[Konoha gates, later]

It took some time, but not long as Team eight returned from their mission to assist Team seven. Seeing as though there was really no need to rush, the team went at a leisurely pace, conversing to each other about the mission and how they hoped the people of Wave recover soon. Once they reached the large gates of Konoha though, something very odd caught their eye. Well, not really something, more like some people. Three to be exact.

Kurenai watched as the three in question were trying to gain entry into the village while also taking in their appearances for later. The men were both tall with the one with orange hair seeming to be well built with muscles. The other man with short red hair seemed thin but not malnourished, more of a slim figure than anything really. The only woman of the group was a little shorter than the men and had nice blue hair. They all wore these black cloaks with red clouds on them and plain sandals from the looks of it. They didn't wear any headbands, but the genjuutsu mistress could tell that they were ninja all right.

As soon as Team eight approached the check in, Naruto was the one who spoke up first.
"Yahiko-san, Konan-chan, Nagato-san!"
This didn't go unnoticed as the three turned to see the blond approach them while Kurenai was confused on how her student knew these people.
"It's good to see you guys. I didn't expect you to come to the village to visit."

The three greeted Naruto with Yahiko giving a big toothed grin much like the blond gave to them.

"Hey there Naruto-san. Good timing."
Yahiko started off, earning a confused head tilt from Naruto.

"We've been trying to get through for a while now, but they refuse to let us."
Konan started as she smiled and hugged the blond.

Naruto returned it and looked to the check in ninja.
"It's okay guys, they're with me."

"And just how are they with you Naruto-kun?"
Kurenai asked the question on everyone but Hinata's mind as Naruto already told her that he made lots of friends outside of the village.

"Oh, these are some friends of Ayako-chan here to visit her."
Naruto started, not really confusing the three as they were told that if they were to come to Konoha, ask for an Ayako Ikumi.
"I met them a few times not too long ago and I'm really excited to hang out with them."

Kurenai nodded hesitantly, but decided not to press on any further as three seemed docile enough. Maybe this Ayako Ikumi just knew some ninja or something. She would have to report this to the Hokage though.

Shino was indifferent about the three, as he could tell they were decent people thanks to his bugs. If they were friends of Naruto's then they couldn't be all that bad. Who knows, maybe they're just ninja on a vacation or something. He really couldn't tell, but was also satisfied by what his blond friend said.

Hinata was happy to see her friend being around others he considered friends. She may already know the real truth behind how he knows these people, but it was still nice to know Naruto had more people he cared about. Now all she wondered was what they were really here for.

The check in ninja decided to relent as Team eight had just arrived from a mission and needed to enter to speak to the Hokage anyway. Might as well let these three in as well. With a nod, the group entered into the village and proceeded onward. Since most likely Team seven already got here first, Kurenai would have to speak to the Hokage along with her team to explain everything in greater detail. As they were walking, Naruto directed the three to this Ayako's house, which came off as odd for the red eyed jounin if they were friends with the woman. No matter, the three left off in another direction while Team eight proceeded onward, at least until an Anbu unit of three stopped them.

"Kurenai-san, you and your team are ordered to attend a mandatory council meeting to discuss what happened in the Wave mission."
Spoke a female Anbu with a Neko mask on.

Kurenai could already tell this was not gonna be good thing.

[Council chambers]

The council chambers was a large room with two long tables at each end for both sides of council with another table at the front for the others. Right now, Team eight stood in front of both the civilian and Shinobi councils along with the Hokage and the elders. Team seven was also there with both Sasuke and Kiba having smug looks on their faces and Kakashi hiding his arrogance behind his book of smut. Sakura was behaving since her mother was on the civilian side and wouldn't accept her making a fool of herself here.

Hiruzen looked to the two teams, with a clear disapproving look on his face whenever he glanced at Kurenai's team. After what Kakashi told him about the mission and how Team eight was, especially Naruto, Hiruzen needed to know everything now. He was already regretting sending the demon out of the village to start with, but now, he wanted to know the full story about the blonds skills in kenjuutsu.

"Team eight."
He started in an authoritative tone.
"You are here to explain to me and this council what really happened on the Wave mission."
He looked towards the smiling Naruto and tried not to gag as he put on his calm demeanor for the boy.
"And do explain how you came across a dangerous individual such as Zabuza in the first place, Naruto-kun."

Naruto nodded to the old man, still feeling his negative emotions towards him, as Kurenai began to explain everything in detail.How her team had arrived to Wave, the lack of training from Kakashi to Team seven, the plan to defeat Zabuza and his associate, then Naruto helping both missing nin in taking down Gato's men and then Gato himself.

After her explanation on how the mission went, there were questions coming from each side of the council. Most, if not all, contradicting what they were told by Kakashi earlier.

"That's preposterous!"
One civilian yelled out.
"How could the demon know Zabuza Momochi at all?!"

"Like that boy could do something Sasuke-sama couldn't do."
Another civilian.

"It was all Sasuke that took out Gato. We all know it by now."
Mebuki Haruno spoke with a smug grin.

"I highly doubt the pup even did anything to start with."
That was Tsume Inuzuka, the Inuzuka clan head, as she put emphasis on the pup part.

"Even I would have to agree."
Inoichi Yamanaka spoke up.
"We were told that Kakashi's group did the bulk of the work in the assault while your team, Kurenai, stayed behind and protected the client."

'So that's why Kakashi wanted to leave so soon.'
Kurenai thought as she looked over and saw the smug look in Kakashi's visible eye.

She was about to speak up to clear the confusion, when Naruto beat her to it first.
"But it is true."
He spoke with a matter-of-fact tone in his voice and a smirk on his face that held back a chuckle.

"You will speak unless spoken to boy."
Danzo started as he didn't like his future ultimate weapon to have any say in this.

"But it is though."
Naruto continued as he unsealed his sword, much to everyone's surprise.
"This is the sword I used to cut all of those thugs down with. It still has the scent of blood on it too since I didn't wash afterwards."

Everyone with the exception of Team eight since they saw him seal the blade up before, was stunned by the unique look and style of the blade. A Muramasu blade was among a rare sights in the ninja world, with most ninja never facing off against one before or even in some rare cases seeing one. Needless to say that the uproar was deafening after he unsealed such an exquisite weapon. Most of the council were demanding that the demon hand the blade over as something like him was unfit for a weapon of such a caliber. Other demanded that he hand the blade off to Sasuke for only an Uchiha deserved a weapon like this. Sasuke was staring at the sword with an almost lustful eye as he wanted, no, needed that sword for his own purposes. Kiba was seething at how the blond brat could have such a weapon and flaunt it around, pretending to be an alpha. Sakura wanted to screech that that sword belonged to Sasuke and was rightfully his, but her mother beat her to it and she just simply joined in. Kakashi nearly dropped his book at seeing the blade as he didn't see last time fully in the light. His jaw was dropped at the master craftsmanship of the Muramasu blade was only moments away from taking it for his student's purposes.

Hiruzen and Danzo were beside themselves. How did Naruto, the Kyuubi container obtain such a weapon? Where did it come from? How did they not know about this until now? The most important question though was when the brat got this sword. It dawned on the two former teammates right then that it must've had something to do with this Ayako person. That was the last straw for them concerning that woman.

Naruto simply smiled at the chaos while his team was taken aback by the demands and such for his sword. The blond chuckled under his breath as he resealed the blade and stood with his team with his regular smile still on his face.

"ENOUGH!"
Hiruzen shouted out to quiet the room. He redirected his attention towards the boy he hated so much and put on a serious look.
"Naruto, where did you get that sword from, and do not lie to me."

The 'nice grandfather' facade was now gone from the old Kage and Naruto was actually enjoying it all. Deciding to really mess with him, Naruto kept up the 'oblivious surrogate grandson' angle as he spoke.
"Well Ji-Ji, it was actually given to me by a nice old merchant man last year."

Hiruzen wanted to shout out who this old merchant was to find him and force him to create more Muramasu blades for the shinobi o his village, but something didn't make any sense to the old man.
"And why exactly did this old merchant give you this sword, Naruto?"

'Hooked you. Now it's time to reel you in.'
Naruto thought to himself as he had a bit of a sinister idea that would really mess with the old man.
"Well, he said it belongs to me now and that I should remember his name for later, whatever that means."

Hiruzen raised a brow along with a few others in the room.
"And what was his name?"

"He said it was Shanks Uzumaki."
Naruto answered with a questioning look as his facade wondered why the Hokage was acting so differently now. Hiruzen, the elders and the shinobi council paled at hearing this name.
'Hooked, line and sinker.'
Naruto thought as he grinned evilly to these reactions around him in his mind.

Hiruzen almost had a heart attack at hearing that name as the last time he faced the legendary swordsman of the Uzumaki clan, he nearly died on multiple occasions as the man was simply toying with him. How the hell was he still alive was what was going through the old mans mind right now. It was reported that the man had disappeared at sea one day and was never seen from again, even missing the decimation of his own clan by three years. If he made contact with Naruto, then he must've known about the villages refusal to help the Uzumaki's during their most dire time. This was not what the old man wanted to hear.

Danzo also remembered Shanks Uzumaki as he was the reason that Danzo had to retire from active service back then. It was his blade that damaged Danzo to the point where the old man couldn't even move back then all those decades ago. If only he had the abilities he had now back then, he could've had a very powerful pawn in his back pocket now. The fact that Shanks has made an appearance to the demon brat only proved that this was not going to be a good thing for Konoha.

"Who cares about some old man?!"
Sasuke yelled out as he made his way towards Naruto with a hard glare to his eyes and smug look on his face.
"Give me that sword dobe. Only an Uchiha has the ability to use it properly!"

Naruto tilted his head once Sasuke reached his arm out in a 'gimme' motion and smiled a bit.
"Sorry Sasuke, but he gave it to me for a reason. Don't know what it is yet, but it'll help me achieve my own dream. Believe it!"

Sasuke snarled, not liking that this dobe was denying him anything. Clenching his fist and reeling it back, Sasuke launched it to hit Naruto in the face and take that sword for himself. Naruto however avoided the strike with ease and watched as Sasuke stumbled forward and fell to the ground in a heap.

"You okay there Sasuke?"
Naruto started as he looked down towards the fallen Uchiha with an outstretched hand.

Sasuke turned to face Naruto with a scowl only to pale a bit as he saw the unsettling look in Naruto's eyes as he looked down onto him. Naruto wasn't even doing anything aside from his smile and the look he was giving the Uchiha, but just those eyes felt as if they were burrowing into the Uchiha's very soul. He only felt like this once before and that was during the Uchiha massacre when Itachi looked into his eyes with the sharingan. Sasuke felt weak then as he couldn't do anything to hurt Itachi then, now he had that same feeling of doubt as he looked into the eyes of the class dobe standing over him.

Sasuke recomposed himself and stood up on his own before leaving the room in a hurry. He was followed by Sakura and Kakashi as they thought Sasuke was hurt or something.

Naruto shrugged and stood with his team again.
"So, is that all you wanted to know Ji-Ji?"

Hiruzen blinked a few times to gain back some semblance of authority as he looked back down to Team eight.
"Y-Yes Naruto-kun. That's all. This meeting is adjourned. Go to collect your payment for a B-rank mission Team eight."

The civilian council was about to protest, but after they saw how distraught and nervous the shinobi and elders along with the Hokage looked, they relented. They still had one plan to ensure they got what they wanted from the demon and his supposed guardian.

Kurenai nodded, though she was very out of the loop right now, and she escorted her team out of the building. They made their way to Iruka who does the payments for missions sometimes and the Team was given their fair shares. After that Kurenai told the team to rest up for a few days before meeting her at training ground eight for some practice. The genin all nodded and went their separate ways. Kurenai left to get some answers, like who in the hell Shanks Uzumaki was.

Naruto made his way through the streets of Konoha to get home. He ignored the glares as a rumor started to spread that he attacked the Uchiha. Of course it must've been started by some of the civilian council members but the blond didn't really care for that at all. All he cared about was getting home and being able to talk to finally have a nice long talk with Konan, Yahiko and Nagato about them joining his cause.

I don't know much about Shanks aside from he's from One Piece, but I will be implementing him in this story. Lol.

The next chapter will have some action in it.

Till next time.

Ja Matane.