Chapter 49

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Third person pov

"Kakashi, stand down." The Hokage sighed. Attacking them and forcing them to cooperate would mean he'd be making a dangerous enemy. One that would never tell him a secret truth he had been desperately wanting to hear. They were an odd, unexpected group that was tightly knit. They would not trust so easy. Especially not after all Hiruzen had just done. The Hokage knew this, but he needed to start somewhere. The event with Ibiki had also shaken them.

"Hokage-sama, what is the meaning of this?!" Fugaku fumed. That was his son! Even if he was missing an arm and had those accursed eyes, that was still his son. Clan be damned, he wasn't about to stand by and let him hang out with the likes of Orochimaru! He already wasn't sure where Itachi had run off to. Shisui was missing as well, even though Mikoto had insisted they'd all been at the house when she went to make tea.

"Attacking now will get us nothing, and Naruto is right." Shikaku sighed heavily. He just wanted his son back. His little boy... "They... Well, they haven't really done anything wrong. Not legally anyway."

"Finally." Gaara grumbled, leaning back into his father who watched the situation with calculating amusement.

"You do realize that we're right here, right, Shikaku-san? A sannin, four beans that could take you down any day and a Kage." Rasa's eyebrows raised almost tauntingly.

"Beans?" Kakashi muttered, but he was left unanswered.

"Yeah, Gramps. Why not come have a civil chat with us anyway?" Naruto sighed. He didn't want to talk. It was late, and this body was young, and Rasa and Orochimaru were basically putting off their body heat in waves at this point. He was about to drift off! He could tell his friends were too, all of them slumped together around him. He took a deep breath.

The Hokage eyed them, well, mainly Orochimaru, as he walked forward. The nurse from before had gone just as quickly as she'd gotten there, leaving Shikaku and Fugaku with a plethora of unanswered questions relating to why they were here, and just what had happened to that Hidan man.

"Shikamaru, please come sit next to me." Shikaku begged as he pulled up a chair next to the one The Hokage had grabbed. The young Nara heir stared at his father with a heavy sadness that made the man recoil ever so slightly.

"Orochimaru is warm, dad. I'll just stay here." He muttered solemnly. The sannin awkwardly patted his head, unsure of what other comfort he could offer. He knew Shikamaru had lost his father early on in the war. The sannin's action earned him more than one dirty look so he stopped, looking at Rasa, who shrugged. Orochimaru sighed. He needed a new hoodie and a fresh pair of sweatpants.

A tense silence fell over them. One that Sasuke evidently didn't care too much about. Exhausted, he let his eyes close, his body going slacker than before. Fugaku pursed his lips irritably at the action. He hated that his own son trusted this damn snake more than he trusted his own father. His own father who he had barely even looked at since he came in! That he hadn't said a word to!

"Jiraiya is on the way." The Hokage said suddenly, his tone cold. Naruto jolted upright. The Hokage paused.

"Jiraiya!" Orochimaru grinned, looking down at the wide eyed Naruto.

"W-Whoa, for real?!" The blonde gasped, and The Hokage's eyes narrowed. What was this?

"How do you know him?" The Hokage, deep down, hoped Orochimaru had said something about it. He had a sneaking suspicion this went far deeper than he ever could have imagined. He was so close to the truth. Inches away it felt like. There was a single answer that could explain everything. It was sitting in front of him in the form of four kids, a Kazekage and a sannin.

"He's... Ugh, fuck this." They were screwed anyway. The enemy, whoever they were, knew everything anyway. These guys weren't going to leave them alone either. "He's my god father, okay? Jesus Christ, this is making me so pissed."

"This has been amusing though." Kurama chimed. Naruto was finally breaking, which meant it when time for him to rejoin.

'Oh, now you show up? Asshole.'

Kurama had been oddly quiet, watching sleepily from within Naruto, still recovering from the jutsu he'd done not too long ago. He'd been satisfied just watching, yet now they were going to nose dive right into the deep end, so he thought it may be good to give his two cents. After all, he was part of this little band of time travellers too.

"Calm down, Naruto." Shikamaru sighed tiredly. The blonde hissed a little.

"Oh, yeah, let me just calm down." He rambled. "We've been back- what? Over a month? We've done nothing! We've been so preoccupied with not getting caught that all we've managed to do is, well, nothing! Jack shit! Well hey, one of us was hospitalized, I guess that's something! What's next, huh? We can't use chakra. We can't control it. We can't do anything!"

"You have a point." Sasuke mumbled, not bothering to open his eyes. He was too tired to care about anything anymore. This whole time travel thing was failing anyway.

"And you!" Naruto turned to look at Rasa. The man froze. "I don't know what happened to you, but you're all weird now! You wanted to kill Gaara before! Orochimaru literally killed you and wore your body as a meat suit and yet you're sitting next to him! And your shoes have wheels in them!" Naruto threw his hands in the air. The Hokage blinked owlishly. What was happening? Fugaku and Shikaku didn't know either...

"He knows." Rasa whispered.

"Don't even get me started on you." Naruto hissed, looking up at Orochimaru. "Where have you been, huh?! We needed you! You're basically the only mature one here that can do stuff! Why didn't you disguise yourself and come here?!" Naruto tugged at his hair. He was so done to be honest.

"I almost died." Orochimaru paused. "Ah, right, I was also with Tsunade-hime."

"Oh, that makes se-" Shikamaru paused. "WHAT?!"

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