Namikaze Raimon looked down at the young, whiskered boy, a warm and genuine smile softening his features. The sight of his nephew, so small and alone, sent a pang of sorrow through his reanimated heart.
"You've had it rough, kid," he said, his voice laced with a sympathy that felt foreign after so long.
Naruto Uzumaki felt a strange, instinctual pull towards this blond man. He looked so much like the face on the mountain, and his chakra felt… familiar and safe. Yet, years of loneliness and rejection made him wary. He took a half-step back, his body still tense.
"That… that can't be right!" Naruto protested, his voice a mix of confusion and defensive anger. "Jiji… Grandpa Hokage said I don't have a father! That I'm just an orphan, dattebayo!"
The childish, heartbreaking declaration made Namikaze Raimon's head throb with a sudden, white-hot fury.
So, Hiruzen Sarutobi and that snake Danzo had gone through with it. They had hidden everything.
He could only imagine the rest—the expired milk, the scornful glares from shopkeepers, the lonely, dark apartment. It seemed the script had played out just as tragically as he'd feared.
He shook his head, a wave of helpless sadness washing over him. "Oh, you poor, clueless baka."
For now, he would have to deal with the immediate giant, sandy problem. The full story would have to wait until he could have a… chat with the Third Hokage.
...
"It's fine. Let your uncle take care of this bit of trouble first," Raimon said, his tone shifting from gentle to focused.
As he spoke, he raised his right hand. A familiar, high-pitched whirring filled the air as an enormous, brilliantly blue drill of concentrated wind and lightning chakra began to spin into existence above his palm.
Poof!
A massive cloud of smoke erupted, but it wasn't a new arrival—it was a departure. The great toad Gamabunta had vanished.
....
"Damn it all! How is that demon back from the dead?!" the toad boss's voice had trembled, echoing in the space he left behind. He had been summoned to deal with a rampaging tanuki, only to find the one being every creature on Mount Myōboku spoke of in terrified whispers. Jiraiya, that irresponsible pervert, had summoned him and then ditched him for a hot spring!
The stories were legend among the toads. Many of his kin had fallen victim to this man's "experiments," not only suffering the infamous "blooming" but also being subjected to something horrifying called 'Beautiful Frog Fish Head Transformation'.
Feeling a sympathetic, phantom pain in his own substantial backside, Gamabunta didn't wait for a dismissal. He broke the summoning contract himself and fled back to the safety of Mount Myōboku.
"Eh? Why'd the big toad disappear?" Naruto scratched the back of his head, completely bewildered. He had no idea the toad had just made the smartest decision of its long life, escaping a fate worse than death.
"Tch~ What a coward," Namikaze Raimon pouted, the massive drill in his hand spinning even faster, stirring up a vortex of leaves and dust around them. Gamabunta's sudden departure had caused both he and Naruto to drop the few feet to the forest floor.
...
Meanwhile, the One-Tail, Shukaku, was finally completely free. Gaara's consciousness had fully receded, leaving the insane tanuki in full control.
"I'M FREE! FREE! FREE!" Shukaku roared at the sky, its giddy laughter echoing through the trees.
And then, it felt it. A chakra signature it had prayed to every tailed beast god it would never feel again. A chill of pure, unadulterated terror ran down its sandy spine.
"N-no… It can't be! I saw him die! I felt his chakra vanish!"
Its massive, pupil-less eyes swiveled in horror, locking onto the source. The familiar blond hair. The familiar, sadistic grin. And the all-too-familiar, crackling blue drill of doom.
"NOPE! NOPE! NOPE!"
....
Forgetting its grandeur and its battle with the Nine-Tails' vessel, Shukaku immediately dropped to all fours and began frantically digging at the earth like a panicked squirrel, sending sand and soil flying everywhere. It tried to bury its head in a quickly-forming crater, as if by not seeing the threat, the threat would cease to exist.
"No! This won't work! The seal! I have to get back to the seal!"
Abandoning its digging, Shukaku retracted a giant claw and began frantically tapping Gaara's forehead, which was peeking out of its sandy form.
"Hey! Brat! Wake up! Stop pretending to sleep, you little punk! WAKE UP!"
...
Under the desperate, violent shaking of a terrified tailed beast, Gaara's consciousness was forcibly jolted awake. The moment Gaara's awareness returned, Shukaku didn't hesitate. Its entire massive form dissolved into a torrent of sand that violently sucked itself back into the seal on Gaara's stomach.
"MADE IT! HAHAHA! I ESCAPED!" its triumphant, fading voice echoed from within the seal.
Gaara slowly sat up, a hand to his throbbing head. "Is… is it over?" A familiar, cold smirk started to form on his lips. "Hmph. As expected, they were all weaklings."
He rose to his feet, ready to look down upon his defeated foes. But his eyes landed on Naruto, who was standing perfectly unharmed next to the strange blond man. Confusion washed over him.
"How is this possible? Did Shukaku… fail?"
He reached out internally, trying to communicate with the beast, to demand an explanation. But there was only silence. Within the seal, Shukaku was curled into a tight, shivering ball, refusing to make a single sound. Facing Hashirama or Madara was one thing. Facing that man was another. It wouldn't die, but the pain… the spiritual scarring was too much to bear!
...
In the trees at the edge of the clearing, Temari and Sasuke watched, utterly dumbfounded.
"Shukaku… it… it was scared back into Gaara?" Temari whispered, her fan nearly slipping from her grasp.
"Just who is that man?" Sasuke's expression was dark, but a fierce, new hope ignited within him. This power… this was the kind of power that could make even monsters flee in terror. If he could learn from this man, if he could harness that strength, then achieving his goal… killing him… would be within reach.
"Tch~ Ran away again?" Namikaze Raimon sighed in disappointment, allowing the gigantic Wind Thunder Spiral Ascension Electric Light Poison Dragon Drill to dissipate from his hand with a faint fizzle.
"Alright! Show's over," he announced casually. "You two," he said, glancing at Sasuke and the recovering Temari, "escort these two Sand siblings back to Konoha. They're prisoners now."
...
Sasuke, seeing an opportunity to get closer to this new source of power, immediately moved to secure Gaara. Gaara, disoriented and cut off from Shukaku's power, weakly tried to resist, but a sharp, fearful look from Temari made him stand down. She had no intention of provoking the man who could scare a Tailed Beast into submission.
Just then, Kakashi Hatake arrived in a shunshin, dispatched by a desperate Hiruzen.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, running over to his teacher and immediately launching into an exaggerated retelling of his "epic" battle with Gaara. Then, he grabbed Kakashi's vest, his eyes wide and hopeful. "Kakashi-sensei! This person says he's my dad's older brother! Is it true? Tell me!"
...
Under the intense, hopeful gaze of his student and the dangerously calm stare of Namikaze Raimon, Kakashi felt a cold sweat break out. Denying it was not an option. That path led directly to a personal, close-up demonstration of the legendary drill.
He swallowed hard and gave a slow, deliberate nod. "It's true, Naruto."
"REALLY?!" Naruto's joyous shout could probably be heard back in the village. He bounded back to Raimon's side, his earlier wariness completely forgotten. "You're really my uncle? But… but why does everyone say I'm a monster and that I have no family?"
Hearing the pain in that simple question, Kakashi awkwardly averted his gaze, unable to look the boy in the eye.
"That's great! From now on, if anyone calls me a monster, you'll help me beat them up, right, Uncle?" Naruto declared, clenching his fists with newfound confidence.
Namikaze Raimon's heart ached. The confirmation of Naruto's suffering was a heavy weight. He knelt down, bringing himself to Naruto's eye level, his smile returning, broad and reassuring.
"Of course. From now on, if anyone dares to call you a monster," he promised, his eyes glinting with deadly seriousness, "I will make sure their backside blooms into the most beautiful flower in all of Konoha."
Kakashi's visible eye twitched. He knew that was not a metaphor. It was a literal, medical promise of catastrophic posterior rearrangement.
I have to warn the Hokage. Now. Cold sweat poured down Kakashi's back. If this wasn't contained, Konoha would face an epidemic of 'blooming' backsides the likes of which no medical-nin was prepared to handle.
"Ahem! I'll, uh, take charge of these two," Kakashi said, his voice slightly higher than usual as he gestured to the Sand siblings.
Namikaze Raimon gave a slight, regal nod of permission. Only then did Kakashi dare to usher a subdued Temari and a confused Gaara away.
"Hey, Uncle," Naruto asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Who's stronger, you or Kakashi-sensei?"
Namikaze Raimon stroked his chin in thought. This was a tricky one. Kakashi of the Sharingan was a formidable opponent, a genius who could hold his own against S-rank threats. "Hmm… I'm not sure. We'd have to fight it out to know for certain."
Kakashi, who was still within earshot, stumbled slightly. A wave of profound discomfort washed over him. "You're not sure"? Thank you for the vote of confidence, but please, be more certain! I surrender! I forfeit! You win!
"Let's go, kid. Time to go home," Raimon said, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder and leading him back towards the village. Uchiha Sasuke followed a short distance behind, his mind racing with dark and ambitious plans.
....
Deep within the hidden, labyrinthine base of Konoha's Root, multiple agents knelt in perfect unison before their leader.
Danzo Shimura stood with an imperious expression, his single visible eye burning with cold ambition. "Recall all Root operatives on external missions. Immediately."
A grim smile played on his lips. "Hiruzen Sarutobi… the things you lack the stomach to do, my Root will accomplish. The people you dare not eliminate, my Root will erase. We will act first, and seek permission never. This… is the true will of Konoha!"