What it takes to be Hokage

Chapter 24

The room was dark when he woke and relatively free of people. Only his mother was there, sleeping in the chair next to his bed. Naruto wasn't exactly disappointed. He needed the time to think.

First, how was Madara still alive?

Second, how had he known where Naruto was?

Third, would he try it again?

Fourth, did he have inside help?

To the first question, there were a number of possibilities. None of them ones he could prove until he got to speak to Madara directly. It would explain why the village allowed the invasion in the first place. Madara, as a key founding member would have his chakra keyed into the seal matrix. He'd have no trouble coming and going.

To the second question, Madara may have known where he was using the village seal matrix, but that was unlikely given that in order to use the matrix as Naruto did, one needed to be a sealing master. So it was more likely that Madara had someone on the inside which would answer the fourth question. The man was still considered part of the clan, but perhaps not part of the village.

Would he try it again? Maybe not like that. Everyone would be too on edge now. His father wouldn't allow him out of the village, and he'd probably have a security detail on his butt the moment he moved in any direction. Well at least until everyone was sure that there wasn't a threat anymore.

Problem was, with Madara still around, and the tailed beast seals being broken, Naruto was in desperate need of finding out just how many were still left and how many had been stolen. Madara knew what was in those boxes, and worse still, knew that Naruto was needed to open those boxes.

Taking a moment to assess his body, Naruto concluded that he was going to be in the hospital for a little while yet. Without Kurama he wouldn't heal as quickly and there was only so much medical ninjutsu could do, even if it had been Tsunade treating him.

Right now, with regards to Madara, the only thing he knew for certain was WHY the Uchiha was after him. There was no way that Madara could know about his Shodai 'awareness' so to speak. If Madara knew what Hashirama had done, he had no way of knowing if Naruto would pop up as a separate entity, or if he'd integrate into his younger self's mind as he had done. More importantly, there was no way for the man to know WHEN he'd arrive. Not definitely. Hashirama could have done all the calculations he wanted but at the end of the day, time travel was a fickle thing. If he'd been just slightly off, then Naruto might not have survived the trip at all. Therefore, with certainty, he could say that Madara wanted the Naruto of this time. The genin deadlast son of the Fifth Hokage, not the Shodai.

If they couldn't get chakra from Tatsumaki and Arashi anymore, then Naruto was the next best place to try. Only, that hadn't worked. So what would Madara do now? Assuming Madara had been the one to place those seals in the first place.

.0.0.0.

Minato approached Naruto's room deep in thought. He had a moment in his schedule and he wanted to visit his son. Naruto had been in the hospital for almost two weeks now, giving the nurses a hard time, trying to escape every other day. The only reason the boy was lying there at all was thanks to Haruto-san's paranoia. The man had placed summoning seals similar to the Flying Thunder God seals on Arashi's teammates in case of emergencies. Kakashi's speed and Haruto's chains had saved his son. Kakashi's quick intellect also being a key factor. He'd arrived, taken in the situation and reacted a second after, getting to Naruto with the same speed that made the Chidori possible. More than what Minato had been able to do.

The blond Hokage poked his head around the door to see Naruto sitting in the bed, staring out the window. "Naruto-kun." Minato greeted, glad to have caught the teen at a quiet moment. Apparently Tatsumaki had taken to visiting Naruto every day.