Becoming

Part 14

 "What does that mean?" Tsunade asked crossly. She was tired, and murders were happening all around her, and she had no clue of anything. To make everything worse, she was being forced to accuse Naruto, as the citizens of Konoha would kill her if she didn't. She had to go with the facts. Which meant accusing Naruto.

"Well," Shikamaru started, only, he didn't continue. Both he and Jiraiya were speechless. They were both looking at each other, as if trying to figure what they could say without giving away too much information. Then they looked helplessly at Naruto, who just shrugged, though his look was dark.

"We don't know what to say," Shikamaru said finally. "He's not guilty, but-" He stopped, for lack of anything to say. Jiraiya nodded, and then stared directly at Tsunade.

"He knows who it is though." Jiraiya shook his head and paced while everyone stared, shocked at Naruto. Tsunade was not silent for long, however.

"So, you're not guilty but you know who it is? Then why not tell us?! How can we even be sure it's not Naruto? It looked exactly like him!" She was glaring furiously at Shikamaru, trusting him, but not getting why he said it wasn't Naruto.

"Tsunade, shut up and listen," Jiraiya said, growing tired of Tsunade. "Let us figure out some things first. We just witnessed Naruto's entire life; it's not easy to put all the pieces together." Shikamaru nodded and the two, pulling Naruto along, walked a few feet away and began talking. No one heard anything, but they all looked serious, and sometimes, Naruto's eyes would get a little red, and Jiraiya's expression was pained. Then, they stopped and walked back over. Naruto quietly, and almost unnoticably, slipped over to Hinata, who slipped her hand into his. He smiled at her before focusing on Jiraiya and Shikamaru, wondering what they would say. He'd given them permission to say what they wanted, as long as they weren't just needlessly revealing things.

"He has reason for not speaking of it," Jiraiya said. "Tsunade, Naruto and I came for one reason. We came to investigate several kidnappings. We'd been following a trail, which led us here. We didn't know at first, that those kidnappings later became more brutal. Bodies were turning up, and all had obviously been tortured and killed in painful ways. We believed it was the same person at first, with bodies turning up here, but those here were not tortured, and it was not the same handiwork. Obviously that confused us."

"But Naruto also came for someone else," Shikamaru said. "It's my understanding that Naruto, along with those four: Tenten, Lee, Shino and Sai, works for a certain man. I believe they all owed him a debt, and agreed to work for him without realizing just how dangerous he was. Naruto accidentally found out who the murderers were in both cases, and was threatened to keep quiet." At that, Hinata squeezed Naruto's hand hard, and leaned on his shoulder a little. It was Jiraiya that continued.

"We know, Tsunade, that Naruto isn't easily threatened. But it seems some lives were threatened along with Naruto's. He was rightly afraid for them. Us. Because that man is dangerous, as mentioned before. He is not someone to take lightly. So, in exchange for keeping his precious people alive, Naruto had to stay silent about the murders. Then the deal worsened. Naruto found more people he cared about, and so, that man said he would be making Naruto seem like the guilty party, knowing you would have to trust your men's eyes and words. Naruto had to shut up about other things, let you accuse him, and go to prison in exchange for lives."

"That doesn't make sense," Tsunade said once she was sure Jiraiya was done. "Naruto tried to say he was innocent. Wasn't he not supposed to? And what about the other things he had to shut up about? What were those?"

"Wouldn't you be suspicious if I just went along with it?" Naruto asked. "No one goes along with it willingly. But now that this has all been made clear, he will know, and he's going to make all of us regret this. This is why I wanted no one to know!"

"Are you really afraid of that man, Naruto?" Tsunade asked, wondering how dangerous the man could be. "And answer my other question!"

"Can't," Naruto said, grumbling slightly. "That's information you don't need to know yet." Naruto was saved from saying any further comment as Tenten spoke up.

"We all fear that man. We've witnessed him kill in front of our eyes. He orders us to kill, and we can't disagree. We owe him, and he'll take the lives of people we care about, or our own lives, if we don't do what he says. He's the reason for the blood on our hands. None of us willingly did it. Naruto tried to stand up against it once, and was tortured for it."

"Trust us," Sai said. "You don't want to mess with him. And now I'm afraid we may be witnessing more murders because you forced Naruto's tongue." Sai didn't mutter the Stupid woman aloud, but was certainly thinking it. He knew it wasn't really her fault; she had to do it, it was her duty. But in some way, it was her fault. If Hinata was murdered, which Sai guessed would be the first, he would kill Tsunade. Because she may have just caused the loss of Naruto's newest precious person. His soon to be most precious of all.