"Blah": Talking

'Blah': Demon speaking/ Inner Sakura

'Blah': Naruto's Thoughts/other people's thoughts

'Blah': Harry talking to Naruto

Here we go! The end of the first book! I hope you guys will keep an eye out for the next book in line, the Assassin of the Mist! :D WHOO-HOO!

Reviews are welcome and wanted!

Disclaimer: Naruto is property of Masashi Kishimoto

Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling and Warner Bros

Chapter 13: Family

After the first few weeks of Naruto's career as a shinobi of Konoha, he expected them to be a lot more epic and exciting. He always imagined being a ninja would be a lot like more fun and thrilling versions of the stories Harry had told him growing up as he was hunting down Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes on the run. He thought that by this time, he would have gone on at least one mission that involved actually leaving the village or fighting in epic battles. But he had no idea that certain missions were only given to certain shinobi based on their experience and shinobi rank. Naruto and the rest of his team were given missions of the lowest rank, D-Rank missions. These usually involved, no, they were comprised entirely of community service that normal civilians were more than qualified to accomplish; such as watching over pets and weeding out gardens. One of the first missions they did was actually babysitting.

This was far from all the adventures and danger Naruto expected to be facing. He longed for adventure into deep jungles or forbidden deserts. The closest thing he had gotten to an adventure would be when the daimyo's wife, Madam Shijimi visited the village for a routine inspection and lost her pet cat, named Tora. Iruka once told Naruto over a bowl of ramen that that particular mission was assigned often due to Shijimi being a smothering pet owner. Team 7 had actually completed this mission three times now, while Iruka told him that he himself completed that mission twenty-seven times. Kakashi had once said he had done it over fifty-two times, with different cats given the same name over the years, of course.

As another couple of weeks flew by like passing bird's overhead, Naruto resorted to going to bookstores and purchasing more comic books and graphic novels about dragons and mystic adventures to feed his hunger for a real mission. Escaping to his fantasies and having Harry create simulations based off of his readings helped to satisfy him for the time being. In the real world, Naruto wanted to start experimenting on whether or not it was possible to create potions out in the real world. Harry expressed that it was possible, though it would be very difficult if he were unable to find magical ingredients.

Still, that didn't stop Naruto from trying and searching for substitutes for those magical ingredients.

On the third week of being on Team 7, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi were each given the task of going around the village and putting up posters around town for a couple of up-coming events. They had split up into different sections of the city to cover more ground. Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop and plunged down into the streets as he smacked every poster given to him on the windows of supermarkets and lined up stores. Naruto got the job done well and ran out of posters more quickly than the rest of his team.

He was about to turn and head for the Mission Assignment Desk with the rest of his team, when found an irregular shop that stood out to him.

It was a tiny, dusty-looking shop that no one on the crowded street seemed to notice was there. Naruto walked up to it and read the sign that read;

The Jungle Brought to You

He looked inside and saw that it was an apothecary run by a foreign family. Naruto walked into the shop and had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. The store was lined with similar items and ingredients that he saw in simulated-Diagon Alley lining the rows and shelves of the store. With all of the money he had earned from his D-Ranked missions he could afford to burn a few credits and start stocking up on supplies for his potion experiment. While he was there, he purchased the extracted eyes of foreign insects and rare plants and fungi imported directly from the land surrounding Kusagakure no Sato. Naruto even purchased a rare mushroom that had the exact same properties of a Horklump.

Naruto stocked up on supplies, which made the family that run the place extremely happy, as their business was not particularly successful. They informed their customer that they used to supply the local hospital with ingredients that were rumored to amplify the effects of healing serums, philters, and poisons until their services were no longer required, via order from the council.

But all of that changed when this blonde boy decided to walk in.

Nearing the end of his first month as a genin, Naruto purchased a new item for his home that he had to secretly hull into his apartment. He limped his way into his apartment with his beaded backpack looking round and overstuffed. Once he locked the door behind him and got into his kitchen he threw it on top of his eating table and removed the item he purchased. Once he had it removed and his bag thrown to the side, he revealed a reasonably sized pewter cauldron, though it was cracked and worn out in numerous places.

"I can't believe that the Apothecary was going to throw this out!" he exclaimed.

'Incredible, eh? Once you fix this thing up, maybe throw on a little protection charm or two on it.'

'This cauldron will be in great condition then! I think I might actually start to be able to make potions out here in the real world! So long as I can find substitute ingredients for magical ingredients. The most I can make in this world would probably be Wiggenweld Potion... so long as I can find a substitute for unicorn horn and stewed Mandrake juice... I don't think I can find a Mandragora anywhere here in the Land of Fire...'

Harry giggled and patted his shoulder, 'Listen to you go on, you ambitious little potioneer!'

Naruto hulled his cauldron to the stove and placed it on top of one of the burners. He then inspected it further and fixed up all of the cracks with a few simple spells and strengthened its qualities while Harry instructed him. Once he was finished, he inspected his cauldron and smiled once he saw it was perfect to start using. Naruto got down on his knees and inspected the cabinet for storage below and measured how much he could fit inside of it, including his cauldron and potion ingredients. Once done, he moved over to his grocery bags he had stored in another cabinet and started storing its contents into the cabinet space under his sink, near his stove.

'I should start checking around the woods and swamp again for more ingredients...'

'Don't you think you have enough? You've already bought a handful of eyes, powders, and assorted animals parts. If this doesn't work, you would have wasted money...'

'Good point... Maybe I should stop frivolously spending my money on the Apothecary...'

'Thank goodness those people don't ask questions, or else you would be screwed.'

'I'm not that surprised. I seem to be their only customer; my guess is that they don't want to lose my loyalty by asking questions. So ultimately, they keep their mouths shut to keep me coming back...'

'Lucky for us.'

'Anyway, I better get going to the woods before the ANBU start to make their rounds.'

'I'll keep a look-out for you.'

'Thanks.'

The following morning, Naruto was forced to wake up early and meet with the rest of his team for another mission. Each morning on the weekdays, the three genin students would met at this special bridge over by the village water reservoir and wait for hours for their sensei to arrive. One thing that they hated was the fact that Kakashi never once made on-time appearances. He was always late and made up some unbelievable story as to why he couldn't show up on time. This morning, Naruto waited alongside his teammates until Kakashi made a new record and was now three late.

"Good morning, you guys! What great weather we're having!" he announced from up above.

The genin all looked behind them and looked up to see their unusual teacher squatting lazily atop of one of the tall red-painted archways of the bridge. He waved down to them and smiled as his students scowled at his tardiness. Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes while Sakura screamed that Kakashi was late very loudly, causing Naruto to cringe slightly and his spirit companion to cover his hands over his ears and grit his teeth.

'Do I really have to put up with this banshee from now on? She sets my teeth on edge!'

Naruto shook off his older brother's comment and smiled up at his sensei as he had already gotten used to Kakashi's tardiness. His teacher jumped down from over fifty feet and landed swiftly on his feet, he couldn't help but smile a little more as he made up another ridiculous excuse for being over three hours late.

"Sorry I'm late, but I got lost on the road of life..." he said.

Naruto couldn't help but giggle a bit as Sakura went on to rant about how a shinobi should keep their word and show up on time as expected. Unlike his companions, he couldn't help but look up to Kakashi from time to time and really started to like him and trust him. The silver-haired man was very fair with his students if they had an argument and usually kept the peace between them. He also watched over each of his students and made sure they were taken care of and trained. One time, Kakashi stopped by Naruto's home, crouching out of his open window and offered him a whole basket full of vegetables when he saw him eating nothing but red bean soup and barbecue-pork ramen for lunch.

To which Naruto replied with; Green is about my least favorite food-color.

The adorable nerd kept thinking of Kakashi as this insanely cool and watchful guardian that almost acted and looked like a superhero. Naruto laughed when he thought of his sensei as a Konoha version of Bruce Wayne, because he liked comic books that much.

But while he was very nice and friendly, Kakashi wasn't exactly an Iruka-sensei. He was still pretty distant and mysterious when it came to his personal life. Naruto still knew little about him and his past, and the question as to why he wore a mask and the reason he kept most of his face hidden from view kept bubbling in his mind. The one thing he knew about him under the surface was that he had close friends who had died in battle, and that was pretty much it.

"Well anyway, let's head out to the old mission desk..." he said finally, "Let's go! Time for us to walk the dogs!"

Naruto ran down the street as fast as he could, his stomach beckoning for food while his brain and taste buds demanded for barbecue-pork ramen. He was going to meet up with Iruka again which he decided to do more often. Naruto made his way to the street his old teacher said he would be on after his own mission and there he was, walking down the street and looking around for his old student. Naruto waved to him and clumsily stormed through the crowds of people in his way to get to him.

"Iruka-sensei!" he called from afar.

The young chunin smiled and they started walking at a much slower pace than sloppily running around people on the street. Iruka listened as Naruto went on about his week, specifically around the details of his last mission. It quickly became apparent to Iruka that his younger companion did not enjoy D-Rank missions, because it felt like doing chores. Iruka told him he felt the same way when he started out, but eventually he was given more difficult tasks as he gained more experience. He ended up telling him that because he had just started as a shinobi, he would be doing those missions for a pretty long time.

As he told him this, Iruka couldn't help but hope that it would stay that way for a while, because he really cared about Naruto, and he didn't want him getting hurt. Within little Naruto, Harry hoped the same thing and could sense the chunin felt as he did. But then he picked up something else in the tan-skinned shinobi he didn't expect to see, but should have. Iruka looked at the younger blonde and sensed something was off or different about him. And it all started on the night after Mizuki was vanquished and the discovered the truth about the Kyuubi was unraveled to the child. This new behavior made him feel worried a little bit. He knew that the demon did not have a hold of him or else the village wouldn't be standing. He tried to throw the thought away, but there was no denying that Naruto was changing.

The oblivious child looked up as his beloved sensei started loosing focus, "Is there something wrong, Iruka-sensei?"

"Eh?" he blinked and shook his head before he smiled down at those adorable blue orbs, "No. It's nothing, Naruto… I was just thinking about something... Let's go for a ramen break! How about it?"

The blonde child was now excited and smiled in pure delight, "Yeah! With extra barbecue-pork?"

"You bet!" laughed Iruka, as he ruffled Naruto's hair.

The blonde genin grinned happily as he half-dragged his superior towards the old ramen stand. As he was being dragged through the bustling crowds of people and shinobi, Iruka began to think that maybe his little Naruto was just starting to grow up.

Another week had passed since that one day Harry had caught Iruka's odd look and couldn't get it out of his head. Since then, he had been observing his movements and actions whenever he hung out and talked to Naruto. He didn't tell his little brother anything of his suspicions until one morning when the child was eating breakfast before another of his team's missions.

'Iruka is suspicious about something...' he said as Naruto helped himself to some oatmeal and milk.

The older wizard informed his child of Iruka's actions, looks, and mannerisms. But before he divulged unto him the only conclusion that was made available, the smaller wizard beat him to the punch.

'You don't think he thinks that... that... I might be influenced by... It…?' he tailed off; failing to notice that he was still pouring the milk and overflowing his bowl and trailing off and over the table.

'It would be the only logical conclusion for him to reach… Watch out where you're pouring the milk, kiddo.'

'NO!' he slammed the milk down on the table, 'I DON'T WANNA THINK ABOUT THAT! I don't want him to be afraid of me! I don't want him to hate me! Not him!'

Naruto stopped once he had heard himself yell like he did and saw the mess he made with the milk when he slammed it down on the table and almost crushed it. The boy hung his head in shame as he felt the hands of his companion wrapping around him in a warm hug. Harry gave Naruto a soft pat on the shoulder and even kissed the back of his head.

'I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…'

'It's okay, Little one… It's going to be okay… We'll think of something eventually… But for now, you better hurry up. You don't want to be late for your mission.'

With that said, Naruto cleaned up his mess thoroughly, saving whatever milk he could by pouring it back into the carton.

"Hey Iruka-sensei!"

Naruto grinned as he saw his one-time teacher from across the street without a care in the world. He relaxed slightly when the chunin's face lit up and he smiled back at him warmly. Naruto tried to remain confident that Harry was simply having delusions about him. He ran up to the man eagerly and stopped himself from crashing into him. His older brother must have been imagining things, surely.

"Hello, Naruto. How was your mission today?" asked Iruka as they started walking together.

The new genin huffed and crossed his arms while he complained, "Another boring D-Rank mission, we had to pick up trash all of the streets."

Iruka laughed kindly and ruffled the child's hair, "You're still a rookie, Naruto. Give it some time."

"I know," he grumbled.

But then his stomach let out a strong growl and he looked up to Iruka and begged silently with a cute gleam in his eyes, "Treat me to ramen, please?"

The chunin sighed and nodded, 'Well… There goes my pay…'

He willingly led Naruto into the direction of their favorite ramen shop (having plans of going there for dinner tonight anyway) and they continued talking just like they have been for the past month and a half now.

{{The Resurrection Stone by Alexandre Desplat}}

A few hours later, the two shinobi were seen walking through the village calmly with stomach's pleasantly full. It was getting pretty late but Naruto had the next day off and Iruka didn't have to work until next Monday, so it didn't matter to either shinobi how long they stayed up. And neither one really cared to go home anytime soon. Naruto was just happy to be spending time with the older man and chatting. He smiled up to Iruka as the man looked down at him in slight concern since Naruto had been quiet for the last while now.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" the chunin asked, genuine concern laced in both his eyes and tone.

The child hesitated, "No, I…"

He was waiting for Harry to tell him something on what to say and how he felt but no matter how long he waited for, Harry remained silent. Letting what he was about to do and say be entirely his choice without input.

"Naruto?"

The older gentleman stopped walking with Naruto and knelt down in front of him, really beginning to worry about his old student.

"I… I love you, Iruka-sensei."

Naruto said that last sentence quietly before he threw his arms around his favorite teacher. Iruka responded by hugging the preteen boy back, hard. Understanding full well what he meant through that last sentence, as he knew Naruto looked up to him as a favored mentor or a parent-figure.

"D-don't abandon me… P-please…" he heard Naruto beg through a whisper, and he tightened the embrace.

Iruka let loose a single tear and reassured to him softly, "I don't ever plan to… I love you too, Naruto-otōto."

The chunin let Naruto stay in his embrace for as long as he wanted, occasionally rubbing and patting him on the back. Not caring about who saw him, even while people even from his workplace saw him and quickly walked away, thinking even less of him as they saw him comforting the village pariah. It wasn't until five minutes later did Naruto finally pulled back from the heart-felt embrace. Iruka looked up and was surprised to see that Naruto's blue eyes and face were covered and wet with rivers of tears.

"Naruto? Are you alright?"

The blonde boy half-sobbed and nodded before he wiped his eyes and face clean with the sleeve of his tracksuit. He then looked up at Iruka and smiled at him. Iruka was very surprised by the smile he received, being drastically different from any other one he had ever seen on his face before. Naruto was genuinely and truthfully smiling with his magnificent eyes opened and his lips turned up perfectly as he didn't stretch his face or bare his teeth, so that it didn't look forced or uncomfortable to hold up for too long.

Iruka found himself smiling just as sweetly back to him and offered his hand to the boy. Naruto took his hand and they continued to walk side by side.

"C'mon… I'll walk you home, okay…?"

When they eventually reached Naruto's rugged apartment building they were shocked and surprised to see Naruto's landlord out on the deck/patio of his section of the building and waiting for Naruto to arrive with a bat in one hand and a bottle of hard liquor in the other.

"UZUMAKI! It's the effing middle of the night and you're not in bed! GET YOUR ASS UP HERE! YOU'RE EFFING DEAD!"

Naruto's eyes shrunk in fear of his alcoholic landlord and he recoiled towards his former teacher. Iruka looked up and was further shocked at seeing that Naruto lived in a place this unpleasant and psychologically damaging. The place where his student lived was a complete wreck, far worse than the place Iruka lived in when he was left alone. This place looked like Hell. Especially with this terrible man being the person that was practically left in charge of Naruto's well-being. The boy tried to hide himself behind Iruka, not wishing to have to sleep through another night with this man trying to break down his door for the rest of the night or until he would pass out or give up out of boredom. But knowing Toshi for as long as he did, Naruto knew that he could actually keep it going until after dawn before he would pass out. For an average villager, he could put up one hell of a fight.

Iruka placed a protective hand over Naruto's shoulder and turned him away from his apartment and led him to the direction of his own home, determined to keep Naruto away from that horrible man. In the mindscape, Harry sighed and thought it best that Naruto should stay with Iruka for the night, if that were a possibility.

Once they could no longer hear Toshi's drunken voice yelling for Naruto's to come back, Iruka reached out to him gently and offered, "Come on. You can spend the night…"

Naruto trusted him and responded with another irresistible and grateful smile and a nod of his head. And then together, they walked away.

In several minutes, Naruto settled into Iruka's apartment, which was located in a comfortable part of town that wasn't too far from where he lived and not too far away from the Academy. The apartment was much better than the one Naruto lived in. For starters, it was much more spacious and had a better paint-job of white and green. Iruka had a living room with a coffee table with couches surrounding it, which were covered with a smooth silk. There was a collection of foreign weapons and boomerangs on the wall to the left and there were several old photographs on several shelves, which made the apartment feel warm. His kitchen was to the right and was much more than just an oven, stove, and sink all crammed together in one corner; it looked like the ones Naruto saw on cooking television shows that were stocked and cleaned to almost flawless perfection. Iruka had an entire hallway that led to a bathroom, two bedrooms, and even an entire storage closet that held blankets, brooms, and pillows lined next to an assemble of various cleaning products and instruments. Naruto considered this small and subtle home as a palace in comparison of his own so-called home.

This place looked and felt more warm and welcoming than his old apartment ever looked in almost a decade.

Iruka led Naruto to his own bedroom where he pulled out a reclinable spare mattress he had kept in his own closet. Iruka would have been more than glad to let Naruto stay in his spare bedroom, only it was currently being re-painted and he hadn't bought an actual mattress for the bed inside it. Naruto didn't care either way, for if he can sleep soundlessly upon the floor of an uncomfortable apartment, he could handle a foldout mattress, which was unusually comfortable.

Iruka lent Naruto a pair of his old pajamas he once wore as a kid, and wouldn't you know it, they fit Naruto perfectly.

Eventually, the boy grew very drowsy once Iruka had finished setting Naruto's bed up next to his own and placed down the futon, pillow, and spare blankets. As soon as he was finished, Naruto collapsed onto the open bed and instantly fell into a deep sleep, without reawakening within the mindscape for once. Iruka raised his eyebrows at seeing how tired Naruto was and laughed a little before dressing up into his own night clothes, undoing his ponytail, and settled into bed before switching off the lights to go to sleep.

{{Leaving Hogwarts/Epilogue by John Williams and Alexandre Desplat}}

A few hours later, Iruka had woken up out of an old sleeping habit and rubbed his eyes once he sensed an uncommon presence in his room. He was on alert until he remembered who he had allowed to stay the night. He looked over and smiled down at the noiselessly slumbering blonde child next to his bed, resting comfortably on his old futon. Iruka didn't know what it was that had brought on the events from earlier that evening, but he was glad that they happened. It just helped to re-enforce his belief that whatever it was that was going on within Naruto, that it wasn't the Kyuubi. The demon would never have done what Naruto had done and said to him a few hours ago.

Not to mention, he meant what he had said to the boy too.

Iruka loved Naruto like the little brother he never got to have, and that he always wanted from his parents. If it weren't for Naruto showing up in his life, he would have forgotten who he was as a child and where he was going with his life, and would have been lost forever in a pit of adult loneliness. All thanks to this troublesome blonde boy that he now loved so much. Now that Naruto was in his life, Iruka didn't want him to have to vanish from it, and he had no plans on leaving his life as well and leaving him to be alone and at the mercy of those horrible people that had been tormenting him all his life.

But then something hit Iruka like a nail to the head; they were both shinobi of Konoha. He knew that they were both ninja and that either one of them could be killed while on a mission or while training. But Iruka swore to himself that no matter what would happen in the near, distant, or unclear future that he would do whatever it took to remain alive so he could be there for the lonely boy resting right beside him whenever he asked for it.

Iruka slowly reached out and brushed some of his golden-blonde hair out of his eyes. He moved a particular patch of hair hanging over his right eye and spotted the old lightning-bolt scar for the first time on Naruto's forehead and wondered as to how he had gotten it. He quickly assumed that it must have been a remnant of Naruto's miserable past that he had been forced to live up until now. There, Iruka pressed his lips to the top of Naruto's messy-haired head and gave him a quick hug before he finally started to close his eyes and fall asleep.

He whispered softly, "Goodnight, Naruto… I'll always be there for you whenever you need me… I promise…"

Can't close my eyes, if it goes...
But deep down inside, it's got a hold of me...
Oh, empty my heart,
I've got to make room for this feeling... I can't take it in...

One Month Later

Naruto woke up to a bright and early Sunday morning. He had the day off from missions with Team 7 and decided to spend the weekend away from his landlord and stayed at Iruka's house again. The two of them had spent the previous night watching old movies, wasting time, and talking like they regularly did for the past two months. Ever since Naruto had graduated from the Academy things were finally starting to get better for him, and he and Iruka really started to get close as if they were both family. The older chunin would usually accompany Naruto whenever he went to the Konoha Cemetery to pay his mother a visit and place flowers and sweets on her grave.

Naruto was just going to the bathroom sometime in between morning and midday. He was now just washing his hands when he stepped on something with a sound of ripping paper. Naruto jumped and looked down at what he stepped on. It was apparently a letter with an official inked seal from the Council of Elders pressed onto the front. At seeing the seal, curiosity bit at Naruto and an uncontrollable urge to find out what Iruka was doing with a letter from the Council caused him to start investigating.

He picked it up, seeing it was already opened and crumbled. He reopened the letter and to his surprise, he saw that the ink was badly smudged in places, making it difficult but not impossible to read;

To Iruka Umino,

We regret to inform you that your earlier request to adopt the orphan in question (Naruto Uzumaki) has been denied. While your compassion was admirable at best, too many vital errors have come into account with your decision. Those reasons being your age, career, the age of the orphan, and the social status of the orphan.

One; you are twenty-three years of age, making you exceptionally young to assume the role of a father/parent. You are also inexperienced with childcare, or for that matter, have little to no knowledge or experience on how to maintain stability under your own roof.

Second reason; your career. You are a shinobi and a teacher at the Ninja Academy. Being a shinobi (you should already know this) you are expected to be called out to fulfill missions when ordered to and [often] leave the village for unknown periods of time. Not having any spouse left at home to care for the child, you are therefore leaving the child in question in danger within the confines of your home without any suitable guardian, putting his safety in considerable risk. Working at the Academy on a weekly basis through most of the year also is very time consuming for you, considering the responsibilities you have to the students you have to teach. This would only further neglect the child you wish to adopt.

Third reason; being the age of the orphan. Uzumaki is twelve years of age, dangerously approaching his adolescence, making him ideally too old to be adopted. Most orphans are preferably adopted at half that age (don't bother arguing that you don't care, we're sick of hearing it) making the transition from orphanage/foster care to the home of a [small] family much less dramatic and possibly damaging.

The last and most important reason being the social status of the Uzumaki. At the end of the recent school year, you graduated him and even gave him your own hitai-ate. You gave him the legal badge of adulthood, eliminating/terminating his status as a child, therefore terminating the legality of any attempted adoption transactions. To put it simply; he's an adult and you cannot adopt an adult.

The issue has been settled. Please stop sending us letters about this.

Signed,

The Konohagakure Council of Elders

Homura Mitokado, Koharu Uta-

Naruto didn't bother with reading the rest of the letter (which were three inked signatures) and instantly realized why the letter was smudged and blotted (as well as what the smudges were caused by) as Naruto soundlessly began to cry rivers of tears that landed on the letters and smeared the ink even further. Naruto almost dropped the letter down to the floor as he felt as if his spine had slid out from his bottom. When he felt a second letter underneath the first one.

Naruto dropped the letter from the Council and examined the one that was written upon a smaller piece of what appeared to be parchment. Naruto checked the date of the letter and found that it was sent to Iruka about three to four days ago, the same amount of days Naruto had been staying at Iruka's home so far. He examined the handwriting on the message and recognized it as it belonged to his grandfather. He picked it up closer to his face, his vision blurry with tears but he started reading:

Iruka,

Words cannot describe how proud I am of you and how happy I am at your request in regards to Naruto. But at the same time, I am upset and saddened upon hearing that the Council declined you. Primarily due to the fact that they enjoy to rob Naruto of any happiness and deny him even the tiniest chance of normalcy due to his status as a jinchuuriki. However, given the fact that he is now a shinobi of the village, his fate rests in my hands, not the Council's any longer. So to turn the tables on them, I am allowing you to permit Naruto into your home at anytime you or he desire. In an adverted way to irritate my old colleagues and enemies within the walls of the village, I am unofficially granting you full and total legal custody and guardianship over Naruto Uzumaki (sort of). As of the moment you receive this message, or whenever Naruto is informed of the events I've informed in this letter, you may refer to him as your otōto.

With love and reassurance, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage

P.S. Take good care of him.

Naruto held the old piece of paper tightly in his hand and shed a new wave of tears while he smiled warmly and closed his eyes. Naruto let out a small, joyous laugh when he reached up to start wiping the tears from his face and tried his best to calm down.

Suddenly Iruka's voice cried out from the kitchen, "Naruto! Your tea's ready!"

The boy jumped and quickly discarded the letters where he found them and wiped his face clean of tears before he called back, "C-coming, aniki!"

Naruto left the bathroom and closed the door, sealing his bond with Iruka that would last for as long as it would take for hell to freeze over. Naruto Uzumaki feeling for the first time in his entire life, that he belonged somewhere. From that point on, his and Iruka's destinies were intertwined with one another's forever.

Woahhhhhhh
It couldn't be anymore beautiful
It couldn't be anymore beautiful
I can't take it in
Woahhhhhhh
I can't take it in
Woahhhhhhh
I can't take it in
Woahhhhhhh

Oh, perilous place
Walk backwards toward you
Blink disbelieving eyes chilled to the bone
Most visibly brave
No apprehended gloom
First to take this foot to virgin snow

I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment
I am a wunderkind oh~
I lift the envelope pushed far enough to believe this
I am a princess on the way to my throne
destined to serve
destined to roam

Oh, ominous place
Spellbound and un-childproofed
My least favorite chill to bear alone

Compatriots in place
They'd cringe if I told you
Our best back pocket secret: our bond full blown

I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment
I am a wunderkind oh~
I am a pioneer naïve enough to believe this
I am a princess on the way to my throne
destined to seek~
destined to know~

Most beautiful place
Reborn and blown off roof
My view: about face whether, great will be done

And I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment
I am a wunderkind oh~
I am a ground-breaker naïve enough to believe this
I am a princess on the way to my throne

And I am a magnet for all kinds of deeper wonderment
I am a wunderkind oh~
I am the Joan of Arc and smart enough to believe this
I am a princess on the way to my throne

Destined to reign, destined to roam~ x 4

End of Book One

Thank you very much for those of you that have read up this far. The idea of putting song lyrics at the end of each story was a collaboration by myself and Azeroth44. He suggested the idea that we could treat the end of the fanfic as if it were a film and put in songs that match with the theme of certain characters and relationships and the context of the fic itself.

Songs Used in End:

I Can't Take It In [Narnia Version] by Imogen Heap (A tribute to Naruto and Iruka's friendship)

Wunderkind by Alanis Morissette (A tribute to Naruto's entry into the magical arts, and Kushina Uzumaki's courage passed down to her son)

Unused Songs:

A Thousand Years [Part II Version] by Christina Perri feat. Steve Kaze (A tribute to Naruto when he and Harry first met, the start of his incredible journey, and the devotion and love he feels for those he cares about and loves)

For Always by Lara Fabian (A tribute to Harry and Naruto's brotherhood, and Kushina and Naruto)