauses.

I need a few moments of quiet, he thought, rubbing at his forehead wearily, as if to sooth a headache. Without even quite realizing it, he had slipped out of Sage Mode.

"Well, Namikaze? Will you honor your father's name and efforts to defend Konoha by working with me, and the hidden Root, in the shaping of the coming future?" What had begun as an even, perhaps even grateful tone of voice, took on an edge of steel as he uttered, "Or will you squander your wealth of knowledge and leave our borders undefended from the many menaces lurking ahead?"

Of course he wanted to protect Konoha, that was part of why he even wanted to start working on things now, such as going out to Suna to try and calm Gaara, to find someway to work with Nagato before he was immersed in his Pain alter-ego, and to put a stop to Orochimaru's experiments before he could come after Sasuke again one day. What cinched the matter for him was what Danzō had said near the start, that the Hokage had confided in him about the information Naruto had already shared - a fact that almost made him frown.

"Alright," he said, sitting down on the floor and closing his eyes to concentrate. By the time he had sat down the distrust was gone, as if it had never been present on his mind.

He spoke about what was nearest then, at least what he intended to start upon; infiltrating Sunagakure and putting a stop to the life Gaara had lead, else he would become a pawn of Otogakure, Orochimaru, and the Kazekage during the invasion several years later - but Danzō waved a dismissive hand and interrupted him.

"No matter Suna for now, Namikaze. Tell me of all the traitor Sannin, and Amegakure in particular."

Not even shrugging, he adjusted track and spoke of seeking out Jiraiya and Tsunade in their distant locations so that they could be brought back to the village, to help in putting a stop to their wayward teammate's actions. The older man asked for location names, but all he had were faint ideas. The same for Orochimaru - even the Hokage might not have the pertinent information regarding better-than-remote guesses for where Jiraiya himself was, let alone the other two.

But as his words turned to the Toad Sage, the memories of Jiraiya's training and their two and a half year journey together began to filter to the surface, quick flashes that brought up the different emotions ingrained within them before they were stiffed. His features turned into a pained grimace as his mind warred with itself, trying to suppress something. When at last his thoughts settled upon the moment when he learned of Jiraiya's demise in Ame, however, something seemed to stir and cut off the flow of words past his lips. A throb developed behind his eyes as the pupils abruptly became jagged, and the old whisker-marked scars along each cheek took on heightened highlights. His incisors sharpened and he felt the fox's voice echo inside of his skull, too far away to make out the words at first but growing in strength with every beat of his heart, until he had unconsciously henged into his older, sixteen-year-old body and clothing again.

At last, Kyūbi's voice growled inside of his mind, a single slitted orange eye glaring at him therein with venom. You have been under his genjutsu mind-control, you little fool! Stop speaking before you reveal everything to him!

Naruto blinked his eyes back open and shook his head, trying to clear it. As soon as the thought occurred that he was being manipulated, the niggling in the back of his mind surged to the forefront and overwhelmed his senses, a foreign chakra standing out now that he knew it was there, and he knew that he had indeed been tricked into speaking precious secrets better kept under lock and key. It felt like a fuzz had lifted from his thoughts and eyes and revealed the truth standing before him once more.

"Hello, Naruto Namikaze. I see your actions speak far louder than the words I've overheard this afternoon."

Overheard?

Danzō's very first words to him, which had been dampened by the genjutsu, rang now with an echoing clarity over and over again as he looked back at that moment.

The Hokage wouldn't have risked alterations to the timeline so soon by confiding in the council - that was why he had said to wait, to get time to think and ponder the information and how it could play out, rather than allow him to rush off and begin implementing his knowledge.

"You lied to me..." Naruto said slowly and quietly, his head dropping down into one hand as he fought to control his overbearing emotions. The enforced calm from their discussion was disintegrating beneath the maelstrom evoked at his time spent with Jiraiya, the good and bad together bleeding into one, and as Danzō's genjutsu was forcibly strangled and destroyed by the Kyūbi's malicious chakra flowing though his veins, giving him strength, a whispered anger that he had been manipulated in such a way started to encompass it all.

Danzō's own eye opened in full, watching him with a hint of contempt even as his fingers continued calmly dancing over the metal shell in what was clearly morse code, sending out messages to whomever was listening beyond this room.

"Perhaps I have, but I told you at the start that my desire to protect this village may not be agreeable from your own point of view. My offer remains to aid you even now, jinchūriki. Join with the Root and share your knowledge freely and you will always be protected, and perhaps even allowed some measure of freedom to roam the various districts of Konoha still when its borders have been proven beyond foreign access." His voice was no longer even the slightest bit pleasant. It came out clipped, hard, giving no compromise, and he reached into a pocket to draw a single kunai for defense.

Naruto lifted his head and stared at the other man with something akin to heated malice etched into his gaze, slowly rising to his feet. It was returned with cold indifference, and then a slow and weary sigh emerged from the older man.

"I see now that you are the same as all of the rest born to this village besides myself, the Second, and Orochimaru," he began. "So willing to succumb to your base emotions rather than execute your duty to the sake of Konoha! You are a shinobi; a tool to be wielded in more-capable hands, cutting only as directed, and yet as a weapon you are blunted by your inability to act only as told; you are little more than a liability to us, jinchūriki, exactly as the others I have seen throughout my life." He scoffed, lifting the kunai to his mouth and exhaling a swirl of molded mint-green chakra along its blade. In a moment what had begun as a small knife had become a small sword, and Danzō looked back at him steadily. "I would have yet had you prepared to aid us rather than risk opposing us in the hands of Kumogakure; Iwagakure; Kiwigakure; Sunagakure; or Amegakuri, but you would take that chance, just as the Second did. Now you will be subdued and subjugated until my will is your own."

"I already told you I won't be made into anyone's pawn!" Naruto bit out around clenched teeth. "And I won't allow you to take advantage of the information you stole from me, either!" His fingers began to twitch as bubbling orange-red chakra bled up from his pores, ensconcing the younger shinobi in the old, well-familiar chakra-cloak of the Nine Tails. Only two of said tails flicked back and forth from just beneath the base of his spine, slapping against each other in agitation and scraping rents in the stone floor, but he did not need them all to subdue and capture his opponent before he could do anything.

A moment later, the wall of overlapping roots exploded into motion behind Naruto's back.

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"...And that's it." Kakashi finished explaining what all he had gotten out of Sasuke. The young Uchiha looked uncomfortable to be in the Hokage's office yet again, glancing around at everything in muted curiosity even though he had already seen much of it a several months ago in the wake of his family's massacre.

Hiruzen grimaced. "Do you think you can identify the ANBU member based off of what details you have?" He questioned.

Kakashi closed his normal eye in thought. Not many would willingly choose the unofficially-retired fox mask for obvious reasons. Dog masks on the other hand... after running through those he remembered from a few months ago when he left the group, Kakashi nodded his head. "Yes, Hokage-sama. Unless you've signed orders to promote any other Jōnin to the ANBU squad since I left it should be possible." He stated.

Hiruzen nodded his head and gestured to the child standing off to the side, an inquiring look in his eyes. Kakashi nodded his head again in understanding. "The Uchiha heir has agreed," he said in a neutral tone.

"Very well. As I said before, dredge up the paperwork and bring it here. But that must take a back-seat to confirming which ANBU has kidnapped Naruto."

Kakashi glanced down at Sasuke and recognized the body language he was using with a frown. "Yes, Hokage-sama," he agreed without turning toward him. "Do you wish to remain here or follow me and help confirm the mask features, Sasuke?" He asked the child.

Sasuke hadn't expected the question and started, looking up at him. "Do I have to?" He asked softly.

Kakashi shrugged.

The boy frowned but nodded his head, wanting to get this whole process over and done with and get away from the place where he had been taken to so soon after losing everything, where the memories of that night were more easily refreshed. He had gradually gotten used to seeing the empty streets and remnants of the Uchiha Compound, but here he was brought back to the blood and the bodies scattered everywhere...

Kakashi reached down and snagged the boy again, jolting him back to the moment and making him shake his head violently to clear away the lingering dead ingrained in his mind's eye. "With your leave, Hokage-sama?" He asked.

Hiruzen watched Sasuke for a moment in concern, then waved a dismissal at them and turned to go back to his desk and stack of unfinished paperwork waiting to be signed and dealt with, knowing that he would likely ponder the youngest Uchiha's fate the same as he had Naruto's prior.

Kakashi nodded and dashed off toward ANBU headquarters.

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Danzō flashed across the distance even as Naruto spun about in alarm, momentarily taken off-guard by the barrage of wood that surged toward his position. A momentary glimpse of white porcelain revealed itself as Yamato's mask behind the shuffling chaos. One of his chakra-tails spun upright and shielded his neck by instinct as Danzō's wind-blade struck at the base of his spine, aiming to temporarily incapacitate him, but he had no time to retaliate directly, forced into slashing at the roots with the suddenly developed chakra-claws over his fingernails as his secondary tail snapping out in an idle pot-shot toward the Root leader's gut.

The first batch of bulging tendrils were cut to ribbons and fell apart hissing where the fox's chakra had touched them, but two and three more burst forth and rushed through the opening to replace them, and he fell back and leaped across the wide room, unconsciously reaching out and catching Danzō's next blow aimed for his head across his upraised right arm instead. The weapon bubbled and grew pockmarked initially at the contact, disintegrating the edge, but the elder shinobi simply released it and drew another kunai, expertly dancing amidst Yamato's Mokuton assault as if they had trained for this very operation day-in-and-day-out.

I need back-up, Naruto realized. He bared his teeth and slammed his hands through the ancient hand-seals of the Shadow Clone jutsu, and two nearly-identical imitations appeared from smoke next to him. They lacked the same degree of bijū chakra and thus held only a single tail, the fox unwilling to share its strength any further, but it was enough to grant them some measure of a chakra-cloak and the enhanced durability within it.

The next moment they were swarmed again; Naruto was able to dedicate some attention to countering Danzō directly while his clones shredded the roots around them, lunging forward and blocking the second wind-enhanced knife with his hand even as he brought the other up and slashed at the council member's torso. He had no more success now than when he had tried before, as Danzō slid back and vanished amidst the wood, only to reappear from another direction.

After the fourth such bout, however, the older nin did not show himself again. The longer Naruto waited, slicing through the roots, the greater his unease rose. The Kyūbi spared a moment to answer; he is waiting for you to wear yourself out, boy. Or else fleeing even now to commit his next atrocities throughout the lands. Now stop wasting my precious strength and finish this job!

A grimace spread across his features. He jumped even further back into the open space at his back and his clones followed after a moment. Without even needing to speak, he held his hands in the motions of the Wind Release: Rasenshuriken technique, and they recognized his intent, providing the needed shape transformation and nature transformation while he supplied the chakra. Yamato's Mokuton devoured the twenty foot distance in just seconds; and in just seconds, the greater experience at his aid gave Naruto the time needed to finalize the essence of his attack. For the moment, it did not occur to him exactly what he was about to do, focused only upon catching up to Danzō and halting him directly.

He thrust his arm forward and threw the Rasenshuriken with all his might. The blue-white construct cut through the wood as if it wasn't there, eradicating every tendril in its wake, and then almost-too late, Naruto remembered that Yamato was commanding the opposing ninjutsu. Regardless of whatever else he had done today, the man behind that mask was still his future-teacher, and liable to be a puppet in Danzō's schemes. His breath hitched and his posture shifted in the next instant; his eyes flared into cross-shaped pupils, red highlights erupted beneath his eyes, and the awaiting nature chakra brewing in his gut encompassed his entire body.

He felt the fox's outrage and sent a single thought across their uneasy bond even as he shunshined forward - Shut up and help me!

The edges of his vision blurred. He could see his technique approaching Yamato at a pace that the older nin had no hope of evading, especially blind by the Mokuton still obscuring the doorway. There was barely even the usual screech of noise as it flowed forward without resistance, and even if Yamato heard the quieter shriek in time, his body simply couldn't react in such a short distance. Naruto himself ducked down as he approached, right arm outstretched. He refused to be responsible for killing his future-teacher no matter what Yamato was involved in here and now.

Indentations were burned into the rock and cracks spread outward from there as he drove his feet harder and harder, measuring time in half-second increments. Yamato's mask and parts of his torso could be seen through the gaps in the overlapping wood, the way his body had stiffened and was attempted to pull away apparent now.

But he was closer, narrowing the distance.

Another heavy step, the cracks widening, the screech louder; another, his fingers nearly close enough to shift the Rasenshuriken with frog kata; another foot of distance eaten as the first white edge cut into the doorway, Naruto nearly stumbling as his hand drove into the wood; and then, at last, his arm and upper body bursting through the surface even as Yamato's flak jacket began to shred, the slightest flare of copper scent suffusing his nostrils to signify blood, and Naruto pushed the Root ANBU down and aside with his left hand and then thrust at the deadly technique to offset it with his right; crashing into Yamato and dragging him away as his attack soared upward and to the far end of the hall, wobbling in the air and carving a trench through the ceiling the whole way through.

The very air quivered in the instant before two tonnes of jagged stone fell upon them, jinchūriki and ANBU taken by surprise. And further ahead, the Rasenshuriken exploded where it finally collided with a wall, blowing out a quarter tonne of stone and streaming muted sunlight through the dust.

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Hiruzen raised his head from the arch his hands had formed, elbows locked into place flat against his desk. Not only had one of his most steadfast of Jōnin unexpectedly deviated and adopted the last Uchiha in the village the same day as a timeline-displaced Naruto Uzumaki arrived, but then the wayward jinchūriki had managed to entangle himself in a scheme dating back at least a decade. Said boy was resting up unconscious inside of the hospital at the moment with a double-duty of personally-selected ANBU to watch over him.

Where exactly Danzō Shimura had vanished to in the last few hours he did not know, but injured Root personnel were turning up left, right, and everywhere in-between inside of the hidden base discovered within the Hokage Monument that very evening, which said enough. The Root were supposed to have been disbanded long ago. He sighed warily and looked down to the open report laying on his desk from the head of the Torture and Interrogation Force, Ibiki Morino, describing the incident and information obtained from the breaking of the 'fox-faced' kidnapper, Tenzō. He glanced over the first few pages and skimmed through the report.

Like the rest of the hidden Root seeded throughout the regular ANBU troops and being recovered from their base, this Tenzō bears a Juinjutsu upon his tongue that has rendered him incapable of directly answering our questions. What little we've been able to uncover since he willingly left the hospital room and sat down before us has come only after breaking through it at the unfortunate cost of his vocal chords - his tongue remains heavily injured by the backlash of the seal failing. The ability to speak is unlikely to return even if he makes a full recovery.

That was disturbing in and of itself, but he was simply uncertain what to make of the next paragraph.

It appears that he intervened after bringing Uzumaki to their base for unknown purposes. The diminutive roots barely supporting a couple tonnes of stone over their heads when we reached them while the rest of the base was left to fend for itself lends credence to his writing. No other signs of traitorous activity has been, pardon the pun, rooted out of his personal history so far. Hatake Kakashi and the Uchiha brat confirmed he's the one they were looking for.

So he kidnapped Naruto and delivered the boy to Danzō, and then what? Defends him from some sort of vendetta? Surely Danzō had better control over his subordinates than that. There was just too much that he did not know, and until Naruto woke up, he would have to wait to find out. But it could not be coincidence that the Root was unearthed after a decade in hiding today.

He reached down for the pipe laying unattended nearby and lifted it to his lips, taking a dry inhalation on the mostly finished tobacco. It left a sour taste down into his lungs and he grimaced, dumping the ashes into the waste bin the next moment, and refilled it from the pouch in his top drawer. Then he thought better of wasting more in idle thought and set them both aside, grabbing the report and marching out of his office. There was one other he could turn to for more answers.

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Tenzō looked up as the doors of the interrogation room swung upon and admitted the Hokage himself. He tried to smile at his village leader, but his lips wouldn't quite form the right shape and it hurt too badly to want to anyway. He bowed instead and remained there, his forehead pressed to the cold steel and eyes closed, until the Hokage made an impatient note for him to sit upright again.

A thin sheaf of papers landed in front of him. Clearly the report Morino had compiled from his agonized answers a short while ago. A pen clacked and rolled to a halt beside them. He blinked in surprise that he had been given any kind of tool, let alone one as viable as a weapon in the right hands, after what had happened so far. He glanced back at his commander.

"You seem to be changing positions very regularly," the Hokage told him dryly. "And yet I know from your files that you are not an unloyal man. Unless Danzō has reached in and replaced them as well?" If it was meant as a joke, neither man laughed. "Tell me why and what you have done today, Tenzō."

He looked back to the pen and papers, then reached out and flipped over one sheet, writing down his thoughts, actions, and reasoning behind them. It was not overtly long, simply relaying what he believed was necessary for the good of the village. He set the pen aside when he was done and turned the sheet to the Hokage for inspection.

Nothing new was there that had not already been gleamed from Morino's insights, except for the last lines.

"The boy charged into his own attack to spare my life. He could have stood back and allowed me to die, as I had been told to expect while Danzō-sama retreated. I could not have stopped that technique with any nin, ken, or juinjutsu in my arsenal, and I expected to reenter the pure world at last in the next seconds when I heard - and saw it. And then he appeared. Garbed in the demon fox's flesh, face a flurry of emotions; yet not one of them was anger, or hate, or a desire to see me dead. I saw only determination etched out of fear. I was reminded in those brief, eternally-long moments, that Naruto Uzumaki is not the vessel of the Kyūbi out of choice. I don't know what happened when we hit the floor together and then rolled apart, but I saw the collapse of the ceiling while he did not; I simply repaid the favor he had already delivered."

Tired from borderline chakra-exhaustion, Tenzō leaned back and waited to hear what his fate would be - execution or imprisonment? So long as they let him sleep for a few hours first, he would go without complaint.

The Hokage stared at his message for a long time, and then looked at him for even longer. Then he reached over and severed the rope binding his wrists together, and stepped back. "Very well, Jōnin Tenzō. Let me escort you back to a hospital bed until your wounds are sufficiently healed. I'll pass judgment once - not if - Naruto Uzumaki awakens."

End Chapter Four.