LIGHTNOVELONLINE Part 25 – Plan for Danzo
Walking towards Tsunade and Jiraiya’s room, Uzu made sure to send out some chakra waves first, she didn’t want to interrupt anything.
They’re sitting on the same bedside …
Deeming it safe to enter, Uzu did not stop Naruto from knocking after he looked at her, confirming that it was the right room.
“Come in.” Tsunade said and Naruto opened the door, walking in first and pulling Uzu along.
Uzu let go of Naruto’s hand and walked up to Tsunade, intending to check on her injuries.
Sure enough, after taking her Mom’s hand and sending in some chakra, she was able to confirm that Tsunade would recover quite soon.
She mostly had chakra depletion on a high level. Uzu had given her some of her own chakra and that drastically reduced the recovery time.
While Uzu checked on Tsunade, Naruto sat down on Jiraiya’s bed and exchanged a glance with Jiraiya, who had been giving him a wide smile ever since he came in.
“The walls are thin in this hospital, Naruto!” Jiraiya said, getting the attention of the daughter and mother pair as well.
Naruto’s and Uzu’s eyes met and their cheeks slightly reddened.
*cough* Silencing seals are a wonderful creation, Uzu thought, vowing to use them whenever needed …
Jiraiya laughed loudly for a while, enjoying their embarrassment before he said: “No, on a more serious note. I’m glad that you two are this close. You … you are together now, right?”
He gave Naruto a threatening stare.
Shivering slightly, Naruto quickly said: “Yeah!”
Though, then he looked at Uzu, looking for confirmation. They hadn’t actually really talked about this before. Sure, they had openly said that they loved each other, and they enjoyed being together … but he was unsure.
Feeling three pairs of eyes on her, Uzu just nodded, smiling at Naruto.
Eh, I thought that was pretty clear …, Uzu thought to herself.
After that, she quickly checked Jiraiya’s injuries as well and then sat down next to Naruto after having found no bigger injuries.
If anyone would have come out of that with almost no injuries, then Jiraiya. He still had his sage mode when going into the cave … even if that enemy was really strong … and he apparently was, seeing that the enemy defeated 3 high-level shinobi … Jiraiya shouldn’t have suffered many injuries.
Uzu sat down next to Naruto and was promptly pulled onto his lap, his arms around her, holding her in place.
Already taking me up on my words from before huh~.
She had allowed him to touch her whenever he wanted, so this was fine, though she still felt slightly uncomfortable.
Uzu’s eyes met with her mom’s and she clearly saw the happiness in her mom’s eyes.
She gave her Mom a crescent-eyed smile, the one that only revealed itself when she was truly happy. And that smile was uncontrollable, she couldn’t fake it at all.
As if inspired by Naruto, Jiraiya took Tsunade’s hand and Uzu watched as her Mom did not reject his touch, instead weaving her fingers into his.
I’m glad they finally moved forward, this is good for both of them.
Uzu just then noticed that Shizune was not around.
“Where’s Shizune?” She asked, her voice quiet and soft, feeling way too comfortable to raise her voice.
It was Tsunade that answered her: “She’s currently helping out in the hospital. I’ve sent her away, seeing that we were both awake and didn’t really need anyone to watch over us.”
There was a bit of silence after that before Tsunade spoke again: “There’ll be a meeting with the council later, in which rebuilding strategies and costs will be discussed. Uzu, can you help rebuild some more important structures with your wood release? You won’t have to do too much though, the villagers and shinobi alike are thankful for what you three have done, you’ll find that everyone already knows about what happened. Katsuyu made sure to keep everyone updated even after I passed out, so they know of the fight and how the people came back to life, but they don’t know that Nagato’s body was taken away.”
Seeing her Mom talk so openly about things that should be classified, she looked around the room, soon finding some concealing and silencing seals.
Uzu nodded, agreeing to her request: “I’ll send some clones later … also, did you notice that the Root has not helped during the invasion?”
Jiraiya and Tsunade nodded and Tsunade said: “We know. It’s time that we do something about Danzo.”
Uzu felt Naruto tense up, his chakra grew agitated and if she listened very closely, she would have heard a small growl of anger escape his throat.
Uzu gently rubbed his hand, coaxing him to calm down, which he did.
“Yeah … well … I’ve been working on a few seals that will make that easier. I’ve told you about his hidden abilities …. We’ll have to move fast, and we’ll need to decide on what to do with his Root Anbu.” Uzu said, her tone slightly sad.
She knew that some of Naruto’s former comrades in the orphanage were Root Anbu and that some of them might not be savable. They wouldn’t be able to save those that were too far gone, and they would need to kill all the higher ups.
Tsunade and Jiraiya nodded and Tsunade then said: “Let’s talk about this in our apartment later …”
“You two rest a bit more~.” Jiraiya said afterwards, ushering Uzu and Naruto out of the room.
…
“Wood Release: Wood Clone.” She said, creating three wood clones that each held ¼ of her natural chakra pool.
She sent them to help wherever her wood release was needed.
Those three clones would probably be asked to create makeshift houses for the civilians to live in, seeing that Konoha was still more earthen pit than anything else.
Afterwards, she looked back at the bed and saw that Naruto had already laid down again, his back leaning against the pillow and his legs stretched out on the bed.
She watched as he smiled at her and said: “Come here?” while pointing at his lap.
Smiling, she walked over to the bed, took off her sandals and crawled onto his lap, resting her butt in between his legs.
Soon enough, she felt his hand sneak their way under her tank top and trace gentle lines on her stomach, making waves of pleasure run through her body.
As she squirmed under his touch, she felt his lips on her neck, kissing her.
She couldn’t hold back the soft moan escaping her lips and said: “N-Naruto … there are still people watching …”
He whispered into her ear, making her shiver slightly: “Wait then, I’ll use some seals to make sure no one can see or hear what happens here~.”
Just as he had used a concealing and a silencing seal, sealing off their room in a tight barrier and moved back to teasing her, she said: “Naruto, concerning Danzo and … your time in the orphanage …”
His hands instantly stopped moving about under her tank top and she felt him stiffen.
“You know?” He asked, his voice shaky.
“Yes, I do.” She said, pain evident in her tone. She knew that he did not want people to know … but they needed to talk about that before taking out Danzo.
“How? Who told you … who … ah. Jiraiya …” He said his voice changing from fearful to angry.
Uzu just nodded and said: “That’s right. I asked him because I needed to know. I needed to know everything about you and I still want to know everything about you.”
“So? Now that you know. What do you say, what does it change?” Naruto said, his voice pained and weak, the anger having faded after hearing her words.
Uzu winced at his words and turned around, sitting down on his hips and folding her legs on the sides of his body: “It just means that … I admire and love you even more than before. Because, despite what you suffered, how many people you lost, how much you of all people deserve happiness and love, you still choose to be with me. Me of all people … I don’t know if I can give you the comfort and love that you deserve …”
As she was about to spiral further, she felt a finger on her lips, causing her to stop speaking and look at Naruto instead. Their gazes met and she saw the pained gaze he gave her: “You don’t need to do all that. It’s something that happened, it’s something that still hurts and it’s something that I’ll never, ever, forget. But I won’t let it control everything about me … and yes, I do have difficulties in bonding with others, but you don’t need to worry about all that. The people that I truly love should be worry-free, they don’t need to know about all the things that I suffered before … it’s totally enough for you to just be with me. And I need you to do just that. Also, what do you mean you can’t give me the love I need … that’s for me to decide …”
Uzu’s eyes widened at his words, feeling his arms pull her down into a kiss soon after.
Letting go again, she laid down, panting on his chest.
Catching her breath, she whispered: “Naruto … I need to know everything about you … so … please tell me … just what are the: ‘children of iron’.”
She felt him freeze slightly, before his hands continued moving along her spine, causing currents of satisfaction to course through her body.
“You … really want to know?” She heard Naruto ask.
“Mhm.” Uzu nodded.
“You aren’t the only one that wants to know more about the person they love … if I’m to answer your questions, you must also answer mine, okay?” Naruto whispered into her ear after being silent for a while.
She nodded and slowly sat up, sitting down on her calves and waiting for Naruto to sit upright as well.
…
It was decided that Naruto would ask the first question.
“Who are you? Where do you come from?” Naruto asked, looking serious.
Uuu … the hard questions right at the beginning?
Well, he deserves to know …
She closed her eyes for a bit, thinking about what to say, before she opened them again.
She moved a wayward strand of her hair out of her face and curled it around her ear before saying: “The day I arrived at Konoha, was the day I was ‘born’. I am a ‘weapon’ created by Danzo’s men and made from both Uzumaki blood and Senju blood. And, while they did create the body, they broke a taboo and bound a dead soul to this body. That soul, was me. This isn’t my first, but my second life.”
It took Naruto a few seconds to take that in. He didn’t know whether to … feel pity for her at being ‘born’ in that way, to be angry at Danzo which wasn’t anything new or to … ask about her past life. He wanted to know … did she have a prior life in the elemental nations, how did death feel, where did she go afterwards.
“Uh … are you comfortable with talking about your past life?” He asked.
Receiving a nod in return, he asked his questions: “Did you live in the same world?”
“No … it was vastly different from this one. Technology was more advanced … and chakra did not exist there at all.”
Naruto was stunned at her response. No chakra? How did that even work.
“Did you die before coming here? Was it painful?”
“Yes … and to the second one, no.”
“How … did you die?” He asked with slight hesitation, knowing her answer before she even said it.
“I did something that you are very familiar with … I killed myself. And …” As she wanted to continue talking, she suddenly felt Naruto embrace her tightly.
His voice quivered as he said: “Somehow … I knew. People that have had similar thoughts and experiences, they just know when someone is thinking like that. You … need to promise me. You can’t do that again, don’t even think about it! I need you!”
Uzu was both stunned and felt warm inside … no one had ever said that to her.
She weaved her arms around his back and hugged him back, nodding.
For a few minutes, they just sat there, hugging each other and enjoying the silence.
Naruto broke the silence when he said: “The children of iron … we were the one’s that Mrs Humura … that witch … ‘loved’ the most. She loved seeing us miserable and seeing us cry and break. That woman is twisted.”
He was silent for a bit.
“She locked us in a small metal box that was inescapable even with Kurama inside of me. By the way … I’ve been talking to Kurama a lot lately. He has so much hatred inside of him … it hurts me to see him like that. I wish I could free him … but I fear that he would just cause destruction to everything he sees. Which I can’t say would be wrong. Humans imprisoned him because of their limitless greed. They’d deserve that.”
He was silent again, gathering his words.
“On that iron box’s insides, three words were carved into the space just above the entrance, which Mrs Humura probably hasn’t ever seen. You can already imagine what those three words say. You need to know that those that are children of iron, had it the hardest. That name, that title, it connects us … and it gave us strength when we needed it. That connection was all that held us together back then. We needed it and I’m so glad we got rid of that box later on … it didn’t help with dealing with what happened, but we prevented any further use of the box and that was wonderful. After me, there was no one else that entered the box ever again. I am, was, the last child of iron.”
He went silent after that and Uzu could soon hear quiet sobs escape his mouth.
She gently stroked his back and hugged him tightly: “Thank you for telling me about this …”
After a bit of silence, she spoke again, keeping her voice soft and quiet: “I know that some of the children of the orphanage were taken into Root and I just need you to know that we’ll try everything to help them get back into a normal life … however, Danzo and his highest-ranked followers will need to die, no matter what …”
“I know. Trying is enough, they’ve suffered enough … we should let them make the choice …” Naruto mumbled into her ear, before lying down onto his side and pulling her into him, which she had gladly let him do.
(A/N: Little spoon!)
Feeling her back pressing into his chest, she soon heard his breathing even out as he fell asleep.
Though it’s still quite early, she decided to also get some sleep for now, her clones would still keep on working until their chakra ran low.
…
Later that day, she woke up from the memory feedback of her clones. This is the reason that she usually did not let them work while she slept, it would always wake her up every time.
Apparently Konoha was recovering well. Tsunade had come back from her meeting already and Naruto and her could soon go back to the senju apartment, where they would have some more privacy.
The huge earthen pit was mostly filled up and the debris that blocked off streets was cleared away. The houses that still stood had been checked for their stability and some people had already returned to their homes again.
Konoha was actually in a pretty precarious situation … other nations and villages could use their weakness to attack them …
One of her clones had talked to Tsunade and her Mom had said that they really needed to deal with Danzo quickly, he made some trouble at the meeting and it annoyed her Mom.
Danzo had said that Tsunade was unfit for the Hokage position and that he should take over … the council had, thank god, declined that.
…
Once Naruto woke up, they decided to finally go home after checking Tsunade and Jiraiya’s room and finding it empty.
They checked out of the hospital that was pretty much filled with injured people, that, upon seeing them, cheered their names and thanked them for saving Konoha.
Walking through Konoha and whatever was left of its former glory, they were often stopped by groups of people that thanked them.
Uzu watched as Naruto smiled widely, happy at getting the respect and recognition he had always desired.
She just held his hand and stayed quiet as they slowly made their way towards the Hokage tower.
They soon reached the spot where Ichiraku had been before and … it had actually been repaired already.
Naruto pulled her into the restaurant that had cloth coverings for doors and quickly pulled her onto a seat before a very familiar man appeared behind the counter.
“If it isn’t the famous ‘hero-toad-sage and the slug-sage of the senju’~. Naruto, thank you for saving us all and bringing my daughter back …” Teuchi said, a bright smile on his face.
“Ah, don’t worry about it! It’s what I needed to do anyway! Can you give me the usual? And for Uzu …” He looked at Uzu, waiting for her to say what she wanted.
“Miso Ramen.” She said, receiving a nod from Teuchi.
His daughter Ayame also appeared after that and they both prepared food for the couple.
After having had their fill, they tried to pay, only to be told ‘it’s because of you, Naruto, that the other villagers helped me rebuild my shop that soon, they had wanted to do something for you … most of them have voiced their regret at having hated or ignored you before, though they know that just regretting that won’t make it any better … if I had you pay for your food, I’d have trouble with the other villagers~’.
Thus, they left Ichiraku, having gotten a free and filling meal.
On their way to the Hokage tower, they received some more thank you’s and some even cried, thanking the two of them for having brought back their loved ones.
By the time they finally reached the Hokage tower, they were quite exhausted by having so many people talk to them.
It was something new for Naruto and he clearly liked it, but Uzu was happy that they mostly focused on him and left her alone.
…
Walking into their apartment, they found Jiraiya and Tsunade sitting at the table and having dinner.
Tsunade looked at them and asked: “Want to join? Or did you already eat?”
“We already ate, thank you for asking.” Naruto said.
“Let’s talk about what to do with Danzo though. Uzu, you said something about seals … could you explain that in more detail?” Jiraiya said, his voice taking on a serious tone that was so rarely heard from him.
Naruto sat down on a chair and pulled Uzu onto his lap, which made a small giggle escape her mouth.
He really seems to like doing this~.
She let him move his arms around her, essentially ‘trapping’ her in his embrace before she explained: “I’ve mastered air drawing in my time at the slug’s sacred land. I’ve not only been working on Sage Mode but also on seals that can be used in the middle of a fight. One of them was inspired by a seal that Danzo himself used in my memory from Before, it’s a cursed seal that causes paralysis. If we can manage to surprise him and prevent him from using his Sharingan abilities, then we can easily take him out. He isn’t that strong. The thing that makes him special is the meagre amount of Hashirama cells that he implanted in himself and the fact that he stole Sharingan eyes and implanted them in his arm and right eye socket.”
Her voice was layered with venom as she spoke.
“I can deal with him alone as long as I get that seal on him, but I’ll need some others to deal with his loyal Anbu while I extract the eyes. We wouldn’t want to waste those. They are precious and we might be able to use them again?” She ended her last sentence in a question, not quite sure whether they would be able to do that.
Naruto behind her spoke: “Wait, he has Sharingan eyes in his arm?”
Oh, yeah … no one told him yet …
Jiraiya told him about the abilities that Danzo has and how dangerous it makes him. Shisui’s eye possessed the ability to use a strong genjutsu on someone, giving him the ability to construct a reality in that person’s mind without letting them know that it happened. It could make people believe that they did something of their own free will, but in fact, they had been manipulated into doing that.
His other specialty was the ability to use Izanagi, to rewrite reality for a few seconds to revert his death, but again, that was only possible if he was prepared for something to happen. It would cost a Sharingan’s eyesight in exchange for using that ability.
After properly forming a plan, they decided to attack Danzo’s Root headquarters three days later to finally take him out.
…
A/N: Yeah, uhm, let me know what you think about this chapter :3