Summary: Naruto finds out his true lineage and leaves Konoha with Jiraiya on a six year long training journey. He returns to Konoha stronger, and more serious than he once was, but still has his usual quirks. Details of his training is known by none but Jiraiya and himself and Kyuubi of course. Follow him as Konoha adjusts to the last Namikaze, and their new Rokudaime Hokage. It's a story where the moments range from serious, to fluffy, to random, to funny and you get to laugh as Naruto runs from his own fanclub and learns how to drive his ANBU up the wall, just as his father did. His father left behind his legacy... what will Naruto's be?
A/N: This story came out of nowhere and I'm still experimenting with writing, so you guys can help me out when you see me goofing up. I might pout at advice at first, but I'll still grin and thank you for it. It'll be appreciated. As for pairings... I'm not sure who I want to pair Naruto up with yet, but he won't start having a love interest or even the possibility of one until the fourth or fifth chapter, so if you have any suggestions, be they male or female, just leave it in a review. I'll take the one whose name appears the most.. if there's a tie, I'll ask my good friend TwoTails to be the tie breaker. I'll let my readers have the chance to choose who he's paired up with and if there's any other pairings you want to see, just tell me and I'll see if I can fit them in with the plotline. If I get no suggestions or votes on the matter, I'll choose the pairings myself. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this first chapter and bare with me.. I'm not the best at beginning a story.
Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto... I wouldn't be writing stories about the characters on a site known as fanfiction. So yeah, me no own, thank you, have a nice day!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was a night much like any other... so long as you didn't factor in the hard, driving rain and bitterly cold winds that threaten to knock a strong man off his feet. Out here, there was nothing but barely seen miles of trees and copious amounts of mud now turned sludge thanks to the weather. The few trees visible through the curtain of endless rain looked as though they were in a limb to wind combat with a tornado. It was difficult to imagine a ninja walking through this, let alone bunking in a safe place for the night as there were no safe places to be found in a storm like this. However, as unexpected things always have a way of happening, a figure could be barely made out walking confidently through the forests as if it was nothing more than a clear, beautiful, peaceful day and he was only strolling through an empty park.
For the two ninja posted at the gates that lead into Konoha, it was like some unbelievable mirage. They'd just barely managed to make it through this mess to their posts without using chakra and here was this guy-- no wait, these two guys (the other was hidden behind the first, using him for a weather shield)-- walking through it like it was a small breeze! Who were these guys!? As they watched in disbelief, the two finally came close enough that they were able to identify them. It was none other than Namikaze Naruto and his ever pervy sensei, the toad sage Jiraiya.
Now let's back track so you know what they're coming back from here... Ah yes, there it is, let's rewind to six years ago when Naruto had just turned sixteen and found out who his parents were...
It was a bright, beautiful day in Konohagakure; the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the children were laughing and playing games, and villagers and shinobi alike had no reason to complain about the day they were gifted with. Even Naruto and the recently returned Sasuke were getting along better than they once did. Kakashi had already decided to give team 7 the day off, but the boys, as usual, decided to train anyway because neither had anything more pressing, nor better, to do. Boredom always begets creative, oddball, or torturous ways to save oneself from said affliction, so they... playfully beat each other up to become better ninja because no one else pushed them to be stronger than the one in a fighting stance across from them right now.
It was also on this day that Tsunade, worn out Godaime Hokage of the village hidden in the leaves, was looking through some old files she'd found in an old, forgotten filing cabinet at the hospital. It was for good reason that she decided to organize and look through these files. Sure, they were sixteen years old and some even older than that, but they were important to the health of the village and its shinobi and would give her more insight that she would most likely need in the future. As she went through the old, dust bunny infested drawers that slid out when forced on rusted ball bearings, she read through files about some familiar faces and families, and others that were long gone by now as they were elderly when these files were left behind. There was one file in the back of the L - N drawer that seemed to call to her. It was simply labeled 'Namikaze, Minato' but instead of the usual pastel yellow folder the others were placed in, this folder was the fire red of the Hokage position. Taking it out of the drawer carefully, Tsunade was surprised to find that it was a complete medical record of the Yondaime hokage down to his perfect dental record and the birth of his child, Naruto. Sable eyes widen in shock as her jaw slackens. "WHAT!? Naruto is-- you have got to be kidding me! The child Minato sealed the Kyuubi no Kitsune into was his own newborn son!? Oh, there had better be answers in this file or the pervert gets it until I find the truth of this!"
The file room door opens a cautious crack and Shizune's worried voice sounds. "Lady Tsunade? Is everything alright in here? Do you need anything?"
With a grim expression on her face, Tsunade looks at her faithful assistant and loyal friend. "Shizune, I need sake and something soft to sit on. I've found something that I need to verify for the brat's sake."
Pausing for a moment, Shizune contemplates denying her request, but knowing how her mistress is about her 'little brother', she merely nods and rushes off to fetch what she'd requested. Soon, Tsunade is comfortably seated on a thick cushion, her sake cup and a large bottle to her right on a small table Shizune had brought along, pouring over the contents of the precious folder in her grasp. The flickering bulb in the dank, musty old room was fixed temporarily by chakra, the small window, forced open long ago by her superhuman strength was letting in a cool, refreshing breeze, and she ignored it all as she sat undisturbed and kept reading.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A wary Jiraiya was seen much later trudging warily from Hokage tower in search of one hyperactive knuckle-headed ninja. The older man couldn't help but smile at the sprawled out forms of Sasuke and Naruto at the usual grounds their team used for training. "Naruto, Tsunade wishes to speak with you immediately. It's important information about your parents. We know who they are now."
A golden topped head lifts up quickly as Naruto jerks up into sitting position and stands, an intensely curious, yet cautiously happy look on his tanned, whisker-scarred face. "Really!? Alright! Let's go old man, what are we waiting for!?!"
Sasuke merely blinks as he watches the two leave, letting a faint smile curve his lips at the chuckling man following the bouncing blonde bundle of cheerful energy. It was always nice to know that some things never really changed. Usually when things did change, there was still always some bit of the way something or someone once was that would shine through. Just like, for example, himself; He was no longer bent on revenge and no longer playing into Orochimaru's slimy hands. Sure, that was all thanks to Naruto, but still... Sasuke had changed, but he still kept his uniquely Uchiha bastardness and still called Naruto 'dobe'. Sasuke only hoped, for Naruto's sake, that the information found on his parents wouldn't hurt the blonde more than it made him happy to finally know who they were.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cerulean eyes widen almost comically at the words that just came from Tsunade's mouth. If not for it coming from his Tsunade-baba, he'd never have believed that his father was the one and only Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. His mother was from Whirlpool country and her name, stated in the clear print of the third hokage, was Uzumaki Kushina. The couple was unmarried at the time, but was engaged and the date had been set after the birth of their first child, HIM, Naruto. In shaking hands was the birth certificate that proved his lineage and that his father had paid the biggest price that any father could pay. He had sacrificed himself for the village he'd loved and protected to his dying breath. He must've thought that his child would be seen as what he was; a hero for caging the nine tailed bijuu, but he'd given them too much credit. His father was dead, but his mother... there was no record of her having died so there was a possibility that she could be alive, but Naruto wasn't going to get his hopes up.
As for his father, he couldn't find it in his heart to be angry that he'd done this to him. He couldn't help but be proud of the man who sacrificed it all to save the village he'd loved and thought of his son as a hero, meant to be cared for by his mother in a grateful Konoha. Putting himself in Minato's place, he could see that there'd been no other choice for him. He would've been an honorable man who knew he couldn't ask any other parent to bear the burden of their child holding the very demon destroying their village within them. Therefore, he'd used his own child for the jutsu as Naruto himself would have done in his shoes. To anyone else, it would seem that he'd hated his child enough to do such a thing to them, but to Naruto, he could see just how very much he'd been loved as his father had faith that his son could handle such a burden and come out better for it in the end... he could see it in his mind's eye that it would've been like a fight that only father and son could win by working together... He was the living legacy of the famed Fourth Hokage he'd always wanted to surpass in power and prowess.
Tsunade and Jiraiya watched with bated breath as the blonde who'd been through so much in his young life processed the information he was just given and watched closely as his expression changed with each emotion that flicker to life in his expressive eyes. There was sadness, a deep loneliness, pride, happiness, fear, and then a deep understanding that seemed to be beyond his years. His eyes sparkled even more than they had when he'd practically bounced through those office doors as he focused on Tsunade. "Tsunade-baba... I would like to request permission to leave the village with ero sannin for training that I can't get while in the village. I want to learn everything my father learned... and I want to use his surname... From now on, I will be Namikaze Naruto. And I will do everything I can to earn that name... I want to make my father proud of me... and I want to learn the jutsu he learned, have the same training he had... Please? It's important..."
Jiraiya grins as Tsunade looks at him in question and nods slightly, agreeing to train the kid silently and she smiles at the teen who is, even at this moment, honoring his father's memory the best way the son of such a shinobi could... by following in his footsteps and maybe even someday surpassing him. Yes, this was the legacy of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure, and she was going to miss the brat terribly. "I give you permission Namikaze Naruto, to leave Konoha to go on a training mission with Jiraiya. Just let me write up a pass for you, and you had better write so I don't have to worry about you idiots."
Grinning brilliantly, Naruto pounces on her and hugs her tightly, but not so much that he hurt her in any way. "I'll write you every chance I get! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!! You're the best!"
Hugging him back, Tsunade knew that even if she'd been selfish and kept him here so she could keep an eye on him and see for herself that the knucklehead was fine, Naruto would probably still think she was the best.
It was two hours and a lot of fond farewells later that no one saw the pervy sannin and his apprentice again for a full six years...
And now, after all this time, here they were, standing in front of the gates of the village they'd left behind so long ago... back to the present folks!
The ninja standing guard at the gates curiously and cautiously took in every detail of the two before them. The first was tall and a bit lanky with shoulder length golden blonde hair tied back in a ponytail at his nape with a few short, wild strands framing his tanned face that were currently slicked down by the rain that drenched them. His eyes were not as wide as they were when he was younger and were filled with a wisdom brought by years of various experiences. His lanky form was molded with steely muscle brought on by strict training and was covered in standard black special jounin pants, and a matching black jounin vest, zipped up only halfway to show the bright orange mesh shirt he wore underneath a long sleeved shirt of the same color that had buttons only at the top of the shirt. Those were unbuttoned all the way to the last button which ended at the middle of his upper chest, right in the middle of his sternum. His sandals too, were black, but had orange highlights in the stitching that held top and bottom together. The most distinctive feature that stood out the most was the whisker-like scars on each cheek.
The man who now stood beside him was none other than Jiraiya himself, holding out a worn scroll. Taking it, both ninja read over the old training mission scroll written by Tsunade herself to be shown at the gates both in leaving and returning to the village. It gave them even more proof that the ninja standing to his left was in fact, beyond the shadow of a doubt, one Namikaze Naruto. Knowing that, one of the two ninja smirks at the blonde in welcome. "It's about time you made it back home Dobe, I was wondering if I needed to search you out and drag you back to the village as you so forcefully did to me."
A smile curves Naruto's lips in a calm, content way. His voice is much smoother and deeper than it once was, reminding Sasuke of the sound of rustling velvet. "I missed you too Teme. Glad to be home. Do you mind much if we see Tsunade-hime now? If we don't report in she'll knock us to the next village and that's a long way to have to fly."
Jiraiya chuckles beside him. "Well put Naruto."
Sasuke smiles almost against his will. "I'm glad you're home dobe, it's been boring without you around. Go ahead; the Hokage should be in her office now. I think Shizune mentioned something about paperwork today."
With a soft chuckle, Naruto shakes his head a little, and then grins wryly. "Like my Tsunade-baba would do paperwork on a day like this. Let's go to the hospital Jiraiya-sensei, she's probably hiding out in there."
The duo walks through the gates and soon disappears in the unrelenting downpour. Watching still, even after losing sight of them, Sasuke can remember thinking about change the day Naruto left. His best friend had most definitely changed over the years and gotten much stronger and much more mature as he grew up, but one thing had stayed the same; Naruto still cared for his precious people and was back for them. He would protect this village for those close to him. With his return, came the task of gathering everyone together and telling them his lineage and giving him his birthright... the untouched home and possessions his father had left behind. Only question now was... What would Konohagakure be like now with its number one hyperactive knuckle-headed ninja back?