Chapter 2
Uzuki Yugao's hands start shaking the moment she closes her apartment door.
'I can't believe it. I can't believe it!!' Yugao seethes, stalking down the hallway to her bedroom. 'The Hokage knew Naruto was Kushina-sama's son, but didn't let anyone know about it!'
Her rage is ugly and hot. It burns as it claws its way up her throat.
'Kami! Everyone is going to be pissed! Hell, I'm pissed!' Yugao strips off her mask, armor and Anbu uniform and seals the gear back into its storage scroll.
She deliberately sets the scroll down on her dresser, barely resisting the urge to hurl it at something.
The kunoichi starts pacing instead, from one wall to another.
'The clan is going to riot when they hear that our Prince, the eventual head of the Uzumaki clan, was hidden from us all this time!'
Yugao stops, staring blankly at the white plastered wall in front of her.
'I can understand why the Hokage might have kept Naruto's parentage a secret after the events on the 10th, but he could have told us when things had calmed down. We would have been overjoyed to hear that Kushina-sama's son was alive! We would have taken him in and done anything and everything to keep him safe!
But no! He didn't tell us anything! He purposefully kept Naruto from us! What was the Hokage thinking?! How on Earth did he think such a thing was acceptable?'
Yugao feels like she could spit acid with the emotions currently churning within her.
'So why now? Why is he saying anything now!?'
A part of her whispers, You know why. You know the only reason the Hokage would even admit to knowing Naruto's parentage was because of how much he loves the boy, that the Hokage couldn't bear hiding the truth from Naruto when he asked.
But she wasn't ready to admit it. She was too angry at Hiruzen. Right now, everything was the Hokage's fault.
It was his fault that her people were kept in the dark about Naruto; that the boy, Kushina’s child, wasn’t properly taken care of.
It was his fault that she's torn between her duty as a vassal clan member to the Uzumaki clan and her duty to Anbu.
It was his fault!
Him, Hiruzen Sarurobi, the man who was supposed to be the leader of the village, who should have damn well known better!
Yugao bangs her head against the wall in frustration. She shoves herself away from the wall and goes back to pacing.
'And now he expects me. Me. To hide this from my family. My clan. He even asked me to teach Naruto, as if that will make up for what he has done!'
“ARGH!”
Yugao smashes her fist into the wall. The blow goes straight through the cheap plaster. The kunoichi leans against the wall, breathing heavily. She pulls her fist out of the newly made hole and dully glares at the damage.
'Shit. Now I have to fix that. Damn it!'
Yugao's rage abruptly gutters, turning into anguish. She groans and slides down against the wall to sit on the floor, burying her head in her hands.
'Kami. I've watched that kid all this time and had no idea of just who he was.'
Yugao bites her lips, fighting to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.
'To think that our Prince, the next head of the clan was treated like...like—'
Yugao cuts that thought off, shuddering.
'And we did nothing! Nothing!We should have loved and protected him, taught him our ways!'
Again, that cold, logical part of her chimes in. But how could they, when they didn't know who Naruto was?
A broken sob rips its way out of Yugao's mouth. Her shoulders shake.
'All of my life, I was told that as a member of the Uzuki clan, it was my sacred duty to protect the remaining Uzumaki clan members. That if need be, I was to give my life for theirs.
I was so proud to get where I am now, thinking that, 'Now that I'm in Anbu, there's no way for any foe to get past me!' That I was fulfilling my duty to the clan.'
But it was a lie. It was all a lie. The realization hurt. A lot.
'Now that I know what I know, I'm nothing but a failure. I failed to protect the most precious existence for our clan.'
Yugao loses the fight against the welling water in her eyes.
'I can't count how many times my team and I had to intervene when people went after him! How many times I had to pull off the person beating him!'
'And I…' Yugao gulps, feeling her tears stream down her face. 'And I hated him too, once. I still remember that night–the night of the 10th.’
Yugao shudders, the taste of ash and terror thick on her tongue. She can still feel the beast’s overwhelming chakra and the sheer malice that bled from it.
‘I blamed Naruto for taking away our beloved Kushina-sama. It wasn't until I joined Anbu and was tasked to guard him, that I finally saw just what he was - a lost little boy who just wanted someone to love him.'
With that, Yugao breaks down.
'What kind of a monster am I, to blame a little kid for that? Who does that?'
Sobbing brokenly, Yugao whispers, "I'm sorry, Naruto. I'm so sorry."
It takes a long time for Yugao to pull herself together enough to get up off the floor and go to bed.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
*Knock Knock Knock*
A lethargic Naruto stumbles out of his bedroom towards his apartment door, yawning and scratching under his buck-toothed sleeping hat.
‘Oh come on! What now!? Today is Saturday, one of the few days I don’t have the Academy!’ The boy inwardly grumps, still exhausted from the shenanigans he pulled yesterday and going to bed extremely late. ‘It’s way too early for me to deal with this!’
The young blond opens the door to find several civilian handymen bearing boxes of tools at his door.
Judging by their scowling expressions, they weren’t expecting Naruto to be the one opening the door.
“Whaddaya want?” The blond mumbles, rubbing at his eyes.
The man at the front of the group hefts his toolbox up, as if to explain their presence.
“We’ve got a work order here from the Hokage, gaki.” The man rumbles with a sour expression. “We’re to haul out all the old broken appliances and replace them, work on your heating, plumbing and electricity for ya. So brat, you’d better let us in.”
Naruto’s eyes narrow. “You can go and shove it! I’m not letting you in without proof!”
“Look brat, I don’t wanna be here anymore than you do. We’ll get in, do our job and get out.”
“Nu-uh!”
“Oh-for… Fine! Here!” The man digs around in the tool box and fishes out a scroll, practically hurling it into the boy’s face.
Luckily, Naruto’s able to snatch it out of the air before it beams off his forehead.
With a glare at the man, Naruto opens the scroll.
He squints as he looks through the note.
At the bottom of the scroll in red ink is the personal stamp of the Hokage.
The moment Naruto spots the stamp, he’s reassured. This is a legitimate request and not some civilians trying to con him into letting them into his apartment to wreck stuff again.
Only the Hokage has access to this stamp, so this work order has to have come from Naruto’s honorary grandfather.
No one would be crazy enough to try and create a fake. If it was found out, the person would be charged with treason and the perpetrator immediately executed.
Naruto rolls up the scroll and glances back at the men milling around the front of his apartment.
They’re clearly unhappy about this as the man in front of Naruto.
“Fine.” Naruto grumbles, handing back the scroll to the man. “Just let me get dressed quick.”
The lead man grunts and nods.
“Hurry it up, gaki.” The man growls. “We ain’t got all day.”
A spike of annoyance has the blond slamming the door in the man’s face.
“Stupid civvies.” He grumbles as he rummages around in his hamper and finally coming up with a minorly stained t-shirt. “This had better be legit otherwise they’re gonna get it!”
Naruto slips the shirt on then grabs his jumpsuit from yesterday and sniffs it. ‘Eh, the smell’s not too bad. It’ll do.’
He slips it on.
‘I’ll just go kill time at the Hokage’s office while they’re in here. There’s nothing really in here that they can damage or take that I’ll care about if they try something while I’m gone.’
Now that he’s dressed for the day, the blond heads back to his apartment door and unlatches the barely hanging on security chain.
When he opens the door up the men waiting outside turn around and file in. They all glare at the blond as they pass by.
Naruto steels himself and waits until they’re all in. ‘Yeah, definitely going to see Jiji. They’re just like the others. They’ll only glare and make snide comments if I stay.’
Naruto closes the door behind him and heads down the stairs to the base of the apartment building. He pauses on the second floor stairs when he hears the familiar harsh bellowing of his overly large landlord, Nakai Heizo from just around the corner.
“This is an outrage! An outrage, I say!”
Another voice replies inaudibly in a much quieter voice than Heizo and is cut off when the man starts bellowing again.
“—You’re telling me this is because of that Demon Brat?! You people are insane, treating an honest man like myself this way!”
The other voice replies again in a firm tone but is still inaudible.
“What do you mean?! I’ve done nothing wrong! That brat is a menace to society! You should be grateful I’m letting him live here instead of living in the gutters like he deserves!”
Naruto hesitates, pulled between investigating the situation and getting out of there while he still can.
Nakai could be plain mean when in a bad mood.
He never failed to sneer and call Naruto names and speak down to him when he saw the blond.
Nakai always refused to fix something in the boy’s apartment when it broke, claiming that as the tenant, it was Naruto’s responsibility. Eventually, Naruto learned to not even ask and do the repairs himself as best as he could.
And he also always seemed to know when the blond had a little bit of pocket money left over from his stipend and jacked up the rent, forcing Naruto to use the money to cover his rent, then scrimp and save to cover his basic expenses.
A small ball of hope burns in Naruto’s chest. ‘Is Nakai in trouble? It would be sweet justice to see the fat bastard get what’s coming to him!’
The yelling continues.
Naruto’s curiosity gets the better of him when the shrill tones of Nakai’s wife, a stick thin woman by the name of Kunieda, joins her husband's yelling.
The harpy would always shriek and throw something at the blond when she saw him and Naruto’s caught her several times gossiping with the other housewives and saying nasty things about him.
The blond cautiously pokes his head around the corner and is puzzled to see Nakai and Kuneida standing outside the apartment complex with an official from the Hokage’s tower.
Nakai is in the slim man’s face, spittle flying and his face turning purple as he bellows. Kunieda stands slightly behind her husband, holding onto Nakai and waving with one arm as she also screeches at the man.
The official is completely unfazed and stoically bears through the abuse. Curiously, the man is in full court regalia and bears an official looking scroll complete with a golden tassel on it.
Naruto’s jaw drops. ‘What on–’
The official’s face blanks and he breaks into the couple’s yelling with a stern tone, somehow overriding the two.
“I’ve had enough. Heizo Nakai and Kunieda, you will be coming with me. By the order of the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, you are being charged with failure to uphold your landlord responsibilities and unfairly tasking a renter with repairs of broken appliances. Then there’s the charge of conspiracy to defraud an orphan of their monthly stipend. Both are serious complaints that will need a full investigation.”
The official rolls the scroll shut and nods his head at the two ninja standing on either side of him. “Take them.”
Both Nakia and Kunieda scream and thrash as the two burly ninja manhandle them, snapping handcuffs over their wrists and leading them away. The official follows along behind them, leaving the people present to witness the scene mutter uneasily to one another.
Naruto reels in his hiding spot around the corner.
‘What… What the heck just happened?!’
Eventually the small crowd drifts off, having lost interest now that the entertainment is gone.
This allows Naruto to leave his hiding place and head to the Hokage’s tower like he originally planned.
The amount of time that has passed allows Naruto to calm down and think through the situation. ‘That official and the workers said that the Hokage ordered this. Awesome!’
Naruto giggles. ‘Sometimes, having the Hokage as your Jiji rocks!’
The thought brings a smile to the blond’s face and he bounces all the way to the Hokage’s office.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~
“Mornin’ Jiji!” The boy chirps at the Third Hokage as he’s let into the office. “Can I look at the scroll please?”
Sarutobi smiles fondly at the boy as he looks up from filling out the paperwork on his desk, wishing he had the energy the blond had. The Sandaime folds his hands, gazing steadily at the blond Academy student in front of him. “I’m afraid not, Naruto.”
The boy wilts, whining, “What? Why not Jiji?!”
The Third Hokage raises an eyebrow and mildly replies, “Every action has a consequence, Naruto. I never got around to discussing your punishment for the pranks yesterday.”
The boy freezes then slumps. ‘Shoot. I was hoping he’d forget.’
He looks up to see the Hokage smirking at him as the man puffs on his pipe. “You thought I forgot, didn’t you?”
Naruto lies right through his teeth. “Of course not Jiji! I... I uh…”
Hiruzen huffs, seeing right through the boy. He sets down his pipe and gets right to it. “Today you’re going to clean up the mess your traps made as punishment for your actions.”
“But Jiji!” Naruto whimpers, pulling out the dreaded Puppy Eyes No Jutsu. “I wanted to look at the scroll today!”
Hiruzen deadpans at the boy, completely unaffected. “You need to complete your punishment first, Naruto. Be glad I’m not adding more to your punishment as it is. If you work fast, you still may be able to look at the scroll today. Now get going. You have quite a bit of work to do.”
The boy slumps, defeated. He knows from previous experience, that when the Hokage decides on Naruto's punishments, there's nothing Naruto could do or say to change his mind. “Yes, Jiji.”
The pouting blond exits the office, taking the cleaning items that the receptionist had so helpfully gathered for him at the Hokage’s behest with him.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
A hidden squad of Anbu watch as a grumbling blond scrubs at a large paint stain decorating the side of a building.
Anbu captain Hound shifts in his position above his team, perched on a nearby roof. They are all spread out and hidden under a camouflage technique, keeping an eye on their charge, Naruto Uzumaki.
He once again checks on his subordinate. Neko, the only kunoichi on his Anbu team, has been off the entire day today.
It’s starting to concern him.
Without a sound Hound flickers from his position. He appears right next to Neko, who is keeping guard in the alley Naruto is in, hiding behind a discarded stack of cardboard boxes. The masked kunoichi doesn’t even register or acknowledge her taicho’s arrival, having been completely lost in thought.
Hound frowns. This kind of lapse in attention is deadly. If it were to happen in the field, it would kill Neko and possibly her teammates. Hound hates having to do this, but he has no other choice. He’ll have to… Shudder ...interact with others.
Hound reaches out and taps Neko on her shoulder to get her attention.
The woman jerks, her body tensing and head snapping up as she turns towards Hound. She relaxes fractionally when she sees that it’s him and tucks away the kunai that appeared in her hand.
Hound reaches out again and taps on the Anbu tattoo located on Neko’s upper arm. The woman twitches, not expecting her aloof Anbu captain to ask her if she’s alright per Anbu code.
Neko pauses, gathering her thoughts before replying with hand signs.
<Intel> <Difficult> <Tactics> <Time> <Solo Mission>
Hound nods, accepting Neko’s explanation of thinking through some difficult information and wanting to be left alone to process it. He’ll allow it since they’re in the village. It's been quiet lately and highly unlikely that something will happen.
If it does... Well, that’s what the rest of the team is there for. They can pick up the slack and let Neko do her thinking.
Without a single word Hound jumps up from the alleyway and bounces off the side of a building, returning and settling back down into his original position.
The other two members of the Anbu team turn back to watching Naruto, having witnessed the silent conversation between Hound and Neko. They too were concerned about Neko. But they’re willing to leave her alone now that they know what’s going on.
Behind her mask Neko huffs, a reluctant smile creeping onto her face.
Her teammates were a bunch of mother hens.
She’s grateful for that.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Naruto trudges back into the hokage’s office, passing a team of departing Chunin who eye the utterly grime-ridden boy as they walk by.
“I’m done cleaning up. Can I look at the scroll now, Jiji?” Naruto asks, using a paint splotched sleeve to tiredly wipe at his face.
The Third Hokage looks up from shuffling mission papers at his desk and fights the urge to sigh.
Dirty feathers stick out of Naruto’s hair. The previously blonde locks are matted with various shades of drying mud and tar. More mud, feathers, tar, paint and who knows what else covers the rest of the boy and his jumpsuit.
“No Naruto.” Seeing his surrogate grandson’s nose flare and face screw up, Hiruzen hurriedly adds, “Look at yourself Naruto. Do you want to handle your mother’s possessions when you’re all dirty like that?”
Naruto pauses, looking down at himself. He looks at his jumpsuit, so filthy that you couldn’t see the original orange color and his paint stained hands. The boy deflates.
“No, I guess not.” The boy mutters sullenly.
Hiruzen smiles, grateful to have avoided Naruto’s imminent meltdown. “Go get cleaned up and get something to eat. Then you can look at the scroll.”
“Yes Jiji.”
The Third Hokage flicks a hand and an Anbu agent materializes beside him. “Anbu Horse here will get you back to your apartment to get cleaned up. Lunch will be on the table for you,” Hiruzen gives a pointed look to the Anbu agent, who silently nods. “When you’re done eating Naruto you can come back.”
The Anbu agent picks up and disappears with the dirty boy. The Third Hokage shakes his head.
“Maybe one day that boy will learn to think through his actions.” He mutters, pulling yet another paper towards him to fill out. With a sigh, the Third Hokage gets back to work.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Two hours later, a freshly scrubbed Naruto races into the hokage’s office. He dances on one foot then the other, impatiently waiting until the Hokage is done talking to the man slouching in front of his desk.
The man wears a jounin vest over mesh armor and a ripped deerskin coat. He has two large scars on one side of his face and his dark hair is pulled into a spiky ponytail. It makes the man’s head look like a pineapple.
Naruto giggles at the thought, momentarily distracted.
“—Alright, that’s what we’ll do then. Thank you for your time Hokage-sama.” With a nod, the man exits the office, shooting Naruto an assessing look as he passes.
The minute Hiruzen is free, Naruto races over to the side of the Hokage’s desk, peering up at the old man.
“Can I look at the scroll now Jiji?” The boy plaintively asks. “I’m all washed up now and I even ate the yucky vegetables Horse gave me!”
Hiruzen smiles and gets to his feet. “I don’t see why not.”
The Third Hokage unseals the scroll and hands it over to the boy, saying, “You can use that chair and corner over there,” Sarutobi points at the chairs wedged in the corner of the office with a low tea table between them. “Just make sure you stay quiet while I talk to the people in here, okay?”
Naruto cheers, a beaming smile on his face. He takes the scroll from the Hokage and scurries over to the chairs. The blond sets the scroll down and bites his thumb, smearing the blood over the seal that will allow the scroll to open.
One seal after another is opened and their contents disgorged, creating a haze of seal smoke on that side of the room. The Hokage snorts and waves a hand for one of the Anbu to open the window by Naruto and allow the smoke to dissipate.
With Naruto sufficiently occupied, Hiruzen presses the intercom button on his desk. “You can send in my next appointment, Hisoka.”
There’s a crackle then, “Yes, Hokage-sama. I’ll send them in right away.”
Meanwhile, Naruto is happily engrossed in pawing through the pile of items from the scroll. The blond shoves aside the various books and papers from before and picks up a printed fan.
The spines of the fan are thin spokes of metal and the handle is a beautifully carved piece of blue dyed coral. The right side of the fan depicts a series of waves. On the left side of the fan is a distant, beautiful temple just off the rocky seashore. More waves crash against the rocky base of the temple, ending at steps that lead right to the water.
“Huh.” After looking it over Naruto carelessly tosses the fan to the side. He goes back to rummaging through the pile. A red corded stone fish talisman is quick to follow the fan along with an official looking stamp carved from jade.
Neko shakes from where she’s disguised as a filing cabinet, gaining confused glances from her teammates and the other Anbu in the room. The kunoichi is utterly furious. ‘I want to tan that boy’s backside so hard he won’t be able to sit for a week! Those are priceless artifacts he’s tossing around!’
“Oooh!” Naruto squeals, spotting a cloth wrapped handle poking out of the pile.
‘A sword! Now that’s what I’m talking about!’
Naruto wades through the pile of items, unheeding of what he’s stepping on and yanks on the handle. The boy yips in surprise as the sword slides free of the sheath, sending Naruto tumbling backwards.
The blond shakes his head from where he landed and clambers to his feet. He lifts up the sword in his hand to look at it.
On the other side of the room, Neko practically chokes on her tongue. ‘That odachi! That’s—That’s Crimson Ember, the sword passed down by Tsubaki-hime sama! I thought that it was lost with Kushina-sama during the night of the 10th!’
The odachi, Crimson Ember, has a subtly stated flair. Blue and white nagamaki wrap the handle and a dark blue tassel is looped from the end of the sword. The blue corded tassel is tied off at the sword’s hilt, leaving a few inches to hang. Just above the actual tassel are white coral beads, carefully carved with the relief of a snarling dragon. The hilt’s tsuba and habaki are the dark burnished grey color of chakra metal, with beautiful fuinjutsu script inlaid in gold. More fuinjutsu extends all the way down the blade, carved into the dark grey folded chakra metal.
It’s a thing of beauty, a Master class sword.
Naruto grins and starts waving the sword around as he imagines himself locked in deadly combat against a formidable foe.
“Whoosh, swish! Clang! Screeow!”
The dark sky rumbles with thunder above wide plains of rolling grass. One Leaf shinobi stands alone before countless Ame shinobi. His blond hair and long white coat whip in the breeze.
“Even if there are a thousand of you, that will not stop me!” Naruto, the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, cries. “Come at me if you wish to taste defeat!”
The faceless mass of Ame nin roar and charge.
The lone ninja sinks into a crouch and grips his sword and sheath in two hands.
“So be it. Sing, Dark Vengeance and strike down my enemies!” The sword rings out as it’s drawn, cutting an enemy down as it slides free. Then the mob is upon him.
Naruto dances through the mass of bodies, smoothly avoiding all of the blows aimed at him and cuts one enemy down after another. The field runs red with blood, until the only one left standing is the blond ninja, his odachi in hand.
Lighting strikes the ground with a shuddering boom. When it fades, a hulking behemoth is revealed.
“Foolish boy!” A deep voice roars. “You cannot stop Hanzo the Salamander!”
“Oh yeah?” The Leaf ninja shouts back. “Well, just watch me! I’m gonna fell you like a tree, Hanzo!”
The two roar and leap forward, crossing unimaginable distances with a single step. Their blades meet with a crash. Steel screeches and sparks fly as both shinobi vie to overpower the other.
Hiruzen looks up from the papers that were just delivered to him. He scowls when he sees Naruto laughing like a loon and making his own sound effects as he mimes a clumsy sword strike with live steel. The boy over extends and almost trips over his own feet.
Hiruzen's eyes widen. 'He's going to fall and impale himself holding the sword like that!'
The Third Hokage moves instantly to stand just behind the blond. He reaches down with both hands and grips Naruto by his jumpsuit’s collar to keep the blond upright. The Hokage then plucks the sword from the boy’s fingers with his free hand.
Naruto is abruptly jarred out of his reverie the moment the sword is taken from him.
"Hey, who did that!" Naruto turns to see a pale-faced and furious Hiruzen standing behind him, sword in hand.
"Jiji! What was that for?!" Naruto exclaims, incensed that the Hokage ruined his make believe battle. He had almost beaten the Kage of Ame! "Give me my sword back!"
"Naruto, this is not a toy." The Hokage growls, shaking the sword in his hand. "It is a weapon, used to kill people—"
"I know that, Jiji!" Naruto interrupts, reaching up to try and grab the sword. "I was just playing! Now give it back, it's mine! You said so!"
Hiruzen sighs and hoists the sword higher, out of Naruto's reach. "You are not mature enough to hold this blade, Naruto. As such, I am taking it away. Neko!"
The aforementioned Anbu member appears and bows. "Hokage-sama, you called?"
Hiruzen ignores the blond now jumping to reach the sword and replies, "Neko, take the sword please."
"At once, Hokage-sama." Neko steps forward and reverently takes the blade from the Hokage.
Naruto wails as the blade is handed over above his head along with the sheath. This is unfair! This is tyranny!
The last straw is when the Anbu vanishes along with the sword.
Naruto was exhausted from the several hours of hard work scrubbing the walls and streets of Kohona. Being denied by his Jiji several times and now having his sword taken from him is just too much.
The young blond's temper snaps.
Naruto throws himself onto the floor, kicking and screaming. "Nooo! That was my sword! You can't do that, Jiji! That was miiiiine!"
The Third Hokage breathes out as he looks to the ceiling, praying for patience. He doesn't have much left after having to deal with the Council today and the heart attack Naruto just gave him. He's already late for going down to the mission office and now this. He looks at the pile of stuff Naruto left strewn over the chairs and table.
'Great. This needs to be picked up before I can leave.' A vein pulses in the Sandaime's forehead.
"Naruto, if you don't stop this right now, you won't be able to look at the scroll anymore!" The Hokage shouts.
The threat just makes Naruto howl louder.
A Chunin aid pokes his head around the door. "Hokage-sama, you're due at the Mission desk."
"I know Iruka, I'll be right there as soon as I—"
"AHHH!"
Both ninja wince, their ears ringing from Naruto's scream.
"—as soon as I'm finished cleaning up here." The Third Hokage finishes, sighing.
The Chunin eyes the tantruming jinchuriki rolling on the floor, the knick knacks strewn about, the Hokage and the sealing scroll he's currently holding.
'That pile of stuff is huge. That'll take awhile to seal up.' Iruka quickly comes to a decision and enters the office. He silently joins the Hokage in tidying up.
"What is all of this stuff?" Iruka asks, ignoring the crying and screaming blond behind him.
"These are the possessions Naruto's mother left behind." The Hokage explains over the noise, sealing away a pile of books.
Iruka glances at the imperial jade stamp in his hands and shoots an incredulous look at the Hokage. "Wait, seriously?"
"Yes." The Hokage irritably replies. "Now give that here."
Iruka quickly passes over the stamp and gathers up more items. As he does, a picture flutters out of the pile and falls on the floor.
Iruka picks it up after passing over his load to be sealed away.
"Hey, this is Kotetsu's and Izumo's Genin picture!" He exclaims, recognising the two in the photo from when their class graduated.
Iruka's seen it so many times from going to the duo's houses after joint training with their team when he was a young Genin. He'd recognize it anywhere.
Iruka looks closer at the picture and more specifically, the redheaded special jonin of the team as the gears churn away in his head. "That means… KUSHINA-SENSEI IS NARUTO'S MOTHER?!"
His shout of disbelief echoes across the entire building.
'Damn it.' The Third Hokage makes a face from where he's bent over the sealing scroll. 'The cat's out of the bag now. This will be over the whole village by sunset.'
"Yes Iruka, it does. Now can we finish cleaning up, or would you like to spill more village secrets?" A part of Hiruzen regrets his snippyness while the rest of him is ready to throw whatever else pisses him off from the top of the hokage tower.
"Of-of course, Hokage-sama!" The Chunin stammers, utterly confounded at this new revelation. The Chunin reels as he helps gather the rest of the scattered items.
'To think that the woman whose team I joined after mine got killed is the Demon brat's mother!' Then the man shudders. Kushina would have torn the village apart for treating her son like they had if she was still alive.
Hiruzen seals away the last of the items into the large scroll. The aged Hokage's back cracks as he stands up, making him groan.
Another earth shattering scream sounds from Naruto as the scroll is sealed back into the wall.
The Third Hokage pinches the bridge of his nose.
'This tantrum isn't going to stop anytime soon with the rate he's going. I'm already late in reporting to the mission office and can't delay any further. I'll just have to leave him here.'
Hiruzen calls out, "Take him home when he's tired himself out and make sure he eats dinner."
"Yes, Hokage-sama." The hidden Anbu in the office respond.
The Hokage nods and sweeps out of the room. Iruka spares one last glance at the crying blond on the floor before hurrying after him.
Neither of them have any idea of the repercussions that will arise due to their conversation, or how it will affect Kohona’s future.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
A few days later, Naruto shows up at the Hokage’s office, just after the Academy lets out.
Sarutobi senses him hovering uncertainly outside the door leading to the reception room of his office and chuckles. He dismisses the genin team in front of his desk, rising to his feet behind them as the team shuffles out the door.
He moves to the open door of his office and calls out, “Naruto, you can come in.”
The young blond hesitantly shuffles into the room. Hiruzen eyes the subdued blond standing in front of his desk and pulls on his pipe.
“I’m… I’m sorry Jiji.” The blond murmurs. The boy’s head hangs low, watching his fingers twist together. “I shouldn’t have acted like that, dattebayo.”
The Hokage breathes out a stream of smoke then lays his pipe aside. “I forgive you Naruto.”
This makes the boy’s head pop up, hope shining in his eyes. “Then–then can I look at the scroll, Jiji?” Naruto hesitantly asks. The boy doesn’t dare to ask about getting his sword back yet, as he just got back into the Hokage’s good graces.
‘Ah, I was wondering when he was going to ask.’
“Yes Naruto, but I want to set some ground rules first.”
The Hokage’s words make the boy cock his head. “Whaddaya mean by that, Jiji?”
“What I mean Naruto, is that there are some things that you will need to do in order to look at the contents of the scroll.”
The Hokage gives Naruto a severe look, making the boy freeze in the process of nodding his head and opening his mouth. “Listen to what I have to say before you agree.”
“O–okay, Jiji.” The boy quietly replies, sufficiently cowed.
“My first rule,” The Hokage intones, holding up a finger, “Is to only open one sealing array at a time. I will not have you make a mess in my office. If you want to look at the other items, you must seal up the contents of the open seal first before moving onto the next.”
The Hokage pauses, allowing Naruto to mull it over. Naruto nods his agreement after a bit.
“Second, you are to treat each item with respect, Naruto. There are some priceless artifacts of your clan in there and I will not have you damage them by handling them carelessly.” The Hokage eyes the boy as he shrinks guiltily, the blond recalling that he had treated some of the items in the scroll with less regard than they deserved.
“Finally, looking at the scroll is a privilege, not a right. I can and will take access away from you if you deserve it Naruto and you are not allowed to argue with me about it. Are we clear?” The Hokage raises an expectant eyebrow at the young academy student.
“Yeah, Jiji. That all sounds fair.” The boy responds after a bit.
“Good.” A smile breaks out on the aged Hokage’s face. “I’m glad to hear it. And yes, you may look at the scroll, Naruto.”
Naruto nods. The subdued boy quietly takes the scroll from Hiruzen and goes over to the corner of the office. He hunches in one of the chairs, taking exaggerated care in releasing the scroll and the first seal's contents.
This time, Naruto takes much more care in handling each item. After emptying and looking at all the items from the first seal, Naruto realizes that all of the items in the scroll have gotten mixed up. He grumbles to himself as he resignedly picks through the small pile. He’ll have to go through each seal individually again.
Still, the boy keeps to his agreement with the Hokage. When he’s done with the first seal, Naruto gathers all the items and seals them back into the scroll. Once the items are sealed, Naruto moves over to the next storage seal array.
Sarutobi is pleased at how well the boy is behaving, even more so that Naruto asks the Hokage his questions about some of the items he finds when Hiruzen is working on paperwork and not interrupting him when he’s conducting business or in a meeting.
The rest of the time Naruto is quiet, content with looking through the items before putting them back.
It’s nice, the quiet companionship.
When it’s dinner time, Sarutobi gently reminds Naruto of it getting late. Naruto takes the hint and bundles everything up again, handing the Hokage the scroll to seal into the wall. The Hokage once again takes him to Ichiraku, then they part ways to go home.