Chapter 5
Three Anbu ghosted across the rooftops of Konoha until they landed behind two other Anbu who were crouched down looking at the alley below.
Without looking behind him, Gopher asked “Hey, you guys wanna bet if they’ll kill him this time.”
“He won’t be the one dying tonight.”
Gopher gasped as his partner, Mole, fell bonelessly to the cobblestones below with a meaty splat.
Bellows of fear echoed up from the street as Gopher turned around. His eyes grew wide behind his mask. “You’re not…” Then he joined Mole…in more ways than one.
The three Anbu leapt down and the civilians, who had been terrorizing a little boy, suffered their own terror and suddenly stopped breathing.
Fugu stepped over the bodies and carefully approached the little boy cowering next to a trash can. “Naruto, it’s all right. They won’t hurt you anymore.”
The blond looked up at him with tears in his eyes and asked “Pwomise?”
Moray walked up and knelt down, her voice soft. “We promise.”
Orca approached. He too knelt down closer to the boy’s level. “Naruto, do you want to stay here? We can take you away and you’ll live with your aunt.”
Naruto’s eyes grew wide. “What’s an aunt?”
Orca answered after taking a moment to gain control of his voice. “She’s your mother’s sister. And you would have lots of cousins to play with.”
“They would play with me?”
“Oh, yes, they’ll love to play with you.”
Naruto’s smile would have outshone the moon if it hadn’t been a moonless night. “Yes! I want to go!”
Orca turned around and offered his back to the boy. “If you climb on, we’ll go!”
“YAY!” Naruto climbed onto the back of the Anbu.
Orca and his teammates with their precious burden leapt for the rooftop and sprinted for the walls of Konoha praying that they could get far enough away before the bodies were discovered and before Konoha realized that their jinchuuriki was missing.
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Nagato stroked Naruto’s hair as he slept. The motion of the boat had put the little boy to sleep faster than he thought since the boy had been so excited to see the ocean, the port, the docks, the boats, the birds and…and…and!!
It had been a long hard run from Konoha. They had sprinted through the night once they had taken Naruto. It was only when dawn broke that they stopped, secured a place to sleep with some of the strongest seals that they knew and collapsed for a couple of hours.
They were fortunate that Naruto slept as well because he was very curious and asked questions. It broke their hearts that he would cringe if they moved their hands too quickly in his direction.
When they woke, they removed their Anbu uniforms and donned their normal Uzushio jonin uniforms. But this time, they used water clones as well as henging themselves and Naruto in the hopes that could stay ahead of any Konoha shinobi but if they were seen, the people would tell of a group of five shinobi with a child or seven shinobi.
And they traveled as fast as they could. It was grueling. Even for Naruto who was being carried. But they finally made it and were on a boat for home.
A soft knock on the cabin door made Nagato look up. Konan and Yahiko, who had taken the bunk above Naruto, didn’t stir from their slumber. It was a sign of how tired they were but also the fact that they felt safe. They were onboard a boat that was crewed by Uzushio shinobi so if they weren’t safe here…
“Yes?” he called softly.
The door opened and the captain of the boat stood in the doorway. She cast an expert eye over the three shinobi and the little boy within. “You need your sleep too, Nagato-kun. You’re safe now.”
He smiled. “Yes, Auntie.”
“We’ll be in Uzushio by the morning tide. Sleep. Now.”
Nagato obediently stretched out on the bunk, keeping Naruto against the wall to prevent him from falling out. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He never heard the cabin door close.
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Nagato was woken by his slumber when little fingers pulled his eyelids up.
“Na-oji! The boat’s moving different!”
Among many other failures, Konoha failed to teach the boy how to whisper. And how not to wake people up.
Nagato heard the snickers from above and ignored them. He sat up, dislodging Naruto’s fingers from his face and blinked for a moment. He extended his chakra and realized that they were almost to the dock’s in Uzushio.
He smiled down at the little boy. “We’re almost home. You’ll get to meet your Aunt Kaho soon.”
Naruto bit his lip and buried his face in Nagato’s neck. “Do I haf to?”
Konan and Yahiko climbed down from the upper bunk and joined the other pair. Konan stroked her hand across Naruto’s tangled curls. “Oh Naru-chan, your aunt is going to love you so much! She would never dream of hurting you!”
Naruto peeked at Konan. “Pwomise?”
“Pinky swear promise!”
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The Uzukage had managed to keep her tears at bay when she welcomed Naruto home. She also was able to hold them back as she questioned Naruto about his life in Konoha. But now she was able to set them free as she watched Naruto play with his cousins and other children.
“I don’t care what Konoha says or does, they will never have my nephew back. I don’t care if he’s the son of their Fourth Hokage. I don’t care if he was their jinchuuriki. I will not reveal Uzushio to Konoha while Sarutobi is still alive.” Kaho Uzumaki was furious. Not only as the Uzukage but as the sister of Kushina and aunt of Naruto. “He is a jinchuuriki and a child. He should have been protected and sheltered. He hasn’t been taught anything?”
Nagato shook his head. “He wants to be a great shinobi, but he doesn’t even know the bare basics that any Clan child would know.”
Kaho sighed. “I’ll find someone that will be able to spend the time training him. And that seal. Kushina and Minato did a respectable job of designing it, but I can see that it was applied hastily and could use some refinements. But it doesn’t have to be done now.”
She glanced over at the trio. “Excellent work. I do have an informant in Konoha that says they are looking for the Mizuno traders. You are suspected of taking Naruto. I’ve warned Ami Mizuno to send word to the clan members that helped you not to say anything to any Konoha shinobi and to be prepared for them to try genjutsu.”
“If I may be bold, Uzukage-sama, if you had an informant, why didn’t you use that person to bring Naruto here?”
“He was born in Konoha. It’s not that I don’t trust him but, for now, he’s better where he is. Although, with some of what was written in your reports, I think I will have him come here along with some others in the future.”
“Yes, ma’am.”