Burning Orange

Disclaimer: I, Darkpetal16, do not own Naruto.

Warning: All warnings are addressed at the bottom of chapter two.

Beta:

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

It's a deep and silent night,

I cannot hear anything,

sleep for eternity!

The grieving, the fury, enveloped inside

Such a maelstrom, it roars so loud

I'm losing my way in, the darkness tonight

Silent, I'm fading out.

- Silent Solitude by Sam Luff

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"What are you doing with those Poprocks?" I asked, narrowing my eyes with suspicion at Obito. I had only finished warming up Naruto's bottle for his evening meal when I turned around and found Obito squatting down and holding a bag of poprocks out towards the toddler.

"I've always wanted to see what a baby's face looks like when they eat poprocks," Obito said innocently.

My left arm transformed into wood and I whipped it around to slap Obito on the arm. "Step away from the baby, you idiot! You don't give poprocks to someone that young. He could choke!"

"But—but—c'mon, Oni-hime," Obito whined.

"No," I snapped, spikes growing out of my arm. "Go help Kakashi make dinner before I hit you again."

Obito puffed out his cheeks before doing as told and headed into the kitchen. I heard Kakashi's snort behind me followed up with Obito's typical Shut up.

My arm returned to normal and I smiled at Naruto, who sat upright in his highchair. I leaned towards him, gently kissing his forehead. "Your uncle is silly."

Naruto reached up, innocent smile on his face, and grabbed my hair with tiny hand. With ease, I lifted him up out of his chair and placed the sippy cup in his hands.

The toddler suckled on the sippy cub for a minute before looking up at me and saying, "Candy!"

"No candy," I disagreed as Kakashi left the kitchen and came into the living room.

"Candy," Naruto insisted.

"This is why we don't leave you alone with Jiraiya," Kakashi sighed with a small head shake. Jiraiya, Naruto's godfather, had visited a two months ago for Naruto's first birthday. He had stolen his godson for the entire day afterward and brought him back home hyped up on sugar, and taught him a new word.

That word being: candy

I passed Naruto off to Kakashi, kissing both on the cheek. "I need to do some paperwork for the next council meeting."

"I'll make sure he finishes dinner then give him a bath," Kakashi said, easily adjusting his grip on the toddler.

"Candy!" Naruto cried out.

"No," we both denied.

"I'll help you when I get back," Obito said, hopping out of the kitchen while carrying a wrapped bento. "Don't forget to get dinner for yourself, hime."

I brushed my hair over my shoulder before I responded. "I'll grab a plate now, then. Thanks."

"I'll go make sure Sensei eats," Obito said, heading towards the front door. "Have fun with paperwork and bathing the little monster."

"Mon-stah!" Naruto cheered.

"You're not a monster, little sunshine," I disagreed. "Stop calling him that, Obito."

"As soon as he's potty trained," Obito retorted before leaving.

"Candy?" Naruto asked.

"No," Kakashi immediately said. "Finish your bottle."

"Candy," Naruto insisted.

"No," we both said again.

"Candy," Naruto said sadly, looking reluctantly at his candy-less hands.

"I'm going to break that man's legs," Kakashi muttered under his breath. "Come on, Naruto, you can play with the puppies if you behave yourself and finish dinner."

Naruto squealed in delight at the word puppies. The display made me smile, and I took my leave there. I grabbed a bowl of pork, rice, and leeks before retreating into my workroom. I shut and locked the door behind me, activating the privacy seals.

I only had an hour's worth of paperwork to complete before the next meeting.

After a year of recovering from Kurama's attack—and Kurama did not devastate the village nearly as much as he did canonically because of my timely intervention—Konoha was nearly back on track. Everything had been rebuilt, and our casualty rate was rather exceedingly low considering what had transpired. We didn't even have to bring anyone out of retirement to keep up on the mission load after Kurama's attack.

Now that Konoha was back in shape, however, it was time to address progression.

Our village had come out victorious in the war and it was time to reap the benefits.

We would be at peace for at least a decade—Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure were suffering tremendous losses and would be in recovery mode for another six years, minimum. Iwa and Kumo were especially hit hard from my decimation of their forces, followed up with Minato's legendary thousand-death killing spree in the span of half an hour. Kirigakure would soon be facing their own civil war once I took over, which meant Konohagakure had the luxury of true peace for a while.

This meant it was time to strengthen our forces as much as possible.

During the war the academy standards had become lax, forcing it to turn out more cannon fodder faster. Now it was time this was adjusted since we were at peace and could afford to take our time.

My new proposal had children entering the academy as early as six, and graduating at twelve.

Ordinarily, they would not enter until eight, but I was going to argue that it put them at a greater disadvantage later on, especially children from a civilian background. Those with clan connections received training that early and were already familiar with chakra by the time they came into the academy while civilians were left to muddle around.

This caused a disproportionate amount of graduates at the end of each year, and some shuffled off permanently to the Genin Corp. While there was nothing wrong with being a Genin, I believed anyone could become Jōnin if they applied themselves and received proper early instruction.

By forcing children into the academy at six and having them be instructed for an additional two years by the time graduation rolled around they would be that much more prepared.

Of course this, in turn, meant that the graduation exam had to be adjusted. Merely using the standard three techniques would not be enough.

Instead, they had to—in addition to knowing the three—master tree walking, have beginner's mastery in one specialized skill (such as swords, medical, poisons, or some other thing), and pass a psychological profile.

The psychological profile was mostly to vet out potential spies, like Kabuto.

Tree walking was a no-brainer, and the specialized skill would allow us to sort out where they should go after graduation with more ease. Minato had mentioned, rather frequently, he wished to start up a medical program to train those who had already graduated from the academy. Obito wholeheartedly supported that idea and asked me to push it forward for the council on his behalf.

I accepted after much bribery.

Namely humiliating Obito.

Flashback

"You want me to do this paperwork for you?"

"Please, hime?" Obito begged.

I stared blankly at him, then glanced down at the awful puppy ear headband in my hands that Jiraiya got for Naruto. I was about to throw them away when Obito came crying in and begging for me to support his decision about the medical program and do the paperwork. I held them out to him. "Wear this. Bark and ask again nicely."

"I'm not—"

I turned away.

Obito cried out, "Okay, okay! Give them, give them!"

I turned back around, all smiles and handed him the puppy ears. He put them back on, his face grimacing into a pout.

"Bark," I said sweetly. "Beg your master."

"You're a fucking psycho," Obito muttered, at my glare he straightened up and morphed his face into something like a puppy dog pout. "Woof. Please? Woof-woof."

Kakashi walked in at that moment.

Kakashi stared at Obito barking, who in turned stared back at Kakashi with the deadest eyes. Kakashi looked over at me and I beamed at him.

"Okay. I'm afraid I'm going to have to kink shame you both now," Kakashi said. "Shame on you both."

"It's not like that!" Obito cried out.

"How rude of you to shame my kink," I said, ignoring Obito's wail of despair and plea that it wasn't anything like that. "You're an exhibitionist."

"Something you will never shame me of," Obito said, "when you literally carry around a bullwhip."

I patted the bullwhip on my side. "You guys gave it to me as a birthday present. I don't hear barking, Obi-tan."

"Woof, woof," Obito sniffled.

"What a good boy you are," I said. "Okay I'll do you... half your paperwork. To do the rest, you have to keep wearing that for the rest of the day."

Obito's tears were like art to me.

End of flashback

I would have rejected it out of spite otherwise (because it was Tsunade's dream and she would be thrilled to know it was being implemented).

That plan, however, was still a work in progress.

Mostly because of the budgeting standpoint. Doctors and medical training was expensive.

Tsunade had originally set aside all of her own personal funds—funds I stole from her as soon as I became head before I kicked her out—so it was doable, but the bitter part of me was reluctant to use them. Besides, they would only go so far and we still had to secure a permanent source of income for the program.

That was something Obito was working on, and once he had it figured out Minato and I would push forward with the plan.

Returning to my current proposal.

I already had the backing of most of the Clan Heads—a lot of them were eager to put their children in school as early as possible—and a handful of the civilian leaders. The only issue was some of the stodgy folks on the educational board didn't want to allocate the extra money to hire the necessary teachers in order to actualize the plan.

They hated the idea that I dared to suggest cutting into their precious salary to do so.

So, Minato and I had to work on a different budgeting plan to accommodate those bastards. Namely we did a whole bunch of minor budget cuts—not enough for any one department to bother raising a fuss—and allocated the extra money towards the project. Thankfully with the influx of missions no one was going to hurt too bad from the budget cuts.

And finally, tonight was all about organizing all of this paperwork into a presentation for the Council to vote on next week.

If it passed then it would be implemented the following year.

Paperwork, my old enemy, it is time for our next battle, I thought grimly as I stared down at my mess of folders on my large desk. With a rueful sigh, I set to work.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

The streets were quiet in the morning.

The sun had not yet fully risen, only peaks of light barely escaping the horizon and gently brightening the sky. The crisp winter air tasted of frosty dew, and not a single cloud could be found in sight. The people moved about slowly, quietly, setting up their businesses and murmuring pleasant greetings.

Naruto, barely over a year old by that point, was looking around the street with wide blue eyes. I had him in a black makeshift carrier that wrapped around my shoulders and waist. He could walk on his own, but he didn't move fast enough for me to feel comfortable enough to allow him to do so on a busy street.

And the swaddle helped keep him warm—not that he needed much help since he inherited his mother's notoriously high body temperature.

As we passed by the citizens of Konoha each one noticed us and bowed in our direction. There were murmurs of, "Good morning Senju-sama / Pleasant wishes, Senju-sama / Bless you, Senju-sama," and other such nonsense. They looked on with admiration, and in some cases plain adoration.

My reputation from the war, coupled with my now "legendary" repeated rescues of the daimyo (and the fact that I personally trained the current heir), on top of my victory over Kurama had firmly cemented my status as a legendary figure in Konoha.

I was proud to say my infamy well exceeded Tsunade's.

"Candy?" Naruto whispered, pointing towards a bakery. The older man who was setting up the shop noticed Naruto's intense gaze and smiled with fond amusement towards the toddler.

He looked up at me, smile widening. "Senju-sama, would you do me the honor of having the first sweet buns today?"

I smiled politely in return, projecting an air of warmth. "I would be delighted, Baker-san."

The baker bowed towards both of us, disappearing into his shop for a handful of minutes before returning with a bag filled with freshly baked sweet buns. I gave one bun to Naruto, who immediately bit into it and let out a squeal of delight. "Yum!"

The baker smiled in genuine happiness. "Naruto-chan looks well today. How is Hokage-sama?"

"Busy as always," came my standard reply. "Have a wonderful day, and try to stay warm."

"You as well, Senju-sama."

I continued down the street as I headed towards the council meeting. The meetings usually took place in the evening but there was an expected snowstorm so the meeting was moved up to eight in the morning. Unfortunately such meant that we didn't have a babysitter ready for Naruto, so he would be attending the meeting with me.

Naturally not anyone was allowed to watch over Naruto. Literally only myself, Kakashi, Obito, Jiraiya, and Minato. Obito was selling his mother's house today—right this morning, actually—and given how much he cried about it last night we decided only Kakashi would keep him company and I would take care of Naruto.

Grief could be odd like that. He hadn't cried since he told his mother goodbye over a year ago, but selling her house magically put him right back in that moment.

Kakashi would take care of Obito for the day, he'd take him to a good bakery afterward for some comfort food before going home. I would assist with the comfort when I returned from the meeting, and Minato would watch over Naruto for the rest of the day.

The council meetings was held in the Hokage's building, of course, on the third floor. I wasn't the first to arrive, nor the last, and I saw that Hiashi was holding a tiny Hinata in his arms.

He noticed Naruto right away and inclined his head. I approached him first, and Naruto enthusiastically waved his hands.

"No babysitters today?" Hiashi inquired, adjusting the sleeping Hinata.

"I was going to ask you that," I teased. "Don't you have an entire clan to help you?"

Hiashi's face twitched briefly.

"Oho? Could it be that a certain beautiful wife of yours accused you of not spending enough time with your daughter?" A sly grin stretched over my face. From the subtle twinge of his lips I knew I hit the nail on the head. "Aha."

Hiashi sighed. "And what's your excuse? Your boyfriends too busy?"

"Yep," I agreed, never one to deny that the three of us were a couple because it drove Obito insane. "Did you already talk to the secretary to set up the playpen?"

"Of course, Senju-hime," Hiashi said, looking for all intents and purposes offended I even asked that.

While I smirked at how uncomfortable Hiashi looked with his only daughter—who was barely a year old, as well—the secretary rushed into the room and began to set up a collapsible pen.

More clan leaders entered after her, and once she had finished setting it up Hiashi and I deposited our children into it. Hinata had awoken from the movement, but was still groggy and began to lean heavily onto Naruto. Naruto, who had been awake since three that morning, was starting to get sleepy and fell backward before letting out a snort and falling asleep.

I took my seat beside Minato—Senju was always to the right of the Hokage—and shortly afterward the meeting began.

But, something odd happened during that meeting. Something that had been happening more, and more frequently. Every time Fugaku, leader of Uchiha, rose to speak...

... Minato's eyes turned cold.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

After the council meeting, Minato took Naruto out of the pen and asked about how Obito was doing. I was explaining what had happened last night—since Minato hadn't come home due to his obligations as Hokage—when I was interrupted.

"Senju-sama?"

I paused in my conversation with Minato, turning around to address Fugaku. I smiled politely at him. "Yes, Uchiha-sama?"

"A word?" Fugaku inquired, returning my smile with a polite one of his own.

I bowed my head in acknowledgment and Minato dismissed me with a wave of his hand before he left the office. I followed Fugaku out of the Council room and down the hall. We talked while we walked.

"I have not forgotten what Obito-kun was like as a child," Fugaku commented pleasantly. "Untrained, ill-disciplined, reckless... a proper deadlast if you will."

"Yes, he was certainly a work in progress," I agreed.

"I know he has you to thank for his level now," Fugaku continued. "Now he does the Uchiha Clan proud and is widely considered a powerful Jōnin, even earning the moniker of Ghost."

My lips twitched faintly at that title. Obito's kamui only allowed him to phase in and out of his dimension. Without the Mangekyou stage he could not teleport very far, nor bring others into his dimension. His discovery of his ability shortly after Kushina's death was met with quiet acceptance, and he earned the moniker of Ghost after a handful of S-Ranked solo missions had spiraled out of control. He had gone toe-to-toe with some powerful S-Ranked criminals, and he came out on top every time. His clients called him a ghost on the field, and so the title was granted.

He hated it. He said heroes weren't ghosts.

I loved it. Certainly better than demonic tree spirit.

Urk.

"He's very capable now," I said. "What is your point, Uchiha-sama?"

"I shall be frank, Senju-sama: I wish for you to train my oldest son, Itachi."

Ah-ha.

What is it with people and wanting me to train them? I thought, momentarily thinking about Mo and his desperate need to be trained by me. I still had to visit the capital once a month to give him private lessons which mostly consisted of me being him around the training grounds until he passed out.

I honestly wondered if he was a masochist.

Still—

There was no real reason to refuse. I had cut back on my missions considerably to focus on raising Naruto and my responsibilities as a clan leader. I didn't have a clan to lead—most of my work was on politics for the council and securing alliances with the other clans—so I had a substantial amount of free time.

Even the Akatsuki didn't require more than a bi-monthly check up since Nagato and Konan were both extremely competent people. Since it was winter Madara was asleep.

"Okay," I agreed. Itachi would be, what? Seven? Six, maybe? That would be the ideal age to start training. "I'll come by tomorrow evening to do an assessment and we'll work out a training plan afterward."

Fugaku inclined his head. "Thank you, Senjus-sama."

"Of course. Whatever it takes for Konoha to become stronger, right?"

I pretended not to notice the brief discomfort on his face.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Naruto was more than happy to come along and play with Sasuke while I assessed Itachi. While the Uchiha boys' mother watched the two of them play I took Itachi out to the nearby training field in the complex and asked him to demonstrate what he could do.

It surprised me he didn't have a Sharingan.

Did I end the war sooner than canon? I wondered.

Even without the famed eye he was clearly talented and respectful. Teaching him would be an absolute breeze in comparison to Mo or Obito.

It was quickly worked out that I would take Itachi away three days of the week to train. He was to take the following days as resting period and if I ever found out that Fugaku was making him train or work during those days there would be literal hell to pay. I patted my bullwhip while staring him down and the clan head accepted the agreement without much fuss.

Once that was taken care of it was time to do my check up on the Akatsuki. I slipped out of the village, changed into my costume, and teleported over to Amegakure using a chain of trees I had set up underground many, many years ago.

"Welcome back, Owari," Konan murmured as I entered the top room in the Akatsuki tower.

I smiled behind my mask, adopting my persona. "Thank you, sister. How is our brother?"

Konan smiled fleetingly. "Well. We have found a third path for Pein."

"Wonderful. Do you require any assistance?"

"No. I will be more than sufficient."

I nodded to show acknowledgment, stepping further into the room. "In a month I will begin my orchestrations in Kirigakure. If I find worthy enough to assist our cause, I will send them your way."

Konan inclined her head. "That would be good—ah, we will be dealing with a food shortage in Amegakure soon. There was a plague on the farms we would normally rely on, and all their crops are dead."

"Intentional?"

"Uncertain at this point, but I am looking into it."

"Very well, sister. I will secure food elsewhere, then."

That will be a hassle. We needed Amegakure to shape up enough to serve our cause in the war. Madara wanted me to raise Konoha to be strong enough to entertain him during the war, but I had to make sure none of the villages are too strong.

I could keep Kumo and Iwa down by harassing them from the shadows while they're still recovering from the war. It shouldn't be too hard to blackmail some clients away from them, too. Kirigakure I'd personally sabotage with my civil war, and Sunagakure will never regain its strength as long as their daimyo still hated them.

Amegakure, on the other hand, we wanted to serve in our cause. We wanted to unite all of the smaller nations under the banner of the Akatsuki.

That was because, despite how much harassment I did, they are still the major villages. They are powerful, and without outright attacking them they would grow into a threat. If we raised these villages in our belief, however, instilled absolute loyalty and gave them power...

I planned to incite the hatred of kekkei genkai users in Kirigakure, but instead of outright slaughtering them I would carol them into Amegakure. We would induct them to our cause.

Of course, this could only be done with children.

Adults would be too much of a hassle to persuade, so I would still kill them.

But the children would be reported dead by Kirigakure, and instead raised under Konan and Nagato's careful guidance.

They would be raised for the war to end all wars.

Once Amegakure was secure, we would slowly draw in the other nearby small villages.

They all knew the horrors of war. Their lands and homes were used as stomping grounds for our bloody battles.

They would not be hard to sway, of this I was certain.

So, Amegakure had to become stable and strong as quickly as possible. The sooner it was, the sooner we could begin to induct others into it.

A food shortage was highly troublesome.

I had allies in court as Naasica, and I had allies as Owari. Already within the very first year of his coronation Nebu had managed to form a very large divide amongst the nobilities. He was notoriously strict with his viewpoints, and openly beheaded those who broke the laws.

The people adored him for it because he had beheaded a quarter of nobility already.

The nobility despised him and were already amassing plans to overthrow him.

Of course, I couldn't let that happen so soon. I hadn't yet groomed his son to take over the throne. He would ascend in five years, I believed, but certainly no sooner.

It was important to let the nobility fester on their hatred until they simply couldn't take it. They would be the ones to rise up in arms against him. They would waste their money and resources trying desperately to stop him.

Only when they were at their lowest point, desperate enough to even sell their souls, Owari would be there to help them.

Owari would be the one to guide Mo into chopping off his father's head and presenting it to the nobility.

The nobility and Mo would be indebted. Mo would be hailed as a hero, exactly what he wanted.

Both would be more than willing to supply the Akatsuki whatever they needed on the side.

Returning to the point, however, Naasica and Owari had allies in the court. Naasica's allies were the few nobles that sided with Nebu, and Owari had allies with those who resented the current daimyo.

Unfortunately, the ties weren't strong enough on either part to secure a food supply for Amegakure.

Which meant I would have to actually buy some farming contracts.

I had already amassed plenty of money from many years working under Madara. I pillaged and raided so many wealthy monsters I honestly lost count.

But most of that money was intended to amass an army. It was an irritation to have to spend it on food for a feeble village.

Especially when I knew if things had gone according to plan I wouldn't have had to spend that money.

If someone actually did intentionally release a plague upon those farmlands they better pray to whatever god they believed in that I wouldn't get a hold of them.

I wasn't feeling merciful.

I channeled chakra into one of the Zetsu spores I kept on me, summoning the twisted white creature. When it appeared I ordered it, "Take more spores and asses which farms can be bought out to ship exclusively to Amegakure."

"Yes, Owari-sama."

"I want a report by tomorrow night."

"It will be done."

The Zetsu sunk into the floor, disappearing, and leaving Konan and I alone.

I'll secure a food supply first before I move on to Kirigakure, I decided. Making sure Amegakure was stabilized took precedence, after all.

It would be ridiculously easy to throw Kirigakure into chaos. I doubt it would take me more than a month to incite the civil war.

"Is there anything else?" I inquired.

Konan shook her head. "No. We're constructing the greenhouses for the medicinal herbs, and plan to have those finished within a few weeks."

"Good. Any other buildings falling behind?"

"The extra lodgings you prepared for an influx of orphans from Kirigakure is still a work in progress," Konan admitted. "It will be done before the year ends, however."

"Acceptable, then. I will leave you to it. I will have food secured within a week."

"Thank you, brother."

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

"Hime..."

I shifted in my bed, my mind slowly transitioning into awareness. It took a handful of seconds before I was coherent enough to remember where I was. My eyes opened slowly and I found myself staring up at the face of one of the Zetsus.

It seemed to grin at me, though there was no mouth on this one and it only had one eye. It whispered (somehow), "Hime?"

"I'm awake," I said softly, moving to sit up. The Zetsu phased more out of the wall in my room, its arm reaching out and helping me tug the blankets off. "What's wrong? Does Madara-sama need me?"

Zetsu shook his head. "There's another one."

Confusion greeted me. "What?"

"There's another mokuton user. We can sense its chakra. It seems Orochimaru succeeded."

I stilled, horror and revulsion washing over me like a sludge wave. The wave passed quickly enough, though, and was replaced with absolute fury. Anger seared inside every pore of my being, and my eyes were alight with rage. "What."

The Zetsu nodded. "Madara-sama told us to tell you whenever we sensed one. He wants you to proceed how Senju Naasica should."

The anger faltered at the mention of Madara and his orders. Orders were orders. No matter how dearly I wished to set fire to Orochimaru and skin him alive, I knew I could not, yet. I was not strong enough, nor did I have enough political power to move against him and Danzo. Which begged the question of how exactly Madara wanted Senju Naasica to proceed, and not Owari.

As Senju Naasica, I would be outraged and what had occurred and attempt to "save" the mokuton user before it fell into unseemly hands. I would deem it my obligation as Senju Clan Leader to take responsibility for the mokuton user. I would induct it to the Senju clan in order to increase my standing among the council and Konoha as a whole. The mokuton was revered among shinobi and kunoichi alike. It was guaranteed to provide high status (as long as the user was competent) or be lost in the system to be used for breeding purposes.

From what I could vaguely remember (it was also so cloudy—I had given all my memories to Madara for him to remember. I did not need to remember that past life anymore, for I trusted Madara to use the knowledge to do what was right) that there was a mokuton user in the anime. T-Tezo? Ten-something?

It didn't matter. I knew that the mokuton was mutated into his body, and was not inherited naturally like myself. It was an aberration and as such the user was incapable of reproducing offspring with the mokuton. It was for that reason that he was drafted into ROOT, and not kept hidden away to be used as essentially a sperm donor.

Returning to the point, though.

As Senju Naasica, I would have to bring this mokuton user under my wings.

For what purpose did Madara want me to do such, though? Another mokuton user could only spell—

Oh.

Another mokuton user in my clan would increase my standing on the council, true. It would also present me in even more favorable light if I "saved him" from the "big, bad Orochimaru." Furthermore, it would force Orochimaru to either fight me for him—thus revealing himself—or at least limit his freedom in experimentation.

Over the past few years, Madara has had me do whatever I could to limit Orochimaru's experiments, which forced Orochimaru into the village.

If the experiment was brought to light, Orochimaru would be forced to flee the village and thus would be vulnerable to Madara's plans.

It made sense, in that aspect, to bring Orochimaru's experiment to light. It did not make sense (as Owari) to allow the mokuton user to live. Senju Naasica would want the mokuton user to live, and be under her care and influence, whereas Owari would want to quickly eliminate the potential threat.

So why did Madara want the mokuton user to live? For what purpose could such a creature serve his plans?

More entertainment for the war?

It was possible, but regardless the reason didn't matter at the time.

I trusted Madara. Whatever he had in store for the new user was for him to know, and him alone at that time. I did not need to question his orders; I only needed to follow them.

So, as Senju Naasica I want to expose Orochimaru for his crimes, preferably murder him or have him executed, and induct the mokuton user into my clan to increase my political standing and power, and influence him to be beneficial for me in the later years.

Zetsu swayed gently, and as if sensing my thoughts, he said, "Orochimaru will not be able to move for seventy-two hours. Well, closer to sixty-nine, now. The experiment was a success, but the user is fragile at the moment and will require three days to become stable."

"I see," was all I said. "Can you tell me where the mokuton user is being held?"

"Directly underneath Konohagakure's East Hospital. If you go into room 104 and go straight down, you'll find him."

"Very well. You may go now."

"Yes, Hime."

Once Zetsu was gone I hopped out of bed, got dressed, and moved to wake up Kakashi, Obito, and Minato.

Each of them were instantly alert when I told them there was an emergency. Minato quickly grabbed Naruto without waking him, and all of us gathered in the living room for my explanation.

"There's another mokuton user," I said with absolute certainty. "I can sense him."

"What?" Obito repeated back, his brow furrowing. "How—"

"How are you certain?" Kakashi asked. "Are mokuton users able to sense one another?"

"It's possible," Minato admitted, holding Naruto close to him. "Hashirama-sama never met another user, and up until now—wait are you pregnant?"

Obito and Kakashi looked at me in abject horror and I snorted. "Don't be stupid. We haven't had sex, yet."

"Ever," Obito hissed out.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "So you sense another user? Does that mean Tsunade's back and she's pregnant?"

"That whore is nowhere near the village. I'd have already gutted her if I sensed her," I spat out, momentarily filled with bitter disgust. "No. I don't know what's going on, but it's coming from the East Hospital, below ground."

That got some looks.

"We need to check it out, then," Kakashi said. "Let's go."

"Report back immediately what you find," Minato ordered. "You have twenty minutes before I send in the ANBU."

The three of us lazily saluted at that before dashing out the front door. Within five minutes we were at the hospital, and within another three I was standing in room 104. Without hesitation and promptly slammed my chakra-charged fist into the flooring and it gave away.

The three of us fell down over thirty meters before landing in a laboratory.

It was something out of a horror movie. Tanks filled with glowing green liquid, blood stains everywhere, broken glass and loose wires as far as the eye could see. The lights above us flickered, looking ready to go out at any moment.

"What the fuck," came Obito, looking around.

While I agreed with that sentiment, I came with a purpose. Within a minute of landing in the cliche mad scientist lab, I located a tank that still had a child inside of it. I approached it, Kakashi and Obito following behind me.

As I arrived the child opened his eyes.

One black.

One burning orange.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Bonus: a continuation of the humiliation

Kakashi looked at both of us again before he shook his head. "No wonder everyone thinks we're a couple."

"What?!" Obito squealed out in horror, his voice cracking because the poor sixteen-year-old hadn't finished puberty.

Kakashi nodded. "Oh, yeah. I got asked out today by this girl, and her friend interrupted to loudly warn her, and I quote: Everyone knows Hatake-kun is dating Senju-sama and Uchiha Obito!"

"You corrected her, right?" Obito half-demanded, half-pleaded.

"Of course I didn't correct her," Kakashi answered. "It'd be too much of a hassle otherwise."

"Why?!" Obito practically screamed, his hands flying up to cover his mouth like he was deeply scandalized by the idea.

"If people think I'm dating you two they leave me alone," Kakashi explained rather cheerily.

I nodded in agreement, smiling. "Sounds absolutely perfect."

"No, it does not!"

"Why?" Kakashi and I asked him.

"What if I want to date someone else?!"

"How dare you try to cheat on us," I said mockingly. "You should be ashamed of yourself.

"We're wounded, Obito," Kakashi fake whined. "You're breaking our heart."

"We aren't dating!" Obito's voice was starting to go up a few octaves, and cracking even more so. "We are not a couple! Or threesome. Or whatever it's called."

"According to Konoha, we are," I pointed out. "Ah, you know, this does explain some comments made by the council. Especially by Fugaku."

"Oh, no," Obito whispered, his eyes widening in plain, abject terror.

Kakashi patted his shoulder. "There, there. You know what would cheer you up?"

"I think I do," I chirped. "How about we take him out on a date?"

"That sounds like the perfect idea," Kakashi agreed, an evil gleam in his eyes.

"No!" Obito denied, but it was too late. We had our minds made up.

There would be no stopping us.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Half an hour later we had chakra repressing cuffs on Obito's wrists and ankles and forced him into clean clothes. Then we were dragging him out the front door, all the while he gave us a hateful glower.

"Oh," Minato said as he entered the home, Naruto in his arms. "Where are you three off to?"

"We're going on a date," Kakashi and I said while we dragged a whining Obito behind us.

"The three of you?"

"Yep," I answered, perfectly straight-faced.

Minato blinked once. "Okay. Have fun. Come on, Naru-chan, let's practice reading."

"Candy!" Naruto cried out with glee.

"I object," Obito cried out as we dragged him out the front door, his face redder than roses. "I object a thousand times over. I don't want to be a—ah—a—ah weird couple!"

"Shh. You don't have to deny your feelings anymore, Obi-chan," I cooed. "Let's show the world how much we love each other."

His loathing look made Kakashi and I burst into laughter.

(ง ⌣ ~ ⌣) ง

Cute fan art by arneewenn on deviantART of Naasica in a swimsuit. Tempted to do a beach omake or something because of it. :)

Answer: Support I'd want Naruto since he'd absolutely have my back all the way. Rival I'd want Obito.

Question: Motive for being evil? What's your end goal? World domination, or maybe complete destruction of humanity?

Reviews are love!

Sorry for long update. My deadline for my first draft for my very first original story is October 31st so I've been spending a lot of my free time working on that.

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