Chapter Text
"We forgot Kabuto," Miyuki said as she opened her eyes the next morning.
"Fuck I knew we were forgetting something," Shin sighed from his bedroll next to her.
"We should grab Naruto and see him today then so he doesn't feel forgotten," Sai chirped simply from his roll next to the wall.
"One problem with that plan," Shin started.
"What's that," Sai asked.
"We don't know where they are," Shin finished bluntly.
"We may not know where they are but we know their habits. Naruto would never leave anyone in need, and she now has a whole village in need. You two check the palace. I'll check the library," Miyuki cut in before an argument could start.
"Isn't their library like super expansive," Shin asked Miyuki with a raised brow.
"Yeah that's why I'm going alone. We don't want Sai to get lost," Miyuki stated.
"Technically it was Naruto that always got lost, not me," Sai defended with a slight pout.
"Good and we cannot break that record today," Shin stated brightly. Miyuki sighed but got up.
"Just go get dressed," Miyuki ordered, heading that way herself.
⌠火の竜巻⌡
The library was just as large and mazelike as Miyuki feared. With shelves towering over her head placed in a spiraling pattern until you get to the center, upon which spiral staircases wound their way to the next floor, and the whole process would repeat. With a put-upon sigh, Miyuki trudged into the depths looking for her old friend, hoping he was easy to find and not on top of one of the stacks again. After a couple of hours and passing the other two Uchiha a few times, Miyuki finally gave up. With a frustrated frown, the female Uchiha went over to her brothers who had stopped speaking and watched her pass each time.
"Have you seen Kabuto?" Miyuki demanded once close enough.
"No and it's a good thing I haven't," Sasuke hissed, crossing his arms while Itachi frowned slightly and leaned forward in his seat.
"Why do you want to know?" Itachi asked, concerned. Miyuki crossed her arms and popped out a hip as she responded.
"Not that it concerns you, but he's an old friend, and I want to see how he's been," Miyuki stated.
"I thought Naruto had numerous guy friends," Sasuke grumbled, glaring at the table. Miyuki turned to her younger brother with a glare.
"What exactly do you mean by that," Miyuki demanded. Sasuke suddenly reminded of their mother, tried to backtrack.
"I just mean why would you be friends with a guy who attacked Naruto?" Sasuke asked with an innocent expression. Miyuki glared at him suspiciously before frowning.
"Well I'll have to see what happened there, but from Naruto and Kabuto, not from you," Miyuki huffed before turning to Itachi expectantly.
"Yes I know where Kabuto is. I'll gladly escort you," Itachi said, standing. Miyuki nodded and followed Itachi.
⌠火の竜巻⌡
Shin and Sai made their way to the palace and were directed to Naruto's room by a servant. Upon getting to the room, Sai opened the door and ran in, barely taking in the greeting room before running into the bedroom to jump on Naruto's bed. Shin sighed and followed, closing the door behind them. Shin, unlike Sai, was minorly impressed by the greeting room and took his time to walk through to the bedroom, where Sai had dragged all the covers from the bed and rolled Naruto onto the floor without the girl waking up.
"Shin, is Naruto dead?" Sai asked with tears in his eyes. Shin sighed.
"No she just sleeps hard, Sai," Shin said.
"How does she survive situational awareness training if she sleeps this hard?" Sai whimpered.
"Sai, Naruto wasn't taken to the same place we were for training," Shin hummed.
"Is that why she's still so bright?" Sai asked softly.
"Maybe," Shin shrugged.
"So how do we wake her up?" Sai questioned turning to look at the snoring girl sprawled on the floor. As they looked at Naruto, the girl rolled onto her side and curled into a ball, tucking her face into her knees. They proceeded to try shaking her, poking her, throwing water on her, yelling in her ear, and even Sai bouncing on her, only for nothing to work until Sai got a devious look on his face.
"Naruto, Shin's picking on me," Sai whined next to her. To which Naruto instantly sat up with fire in her eyes, zeroing in on Shin despite having just woken up.
"You know better than to pick on Sai! What is wrong with you?" Naruto demanded only to be confused when Shin and Sai both started laughing. "Why are you two laughing?"
"We've been trying to wake you up for hours, and nothing worked, but Sai saying he was in trouble did?" Shin said through chuckles.
"You came into my den while expecting me to wake up like you two aren't part of my troop, and moreover, I have to protect the youngest of the troop," Naruto shrugged.
"That wasn't mocking laughter. I'm just relieved you haven't changed," Shin said with a grin. Naruto hummed but stood up with a slight smile until she noticed the mess.
"Why am I wet?" Naruto questioned.
"It was Shin's idea," Sai blurted, pointing at the teen who raised his hands with a slight smirk. With a sigh, Naruto shooed the boys out of the bedroom to get ready for the day.
Once ready, she joined the boys in the greeting room.
"What was so urgent that you had to wake me up anyway?" Naruto asked.
"Miyuki realized this morning that we forgot Kabuto yesterday, and to make him not feel forgotten, we are going to meet up with him today. So we figured we'd get you, and we would all be together for the first time since we split up at the orphanage. It'll be like a big family reunion!" Sai cheered.
"I'm not sure that it's a good idea for me to come," Naruto said hesitantly.
"No one cares about your status," Shin immediately states.
"That's not exactly what I'm worried about," Naruto muttered.
"What do you mean by that?" Shin demanded, crossing his arms.
"You know he tried to kill the next Hokage. I stopped him and threw a Rasengan in his stomach; he tried to kill me in retaliation. Just ninja things," Naruto waved. Shin gave Naruto an unamused look.
"Now you are definitely going because I need to hear both sides of this," Shin informed Naruto. Naruto groaned but nodded.
"Alright fine. Though we should stay in the palace in case I'm needed," Naruto sighed.
"That's fine," Shin shrugged.
⌠火の竜巻⌡
Shin, Sai, and Naruto were in a smaller tea room in the palace close to her office when Miyuki opened the door. Kabuto had just been told that Shin and Sai wanted to meet up as well, so they were gathering somewhere that Sai was unlikely to get lost. Kabuto was mildly confused as to why, as Sai never got lost, as it was always her job. He was further confused when they entered the palace but figured it was just a good place, as the Uzumakis so far seemed a little too trusting, much like her. It really only got to him when they entered a tea room and he saw Sai sitting in Naruto's lap.
Sai, despite his sweet disposition, did not like strangers. He would cry and scream as a toddler if someone he didn't know touched him, let alone picked him up. Sat nice and quiet, peacefully drawing in a black book while on Naruto's lap. Naruto, who had the same blond hair as her. Naruto, who had the same blue eyes as her. Naruto, who had the same naive, trusting disposition as her.
"Did you change the spelling of your name?" Kabuto demanded, irritated. Naruto looked up, blinking with wide eyes.
"No I misspelled it when I was little. I was corrected when I went to the academy. Though I wish it was fish cake and not malestorm," Naruto said. Kabuto looked at Naruto blankly for a moment.
"I should have seen it. I really should have seen it. Though I thought your Sasuke issue would have been taken care of by now," Kabuto sighed, slumping into a seat.
"What issue? We're engaged," Naruto asked, confused, tilting her head. Kabuto froze before turning to Miyuki and Shin.
"You allowed this?" Kabuto asked.
"This is the first I'm hearing about it," Shin defended, raising his hands.
"I just found out that I am unfortunately related to him," Miyuki huffed as she poured tea for everyone.
"We're out of the loop because we were trained by Root until Magic Seal got rid of our seals and got rid of Danzo," Sai chirped. Kabuto stopped for a moment before taking a large breath and nodding.
"Right. Should have thought about that. How did you get here then?" Kabuto hummed.
"With Danzo gone, Baa-chan started looking into what he was doing and found Root. She had people figuring out who belonged where and if they would be welcomed before sending them. Shin and Sai are Uzumakis. Well, Sai is from a clan that was close to the Uzumakis but," Naruto shrugged.
"Okay that explains Sai and Shin. Why is Miyuki here?" Kabuto questioned, still confused.
"The official answer is that two of the three remaining Uchiha do not like Konoha anymore and live in Uzu, but the unofficial answer is, do you want to be the one to separate them? If so, go right ahead," Naruto offered with a wave. Miyuki raised her brow at Kabuto, who wisely shook his head.
"I see your point," Kabuto stated.
"So since neither of you is going to bring it up, what was your fight about?" Shin asked, looking between Kabuto and Naruto.
"It was nothing personal. Just politics," Naruto tried.
"Politics don't include murder," Shin disagreed.
"Do you not know how ninja villages are run?" Kabuto asked, concerned.
"Trust me, I've been taking politics lessons, and they very much do run on murder," Naruto nodded. Shin and Miyuki share a concerned look.
"And you're okay with that?" Miyuki asked gently.
"Of course not, but another thing I learned during my lessons is that you have to hear the other side's arguments to tell them why they're wrong," Naruto informed with a nod.
"To get us back on track, the fight?" Shin stated firmly, refusing to allow Naruto to derail yet another conversation.
"It wasn't even supposed to devolve into a fight! We were just there to ask Tsunade-sama to heal Orochimaru-sama's arms! Tsunade-sama threw the first punch. Then Naruto jumped in, which now that I know that it's the same Naruto is not surprising, but at the time I didn't know anything except that she was this annoying kid from the chunin exams in a fight that's way over her head. So I tried to get her down quickly, but she kept getting up. I tried taunts, and I admit I got a little frustrated towards the end and pulled a kuni, but then she caught the fucking kuni! With her bare hand, she hit me with a rasengan with the other! It sent me into a boulder, and I collapsed after a bit, though Naruto was down immediately afterward," Kabuto explained.
"Thank you for sharing, Kabuto. Naruto, would you like to share your side?" Shin asked as if he were speaking to small children.
"Baa-chan is family, and all three of you taught me that you always protect family. Besides, she was the only one who knew how to raise Uzu in the first place," Naruto stated.
"You should refer to Tsunade-sama with more respect, Naruto," Kabuto scolded lightly, only to be met with a slight scoff from the blond.
"It's disrespectful to be respectful to an Uzumaki it's why the more we hate you, the more respectful we are to you," Naruto explained.
"Wait does that mean calling someone Baa-chan or Jii-chan is respectful?" Kabuto asked with a frown of confusion.
"There is no higher honor than to be referred to as family," Naruto nodded.
"Anyway, so Naruto didn't mean any harm jumping into the fight, and Kabuto is a dumbass who didn't recognize his little sister. Did I miss anything?" Shin summarized.
"Naruto why did you use the Rasengan and not something less deadly?" Miyuki asked with a mildly concerned look.
"It was the first time I had successfully used it. I didn't know how deadly it was, and I didn't have anything less deadly," Naruto explained with tears in her eyes.
"And this is why you shouldn't have jumped into the fight," Kabuto snarked with a roll of his eyes.
"Please tell me your repertoire has expanded since then," Shin begged.
"Yeah, I've learned a couple jutsu since, and I've also been learning seals," Naruto nodded. The other three teens sighed in relief.
"And I think that wraps up the fight discussion. You both know what you did wrong and know what to do better in the future. On to a more important matter, Naruto, what the fuck do you mean you're engaged?" Shin screeched. Naruto looked at Shin blankly for a moment, trying to understand the outburst.
"I asked Sasuke to marry me," Naruto stated.
"Why?" Kabuto whimpered.
"He brought me ramen when Ayame first set up shop. He spent his limited people time helping her set up and make ramen for me, a whole pot, and brought it to me when he didn't have to. Just because I hadn't had ramen in three days," Naruto explained simply. Miyuki nodded as if it made sense.
"At least he did something right," Miyuki sighed.
"You asked a guy to marry you because he got you ramen," Kabuto asked blankly, trying to understand but not quite getting there. Naruto smiled and nodded.
"Yup. It was sweet, and this way I don't have to deal with proposals from outsiders," Naruto shrugged.
"You thought of that second half just now," Shin accused.
"Please Akiko was the one who told me. I never would have come up with that on my own," Naruto laughed with a slight wave, causing Kabuto to sigh.
"Why did you have to fall in love with a Uchiha?" Kabuto asked.
"What? I'm not in love with Sasuke," Naruto chuckled. Slowly her grin fell as her brow furrowed and she thought back. Naruto thought about their interactions and how they were compared to how she acted with Shikamaru or Hinata. Squinting slightly confused, Naruto came to the understanding that what she felt for Sasuke was not just friendship. It may have started there, but somewhere it grew past that into something more—something deeper and more a part of her than a friend.
"Kabuto why did you say anything? We could have had her turn thirty before she realized anything," Miyuki snapped, glaring at Kabuto.
"I didn't mean to! It just slipped out!" Kabuto huffed, cringing slightly. Naruto carefully picks up Sai and sets him down beside her before standing and heading to the door.
"Where are you going?" Shin called.
"I'm going to find Sasuke," Naruto replied without looking back or stopping.
⌠火の竜巻⌡
The Uzu library was quiet and quiet aside from quiet whispers and turning pages, for once, until the sound of someone running was heard. Slowly and quietly patrons of the library followed the running and saw it was the princess with the Uchiha bo. Many of them started placing bets on what was going on as they watched. Naruto, for her part, took a few breaths once she found the brothers, and Sasuke turned to face her.
"I found out that I love you," Naruto blurted, looking at Sasuke. Naruto wasn't scared or even worried about how Sasuke would react for the simple fact that she never acted like Sakura or Ino. She just felt he should be informed in case it changed anything on his end of things.
"Yes, I know," Sasuke nodded, unconcerned. Naruto let out a relieved sigh and sat in a chair next to him. Itachi started chuckling, unable to keep silent anymore, causing Naruto to snap her head to him and Sasuke to turn red.
"How long have you been there," Naruto questioned. Sasuke sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"The whole time, dope," Sasuke replied.
"Huh that's weird. I didn't notice him. Why's he laughing?" Naruto asked with a tilt of her head.
"Because he's an asshole," Sasuke stated.
"Runs in the family then," Naruto smirked.
"I'd watch how you talk; that's the family you're marrying into," Sasuke huffed with a smirk. Naruto shook her head.
"Uzumakis marry in, not out," Naruto shrugged.
"Fine by me," Sasuke shrugged.
"So the engagement is still a thing? Even though I'm in love with you?" Naruto asked, trying to be sure.
"The grass is green. The sky is blue. You're in love with me, and I'm in love with you. I don't see why this would change anything," Sasuke said with a shrug. Itachi starts laughing harder, causing Naruto to look over at the man worried before looking back at Sasuke.
"Is he okay?" Naruto asked, even more concerned. Sasuke sighed.
"I don't know, ask Emiko," Sasuke said.
"Because she's a mednin?" Naruto asked, tilting her head. Sasuke smirked, and Itachi stopped laughing.
"No because she's the one who took him home. He's her problem now," Sasuke stated. Naruto looked at Sasuke with her head tilted, still confused.
"I don't get it, but okay," Naruto agreed with a smile.
⌠火の竜巻⌡
The three Senin were having their reunion at one of the few bars that Uzu had open. Before the drinks came, they were awkwardly staring at each other, sharing looks that spoke volumes about what they didn't want to say aloud. After the first drink, small talk commenced. Things about the kids, the weather, and how the villages were simple, uncomplicated subjects that eased them into conversing with each other again. Several drinks in, the three were reminiscing about past missions, good times, and even past hopes.
"I know you two better than this. What did you two really want to talk about?" Orochimaru asked, setting aside his cup.
"How well informed do your little spies keep you on what goes on in the village?" Tsunade asked with a sigh.
"Reasonably, when they have the time to break away," Orochimaru responded tensely.
"Are you aware that due to a seal that we were given by the Uzumaki Danzo, he has been labeled a traitor to the village and all of his assets have been seized and searched," Tsunade said carefully. "During the search, previously unknown information has come to light about several of our former ninjas. Including you."
Orochimaru sat back in his seat from where he had been slightly relaxed, ready to run. Unsure of what Tsunade was getting at, the Snake Senin narrowed his eyes at her, confused.
"And that information was what?" Orochimaru hissed in question.
"Most of it's about Root," Jiraiya stated bluntly, hoping to head a fight off at the pass.
"I'm not testifying. If that's what you're here for, you're wasting your time," Orochimaru hissed defensively. Tsunade sighed and hit Jiraiya.
"We don't need you to. We just want to apologize for believing you could do those things. For not being close enough for you to think to come to us for help," Tsunade said, holding back tears.
"Thank you. Even if I had gone to you two, what could you have done besides end up in the same hell I did?" Orochimaru stated.
"At least you wouldn't have been alone then," Jiraiya said.
"And if all of us ended up kicked out of the village, who would have watched the kids? It's bad enough that Mikoto had a child kidnapped under our noses with only one of us gone! If none of us were around, what would have happened to Naruto?" Orochimaru hissed.
"We weren't actually there," Tsunade sighed.