A/N: Welcome back all, I'm actually kinda surprised the story has gained several more fans as well as keeping many of the old ones. Thanks for the support all, as I type this I am currently en-route to the VA Hospital for surgery number 2 on my knee. I'll try too keep the delays in chapters to a couple weeks at most as much as possible. As always suggestions and criticisms are welcome. Flames will be ignored. Flames of Youth laughed at, and excessive Flames of Youth will be sent to Ibiki.

Summary- A long forgotten prophecy, a forgotten sacrifice, and a chance encounter leads to a new path for both Naruto and Konoha as long hidden secrets and hidden enemies are brought to the fore front.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor am I in any way affiliated with it all rights belong Masashi Kishimoto...pay o mind to the author sobbing in the corner.

Bijuu talking

Bijuu thinking

Thinking

Chapter 14: Reunions and Expectations

Previously

As she laughed at her son's confused look she noticed an eagle flying towards her. 'Oh shit their here already' she thought to herself. All of the sudden a loud shout could be heard from the Village Gate.

"HIRUZEN SARUTOBI GET YOUR SORRY ASS DOWN HERE BEFORE I HAVE TO COME UP THERE AND DRAG YOU OUT!"

"What in the hell was that?" Naruto asked as he registered the shout.

"That Naru-kun was your Grandfather...and it sounds like he's pissed," Kushina answered with a grimace. "We'd better get out there before something bad happens, come on kids lets get going.

And now on with the show.

"HIRUZEN SARUTOBI GET YOUR SORRY ASS DOWN HERE BEFORE I HAVE TO COME UP THERE AND DRAG YOU OUT!" shouted Hiroko Uzumaki only to get slapped upside the head by his wife. "Dammit woman what the hell was that for?"

"Excuse me? Exactly how did you refer to me dear?" asked Natsumi Uzumaki in a dangerously sweet tone as 4 chakra chains appeared behind her.

"UH...sorry sweety but seriously what was that for," Hiroko asked as he tried to assuage his wifes anger. 'No doubt about where Kushi-chan got her temper from. That woman could scare the Shinigami himself.'

"Well pardon me if I don't want to get a war started because you want to play Mr. Temper with the Hokage. Besides dear he's had a couple months to sweat thanks to Kushi-chan. Better to let him worry about the other shoe dropping...more fun for us that way."

"You, Natsumi Uzumaki are a very evil woman," Hiroko told his wife with a grin.

"Yes, but you still love me don't you dear?" she replied way too sweetly for his liking.

Recognizing a trick question when he heard one Hiroko quickly went into husband survival mode, "Of course dear, wouldn't have you any other way.

"That's what I thought," she answered with a smug grin on her face as she knew she had won yet another small battle. At the same time a number of ANBU appeared in front of the group all in defensive postures. The leader stepped forward and addressed the Uzumaki entourage.

"Uzukage-sama we have been informed of your pending arrival and as such have arranged for lodging for your guards at the Uzumaki-Namikaze residence. If your group will follow Boar I will take you and your wife to Training ground 66 where the Hokage, your daughter, and your grandson await you."

"See dear, Kushi-chan had everything ready for us, Saru-chan isn't trying to hide from you like you thought." Natsumi told her still aggravated husband, then looked behind the ANBU and addressed their own special forces, "TIDE stand down and follow the rest of the group to the mansion."

"Yes ma'am," came the response from three warriors who had been in place to strike down ANBU should they have become a threat. Only 2 people outside of the Uzukage and his wife noticed 4 more white masked shinobi also disengage, those being the leader of TIDE code named Kraken and the Cat masked ANBU. Before the question could even be asked Cat looked at the Uzukage and simply stated, "They're under new management and your daughter has been working with them. You and the Hokage have much to discuss."

"That explains it, very well ANBU-san please lead the way."

Training Ground 66 at the same time

"Ok Mom, just what have you gotten me into this time?" Naruto questioned as they arrived to find the Hokage waiting.

"You'll see, by the way I hope you brought your A game, You'll need it," was Kushina's cryptic response. Hokage-sama I see you got the message."

"Kushi-chan I think the entire village got the message, your father has never been one for subtlety...that was always your mother's forte."

"Nah mom can be blunt too, she just shows more caution when not dealing with family," Kushina said with a grin. Then she remembered the last batch of paperwork that had gone through regarding Danzo's activities and a frown crossed her face. "Besides Dad and I have a lot to discuss when he gets here."

"Kushina, it's not your fault what he did, and I promise I will help however I can to repair the damage he's done," the old Hokage told her trying to ease her frustration. "I just hope Hiroko accepts the proof that Danzo acted on his own without the village being involved."

"You let me handle that, I have all the proof I need. However I hope you have a successor planned because I have a feeling you are gonna want to retire soon."

"Don't remind me, however I have decided one of my 2 remaining students will succeed me whether they want to or not. It's just a matter of one of those 2 stubborn fools accept the job." as he said this he noticed 3 presences enter the training ground. However he noticed they were not surrounding him but rather surrounding Naruto. A quick look at Kushina told him that not only had she sensed them, but she had been expecting something like this. A glance at Naruto told him that the boy had sensed the intruders, and was gearing up for a fight. He didn't have to wait long as one of the hidden shinobi leapt out at Naruto katana bared and aiming to take the young man's head off. Naruto reacted quickly drawing a kunai and channeling wind chakra through the blade, not only blocking the attacking blade but severing it into two pieces. This caused the first attacker to quickly fall back, but the second hidden shinobi took over where the first left off by firing a long ranged great fireball jutsu at Naruto. Naruto noticed the incoming jutsu and countered with a water bullet canceling out the incoming attack. He didn't see the third attacker yet so remained on guard, and lucky for him that he did as the ground in front of him opened up with the third shinobi taking a shot at him with a kirigami while at the same time attempting to place something on him. Naruto quietly thanked Kushina for the many hours of brutal training in how the Uzumaki clan fought. It was only thanks to that training that he realized the third attacker was trying to place an unknown seal on him, and that could only be a bad thing as far as he was concerned. Fortunately a seal less shadow clone and a quick substitution bought him the breathing room that he needed. As the seal hit the clone it dispelled and Naruto learned that the seal was a lightning based paralysis seal, and was thankful he had not been hit by it. By now he noticed that he was the only one being attacked and was starting to get a little frustrated. Instead of staying on the defensive he went on the offensive, first making a dozen shadow clones with instructions to face his attackers 4 on 1. As they engaged in close range with wind enhanced blades he fired long ranged attacks to harry the enemy, but as he had finally caught on who they likely were he made sure not to fire anything too dangerous at them. It was after a 10 min battle of attrition where Naruto was only able to hold off the attackers not beat them that a voice finally rang out, "TIDE withdraw." The now identified TIDE shinobi withdrew to the shadows.

Hiroko and Natsumi had watched the battle noticing that Naruto held back from trying to incapacitate his attackers and that their own warriors were pushing him as far as they could without seriously injuring him. Overall it was an effective way to measure the boy's skill as well as see how observant he was. They were pleased to see that his ninjutsu and taijutsu skill set had grown, but noticed that he was not using fuinjutsu during his impromptu spar. That would have to be addressed. Overall Hiroko would have graded his grandson as a B ranked threat bordering on A ranked. But he also knew he hadn't seen the full skill set as Naruto had been holding back. That could be rectified after he had a couple days to get to know his grandson. As it was he felt Naruto was almost ready for two of the gifts they had brought him. Business came first however, and he turned his attention to Sarutobi.

"Well now Sarutobi, you look like you've seen a ghost, but you didn't seem too surprised by Naru-chan's little evaluation" Hiroko told his old counterpart.

"I had a feeling that either you or Kushina would set something like this up, Hashirama told me how you tested him the first time he came to meet Mito," Hiruzen responded with a slight grin as he remembered his old sensei.

"Yes well, I had to see if the boy was getting a proper education now that the crap that bastard Danzo put on him has been removed," the Uzukage the questioning look on the Hokage's face he decided to answer the unspoken question, "If you had been involved Kushina would have already destroyed you as she has done with Danzo, as far as that's concerned you're in the clear, but as far as letting Danzo stick around causing the trouble he did you and I are going to have a long discussion. I had hoped the Kami no Shinobi would have kept a tighter reign on that bastard. That is for later for now let's get on with the pleasantries. Naruto my boy, it's good to finally see you awake."

"Thanks Jiji, Mom already told me how much work the clan had to put in to remove Danzo-teme's seals." Naruto said as he finally got introduced to his grandfather.

Kushina looked over at her mother and catching a subtle nod decided to move things along, "Ok this has been an interesting afternoon, but I believe we have some family bonding to do, and Naru-chan here has a slew of relatives to meet, so Ja Ne old man."

"We'll meet up tomorrow if that's alright with everyone involved?"

When he looked up, the Hokage noticed he was alone at the training ground. Smiling to himself at having gotten out of the initial meeting alive he made his way back to his office with a smile on his face.

Short update but it took awhile to get going with everything that's been going on.