Maybe five years was simply not enough time for things to change much.
That's what Naruto thought as he entered through the main gate, simply offering one of the scrolls Orochimaru had given him as proof of identification. The Sanin's name apparently carried even more weight here than Naruto had thought. Just like that, he was back in the place in which he had grown up.
It felt pretty nostalgic, he had to admit. High on the rocky cliff, the faces of the five Kage looked over the village. In front of it, the red tower stood proudly, the highest building in town.
Merchants came in and out of the village - a city really - with carts dragged by horses, mules, or people. Just like it always had during his life, business in Konoha was booming. People seemed at ease, for the most part.
But Naruto had grown here.
He could feel the undercurrent of tension in the air, even without his slight ability to feel people's negative emotions. It confirmed what he was thinking already.
He walked leisurely toward the Tower.
In truth, he was looking around, part of him hoping to recognize a familiar face. Konoha was a big place, though, so he had no luck here.
There was still this sense of familiarity that he felt toward the village, but that was it. No longing, no desire to stay here longer than he needed to.
Once in the Tower, saying he was sent here to deliver a message from Orochimaru of the Sanin got him a meeting with the Hokage in less than an hour.
The process was fairly different as a non-Konoha ninja, as there were a few security screenings, in which he also had to relinquish all weapons he was carrying on himself.
Not that it mattered a lot, when he could just summon more with a thought.
A man he was fairly sure was a Yamanaka behind his ANBU mask took a brief scan of his surface thoughts with a glance.
'That's… pretty thorough. Invasive, even.'
Either things had always been like this, or something had the Hokage on guard.
He was led into the man's office.
He bowed politely, as this was the Leader of possibly the strongest Village in the world. The last five years must have been rough on Sasuke's father, Naruto thought.
Dark wrinkles lined his eyes, and there were a few gray hairs in what had been the typical Uchiha jet black last time he had seen him.
"Indra, then?" The Hokage said, his thoughts about the young man wearing the Uchiha's infamous ancestor carefully veiled.
Naruto despised the man he had seen in his visions, of this, there was no doubt. He had never been great at deception, though, which was something he admitted pretty openly, by now. This was the only name that really came to him naturally, for reasons he did not like to dwell on.
"Yes." He nodded, simply.
"No family name?"
"None, Hokage-sama."
The man raised an eyebrow, his dark eyes slowing on his whisker marks. Naruto understood.
"This is something that I apparently got from my parents." He said, tracing them, with some dark amusement. "I never got to meet them in person, though."
This was true… if you discounted meeting his father's chakra imprint.
The Hokage seemed to nod in acknowledgment. "There were two men, hailing from Kumo, who bore similar markings. They were marked by the Nine-Tails' chakra, long ago. Maybe you descend from them, then."
"Maybe." Naruto nodded. Better to let the man assume these things.
"You said you were bearing a scroll from Orochimaru?" Fugaku asked.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
"May I see it?"
"Certainly."
He handed him the scroll. Fugaku opened it, eyes bleeding red as he read through it. Several emotions passed on his face, so carefully hidden that Naruto only noticed because of how familiar he was with Sasuke's own poker face — when he managed to remember how the Uchiha worked.
The Hokage then sighed.
"That man…" He smiled a tired smile. "He's never going to stop giving me headaches, this… teacher of yours, then?"
"I assume not, Hokage-sama."
The smile turned somewhat amused.
"Are you familiar with the contents of the missive?"
"Not at all. He just instructed me to deliver it to you."
"Yes, I thought so." The Hokage tapped his finger on the desk, ordering his ANBU to leave the room.
He wanted complete privacy, then.
"Just between you and me, then." The Hokage smiled thinly. "You should probably know that in his message, he declares you as the sole leader of Umigakure, a village set in the international waters, that does not depend on any state's jurisdiction."
"..What?!" Naruto exclaimed.
Fugaku laughed, a short bark, and Naruto realized he had never heard Sasuke's father laugh before. Not even the few times he and Toru had brought him to the compound.
He continued. "I assumed as much. Well, he listed himself, Mitarashi Anko, Uzumaki Karin and… Haruno Sakura." He paused on her name, before shrugging. She did not have any obligation to her village, having been relieved of her position years ago. "And he declared you, as well the two latter, citizens of Umigakure, too. Him and Mitarashi Anko as part-year residents, only."
Naruto fumed inward.
'That's such an Orochimaru move. Don't say much, let the others deal with the fallout.' Worst part being that he knew the man would have likely told him the contents of the scroll, if he had only asked. And then explained it was the best way to do things.
Naruto sighed.
The Hokage continued, seriously. "He has told me about Akatsuki."
Naruto kept quiet, he didn't know how much the man knew.
"That they are apparently after the Bijuu. We lost a promising young shinobi to them, years ago." The Hokage looked away, wistful.
Naruto doubled down on his silence.
"And if my hunch is right, and you are related to the Gold and Silver brothers, they could be interested in your latent abilities."
"That's an 'if', though." Naruto nodded.
"Yes." Fugaku said, curtly. "And my youngest son is the host of the One-Tail."
"…Isn't this supposed to be a secret?"
Fugaku snorted. "Oh, please. At this point, I don't think there's any village that hasn't heard of Sasuke of the Living Flame." He said in a mix of exasperated fondness and pride. "I blame his teacher for this kind of dramatics. Hopefully he didn't pick up on his worst habits, otherwise I think the Hyuuga clan might give me even more trouble over the next few years."
Naruto filed this information for later, wondering what this was about.
The Hokage continued. "But I digress. Orochimaru reported that they are very likely based in Rain. However, as things stand, we won't be able to prove anything, unless they start acting more overtly. I assume Orochimaru didn't help you build a whole new village solely to be able to get away with his own worst habits."
"Ah, the whole human experimenting thing." Naruto said, distaste obvious. The only reason he could tolerate it — as long as he didn't hear too much detail about it — was because Orochimaru restricted himself to the scum of the scum.
"Yes, indeed." Fugaku said dryly.
"You're right. The main reason is that he says Akatsuki's probable leader, Nagato…" Fugaku didn't flinch at the name, but one of his hands tightened around his bicep. "Is likely going to hunt him down — they already tried something, in fact — because they feel he knows too much about them, plus refusing to join their ranks."
"…He refused?" Fugaku hadn't known about the invitation. And knowing Orochimaru, he had likely thought about it in depth. He was pleased to hear of it, though. Having to face the Snake Sage in battle was not a very pleasant prospect, no matter how problematic the man was, even when he was on Konoha's side.
"So he did, yes." Naruto nodded. He knew the man well by now, and it would only have made too much sense for him to join the organization of criminals. That he didn't was a good sign. "The main purpose of the village is to recruit allies against Akatsuki-"
"As well as give Konoha plausible deniability, then." Fugaku smiled thinly. He knew just how important these kinds of under-the-table operations were, for a ninja village. He kept his mind on the conversation, preferring not to dwell on some necessary, but more… unpalatable organizations within his own village. Danzo was brewing something, he knew it.
Of course, it was clear that Orochimaru would probably not disband his latest project once he was done — if he could manage — with Akatsuki. But Fugaku figured that if the man had decided to turn against the village, he probably had been in a better place to do so in the past. Leaving the man a bigger leash could prove to be a boon in the future, as long as he had his loyalty.
Naruto let the Hokage mull it over.
The man then spoke. "Very well. For obvious reasons, I won't be able to extend an official alliance to you. Orochimaru's continuous affiliation with Umi might already give us enough trouble as is." he sighed.
"I figured as much." Naruto confirmed.
"But… You must have had a long trip. You are free to stay in the village for a little while, provided you find and take care of your accommodation."
Naruto bowed. "This is more than I could ask for already, Hokage-sama."
Fugaku shrugged. "I guess we're on an equal footing. Even though it's mostly due to Orochimaru's meddling. Hokage-dono is fine."
"Very well… Hokage-dono."
"You may go, if you wish. It is still early, and the village is particularly pleasant in this season."
"I will do so."
"I shall send someone to show you around. They will find you, so there's no need to worry about the specifics."
And probably make sure to keep him in check, in case.
"Thank you."
Naruto was about to leave.
"One last thing."
The man's eyes met his. He didn't need to activate the Sharingan for them to look piercing.
"It might seem obvious… but I expect you to be on your best behavior. I don't know how both you and Orochimaru run the village of Umi, but I will ask you to abide by Konoha law."
Naruto nodded. "Certainly."
To anybody who didn't know what to look for, Naruto was wandering the streets aimlessly. As a newcomer to Konoha, this was no surprise. The summer was beautiful, and there were people who came here from afar, just to witness the chestnut trees in person.
Unfortunately, he wasn't really here for sightseeing. He likely only had a limited amount of time to spend in the village, despite the Hokage's word.
His father, the Fourth, had told him to find his old safehouse. How he was supposed to find it with no more information, he wondered.
'Hey guys, I was just wondering if you knew where your dead leader used to live before..? What, why? Just curiosity, haha'
Yeah. Asking was likely not an option. There was no registry he had access to, especially as a foreigner, so this was out as well. Not that it had seemed likely.
If he remembered well, his father had said something about using his sensory abilities. That was what Naruto was currently doing, pulsing it periodically, trying to see if there was something out there that felt similar to his own chakra, or what he remembered of the Fourth's.
In a city such as Konoha, there were many overlapping chakras at any given time. People walking around, ninja running on rooftops, seals being used for a great variety of purposes… Karin was much better at this than he was.
Naruto felt a familiar chakra, moving extremely fast toward here. He cycled some chakra through his legs, ready to jump away if needed. Still, he felt no bad intention coming from the newcomer.
The person landed behind him. It was a man, Naruto knew. He spoke. His voice was deeper… but the almost lazy cadence was still the same.
"Ah. And here I had hoped it would be a cute girl…"
Naruto closed his eyes in consternation. Out of all available ninja in town, did the Hokage really have to send this particular one?
"My name is Uchiha Toru, and I'll be your guide. You can just call me Toru-sempai."
He could almost feel his grin.
Toru was having a pretty decent day, overall.
The last Hunting Corps mission he had gone on had paid pretty well, so he had decided to take the entire week off. This had been the first time in more than two years, so he felt he deserved it.
The constant back and forth between training one on one with Kakashi, looking for clues about the latest person the Leaf — or the Military Police — wanted him to catch, finding/killing the same person before going for more training…
Well, it could get exhausting. Shisui and Itachi never seemed to complain about this kind of things, — at least not when he was around — but then again, he sometimes had trouble seeing things the way they did.
Oh, he was a good little dog when he needed to be, for sure. But there was more to life than just duty. And yet, it felt as though his service to the village was taking up most of his life.
For God's sake, he might need a hobby. Sporadic bursts of hedonism were all fine and all… but he felt as though he was stuck in a rut that no amount of casual dating could fill.
Get stronger. Gain more recognition. Get rid of Konoha's enemies. Get your own enemies. Have to train to be stronger.
Shit, maybe some of the older Uchiha were right. Maybe he needed to find himself a real girlfriend, instead of playing the field. But with the reputation… came the temptation.
God, Sasuke really had it good. A cool girl who loved him, a sensei who lived life fully, and took him across the world, — no offense to Kakashi, but he too needed a hobby — and he seemed to pick only the most adventurous/dangerous missions, whenever he bothered to come back.
Maybe he could find where the Two-Tailed Beast was and seal it within himself? That ought to get Jiraiya interested.
Where was Sasuke right now, again…? The land of Rivers? Was it the land of Claws?
Probably learning some super secret jutsu that he couldn't tell anybody about, meeting the cutest girls in the land who would undoubtedly fall for the unattainable, committed, romantic, brooding Uchiha.
Toru wanted to groan. Damn, maybe Sasuke really had been onto something when he had asked Naruto to seal that Bijuu into his body.
Ah. Naruto.
That was somebody that he thought about pretty often. It had gotten less painful over time, but the details burned into his memory thanks to the Sharingan.
He would never forget his friend's face, when he had been captured, thinking him dead. Even now, he was still carrying his wakizashi, even though it constantly drained his chakra.
Well, if Kakashi could manage a Sharingan, he could surely manage a pesky short sword. Just like the older man, he saw it as his tribute to a friend who had been ready to die for him.
…And there went his good mood.
Well, not really, if he was good at one thing, it was definitely bouncing back. Plus, Fugaku-sama had decided that his day off was the perfect opportunity to have him play ambassador to some guy who had apparently started his own village.
Indra. No clan name.
His parents really had not given a shit, it seemed. In Uchiha culture, Indra was just a short step short of Madara, when it came to general dickishness. Mostly because it was so much older that people were not even sure about the veracity of the story.
Well, they said it in way more words, but they all knew what it meant.
Sasuke had told him of the tales written within the Nakano shrine, once. Toru was not very impressed, he had to say.
Kill your friends for more power… Against killing your brother to take his eyes for your own gain.
He'd keep his one regular Sharingan, thank you very much.
So, yeah. He'd show this Indra guy around. Maybe he'd have some nice stories to share. What kind of guy decided to just build their own village…? Not a regular one, that was for sure.
'Found him.'
He locked in on the man's chakra signature. Not that it was a hard task, far from it, as the guy shone like a beacon to his Sharingan.
Toru dashed there, appearing silently a few steps behind him. The guy didn't move, but he had definitely noticed him.
Toru greeted him, as was custom. Well, the way he used to do things, to be more precise. Fugaku-sama had sent him, so there was no real chance of causing a diplomatic incident by being too casual. Probably.
Shit… that came out a bit too casual. Even for him.
So, that was Indra, then?
Well, Toru had to say that if the man had wanted to look like his namesake, or a powerful foreign leader… He had the part down, despite being around his age.
A long, pristine white coat, with sleeves so long that his hands were almost hidden. A golden necklace hung around his neck, and tomoe earrings dangled from his ears.
Long, thick blond hair, barely held by a red band that matched his pants.
To complete the picture, he of course had to be very muscular. And Toru had to look up to meet his gaze.
Purple eyes that seemed to glow, and some peculiar whisker marks on his cheeks.
'Damn, this guy must be beating girls off with a stick.'
How unfair.