CHAPTER 17
As the air was getting colder and heavier, so was the weight that lay on Naruto's heart. With every day passing since Itachi told him his plans, It was only a week since he had been told just when and how the Uchiha clan would be slain, yet every day seemed like a longer lasting eternity than the previous one. He could hardly talk to Sasuke any more because of it, and his other friends were also becoming quite concerned.
Raz, who resided at the Inuzuka compound, reflected these emotions, She never stayed focused on any tasks, was always caught laying in her room, and more often than not, did not respond to Tsume or Hana. Unlike Naruto, who tried to hide the emotions he held within, Raz let them show freely, which was easily seen by the Inuzuka women who tended to the panther.
Naruto's only saving grace was the news that Itachi had set off for a mission just a day ago, and from Sasuke's account, was not expected to return for a week. It made Naruto relax much more than it should have, but the weight returned when he realized that he would have to suffer with this knowledge for another week.
It would be unbearable.
Naruto walked home by himself from the academy, unable to let himself get close to his friends in fear of them prying him open and finding out about Itachi's plan. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Sasuke. He was the very last person that Naruto wanted to see at that moment.
And said person was chasing after Naruto in the distance.
"Naruto!" Sasuke could be heard shouting from down the street. The boy was running after Naruto with no reason to stop, only speeding up after Naruto started to break into a sprint to get away from his friend.
Naruto spared no time running away from his problems, and winded the two of them around back into the thicker areas of Konoha. He was certain he knew why Sasuke was chasing him, and he wasn't going to let himself be captured.
Sasuke grunted to himself, watching Naruto as his friend weaved through the streets of the village in an attempt to escape. He must have had some idea as to why he was running away, but could not say for certain. No matter how long he tried to catch up, he was always the same distance away. It was a loosing battle, especially when he considered the fact that Naruto and his mother were like super humans, even by Ninja standards.
Naruto could only smirk to himself as he ran away. Sasuke would either run out of steam or give up, and it was only a matter of time. He did not see any possibility of being captured, and continued to run around. Sasuke should be lucky that he is as fast as he is, and has lasted this long. It was Anko who gave Sasuke the training regiment that Naruto was following so that they could become strong and fast together.
Naruto turned a corner, running into an alleyway to avoid Sasuke. As his head whipped around to see what was in front of him, the boy stopped on a dime, looking up in fear as a single figure stood before him with those cold, soulless eyes that he used to peer into the hearts of others.
The figure raised a single finger to his lips. "Shush." He whispered, but the sound reached Naruto's ears as if he were talking normally. "You can't tell him. He'll only struggle more to escape a death he cannot run away from."
Naruto's eyes widened, his feet taking small, cautious steps backwards, as if he were afraid of tripping on something to allow him to be captured.
Before he could turn around, Naruto was tackled to the ground by Sasuke, who looked at him victoriously.
"Gotcha!" Sasuke smiled, watching Naruto squirm below him. "Dude, why are you running away? Did they already tell you?"
"They? Who? What?" Naruto was on the verge of shouting his questions, but the smallest sliver of restraint kept him from doing so.
Once more, Sasuke smiled to the public. "Well," He started off, "After you left the classroom right after dismissal, like you've always been doing this week, Renga-sensei agreed to let us have a Winter Festival party!"
Naruto visibly relaxed, but also showed signs of surprise. He had been so wrapped up in what had been going on that he forgot that the Winter Festival was nearly there.
The Winter Festival was on the rise!
He hadn't gotten anything for anyone yet, and it was only two weeks away! What was he going to get everyone he cared about? How was he going to keep all of that stuff secret from them until then? How was he going to buy stuff without his mother, or anyone else in the house, knowing what he got and for whom?
Once more, Naruto began to stress out, and shoved Sasuke off of him with ease before taking off again. This time, Sasuke did not pursue him, and instead, wandered back home, preparing for the upcoming holiday.
With the Uzuamki funds, Naruto had a lot of money to buy presents, but he was also given access to a personal allowance from Anko, he had managed to save up that allowance this following year, and was sure that he could use the money to buy nice presents for his mother, his two godmothers, the rest of his extended family, and not to mention his friends.
However, as he walked home, he did not expect an old man to be standing at his doorstep, looking as if he recently suffered from but a taste of Anko's explosive Uzumaki wrath.
"Ugh..." The old man groaned as he lay face down in front of the door, grunting many more times as Naruto kicked him experimentally to see if he was alive or playing dead.
"Hey, old fart? You dead?" Naruto asked, continuing his kicks.
Eventually, the old man flipped onto his back and yelled at Naruto, causing him to flich. "Hey! I'm not dead! And I'm not an old fart!"
As his rage simmered down, he took in the boy's appearance, and sighed. It was obvious that he was now much calmer and ready to actually speak, rather than just snap at some random boy.
The two looked at one another, neither saying a word as the time passed by them. The old man looked to Naruto as if he had seen him before, but the latter did not seem to know anything about the former.
Finally the old man relented, his long, white hair shuffling around with every movement. "Look, kid, I need to talk to your family. Will you let me in?"
Naruto paused. He was just a hopeless old man. What sort of damage could he do to a house full of badasses? With a smile, Naruto nodded and walked up to the door.
A wide smile and a squeal of excitement came from the old man, darting into the house as the door creaked open.
Naruto hadn't even managed to open the door all the day before the old man was gone in a puff of smoke and inside the house. Almost instantly, he could hear his mother roaring, presumably at the old man. Soon after that, he could hear two new voices, one haughty one filled with firery laughter, and another, comparatively softer one that also laughed.
What he was hearing did not seem to be good. Naruto drew the line after hearing one of the new voices actually speaking aloud, with horrid language, no less.
"What the fuck? Why the hell is that fucking old pervert here?"
Naruto rushed in to see the old man, once again on his stomach, being held down by Anko, who smiled viciously.
Two new girls that appeared to be around his age were found on his couch. The first of the two wore glasses and had an asymmetric hair style, and was sitting down on the couch politely.
"Tayuya, you don't have to be so crude about it. He might be a little disgusting and old, given that he spent more time in whore houses than any person should, but he did manage to get us here."
The other one, who wore a strange hat and had similar red hair, stopped her cheering only to say something, but was interrupted by an angry, blonde godmother in mother bear rage mode.
"HE DID WHAT?!"
She started her white hot rampage, and nothing would be able to stop it.
Tayuya shrugged casually. "Oh yeah." She responded. "He stopped at loads of them on the way here. Right, Karin?" She was half tempted to say something that would really get Tsunade started, but decided against it. As lecherous as the old man was, he wasn't that bad of an actual caretaker when he got down to it. He knew how to cook and survive, and had many connections around the elemental nations.
Karin could see the look that Tauya gave her, and smiled joyously. "Yeah! He even tried to sell us out to pay for the hotel bills!"
Karin's words only added fire and fuel to Tsunade's raging flames.
Tayuya nodded back. "Yeah. He didn't want us telling people though. Didn't want them to think that they were getting used merchandise." She sighed, almost dejectedly. "But, as you can clearly see, unused." A ghost of a smirk was worn on her face.
The more that Karin and Tayuya spoke, the more Anko dug her elbow into a rather specific spot between Jiraiya's shoulder blades. He writhed in pain as he glared daggers into the two girls he escorted to the one place they'd be safe at.
How DARE they put HIM on the spot! He was the greatest author of serious adult literature in the Elemental Nations, the Toad Sage himself, the self proclaimed worshiper of beauty! He was even going to teach them something for lounging around while he did his research on the trip to Konoha. Well, maybe not, but he had thought about the possibility of doing that once or twice before. But now, if he mentioned that, it would totally be taken the wrong way, and be used against him!
Meanwhile, Naruto understood very little about what the two girls were talking about, his mother's teachings not covering some things yet. He looked back and fourth between them, gazing at them as if he had seen them before. He knew that he hadn't but something about them struck them as familiar to him.
It had taken her a moment, but Karin had finally taken notice of the little blonde boy standing just at the door. She smiled politely, bowing her head to him. "Oh, he's here."
This quickly caught Tayuya's attention, who turned her head to the door. Her smirk appeared in full, her feet carrying her off of the couch with a bound and walking over to Naruto.
"Hey, you're Naruto, right?" her question was obviously rhetoric, but she could see Naruto nodding anyways. Tayuya was about two years older than Naruto was, as was Karin, but Naruto seemed out of place, even for his age. He was much to old for his looks, but also far too young at the same time.
Soon after, Karin walked up to see him as well. She smiled at him kindly, being almost the opposite of the dastardly smirk that Tayuya shone. "We're... Um, family."
Naruto paused in shock, as did Tsunade, who's rage had just gone from one hundred down to zero in the blink of an eye, and Anko, who stopped applying pressure to Jiraiya's back.
Mebuki, who was in the kitchen preparing snacks, also paused, as did Shizune, who was helping her by getting everyone drinks.
Though she didn't want to, Anko got up off of Jiraiya and let him stand. No words needed to be said to make her order of an explanation to be heard.
"Right," Jiraiya grunted, standing up fully and looking to the family around him. "Tayuya and Karin here are both Uzumaki, orphaned by the death of their parents after the destruction of Uzu."
He looked to Karin, who's expression died down as her head tilted downwards. "Karin and her mother were allowed to take refuge in Kusagakure, so as long as Karin's mother healed the wounded there. Her mother..." Jiraiya tapered off, but was given a nod to continue, as if he required permission to speak. "Karin's mother died about a year ago, and the task of healing all the wounded was passed down to her. I came across her just as it was all happening, and I told her I knew of a new place where it'd be alright for her to live."
His head then turned to Tayuya, who turned away dismissively like she didn't care at all. "Tayuya here, I found in Mizu no Kuni, playing music for money. She has a real talent, and for the past few years, actually, I've been teaching her to incorporate it into her fighting. However, I couldn't tone that mouth of hers down."
Tayuya's head snapped to Jiraiya, barking at him with rage. "I was doing just fine on my fucking own! I don't need some family to coddle me, I've gotten that far without you you fat old perverted fucker."
"But you wouldn't have made it much further." He was quick to respond in a grave tone of voice, as well as a tone of dislike for the insulting title.
She shook slightly. He knew much more than she did, even regarding her own life, and it was somewhat of a scary thought. "H-huh?"
He looked down. "I... Someone was going to get you and use you." He said to her, not in his normal lecherous way, but in one that screamed danger. He then turned to Karin. "You too. This man...He was going to make you pawns in his game, and I had to get to you before he did. If I had a little more time to let you grow up, I would have waited. Really."
The room became quiet. Shizune, Tsunade, and Anko knew exactly who Jiraiya was talking about, but said nothing. The children weren't ready to know about the dangerous third member of the Densetsu No Sannin.
Naruto was especially silent. This wasn't the fearful silence that he had when he was learning about his mother and father. He wondered how many others were wandering about, maybe searching for others as well. These two weren't kept a secret from Naruto, their information wasn't withheld from him to make him suffer, they simply had never been known about by Konoha.
In an instant, he tackled the two in a hug, smiling joyously and holding them close. He loved his family, especially his mother, but these were actual family members, related to him through blood. Not blood altered through a seal designed by his family, but actual, natural blood.
There were more out there, he was sure of it.
Tayuya grinned devilishly, patting him harshly on the back, while Karin took a more gentle approach.
"I guess this means we have someone to speak up for us to let us into Konoha!" Karin smiled.
Though Tayuya would not show, or admit it, she was happy that she finally had a home with a family. Jiraiya and Karin made for a nice family, but Naruto had a family with more than enough to spare, plus he was blood family. Seriously, this kid had too many people living under his roof. How did he keep track of them all?
Naruto looked to Tsunade for answers. Had both Karin and Tayuya told his family about styaing in Konoha before he had arrived? If they knew more than he did, he wold really have appreciated it if they filled him in on what he was missing.
A hand reached up to massage the bridge of Tsunade's nose, where she looked between Naruto and Jiraiya. "Naruto, you're fine with being the clan responsible for these girls, right?"
Naruto nodded, a smile on his features once more. "Yep!"
"Okay." She turned back to her old friend. "And they are, for certain, Uzumaki?" Jiraiya said nothing to them, but nodded back in response, prompting Tsunade to walk toward Naruto.
Naruto let go of the two new additions to his family and looked up at his godmother. Still, Tsunade wasn't replied to, and was left to continue the conversation on her own.
Tsunade paced a bit, tossing glances at Anko, Naruto, and the trio that had arrived just recently. "Anko is the rightful acting clan head at the moment, everyone knows that much. But we also all know that this clan is rightfully Naruto's, so he has the final say in these kinds of clan matters."
She turned fully to Anko. "Naruto just approved these two staying here. What's your say?"
Anko knew that it didn't really matter what she thought. Naruto had his mind dead set on letting these girls in, and as bad as Jiraiya could be, he was probably a reliable source. He could be trusted.
However, trust did not mean that he was forgiven for not attending to Naruto when he was younger and growing up in a hateful village.
"I don't see why they can't stay, but we do need to talk about Jiraiya's punishment..." Anko smirked, trailing off as her smirk turned downright sinister.
Both Tsunade and Jiraiya looked to Anko in shock, one in surprise, the other in fear of that grin, but Tsunade's look quickly shifted to a similar smirk, that was equally, if not more, terrifying.
"Right. He was Naruto's godfather." Tsunade nodded to herself. "With that spy network he has, he should have known that Naruto was in trouble here at home."
Before Jiraiya could make his grand escape, he realized what they said, 'Was?!' he thought with shock as Anko launched a fist between his shoulder blades, causing him to fall back down. The only thing he could do was to let himself be dragged off by Tsunade and Anko.
"You be good now, Naruto. Karin and Tayuya, we're are going with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and I to talk about getting them registered into Konoha under the Uzumaki clan."
Naruto nodded, watching the new extension of his family walking off to the Hokage tower. Soon after they left, Yugana appeared from one of the hallways, apparently having listened to the conversation. Soon after she appeared, Kurenai and Ibiki appeared as well.
Kurenai had a hand over her mouth, trying to keep herself from breaking out into laughter, oh what bliss revenge could be. Deep down, she hoped that Anko and Tsunade wouldn't injure his hands, but she kept that to herself.
Meanwhile, Ibiki looked as stone-faced as ever, showing little to reveal what he was thinking inside. Inwardly, his emotions were just as cold as his expression.
Mebuki and Shizune left the kitchen and walked into the main room, each holding a tray with snacks and drinks on them. However, when Mebuki took notice that five people were gone, she sighed to herself.
Naruto was just about to dart at those snacks, but Mebuki stopped him.
"Naruto!" She said firmly. "These are for everyone. You can't have them all."
Naruto sighed and stopped, choosing to calmly walk over and grab only a single finger food from the tray Mebuki provided.
Tsunade dragged Jiraiya through the streets with ease, caring little of what the people around her said and did around her. He wasn't one to give up easily, but Tsunade would handle him.
Someone had to.
Tayuya was laughing all the while as she and Karin looked about. They hadn't actually been to Konoha before, but Jiraiya had said that he visited the village somewhat recently before bringing them there. They had just assumed that he was off doing research.
The Hokage tower quickly came into view, towering above all and standing as a symbol of diplomatic power, peace, and authority.
Before long, the group of five walked into the lobby of the tower, where Sarutobi's secretary was sitting down and working on something. As her head tilted up, she could easily identify three of the five visitors, and directed them to the Hokage's office. The Secretary did not want to anger Anko or Tsunade. She knew full well, and how, the path of destruction those two left behind them when they were angered.
"Good fucking riddance." Tayuya chirped as they passed the secretary, which she saw more as a guard checkpoint than anything else. Her comment resulted in her getting a swift elbow into her side from Karin. It didn't hurt her much, but it did show her friend's disapproval.
None of the adults said anything to Tayuya, and simply walked onwards. In Jiraiya's case, he was dragged onward, despite his struggles.
They stopped at the door to the Hokage's office, Tsunade stepping forward with Jiraiya still in hand. Her free hand knocked on the door firmly, her immense strength leaving unintentional marks on the wood. Hiruzen should be lucky that he didn't have to order a new door.
With a soft command to enter, the door was opened, and the group of five entered to see the old Hokage sitting at his desk.
As Sarutobi looked at the group, his eyes lit up as he looked to Tsunade. She was a sight for sore eyes ever since she had returned, being one of the two of his old students who had not performed inhumane experiments on people.
Speaking of his old students, he had not expected Jiraiya to be there. However, upon seeing him, it was only fitting that he was being dragged across the floor by Tsunade herself. He would have figured that Anko would have helped in some way, but the latter woman was simply standing about.
His eyes then moved to the two red haired girls that looked around the office in wonder. He had never seen them before, and they brought an outsider aura, but he could have sworn that they were familiar.
"Ah, Tsunade." He spoke with a smile. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something important, but it can wait." he took a glance at the girls once more. "Who are your guests?"
Tsunade did not speak. Her head turned to Jiraiya, who spoke for her. They both knew that he was the one with information about the two of them, and would be the one to relay that information to the village leader.
As they were spoken about, Karin and Tayuya turned fully to Hiruzen. Neither said nothing, but even just how they were standing told a lot about them.
Karin stood up fully, her eyes focused on Hiruzen and her lips curled into just the slightest smile.
Tayuya, however, looked at the old man with a straight face and a tall posture, trying to make herself seem bigger than she was.
"These two are Karin and Tayuya." Jiraiya spoke.
"Oh?" Hiruzen looked at them with surprise. It wasn't uncommon for people to not have clan names or surnames, but he asked just in case it was what Jiraiya wanted him to do. "Only first names?"
Jiraiya smiled. His hand lifted up to his head and a single finger tapped his pointed headband. His had the kanji for oil on the front in place of the Konoha symbol,
At first, Hiruzen assumed that they were family that he had adopted and taken in, but with a small shake of the head, he was forced to think of other possibilities. His only other option was the Konohagakure symbol that lay upon the headbands. That symbol was created using the symbol of the Uzumaki, with a point and a tail being added onto it.
The old man smiled to himself. "I was not aware that there were any more Uzumaki out there." He stated, getting looks from everyone other than Karin. She simply smiled at him, her face showing how pleased she was to see how quickly he figured it out.
Hiruzen easily read Karin and her features, smiling back at her and instilling a sense of pride within himself.
"They've been traveling with me, and I figured it's about time they returned somewhere reminiscent of home." It was completely possible that they have never actually been to Uzushiogakure, the true home of the Uzumaki. They were only young teens, and the destruction of Uzu no Kuni was years before they were born.
Hiruzen nodded once more. "Ah, I see. So you wish to make them citizens of Konoha?" He looked at the girls once more, trying to guess their age. Karin still had her cute smile upon her face, and Tayuya was standing about, taking in the room. "Possibly enroll them in the ninja academy as well?"
Karin created a look of surprise. "You have an academy for training ninja?" She asked, though she knew that such a thing was an obvious requirement for any hidden village. She looked to Jiraiya, who had a similar look of surprise, but for somewhat different reasons. "Can we be enrolled? We might be a little old, and a little behind, but I'm sure that me and Tayuya can catch up with everyone!"
Now Tayuya turned her head to her red haired friend. She said nothing, quickly picking up on what Karin had been putting down, and sighed. "I don't know, Karin. I think it's a little too late for Konoha to turn us into top class ninja."
The Hokage shook his head. "No, no." He said to them sincerely. "You two will fit right in, I'm sure. Age is but a number in the ninja world, just look at me!" He chuckled to himself. "If it makes you feel more comfortable, I'll move you two into Naruto's class. School is over for today, if you haven't seen him yet, you will soon."
Karin smiled joyously, too happy about herself to realize that she was being watched by a certain snake mistress. Her techniques might have worked on the old man, but Karin wasn't going to get anything past Anko.
"So, let's start with making then citizens first. As the clan head, I'm here to vouch for them, as well as give them a place to stay." Anko stepped forward.
Hiruzen smiled once more, pulling out the appropriate paperwork from him desk. "Good, good. Since they are Uzumaki, you don't need any extra paperwork for them to join the clan."
Anko looked over one of the two stacks of paperwork, taking it into her hands and skimming across the various words. She only need to read one of them, as one would be for Karin, and the other for Tayuya.
Though she only glanced over the words, she made it seem as if she was actually reading it thoroughly before signing it and handing it to Karin, doing the same as she handed the other copy of the paperwork to Tayuya.
The two of them read the papers in their hands, Karin actually studying it before signing while Tayuya replicated Anko and simply grazed the letters.
Shortly after, the two sets of papers were once again on Hiruzen's desk, this time with the signatures from Anko and the two citizens-to-be.
Hiruzen looked at the signatures on the papers and smiled graciously, his hand grabbing onto a pen and dunking the tip into a small inkwell before casting his own signature onto the papers.
After he signed each paper, he dotted the end of the signature, placing he pen down after he had signed both documents.
"There." He said to them. "I'll get these filed through as soon as possible, and I'll alert the compound when it is done. Welcome to Konoha."
Tayuya clicked her tongue, saying nothing to the Hokage and simple nodding with a smile to him. She turned to Karin, who bowed with gusto. She could understand her earlier actions, but the whole bowing thing seemed to be taking it a little far. Nonetheless, the Hokage seemed to enjoy it.
"Now that we have that out of the way," Tsunade glanced to the girls. "We need to talk with the Hokage about something important."
Anko flashed them a toothy grin. "Make yourselves at home in the compound, and just ask Naruto where the rooms are so you can pick out your rooms."
Karin and Tayuya turned to walk out of the room, but were stopped when Anko decided that she had more to say.
"Oh, and Karin, we're going to talk later."
The tone that she used was not one of grave seriousness, but one of a friend who had found out an embarrassing secret about their friend.
Tayuya was forced to snicker as she dragged her now limp friend out of the room, leaving the adults to their business.
They waited several minutes to ensure that the coast was clear before they began to speak.
"Hokage-sama." Anko was the first to speak. "Now that we have that out of the way, I would like to talk to you about the fate of Naruto's godfather here."
Jiraiya was quick to stand up in defense. "Okay, I was keeping my spy network intact, keeping as many tabs on Orochimaru as possible, which is hard, mind you, and I came across those Uzumaki kids." He looked to Anko, who did not seem happy with him. "I was going to head back with Tayuya a while ago, but my ears in Konoha said he was in good hands."
He paused, looking down at the ground as he muttered something to himself. "Though, I was expecting someone else."
Neither Anko nor Tsunade commented on it. Anko refused to say anything in order to hold it against him later, and Tsunade because she was aware of who her old partner was talking about.
His head tilted back up. "The bottom line is, Naruto was not unmonitored. Do you think I'm happy with how he grew up? I might be a super pervert, the most supreme of perverts, but I do know where family lies. Minato was like a son to me, and if I had the time to visit just once, I probably would have taken him with me."
Anko looked at Jiraiya as if he were crazy. There was no way in hell that Jiraiya would have taken a baby Naruto around the nations in his perverted escapades. His mental innocence would be shattered by her on her terms, and no other way.
Tsunade looked through the window, her eyes filled with something that only Naruto could inspire within her. "I don't know how bad that would be, actually. Jiraiya knows when things are important, and despite how me seems, raising a baby would make him change, even just a little."
Hiruzen sat silently, wondering what would have been if Jiraiya had taken Naruto at a young age. Would he be much stronger than he would be now? Would he have had the chance to meet his family?
"Anyways." Anko interjected once more. "For being gone as long as just over ten years, Jiraiya needs to be punished. Of course, being on babysitting duty will be solely his responsibility for now on until the end of time, but he needs a more..." She paused to think of the right word, a lone finger tapping her chin. "Official punishment."
Hiruzen's eyes widened only slightly. "Anko, I'd like for you to bring the clippers within the week. We will discuss Jiraiya's punishment after then."
Now it was Anko's turn to widen her eyes. With the promise of a massacre soon, was now really a time to enact that plan? Hiruzen obviously knew more than he was letting on, but she let it slide this once.
"Got it." Was all she said to her leader.
Hiruzen's eyes turned to Tsunade. "Now, I'd like to discuss something important to you, and I know it's something that you won't like, but you're the only one." He looked to Anko and Jiraiya. "If I may have a word in private, please. You two are dismissed."
The two nodded and bowed before their leader before walking away.
With just two remaining, Hiruzen put all of his focus onto Tsunade.
"As you know, I'm an exceptionally old man. This is my second reign as Hokage, and we all know that if enemy shinobi fail to claim my life soon, my old age will."
Tsunade looked at him in slight shock. "Don't talk like that, Hokage-sama." She said to him. "Did you want to talk to me about your will? Because I won't be taking anything from you. I can't. Too many people in my life have died over your title, and now Naruto is spouting left and right about becoming the next Hokage."
The woman sighed, placing a hand on the desk and leaning against it for support. "I can hardly tolerate the thought of him taking it up, and I don't know what I'd do if someone killed him too."
Hiruzen took a minute to rest in the silence, mentally preparing himself for whatever she might do to him. "I know." He replied to her. "And please trust me, if there were any other close candidates, I'd pick them just because of your history with this wretched position. Tsunade." He looked deep into her soul reaching down to the very foundation of her being.
"I am picking you, as my successor to the Hokage title."
Anko and Jiraiya walked back to the compound with little to say to one another. She might have secretly reinstated his godfather status, but it was for the purpose of leaving Naruto and the other two on his shoulders while the rest of them took a break somewhere. Maybe they'd go to the Yukigakure and see a movie or something. Hopefully she could one day break into the office of people who were supposed to be working on a rumored Icha Icha movie, but she'd just have to wait.
When they had finally reached the compound, they found the main room to be completely void of sentient life. A few plants to make the room more lively, but that was the extent of it.
"Huh." Anko hummed. "Where'd everyone go?"
Jiraiya shook his head. It must have been one of these pranks that he heard so much about. "I can't imagine what they'd be up to." His tone was loud and sarcastic, as if he were expecting for someone to jump out and yell 'boo!'
However, the more they waited, the more nothing happened.
Anko quickly grew tired of it and walked down one of the many hallways, her purple and red hair bouncing ever so slightly from the end of her ponytail.
She didn't really have any time to waste, quickly making her way to her office where she pulled out a set of scrolls.
She knew exactly what Hiruzen had been talking about when he mentioned clippers. After all, she was the one who had found out about Minato's plan to restrain a certain council member so he could be put to justice, by using an elaborate mix of ninjutsu and fuinjutsu to, Hiruzen.
Apparently, the whole council room was littered with seals over seals and so on, ready to spring by using a jutsu over a scroll. It would completely disable him and lock the room down, making sure that no outside forces would disrupt the call of justice.
Hiruzen wanted to wait to use it until he was ready, and it seemed that now he was attempting to hit many birds with a single stone. She didn't know exactly what his plan was, but she would not argue with the old man.
"Anko!" She could hear the voice of a certain old pervert from back in the main room, clearly struggling with something.
Anko threw her head back in laughter, putting the scrolls away and walking back out to the main room.
"Get off brat... ah! stupid ki-Anko!" Jiraiya was having the time of his life, being attacked by three young Uzumaki kids.
Not long after Anko left, Jiraiya had planned to sit down for a moment and contemplate his sitautation. He was the least informed out of the trio that was Anko, Tsunade, and himself, and not even Anko seemed to have a full grasp of what was going on.
There was only one thing he seemed to understand, and that was the Hawk Buster Jutsu.
Minato, in a stroke of paranoia and genius, drowned the council room in seals, all of them waiting eagerly for the master seal to be activated. The only problem was that the master seal could only be activated by using a specific set of hand seals, creating a jutsu specifically for the sake of activating a seal that activated other seals that would seal the room in chakra that was more dense than diamonds, keeping anyone and everyone from getting in or out until the jutsu was activated again, which toggled the seal to disable, which then disabled all of the other seals.
Before he could begin to wonder what else was going on, a blur of orange lunged at his legs.
With ease, he jumped over the blur, but was intercepted in the air by a red blur, which had pushed him back with his chest upwards.
Whoever was grabbing him quickly disappeared, only for another red blur to launch from the ceiling and into his stomach, effectively driving him into the ground.
The wind was knocked out of his lungs, and his legs and arms were quickly held down by two sets of hands.
"Gah!" Jiraiya grunted as he struggled to free himself. "Anko!" He called for the only other adult in the house.
"Get off brat... ah! stupid ki-Anko!" Not long after, Anko sauntered down the hall, still laughing at whatever had trapped Jiraiya. Maybe she wouldn't have a hard time with him as the godfather.
"Can you help me out?" Jiraiya looked to Anko, who only inspected the three children holding him down to the ground.
"Now why would I do that? I think Naruto needed some time to bond with his godfather." She continued to laugh, struggling with keeping herself together.
After a long moment, Karin and Tayuya decided to get off of Jiraiya, leaving Naruto to hold down his legs. They didn't need to be geniuses to know that Naruto didn't like Jiraiya all that much.
Even if Naruto didn't like his godfather, he had to accept the fact that just couldn't have been there for him in the past, and he probably wouldn't be in Konoha for long. But, he had redeemed himself just a small amount by bringing him two blood relatives.
He wanted to dislike Jiraiya, he wanted to hate him, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.
With a sigh, Naruto stepped off of his godfather and walked to his mother, who looked on as Jiraiya scrambled to his feet.
The silence bored Tayuya. She didn't like the lack of things going on, and decided to speak up. "So, anything on the itinerary for today?"
Anko shook her head. "Nope."
The girl sighed, getting a small laugh out of Karin.
"Well, there's not much to do." Anko continued. "The Hokage will file your citizenship papers, and then place you in the academy, everything we need to do for the two of you is already done."
"What about our rooms?" Karin asked. "We have new rooms, but nothing to decorate them with."
Tayuya nodded. "I'm sure that the pervy fart wouldn't mind if we used his money to pay for it." She smirked at the pervert as he stared at her in horror for her suggestion, he was suppose to be the one that used other people's money. "Honestly, it's the fucking least he could do for trying to sell our bodies." Her words adopted a more teasing manner while looking directly at the old perv.
Anko smiled widely, the sound of a cash register almost chiming as she found an excuse to buy needless shit without using up Naruto's inheritance from his birth parents.
"LET'S GO!" Anko shouted, her feet launching her out the door at breakneck speeds.
Karin and Tayuya soon followed. With Naruto's help, they grabbed all of the money off of Jiraiya, including his check book and all other means of torturing him.
Though Karin and Tayuya were moving fast, they soon slowed down as Karin realized something.
"We can't just leave Naruto there with him." Karin stated. "We should bring him with us."
Tayuya nodded in agreement, and the two turned around to move back to the compound.
Naruto was standing just where he was when they left, looking down at a beaten and battered Jiraiya on the ground, money less.
Karin looked at Naruto and smiled at him. "Come on, you aren't staying here with him."
It wasn't long until the Uzumaki trio rejoined Anko, meeting her at the market district.
"Alright, everyone." Anko's tone was low and dangerous. "No need to hold back, this isn't our money!"
The four jumped off, eager to buy new things to decorate the house.
Not only was Anko buying for herself, but she was also purchasing items for the upcoming Winter Festival. The compound was surprisingly decorated, unlike the last two seasons. Naruto's very presence forced her to go all out, and this year, there had been so much going on she couldn't focus on it.
Karin took to looking at various dresses, combat oriented or otherwise. On the other end of the scale, Tayuya looked for clothing that made her look fantastic in battle, but was more utilitarian in nature.
Naruto, however, was stressing to find Festival gifts for his new family. he had met them only today, but the festival was nearing, and he didn't have anything for them. He had already picked out the perfect gift for his mother, and he knew that she was just going to love it.
"That dress isn't as flattering as you think." Tayuya's tone was flat and dull, watching as her sister figure looked at various dresses.
"Oh, come on Miss Crude, it looks nice, and has built in pockets for storing gear." Karin retaliated with a sweet smile.
Tayuya continued to look at gear that would actually work, and occasionally glanced to Karin, who every time she looked at her, appeared just slightly closer to a small chatting group. She was still looking at dresses, and seemed to devote all of her attention towards it, but she was getting closer to the group.
Naruto walked about, distancing himself from the group and stepping into the Higurashi weapons shop.
"Naruto!" Kajiya Higurashi greeted him with zeal. "How are you today?"
Naruto returned his greeting with a smile. "I have two new sisters! Or cousins, or something..." He wasn't quite sure what their designation was, since blood ties weren't really something he followed all too well.
Kajiya nodded. "Don't know what to get them?" He could see Naruto shaking his head. "Well, are they shinobi? Or an academy student like you?"
Naruto shrugged. "I think they're being put in the academy."
"Then good gear is essential to them! If they get trained using shoddy gear, then when they move to great gear, they'll be using it all wrong."
"He's right, you know." Tenten, an old friend of his, walked out from behind the counter to see Naruto.
Instantly, he began to shake, already knowing what she was going to ask him.
"So, you taking care of that sword?" Jackpot.
"Y-yeah, totally taking care of it." he stuttered, knowing the questions that would surely follow.
"Funny." She gave him a look of disbelief. "I don't recall you walking into the store recently for cleaning equipment."
"I have some at my house." He was quick to reply. "We have all sorts of stuff."
"What kind of stuff?" Her questions were becoming faster.
"Oil, cloth, staining supplies, a little pick, and a blade sharpening tool." His answers were just as fast to match.
"You mean a whetstone?"
"Yeah, that."
"How often do you clean it?"
"Almost every day."
"That's a little much."
"It's because I'm so cool that it needs to be sharp at all times."
"Like your brain?"
"Yeah."
"Then it wouldn't cut a thing." She laughed to herself, watching as Naruto sighed. "Let's face it Naruto, I'm going to be a Genin next year, and I'm just way smarter than you when it comes to weapons."
"Well I'm not buying weapons for me." his tone was drowning in defeat. "It's for my new family."
Tenten looked shocked, though she really didn't have to be. That kid always got new family members, too many for her to count. "Well, what do you know about them?"
"Nothin'." He shrugged. "I just met them today, so I have no idea what kind of stuff they use, or what sort of jutsu they use mostly."
Tenten sighed. He only had about two weeks until the festival, and she knew for a fact that Naruto wasn't going to sleep until he was satisfied with what he would eventually get for them.
"Tayuya seems angry most of the time, and says a lot of words that I don't get. And Karin, she's nicer, but it always looks like she's thinking about something." His finger tapped his chin.
"They're Uzumaki like you, right?" Kajiya chirped, bringing the attention back to him. "Why not get them something more seal oriented? I'm sure they have the aptitude for it somewhere in their genes."
Naruto had to admit that he was right. If they were his family, then surely they'd have some sort of innate ability with sealing. However, he wasn't going to take the easy road. In the next week, he needed to learn everything about them so he could obtain the perfect gift.
Of course, he did not translate his thoughts into words, and jumped into the air before running out of the store, leaving Tenten and Kajiya wondering what he was doing.
"Um... Goodbye, Naruto?"
The next morning, an ANBU wearing a familiar mask appeared at the Uzumaki compound, tapping their foot and looking around impatiently.
Dragon could not understand how this happened.
One day, Dragon had arrived at the ANBU headquarters in their civilian clothing. It was quite a rare sight to see them out of the standard issue gear, but one of outfits that Dragon typically wore while making rounds had been dirtied, making it unable for use the next day.
As such, Dragon was forced to take one of their spare uniforms from their locker in the headquarters, and when they had found out what had happened to everyone's ANBU uniforms, they certainly had a cow.
Dragon knew who had altered their uniforms, and now the entire force only had a single, non-marked outfit to use while working.
Today was not one of those days.
Dragon's foot tapping grew increasingly faster, annoyed with having to stand around in such an outfit.
The uniform that Dragon wore was neon orange and pink, decorated with crude drawings and markings with the caliber to match that of a child's.
They knew exactly who was behind it. They knew how it had happened, and yet, Dragon was unable to do anything about it.
Knocking on the door once again, Dragon waited. This time, only a few moments after knocking, the door opened to reveal that absolute last person that they wanted to see.
Naruto Uzumaki, the Demon Prankster of Konoha himself.
Naruto was barely able to keep himself in control when he laid eyes on Dragon's attire. Whatever locker Dragon had used, Naruto had certainly hit it. Or maybe Ino hit it in the women's locker. Naruto didn't know.
"Uzumaki-san." They stated through gritted teeth. "I've been told to escort you, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Anko, Tayuya, and Karin to the Hokage Tower. I assume it's about whatever you talked about a few days ago."
Soon after, Naruto had gathered the group from inside the house and they all headed back off to the Hokage's office.
Anko had taken a bit longer than the rest of the group to meet with Dragon, but nonetheless, the group walked away from the compound.
Once again, they simply walked past the secretary, having an ANBU escorting them saying all that needed to be said about why they were at the tower in the first place.
The door was opened by Dragon as they neared, the Hokage sitting in his chair as he always did. Before him were several small sheets of paper.
"Hello, Uzumaki family." Hiruzen stated with a smile. "It's good to see you all again."
They all bowed before him, even Tayuya, who could see that he was a man that deserved respect. If he managed to stay alive for as long as he has in this sort of world, then he deserved all of the respect in the world.
"Karin, Tayuya." He spoke once more. "Are you enjoying Konoha?"
Karin nodded her head. "We are. It's lovely here, especially now that it's getting colder."
"It's also nice to have an actual roof over our heads that we don't have to pay for every night, or aren't waiting for someone doing something else in a room next to the one we're in." Tayuya gave her snarky two cents, getting a soft smile from Karin, and a dirty look from Jiraiya. "But yeah. It's pretty fuuuu...n. Here." Her eyes darted cautiously, taking in the look of amusement from Karin, and the confused look written on Naruto's features.
"I'm glad." Hiruzen responded kindly, smiling at how she didn't curse in front of him this time. "As to why you two are here, you are now full citizens of Konoha, and will be attending the second year Academy class with Naruto starting this upcoming Monday. Tomorrow."
"Academy?" Tayuya's voice was loud and incredulous. "We're both twelve, and we've been learning under Jiraiya! The goddaaaaaang Toad Sage." She looked around once more. "I think me and Karin should be Genin."
Hiruzen nodded, she did have a point, but his multiple reasons outweighed her single one.
"That may be true." He accepted that fact. His head turned to look at Karin, who straightened up ever so slightly upon feeling his gaze on her. "Karin, you were from Kusagakure before, am I correct?" Her nod affirmed him, and he continued to speak. "Then you must know the protocol for Genin."
Karin nodded once more, looking to Tayuya, who seemed not to know what the two were talking about.
Karin smiled and nodded. "Right Hokage-sama." Her glance turned to Tayuya. "For the allied nations, all Genin are required to be a part of a three man cell lead by a Jonin until they are promoted to the Chunin rank. Sometimes only one Genin from a cell is promoted at a time, and another Genin is chosen to replace them." She paused, glancing at the man who was now her leader. "In some, rare cases, a Jonin can choose a Genin as an apprentice."
"In short." Hiruzen redirected all attention back to him. "You two need a third member of your group, which will all be sorted out when you graduate. This will give you time to bond with Naruto, as well as all of the other academy students." He could hear Tayuya sighing, Karin following soon after, but for different reasons.
"It's for the best, Tayuya." Karin's words were soft. "You'll have to work a little harder to not swear around them, too."
"Nyeh." Tayuya grunted. "I say just boot me to Chunin. I've got the skill, and Karin does too, but she'll be modest."
"Tayuya." Karin's tone was more serious this time around. "We're both good, I'm not going to deny that for your sake." She paused to glance at Jiraiya and Hiruzen, both of them looking intently on the conversation before them. "But we need this formal training. I may not have gone to the academy during my time in Kusa, but I do know exactly what went on in there. We need this experience."
"Ugh." Tayuya grunted once again. "Fine."
"I'm glad to hear it, girls." Hiruzen smiled at the two of them. His gaze shifted to Naruto, who had not spoken yet. It was a little strange for him to be so quiet, but he figured that even the number one hyperactive knucklehead soon-to-be-ninja knew when it was the time to listen.
"Naruto." Hiruzen continued. "The reason I called you here was because I wanted you to know along with Karin and Tayuya that they will be attending your class. Do you have any thoughts about that?"
Naruto grinned. "That's cool!" He said to them all. "I mean, it's not that I don't want them to be in my class, because that'd be really, really cool!" He paused, smiling at who he considered his cousins. "But if they're Uzumaki like me, and they already had training from a guy who says he's good, then why do they need to go to the academy?"
Hiruzen coughed. Truthfully, Karin and Tayuya didn't need to go through the Academy. They were of age, and they had Jiraiya vouching for them. He was insistent on them going through the academy because it would provide Naruto with a few more friends in class, and hopefully, the more brash girl of the new two would put an end to the fan base wars.
Not to mention, after Karin and Tayuya had left the office last time, Anko had informed Hiruzen that she would be serving as their Jonin instructor.
Hiruzen Sarutobi did not like the young girls going up to his office demanding that another girl be sent to detention because they did not agree with one another.
"Because, Naruto." His tone shifted noticeably. "No matter how strong you get, there's always going to be someone stronger out there, and all you can do it get better and face each challenge when it rises."
Naruto looked at the old man in awe. He was right, Naruto knew it. All Naruto could do was keep training to fight the next bad guy of the week.
"Now, you three best be off." Hiruzen suggested. "The weekend won't last forever, and you two are starting school soon."
With a huff and a grunt, Tayuya left the room with a bow, as did Karin and Naruto.
Soon after, it was once again Hiruzen, his two students, and Anko.
"Anko." Hiruzen picked up where their conversation had left off the last time. "I trust that everything is ready?"
Anko nodded, pulling a scroll out from her sleeve and placing it down on the table, next to the sets of paperwork for Karin and Tayuya,
"Everything is ready." She noted. "But why now? We could have done this years ago." She paused, taking a glance at the other two people with her.
Tsunade was looking around, as if she were trying to distract herself from what they had been talking about. Jiraiya just stood there, his eyes and ears focused on the conversation at hand.
"What aren't you telling us?"
This made Tsunade look to Anko quickly, something obviously on her mind but unwilling to say what.
The room became quiet and tense, Anko looking at the Hokage fiercely. Jiraiya's expression was one of curiosity, while Tsunade had one of fear.
"Anko." Hiruzen stated again. "You know as well as I do that we're not the only ones in the room, listening to this conversation. Itachi is gone from the village for a reason, and he will return when the time comes."
The room sank into silence once more, Hiruzen speaking again only after minutes had passed.
"He will be brought to justice."
A week from that had passed. Naruto had taken the time to learn more about his new cousins, what they were like, and what they liked, not to mention what they disliked, and what they hated.
By the end of the week, Naruto had assured himself that he knew all he could about them in just a week, and had their gifts picked out perfectly.
Itachi still had yet to return to Konoha, which was a shame, now that Naruto thought about it. he was going to miss the big announcement that Hiruzen was planned on telling everyone that afternoon.
Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Tayuya, and Karin walked to the Hokage Tower as a group, passing by ninja and civilians alike. They moved as close as they could to the tower, wanting to be able to hear Hiruzen announce whatever he was going to announce as best as they could.
The quintet had stayed together since school ended that day, staying at Naruto's house while they waited for the announcement.
Now, the five of them stood as close as they could, looking up at the tower balcony from the ground.
They didn't know how long they had waited, but the doors to the balcony opened to reveal Hiruzen Sarutobi in all of his glory. He stood tall, something he hadn't done in a long time, over the villagers he protected and led. Whatever chatter had been going on before hand was now hushed to what was almost complete silence.
"My dear People of Konoha. You have all seen my in these robes for decades. The world has been kind to me, allowing me to live this long and to speak to you as your Hokage. It was truly a shame that Minato Namikaze had died ten years ago, but we cannot dwell on the past. It is time to look to the future."
"In my youth, when I was first anointed the title and responsibility. I took to the role with heart and hope. I had planned to stay as the Hokage until the day I died. But now, I seek peace with myself before I pass on. With this wish, I cannot be the Hokage until my last breath."
The crowd began to rumble with mutterings. They couldn't believe that he'd be passing down the title to someone new, again. Who among them could take such a title? As the people began to talk, sets of onyx eyes looked to one another.
"I have already chosen who will succeed me in being the Hokage of Konohagakure. Though they did first deny the offer, the accepted that it was their fate after much debate."
He stepped to the side, allowing a familiar red and white hat to walk out into the sunlight. The figure took off the hat, revealing a familiar alabaster head with blonde hair, the single marking on her forehead easily being seen by all.
"I Introduce to you all, you're new Hokage, Tsunade Senju!"
It took a moment, but the crowd quickly roared with cheer. Only a select few within the crowd refused to make any noise.
Tsunade smirked. She didn't want this job at first. She didn't want to become another death at the hands of whatever sick and twisted god decided to kill all that she knew who aspired to be the Hokage.
In time, the cheering died down, All voices were hushed as Tsunade rose her hand.
"People of Konoha. Initially, I did not want this job. I did not want to be the one that everyone looked up to, nor the one who would suffer the same fate as my brother and a person very dear to me. Dan Kato, and Nawaki Senju, both wanted this position. They both aspired to lead Konoha to victory and peace. They both acted like a little blonde boy that I know quite well now, who's shining determination was the catalyst for me to return to Konoha, and even accept this honor."
"Dan and Nawaki were two close people of mine. I loved them both dearly, and they both wanted this hat. Unfortunately, they are unable to be here today. Their deaths and connection to the Hokage title are what steered me away. I couldn't take their dreams. I couldn't be the one surviving after everything that had, and will, happen. This was the position that they both wanted, not me. I couldn't forget how their determination to get this title caused them their deaths."
"However, a single boy saved me from my limbo, and I'm not even sure he knows it. He is just like they were. He wants this hat no matter the cost, and I know for a fact that death won't be the one stopping this one. He'd find a way to come back and protect everyone in this village. I, Tsunade Senju, learned something from a ten year old boy."
"Like my grandfather, and his brother after him, I will take this village to the stars, protecting it and guiding it like how they would have wanted. I can only hope that wherever they are, they're watching with smiles as their family rises."
Once again, the crowd roared, cheering on their new Hokage as she dawned the hat once more. This time, Hiruzen placed the hat on her head and bowed before her just as every man, woman, and child in Konoha did.
Several black shadows darted from the crowd, en route to the tower balcony. However, the shadowed figures dropped like flies as they got closer, as did all subsequent figures.
The crowd was quick to scatter, fleeing back into their homes as an attack was happening right out in the open public.
The ninja of the crowd, however, stayed to fight the attackers.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba broke into their formation, ready to fight whoever dared to attack the new Hokage, as well as the former one.
A figure launched at the trio while Karin and Tayuya left to access the situation.
The figure fought against the three children, but Sasuke knew that stance. It wasn't a fighting form, but one to incapacitate.
Sasuke jumped back to get a good look at the man who was attacking his friends, his eyes widening in realization.
"Father?"
Fugaku looked back at his son, fighting the other two boys with ease. "We are showing the Hokage what power we have, Sasuke. Join your clan and fight her with us."
"No!" Sasuke shouted. "This is wrong! We're supposed to be protecting the Hokage!"
"The Hokage is a frail old man, and his successor has no idea what she's doing! Once we kill the Hokage, I will take the title, and lead Konoha into a GOLDEN AGE!"
Just as he finished, the people of Konoha would find out that sentence was his last.
Fugaku fell forward onto the ground with a thud, the kunai that lodged themselves into his eyes digging further as his face met the earth below him, another sticking out of the back of his head.
Sasuke was shaken to say the absolute least, and turned around to find his brother standing tall, many more kunai in his hands.
Sasuke ran to his brother, his arms wrapping around him and holding him close.
"Itachi!" Sasuke cried. "Please don't tell me you are going to hurt the Hokages too! This isn't right!"
A hand found it's way to the top of Sasuke's head. "Don't fear, little brother." His words were calm and slow, as if he didn't care about killing their father just a few seconds ago. "They have all lost sight of the true purpose of our clan. They are all traitors, Sasuke."
He knelt down to Sasuke, smiling at him. "You are not a traitor, and neither am I. Kaa-san isn't either. We thee may be the last good Uchiha, minus the other Uchiha children." He stood tall once more, looking to the ongoing battle between hooded ANBU, normal ANBU, and the Uchiha clan and the police force. "Now, protect your village from the attackers like an honorable Konoha Shinobi would."
Shakily, Sasuke nodded. He was going to help how he could, but he knew that he couldn't fight his clansmen. Those were the faces he saw every morning and every evening. He hadn't even had his first kill yet. He hadn't even killed animals yet as practice.
He couldn't handle it. All of the smiling faces of the Uchiha men and woman he passed by every day flashed before his eyes. All of them. Each and every one of them betraying the village they had vowed to protect, and all of them were going to die today.
Sasuke fell to his knees, screaming as he covered his eyes, blood leaking lightly from the ducts in his eyes.
Itachi was quick to pull him out of the fight, leaving Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruto to help out.
It wasn't just the Uchiha clan members that were dying. The ANBU and strange, hooded ANBU were also dying, but their combined deaths were only a fraction of what the Uchiha were suffering.
Naruto looked down at the hooded ANBU. They weren't any that he had seen before, even when he had infiltrated the headquarters that one time. They had strange masks, and even when he pulled one of the masks off, the face didn't appear familiar at all.
Kiba looked at Naruto in shock. He had just taken the mask off of a dead guy and inspected his face. Naruto was strangely calm about it, but Kiba said nothing. Naruto's expression seemed dead as he looked at the dead person. It ironically fit, but it wasn't the time for Kiba to be cracking jokes.
"Tsunade!" Naruto called, springing up as he remembered his godmother. He ran to her without alerting Kiba, who decided to stay and help out whoever, and wherever, he could.
Naruto darted into the Hokage tower, not wasting any time getting up to the balcony.
As he entered the office, Naruto was able to get a good look at two badasses in motion.
Hiruzen, despite his age, was as agile as ever, killing the Uchiha men and women left and right.
Tsunade had just thrown someone off the balcony when Naruto had walked in.
"Aunty Tsunade!" Naruto called out, the echo of a scream escaping the room from the man that had just been thrown off. "You okay?"
"We're fine, kiddo." She smiled at her godson, Hiruzen following suit. "How are you? Are any of your friends hurt?"
Naruto looked down in defeat. "Fugaku was fighting us, but Itachi came in and killed him and told Sasuke that he was going to fight with his brother to protect the village. Then Sasuke started screaming and Itachi took him away."
Hiruzen was the first to speak this time, his head also angled down. "I see...Tsunade, after this is all over, do you think you can escort Sasuke to the hospital? I'm worried this revelation may hurt him more than one would think."
"Of course, Hokag- Hiruzen-sensei." She smiled to herself. If he was going to be around the office, even without being the leader of the village, she'd have to get used to not calling him the Hokage.
She was going to have to get used to a lot of things.
"Ah..." Hiruzen sighed. "I love being the leader of this village, but I do not think I'm going to miss all of the paperwork demons." He smiled at Tsunade, his voice changing to that of a teasing manner. "Well, I'm sure you will have fun with them."
Tsunade started to fume. So that was the reason he stepped down! He wanted to spend more of his time reading Jiraiya's dirty old books instead of doing paperwork!
"But couldn't you just make shadow clones? Then you don't have to do any of the work yourself, and you'll get it done faster."
Naruto innocent comment got Hiruzen fuming and Tsunade smirking. The boy was right, and now Tsunade would have just as much, if not more, free time as she did before.
Tsunade lay a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We should get out of here before Hiruzen hurts himself," she said with a grin directed at Hiruzen, who glared at her in response.
The two laughed as they walked out of the office, leaving Hiruzen to steam up before bolting out of the balcony to decimate all of those Uchiha, and the strange ANBU agents.
He knew who those agents belonged to, and it wasn't him.
Hours passed, and the fighting eventually died down. The village had united to fight against the threats in unison, taking out the strange agents and Uchiha alike. At the end of the stressful day, the problems were not over.
Mikoto sat with Sasuke in her lap, making sure the boy was comfortable and safe. Itachi stood beside them next to the couch, watching everyone in the room.
Silence enveloped the area. Nobody could say anything about what had happened just hours ago, and it was obvious that none of them wanted to talk about it.
It was a silent request, but Mikoto, Itachi, and Sasuke had been offered to stay at the Uzumaki compound until they were comfortable enough with their own home. Just as there was no reason to vocally state the question, there was no vocal answer either.
Mikoto's slender fingers raked through Sasuke's hair, tending to the unconscious boy the best she could. Her free arm was wrapped around him, holding him close to her.
She knew that this was coming. She knew that Fugaku was going to turn on the leaf village, and she could do nothing about it. The only ones left were the Uchiha that were too young to know anything, herself, and her two sons.
Itachi, while relieved, was conflicted. He was supposed to be the one to eradicate every Uchiha. But, his message was delivered, and the only survivors were the ones who knew better than to betray the village. And this way, he could stay with his brother and watch him grow into a wise shinobi.
"Tea?" Mebuki held out a small glass of tea to Mikoto, who removed her hand from Sasuke's hair to grab the glass.
Itachi watched his mother drink the tea offered to her. It wasn't until then that he realized that his throat was dry, and that he needed something to drink.
His hand raised into the air. "May I have some as well?" His tone was light and polite.
Mebuki nodded to him and left to fetch another glass of tea.
"O-oh, my." Mikoto seemed agitated by something that had just come to mind. Everyone around her looked at her, watching her eyes as she gazed upon the festival decorations in the house. Even if it was light, Mikoto knew from the past that the Uzumaki household celebrated with zeal and gusto.
"I'm not sure if we can stay. We'd be intruding on your time during the festival."
"Nonesense." Anko was quick to shut her down. "You three have been through a lot, and where else would you go during the holidays?"
Mikoto was silent for a moment. "We really shouldn't... We don't want to burden you with our problems."
Naruto was the one to answer this time, smiling at the family. "Don't worry about it!" He shrugged off their worries for them. "You guys are friends, and friends can't be alone during the holidays!"
Once again, the matriarch of the Uchiha clan was silent. She didn't know what to say or do in exchange for Naruto's overwhelming kindness.
"I...Thank you." Mikoto had so much she wanted to say, but those were the only words that would form in her mouth. A soft smile graced her lips as Naruto smiled back in acceptance.
Itachi bowed to Naruto. "If we can, I'd like to set Sasuke down in a room to rest and recover. It seems like Kaa-san and I need to do some shopping."
"Nah." Naruto shrugged once more. "You guys don't need to get us anything, really!"
Itachi smiled in appreciation, but his head shook in denial. "It's the least we can do for your gratitude. The other Uchiha should be housed with other families for now. So many toddlers and infants would be too much to manage, for even both of our clans."
Anko had to admit that he was right. Naruto was trouble enough for her, and she didn't need a bunch of brats running around the compound all day and night, especially now that she had two more gaki to look after...
"You'll have to take them back eventually, or hire some people to take care of them in the compound. If they get the Sharingan, you're the only one who knows how to train them with it." Anko noted.
Mikoto nodded at Anko, "I will look after the children. It'll be difficult, but with a little help, we should be able to raise them properly. Since I'll be spending my time looking after the children, I want Itachi to take my place as the leader of the clan. I certainly couldn't do that, especially now."
Itachi nodded. "I will take the mantle, and we will go shopping for the Uzumaki clan."
Though they protested, Mikoto left with her son to go shopping, leaving Sasuke in a room on his own to rest, and the clan was left to it's devices.
The space was a little quieter without Shizune and Tsunade about, even more so with Kurenai and Ibiki going out and ensuring that the village was safe. That only left Anko, Naruto, and Mebuki in the compound.
"Hey, kid." Anko spoke out, her red and purple locks dangling as she sat upside down on the couch. "Let's head out for a little, make sure the area is safe and such." There wasn't much to do, and with just one or two stragglers left out, there was still a little danger in the village.
Naruto agreed to go, seeing that there wasn't anything they could do in the compound. He could see Anko's eyes watching him as he jumped off of the couch cushion.
Anko rolled off of the couch, landing on her feet with little trouble. With her son up and ready to go, the two left the compound to be tended to by Mebuki.
The air was getting colder, they knew that much, but it couldn't be compared to the chill that Naruto felt run up his spine soon after they had left. The feeling brought Raz, his panther to mind, and the boy quickly bolted off to the Inuzuka compound.
Anko was caught off guard, but it didn't take her any time to catch up to her son. "Hey, where you going?" She called out to him as they ran along the path in the forest.
"Raz needs me, I can feel it!" He quickened his pace out of the trees, working his way to the street before turning on his heel straight to the other compound. It was strange that Anko did not reply to him, but he didn't worry about that now.
A sixth sense in Naruto had activated to let him know where his panther was. His body went into autopilot, slipping through one of the open windows, jackknife style.
Naruto ran through the compound where Hana, the Haimaru triplets, and Raz were all fighting a group of the strange, hooded ANBU from earlier.
He could see that they had all sustained some damage, but Raz sprung to attention upon feeling Naruto's closeness. Hana stood carefully, her stance wide to make sure she didn't fall over. Her breathing was heavy and labored, as was the breathing of her three ninken.
Hana was pretty damaged, several cuts lining her body and cutting through her clothing to reveal the red cuts underneath.
"Raz!" He called out, slowing to a halt near his panther and his friend.
"Naruto." Hana's tone was urgent. "These guys just busted into the compound and tried to attack Raz. Kaa-san is out doing rounds, most of the others, too." Her eyes turned to them, her breath light and wary. "They're tough customers."
Naruto smirked, an idea forming in his head as his hands readying a strange seal that Hana instantly took note of.
"Naruto, no!" She yelled, her hands covering his just moments before he summoned the chakra for whatever jutsu he was going to use. "Not now. Just do your thing."
Grunting, Naruto changed the seal and summoned multiple shadow clones,
Each of the clones spread around the ANBU, strategically placed to perform a new trick that Naruto had been working on.
Until he had looked at the scrolls given to him by Fugaku, he had never realized what natures he could use, and now that he knew, the sky was certainly the limit.
The clones formed a singular hand seal, summoning chakra at the same time and shouting in unison.
"Raiton! Uzumaki coil!"
The clones became literal lightning rods, shooting lightning between one another and hitting the agents in the center. The bolts were erratic and unpredictable, but soon shifted to a pattern that looked like the Uzumaki spiral if looked at from above. The bolts became quicker and quicker, appearing as if the spiral was spinning.
After a minute of the impressive display, Naruto recalled the clones, forcing them to disappear.
Wary, Naruto rested on Raz, who took delight in seeing Naruto again. He could see Hana smiling at him, as well as Anko looking at him with approval.
"That was some trick, pup." Hana commented. "Where'd you learn that?"
Naruto smiled back at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light. "I made it up from those scrolls that Fugaku gave me a while ago. I never knew that I could make lighting until a few months ago."
Hana's smiled widened, her breath finally returning to normal. "Cool." Though she was proud of him for doing such a thing, she did not approve of him trying to use that technique in front of Anko.
It wasn't until then that Naruto took note of his friend's full condition. Her clothing was stained with her own blood, and cuts littered her body.
"Hana!" he almost shouted. "You need to sit down!"
"Heh." Her laugh was soft and fun, displaying her amusement in his reaction. "Shouldn't I be worrying over you? I am the senior of the two of us, after all, and I bet that technique took quite a bit of chakra, even from you."
Anko smiled at the two of them, watching as the conversed back and fourth, just as if Naruto hadn't killed at least five men just now.
While they were talking, Anko called Kakashi and Yugao to help her deliver the bodies to Tsunade and Hiruzen.
She was sure that they wanted to see them.
The bodies had confirmed Hiruzens suspicions, and everything he needed was now ready to go.
The next day, Tsunade called the council to an emergency meeting regarding the events of the previous day.
Each of the clan heads sat in their respective places, all looking to one another in silence. Next to Tsunade's seat stood Hiruzen, who had been allowed to partake in the meeting, and meetings afterwards, until Tsunade got her bearings.
In Fugaku's place was Itachi, the only Uchiha shinobi who had not fought against the leaf village with the rest of the clan. Even the civilians were worried about him being in the meeting, being the son of the clan leader and a powerful shinobi, even by Uchiha standards.
"So." Anko decided to speak, breaking the silence in the room. "I think it goes without saying that we need to address the whole, 'Uchiha situation' first. Remains of the clan, the police force, all that."
Itachi nodded to Anko. "Right." His head turned to Tsunade, looking at her and silently asking for permission to speak. Once he received the nod to go ahead, Itachi stood up and looked at the clan heads around him.
"My father, like many of the men and women in the Uchiha clan were brimming with pride, arrogance, and ego. For months now, they had been conspiring to execute a coup d'etat on the Hokage, hoping to claim the village for themselves. The original plan was for me to take matters into my own hands, which would have left even fewer survivors than there are now."
He paused to let the information sink in, allowing the clan leaders to speak among themselves.
"However, the Sandiame Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sent me out on a rather special mission. I cannot disclose what that mission was, but it was intended to leave me unable to perform my task before the Uchiha clan attacked. Now I realize that he is much smarter than all of us believe. By me not being present, the Uchiha clan would surely attempt to kill him, or whoever his successor would be. That is where his early retirement comes into play. He taunted the Uchiha clan with the declaration of Tsunade Senju as the Godaime Hokage, forcing them, to attack in broad daylight, where the battle would be more than just a few ANBU. Eventually, they were all eradicated, leaving my mother, my brother, and the toddlers and infants in the Uchiha clan."
Inoichi looked at Itachi warily, his index finger and thumb stroking his chin out of habit. "So, who will be taking care of all of those infants? Are they going to be raised in the Uchiha way?"
Itachi shook his head. "My mother will be hiring people to assist her in raising the children while I take the role of clan leader." He cast an unusual, kind but unsettling due to it's rarity, smile. "I'm not all that suited for raising children, to be quite honest. I've been slacking with tending to my own brother. Steering this clan back into the light is something I can do much better."
The comment got a little laugh from the council, all eyes on itachi as he sat back down in his chair.
"I promise that whatever these children grow up to be, they will be loyal to Konoha. I only ask that this event is not treated like the Kyuubi attack." The very mention got the room to stir with noise. "Naruto is kind and forgiving, to a fault at times. These are Uchiha children, and are not nearly as forgiving."
Itachi had a point in that. Naruto, had he not been as kind as he was, would have given into the demon inside of him to level the entire village.
"Those poor children." Mebuki muttered under her breath. Had she not been Naruto's assistant, she would have volunteered to help Mikoto raise the now orphaned children.
Itachi nodded, having clearly heard Mebuki's comment. "This was inevitable. Had my father not done attempted a coup now, another leader down the line would have attempted the same thing in the same name."
They all knew that he was right, but one old man stood up and looked to Itachi.
"I shall take care of the children. Give them the proper foods, teachings, and resources to become excellent ninja"
"No you won't, Danzo, now sit back down." Tsundae ordered, but he refused to follow her command.
"They require only the best training and supervision, being the last of the Uchiha. Sasuke will be invited to join them as well."
"Danzo. Stand down." Tsundae ordered once more, but upon seeing that he would refuse, she knew there was only one way to go. "I said, stand DOWN!"
In time with her shout, Tsunade released a heavy burst of chakra throughout the room.
Danzo's singular eye widened. A feeling that he normally felt around him was suddenly gone, and in an instant, he was chained down to the table, his head positioned to look at the Hokage's chair.
After the trap had been cast, several ANBU appeared with multiple corpses, all of them wearing brown hoods and masks that resembled the ANBU masks.
Hiruzen stepped forward. His eyes glanced to Tsunade, who nodded to her teacher to continue.
"Danzo Shimura. You have committed crimes against Konohagakure and her people numerous times over. What say you in your defense." Hiruzen's voice lost all softness, and displayed an edge as if he had been waiting for this.
"I have done nothing wrong." Danzo muttered, struggling against the chains that bound him.
"Incorrect!" the previous Hokage shouted. "These are your ROOT agents, which are still operating, even though I had ordered you to disband them years ago. Not only that, but they were the first ones to provide a counterattack against the Uchiha clan, being positioned in the perfect place to kill me."
Danzo did not get the chance to speak after Hiruzen, due to Tsunade standing up as well.
"Danzo. I sentence you to death." Her voice was stone cold, her body straight and upright as she hopped up onto the table to stand just before the war hawk.
"Any last words?"
Danzo looked up at the Hokage, his eye focusing on the kunai in her hand.
However, he did not speak.
A kunai into the brain tends to do that.
Tsunade stepped down from the table, but Danzo's sentence was not yet carried out.
Hiruzen was the next to step up to the table, his cane in hand as he stood over Danzo.
"Goodbye."
The cane slammed down on Danzo's neck, ensuring that he would never be able to cause any more pain to the village.
Tsunade released another wave of chakra, forcing the chains around Danzo to unwind themselves and return back into the walls of the room.
The entire room was quite shocked. They had all been suspicious of Danzo, but none of them would have thought that Hiruzen would have killed him to silence him and his agents.
"ANBU, please, take this lump out back so it can be burned." Tsunade ordered, watching as her agents filed in.
"Wait." Itachi looked at Danzo's body, pulling it over to him and undoing the bindings around Danzo's face, looking at the eye that was concealed under the bindings.
He knew that eye. He knew exactly who's eye was in Danzo's socket, because he had the other one.
Itachi turned to Tsunade. "I want to give this eye to someone."
Later that evening, Itachi walked next to Kakashi and Yugao, the three of them speaking about how things would have been if he had remained in the Anbu corp. rather than becoming the leader of his clan.
"You would have made a fine ANBU Captain, Itachi. Even if you did make it, we wouldn't have been there to help you out." Kakashi looked to Yugao. "Maybe it was for the best you weren't with us."
Yugao stared at Kakashi, but the look was not returned. At least, as far as she could see. Since he had gone back to using his ANBU mask again, she could never tell if he was making dumb faces at her or not.
But that was a problem for another day.
"To be honest, this isn't the outcome I wanted. However, it's the outcome I got, and my brother and mother are safe." He looked to the other two once more. "It seems I'm not the only one who got a new job from this mess."
Kakashi could be heard chuckling to himself, Yugao following shortly afterward. Neither of them had expected Tsunade to have appointed them to such a job, but Kakashi's new built in features would surely come in handy.
"By the way." The one Kakashi used was more relaxed than before. "I can't thank you enough for Shisui's eye. It seems rather important to you, and I was surprised that you would have given it to anyone."
Itachi stopped walking almost suddenly upon hearing his words. Kakashi and Yugao had not noticed right away.
"You are the only outsider to ever have been given the sharingan, and you use it well. Shisui would wave given his eye to you. You deserve it. It's just unfortunate that they're both always activated. It's sure to be fairly taxing."
Kakashi smiled, not that anyone would have been able to see it. "I'll use it carefully. You said he had the Mangekyo sharingan? Well, I guess that means that I'll be just a little stronger in that aspect than before."
Soon enough, the trio returned to the Uzumaki compound. The sun behind them shone through the trees, illuminating the front door and wall to the compound. The gloved hand of Itachi pushed open the door to reveal Naruto and Sasuke watching something on the television in the main room. It was an anime of some kind. Something about a pink haired boy, a frightening redhead, a buxom blonde, and some guy who appeared to lose his clothes much to often. It didn't appeal to Itachi, but Sasuke seemed to like it enough.
Sasuke sat on the floor quietly. It was obvious that he was still shaken from the recent events, but he was feeling a bit better with his friend at his side. Whatever fight the group was in on the show, Sasuke seemed to be rooting for the heroes, watching in awe as they displayed strange powers that were impossible in the ninja world.
Naruto, though calmed down to some extent, was still jumping around and even quoting the show. Even with the hardships that Naruto had faced, he still found it strange how okay he was with death.
Neither of the two turned to look at Itachi as he walked in, but Mebuki had seen them just before turning back to whatever she was preparing.
"Oh, you've returned." Mikoto spoke from her spot on the couch, her head turning to look at the three before stopping at Kakashi. "So, the transplant went well?"
Kakashi nodded. His fingers curled around the bottom edge of the mask before pulling it off. Underneath the mask revealed that he now had two eyes with active sharingan. "Yes, but I do think I'm going to miss having an eye that I was born with." A soft chuckle escaped his lips. He was curious as to what he'd look like with both of his eyes using the mangekyo sharingan, but that was something to try out another day.
As the days got closer and closer to the winter festival, Naruto and his large company continued to get more and more festive. Anko, with the help of Mikoto, Shizune, and Mebuki, had gotten the entire compound to the correct level of festiveness.
Which made the compound look as if the holiday season had overdosed on every drug possible, but somehow managed to stay pleasant and coherent.
The night before the festival, Anko and Mebuki helped their children get to rest early. There was no mystical being that would deliver gifts or anything, but to get up when the sun would choose to rise the next morning. The winter festival always happened the day after the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, so when daybreak came the next day, it would represent a new day, a new era, and a new hope. On that day, people and family members thank one another and honor each other with gifts, usually picked out just for that person to show how they recognize them.
The holiday had originated a few years after the end of the Warring States Period, in which the people of the newly founded Konohagakure would celebrate the peace and dawn of a new day. Though, they were still in dangerous times, and gifted weapons and items to one another in hopes of helping them live a long life.
Naruto was unable to sleep the entire night. No matter what he had tried to sleep before the day of the winter festival, it would not work on him. He was simply too excited for the day with his big family, and nothing would going to be able to get him to sleep.
Deciding to walk about, get some fresh air then try and sleep once more, Naruto hopped out of his bed, the dog hat on his head flopping about as his feet settled down on the wood below him.
His footsteps were light and careful, hoping to not disturb anyone who might have still been awake in the compound.
As he stepped out into the main hallway of the upper floor, Naruto made his way down to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to get a glass of milk. Little did he know, a pair of eyes was watching him from the other side of the room.
The other figure moved closer, waiting for Naruto to set the glass down before striking.
"Anko Chop!"
A solid book hit the top of Naruto's head, effectively knocking him unconscious and making him drop into the arms of the figure.
Anko chuckled, smiling to herself as he downed the milk and carried Naruto back into his room. She knew he was asleep, but that didn't stop her from asking herself a rhetorical question.
"Must we have to do this every year, Naruto?"
The next morning, Naruto was early to rise, and quickly began to drag his sled full of gifts out into the main room. He had a lot of people that he cared for, and made sure to get all of them a gift.
Sasuke was soon found in the main room as well, just as excited as Naruto for the gift giving and festival activities that would ensure lots of fun later on.
It wasn't long until the entire group had entered the main room, and everyone was ready for the gift giving, including Mebuki, who only appeared briefly before returning to her family.
Many gifts were given and received that morning, and many smiles were shared. Due to the large size of the family, the gift giving had gone on for longer than anyone had initially believed. After all, Naruto, Anko, Kurenai, Ibiki, Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Yugao, Jiraiya, Karin, Tayuya, Mikoto, Itachi, and Sasuke all had gifts for and from one another. Even clans usually got something for the more important people they knew, like parents, siblings, and children. The situation could only get better when a knocking was heard at the door.
Naruto, behind the pile of things he had received, looked to the door to see who it was, Anko following suit soon after. No one was expecting anyone else after Mebuki had popped her head in.
Cautiously, the door was knocked on again, forcing Anko to get up from her seat on the couch to see who it was.
The door was knocked on once more as Anko found her way around the multiple piles of goods, and was ceased upon the opening of said door.
Outside stood Tsume, Kiba, Hana, their respective dogs, and Naruto's own Raz. The only thing different from normal was that Hana was dressed in a grey parka with black fur lining for the cold. Her normal outfit wasn't enough for how cold Konoha became in the winter.
And also the saddles of gifts that were on the backs of four of the five ninken.
"Guys." Anko looked at them with a sheepish smile. "You really didn't have to."
Tsume's arm raised in the air, her hand flicking downward as the children and dogs filed in. "It's nothing, really. You guys are good friends and it's only appropriate." Her smiled shifted to a smirk. "You guys are practically family." Her pointed response only garnered a slight frown from Anko, who was almost tempted to elbow the older and much more skilled woman to keep her from going on.
That wasn't the problem that Anko had. Her problem was the fact that Tsume hadn't informed her that this would be happening, and as such, none of them had gotten gifts for the Inuzuka family.
Well, one person did.
"Kiba!" Naruto shouted, running into his room to bring a few more unopened presents into the living room. "I was going to give you guys your gifts later, but I didn't think you'd come here!"
Anko sighed. Of course Naruto was the only one who had thought to get their other friends gifts for the hollidays.
As the Inuzuka's managed to get comfy, finding places to sit next to all the gift piles, Naruto made sure all of the gifts were right before continuing the gift giving.
Kiba was given the promise of being taught a cool new move by Naruto, and although he protested being taught by the class clown, Kiba accepted the gift because he secretly knew that he could use the help, as well as a new technique that could boost his popularity and further cement his friendship with the heir to the most powerful clan in Konoha as of recent events, if not just prior to recent events.
Naruto gave to Tsume a new flak jacket. While it was visually similar to the standard Konoha jacket, Naruto had it riddled with protection and barrier seals, making it jutsu and puncture resistant.
With Hana's being the last gift on the list, he had given her what he believed would have been the best gift ever.
Naruto looked to Hana, who was the center of attention being the last person to receive a gift.
Hana instantly became uncomfortable with so many sets of eyes on her, but had to remain calm for just a little longer so they could give out their gifts.
When Naruto placed the wrapped box in her hands, Hana unwrapped it with ease, revealing a well polished box with the Inuzuka fangs burnt into the top of the box.
Hana was given a special set of kunai knives, with the ring on the end being replaced with a bone shape. Kajiya had made them special just for her under Naruto's request. However, the shape wasn't the only thing that was special about them. Each kunai was made from a platinum chakra metal alloy, giving them each a bright white appearance and brilliant shine. The white wrappings on the grip of the kunai all carried seals to keep them from rusting, chipping, and deteriorating, as well as simple things like nature resistance and just refusing to become old.
Hana was speechless, looking at them with awe. She was curious to know who much he had spent to get them made, but due the the holidays, she was unable to ask. Nobody asked how expensive a gift was during the holidays.
"Like 'em?" Naruto asked excitedly. He almost seemed to jump up and down with anticipation.
Hana nodded with a sincere smile. "I really do. They're fantastic, Naruto."
A soft smiled graced the parents of the two kids. Neither of them had said anything, but the look that they shared spoke more than words could.
"Well, with that out of the way." Tsume spoke up, getting all eyes to focus on her. "We have a few gifts for some of you. There's just too many to you to keep track of, so we couldn't get gifts for everyone."
When Tsume said that, she really meant that they three of them had gotten gifts for Naruto and Anko, but her reasoning behind so was solid.
For Anko, Tsume had given her a rather special book. It was one of the many Icha Icha spin off books, but this one had an exclusive cover featuring the main character of the series, which happened to look like Anko before her Uzumaki transformation- as well as Yugana, now that she thought about it, fighting against her rival, a woman who looked like Anko did now. Needless to say, Anko made mental note to have a...'chat', with Jiraiya later about it, and inform Yugana when she got back. All the while, Anko never noticed Kurenai eyeing the book with a hungry look.
Kiba was unsure what to give Anko, and had found a Number One Snake Lady mug, much to her amusement.
Hana, being the last gift giver for Anko, had gotten an artist to draw a wonderful picture of her with snakes wrapping around her arms while she stood in a battle stance, the Uzumaki swirl behind her.
Anko was thankful for her gifts from the three, and was already thinking about putting the picture of her up in the living room so people could see just how cool she was.
"Alright, next up, Naruto's gifts." Tsume announced to the room. From Kuromaru's saddle, she pulled out a small box. it wasn't wrapped, but it didn't seem to need to be. Each face of the box was completely black, and it fit in the palm of her hand. Her hands reached out to Naruto, allowing him to grab a hold of the box.
Naruto took the box and opened it with ease. It lacked latches, and the top slid off from the rest of the box. Inside was a small bracelet using some sort of string to hold a small piece of wood with the Inuzuka fangs on it, as well as a few symbols that Naruto didn't understand.
Naruto looked up at Tsume in confusion, wondering why she had given him a bracelet. He wasn't against the present, but he didn't understand if it surved some purpose, or was just for appearance.
"Pup, a couple of years ago, you sprang into the minds of everyone because of a little hidden feature you have." Her hand extended further to drag her hand across one of the whiskers on his cheek, causing the boy to smile and close his eyes. "Hana was about to claim you that day to keep the Inuzuka clan off your back. Instead, I pretty much put a ban on you, making sure that the Inuzuka clan members couldn't walk up and make you theirs."
Hana blushed, but said nothing as Tsume continued her story.
"Before and after that, our clans have seen a lot of each other, and to make matters better, you guys live, like, right next to us." She smiled upon her pause. Her head shook as she reminded herself what she was going to say. "So, that bracelet there is a symbol. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are being fully recognized as an ally of the Inuzuka clan, and can come to us for anything. We'll always be there for you in your time of need. Oh, also, it's made of chakra wire if you ever need it."
Naruto smiled and slid the bracelet onto his wrist, deciding to wear the item with pride.
Kiba stepped up with Raz and Akamaru, holding a collar out in his hands with the Uzumaki swirl in the center of the Inuzuka fangs. In his other hand were a set of papers with Raz' name on them.
"So, It's kind of a present for you, but me and Kaa-san were able to get Raz cleared for duty. She's a full ninja pet now and can go with us on missions when we graduate! Also, I got this collar for her to use as well. It has space for seals and stuff since I know you like to do that with everything."
Naruto enjoyed the gifts that Kiba had gotten him, and was even more excited for the fact that Raz would be going on shinobi missions with him when he became a genin.
Naruto and Raz could feel the joy and excitedness from one another, and Hana picked up on the silent exchange between ninja and panther, but none of them said anything about it.
Kiba stepped back to allow his sister to step up to the plate, her gift in her hands, Her blush still on her face as she looked nervously down at her present. Her fingers tapped against the black box, waiting for Naruto to take it from her hands.
Naruto took the box from Hana, but did not open it just yet. The look on her face made him want to wonder what she was thinking, and why she seemed to be so nervous.
Slowly, his hands pulled the lid off of the box. The lid came off with relative ease to reveal a set of three scrolls, each of them numbered by claw-like pictures on the side. They sat upon a dark cloth, elevating them from the bottom of the box.
"The first one is a personal med kit, clot wounds, stitch up cuts, some rubbing alcohol to disinfect, stuff like that." Hana pointed to the one with the single claw before moving to the others. "The second one has ninken medical items and food for Raz. That last one has food and emergency tools. Flares, food, an extra blade." Her hand pulled the scrolls out, a single finger pointed to the cloth. There's a pouch just for them in there, too."
Naruto folded the cloth over to look at the small bag. It wasn't anything truly impressive, but the scrolls are where the gift counted.
The boy looked up to smile at her, his teeth shining in the morning light.
Whatever nervousness she had faded away with that smile, her own smile forming upon her features to show that she was glad that he liked the gift. It proved to be a rather difficult task to get something for a boy who had almost everything, and those things he didn't have, he could buy or make himself.
With his eyes flickering to the three Inuzukas, Naruto smiled at them all. "These are all really great, guys. Thanks!"
Tsume shook her head. "It's nothing, pup. You deserve it."
Hana nodded with her mother. "You really do. After all you've been through and how strong you are, you'll take Tsunade-sama's hat in no time."
Kiba laughed at his sister. Kiba knew that Naruto was good, but he wasn't going to give his friend any slack. "It'll take a while for Naruto to get even close to the Hokages level!"
This did not sit well with Naruto. He knew it was a challenge of power, and he was going to prove to Kiba that he was going to be Hokage before he became old like Tsunade.
"Laugh it up, fuzzball! You know I'm going to be Hokage soon, you're just jealous that you aren't as strong as I am!"
The two were quick to butt heads against one another, battling for the spot of top dog.
"I can take you, even with Raz helping you out! Let's settle this outside!"
Before the two could escalate things any further, Tsume stood between the two.
"Come on, it's the Winter Festival. You two can fight later, just enjoy the time with your friends and family. Not to mention, the actual festival will be starting soon." Tsume reminded the two children as she grabbed onto the collars of their shirts and held them away from one another. She was honestly surprised that Sasuke didn't intervene like he normally would. Maybe it was because he knew that a stronger and more authoritative person would step in and get them to stop.
Hana nodded once more, warning the boys to heed her mother's words. "You guys fight all the time. Can't we have one holiday that doesn't end in jutsu?"
Naruto relented first, his body going limp in Tsume's grasp. "Okay, okay." He knew when not to fight certain women in his life, and though Tsume wasn't as radical as Anko, she was just as tough, if not moreso.
Kiba was quick to follow. It Naruto backed out first, that meant that Kiba had a stronger will, and was, in turn, better. "Later." He said to Naruto, who nodded in agreement.
Anko allowed a breath of air to escape her lips. At least those two could agree on fighting.
Tsume let Naruto and Kiba go, each of them returning to their previous seats.
With the scene calmed down, Hana looked to Naruto with a special look in her eyes. "So, Naruto. Are you going to the winter festival with anyone?"
Naruto was completely oblivious to the look on her face, and shook his head in denial. "Nope. Just my family."
Hana wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, trying to see if she could get any reaction out of him. "No one? What about Inago or Ino? I think that Hinata Hyuuga has been looking at you a lot."
Once more, Naruto shook his head.
"How about that Tenten girl? I think she's older than you, but you two seem to get along well." It seemed to get some look of surprise from Naruto, but it wasn't as much as she had hoped.
Anko raised a brow at Hana, curious as to how she knew that much about Naruto's classmates. Kiba probably wouldn't have told her anything. Not because he kept Naruto's personal life a secret or anything, but because Kiba and Hana didn't get along very well.
"How would you know who's into Naruto?"
Hana could say nothing back to Anko, her mind completely blank with an alibi for how she knew that. The response, or lack thereof, got a laugh from a majority of the people in the room, Naruto not being one of the majority.
That evening, a pair of ninja crept through the halls of the Uzumaki household, their feet making only the slightest sounds against the wooden floor. Their large black boots should have made some sound, but the markings on the bottom of the boots seemed to do something in relation to the sound.
The two ninja were dressed in the same red dressed with white fur lining and a large black belt. The two also wore a similar red hat with white fur lining.
"So this is what you've been spending so much time working on." Anko said to her sister, a smile covering her face as she remembered the present that was not given that day.
Yugana grinned wickedly. "I told you I'd have something good to give Naruto, even if I'm technically not the one giving it to him."
As the two tiptoed through the halls, Yugana pulled out the gift that would be seen by her nephew in the morning. Her smile could only get bigger upon the sight of it. It wasn't only her own delight of the picture, but also the thoughts of how Naruto was going to react to it.
Anko's hand wrapped gingerly around the knob to Naruto's door, pushing the door open with a similar amount of care and cautiousness to ensure that he wouldn't wake up.
The two looked to one another before walking in, continuing their slow and careful movements to the side of Naruto's bed, specifically, a small nightstand just beside it.
Yugana looked at the picture in her hands one final time. The picture was one of Hana Inuzuka in a different outfit than normal. Rather than her normal medic wear, she wore a much more...revealing outfit, but it wasn't anything too much. After all, Naruto was still just a kid. Why Hana hadn't given the picture to Naruto, or why she had it taken in the first place, she did not know, but whatever reason she had, wouldn't be enough to justify Yugana taking it and giving it to Naruto while he slept.
"Wait, wait." Anko stopped her sister, her hand moving to block her so she could grab the picture.
Anko moved the picture to her face and kissed the corner of it, making sure the lipstick that she had applied would appear on the glass of the picture frame.
Anko and Yugana smiled to one another, their excitedness almost getting the better of them before they placed the picture down on the nightstand and left the room without a trace.
Naruto would be sure to have a few questions for Hana in the days to come.
Omake one: That technique
To say that Kakashi Hatake was in hot water with Anko would be one of the largest understatements to ever have been uttered.
A few days before, Kakashi had participated in a sparring match with Naruto, and displayed a specific technique that would surely place him somewhere within the Nth circle of hell.
Though the technique was performed on Naruto, the boy took the technique and began to experiment with it, combining explosive tags and a multitude of jutsu with it in order to maximize effectiveness.
How did Anko find out that Naruto was working on this technique?
She had the horrifically awkward honor or experiencing it first hand.
The only punishment given to Naruto was a ban on the technique, as he couldn't have known any better.
However, Kakashi, with not only one Sharingan eye, but two, should have seen a vengeful, high speed Anko from a mile away.
However, Anko did say that she would allow Naruto to use it on special cases or dire emergencies.
Omake two: The two new members
With the arrival of Karin and Tayuya, the two were quick to join the two largest fanbases in Konoha.
Karin joined the club dedicated to her cousin, supporting them and helping them grow with Uzumaki clan inside knowledge to prove how much better they were than the Uchiha clan.
It also helped that Tayuya reluctantly joined the other club to keep it from falling apart. Not only did they support Sasuke, but his clan as well. It was quite difficult to support a clan of murderers and traitors. Tayuya had to remind them that Sasuke was one of the good guys, and he was going to help his family rebuild the clan, possibly with the help of one of the members of the club. That got them to steel their resolve, but also to watch out for the other club members. Any one of them might try and steal Sasuke from right under their noses. Since Tayuya was the one now holding the club together, it was easy for her to overhear conversations and such, and relay them to Karin for her own uses, as per the orders of her cousin.
On Karin's side of things, she traded information for information, and sometimes Naruto's items. She would find a way to get her hands on Naruto's clothing or possessions, or sometimes create exact replicas and give them to the club members, but she would always get the information that she wanted.
It was a strange network to be sure, but Karin was already starting up well for herself in Konoha, and it would surely expand over time.
Omake three: Plans change...
No matter how hard they would work, no matter how far they would get, something always had to come up to shift the board. Many of the conspirators had been hoping for the Uchiha to take over Konoha, but it obviously didn't go that way. It would be much more difficult for their plans to continue normally now. They no longer had the Uchiha clan, and there wouldn't be enough to overpower the Uzumaki brat and his rag-tag family. The only option was to get some help from the outside...
Omake four: Anko's Cooking
Even before Naruto came into her life, Anko had always eaten out. Whether it be at a restaurant or a friend's house, Anko never cooked at home. There was a good reason for this too. Ibiki and Kurenai wouldn't let her near the kitchen when they cooked. While she could cook up a poison like a master, she could not cook up actual food.
Of course, nobody had actually seen her cooking recently.
In secret, Anko had been working on her skill at cooking. Her last cake had been considered passable by her own standards, considering that she was the only one who currently ate her food, but that was beside the point.
Eveny once and a while Anko would sneak her cooking results into Kurenai's food to see how others would react to it. Upset stomachs, nausea, and stomach cramps weren't positive results.
One day, Kurenai came back from a long day of walking about the village to discover a scent pulling her towards the kitchen.
In the living room, Anko was seated reading a normal book, surprisingly, with a smile on her face.
Kurenai looked to the kitchen, expecting to find Mebuki cooking something up. However, no one was there. The only other person in the house at the moment was Anko.
"Anko? Where is Mebuki?" Kurenai asked, her head popping into the living room. Her long, raven hair fell down to the ground with ease. A few strands had hit the floor, but even her bent over wasn't enough for her hair to pool at the ground.
Anko's eyes looked up from her book, her smile still on her face. "I sent her on a wild goose chase a few hours ago."
Kurenai's look twisted to one of confusion. "A few hours?" She questioned. Anko couldn't possibly have made the food. The oven was off, and the kitchen wasn't ash. "Then...Who is making food?"
Anko smiled widely. Her teeth could be seen from down the street if one squinted just right, but it gave Kurenai a bad feeling in her stomach. "Me of course!"
Kurenai gasped. How could Anko have made something that smelled so good? How could the kitchen not been a smoldering pile of ash, dust, and charcoal?
"I've been working on cakes. For Naruto's birthday." Her smile only increased with each word. It must have been hard to talk like that, but Anko seemed to be speaking just fine.
"Naruto's birthday." Kurenai echoed. "You mean the one in ten months?"
Anko's nod confirmed her thoughts. Kurenai couldn't really be mad though. If she was practicing this early, then she'd be a fantastic chef by October.
"Okay." Kurenai relented. "What else can you cook?"
Anko paused in her reading, the book in her hands lowered slowly into her lap. "What else...?" Was her slow reply.
Kurenai nodded. "Of course you haven't been spending all of this time baking just cakes, right?" She paused to let Anko answer, but Anko refused to answer her. "You've spent all of this time baking just cakes..."
Another moment passed, and neither of them spoke until Kurenai noticed something.
"Hey, wait. The Cake smells like it's cooking, but the oven isn't on at all..."
Anko smiled with a shake of her head. It took hardly any effort to push herself up from her seat to walk with her friend to the kitchen. "Silly Kurenai. I'm using the Microwave!"
It seemed like Kurenai hadn't anticipated her using the microwave. Her eyes looked down to the cook book, bulging out upon reading the cover. "Anko!"
The Microwave sounded off, alerting the two that the cake was done.
"Yes?" She was quick to answer, opening the door to the microwave and looking at the cake she had made. Her jaw unhinged, her brain unable to form any words for her mouth to say.
"You do know that this book is for cooking in the oven, right?"
Anko said nothing, her eyes glued to the gigantic block of cake that took up all of the available space within the science oven.
"I do now." she groaned.
Omake five: Twelve days of the Winter Festival
For the first day of the Winter Festival, Naruto received a torture kit complete with poisons from Anko, which of course angered both Tsunade and Kurenai, made Mikoto worried, and made Jiriaya gulp in fear when Naruto had immediately snapped his head towards, and grinned maliciously, at the old pervert, fortunately for Naruto, the only one who noticed the grin was Anko, who couldn't have been prouder of her son's possible malicious streak when he chose a target for it. When Tsunade had tried to take away the torture kit, Naruto had 'pulled an Anko' by dropping some stink and smoke bombs, causing everyone to gag as he quite literally disappeared deeper into the house to hide the kit, as far as Naruto was concerned, it was totally worth the beating he would receive later that night under the premise of 'training in pain tolerance'.
For the second day of the Winter Festival, Anko had received a book of coupons for a five year guarantee for an unlimited supply of Dango one day of each month for the next five years from Naruto. When asked, Naruto had admitted that he had had to use some...'persuasive negations'...to get the restaurant to agree to the offer, in exchange for some unspecified favors. When pressed on what the favors were, Naruto merely looked at Kurenai, Tsunade, Anko, and Yugana, and had to wince, but refused to say WHAT he had done, no matter how much Anko glared at her son due to her suspicions about some of her missing clothing...
On the third day of the Winter Festival, Yugana had received a special stealth suit that, while appreciated, had her eye twitching. It had been from Yugao. Needless to say, the suit made her look like a cat with cat ears and the like, Yugao had explained that she had...picked it up...in a store that sold stealth attire, but Yugana had her suspicions it sold other stuff and not purely stealth gear. Never the less, she would admit, if only to herself, that it would make some of her missions much easier to complete.
On the fourth day of the Winter Festival, Tsunade and Shizune had received a booklet for free massages performed by young masseuses who utilized chakra to help muscles relax more, from Anko, Yugana, Kurenai, and Naruto. Needless to say, it was the ONLY time, that Anko could say she would ever see Tsunade with a nosebleed, and planned to never let the granddaughter of the First Hokage forget it.
On the fifth day, Kurenai received a book full of copies of Uzumaki genjutsu. Needless to say, Kurenai had scooped up both Anko and Naruto in a big hug, with these, she would be even more deadly in combat, and her infamy as Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress would only climb to new heights.
On the sixth day, Ibiki received a booklet containing many Uzumaki torture techniques, along with a few torture specific seals from Anko. Needless to say, he had finally been brought to tears, if there was one thing Ibiki loved, it was being a master of interrogation, and while he loved his methods, he wouldn't mind some new ones to make things more interesting.
On the seventh day, Karin received a book on spying, information gathering, and forming an information network from Yugana and Anko. Kurenai had frowned at the gift, but had shrugged off the bad feeling she had felt as it being Anko and her idea of 'gifts'. Tsunade had been curious about why Karin would be gifted with such a book till she realized that Karin must be one of those kunoichi born to gather information.
On the eighth day, Tayuya had received a number of scrolls on Uzumaki genjutsu just like Kurenai had, as well as a flute. She had looked at Naruto when she opened its package, as she had only mentioned to Naruto, that she had a love of flute music.
On the ninth day, shit absolutely hit the fan when Anko and Yugana had delivered a rather special present to Naruto from Hana, without either of them knowing about the delivery. Naruto had come to Hana with questions about it, which made the girl blush, and her mother look at her with confusion. Naruto was not the only one with questions about the picture in question.
On the tenth day, Anko had received a cooking book from an unknown sender. It must have been Kurenai, who was the only one who was aware of her cooking, but it could not be confirmed. However, Anko knew that it was Kurenai who had given it to her, underlining the cover where it said that the cook book was for cooking in an oven.
On the eleventh day, Naruto and Kiba gave each other the gifts of holiday themed pranks, involving throwing one another down chimneys, launching snowballs at one another, hiding in the snow and scaring the other, pouring cold water on one's head, and other similar pranks.
On the twelfth day The Uzumaki and Inuzuka clans gathered together once more for the holidays, setting up some humorous fun from the adults in the clans. Naruto had asked Hana about something, thankfully not the picture, and Hana had replied truthfully. It was her opinion on something, and Naruto took it to heart. Meanwhile, Anko twirled a Kunai between her fingers, a small plant being strung around the ring on the other end. While neither of them were looking, Anko threw the Kunai just above them, allowing the mistletoe to dangle overhead. With neither of them noticing, Anko, Tsume, and Yugana took it into their own hands, springing at the children from both sides so they'd collide into one another and possibly kiss. However, things did not go as planned. Hana's face had missed Naruto's completely, the boy's head colliding with her chest to make her a blushing and stuttering mess while the adults all laughed.
Omake Six: Kurenai makes a (grave) mistake
Before Anko had adopted him, Naruto had a surprisingly low sugar consumption. Not only was it that he wasn't allowed to purchase any sweets anywhere, but he did not have enough money back then to buy any.
A yellow and black form bounced off of the walls like a rubber bullet around a cowering Kurenai. Anko had walked in only moments after it had all happened due to the noise. Anko cursed herself for not confiding her suspicions of Naruto and sugar, as she knew this would be an eventuality.
"I should have told you..." Anko grumbled to herself. "I should have told everyone. This was bound to happen as some point, and I knew that this was how he was going to react!"
Suddenly the form ran up to them and began talking high pitched as it took the form of a twitching and shaking Naruto when it stopped. "HeyIwatogoonadture!" It sounded roughly as if he wanted to go on an adventure, but neither of the women could have completely figured it out. Naruto spoke so fast that you could barely understand him, his pupils randomly dilating at he twitched from what one would assume to be a super sugar high.
Kurenai cowered before Anko, "I only gave him a bag of lychee candy, I didn't know he could do this!"
Before either of the two could react, Naruto suddenly took off for the door leaving a sonic boom that knocked Anko on her ass as he took off, they could only watch in horror as the entered the village, promptly followed by several screams as Naruto accidentally sent people flying into the air as he ran through them, or more accuratly, he knocked them into the air as he ran under them causing them to fall back down in a heap of confusion as to what just hit them.
By the end of the day, Naruto had pulled no less then two hundred pranks in four hours and caused people to wonder if the Uzumaki heir had learned the Flying Thunder God techinque. Needless to say, Tsunade had groaned with how many complaints she got that day about the Yellow Blur of Konoha. It was also unanimously agreed amongst the Uzumaki clan, that all sweets to enter the compound were to be under an industrial lock and key and to make sure Naruto was monitored around sugar and sweets.
Happy hollidays from Pyro Productions! Even though it can't be considered a production company due to multiple laws and the fact there's only two of us, but we do hope that you enjoy the longest chapter yet, as well as the mandatory christmas special!
Actually, we've hit a few birds with one stone in this chapter, and we cna't wait to hear what you all think of it. Can't wait to see you all next time, and remember.
Stay Classy, San Diego!