A Village United

And finally getting around to uploading archives of my old stories again. This is one that actually never got posted to this account, but was on my secondary account. Remember, this is an archive and I don't want anyone to think that updating is guaranteed, but who knows?

Prologue: A Different Legacy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All rights reserved by Masashi Kishimoto and Shonen Jump.

"You wished to see me, Tsuchikage-sama?" A large man questioned as he stepped into the office belonging to the strongest shinobi in all of the Village Hidden in Stones. He was tall and well-muscled, wearing what appeared to be red, scaled, samurai armor and a black gi with ripped sleeves over that. Over his armor, hanging from his neck, was a bronze-colored ring. Around the gi was his hitai-ite, on a black cloth, almost appearing like a belt. The lower half of his face was covered by a red mask and atop his head was a conical hat – both of the same color and material as his armor. White cloth extended from under the hat so that only his eyes and a small area around them were the visible portions of his flesh.

"Han, yes, I am in need of your particular... background for a mission of utmost importance to the village." Han – who figured the short, hovering man was talking about his jinchuuriki status – sighed but nodded. "You see, it is in regards to the attack six months ago, and something has come up."

"Wait... you mean the bombing? What has happened?" Han wondered, recalling when a rogue member of the Bakuhatsu – Iwagakure's resident clan who held the Explosion Release – and his lover released a large bomb on the village for some reason or another that only was known to them. His lover had died, but Deidara escaped unscathed.

"Precisely the very event." Oonoki explained. "Something... potentially wonderful has come out of the rubble of the morose events that led to thousands of deaths and ten fold of that in injuries. Not to mention the property damages." He sighed. "That damn blonde was always good at giving me paperwork as high at Mt. Raijin..."

"Oonoki-sama, what could have come out of the chaos that is good?" Han wondered.

"Potentially miraculous." The Sandaime Tsuchikage corrected. "You see, to the knowledge of only two ANBU, one medic and myself – and now you – Deidara's accomplice didn't die. She was, in fact, mortally wounded but kept alive by the efforts of medical chakra, fuuinjutsu and her special... abilities." Han frowned under his mask.

"But... why?" He had to ask. "There could not be any reason to keep her alive... not in my mind at least." Oonoki chuckled and flew down to his desk, where he picked up a basket from his seat and placed it on the desk. Han's eyes widened. "N-no... that can't be..."

"Oh, but it is. And I wish for you to be responsible. Burdened by the same curse you are as well as his parents sins, I wish for you to be young Naruto's guardian." Han looked down at the boy, three whisker marks etched on either cheek, a patch of blonde hair on his head and a seal on his stomach he recognized as the same he had on his own back... a strange seal only those in Iwa knew... a deal...

"He has that seal, Tsuchikage-sama... you used your dust to write it... I want to use my position to write a new one." He made eye contact with the old – but very powerful – man. "My brother, leave him be. I will raise and train young – Naruto was his name? - Naruto as my own son. I will raise him to be as strong as I am if not more. That is the deal you will make with me for this mission."

The Third Earth Shadow smiled. "I had a feeling you would say that, so I have already struck his name from the Bingo Books, as far as anyone knows, Roushi of the Four Tails is already dead. Congratulations on your new son... Han."

Han sighed and looked back at the boy, recalling the first time he ever saw his mother... all the way back then before the last War.

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"Heh, idiot brat. Did he really think he could take on a team of Jōnin trained to take in a jinchuuriki?" A gruff voice asked his comrades, all of the group in Kumo hitai-ites and Jōnin uniforms. "What a fool." A muffled voice came from his feet, so the man kicked a bound and gagged girl with long, red hair, causing a whimper. "Oh, shut it. Raikage-sama is a lot better than that old Hokage leading your village." The group began chuckling until suddenly a shadow overcast all of the moonlight they saw by. Looking up, there was a large... thing above them.

"What is that?" One of them asked as they all took out blades, looking into the sky. Without warning, suddenly pieces of the... thing dropped and each time a piece hit the floor, it caused a large explosion. The first one sent all of the Kumo ninja back in a backlash, leaving the redhead unscathed. As they shakily stood back up, two of the ninja suddenly found it impossible to move steam erupted around their bodies from the ground below them, almost like a geyser. Deep screams of pain and death filled the air and nearly overtook the bombardment of explosive matter that still dropped from the sky like a rainstorm of mines.

"Steam? Come out whoever you are!" The first shinobi demanded as he looked around at the remaining five underlings he had from his squad. In the middle of the six remaining shinobi, two figures appeared. The first was a large man in a mask and shrouded in a veil of mist, a figure that struck fear into the Jōnin, all six of them. "H-han of the Steam Armor!" The leader shouted and then looked at the other one. "G-gari of the Explosive Fist!"

Han's cold eyes stared from above his facemask at the leader, silent as death he was sure to bring upon them. Neither of the two moved, and the rain of explosive material continued until suddenly both of the men disappeared and each took out one man, an explosion on one side and an eruption of steam on the other.

"Don't just stand there, fight back, imbeciles!" The leader commanded, this seemed to trigger something in his trio of henchmen and they rushed forward. One brought out a sparking katana and would have slashed into Han's armor if he didn't bat it aside with his armored arm before punching the man in the gut, a burst of steam from his furnace launching him into a second man. The first had horrible burns on his stomach that would kill him and the second obviously sported grievous bone fractures from the impact of being thrown into a large boulder and shattering it.

The third one seemed hesitant after that, but was remedied as Gari appeared above her and slammed his fist into the ground where her feet lay, an explosion launching her skyward before gravity took its course and left her a bloody mess. The leader was defenseless as the seven others in his squad were taken out easily. Han looked right at him. "What was that about 'trained to take in a jinchuuriki'?"

"Hehe... not one of your caliber, obviously..." He gulped. "Who sent you and for what?" The question came as the rain stopped and a third member of the squad appeared from the air, blonde and young, maybe only ten or eleven with bangs covering one of his eyes.

"Should we tell him, yeah?" A young Deidara wondered, looking at his two superior officers. Han shrugged. "The Tsuchikage found out about your plan, yeah. He doesn't think Kumo or Konoha deserve the Kyuubi, so we're taking the jinchuuriki, yeah. And no witnesses." As he said that, the leader noticed a dove near the blonde brat that tried taking them down... a clay dove. Without warning, it suddenly exploded in a ground-shaking blast.

Looking at the ground, he then noted a spider of the same material... it didn't take a genius to know what was coming next, so he made peace with the gods even as he was consumed in a fiery ball and left this world...

[][][]

Blinking as he left memory lane, Han looked down at the boy once more. "Surely you know what will happen to him if his heritage is learned?" Oonoki sighed.

"Sadly, his parentage is worse for him than his prisoner. It is a challenge he must overcome though. I fear that spies will always be present and it will not be very long until one within our ranks leaks the information. You must never leave his side and least of all Deidara must never learn of his existence. There is no way we could handle him so soon after the last attack and there are few things worse than the wrath a father can bring down in regards to saving his son."

Han grunted non-committally, unsure what that was like, never being the son or father in such a situation. "I will keep the secret of his heritage guarded. No one but myself will know, not even Naruto unless I feel he must learn of it." Oonoki nodded.

"I'm glad I could count on you, Han. Now, leave, I have more paperwork. Oh... and if you find out what the barter his seal creates, please tell me. Each of the jinchuuriki I have used that seal on seem to be different. His should be interesting, considering his heritage."

"Of course, Tsuchikage-sama. By your leave." Han took up young Naruto in his arms before leaving in a swirl of steam, leaving the ancient leader alone. He sighed as he was deep within the walls of solitude once more.

I really thought you might be the one to take my mantle and finally unite the factions of this village, Deidara... then she captured your heart... I suppose I must keep this hat a while yet. I just hope someone can finally do what Mu and I couldn't. Only then can I choose a successor...