Becoming

Part 33

 Naruto clenched his teeth as Tenji led Tsunade in. The woman obviously hadn't gone willingly, and now had a gash on her forehead, where the man must have beat her into submission. Which was a hard thing to do, and she only had one wound. Naruto eyed them warily, feeling something was odd about the man. His eyes were souless, yet held every bit of hate one could. Something was different about him.

"Tsunade, my dear," Tobi said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Glad you could join us. We have a question for you."

"What do I care about what you say?" Tsunade spat, earning a strike from Tenji. Naruto growled and placed himself between the two, and if looks could kill, the older man would be dead.

"Calm down, Tenji," Tobi said, sounding bored. "And really, Tsunade, I wouldn't come here for no reason at all. I simply need you to decide if you want to keep, or get rid of a pest."

"What pest?" Tsunade asked through clenched teeth.

"Naruto," the masked man answered simply. "You don't want Naruto here. You've hated him since he was young, haven't you? Even when you watched him as a child, you despised him. I'm simply offering to take him from you."

"What?" Tsunade yelled, enraged. "I will not give Naruto to you! He always has been and always will be my family!"

"Didn't seem like that to me when you accused him of murder. Really, how cruel of you. You knew people could easily copy Naruto, yet you accused him anyway."

"What?" Tsunade asked, voice soft. She turned to Naruto, horror and confusion in her eyes. "Did I...Did I do that?" Her voice suddenly became shaky and Naruto eyed her cautiously. He nodded slowly.

"What do you remember?" Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder as he asked, and winced when she flinched.

"I remember the threats. People started imitating other people, and it was growing dangerous. I placed ANBU everywhere. They were going to attack if I didn't give you to them. And then...I saw you and Jiraiya. Everything else is gone. Naruto, what happened? What did I do?" Her voice had been shaking the whole time, and Naruto's heart clenched. He wasn't used to seeing the strong woman panic.

"When Jiraiya and I came back," Naruto started hesitantly, "you were your usual self at first. But then people started turning up dead around Konoha, and an ANBU got a picture. It looked like me. You made Ino go into my head to figure out the truth, and Shikamaru and Jiraiya confirmed I wasn't the killer. Tobi found out, and sent someone to hurt Hinata. She didn't die, but we knew he wouldn't just stop at that, and began training. You never spoke to me after that. I never saw you. And then I had to leave Konoha." Naruto stopped for a minute to glare at Tobi.

"I had to return to Tobi. Accept my punishment," Naruto continued bitterly. "I don't even know how long I was gone, but it felt like an eternity for me. We left, escaping to Konoha again, and that's basically everything that happened till now."

"Are you done yet?" Tobi asked, tapping a foot. "Tsunade, you keep him or get rid of him. Chose now."

"I want to-" Tsunade stopped for a moment, face contorting in confusion. She whimpered lightly and then scowled. "Get rid of him."

As soon as she said it, her face paled and she looked at her hands like it had been someone else. She shook her head when she noticed Naruto staring at her and moved her hands around. "No!"

Naruto glanced at Tenji and all pieces fell into place. He growled lowly. "You've been controlling us."

"What?" Tobi questioned innocently, though he looked furious.

"Tenji can get into our minds, can't he? That's why Tsunade, Sakura and Ino have been acting how they have been. When I came to Konoha, his control began slipping, didn't it? But you made me feel like I could trust them, then turned them against me, didn't you?" Then something else clicked. "And Kiba forgot what they said about me. You controlled them even when I was younger, didn't you? You made them say that. And leaving Konoha? You changed into my father and took me to Tsunade and Jiraiya. Everything was planned!"

"You're so smart, Naruto," Tobi said with a chuckle. "Yes, I planned it all. You and Takeshi meeting, him receiving your punishment, everything. I knew you would try and refuse to kill that man. He was innocent. He'd never even wronged me. And I knew you'd receive the punishment to save your partner. It was easy to infect your chakra. You're so predictable, it's pathetic."

Naruto glanced down at his body. That was it? Chakra? Could that even work? Naruto looked to Shizune, and she looked at him, afraid. He saw there was more to it, but it was part of what was wrong with him.

"Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?" Naruto asked, anger flaring. He hadn't even met Tobi until he began working for him, and had never done anything, that he knew of, to cause such anger and hate from the man.

"You didn't do anything, Naruto dear," Tobi said, sneering. "Your parents, however, did everything. They ruined my life and then died, so I ran to the second best. Their precious child. You. And you're going to die, along with all of Konoha."

We're soooo close to the end!!! Thanks all for sticking with me! I love you all sooooo much! You have all been awesome and I sooo appreciate the support. When I'm done with the story, I'll write an acknowledgement part, so I'll save all my other comments till then. Hope this story hasn't been confusing for you all. Hope you enjoyed! Till next time!