The Blessed Realm

Chapter One Hundred Fifty-Six: Elephant Baby

Sasuke and Naruto told the head of the police of the documents Sakura had brought to Music Town, and he signed an official order for the experts of the police to check them for authenticity.

“You can take it there yourselves,” he said. “And also, you should take some time to say good-bye to your classmates. They'll miss you.”

They agreed that in the afternoon the whole class would get some time off for this, and then both Sasuke and Naruto promised him that they would return to Music Town, and be it only for a visit, and that they would be alive at their return. They felt weird, and their hearts hurt.

Visiting the experts came as some kind of relief, as they did not have to tell them that they were going to leave Music Town. The experts had a look at the documents, and they did not declare that they were obviously faked, but they said that they needed the experts from the university to help them, as they were not specialized in documents from the ninja villages.

“If this is true, and if Danzou asked that masked man to call the kyuubi, it will be the end of his time as Hokage,” they said. “The other kages will have an official reason not to meet with him any more, and the daimyou will be forced to ask him to step down from office. He'll welcome it, I guess.”

The experts at the police told them where to find the experts from university, and they also gave them a letter, asking those experts for support.

“We can't come with you as we have other work to do, but we'll visit them later to discuss the documents.”

Sasuke and Naruto left and realized that it was getting later and later. Sasuke steered Naruto to the place of the guy from Earth Country and his husband.

“We're sorry that we're late,” he said. “And we are even more sorry that we have to tell you that it will get even later. We need to take the documents our friends brought to Music Town, the ones that prove that Danzou was in alliance with the man who called the kyuubi, to some experts from the university and get them checked for authenticity.”

“I thought you wanted to depart as early as possible,” the guy from Earth Country said.

“We've changed our plans. We need to get these documents checked and printed. We'll pick them up tomorrow morning before dawn, and then we'll leave.”

“Like this we won't arrive empty-handed,” Naruto explained. “We'll distribute the paper among people in Konoha, so that more of them will join the insurgency.”

“But first we need to seek out the experts at the university,” Sasuke added.

“Well, then we'll have breakfast in the afternoon. It's all okay to us. The longer you stay in Music Town the happier we are.”

They went to the university, but instead of looking for the experts Sasuke first went to the Ph.D. student they had spoken to some time ago.

He looked up when he saw them.

“We have found something we thought you might be interested in,” Sasuke said. “Friends from Konoha have managed to escape from the village and flee to Music Town, and they brought some documents about the kyuubi's attack against Konoha at the time of Naruto's birth.”

He gave the documents to the Ph.D. student, who read them and then stared at the boys.

“What do you think?” Sasuke asked.

“It's like the last piece of the puzzle. It's always been clear that the kyuubi's attack came quite convenient to Danzou: It allowed him to get rid of Minato, and it allowed him to blame the kyuubi's attack on the Uchiha.”



“So this would rehabilitate my family,” Sasuke said.

“I haven't thought of it, but yes, this would be proof that your family had nothing to do with the kyuubi's attack and that the accusations against them were wrong.”

“So people will understand that their hatred against my family was without any foundation.”

“I'm not certain about this. I guess most of them have always known that their hatred was unjust and without foundation, so giving them proof won't change that. People normally get stubborn when you tell them that the prejudices they've kept for a long time are wrong.”

The words hurt Sasuke, even though he knew that probably they were correct.

“But why – why did they hate us so much that they wanted us all dead?”

“I'm not so certain that hatred was Danzou's primary motive, even though he certainly did not like the Uchiha. After all they had provided Minato with the evidence that allowed him to disband Root. Still I think that his main motivation was that he wanted you to be the sole survivor of your clan.”

“He wanted me to survive?”

“I think that this was what he was aiming for.”

Sasuke had no idea what to say.

“Danzou's most important aim was to establish a new jinchuuriki in order to return to Konoha's old ways of doing politics: be stronger than everyone else so that other countries fear you, and you can do what you want. With the kyuubi's attack, and with Minato sealing the kyuubi into you” - he was looking at Naruto now – “he had the jinchuuriki he longed for. However, he also needed an Uchiha with the Mangekyou Sharingan, and this was the role he had in mind for you. The only problem was that the clan opposed the idea that one of them should acquire the Mangekyou Sharingan, both because of what you need to do in order to acquire it and because of its negative side effects on your eyesight. So he needed you alone, without your family to protect you.”

“And for this he killed them all.”

“It's like when in former times people wanted to capture a young elephant or a gorilla baby. They'd have to kill the entire family in order to lay their hands on the little one, because otherwise the whole family would fight for their baby.”



“Sasuke is not an elephant, or an ape,” Naruto said.

“Of course not. And nowadays it's even forbidden to kill elephants or gorillas in order to capture their babies. But Danzou did not shrink away from killing humans.”

“And my brother collaborated with this,” Sasuke said. “He murdered the family and turned me into a lonely vulnerable child.”

“You already explained to me why he did this: he was being manipulated. People had told him that in order to preserve peace he had to murder his family.”



“I sometimes wonder if there isn't a grain of truth in it. He wanted to avoid a rebellion from the side of the Uchiha, and now we'll really have a rebellion. Itachi feared that a rebellion and a civil war in consequence of that rebellion might lead to another war.”

“There's no such grain of truth! Really! I mean it! Forget it! Your brother was being lied to. Danzou was never interested in peace. At best he was interested in the safety of Konoha, but that's not the same as peace. I don't think that other countries will attack Konoha because of the present rebellion. Konoha has been in a state of weakness for months and they haven't attacked her, so why should they now? They don't want to get stuck in a civil war. So it's only the rebellion itself, but that's a result of Danzou's politics. You don't need to feel responsible for it in any way. Also, it's not clear that if your brother had refused to murder your family he would have caused a rebellion.”

Naruto took Sasuke's hand. “It will be a nonviolent rebellion,” he said. “We'll see to it.”

“You want to join the insurgents?” The Ph.D. student asked.

“We will."

The man swallowed. “Take care of yourself.”



At least he did not try to convince them to stay in Music Town.

“And when you return, tell me how it went.”



Naruto didn't answer, as he still was not certain whether he wanted to return.

“There's something I wanted to ask you,” he said. “You said that Sasuke's family tried to protect him against having to acquire the Mangekyou Sharingan. You said that even gorillas and elephants do everything to protect their young ones. But my father did not protect me against being turned into a jinchuuriki. He himself sealed the juubi into me. It's been bothering me since we last met.”

The man had to think for a long time before he found an answer.

“It's as you said: Your father wasn't an elephant or a gorilla, but a human being. Animals follow their instincts. People however have to think about what they're going to do. Your father was in a dilemma: the kyuubi had attacked, and it was his duty to fight him off. He knew that he could only defeat him at the prize of his own life. He knew that he would not be able to protect you when all this was over. Maybe he thought that life as a jinchuuriki would be easier for you than life as the child whom his father had refused to turn into a jinchuuriki.”

“He might have left Konoha and raised me in some other place.”

“He might have done this. I guess it was incompatible with his sense of duty. He was the Hokage of Konoha after all.”

“So Konoha was more important to him than I was.”

“I am certain that you were important to him too. Your father was a good man. He was Hokage only for a couple of years, but during these years he did what he could to turn Konoha into a peaceful village that's well respected by the other villages. He did what he could to keep Danzou in check, and he disbanded Root. Still the political situation remained difficult. Not everyone in Konoha was happy with the reforms your father introduced. Some were glad to see him gone after the kyuubi's attack. And also, there's nothing he could have done against Danzou and the masked man cooperating to call the kyuubi. It was not his fault.”

He paused to think again.

“Your father was a good man, but he was human, and he had to choose what to do in a horrible situation. Maybe he was not perfect. Maybe when you think about it, you will retain your conviction that he should have left Konoha in order to raise you in some other place. But it was him, not you, who had to come to a decision in that situation. Still I am certain that he loved you and that he would have loved to raise you himself. Maybe when you return to Konoha, after the insurgency has been successful, you may be able to find some personal documents like a journal or letters to your mother that show how much he loved you and how he was looking forward to your birth. And if you can't find anything personal there's still what he did as Hokage. If you have nothing else, then what he did as Hokage may convince you that all in all he was a good man, and a father to be proud of, and a Hokage whose tradition you may continue when you yourself become Hokage.”

Naruto was silent. He did not know what to think.

“Sasuke's family wanted to adopt me after the kyuubi's attack” ,he finally said. “Our friend from Konoha brought with her the proceedings of the meeting of the clan council where they decided to make the Uchiha move to some distant corner of the village. Apparently they used the fact that they wanted to adopt me as a pretext for banning them.”

“Proceedings?” the Ph.D. student said, suddenly sounding excited. “And she's here in Music Town? Can you tell her to see me, and to bring the documents with her?”

“We can,” Naruto answered, feeling confused by the man's change of mood. After a few seconds, however, he got serious again.

“Maybe your father knew that he was going to die,” he said. “Maybe he had made arrangements with the Uchiha that they would adopt you.”

“Maybe,” Naruto answered.

The man looked at both of them. “It's so weird: parts of Danzou's plan worked out: you're the jinchuuriki, and Sasuke has the Mangekyou Sharingan, and he's at your side to act as your back-up in case the kyuubi gets out of control. Only that he can't use you as his tools any more: Killerbee has helped you to make friends with the kyuubi, and also you've left Konoha in time. You have come to Music Town and learnt about other approaches to politics, and you've a mind of your own. He can't use you any more as if you were twelve years old.”

 

A/N: Thanks again for your reviews and your plusses! You can find my answers at http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14965-blessed-realm/ .It is now possible to access the thread without registration at the forums.