Chapter 2
Naruto sees that Shisui isn’t as pale anymore and lifts him up. He isn’t sure where to take the Uchiha, but he knows that he has to see Jiji and tell him the truth. He thought about doing everything alone but the bijuu decided that it would make things unnecessarily complicated. He would tell his true identity only to those he had to, ergo only the Hokage could know.
The blonde starts to gather nature energy to broaden his sensing and finds, that Hiruzen is in the Sarutobi compound. With Shisui still in his arms the time traveler moves towards the signature and simply shunshin his way in front of the Sandaime. Unsurprisingly Naruto gets surrounded by several Anbu with weapons pointed at his neck and heart, as he looks at the startled face of his only grandfather figure.
“Maa, maa can’t you see that I come in peace, after all I just saved one of yours and thought I should let you know,” Naruto says in a nonchalant voice.
“Who are you?” comes the stern voice of the Hokage.
“The leaves supported by the strongest roots burn the brightest,” he answers and watches Hiruzen stiffen.
“Leave!” orders the Sandaime his subordinates.
“Hokage-sama?” a brave Anbu asks.
“Leave and take Shisui Uchiha to the hospital,” retorts the old man.
“No, he stays with me,” replies Naruto before the masked shinobi could take the Uchiha from his arms. They have a stare off for a couple of seconds, before a silent sign from the Hokage makes the Anbu leave, and security wards start to glow.
“Who are you and how do know the coded warning that is only used by the Hokage and Anbu commander?” is the first thing out of Sarutobi Hiruzen mouth. Naruto turns his back to him, a silent sign of his confidence in his own strength and lays Shisui on the small sofa in the back of the room.
“My name is Namikaze-Uzumaki-Naruto and I traveled back in time to save this world,” the blonde whispers with his back still turned to his Jiji. He hears a loud inhale.
“That's ridiculous!”
“Is it? Your teacher made a space time jutsu to teleport in a second to another place and that wasn’t even his most dangerous jutsu creation. Are you, the professor, truly so narrow minded that you think just because someone hasn’t done it before, it is impossible? With chakra nothing is impossible especially not to an Uzumaki,” counters Naruto as he glares at the Hokage.
Hiruzen stares at the man before him and admits to himself, that the second he first laid eyes on him he had thought of Minato, but now looking closer at the whiskers like marks on the cheeks and Kushinas eye shape, his only comparison is a seven year old Uzumaki Naruto.
“Can you prove it?” he asks still skeptical.
Naruto lifts up his shirt, showing the empty seal that once held Kurama in it, “This is the Shiki-Fuin, it once held Kurama, the Nine Tails in it. Now it’s empty, therefore you can see some differences in the middle of the seal. If this isn’t prove enough for you, I can bring you with me to my mindscape, but I’ll have to touch you for that. Is that alright with you?”
Hiruzen needs a moment to compose himself as he looks at the seal. He knows it is impossible to fake such a construct because any good shinobi can always differentiate between a seal and a tattoo. ‘If this is truly Naruto,’ he thinks to himself as he feels dread pool in his stomach ‘What happened to warrant time travel?’. He gives the young man before him a nod and as a warm hand touches his head, his mind is suddenly pulled into another place. The Sandaime is familiar with this technique, it is one the Yamanaka always use. He isn’t sure how the blonde got his hands on a secret Clan Jutsu, so he asks him.
“In war there were no more secret jutsu, anything that could be helpful was shared with everyone,” comes the answer and Sarutobi feels he heart freezing. He looks around the mindscape and there is no doubt that this man is a survivor. His mindscape is dark, full of cracks and smells like ash.
Suddenly a bright light surrounds them and Hiruzen sees himself sitting on a rock with skewered fish in his hands and smiling down, “This is really good Naruto, thank you for sharing it with me,” he hears himself say. “Of course, old man, can’t let you starve,” replies a childish voice. And the Hokage remembers this moment, it was about two years ago when he found Naruto in the woods. He turns his head towards his companion and sees the fond expression on the blondes face who still watches the memory play out.
‘Naruto,’ he thinks, ‘it is really you.’
The memories start to come faster, the Hokage and Naruto eating ramen at Ichirakus, Hiruzen giving the boy his own apartment then another scene of himself giving Naruto a birthday present. He remembers those moments.
Then it changes, Hiruzen sees Umino Iruka over him, bleeding “You’re not a monster. You are Uzumaki Naruto of the Hidden Leave Village”, an older Hatake Kakashi smiling down at him “You pass”, Jiraiya glaring down at him “What do you want, brat?”, it is raining “He was a strong and brave shinobi. A truly great Hokage” his own funeral.
He doesn’t even have enough time to collect himself at the knowledge of his own death, as a Chidori is thrust trough his chest. ‘Narutos chest’. Suddenly he’s standing in the middle of destruction and as he looks around, he sees the Hokage monument ‘This is Konoha’ and Sarutobi Hiruzen feels grief and pain ‘Narutos feelings’. As memories go by faster and faster the old man feels proud of the man Uzumaki Naruto will become, has become. Then the war starts and there is so much pain and death, the villages nothing more than ruble and the lands barren. He is alone. Uzumaki Naruto was the last man alive, so he traveled back and with that horrifying knowledge the Sandaime Hokage finds himself back in his study.
As he looks at the blank face of Uzumaki Naruto, because this is Naruto no doubt about it, he stands up and gives him a crushing hug. “I’m so sorry for what you had to go through. But I’m also proud of you. You truly became a great man,” he whispers, his voice heavy with sadness.
Naruto feels his eye fill with tears and exhales loudly. Even as a child the Sandaime rarely hugged him, it feels good. Both of them hear a groan at the back of the room and remember the still unconscious shinobi on the sofa. As they both compose themselves and Hiruzen sits back down he asks, ”What happened?”
Naruto scowls, “Your friend Danzo is a real piece of work. I heard a lot about him and his twisted ideology. I’m not shocked at the founder of Root to not only commit doujutsu theft but to also try to kill a comrade. Who knows how much of his comrades’ blood he already has on his hands?”
The Sandaime grows paler every second and tries to wrap his head around what he just heard.
“I know that Danzo can be… very aggressive in his approach of protecting Konoha. I will talk to him.”
The old man chokes on the killing intent the time traveler levels him with. Ice cold blue eyes bore into his skull, and he feels himself shiver. The professor hadn’t felt this intimidated since the second shinobi war.
“Either you kill him, or I will. He makes children kill each other in the name of Konoha. That is not the Will of Fire you always preach about. I know about the Uchiha clan, and I know that the reason it ever came this far is your lenience concerning your friend. You can’t isolate one of the founding clans, surveil them and not expect them to retaliate. I’m here to fix the future. I won’t let you or anyone else stand in my way,” states Naruto in a venomous tone.
“You can’t just go murdering people left and right.”
“Danzo does.”
The Sandaime sighs, “I understand your anger Naruto, but I will find a peaceful solution and punish Danzo accordingly. He isn’t someone you can just kill. It would have consequences not just to you but all of Konoha. Danzo has a lot of pull in the Daimyos court, his murder would have a more far-reaching effect than you can imagine.”
“I can make it seems natural or even an accident,” the blonde sulks and gets a pointed look from his Jiji.
“Trust me Naruto I will make Danzo face justice,” begs the Hokage.
“You have a month before I take things into my own hands, Jiji. Don’t let Shisuis current state fool you. Danzo ripped out one of his eyes I simply replaced it.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen isn’t sure, if he should be horrified by the knowledge of an eye being ripped out or bewildered at Naruto for nonchalantly replacing said eye. He can decide that later, first he has to resolve the threat of murder.
“That’s not enough time.”
“Fine two months.”
As Hiruzen tries to argue Naruto gives him a pointed look, “Two months,” he says in a final tone.
The Sandaime realizes that arguing with the blonde won’t work, especially not when he can see Shisui, a loyal and trusted shinobi, laying on his sofa pale and vulnerable. He doesn’t want to think about what would have happened without the time travelers interference. He can’t let his fondness for his friend be the cause of a dark future, he has to trust that the man before him knows what he’s doing.
“Now that this is cleared up let’s talk about my plan,” the Uzumaki claps his hands and smiles. “We have to reach out to other nations and form some diplomatic bonds and strengthen our alliance with Sunagakure. We should keep an ear out for the Akatsuki and take care of Orochimaru. I think he is still a member of it but don’t worry they are not that big of a problem. Our biggest obstacle is Zetsu, he will be hard to find and even harder to get rid of. To even have a chance at finding him we need the help of other nation, everybody has to be on the lookout for him.”
“Very well I will send word to Jiraiya and see what he knows.”
Narutos face falls at the mention of Jiraiya. His senseis death had hit him really hard in the past, but the knowledge of the pervert being his godfather and never looking after him or even telling him, was still something that didn’t sit right with him. He hadn’t had the time to be angry about it because he was busy mourning him. Forgiving a dead man is easy but here Jiraiya is alive, most likely drunk somewhere in company of pretty women he paid, and little Naruto is lonely in a cold apartment with no one taking care of him. Uzumaki Namikaze Naruto isn’t as forgiving as his past self.
Adults shouldn’t act the way towards children as they did to Naruto. Jiji, Iruka sensei and Jiraiya always said, he should give the ADULTS in Konoha some time, try to understand them, change himself so that they feel save around a CHILD. Naruto had to fight for love and acknowledgment while it should had have been something that was freely given. He had to put his life in danger and save a whole village for them to truly SEE him. In the past he had seen nothing wrong with the situation but after being a leader, not Hokage, he knows he would never do what was done to him. It is not okay. He would make everyone else see this too, even Jiji.
“Okay. This brings me to my next point. You can be the only one who knows my true identity, this is not something up for debate, you WILL keep it a secret. Afterall you’re very good at keeping secrets, Jiji,” Naruto couldn’t hold himself back from making the dig. He had every right to be petty and the Sandaime at least had the courtesy to looked ashamed.
“From now on I will be the younger half brother of Namikaze Minato after all we look nearly identical. I am the product of an affair his father had in the Land of Iron. We found each other during the Third War and he tried to take me in, but it wasn’t possible. He informed you about me, so you always knew. During Minatos rule he tried to introduce me to Konoha and his friends, but I had already gone through several assassination attempts due to our similar looks, and he decided it was best to send me east until the tensions subsided. After Minatos death you thought it wouldn’t be good to have the Namikaze name associated with the new jinchuriki therefore you sent me on an information gathering mission. If I found sufficient information about the bijuu, I could have custody over my nephew and now after six years you had to grant it to me. My name is Namikaze Nao and I’m Uzumaki Narutos uncle,” summarises Nao.
“Namikaze Nao a honest person, who never lies. I think it will fit you, kit,” Kurama murmured as they readied the seal.
“I don’t think it is safe for Naruto to know about his father, it would be safer for him if you don’t meet. Your backstory is also really flimsy the council will not buy it,” issues Hiruzen.
Nao gives him a flat look “They don’t have to buy it, you’re not selling them my story you’re telling them. As for little me I think I know better what is best for me than you.” Hiruzen doesn’t like the sound of this but with the look Nao gives him, he knows he’ll lose this argument.
“Naruto loves you, Jiji.” Hiruzen heart flutters at the statement but he doesn’t miss the insinuation. Naruto loves you, not me.
Nao sighs “I know what you’re thinking. I still love you, Jiji. But I’m also angry at all the secrets you kept from me. I had a right to now my parents’ name. It wasn’t for my protection don’t fool yourself, I suffered more due to isolation than you can imagine. The happy child who always smiles isn’t real. You don’t know how often I cried myself to sleep, and I won’t let little me go through all of what I had to get through. I’m here now and I’ll make sure that he will be loved and cherished.”
Hiruzen feels ashamed. He knows that Naruto has a hard time but every time he visits the kid, he’s full of energy and smiles. He knows he can’t argue with Nao, he doesn’t even want to. Naruto deserves family and if the council has a problem with it, they can take it up with him. Soon Danzo will not be a problem anymore, he thinks to himself. If anyone wants to argue against Uzumaki Naruto being under Namikaze Naos care they can look Nao in the eye and tell him. ‘If he intimidates me, they will most likely not even get a word out in front of those icy blue eyes.’
“Very well, you get custody over Naruto, and I’ll try to create some paper trail of your existence to give your story more credit,” Hiruzen looks at Shisui, “There is a small house near the forest of death, you can stay there with Shisui for the night, and I’ll introduce you to Naruto tomorrow.”
The time traveler looks back at the still unconscious teen, he has totally forgotten about him. “I think it is best if he gets checked out by a medic.”
The Hokage agrees and sends for Anbu Rabbit, who is a medic. Nao takes Shisui once again in his arms and together with a nod of acknowledgment at the Sandaime, they leave with Rabbit towards the forest of death.
The old Sarutobi takes out his pipe and inhales some much needed nicotine. “What a crazy night,” he mumbles to himself. “The next couple of days will be worse,” he realizes and hits his head against the desk.