Naruto stared blankly, then lightly laughed. "No seriously, who was he?"
Kushina lightly jerked back. "Son, that wasn't a joke. He is your father."
"Nice try Mom, but that's impossible. There's no way I could be related to someone as important as the Fourth. If I was I wouldn't have been ignored and insulted my entire life."
Kushina looked surprised to hear this, then turned to Tsunade. "What does he mean by that?"
Tsunade hesitantly sighed and turned to face Naruto. "Naruto, she's not lying. Your father really was the Yondaime."
Naruto looked like a deer in the headlights. "No... that's impossible. It can't be true."
"Why not Son?" Kushina asked, but he didn't answer.
Tsunade turned to the redhead. "Kushina, your son... has been the target of massive negative propaganda. Konoha's population overall can be divided into three parts: those like us who value Naruto, those that can tolerate Naruto, and those that would only give him a grave just so they could dance on it."
"What?" Kushina asked in disbelief. "Why would that happen? We said we wanted Naruto to be seen as a hero."
"Apparently Konoha missed the memo." Ayame stated.
Kushina got comfortable. "Tell me everything."
"You requested us Hiashi-sama?" Shino asked.
"Yes, thank you both for showing up." The Hyuuga head said to his three guests.
"May I ask why you wished to see us?" Ino asked.
"The reason I requested you is I wish you three to perform me a service." Hiashi told them, confusing them both. "The thing is, the Hokage is temporarily out of town handling some business, and I have reason to believe my daughter is with her. This wouldn't be a problem, but I never heard she was invited to accompany the Hokage, nor was any message saying otherwise given to me or any Hyuuga. What I want you two to do is track her down and find out where she is."
"You fear she's in danger?" Shino asked.
"This wouldn't be the first time." Hiashi responded, remembering the Kumo incident.
"But why us? Why not one of your own?" Tenten asked.
"Because I'm currently evaluating my own clansmen to find... something of interest. I chose you two because you Shino can track her down and avoid scaring her once you find her. You Yamanaka-san can ensure she's not under someone's influence while you're at it. And you Tenten-san can fight if the situation requires it." Hiashi told them. "Can you do this for me?"
"We can, but the question is if we should." Shino stated. "This basically qualifies as a mission, and accepting one not issued by the Hokage is tantamount to insubordination. We could get in legal trouble for this."
"Besides, I'm pretty sure I know where Hinata is anyway." Ino added, gaining everyone's attention. "Last time I saw her she was with Naruto and Hokage-sama. So I'd say it's quite likely she's still with them wherever they are so you shouldn't worry."
"True, but under normal circumstances one of them would let me know. Doesn't someone inform your father when you go out of town?" Hiashi asked.
Ino thought it over. "You're right."
"Yet no one informed me about this, giving me reason to believe there's more to this. Maybe Im wrong and there's nothing to worry about, but I'd like you to go confirm what's going on. If anyone tries to punish you for this, I'll take responsibility." Hiashi said.
The three genin looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. "I don't see why not." Tenten said.
Ino shrugged. "I've got to admit I'm curious."
"I'm concerned for my teammate's well-being. So I guess we'll get headed out right away." Shino added.
"Thank you. You will be rewarded when you get back." Hiashi told them with a smile before they left. 'My daughter, wherever you are please be safe.'
The sun was set and it was close to time to go to sleep, but no one felt like sleeping. Heck, Naruto didn't even feel like talking. Or being around the others. Right now he had walked away from the group and was sitting on a long hunched over, doing a pretty good brooding Sasuke impression right there sans the hate.
Despite his obvious wish to be alone, Hinata, Sakura, and Ayame were there with him hoping to soothe his bad mood in any way they could. The others were wisely keeping their distance from him, while Moegi just wasn't sure what to say or do here.
Sakura and Ayame were just hovering around Naruto, waiting for any sign he wanted to acknowledge them, while Hinata was sitting right next to him leaning on him. He did not object to her contact. "Let it out Naruto-kun, don't keep this to yourself. Let me help you."
The blonde sighed. "I just can't believe this. Why didn't the old man tell me? Why didn't he tell anyone else? Maybe then I wouldn't have been so hated." He paused for a moment, struggling to not cry."How many people knew, and still said nothing? Did nothing? Jiji? Baa-chan? Ero-sennin? Kakashi-sensei? Did they know? Why wasn't I told?" He shedded a few tears.
Ayame looked mad. "I find it very unlikely that the Sandaime didn't know. Now I respect the old man even less. Makes me wish I had done more."
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
Ayame leaned against a tree, her arms crossed. "I used to be a chuunin, and a damn good one. I was also one of Naruto's guards when he was younger and targeted a lot more often. My teammates and I were diligent, and unlike the other guards who often just warned the idiots, we weren't afraid to use force in response to his harassers. Apparently some dumb-asses decided to press charges on us for inconveniencing and endangering them, and we counter-charged them for interfering in shinobi business and conspiring to murder a child."
Ayame closed her eyes and clenched a fist, the others easily feeling latent rage coming from her. "The matter was brought before the council, both sides, and naturally it became a tug of war between the two sides like it always does when Naruto's involved. This particular one got worse than usual, and I remember at least one civilian making threats at the shinobi side for not being obedient. I think he went so far as to claim that the shinobi were supposed to take orders from the civilians, though he probably said it a lot more derogatorily than that, and at least one more civilian supported the claim."
Her audience were wide-eyed to hear this, and Ayame opened her eyes. "It's been years since then, so I don't remember everything that happened in that hearing. But I never forgot what the results were. The Sandaime... settled with the civilians. Settled! The so-called strongest ninja in the village refused to put his foot down and instead compromised with people whose only weapon is pissing and moaning. After that, I was so disgusted I refused to take orders from him again and resigned. Though I refused to stop watching over Naruto even if I wasn't an active kunoichi anymore."
"What was the settlement?" Moegi asked, fearful of what the ramen chef would say.