Chapter 5
Naruto was running away after a super awesome prank. Jiji’s shinobi try to catch him and then he’d have to listen to his usual lecture. It never matters why Naruto pranks certain people only that he does. He’d never admit it, but that fact makes him really angry sometimes. Nobody cares about him. Sure, he has Jiji, but he never has time. Naruto is always alone.
“You can never catch the prankster king, Uzumaki Naruto. Believe it!” he shouts loudly.
A lot of heads turn his way, and he sees the angry faces of the civilians. Not that it really matters, they’re always glaring at him anyways. At least now they have a reason to. He hears a couple of people scoffing about what a demon child he is, but as always Naruto just laughs obnoxiously loud. What else is he supposed to do? Scream? Be angry? It`s not as if anyone would care.
Naruto tried to be really nice and help them, but the moment they look at his face their smile turns into a scowl. He doesn’t know what he did wrong, but it has to be him. Right? They smile at every other child even Kiba who is sometimes worse than himself. Naruto made sure to observe them, like a real shinobi, and when he realized the problem wasn’t his loudness or him being a child but his looks he tried to change it. It didn`t matter though, they always know it’s him.
He ducks right to make sure the masked shinobi doesn’t garb him and nearly trips on a stone as someone grabs the back of his shirt to save him from the fall.
“Maa, you’re hard to catch kid. The Hokage and I’ve been waiting for you, but it seems like you’re having to much fun making the Anbu chase you around,” Naruto hears. Surprisingly the man sounds more amused than angry.
Naruto turns around and looks up at the strange man ready to shout out his frustration. His heart skips a couple of beats as he gazes at the man’s face. Blonde hair, like his, blue eyes, like his, the same marks on the cheeks. Hope rises in his chest as he looks at someone who looks so similar to himself that they must be related.
Kimiko had said that Naruto doesn’t have any family because no one had those ‘ugly marks, like an animal.’ Naruto also remembers the children saying that his family abandoned him, that no one would ever love a monster like him. That his parents had to be traitors to have such a monster as a child. It made a lot of sense to Naruto. His parents are traitors and that is the reason for everyone’s dislike towards him. But Jiji said that his parents were ninjas, just like he’ll be, and that they loved him. Jiji is the Hokage so he can’t be lying, but he never tells Naruto their names or anything else about them. Sometimes Naruto questions ,if Jiji even knew his parents or simply told Naruto what he wanted to hear.
The hope in him gets crushed as he realizes that this man can’t be his family because Naruto is a demon, a monster. He doesn’t have a family. Tears gather in his eyes, and he looks away to make sure that they don’t fall.
The stranger puts his hands on his shoulders as he kneels to Naruto’s height to hold eye contact. Nobody but Jiji ever touched Naruto this gently.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to meet you, Naruto. I’m sorry that I came so late, but I had a very long mission. My name is Namikaze Nao. I’m your uncle,” Nao says gently. Naruto head snaps towards the man, shocked at what he just heard.
“U-Uncle?” Naruto asks full of hope. Family? His family?
“Yes, Naruto. We’re a family and I’m so so sorry for not meeting you earlier.”
Naruto can’t hold back his tears, they start falling and he sobs loudly. Nao puts his arms around him and lifts him up. Naruto is too overwhelmed by his emotions, (happy, excited, hopeful, sad and angry) so he puts his arms around his uncle’s neck (his uncle?!) and hides his face in his warm chest. He has never felt this warm and save before. It doesn’t even matter, that he never met this man before. Nao said their family and that is the only important fact to Naruto.
“I’ll never go away again. You’ll be save with me. I promise, Naruto,” whispers Nao as he sways the crying boy gently in his arms.
Nao looks around the street where a couple of civilians stare openly shocked at them. He doesn’t care about them but knowing little Naruto wouldn’t like people seeing him cry, he starts making his way towards the Hokage tower. Naruto still crying in his arms, he walks leisurely past the gaping chunin and enters Hiruzen’s office without knocking. The old Kage looks up from his dreaded paperwork to greet them with a warm smile, which turns sad the instant his sees Naruto crying in Nao’s arms. The Sandaime moves to get the child a glass of water and some tissues and sits down on the couch across from them.
It takes Naruto a while to calm down, but he burrows himself further into his uncle’s chest to make sure that the man doesn’t let go. As a hand smooths down his hair Naruto looks up and realizes that he’s in Jiji’s office.
Gathering himself Naruto addresses the old man, “Why did you never tell me that I had an uncle, Jiji?”
Sarutobi’s heart shatters at Naruto’s meek voice, the child doesn’t even sound angry just tired. He feels Anbu Jackal distressed chakra. Namiashi Raido became a guard during Minato’s reign, seeing the man’s son crying in arms of an apparent brother must be rather shocking, Hiruzen sympathises with him. Thankfully Nao’s existence had been kept under wraps or he would be dealing with the council right now. But right now, the rumor mill must be going crazy, it won’t take long for it to reach the clan heads and council members.
“I’m sorry, Naruto-kun. Nao has been away on a very dangerous mission, I didn’t want you to worry about it,” Hiruzen smiles gently. Naruto face turns into a childish scowl, he crosses his arms before his chest and huffs looking out of the window. It’s supposed to look angry, but with him sitting on Nao’s legs and nearly lying on the man’s chest, it looks rather cute.
“He’s my uncle,” emphasizes Naruto. Nao chuckles, he never knew how cute he had been as a child, no wonder no one ever took him seriously. That’s a ridiculously cute pout.
“Hokage-sama means that he didn’t want to tell you about me in case I died, Naruto,” Nao clarifies.
Naruto gasps as the Sandaime sends him a dark look as if to say: ‘Really you idiot? You don’t say that to a child.’
“You can’t die. I just met you,” panics the blonde child. His struggles to breathe as his heart starts racing just at the thought. The arms around him tighten as a hand combs comfortingly through his hair.
“Breathe. Remember, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t die easily, kid. Trust me. But I’m a shinobi which means that I’m going to go on missions, some more dangerous than others, but I will always try to come back to you. I’m not going to be away for so long ever again, Naruto,” he reassures in a soft tone.
“Why did it take you so long? Don’t take any long missions anymore. Promise!” Naruto turns to stare at his uncle’s affectionate smile. Nao chuckles lovingly at Naruto’s demanding expression. Those big blue eyes are a real heart melter. No wonder Iruka sensei couldn’t be angry at him for long.
“I promise I won’t go on any missions that take longer than a couple of months, you brat. I wouldn’t have gone on that mission if it hadn’t meant your safety anyways, Naruto. I had to go, to make sure you would be safe in the future,” he explains lovingly.
“I don’t need protection. I’m going to be Hokage!” announces the child loudly.
Nao laughs warmly, “Just like your father, huh?”
Naruto next sentence freezes in his throat as he realizes what his uncle just said.
“Father?” he whispers.
Hiruzen wants to bang his head against the wall, knowing what Nao will tell Naruto now. He hoped to maybe talk about this subject again before the blonde just says it out loud, but he can’t bring himself to interrupt the conversation. Not because he wants Naruto to know (knowing the child, he’ll go and announces it to the world) but because, if he’s truly honest with himself, he’s scared of Namikaze Nao. He knows that he’s already teetering on the edge of the blonde’s patience and telling him (once again) what he should do will make him most likely snap. So, he looks away and prepares himself for the shitshow that’ll be the next council meeting, which if he’s lucky will take place tomorrow instead of in a couple of hours.
Nao smiles sadly at the chibi and points out of the window towards the Hokage mountain.
“Yes. You see the fourth head on the mountain, that’s your fathers,” Naruto looks shocked, “His dream has always been the be Hokage and when he won the third war, he fulfilled that dream. You know, your mothers dream was also to be Hokage. No wonder you have the same dream kid, it’s in your blood.”
Naruto sniffles as his eyes fill with tears once again. He wants to ask about his mother but can’t bring himself to speak. He had parents. Real parents. His father is/was the Yondaime. They really existed.
“Your father, Namikaze Minato and your mother, Uzumaki Kushina love you more than anything else. They died protecting you and the village on the day you were born, but never ever doubt they’re love for you, Naruto. If there was a way for them to be with you, then they would have fought through hell to get to you.”
Naruto can’t hold back anymore and sobs loudly. He’s so happy knowing that he had parents and grieving for two people he never met. The two emotions make him feel really fuzzy and he hides his face in his uncle’s chest once more. He doesn’t even listen to his uncle and Jiji talk, too overwhelmed by all the information he has gotten today. He shuts his eyes and slowly falls asleep while crying. Today has been an emotionally tiring day for Naruto.
Nao makes his way towards Naruto’s (his old) apartment. They agreed on Nao staying with Naruto in his apartment. Nao already plans on buying a house with a beautiful garden. Konoha may be okay with a child living in a come down apartment but Nao sure as hell is not. He will have to wait for Naruto to wake up, they still have a lot to talk about. In the meantime, he makes a henged shadow clone and sends him to get groceries. Knowing himself there won’t be no more than ramen in the kitchen and a child needs a balanced diet.
As Naruto sleeps on his bed and Nao busies himself in the kitchen, rumors start circling around Konoha.
“Did you hear about the Yondaime ghost?”
“The Yondaime is back!”
“I saw him. He was holding the demon child.”
“He is back to kill the demon.”
“He was comforting the demon child. Who is he? He can’t be a ghost!”
“I saw them in the Hokage tower. It isn’t the Yondaime, but he must be related to him. He just waltzed into the Sandaime’s office.”
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In the old tunnels of Konoha a man addresses his followers.
“Find out if the rumors are true and when you find him make sure to gather valuable information.”
The teens in blank masks bow and disappear in a smoke.