Seeing the Darkness

Chapter XXVII

Naruto thought himself rather lucky at this particular moment. Unlike his last two black-outs, he happened to be near Tsunade this time and she was able to revive him with some medical ninjutsu. Of course, she was the cause for it, but… that was neither here nor there, he supposed.

After regaining consciousness, Naruto had fixed the street and its newfound winterscape, also removing the seals in the process. The damage to the road was fixed with some Earth-natured chakra manipulation relatively easily. Then the quintet had migrated to a room that Jiraiya had rented for the night. The shock of meeting Naruto face-to-face really helped Jiraiya convince Tsunade to come along to talk.

"Sensei really is dead then, huh?" The older blonde wondered with a sad smile. "I didn't think that old fart would ever meet the Shinigami at the rate he was going." Her hands were folded in her lap as she sat on one of the beds. Shizune was next to her while Jiraiya and his students were across from her on the other bed. "That position really is cursed. Why would you pick someone with my bad luck though? I'd probably die within the first day."

"Konoha is a place full of darkness." Naruto was the one to reply, not Jiraiya. "I've seen it all my life. It's not their fault, the world is just dark. I did manage to find a few specks of light in that darkness, even if some of them have been taken from me. I still fight on though, to protect the few lights I have left, and to show those who are gone that their faith in me wasn't for nothing. I didn't really know Hokage-sama that well, but Hido-jiji always spoke highly of him. You may not be as strong as you once were, but you're a medic. Konoha needs healing. Even if you don't want to become Hokage… I already lost jiji, and the Uzumaki I met tried to manipulate me. I want to know that I have family somewhere that I can turn to." Purple eyes were turned to the floor as he spoke.

He really is Kushina's boy… just like she was at that age. He's got more control over his emotions, but I can still tell. Tsunade placed her hand on Naruto hair, ruffling it softly. "I think I'd like having family again, brat. Just don't call me old again or I'll have to really punish you." The Hyuuga looked at her with a sly smirk.

"If you can catch me… baa-chan." Despite her words, Tsunade only smiled. "Are you going to become the Hokage then?" The woman looked to the side.

"That much I can't be sure of. I was never really one for the hat and robes. I always seemed to surround myself with them, but I can't stand the position. It took my grandfather, my great-uncle, my sensei and my favorite cousin's husband. Not to mention both Dan and Nawaki wanted to be Hokage… it's got too much bad memories."

"Hime, I know you hate the idea of it but there's not really anyone better suited. We didn't really get to it during the explanation, but I have an even bigger reason to reject the office now. There are two separate parties trying to take Naruto, likely due to his jinchuuriki status. One is either an Uzumaki or has access to Uzumaki seals, the other is the Akatsuki. I haven't had the chance to figure out the why of it, but both are dangerous groups. With sensei gone, if you refuse as well then Danzou becomes the next most likely candidate. He's already got some interest in Naruto as well, but didn't try anything with sensei around. He even voluntarily suggested you become the Hokage rather than him. If you refuse though, he'll probably take up the position readily."

The Slug Sannin sighed. "That man huh? Things really are getting out of hand with sensei nowhere to be found." Glancing at Shizune, she steeled herself. "The truth is, things are more… complicated for me as well. Orochimaru found me a couple days before you did. He wants me to fix his arms. I didn't want to believe him when he said he'd killed sensei, but I see it really must be the case if you're confirming it. He told me he could bring Dan and Nawaki back from the dead if I helped him. I know he has to be using Tobirama's technique, but still. I want to see them again so much."

"You don't want to do that, Tsunade-sama." Surprisingly, it was Yakumo this time. "I know you don't know much about me, but I'm Kurama Yakumo, Head of the Kurama Clan – though my uncle is regent until I make Chuunin rank. I was born with the Shishougen, our clan's kekkai genkai. Well, I suppose that's not quite right. Everyone in our clan is born with it. I was born with the full extent of our clan's kekkai genkai, something they'd thought could never happen again.

"My bloodline allows me to make illusions physical – to cast genjutsu on reality itself. It's far too much for someone to handle though. In the end, a large majority of my powers become embodied in Id, a split personality of mine. Id was psychotic, psychopathic and genocidal. She took control of my body when I was much younger and by the time I came to, both of my parents were dead. The Clan didn't blame me, but I did. My powers were sealed away for a long time, until I met Naruto and Daihi. They did more for me than I could ever repay.

"I did something… abhorrent when I first got control of my powers though." Yakumo's hands balled into fists in her lap as she struggled through her explanation. "My powers are strongest when I channel them through artistic expression. I found my parents' corpses in our Clan mausoleum and I drew. I drew them alive again after I had set their remains sitting up on a bench. I watched as they moved again, little by little. It didn't seem to be enough though, they were just animate corpses without a soul. I drew more and more, trying my best to capture all my memories of my parents. I was there for… days at least, maybe a couple of weeks.

"In the end… I desecrated the remains of my parents and filled their husks with… something. It wasn't them, only a shell of what I imagined they were. That was before Id took over. He killed my parents again, but this time it was because whatever was inside those bodies tried to kill me. Id turned them to ash and I stayed in that crypt another few days until Naruto and Daihi found me. I became so obsessed with bring them back… but I know all I did was make them hate me for it. I only wanted to apologize to them and… some part of me still wishes Id hadn't intervened back then, but if she hadn't then I wouldn't be here today with Naru, and Kami knows he'll need all the help he can get."

She didn't know when, but Yakumo realized that Naruto's hand was over hers. She didn't even entertain the thought to pull away from it. In fact, she made an effort to scoot closer to Naruto, leaning against his body. Tsunade watched the interaction with interest, but thought it best to stay on topic. "You may be right. I know I can't bring back the dead, no matter how much I'd love to. As a doctor, I understand that. As an older sister and a lover though… I want them back."

"Tsunade-hime, even if Orochimaru really did bring them back, do you know how that jutsu works?" Her silence was vague, so he explained anyways. Having everyone in the room on the same page would be for the best. "You have to sacrifice a living person in order to create a vessel for the soul to reside in. On top of that, the Summoner has complete control over their actions until they're dispelled. That would mean that not only would the blood of two innocents be on your hands, but Orochimaru would have complete and total control over Dan and Nawaki's physical form and be the one who determined when he allowed their souls to rest. Do you really think that they would be okay with that? Do you think you could live with yourself?"

"You really have grown up, Jiraiya…" Tsunade mentioned as she looked towards the ground. "I'm supposed to smarter and more mature than you, and you're telling me what the right choice is. I understand what you're saying is true, and that helping him would be a bad idea whether he was going to bring them back or not. I know what he's capable of, and how much not healing him hurts his chances in a fight. If I don't help him though, and he still gets his arms back, he'll just use them against me."

"He can't summon anything if he's dead." The cold tone and merciless gaze that Naruto used made it clear he was settled deep within the Void. "If the problem is Orochimaru himself, the solution is easy. In his weakened state the two of you should be able to take him out. Was there anyone else with him when you met?"

"A silver-haired teenager in glasses. I don't know anything about him, but he was probably somewhere in the range of B or low-A rank based on his chakra." Shizune responded, catching wind of Tsunade's hesitance. The raven-haired girl knew better than anyone how hard this was for her, but they needed to do this, for her sake.

"That's preposterous! I almost lost to Naruto and he wasn't even trying that hard. I'm too rusty, taking on someone like Orochimaru will just kill me, even if he's lost the use of his arms."

"Sure, you're no longer at your peak, hime." Jiraiya stated. "I'd still say you're plenty strong enough to offer support. Orochimaru is likely at about your level without the use of his arms, and I'll be there. It's not a bad idea, all things considered. Especially if we can use the fact that you're supposed to help him to spring a trap. When is he supposed to show up to get an answer from you?"

She seemed uncomfortable with the idea still, but the medic finally gave in with a sigh. "He'll be back in three days, at the ruins of that castle outside of town. He's probably keeping an eye on that location though, so I don't think you can set any traps and expect him to fall for them. You already know he's too clever for that. I can't believe this is how I make my debut back into the shinobi world…"

"Hey, look at it this way hime. If we go into Konoha with Orochimaru's head, you'll have the Council and the people's support right from the gate considering he killed sensei. It will be the Fifth Hokage coming in and avenging the fallen Third who gave up his life to protect the village. There's very little you could do to make yourself more popular on the first day in."

"Now you're sounding like Danzou-sensei." Naruto chastised the man, who rubbed the back of his head. "Jiraiya-sensei isn't wrong though. If you really do become the Hokage, killing Orochimaru would be best for both yourself and the village. He has an entire hidden village full people he's subjected to those experiments of his. Even if you don't want to become Hokage, ridding the world of a man like him can only be a good thing, no matter how you look at it. Yakumo and I will be there to take care of his assistant, whoever he is, so you two can focus on him. As much as you think you won't provide much support, we would only get in the way in a fight of that scale. So, we'll just ensure that you can do your part without being distracted by us or anyone else."

Tsunade seemed a bit unsure still but nodded. "Okay, I can save whether I'll take up the hat for later. For now, we need to focus on taking out that Snake. Any ideas?"

And that's it!

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