Restless

:-( My computer is sick, aka, it has TWO viruses. Thankfully the anti-virus protection prevented it from deleting all my files, but I'm still wary about using my computer in case it infects my flash drives, and then screws up other people's computers. I've been hijacking someone else’s a few minutes here and there, so, sadly, updates will be longer in coming. Sorry about the delay.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't download AMVs from unknown sources.

Oh, and enjoy the chapter!

Restless

Chapter 17: Restless Problems

"Again," Kakashi's voice rang out, but Naruto only barely registered what his sensei was saying. His head was spinning, and he felt utterly exhausted. Still, it did not stop Naruto from standing up, and trying again. He had managed to complete the first stage of training in a matter of hours - something that Kakashi informed him should have taken months, but this second stage, creating his own version of rasengan was dragging out.

Seven weeks had gone by since he had begun training, and Naruto was continuously and continuously training. He was getting better at combining his wind chakra within the swirling ball of his rasengan, but it just wasn't how he wanted it. Something about it felt off - felt too unstable, yet he continued to work with it, trying to get it more powerful.

One of the good things about practicing perfecting the rasengan with his mass clone jutsu was that his chakra reserves were steadily increasing. Naruto felt an increase in power with everything he did. His body was becoming more and more used to massive amounts of chakra coursing through his body, and though the feeling was exhilarating, it tended to be extremely exhausting.

Naruto gave Kakashi-sensei a slight nod as he got up off of where he had been lying utterly fatigued on the ground, and made the hand-seals for tajuu kage bunshin no jutsu.

"If he were doing this without kage bunshin, it would have taken him years to get to this point," Yamato said, as he sat on the ground, doing his best to keep alert to help keep Naruto on task, and to help control Naruto if the Kyuubi was released.

"Yes," Kakashi murmured. There was silence for a few minutes before Yamato spoke again.

"As you requested, I submitted the information to the council for review several weeks ago. They have finally gotten back to me. Before they even bother to test Naruto to see if he is Yondaime's son, or to see if Naruto is Kyohaku's grandson, they're having me double check and see if Kyohaku is related to Yondaime first. The council requested that I discuss this "new piece of information" about this discovery that "I" made with you first, to gauge your reaction. They clearly don't realize that you already know about your father's past lover. Though I think the council is being a bit naïve, I think they might truly be concerned about your reaction as well, and how you might take being related to the Yondaime and Naruto," Yamato said.

"The council is biding its time. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the council members, perhaps even all of them, already know that Naruto is Yondaime's son. I think that is why they are doing this round about process," Kakashi sighed.

"Why would the council try and prevent all of Konoha from knowing that Naruto was Yondaime's son?" Yamato asked.

"The Kyuubi naturally," Kakashi said.

"Even so, shouldn't that have made the council want to announce Naruto's heritage even more to help moral? Honestly, knowing that the Yondaime put the Kyuubi vessel into his son would have probably alleviated more tension in the very beginning. So many people thought that Naruto was actually the Kyuubi in human form. If they had known for sure whose child he was, they would have known that that wasn’t possible. Plus, those who knew Yondaime knew that he would never have placed anyone in harms way, especially his precious people. Yondaime sealing the Kyuubi inside his son would only mean that he was sure that the beast would no longer be a threat," Yamato argued.

"But the Kyuubi is still a threat," Kakashi murmured, as he watched the lines on the real Naruto's cheek thicken, his nails lengthening ever so slightly. "Naruto! Keep a cool head!" Kakashi ordered. Naruto glanced over at them, his face and hands back to normal.

"I know!" Naruto hollered back.

"I don't disagree with you that the council is taking unnecessary actions, but it would take us longer to try and fight their decision. It's best to just move forward through all the obstacles they throw in our way as quickly as possible. Why do you think I have started this process forward now? I don't expect the council to approve of Naruto over night. This process could still take years. I’m not expecting Naruto to jump into the position of the Hokage tomorrow. If we start now, then when his time comes, then perhaps more people will like Naruto,” Kakashi said.

“When people give him the chance, he’s hard not to like,” Yamato said.

“I agree. The council is deliberately giving us these problems to deal with because they dislike Naruto because they don’t know him. We'll probably only be running into more problems from here on out, until they give Naruto a chance," Kakashi forewarned.

"True," Yamato said, as a grin spreading across his face, "And you know, just because the council wanted just Kyohaku and Yondaime's relationship to be tested first, doesn't mean that we can't then test Naruto and Kyohaku, and then Naruto and Yondaime’s DNA second and third right after," Yamato said, grinning. Kakashi chuckled.

"Finding the loop holes, and exploiting them?" Kakashi asked.

"Just like a good shinobi should," Yamato replied. “I even made an appointment for the three of us to go and see Kyohaku at the daimyo's main house tomorrow morning," Yamato said.

"All three of us?" Kakashi asked, frowning.

"Naturally. I think if it were just me, she'd be a bit more closed mouth. From what I have read from some of your past mission reports, people have a tendency to mistake you for you father," Yamato said.

"That's the reason I didn't want to personally go," Kakashi said, feeling awkward at the idea of meeting the woman that had come before his mother.

"Well, you have to go because it was requested by an anonymous person, and thus assigned to us as a B-Rank mission that Tsunade has personally assigned the three of us," Yamato said grimly.

"I thought you said that you made an appointment. How’d it turn into a B-Rank mission and why would something like that have such a high ranking?" Kakashi asked incredulously.

"I made the appointment before it was assigned to us. Next thing I know, I had to send another message to explain that it was to obtain classified information because Tsunade came to me personally about the mission. I suppose this received a “B-Rank” because it is considered obtaining high class information," Yamato smiled, wryly. Kakashi merely nodded, wondering if Jiraiya or even Tsunade had requested this mission themselves. It would sure help by-pass some of the council from getting in their way. If it was a mission that brought in money, and if the council didn't have a legitimate excuse for declining the mission, then things would go much, much faster.

"I suppose I need to go anyway to give a DNA sample to see if my father was also Yondaime's father, not that I expect anything different," Kakashi said. He fell quiet again, watching Naruto train before speaking a few minutes later. "What are we going to use for Yondaime's DNA?" Kakashi asked. Yamato coughed, as a blush spread across his cheeks.

"Sperm," he said.

"Sperm?" Kakashi questioned, surprised. "Why does the council have the Yondaime's sperm sample?"

Yamato shrugged, clearly just as clueless as Kakashi was as to why the Council had such a personal sample of the Yondaime's DNA. For some reason, besides it being a little gross, the council having Yondaime's sperm sample after sixteen years past his death did not sit well with Kakashi.

It didn't sit well with him at all.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"I thought Tsunade gave me time off from missions to train," Naruto said, frowning, as he walked with Yamato and Kakashi towards the daimyo's house.

"Even if your body is apt at healing itself, taking a break and helping out Konoha isn't a bad thing, is it?" Kakashi asked.

"I never said I didn't want the mission," Naruto muttered, putting his hands behind his head and looking off to the side. "It is nice to enjoy seeing Konoha, and of course to help out," Naruto mused as he looked around him, the sun shining down happily upon the three of them.

It had been a strange morning for Naruto. He had gotten up early, as normal, and had gone to the training fields only to find that both Yamato AND Kakashi were already there. Naruto had immediately known that something was off. Not only was Kakashi there already - he was early. The two men had proceeded to tell him that they had to do a B-Rank mission. Naruto had been disappointed that he couldn't start training right away, but they assured him it wouldn't take all day. Naruto had been pumped to go on the mission right away so that he could get back to training. He had assumed that they would get right to the mission, and come back right away after they had finished.

He was sorely mistaken.

Naruto had spent the first three hours of his morning being dragged this way and that, off from one place to the other. Yamato and Kakashi had taken him to a bath house. Kakashi had insisted that he be not only clean, but very relaxed as well. Instead, it somehow made Naruto even antsier. After that Kakashi took him to get a haircut. Instead of cutting all of his hair though, the hairdresser had made his hair stick out in different ways, and only trimmed a little here and there. It was actually rather cool looking, but he didn't understand what this had to do with anything.

Kakashi told him it was imperative that for this mission, Naruto look his absolute best. Naruto grumbled that he could just do a henge instead of trying to change him into looking so different. Despite Naruto's grumblings, Kakashi then took him to get new clothes.

It was the clothes store that bothered Naruto the most. He had point blank refused to buy something "nicer" as they had claimed. He had a nice outfit. It was the one that Jiraiya had made him buy because he was sick of him wearing bright orange. Naruto remembered that day because it was the same day that he had gotten glasses (not that he wore those), but every time he wore that one particular "nice outfit", something strange had happened. First he had gotten mauled by girls - and if he had put the pieces together correctly - the next time he had worn it, Sasuke had taken his virginity. Naruto blushed slightly at that thought.

No, his good old orange and black shinobi suit was fine. It had always been fine on other missions, and Naruto didn't see what the big deal was that he wear something different. Naruto only complied to pick something out himself when Kakashi threatened to hand him over to Tsunade to give him a makeover. Naruto had quickly picked out a more traditional black and gray shinobi vest. He even went as far as to return to his house and get his black over coat with the orange flames - though that was partially due to his insistence that he had to wear orange, and he figured he could get by wearing his orange pants if he had his overcoat hanging over top of them.

However, when he had re-emerged from his apartment with his new "style," Kakashi and Yamato finally seemed happy.

"You look exactly like Yondaime," Kakashi said, almost startled.

"Exactly," Yamato said, and the two of them seemed to share a knowing look.

Naruto felt as though he were missing some key point. So what if he looked like Yondaime? It suddenly dawned on him that that was what Kakashi and Yamato had been going for.

So, as Naruto walked along the road, he wondered just what kind of data gathering mission that would require him to "dress-up," as Kakashi put it. Even Kakashi and Yamato seemed more formal than normal.

It made Naruto feel awkward. He didn't like that Kakashi seemed to be trying to turn him into something that he wasn't, and he told Kakashi that.

"What is the point of making me try and look all presentable? I feel like you're embarrassed by how I look," Naruto grumbled, looking down at the dirt road. He didn't like having one of the people that he considered to have accepted him, to now try and change him. Kakashi looked over at Naruto as they walked along.

"Gomen, you're right. I should have explained things more thoroughly. This mission is a bit different than normal missions. In order for it to be as convincing as possible, you need to look like Yondaime," Kakashi explained.

"I'm clearly not Yondaime! I'm way too young, and he was taller. If you wanted me to pretend to be him, I would have just henged into-" Naruto began angrily.

"Iie. We just need you to look similar to him. You don't need to pretend to be him at all. In fact, act yourself. It's just the initial outward shock value that we were going for," Kakashi tried explaining. "You know we wouldn't want you to pretend to be anything you're not," Kakashi said gently. Naruto grumbled something incoherently, but was at least pleased to know that they weren't unhappy with him. He had tried so long to fit in, and now that he had friends, he wasn't about to go and change himself. He was rather proud of who he was.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei, you haven't told me about this mission," Naruto complained, looking at Kakashi out of the corner of his eye, accusatorily.

"Well, we're going to see if the daimyo's eldest daughter might have been the Yondaime's mother. Yondaime was thought to be an orphan, like you, but it's possible that he was just given up for adoption because his mother and father were too young to keep him. We need to speak with her, and discuss if she ever had a baby, and if so, what he looked like at birth, where she gave him up for adoption, and other necessary details. We'll also probably be getting a blood sample from her," Kakashi explained.

"Yondaime was an orphan like me?" Naruto questioned, semi-dazed. He liked knowing that his hero was an orphan like him, but it saddened him at the same time. Being an orphan was not something that one wished for, nor wished upon others. During his childhood, Naruto had thought a lot about what had happened to his parents to make him an orphan. He assumed that they were killed in the Kyuubi attack, but of course, there was not way to be sure about that. He felt bad for the Yondaime that he had never gotten a chance to meet his mom. Then again...

"That was mean of her, if she did give him up," Naruto decided. Kakashi turned to look at Naruto.

"Oh?" Kakashi prompted.

"Un. Why would you give a way someone precious to you? If she's the daimyo's daughter, shouldn't she have been able to afford to keep a baby?" Naruto asked.

"Well, she could have been afraid for him. Maybe she thought that someone would hurt him if he stayed with her. You don't know what she could have been the reason until we talk to her. She might not even be Yondaime's mother," Kakashi reminded Naruto.

"Yeah, I know. Just thinking out loud," Naruto said, as his eyes locked upon the enormous house on the hill in front of them. "That place is huge!" Naruto remarked. As they neared, they nodded to the men standing guard, clearly not shinobi, but trained men nonetheless. The guards let them pass, clearly expecting their visit.

The house of the daimyo was exceptionally large. There were gardens as soon as one entered the front gate, and there were lots of people milling about, doing this and that. Naruto was almost sure he saw that poor cat that every genin had probably had to try and capture run by, but he wasn't sure. There were even children running about in the gardens, laughing and playing games. Naruto couldn't help but smile at all the activity. A strange sensation washed over Naruto, a feeling of warmth, and familiarity, but he knew for sure he had never been here before, but for some reason, the people looked familiar. If he had bothered to look closely, he would have seen that the reason they looked familiar was because they looked a little like him.

The people standing about stared at the trio, and Naruto felt oddly aware of his attire, and the way that his hair fell on the side of his face. A few people openly pointed at him, while others shook their heads.

"...couldn't be..." Naruto thought he heard someone say.

"Is it just me, or is that kind of awkward all of a sudden?" Naruto asked as the many people that had been outside on such a nice day began to crowd around them. Off to the side, Naruto recognized the daimyo's plump daughter-in-law, squishing her poor cat.

Naruto looked up at the front of the house in time to see a thin, elderly man come running down to greet them. He looked like he was in his eighties, but he was bouncing around like an eight year old.

"Welcome my friends! I am Lord Sen Shinkan, but please call me Sen-san; I like the way it rolls off of people's tongues! We received a message from Yamato-san,” at this, Yamato nodded, “that told me that you wished to speak to my lovely daughter. Please come in, and make yourselves at home," the old man, who was clearly the daimyo said jovially. Naruto looked at him.

"That guy sure has a lot of energy for such an old man," Naruto mused. Kakashi and Yamato exchanged looks. Naruto noticed this, and frowned at them. "What's going on that you're not telling me?" Naruto asked as he, Yamato, and Kakashi walked up the front steps, and ignored the people that seemed to have gathered around them. Kakashi looked as though he were debating with himself, before speaking.

"Naruto, have you ever thought about where you get all your ene-" but Kakashi didn't get to finish saying what he was going to. The daimyo had reappeared again, bubbly and full of energy as he led them into a small room. There was a woman who appeared to be in her early forties, but Kakashi knew that she was older. She sat at a small table. She was mid-size, and had beautiful long, blonde hair that swept down her back in braids. Her eyes were bright blue, and she seemed both child-like and wise at the same time.

After noticing the woman’s appearance, Naruto looked around the room, noting that it was clearly often used for small negotiation talks, and the daimyo must have wanted to make the setting more formal since this had been an assigned shinobi mission. Kyohaku's eyes seemed to widen slightly when she saw Kakashi, and then even more so when her gaze fell upon Naruto, but other than that, she remained silent.

"This is my lovely daughter, Kyohaku. She is fifty-six, single, and has no children. If you know anyone who might want to marry her, please let me know," Sen-san said happily. Sen Kyohaku blushed at his comment, but said nothing. "I must admit I'm slightly curious as to why the Hokage sent a team of shinobi out to speak with my daughter. Yamato-san, you said that the information was very important, but I don't understand what warranted this sudden interest. Also, Kyohaku could have always gone into Konoha to meet with you," the daimyo said, clearly miffed by the going ons in Konoha.

"I'm sure your daughter will inform you of everything that transpires here," Kakashi said kindly. The daimyo hovered in the doorway, as though hoping to find out what was going on, but when seeing that he was not invited, bowed jovially and closed the door.

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

"Your father clearly worries about you. I'm sure he would not have personally escorted us down here otherwise. He must have been checking us out to make sure that we would not hurt you," Kakashi said gently, as he walked over to the closed door. He raised his fist, and banged on the door once, loudly.

There was an "eeep" sound from the other side of the door; it was quite obvious that the daimyo had had his ear to the door, trying to listen in on the conversation. There was a curse, and then a mumbled "fine, I'm leaving" before Naruto heard the sound of footsteps heading away from the room. Kyohaku smiled sheepishly.

"My father means well," Kyohaku spoke gently.

"Most parents do," Kakashi said, looking at her. Kyohaku met his gaze, with a sort of sorrow and pain etched deep within.

There was another awkward silence in the room, and Naruto looked back and forth between Kakashi and Kyohaku. He scratched his chin in thought.

"Have you two met before, because I feel like I'm missing something. I feel like I've been lost the entire day, actually," Naruto said loudly, hoping to get a reaction out of somebody. No one moved. Naruto sighed, exasperated. Kyohaku sighed as well, though a lot more gracefully. She sat down at the table, and invited the others to do so as well. No one spoke for a full minute, Naruto looking around at everyone as everyone else avoided looking at anybody.

Kakashi was lost in thought. He had thought that helping Naruto find out his heritage would be a good way for him to get into a politically good position as Hokage, but Kakashi had failed to think about how it would affect himself personally. He hadn't realized a strange sort of anger would well up once he met Kyohaku. She was not his mother, but everything about her seemed to scream at him that she was very close to her. It was obvious that Kakashi's father had always had a similar taste in women because this woman not only looked, but even sounded a little bit like his mother.

Kakashi felt his anger wash away. He wasn't even mad at Kyohaku, just at the fact that he felt as though if he had known that he had had an older brother, that maybe his father's death wouldn't have hurt him so much. He had lost his father, his best friend, and then he had lost his sensei, who had turned out to be none other than his brother. He was sure of it now. Not that Kakashi had ever felt that he himself would need a blood test to prove it, but sitting here, in front of this woman, Kakashi was sure of everything.

Kyohaku was Yondaime's mother. Yondaime was his half-brother. Yondaime was Naruto's father. Naruto was his nephew and Kyohaku's grandson. End of story.

"Ano...aren't we supposed to be asking questions?" Naruto asked Kakashi, feeling even more awkward by the minute.

"Naruto's right, Kakashi-san," Yamato said, and Naruto nearly jumped. Yamato had seemed to fade into the background amidst the tension between Kakashi and Kyohaku that he had forgotten that he was even there. Kakashi seemed to snap out of it. He swallowed any strange feelings he had, and decided on focusing on helping Naruto.

"Within the shinobi village, there had always been a connection between-"

"Please just say it," Kyohaku said quietly interrupting Kakashi. "Please don't dance around what you came here for. I know who you are, Hatake Kakashi, which is why I have a feeling what you're looking for," Naruto shifted slightly, feeling a bit impolite. No one had bothered to introduce themselves properly. One thing that Naruto always prided himself on was to make sure people knew who he was. He had completely forgotten, but apparently, Kyohaku seemed to at least know Kakashi though they had apparently never met before. Though Naruto hadn’t yet decided if that was a good thing, or a bad thing.

"I am not here to judge you on your past. I'm looking for information to help someone else. I know that you and my father were once romantically involved," Kakashi ignored the small gasp that had come from Naruto, "and that you and he had a son that you gave up for adoption. I know you were young at the time, and I'm astounded that you were able to hide your pregnancy from everyone, because it seems quite clear that your father doesn't know that you ever had a child," Kakashi paused. "Did you ever have any idea what happened to your son?" Kakashi asked. Kyohaku shook her head no, tears welling up in her eyes.

"He was the most beautiful little baby. I didn't know what to do. I was so scared. I had just turned fifteen, and I had wanted to keep him, I did! But I was just too scared. The first shinobi wars had just died down, but there were new threats popping up all over the place. I..." her voice trailed off through her sobbing. "I had no excuse really. No matter how many times I thought about it, I felt like I had no excuse for giving him up. I regret it everyday. I always wondered what happened to him. If he was okay, if the family he went to loved him as much as I do. What is he doing now? Is he married? Does he have children? Is he even still alive?" Kyohaku said, as she voiced the many questions and fears in her mind.

"Unfortunately, we believe your son passed away about sixteen years ago," Yamato said quietly. Kyohaku looked at Yamato, in a state of shock and horror. She licked her lips and nodded, as though trying to process this new piece of information, clearly hurtful, but not all together unexpected.

"But, but! He died bravely! We think he was the Yondaime. He died to save everyone's lives by sealing away the Kyuubi no Kitsune," Naruto said, trying to say something to make Kyohaku feel proud of her son. Naruto couldn't help but feel bad for the woman in front of him, and he wanted so badly to try and help her, even if it meant dragging himself through the gutter. He knew how much people hated the Kyuubi, but she had to know, didn't she?

"We would like to take a DNA sample to see if you are related to Yondaime," Kakashi said. "I'm here obviously to see if my father's DNA matches up. And then," Kakashi said, turning to look at Naruto, "we're going to test and see if Naruto here is Yondaime's son," he turned to look at Kyohaku, who's face registered the implications of this fact after a moment, "and your grandson." Kakashi looked at the comprehension dawn on Naruto’s face, before:

"NANI?!?!?!"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"No, no, more spicessss, lessssss garlic," Dokueki hissed as her head poked out from being wrapped around Sasuke's shoulder.

"I'm not a chef," Sasuke gritted out, as he did as Dokueki told him, as he put more spices into the cooking pot.

"Well if you don't like my directionssss, the next time you spy on what the cook makessss in order to poison Orochimaru," Dokueki whined.

"Hopefully there won't be a next time," Sasuke said irritably.

"Well then get hissss favorite dish right. You'll only get on time to poison the snake sannin before he throwssss you out on your asssss or killssss you," Dokueki warned darkly.

"How's that?" Sasuke asked coldly twenty minutes later after he had finished preparing the food.

"Smellssss great," Dokueki said, her tongue hissing out as if to taste the air.

"It's been cooked, so you can put your venom in it now," Sasuke said.

"Why? You already have some in that vial you’ve been carrying around for agessss," Dokueki said. Sasuke reached into his pocket, and pulled out the vial that held the milky, white liquid.

"This," Sasuke said, indicating the vial, "is to be used on Naruto." Dokueki frowned.

"I still don't get it. Do you want to kill, or do you want to fuck him?" Her eyes narrowed. "Or are you one of those Necrophilie who get off on having sex with dead people?" Her eyes widened. "That'ssss it, isn't it? You're gonna kill him and then screw him! Eww, you're-"

"This is just in case," Sasuke said.

"You're not right in the head," Dokueki muttered. Sasuke grabbed her around the neck, and snapped her off of his neck. He pushed his hand up against the roof of her mouth over top of the pot, milking out the white venom. He did it so fast, that she didn't even have time to protest until she was properly back on his neck. "Point proven," she muttered.

"Be quiet, or I won't let you watch me kill Orochimaru," Sasuke said.

"Big whoop. Feed him poison and he fallssss over dead," Dokueki muttered.

"Fine then," Sasuke said, reaching to pull Dokueki off of him again.

"I'll behave!" Dokueki promised, wrapping tighter around Sasuke.

"Then let's have dinner," Sasuke said, smirking. Dokueki looked at the slightly deranged smile that had appeared on Sasuke's face. Any smile was rare, but this particular smile sent shivers from her head to the tip of her tail.

"You really have problemssss," Dokueki muttered.

Next Chapter: Restless Deaths


^_^ Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Sorry not much action, but I’m getting out those pesky little details important to the plot.

Reviews are always lovely, especially since I'm having problems with my computer right now. :'( Stupid viruses. Thank God for anti-protection software. If I didn't have it, this virus would have wiped out all my files. All my fics would have been gone! You see, if I have good ideas, like major plot bunnies, I write them out and save them, and then copy and paste them later. That would not have been good. Thankfully I back most things up too, but still. Ah well. Hope you liked it. ~ Jelp