You know, I 'm probably going to get yelled at for doing this, but, I'm starting a new story! ^^! It all started with the Cirque Du Soleil and the rest is history, as they say. I'll have you know I put blood, sweat and tears to make this chapter as long as possible for you, so I'd better not get any bitching about the length.

Kushina's Circus

Chapter 1

Nao cringed. He'd missed the trapeze by a centimeter, again!

He hit the netting below him with a grunt.

"Nao, do it again! You premier tonight!"

'Yeah, I know.' He thought. But couldn't say. No, he'd never said a word, and apparently never would.

Nao had been with the circus for as long as he could remember. Also, he'd never been able to talk. The scars on his neck showed something had happened, but no one was sure what. Ringmaster-sama said he believed Naruto was burned during some fire in which his parents were killed.

The mute boy tried the stunt again. And hit netting again. But he was getting better, his fingers just bushing the pole before he fell to the abused net below.

"Ringmaster-sama, maybe you should let Nao-kun take a little break. He won't get be any use to anyone if he can't stay awake during the performance." Aya said.

Aya was Nao's one friend. All the other performers had decided a long time ago that they just didn't like him. But Naruto only needed one person.

With a nod of confirmation, the tall, imposing man that was Ringmaster-sama left the tent.

"Come on, Nao-kun; let's go get some dinner, then you can try again a few more times."

Minato sighed and ran a hand through his hair. There was a circus in Konoha, and it had been heck trying to convince his shinobi that they could give up a training ground for a week. They, simply put, felt that they couldn't train anywhere else. But, civilians would want access to the attraction; therefore, it couldn't be too far away from the main city, and that particular training ground was perfect.

The Hokage glanced out the large windows in his office. The circus had decided that he would get the VIP seat, free of charge, and he felt obligated to go. Not because of the special seating, no, but because the majority of the performers were refugee Uzumaki. Like Kushina.

'Kushina…' She'd been killed the same day he should've. But, for some reason, he hadn't died. Kushina died, he lived, and his son disappeared. 'I'm very lonely, aren't I?'

Someone knocked on the door. "Enter."

A woman entered. She had boyishly cut hair, wore fairly simple clothes, and looked to be in her early thirties. A performer with the circus.

"How can I help you, miss?" Minato asked.

The lady bowed. "I have a request, Hokage-sama. I've heard rumors of an Uzumaki that was here in Konoha during the attack on our village. I was wondering if these rumors where true, and, if so, where I could find such person?"

Minato sighed inaudibly. "Uzumaki Kushina. She had been part of our village's shinobi force when that happened… She was a friend of mine." He chuckled at some memories that popped up, but quickly sobered. 'She's not around anymore, but… at least I have memories…' "She died during the Kyūbi attack on our village, which I presume you've heard about."

'Kushina? Wasn't she Kyūbi's jinchūriki? It escaped?' "How? How exactly did Kushina-imōto die?"

"We…" Minato faltered. He hadn't had to talk about this in awhile. "We're not sure exactly what killed here—childbirth, attack from the Kyūbi, or a fūinjutsu."

"She had a kid? Where're they at?"

"What is your name?"

"Aya, Hokage-sama. I'm Uzumaki Aya."

"Aya-san, her son disappeared the day he was born. We've searched high and low for that boy, and found not hair or hide of him."

Aya got the feeling there was something she was missing. Then, it dawned on her. The Hokage spoke with emotion when speaking of Kushina and the woman's boy. "Are you… Are you her husband?"

She received a slow nod in return. It hurt Minato to talk about this. 'This man won Kushina-imōto's heart? He must be something else.' "I'm sorry, Hokage-sama." She quickly left the office.

"Minato, get out of your emo-corner. It's time to go to the circus." Jiraiya sighed. Minato had been in a crummy mood since one of the performers had asked about Kushina. The topic was taboo with Minato. Just mention the name Uzumaki and he got jittery. Now, he had had a whole conversation about her. Not good, not good.

Minato glared at his sensei. "You have a bad habit of making things worse, you know?"

"So I've been told." Jiraiya responded, sarcastically.

Minato growled. Jiraiya's sarcastic responses had always been annoying, and he just wasn't in the mood to put up with it. "I'm coming. Just shut up."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes at his student's 'antics'. "Come on, kid. Let's go."

Jiraiya received a glare that could out due any Uchiha any day.

"And now, premiering tonight, for you, is Uzumaki Nao, on the trapeze!"

The applause sounded. The ringmaster bowed and stepped out of the makeshift ring. A light was positioned to point towards a platform, high above the audience.

On said platform was a young boy, maybe eight. His body was small and lithe like a fox, and seemed fairly confident. But, of all things about the boy, it was his bright, blond hair that struck everyone. Minato even caught a few shinobi glance from Nao to him a few times.

Suddenly, Hyūga Hiashi was in the box, panting slightly.

"Hokage-sama! The Hyūga have noticed something strange about this boy. He has chakra capacities of a Jōnin!" Hiashi whispered harshly. "He is registered as a civilian, but his chakra capacity is way too large to be a simple civilan!"

The man stopped to glance at the boy who was doing a complicated maneuver. When he completed it, he broke out into a huge grin that covered half his face. He easily slipped into the next part of his routine.

"What are you saying, Hyūga?" Minato hissed.

"I think… That that kid might be a… I think Jinchūriki is the word you used, no?"

"Impossible."

"No, not impossible. The Kyūbi is unaccounted for in the Jinchūriki ranks."

"Then he would have to be my son."

"Brat, do you doubt that?" Jiraiya suddenly piped up from his seat next to the Hokage. "He's got hair just like you."

Minato just hissed. But, he knew there was logic in such a thought. Such a shade of blonde hair belonged to Namikaze and Namikaze only. Not even a Yamanaka could compare. "ANBU!" He hissed out and immediately two guards where in front of him. "I want a background check on Uzumaki Nao before this show is over, clear?"

"Hai!" They barked and shunshined away.

"Minato, once again, get out of that damn emo-corner you're in. You're doing nobody any good when you snap at them for just looking at you wrong." Jiraiya was obviously annoyed with Minato. "You can be worse than an Uchiha when you want to be."

Minato just shuddered at the thought of being compared to an Uchiha…

The boy continued with his routine. After a complicated series of flips, twists, and flies through the air, the boy stood back on the platform, and with a bow, he quickly climbed down the ladder that had brought him up.

At first, no one clapped. Then, suddenly, slowly, people started clapping. Many stood and cheered.

"Nao-kun! You did it! That was amazing!" Aya continued to dose Nao in praise and rewards, oblivious to the young boy's silent please.

Finally, Nao kicked her in the shin. Aya yelped and looked at him. "What was that for?" Nao's motions immediately got her attention. "You want to write?" Nao nodded in confirmation.

Aya quickly reached into the pouch on her belt and pulled out a pen and a piece of paper. She handed it to Nao, who nodded in thanks.

"I mest up a couple of times looking at the audience, especilay the Hokage." Nao wrote.

"Silly boy, it's m-e-s-s-e-d, not m-e-s-t, and especially is spelled e-s-p-e-c-i-a-l-l-y. And besides, even if you did mess up, you got that tricky part down pat!"

"Thanks, Aya-nee."

Just then, the ringmaster walked into the small changing room that Aya and Nao were in.

"Great job, boy! Your premier went great! They want you back out there!" He chuckled. 'Imagine how much money I could bring in with him…' "Curtain call is up in ten! Be ready, you two!"

"Hai, Ringmaster-sama!" Aya chirped. The imposing man that was Ringmaster-sama left. "Nao-kun, you got praised by Ringmaster-sama! That's, like, the best ever!" She was grinning like a madwoman.

'Something doesn't feel right…' Nao thought. He shrugged it off. 'Oh well. Aya-nee will take care of me! Hey, I rhymed!' The mischievous boy giggled silently.

"Alright, whatever you're up to will have to wait. Time for curtain call!"

Minato narrowed his eyes at the report. Apparently, the boy was an orphan. He'd been adopted into the Uzumaki Circus Troupe when he was but a few days old. The boy known as Uzumaki Nao was mute, his vocal cords destroyed before he was adopted.

He'd trained to be a trapeze artist since he could walk without losing balance. But that was where it ended.

"I want a DNA test, stat. I want to know who the hell this kid is." Minato ordered the ANBU. "Don't come back until you've got answers. Clear?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" The ANBU headed off to do what they were ordered.

"Inu!" The Hokage snapped out

In an instant, another ANBU was in front of Minato. "Reporting, sensei."

"I want you to follow that boy, Uzumaki Nao. Understood?"

"Yup!"

"Now!" Minato hissed. Inu left—but not without his customary two-fingered salute.

"Minato! For the last time, don't kill your subordinates! Get out of your funk! If you need to release stress, go beat up a tree or something, not the ANBU!" Jiraiya hissed.

The show continued on in front of them. There were animals in the ring. Neither man was paying attention.

Minato sighed. "You're right." He held his head in his hands. "I'll apologize when they report next."

'Kushina is still an open wound with him. Just being here is like dumping salt on it.' "That's a bit better. Now, this show is almost over. When this is over, we're going to spar. Got it?"

"Hai, sensei." Minato smiled slightly. 'Leave it up to sensei to do something like that…'

The ringmaster was back out. One after another the performers followed, bowing. There were many, about half of them were the refugee Uzumaki. The rest were other people who could not make a living and had some talent that a circus would want—from costume designs to extreme flexibility.

"Who are you?" Aya eyed the three figures in front of her warily. They wore porcelain animal masks and black cloaks.

"Miss, we are ANBU. We're under direct orders from Hokage-sama. You needn't worry." The one with a dog mask replied.

"And why should I believe you?"

Nao quickly wrote something on his paper and handed it to Aya. She read aloud, in a mummer: "I believe them. Why would they lie? We aren't important." Aya chuckled. "I guess you're right, gaki." She turned to the black-cloaked figures. "What do you want?"

"We," The one in a bird mask said, "Are here to get a blood sample from… Nao-kun, was it?" The young boy nodded. "And Inu is here to… observe. No harm, see?"

"Fine… But so help me; if you hurt him you'll be sorry…"

"I'm sure we will. Unfortunately, from experience, it's hard to get blood without a bit of pain. Gomen." Bird said.

"I'll be fine, Aya-nee." Nao wrote out. Aya nodded slightly. She didn't know what a simple blood test would do to her Nao-kun's future.

Okay, before someone yells at me for some misspelled words, check and see if they're Nao's writing. He's eight, he'll misspell words!

Thanks for reading, and reviews would be appretiated!

D-F