Crimson and Golden Leaves

by Paridise

Years of suffering has led a young blond down the path of pain. Uzumaki Naruto, a citizen of Konoha, sadness and hate follows his every footstep. This changes however. A lost family member, Uzumaki Kotero, cousin to Naruto comes and unites with him. Becoming brothers and enduring each other's hardships together, they will furfill their destinies and become Legends. AU/CD Story.

1. Chapter 1 - New Direction

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto the anime or manga. This story is based off the world of Naruto. All rights go to Masashi Kishimoto.

(A/N) Hello all, thanks for clicking on the story. First piece of warning, this story will involve heavy violence, swearing and later in the story, mature content. Second piece of warning is that the start of this story will heavily focus on the OC in the early chapters then heavily focus on Naruto and then Naruto with the OC. You may be put off by this and I wouldn't be surprised one bit. The OC will be a character to help flavour the story and develop the world of Naruto in a different direction.

Also, hopefully with the OC, it will make the story more unique and add many aspects to the world of Naruto we all love. So with that, please read and enjoy the story.

Chapter 1 - New Direction

"Ah, the smell of blood. I don't think I'll ever get used it," a tall slender man with broad shoulders said. He was standing in the middle of a forest clearing. The ground was stained with bandit blood, a darker shade than the blood red hair of the young man. He stalked over to a large boulder that was half-hidden by a few Ash trees. Slouching upright and taking a deep breath, he whipped out a cloth to wipe off the distasteful red liquid that was residing on both his blades.

"They never learn, do they? Although I don't belong to a village… yet. They should've known I was too dangerous for them. Hm, I feel bad for them now that I think about, but fuck'em they started it and it's better that they're dead than I am!" he said out loud.

Looking at the bodies again, the man could not feel but a pinch of guilt creeping silently around his heart. The men looked thin and their clothes weren't in much better condition, they probably need food to eat, money to spend and treasure to be looted so they can live a better life. Although stealing it from a man trained in shinobi arts was not the way to go doing it.

After the man finished his breather, he sheathed his swords and went over to the corpses. Pinching his nose from the metallic smell, he piled the bodies together and gathered some firewood. The wood was dry and light from the passed summer. The wood was put underneath, and he lit it with a match to get the fire started.

He did not regret killing the poor fools, but he certainly would regret leaving their bodies unattended for pesky vermin and vultures to take a nibble off their hides. He certainly wouldn't want to find a rotting corpse lying in the woods. No, he cut them cleanly so they would have a quick death and he will make sure they will rest in peace. The red-haired man felt he shouldn't be here any longer than necessary, so he scurried off further into the forest.

Night has taken over, the area was pitch black, the only sources of light was a beautiful crescent moon, the various stars that scattered and populated the sky and a bright orange campfire. The red-haired was reading a letter with various scrolls littered around it. His shiny amethyst eyes going over every single word, over every single detail.

"Hope Kaa-chan was right about this, Konoha is only one day away essentially and I don't need any more hassle!" he spoke loudly to no one in particular, ending with the puff of his cheeks.

"It's bad enough that they're going strip me down and mind-fuck me to make sure I'm not a spy. I understand why they have to do it, but damn it still sucks," he sighed out gruffly.

"All I want is family, this is my only option now. Still though, I don't understand why Kaa-chan didn't try to meet up with her earlier, why stay on the road? I wonder if there was trouble between them?" he spoke in wonder. He stood up and kicked dirt and gravel into the fire, killing it and strolled with a bit of a bounce into a small dry cave.

He lied down on the rough ground and unsealed a fluffy pillow from one of his various storage scrolls, 'Gotta love fūinjutsu,' he thought.

He positioned himself in a somewhat makeshift comfortable position and closed his eyes. "Uzumaki Kushina, I wonder what kind person you are?" he said before he rolled over and lost himself into the sweet darkness that was sleep.

---

Konoha Village

It was another roasting day in the Land of Fire, and for the village hidden in the leaves, Konohagakure no Sato, it was business as usual. There were merchants entering and leaving, trading with the villagers and themselves with items only found in other elemental nations. The market area was bustling with people, it was a good season so there was a good harvest, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables at a fair price.

The Fire Daimyō was pleased with the state of the village and the results of the last Chūnin exams. Many missions have been sent Konoha's way. The ninja body have been working hard and completing the influx of missions.

It was clear to see that all is going very bliss for the village. At the entrance of the gates was a wooden shelter, two guards resting their bums on the wooden stools behind the counter. Both stared lazily out to what was going on ahead of them.

"This job is killing me Kotestu! Why do you love it so much? Wouldn't you rather do a bandit camp clean-up job or something… I don't know exciting?"

"Ah that's the thing my good friend, we're defending our great village from the dangers that could enter any moment through the gates.

We're probably the most important ninja in the WHOLE village. Apart from Sandaime-sama of course. And, Izumo we get all the gossip from the missions and stuff, who wouldn't love this job."

Izumo stared blankly at Kotestu. 'Why is this idiot my best friend,' he thought with heavy eyes.

After a few more seconds of the awkward silence, both Chūnin bursted out laughing. Izumo laughed so hard that he slipped off his stool and landed on his rear. As they were a scene, they both noticed everyone was staring at down with questionable gazes.

The two men sobered up quickly and sat promptly on their stools. Everyone went back to their business as the gate guards tried to act professional but snickering could still be heard from the wooden shack.

Suddenly Kotestu spoke up. "I get what you mean though, it would be nice if there was a bit more excitement around here to be honest."

A few hours went by and now it was early afternoon, the sun was still beating down on them.

Wiping sweat off his forehead and cheek, Kotestu yawned and leaned out of the shack to see what was in front of the gates. He thought it was the usual, as he was going back to his stool, he saw a small shine come from the gate's direction. He squinted his eyes and noticed a lone man walking towards the village. He soaked in the details of the man as he was eyeing him up. After all, it could spell trouble for him and the village.

First he noticed the clothing, it was mainly a combination of black and red. He wore black combat shinobi sandals that went up just below his knee-caps, black shinobi pants that hugged his legs, they fitted well to his figure and were loose enough for more flexibility. He had the traditional shuriken holster on his right thigh with strappings underneath.

This was getting suspicious, Kotestu focused harder on the incoming man, it could be an enemy ninja.

On his waist he had various pouches, for various tools. As Kotetsu looked higher up, he saw that he wore a long sleeved black shinobi shirt, over it was a very thin sleeveless jacket that was red as the primary colour and small black swirls on the border of the jacket. He noticed that that he was wearing a pair of dark forest green wrist guards with a bit more leather under the right wrist. There were also two sword hilts hanging off his back, both were parallel to each other. One hilt was ruby red and the other was sapphire blue in colour.

Then Kotestu saw the face of the man approaching closer and closer to the village. The man had a clean face apart from one scar. Kotestu saw the man feel his scar while walking towards him, the scar travelled through the middle of his left eye. Kotestu assumed there must have been a good story behind that scar.

The eyes were as clear as water, the colour was intense, a surreal purple like amethyst crystals.

Despite the weather, Kotestu saw the man's skin was was of a light tone, the man wasn't tanned one bit.

Then on top of the mysterious man's head was spikey blood red hair, it was kept long on top and only just shorter on the sides, it was kept in good condition and framed his whole face well. It certainly reminded Kotestu of a few of his fellow ninja.

"Yo Izumo. A guy is coming over, let's see what he wants!" Kotestu said. Receiving a nod, the two left the guard post to see what was with the man.

'Alright looks like I got some company already. Alright time put on my game face!' the red-haired man thought as the distance between him and the two approaching guards was getting smaller and smaller.

"Halt there. Good afternoon. State your name and business," Izumo said after tightening his bandanna forehead protecter, in a voice filled with authority.

The redhead looked at the two men with a poker face but inside he was thinking what he was going to say. 'Guess I should just tell the truth,' he thought.

"Good afternoon to you two as well. My business in Konoha is that I need to have an audience with your Hokage, and my name is Uzumaki Kotero," he said with a smile and a head nod. "Lovely to make your acquaintances."

Both Izumo and Kotestu were shocked to the core when they heard his name. 'This guy is related to that Naruto kid!?' they both thought immediately. Izumo shook his head and looked at Kotero again.

"Ok Kotero-san, do you have any identification papers? We need to make sure you are legitimately who you say you, we can't have you running around under disguise, I think Hokage-sama would skin us alive!" Izumo said with a chuckle.

Kotero reached down into one of his pouches and whipped out a scroll, he gave it to Kotestu who opened it without hesitation. Kotestu saw that it was legit, Kotero was a citizen of the Land of Fire. He then closed the scroll and gave it back to Kotero. "Everything seems to be in order Kotero-san, welcome to Konoha!" he gleefully said with wide open arms.

Izumo looked at his partner with brotherly disgust written all over his face. He turned his to head to Kotero, gave a smile and a nod with his head. Both side-stepped to allow the Uzumaki by. Kotero gave a wink to them both and headed off. After he was a considerable distance, Kotestu looked at Izumo.

"I like the look of that guy, he wasn't even acting dangerous but I can tell he's strong," Izumo said as he went back to the guard post and said, "let's just hope he isn't an enemy."

Kotestu stood there for all but a second and rushed back to his job with his best friend. "Did you hear of the news of the man with red hair that went on a drunken rampage? At that town close by... what was it again? Oh yeah, it was Gero Onsen. Do you think it was him?" he asked, getting to Izumo's side.

Izumo looked up to the sky before saying anything. "I doubt it man. He looked clean, like he didn't drink at all. And he didn't smell bad at all," he said. "I don't think it's him."

---

Konoha Main Streets

As Kotero was walking towards the Hokage tower, he noticed what Konoha really was. 'This place is FREAKING HUGE! There must be thousands of people here. Still its smaller than the Capital, thank God, that place is suffocating!' Kotero thought.

Kotero noticed that there were four large chakra signatures around in a square formation, on the roof tops above at least two metres in from the edge. He looked up and saw nothing but still sensed chakra.

'Must be Konoha ANBU, no doubt they sensed me, an unknown, with huge chakra reserves, not even trying to supress it. Hmm I shouldn't try anything funny, they'll chase me down in a second,' Kotero thought.

Kotero was walking at a leisurely pace, taking in all the views, he saw kids playing with toys and playing "ninja", he thought it was cute, kids who could barely run fast, throwing wooden shuriken and falling on their asses, pure comedy gold. Time flew by and before he knew it he saw a huge red tower with the kanji of "fire" on it.

'This has to be it, if it's anything else I'll sell my swords,' he thought with a small smile tugging his lips. He went inside the two with a friendly nod to the two-ninja guarding the door, he scanned the large area he entered. It was filled willed with people going in every single direction. It reminded Kotero of a bee hive and the Hokage as the Queen Bee, 'Now there's a thought,' Kotero giggled internally.

He saw a middle-aged woman, sitting behind a lovely wooden desk. The woman had brown shoulder length hair and a face that screamed 'tired'. Kotero nonchalantly strolled to the desk.

As he was going to open his mouth, the receptionist put up her index finger up and "shhhhhhhd" him.

'Bitch!' Kotero thought angrily but kept his poker face up, he did not want to make a scene here of all places.

Finally, after a minute of waiting, she turned her head up with the fakest smile Kotero has ever seen. "Good afternoon, how can I help you today?" she asked.

Kotero looked at her with a smile of his own. "Good afternoon to you too, I need to have an audience with the Hokage as soon as possible, when is earliest time I can see him?" he asked.

She looked at the schedule on her desk while twiddling her fingers. "Hokage-sama is free in an hour, his meeting with the council was cancelled, he can see you then," She said.

"Thank you so much!" with the simple reply he went off to the comfy chair, took out a scroll on medical ninjutsu and read it intently.

The hour went by in a flash. "You can visit Hokage-sama now!" the receptionist yelled out to Kotero from her desk.

Kotero quickly sat up, stretched his arms and legs and popped his back, 'God that felt good,' he thought.

Kotero walked by the desk and gave the older woman a thumbs-up. He climbed the stairs and he saw a large green door with an ANBU guard just outside it. He went to the door and gave it a light knock.

---

The Hokage's Office

Sarutobi Hiruzen was doing the devil's work, paperwork, signing and stamping on the documents had made him tired of all this work. He really wanted to smoke in peace with some nice green tea and read the latest Icha-Icha book that came out. He looked at the stack of paper getting smaller and he was feeling relieved, 'Thank God, it seemed that it would never shrink, nearly finished,' he thought.

He was about to stamp another page until he heard on his door. Hiruzen raised his head and looked at the portraits of the former Hokage. 'Shodai-sama, Nidaime-sama, Yondaime-sama you're all probably laughing at me,' he clenched his teeth slightly 'miserable bastards,' he thought.

Hiruzen nearly forgot about the door. Composing himself and taking a deep breath, he sat straight. "Enter," he said in a neutral tone.

What came into his office was the biggest shock that has come in a long time. Before him was a teenage boy, couldn't be older than eighteen, he had blood red hair and amethyst eyes. The aura seemed all too familiar to him. It was a blast to the past for the old man. Old and fond memories surfaced up, He had close relations to both Kushina and Mito.

When Hiruzen comprehended the situation, he was in he realised that this young man was an Uzumaki. 'What are the chances?' he thought.

Hiruzen wasn't a veteran shinobi for nothing but he couldn't hide his shock completely as his left eyebrow was raised high the incentive, he started what he knew would be a long conversation. "Who might you be young man? You're certainly not one of my ninja," he said.

Kotero looked at him with a genuine smile, he knew what the old man was doing so he'll play along with it, for fun. "You're dead right. I'm not a ninja from your village. But where are my manners!? My name is Uzumaki Kotero, a pleasure to meet you Hokage-sama," Kotero said.

The aged Hokage looked at the young man, his curiosity was truly peaked now. He was right, this is an Uzumaki survivor. He gestured Kotero to take a seat in front of him.

"Kotero-san, pleasure is all mine. I'm sure you have a few questions for me, but I have a few questions for you too," Hiruzen said. Kotero didn't seem fazed at all. He knew this man was still considered a 'God of shinobi' but if he didn't act stupid he shouldn't be in any trouble at all.

"Of course, Hokage-sama, it wouldn't much of a conversation if I did all the asking and you did all the answering, now would it?" Kotero said in a playful manner.

Hiruzen was impressed, the young man in front of him was not intimidated in the least and was trying to make the talk enjoyable. 'I think I'm going to like this kid,' Hiruzen mused to himself.

"If you don't mind sir, but could I go first just to get what I wanted to say out of the way?" Kotero responded with a nod from the old man.

"Thank you. There are two reasons why I came to Konoha. The first was to apply to become one of your ninja and to see my lost family. Unfortunately…", Kotero took a deep breath and continued "My Kaa-chan, Uzumaki Aiko, had passed away, before she passed away she told me about her sister who she hasn't seen in many years and was sent to Konoha at a young age and that I should try to find her. You might know her; my aunt's name is Uzumaki Kushina," Kotero said with a pained expression.

The Hokage slightly flinched at name when it came out from Kotero's mouth. He did not expect that, or at least so quickly. He sat still, he was as quiet as a mouse. He motioned Kotero to continue with his story.

"My father died when he protected my Kaa-chan and I when I was four years old, then my Kaa-chan and I travelled mainly around the Land of Fire and coast across from the Land of Whirlpools. She trained me to be a shinobi the best she could. You could say she was my most precious person. I loved her with all my heart. We lived a happy simple life you could say.

Then a few months ago she caught this crazy disease, it was killing her and I couldn't find the problem or a cure. I'm skilled in medical ninjutsu, but I couldn't do anything for her, we travelled from town to town, city to city trying different doctors, while I got out and try and improve my skills with herbs and medical ninjutsu. I even tried to seek out Senju Tsunade, but she was an enigma. So, I just put all my focus on saving her. Trying everything that could cure her.

However, all it did was extend her life. She was dying fast!" Kotero gritted out. At this point Kotero's tears escaped his eyes, flowing down his checks. He didn't care if he cried in front of the Hokage about his mother.

"She told me all about Aunt Kushina and after she dies that I should go to Konoha to start a new life," Kotero wiped his face with his sleeve and looked straight at the Hokage.

"After she passed away, I fell into depression, but I couldn't let my Kaa-chan's last wish go to the grave so I came here. My only wish now is to settle down, discover my lost family, love them, protect and cherish them," Kotero said with determined eyes.

After a few deep breaths, Kotero recomposed himself after telling the Hokage one of his most painful experiences. He finished with a low, quiet voice but loud enough so the Hokage could hear. "I want to become a ninja of this village, I want to see my lost family. I'll do any test you want me to do," he said.

Hiruzen looked for any deception in the tale, he can catch any liar, what he found was that he was telling the truth. The aged Hokage felt bad for the boy, from the story it seems all he wanted to do was save his mother, he put in months of blood, sweat and tears and she still passes away.

Although he felt sad for the young man, there was a tinge of happiness flowing through veins. 'The events were terrible but now it seems like both he and Naruto can have family. It'll do that blond good, he'll stop pestering me for my hat hahaha,' Hiruzen chuckled in his head.

The old man knew this would benefit the whole village, he can tell that Kotero was a powerful shinobi, as of now he knows he didn't commit any crimes and the Uzumaki clan and Senju clan were best friends so it'll be easy for him to integrate into the village.

It would be the best benefit for Naruto, he can have someone there for him, protect him and love him. He could take off the mask he wears with the fake 1000 watt smile and have a genuine smile. The aged Hokage knew he failed Naruto, even though allowing his cousin to come and live would not repair the damage done, it would make the pit he dug not as deep.

He took a deep breath and looked straight into the eyes of Kotero. "I will let you become a ninja of this village but we need to get things out the way first. To make sure you are not a spy. You will go to the Torture and Interrogation department at ten sharp, myself and two others will ask you questions and check you out. I'll leave my questions until then alright and then if you get the all clear, well let's just see what happens," the Hokage said.

The old man stood up and looked out the window and noticed that's its evening time. "Kotero there's a hotel in the centre of the village, do you need money for a room?" he asked.

"No Hokage-sama I have money. Don't worry about that," Kotero replied with a smile.

Getting out of the chair, he rose and went for the door, he stopped and twirled on his to face the Hokage once more "I truly appreciate this sir, and I'll see you at that building at ten sharp," he said with a thumbs up.

Hiruzen laughed but then remembered, "But you don't know where it is!"

Kotero shocked the man when barked out a loud laugh. "Don't you worry sir, I'll find you," Kotero said. The Hokage had a very confused face until Kotero said "I'm a sensor, and your chakra is crazy strong. I'll just find you again hahahaha," Kotero said before he quickly dashed the door to find a hotel to sleep for the night.

The old Hokage was frozen still, he then sighed and shook his head left to right with a huge grin on his face. 'That kid, I like him, I think he's exactly what this village needs. Now screw this paperwork, I have to make a good list of questions for the brat,' the Hokage thought with a grin.

---

The Next Morning

It was ten in the morning and the Hokage and Kotero were just entering the torture and interrogation building. Kotero has been in lots of dangerous situations but this building was giving him the creeps. They both walked down different corridors never going the same direction.

The young Uzumaki man was thinking the old man has gone senile but finally they make it to a large metal door. They entered beyond the room. The space was huge and the ceiling was nowhere to be seen. The floor was covered with cream coloured tiles and the walls were a boring grey. There was only one light and it was in the centre.

'Trying to be scary huh?'

Kotero finally noticed the two men who were in the room. One man had long sandy blond hair and a high ponytail and two bangs framing his face together with a strong jawline. The other man was like a bear, he was at least a head taller than Kotero and his shoulders were so large you could swear he was hiding people under his coat. He had two definitive scars on his face and he was wearing a bandanna to cover the rest of his head.

"Good morning gentlemen," the old Hokage said.

"Hokage-sama," they both responded without hesitation, like it was second-nature to them.

"We are going to do an evaluation on our new friend here, he is a potential ninja to join our village but we need to make sure he isn't a spy. Now Kotero take a seat over there," the Hokage said. Kotero obliged and sat promptly on the chair. "Are we ready?" the old man asked and the two assistants just nodded. "Alright I want your basic info so we can file it," he said looking at Kotero. Kotero gave a positive nod.

"What is your name?"

"My name is Uzumaki Kotero."

"How old are you and when were you born?"

"I'm seventeen right now, my birthday is on the 9th of September so just a month ago."

Hiruzen mused to himself 'A month born before Naruto, that's nice,' he thought.

"Height and Weight?" the large man in the trench coat said

"I'm five foot eleven in height, I haven't finished growing just yet. And last time I checked my weight I was sixty-six kilograms… none of it of fat mind you."

They were no responses, Kotero sulked 'I was trying to liven up the mood damnit!' Kotero thought with a pout.

"Blood type?" the blonde man quizzed

"B, wait. No, yup definitely B!" Kotero chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head

The three men exchanged looks and each nodded at each other.

"Uzumaki-san, my name is Inoichi and I'm going to perform a technique on you for the assessment so all I need you to do is relax and breathe in a steady rhythm, it'll make all of our lives easier," Inoichi said as he walked up to Kotero

"Please just call me Kotero, and don't worry I don't want to fuck up my brain so I'll do my best," he replied.

The large man sniggered to himself as Inoichi stood in front of Kotero. Inoichi then placed his left hand on Kotero's forehead after he formed his hand seals for a mind-walk jutsu. Kotero went to sleep as Inoichi searched his mind for any evidence for aligning himself with the other hidden villages. After an hour of searching his mind, Inoichi released his jutsu and walked over to the two other men in the room.

"Well how did he do?" the Hokage inquired, he only met Kotero yesterday and already he likes him a lot, maybe getting old has made soft.

"I've been wondering myself, I feel no ill-intent, he obviously doesn't want to hurt us or the village, and he co-operated with us… pleasantly," the bear-like man said as he rubbed his knuckle against his chin.

Inoichi had a smug look on his face. "Ibiki, Hokage-sama, the kid is clean, I've went through most his life without any form resistance, none of the memories were fabricated as far as I can tell.

To make the story short, he's a strong shinobi, he was trained by his mother and he brutally trained himself for what seemed like years.

There were memories where they were ambushed by Kumo and Iwa shinobi. The mother and son disposed of them together. It was a rare occurance, but there were multiple incidents that spanned across years.

From what I saw, Kotero-san is very skilled in taijutsu but more so in the art of kenjutsu. And everything he said about his Aunt and mother was true," Inoichi told them.

Hiruzen's grin grew even wider, he was right about him. Kotero wasn't siding with any ninja village, his actions showed that he was on nobody's side.

Ibiki stared at Inoichi with a frown "Are you sure he isn't faking anything?" he asked.

Inoichi sighs, making Ibiki and Hiruzen look at him with critical eyes. "No, he isn't. The only problem though is that his most recent memories was of him in a underground street brawl tournament. The town I saw was very familiar. I'm convinced that it was Gero Onsen, the town North of Konoha. I couldn't see a clear picture, but Kotero-san was clearly intoxicated," he said. "Heavily intoxicated."

"What happened after?" Ibiki asked, his curiosity was dripping off his tongue. "This kid is sounding more and more interesting. Did he win? Or did he vomit all over his competitors?"

Hiruzen wasn't showing it, but it was clear he was just as interested as the man beside him.

Inoichi sighed before he chuckled. "He won the small tournament with ease, despite his terrible condition. Kotero-san then went the liquoir store and bought multiple crates of sake. He brought the crates to his hotel room. The most surprising part is that not one bottle broke. Everything he paid for was with his winnings.

Kotero-san then procedded to drink, and once he drank too much, he began his fits of vomiting, which lasted for quite a while. Honestly, it's an embarrassing image, truly saddening.

Kotero-san's emotions were all over the place. His mother's death just destroyed him, inside and out. With his drunken episode and releasing his dark feelings through his fists, it's obvious something happened to him that night. Maybe he had a vision of some sorts?

The memory of the next day showed that he recovered well enough to stop drinking and move on with his life. Kotero-san almost looked like he didn't even drink an ounce of alcohol that night," he said. "The most recent memory I could find without damaging his psyche were the events of two days ago at night-time. He was ambushed by those reported bandits that escaped during Genma-san and his team's mission."

Ibiki laughed. "So, he's a strong kid. And he suffered a lot. What are your thoughts Hokage-sama?" he asked.

Hiruzen exhaled heavily through his nose before he spoke his words. "All I'm wondering is that if he can use the Drunken Fist? Inoichi, how was Kotero during in his fights?" he asked.

Inoichi looked to the limp and sleeping body of Kotero. "He was very sluggish. However, his opponents were normal citizens. They weren't trained in any of the ninja arts. It was an unfair competition from the very beginning. His intoxication didn't even slow him down, all it did was make him trip over too many times in his fights," he said. "Hokage-sama, everything is finished. Ibiki doesn't need to do anything. Kotero is clean."

Ibiki hummed loudly. "Damn, and here I thought I was going to have fun with him. Thank God Anko isn't here though, she wouldn't care if he's in the clear already, she would jump on his bones and do her 'personal' interrogation," he said.

Hiruzen and Inoichi paled with the mention of the crazy snake mistress of Konoha. Then Hiruzen cleared his throat to gather the attention. "That clears everything, I need you two to write a report so I can give it to the council. ANBU!"

An ANBU ninja came in a flash wearing the mask of a yellow-billed duck. "I need Kotero back at my office. Try make it as relaxing as it can be," Hiruzen ordered.

The ANBU picked up Kotero and threw him onto his shoulder. He then vanished in a body-flicker.

"That's good. I'd say he will go down well with most of the council," the Hokage said. A frown appeared on the Hokage's face. "It's unfortunate that my former team mates will give me grief," he said with a hard voice, his frown deeply darkened. "And Danzō will want Kotero for one of his schemes or have him kicked out."

"Hokage-sama why don't you just kick Danzō off the council if he always causes a pain to your backside?" Ibiki inquired, genuinely interested in Konoha politics.

"I hope that isn't a crack at my age Ibiki-kun?" Hiruzen said before he smirked. Before Ibiki could respond with any answer, the Hokage raised his hand to silence him.

"Don't worry Ibiki I was only messing with you. To be honest if I knew some of the things Danzō would do then I would have already, he doesn't have the Will of Fire, it's funny. Kotero isn't even a day in Konoha and he has traits of the Will of Fire. Anyway, it's too late to kick him out, he planted to many roots to get him out," Hiruzen answered him. There were a few dry laughs in between some words.

"ROOT? You mean his private Army?" Ibiki said with surprise that the Hokage would give out such information.

"No Ibiki you idiot, it was a metaphor. God, how are you a Jōnin?" Inoichi chided, it was funny seeing the menacing Ibiki jumping to conclusions and making himself look like an idiot.

Ibiki turned his head and glared at his partner.

"Anyway, as I said, it's just too much hassle to kick him out. I know he loves our village more than anything but he's going down the wrong path. Ahem… thank you both for your help today and bring your reports ASAP. I need to talk to Kotero about his skills, then he'll need an evaluation with a different Jōnin," Hiruzen sighed as he began to rub his temples with his fingers, it was going to another long day at the office. "Inoichi, don't include Kotero's drunken episode in your report. I'm sure both he and I would get in trouble if it became common knowledge. Ibiki, you can add anything relevant to it."

"No problem Hokage-sama. Now I'm wondering how good the brat is. He'll be a great asset to the village," Ibiki spoke in usual gruff voice and Inoichi nodding along.

The aged leader gave both men a smile as went his way back to the office. Walking through the streets of Konoha, he was bombarded with greetings and bows from his villagers and ninja. The young children ran up the man and started stare in awe the most powerful ninja in the village. Hiruzen returned their attention with friendly waves and a grandfatherly smile.

Although he wanted to return to his office as quickly as possible, not to get away from the villagers because of the attention, no because of a certain redhead that made quite the impression on the old man.

Throughout the so called "interrogation" the Hokage has been wondering how skilled Kotero is. If he went by appearance and attitude alone, he would assume he was a Jōnin, or at least an elite Chūnin, however looks can be very deceiving so he had a shroud of doubt but when Inoichi mentioned his encounter with Kumo and Iwa nin and his skill in kenjutsu, his interest grew tenfold.

Hiruzen knew the Uzumaki clan were famed for not only by their sealing prowess, but also their Kenjutsu and Water Ninjutsu. His itch to find out how skilled a shinobi Kotero was now worse than the itch for him to smoke his tobacco. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. 'This kid is going to be the end of me!'

---

The Hokage's Office

Hiruzen suddenly opened his office door to find a groggy Kotero rubbing his head intensely. "Oh, I wonder if Inoichi-san does that to his wife?" he said out loud not realising Hiruzen was there.

"Kotero-kun, you shouldn't say stuff like that," the Hokage said while walking to his desk. 'I wonder if Jiraiya could use that for his next book hehehehe… NO bad Hiruzen!' the Hokage thought.

"You alright Jiji? Oh God! Please forgive me Hokage-sama! My mind isn't a hundred percent yet," Kotero blurted out. He would have continued, but he heard Hiruzen chuckling to himself.

"Don't worry Kotero-kun, actually it's nice being called something else. You recently lost your mother and your father died when you young."

Kotero winces at the words said. He still wasn't used to the prospect of a life without his dear mother.

"My wife and my first son are dead and my second, Asuma, only calls me 'Hokage-sama' not Tou-san like he used to. My grandson, Konohamaru-kun, lives with me and he's the only one who would call me something like Ji-chan. I'd say we would both appreciate if we spoke on more… familiar levels," Hiryzen said, the smile never leaving his face as he nibbled on his smoking pipe.

"Yeah, don't worry. But I'm only going to call you that when it's just me and you. No way in hell am I'm going to say it in front of other ninja!" Kotero stated with a light foot-stomp to emphasis his point.

"Yes, actually that would be better. Are you feeling okay? You want water or Tea maybe?"

"Nah, I'm good for now Jiji, thanks though. So, you want to ask your questions, now don't you?"

"You got me," the Hokage said with his hands in the air in a surrender position. "I'd say if you just tell me your skills and other talents. I need to make an appointment with another Jōnin to test out your skills."

"Yea that makes sense. I won't go into detail of how skilled I am in each area of a ninja, it wouldn't do us any good if all my skills were on paper. To start with, I would say my best skills would have to be sealing and kinjutsu."

"Sealing? I'm not surprised since you're an Uzumaki. Are you a Seal-master?"

"Seal-master? Yeah I would be I suppose. I love seals, when my Mother started teaching me it, I took like a fish to water. Before she fell ill, I was already better than her."

"That's great! Seal-masters are rare enough. And what about your kenjutsu?"

"Well I don't like tooting my horn a lot but to be honest I'm deadly with my trusty blades. I learned the traditional Uzumaki styles, and I use one Uzumaki style in particular, 'Swirling blades' with two swords. I did so that there's always one attack facing the enemies. It overwhelms the opponent while the damage is done through swirling around him or her, stabbing them or slicing them when they are open. It's like a dance."

"I'm excited to see it when we do your test, now tell me about your other skills."

"Well, I used to do a lot of hunting, so I'm stealthy and I can make traps. Myself and Mother were proficient at the healing arts as you know so I can be at combat or at healing a team-mate.

My taijutsu is good, but I'm no expert, my style is the traditional Whirl-fist, basically it's like a whirlpool, you move slow, let your opponent's settle with your speed, then let your speed explode to throw them off their game. It relies on hard hits with the joints of the body so the elbow or knee are the main weapons of attack. The style also emphasises on grappling. Its handy such that if an enemy is open in the slightest, it's easy to pull off a combo where they get broken ribs, arms or legs," Kotero explained.

The Hokage was nodding along, taking down short notes on his skills. "I'm sure these are clan secrets and techniques," he asked. Getting a nod from the Uzumaki he put down his ink brush. "Okay Kotero, tell me about your ninjutsu."

Kotero looked down on the floor while scratching the back of his head. "Yea Jiji, this is embarrassing topic for me. Ehh I don't have much of a ninjutsu arsenal."

"Well everyone can't be perfect, now can they? Just tell what you do know," The Hokage said with a soft voice.

"Well I know the transformation technique, and the substitution technique, teleportation techinque and finally the shadow clone technique."

"WHAT! How do you know how to make shadow clones, that's a Konoha kinjutsu," the Hokage yelled out. Kotero's words truly surprised him.

"Well funny story there Jiji, my great-great grandad and the Nidaime Hokage were like best pals if I remember what my Kaa-chan told me. He made and gave the Shadow clone technique to our clan when we helped him with his sealing and his space-time ninjutsu. My Mother knew the technique so she just taught it to me," Kotero said with a loud laugh.

The aged Hokage took a few seconds to process the information he just heard, his senesi, Senju Tobirama, who was always a stingy bastard gave one of Konoha's most prized jutsu away like if it was loaf of bread. Leaving the fond memories of his former sensei, he took a deep intake from his pipe and then blew out the sweet goodness that is cinnamon infused tobacco. "Kotero, what about elemental jutsu?" he asked.

"I have the natural elemental affinity to water. I can also use wind chakra. Both are strong. I don't know any techniques for either element though," Kotero said glumly. "However, I have been training into manipulating them for ages, I can split a rock the size of my hand with just my chakra and I can soak a stack of paper, as thick as a few bricks with just my chakra as well."

"What element was your mother's Kotero?"

"Oh, she was a water user, and she was amazing at it as well!" Kotero exclaimed proudly.

"If that's the case, then why don't you have any water ninjutsu?" the Hokage questioned, quite perplexed on how Kotero hasn't learnt any yet.

"She was going to teach me. When I was younger, she made me focus on seals, medical ninjutsu, chakra control exercises, my tai and kenjutsu. She told me 'after these exercises, doing any elemental jutsu will be easier' so I did what I was told, Jiji she was a scary woman. I learnt that the hard way, so I wasn't going to question her.

We started my elemental jutsu training about a month before she got ill. When she was getting weaker and weaker, we stopped training and I completely focused and medical ninjutsu and the healing arts. Even though I couldn't save her, my skills in the area improved immensely," Kotero finished with a sad smile. "Only when I took a break did I ever practice it."

"Ah, sorry for questioning it then," Hiruzen said. He finished off a short list of Kotero's skills, he placed the ink brush down and looked into the eyes of Kotero. "Well I think that clears most of what I wanted to talk about."

The Hokage stood up and walked over to Kotero to put a grandfatherly pat on his shoulder. "We will arrange to have your ranking test tomorrow at twelve noon. I will have one of my most trusted Jōnin and my most experienced kenjutsu user to test your skills. I will be watching as well just to let you know. So, I suggest you go back to your hotel and prepare for it.

Once that's all done, and I announce to the council that you will be a Konoha nin, you can see your family. Deal?" Kotero nods his head from the Hokage's words, "Good! Just meet me outside the tower before noon and we can go to the training grounds together."

"Yes sir!" Kotero replied with a mock salute. Kotero gave a friendly wave and walked to the door. "See ya tomorrow Jiji!" he cheered as he left out the door.

The Hokage went back to sit down and motioned for one of his personal ANBU to appear.

"Yes Hokage-sama?" the female ANBU said behind her cat mask.

"Neko, I need you to get Gekko Hayate and Hatake Kakashi here immediately. Use whatever force necessary to get Kakashi to get him here before I chew his head for being late all time," the old man said gruffly as he was getting frustrated from the silver-haired Jōnin's annoying antics.

"Of course, Hokage-sama," the purple haired woman said in a neutral tone.

Five minutes later a tall man with brown hair, wearing a bandana forehead protecter and a katana strapped on his back entered the room. Both men waited in silence, every now and then a weak cough would break the silence. Before the ten-minute mark, a man with his forehead protecter covering his left eye, gravity defying silver hair and wearing the usual Jōnin wardrobe ran, his face tells the Hiruzen that he must have seen a ghost.

"Hokage-sama, you can't ban the Icha-Icha books just because I'm late all the time. Please sir!" he got on his hands and knees and begged his leader. "They are truly works of art," he yelled out.

The old man stifled a laugh while the brown-haired man in the back was filled with disappointment, 'This is our strongest Jōnin, God... we're a laughing stock,' he thought.

"Kakashi, Hayate, I need you both ready for battle tomorrow," the Hokage said with seriousness.

Both ninja tensed and looked warily at their leader, Hayate was first to speak up "What's the matter Hokage-sama? Why just us two?" he asked.

"Well Hayate don't worry too much, we have a potential ninja coming from the outside, we already did an interrogation on him and he's clean, all we need is to test his skills to see where he is on the ninja ladder," The Hokage explained.

Both Kakashi and Hayate relaxed after hearing this, but Kakashi's curiosity got the better of him. "Sandaime-sama, why us two? Also, can we learn who it is?" Kakashi asked.

The old man had a slight grin when he heard this, he can't wait for Kakashi's reaction. "Well I need you Hayate to have fight him in a kenjutsu battle as he is very skilled in it, and Kakashi you're overall the most rounded ninja that we have that has skills in most areas. And his name is Uzumaki Kotero," The Hokage told the two.

Hayate took in the name with a hint of surprise, he heard rumours of a blond Uzumaki who pranks the village, as like everyone else he thought he was just a poor orphan kid. Kakashi on the other hand was shocked, his lone eye was popping out. 'An Uzumaki survivor, How?' Kakashi thought.

"So, both of you need to be at training grounds seven at twelve tomorrow. Kakashi if you come there late, I swear to God I'll strap you up so fast, search your house for your books and burn them in front of you! Dismissed!" The Hokage ordered, leaking a bit of his killer intent to Kakashi to drive home his point.

Hayate left, while Kakashi's feet seemed to be frozen in place. The Hokage wanted to finish his paper work but he knew his trusty Jōnin had something on his mind. "What's wrong Kakashi? You usually want to leave as soon as possible so you can read again."

"Sir, are you sure he is truly an Uzumaki and not an imposter?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, I'm a hundred percent sure he is who he says he is," the Hokage answered with certainty.

"How?" Kakashi asked, truly not believing what he heard.

At this point the Hokage was getting annoyed, he just wanted to do his damn paperwork. He tried his hardest not to crack his pipe in frustration and looked up to the masked cyclops nin. "I'm so confident because he is Kushina's nephew," he answered slowly.

Kakashi had been shocked again, second time in less than ten minutes. "So that means..." he didn't get to continue as the Hokage spoke up.

"Yes, he is Naruto's direct cousin, you could say closest thing to a big brother," the Hokage said.

Kakashi just nodded and left the office, processing all the information he just heard, he couldn't speak as he was flabbergasted. The old Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and wondering how well his newest ninja will perform. He'd be lying if he wasn't excited to see what's coming. 'I wonder if he would like a spar with me at some time hehe,' he thought. He took a whiff of his pipe and swiftly got back to work at double time, trying to make the infinite pile of white stacked paper go down.

---

Training Grounds Seven

It was the next day, Kotero and the Hokage were walking just outside the main part of the village to Training Grounds Seven.

Kotero was informed that it was the largest training ground they have for the Genin teams. It had various landscapes such as forest, plains, rock face and ground, a large river and lake so it was a great training ground.

The Hokage was reminiscing about his old team, the 'Legendary Sannin'. They were famous throughout the elemental nations and the old man wouldn't shut up about them.

They finally arrived at the clearing that was the entrance of training grounds seven. They were right on time, a minute till noon. Hayate was there already, having arrived a little early to do some warm up exercues and to clean his blade.

Hiruzen motioned Hayate to come over so they get started. "Kotero, this is Gekko Hayate, he is our kenjutsu specialist in the village, hopefully we get a grand spectacle from your fight today."

They both closed the distance between them and gave hearty handshake to each other. "It's a pleasure to meet you Hayate-san," Kotero said.

"As well Kotero-san, I'm excited for this match so let's get to it," Hayate said before he went off into the clearing, spun around and unsheathed his katana, and entered his sword stance.

Kotero walked a few paces back and spun around as well, and unsheathed one of his swords, Ruby. He entered the traditional Swirling Blades stance, relaxed his muscles, slowed his breathing, and then completely focused on Hayate.

The Hokage stood in the middle, between the swordsman. "Alright you two, we want to have a clean fight, so no major cuts or cutting off limbs. The winner will be decided if one of you can longer fight or in a position where you can't escape death. With that let's begin. Begin!" he shouted.

Both men flew at each other and parried their blows respectively, when they touched the ground, they swung their swords at each other, each dodging or parrying the others attempt to hit them. This went for several seconds until Hayate jumped back from an attack that seemed to come out of nowhere when Kotero swirled on left foot only slightly, his sword aiming at Hayate's left shoulder. 'Fuck me this guy is good, I have to be careful around him, he has experience with enemies, he isn't some wimp who just picked up a sword for first time!' he thought.

Kotero took a more defensive stance, his breathing pattern hasn't changed since the start of the bout. He felt completely in the zone. 'I wonder if I should use just one or both of my swords. We'll wait and see, if it gets harder from now on, I can always use both when I'm in stuck between shit and more shit!' Kotero thought.

Hayate rushed at Kotero with his sword ready to strike, he then channelled chakra to his blade to give it an overwhelming shine. "Sword technique: Bleeding moonlight."

Kotero's vision was completely useless now, he clamped his eyes together, trying to stop the light from stinging his eyes even further. The pseudo-flashbang really affected Kotero's surroundings. Instead of freaking out, he immediately focused chakra to his ears to try to hear Hayate's feet. He also multi-tasked by trying to sense Hayate's chakra, Kotero was disorientated but he could feel the chakra signature approaching him at an alarming pace.

At the last second, he quickly rolled to the right to avoid the stab from Hayate, switched grips so his katana was in his left hand, swung a large arc towards where Hayate stopped in his tracks. He heard the parry blow from his attack but that's what he wanted. Even though he was blind at the moment, Kotero knew the surroundings well enough to take advantage. Using his superior strength to keep Hayate from moving, he twirled from his spot and gave a kick with his right leg into Hayate's torso.

Hayate had the air blown out of as he skidded back, berating himself for being reckless as to getting caught by his blind opponent. Kotero opened his eyes and thankfully his eyesight was only a little fuzzy. He jumped back to a safer distance and retook his defensive stance, waiting for the attack to come to him.

The Hokage was watching with great interest, he was by no means an expert in kenjutsu but he is a master at boajutsu, so he knows this is a good fight. He couldn't help but not notice how calm and collected was, how he was soaking in every detail of Hayate, to make a plan to defeat him.

'Even when he was blinded by Hayate's attack, he still took advantage of the situation and delivered a hard kick to Hayate's chest. He's very skilled. And he told me he used two swords. If he's this good at using just one, I really want to know how good he is with two?' the Hokage thought.

Hayate was thrown off by the skill of the young man, he wanted to end this now. He got into a new stance and swung his sword in a circle. "Dance of the crescent moon," Hayate said under his breath. Suddenly two more Hayates appeared out of nowhere and all three charged at Kotero, in different directions all going into motion for different swings of their blades.

Kotero knew that three enemies versus him were not good odds, even if two of them were shadow clones. He looked around to think of a quick plan. As the Hayates closed the distance on Kotero, they all timed their strikes so they would all hit at the same time. Kotero waited till the very last moment to initiate his assault. He quickly whipped out Sapphire and swirled in flurry of red flashes, a small whirlwind picked from his feet because he moved so fast. He then appeared behind Hayate, sheathing Sapphire.

The shadow clones popped out of existence and the real Hayate collapsed on the ground, barely keeping himself together, struggling to keep upright. He looked down on his uniform and noticed hundreds of mini cuts, blood dripping out of his body, and his jacket, shirt and sleeves torn up like tissue paper. Cold steel suddenly appeared on the left side of his throat. "Concede," was all he heard before he fell into unconsciousness and hit the ground hard.

The Hokage was gobsmacked, as soon as Kotero took out his second sword, the match went completely his way. Hayate's strongest attack was completely useless against Kotero. It was also the speed Kotero moved by that was frightening as well, he hasn't seen someone so young move that fast in a very long time. He got out of the shade from the tree he was residing and walked over to the duo. He saw Kotero sheathing his katana and then proceeding to heal the wounds that he inflicted on Hayate.

"That was most impressive Kotero, I didn't expect such a dramatic ending," Hiruzen said with a smile, he motioned ANBU to come by his side. "Tora, once Kotero has given Hayate first-aid I want you to bring him to the hospital so he can get checked out."

"Of course, Hokage-sama," the tiger masked ANBU walked so he was he was next to Kotero. After a minute of waiting, Kotero gave the sleeping Hayate to the ANBU. He then vanished leaving the old man and the redhead to themselves.

"Now we have to wait for Kakashi. I'm sorry about my tardy shinobi Kotero-kun. I told him to be here on time, even with a threat. But there's no way he's going to change in a day huh?"

"Ah, it's all good Jiji, you can tell some of your stories, the real juicy stuff from your career," Kotero said with excitement.

"Ah, I think I got one, how about I tell you about my battle with the Sandaime-Tsuchikage!" he looked over to Kotero was staring attentively at the old man, with eyes wide open. The chance to listen to the details of a Kage battle, Kotero had to take the chance with both of his hands.

The Hokage and the Uzumaki went over to a large tree by the lake and sat under the cool shade. There Hiruzen began his tale of the battles between Konoha and Iwagakure in the first shinobi war. He told him how both he and the Tsuchikage were both just Jōnin of their respective villages and this was their first experience of large-scale war. He then went on how both men dwindled down each other's forces until they both ordered their troops to retreat while they fought their own battle.

Both men fought long and hard, Hiruzen with his mastery over fire ninjutsu and his partnership with his main summon Emna and Onoki with his earth jutsu and developing Jinton, a kekkei-Tōta with consists of fire, wind and earth release in a combination. At that stage, it wasn't complete but the aged Hokage drilled the point down that it could still vaporise a man in milliseconds. At the end of the battle both men were exhausted and retreated themselves, no longer fit for fighting.

Kotero was soaking in every detail with star-filled eyes, he has never heard such intense battle, expected from two Kages, he truly wished he was there to watch what happened. Then two men waited in a peaceful silence, appreciating the nature in front of them.

At two o'clock on the dot, Kakashi appeared in the clearing two hours late. Both the Hokage and Kotero sensed him, they got up and walked over to the one-eyed Jōnin who was reading an orange book while perversely giggling.

The Hokage coughed into his hand, making Kakashi look at him. Kakashi noted that his leader had quite a large tick mark on his face so he had to think of an excuse quick, 'Which one? The "black cat" one or "got lost on the road of life" … oh I know what to say now!' he thoguht before he coughed into his hand.

"Sorry, I was walking down the road of life, I took a left and ended up in the Land of Hot Water so I had to run all the way back here," Kakashi said. 'Hope they buy it!' Kakashi thought while showing his trademark eye-smile.

The Hokage did not look amused, he knew the paperwork was piling up and for every minute Kakashi was late, a new stack of papers probably came to the office to further torment him. Kotero bursted out laughing and grabbing his stomach, nearly tripping himself up from the ridiculous excuse. "You can't be serious with that excuse, can ya?" Kotero laughingly said out loud while pointing his finger at Kakashi.

The Hokage just sighed, "Don't be surprised, this happens quite often," he said while disappointment was written all over his face.

"You know it's rude to point at people," Kakashi said, trying to put himself in a better light.

"I know that much but it's even ruder to be two hours late for a meeting," Kotero quickly responded.

"Touché," Kakashi said with some defeat.

"Ah it doesn't matter," Kotero said while waving his right hand in front of him, "The name is Uzumaki Kotero, Hokage-sama says you're one of the strongest ninja in the village," he then put his right hand forward, ready for a handshake.

Kakashi returned the gesture and gave another eye-smile. "Nice to meet you Kotero-san, I'm Hatake Kakashi," he told Kotero.

Hiruzen made his way to Kakshi and pulled down Kakashi's ear. "Don't use your full powers. We just want to see his skills. Nobody needs to die," he said.

Kakashi nodded slowly and then felt his ear once the Hokage had let go of it. He rubbed it softly, there was a hint of pain with the pinch.

"Alright you two," Hiruzen suddenly spoke up, both men straightening up their backs and turned to face him. "This will be a match between you two, like last time Kotero no major cuts, cutting limbs or destroying bodies, same applies to you Kakashi. This is just a test. Kotero for this match, you're banned from using your swords, I want to see your other skills. Alright now, get in positions, I'll act as proctor" he declared.

Kakashi and Kotero walked into the clearing leaving a large distance between them, and then both stared each other down. The Hokage looked at them before announcing "Uzumaki Kotero versus Hatake Kakashi. Begin!" he shouted before jumping back.

A leaf was slowly falling to bushy glass, as soon it hit, both ninja speeded away towards each other. Closing the distance, Kotero and Kakashi started their fight with taijutsu. They were going at it for a good minute, Kotero following Kakashi's speed for his Whirl-fist.

In the minute of battle, Kotero was trying his best to analyse Kakashi's style so he could do a combo attack, however he had very little success. All he could tell was that it was a fusion of two fighting styles melded into one. His defence was good and his attacks were fast and strong but they were predictable.

Kakashi was in the same boat, he has never fought some using Kotero's fighting style so all he could do was go with the flow. He noticed that Kotero used a lot of elbows and knee strikes, while using punches to either feint to get in close or use kicks to give him distance.

This went on for a while. Until, Kotero slowed down after he dodged Kakashi's high kick, shifting to the right. Kakashi was thrown off by the unorthodox movement. This is all Kotero needed. His speed exploded, targeting Kakashi's right side, he grappled his right arm in a two-arm bind. Pulled him closer to the ground while raising a chakra enhanced right knee-strike to Kakashi's ribcage. Splinters and pieces of bark went flying everywhere as a log was in Kakashi's place was completely obliterated.

After using the substitution and now hiding in a thick bush, Kakashi's lone eye was popping out. 'What strength and speed, I better not underestimate him anymore! Ok, let's go for a genjutsu now,' Kakashi thought.

Kakashi lifted his forehead protecter and revealed a red eye with three black tomoe marks, his sharingan. Getting in position he performed Demonic illusion: Tree binding death. Suddenly, Kotero was trapped by a tree as bark gripped his wrists and ankles. Kakashi appeared through the tree above the redhead with a kunai in his hand. Kotero's reaction time allowed him to instantly cut his chakra flow, and then it erupted, breaking the illusion but he wasn't out of danger yet, Kakashi was on him like a hawk.

A kunai in his right-hand ready to strike Kotero in the back. Kotero swirled on his right foot, now facing the masked nin. As Kakashi swung his kunai at Kotero, it was parried by a short blade, appearing out of nowhere underneath Kotero's right wrist. It turns out that at the last moment, Kotero sent chakra to his right wrist brace, activating a hidden blade. Both ninja jumped back to give each other some distance.

They looked at each other for only a second before Kakashi flashed throught the hand seals needed for a large-scale water jutsu. 'Water style: Water dragon bullet,' Kakashi thought, ending with the bird hand seal. A huge water dragon formed from the lake behind Kakashi and threw itself at Kotero. It's glowing eerie eyes looking deadly in front of its prey. However, there was plenty of time for Kotero to use his own substitution, a shadow clone that was formed after he broke from Kakashi's genjutsu. It switched places with the original. A loud crash was heard when the dragon smacked the ground.

Before the dust cloud cleared, Kakashi moved into the site, thinking he got his opponent, however he was ambushed by three Koteros, coming to attack him. The two shadow clones coming from the sides and the original coming straight at him. The next moment, Kakashi whipped out two shuriken, flowed his lightening chakra through the metal stars and flung them at the two approaching redheads advancing from the sides. The shuriken travelled at deadly speeds and the two clones puffed out of existence after they were penetrated. The original Kotero and Kakashi now resumed their taijutsu bout.

Both now fighting fiercely, trying to gain the upper hand. Kotero noticed that Kakashi was predicting his attacks now as they were coming and countering them beautifully and mercifully. Any move he would do, Kakashi could simply dodge or counter with a quick punch combo. It was making Kotero infuriated to no end. 'What can I do now? Anything I throw at him, he just uses it against me. Slippery bastard. I don't want to deactivate my weight and gravity seals. It would take too long, he could knock me out then. Well it looks like we're going to go for brute strength from now on!' Kotero thought.

Kotero dodged narrowly form Kakashi's ruthless strikes and gathered a large amount of Chakra in his right fist and arm. The muscles were under intense tension and Kotero released it, as His fist then impacted the ground and he yelled "Fissure fist."

The whole ground shook as if it was under an earthquake. Both the Hokage and Kakashi lost their footing and were truly surprised from the raw strength displayed by the young Uzumaki. Some trees were uprooted because the ground was splitting apart, huge spider web cracks were appearing left and right.

'This reminds me of Tsunade and her fits of anger. If his mother was the one who taught him this… power, I would fear her too,' Hiruzen thought as he was balancing himself from the shifting ground, still shocked from the damage.

The clearing in the training ground was now in complete pieces, fissure marks and spider web cracks everywhere, a couple of trees have fallen. The nearby lake was swashing about as the shockwave calming down. Kakashi used a chakra enhanced jump to get in the air as if he stayed on the ground, he would be disorientated and his defence would be wide open.

Now searching for his foe, he prepared for his next attack. However, Kotero made no appearance, 'Come on, where the hell are you?' Kakashi thoguht. Kakashi landed on the ground but was completely immobilized by an invisible force. Turning his eyes, he saw four seal tags around him, forming a square. A large frown appearing on his face, he willed his body to try to escape, but none of his muscles weren't budging an inch. Kotero appeared out of nowhere from Kakashi's side, he had his hidden blade activated against Kakashi's throat.

"This match is over. Winner is Kotero," the Hokage shouted from the tree. Now walking toward the two men he had quite a smile on his face. In the meantime, Kotero deactivated the seals he used on Kakashi and caught him while he went to the ground. His tensed muscle reacting to the sudden change caused him to fall. Kotero proceeded to give Kakashi first-aid, thankfully neither party damaged the other much. Kakashi looked up at the redhead in slight awe. He hasn't been in a fun fight that intense in a long time.

The Hokage stopped in front of them and smoked a bit of pipe before speaking. "Well done you two, honestly I didn't expect such a great fight. However, Kotero I must know, how did you get Kakashi in your last move?" he asked with curiosity dripping from his voice.

Kotero stood up suddenly and started doing a few stretches, smiling to the Hokage. "I had four shadow clones made with seal tags ready to use on Kakashi as soon as he landed. The seal tags being the 'Immobilising seals of the Mountains'. The original, gorgeous man you're looking at, transformed into a rock and one of the clones placed me beside Kakashi during the sealing process. When he was sealed I just used the opportunity to attack. I only got the chance cause of the huge dust cloud from my last attack obstructing Kakashi's vision," he said after he put his hands on his hips.

Both Kakashi and Hokage were greatly impressed with Kotero's ingenuity, it's clear he's a most skilled ninja.

Having used Kotero's arm as a support, Kakashi climbed himself up. He gave an eye-smile and shoulder pat to the Uzumaki. "That was a great fight Kotero, we definitely need to spar more often. You got me good with that trap. Though that wasn't my best effort," he looked down in shame, "I've gotten too lazy with my training after I left ANBU. Now I need to work harder so you don't show me up!" Kakashi declared with determination filling his lone eye.

"Yeah, we will. That was the most fun I had in a long time. I wonder what we could get up to if we go all out?" Kotero finished with a huge smile.

The two others paled slightly when they heard, the Hokage was the first to speak up. "You mean you weren't fighting a hundred percent in this fight!? Surely you jest, I find it hard to believe you have more in you than you showed in the fight," Hiruzen said with surprise in his voice.

Kotero looked appalled that his new friend, the Hokage, didn't believe him. He looked at him and Kakashi. "Well I know for certain Kakashi didn't fight to his fullest either. He is cleary stronger than what he showed here. He admitted he is rusty here and there, but still I can sense he has a lot more skill then what I saw in the fight. Why should I go to my best potential? We could destroy half of Konoha if we weren't careful," Kotero said with crossed arms.

Kakashi was speechless from the words. 'If I had used all of my strength at the start, I wonder what would have happened. Would I win or would Kotero? I need to find out sometime soon. I have never met someone who didn't belong to a hidden village be so strong. What did he go through to get this strong?' he thought.

They all chuckled and started to leave the training grounds. They all had smiles on their faces and the Hokage was sucking his pipe dry. "Kotero, I have to say I'm most impressed with the show of skills you displayed today. You must have worked long and hard for them."

"Thank you Hokage-sama. It's true what you say, I did work long and hard. After my Tou-chan died, I wanted to get as strong as possible so I could protect my Mother from any danger."

"That is a good reason to get strong, ninja today get strong to fulfil their egos, or for greedy and selfish pleasures or even because they find destruction enjoyable. I'm glad you have a different resolve."

The three men arrived at the Hokage tower. Kakashi was keeping quiet, waiting to be dismissed. The aged leader looked at his tired Jōnin. "Kakashi, I'll need you to go to the council meeting today to tell the council about Kotero's skills. The meeting will be at four o'clock, alright?"

"I'll be there Hokage-sama. I will be taking my leave then," Kakashi did a quick bow to his leader and went off his way. "See you later Kotero," he then vanished from the spot via a body-flicker.

The Hokage lead Kotero to his office. When they entered he took his seat behind his desk and Kotero took the chair just opposite. The Hokage looked at the mountain range of paperwork on his desk grimacingly. He took a deep breath and looked at his newest ninja with proud eyes.

"Well Kotero, it gives me great pleasure to bestow the rank of Chūnin to you," the Hokage, Hiruzen, said as he took out a document with Kotero's credentials on it, and a dark grey Chūnin vest. He pulled out his drawer and took a forehead protecter with blue cloth and put it on top of the vest beside the scroll. He then got up and presented the items to Kotero.

Kotero graciously accepted the vest and headband and immediately put them on. He then put the scroll into his side pouch.

He looked at himself in the mirror that was in the office, smirking. 'Damn I look good!' he thought. He spun his head to his new leader. "How do I look Jiji?" he asked while his arms were spread out, displaying himself off as if he was a piece of art.

Hiruzen chuckled at the actions and sat back down on his comfy leather chair. "You look good, like a Konoha ninja," he answered with a smile.

"Ok enough of this, where is my Aunt Jiji, I want to see her!" Kotero said as he sat down, tapping his toes against the floor.

Hiruzen's face became very gloomy, this was the moment he has been dreading since Kotero has come to Konoha. He took a deep sigh, trying to construct the words he needs to say carefully. He doesn't want his new friend to blow a fuse and destroy the tower with his fists.

"Kotero, I need you to stay quiet for the for a few, ok?" Receiving a confused look from the redhead, in the next second he gets a slow nod, telling him to continue. "Your Aunt, Uzumaki Kushina died ten years ago during the Kyūbi attack. She died in the process of the protection of the Village," the Hokage said sadly.

Kotero tensed, that wasn't what he wanted to hear. "So, the Kyūbi attack really did happen, there was so little information outside of Konoha on what happened during the events. So, what happened to my Aunt's seal?" Kotero asked.

Hiruzen was now the one to tense up, "What do you mean Kotero?" he said.

Kotero took out an aged scroll with the leaf symbol and Uzumaki clan symbol on it and laid it down on the Hokage's desk. "Don't play stupid Jiji. This is a letter. It was in my grandfather's possession. It was the agreement to send my Aunt here to become the next Jinchūriki since second great-Aunt Mito was near the end of her age and because Aunt Kushina's special chakra. So, I'll ask again, what happened to my Aunt's seal?" Kotero said with steel in his voice.

The Hokage was taken back of how quickly Kotero's attitude changed, not that he could blame him. He knew now wasn't the time for arguments. "Your Aunt was pregnant. As you must now, the seal weakens when a female Jinchūriki goes into labour. The seal broke, the Kyūbi was released and went on a rampage in the village, killing hundreds and destroying buildings. Thankfully Yondiame-sama sealed the fowl best in a new born babe and-" Hiruzen said before he saw a raised hand.

He was cut off by Kotero, "So… My little cousin became the next Jinchūriki huh!" he said with no emotion in his voice.

"Yes, your little cousin is the Jinchūriki of the Kyūbi no Kitsune," Hiruzen said glumly. "Is that a problem?"

Kotero was sitting in his chair, processing information a mile a second. His expression going from happy, to sad, quickly to frustrated and then calm. "How is he treated in the village. Don't sugar coat anything!" he tried to say in his most calming voice. He ignored the Hokage's question and asked another one instead.

Hiruzen struggled to get his words out as he hated to talk about Naruto's troubles so much. However, Kotero needed to know, he was his family. "When he was younger he had nobody to care of him. He stayed on the streets for only just a few months until I found him near a ramen stand, all alone. It was clear that he was malnourished and he was only wearing old clothes. How could you blame the child when he had no real knowledge on how to take care of himself? It was my fault as much as anyone else's for not taking care of him properly.

Naruto was subjected to some abuse, only minor things such as food or some small items being thrown at him. He was saved by my ANBU but that didn't stop the people for targeting him in various ways. It was clear that the whole village ignored and feared him. It was neglect that made Naruto suffer more than anything else.

When he was seven years old, I got him his own apartment and had a full guard detail on him. Hopefully when he became a Genin, he wouldn't need them. Though, the shops still detest him, they overcharge him or kick him out completely. The only people who serve him and treat him well are the people who own the ramen stand incidentally. Most people in the village believe he is the monster fox reincarnate," Hiruzen struggled to say.

WHOOSH!

Kotero was struggling to keep calm throughout. The ignorant villagers treating his kid cousin if he was some type of cancer has made him angrier than he ever was. This finger nails were digging so hard into his palm that blood was leaking out. He was gritting his teeth so roughly he wouldn't be surprised if they cracked because of the pressure. His eyebrows were furrowed so much and the snarl his face wore made him into a man with the scariest face the Hokage has ever seen in quite some time. It was the last sentence that truly pissed Kotero off. His dam, that was keeping his emotions in check completely broke away and his chakra exploded from him. Papers were flying around and moving away from Kotero. The Hokage had to commend his newest ninja, the intense pressure from his chakra was impressing.

Cooling down, he breathed in and out slowly. Kotero composed himself. "So, nobody loves him?" Kotero said, more of a statement then a question.

"Well I do, I treat him if he's my own grandson. However, with my job I barely get time to spend time with my own grandson," the Hokage said depressingly.

There was silence for all but a minute. "I want Naruto and I to live together. I need him but honestly, he definitely needs me more. And don't worry about money, I have tons," Kotero exclaimed, crossing his arms across his chest and sternly gazing at the Hokage. He was not going to take no for an answer.

Hiruzen tapped his fingers on his wooden desk and just sighed. "Very well, have a look at the listings here for houses and apartments". He took a sheet of paper filled with vacant vacancies and gave it to Kotero.

Kotero quickly scanned through it. He saw one property that peeked his interests greatly. A double story house, with three bedrooms, a large study, joint kitchen and living space, basement and large clearing out in back for training. The price was hefty though, one hundred and thirty-five million ryó.

'Thank God,' Kotero thought knowing he saved up from doing jobs all through the years. He was going to be broke after this.

"I'll take this one. It has everything we will need," Kotero said as he circled the property with an ink brush and gave it back to the Hokage.

"Kotero, promise me that you will not reveal to Naruto that he is the Jinchūriki. It's an S-class secret in the village. I don't anymore stress to be put on his life now."

"Fine, I understand. So, when can I meet the squirt?" Kotero said with excitement. He can't wait to meet his little cousin.

The Hokage couldn't help but let his lips be tugged up when he heard Kotero. "Well it's already afternoon. I can set you two to meet up tomorrow morning. I'll send a letter to his homeroom teacher Iruka to tell him Naruto has business with you. Now I have to do paperwork until the council meeting at six."

"Didn't you say to Kakashi it was at four Jiji?" Kotero asked with confusion on his face.

"I did Kotero-kun but he's always late by two hours, so with crossed fingers, he'll be there!" the Hokage said with a small smile.

Both men laughed out loud. Kotero got up, and stretched and popped his bones. "Thank you Jiji, I'll make ya proud," he said. Kotero then left for the door and went back to his Hotel. The Hokage smoked a bit of his pipe and went off to do paperwork at break neck speeds.

---

Council Chambers

It was six o'clock in the evening, the sun was setting and the dusk was looming over the village of Konoha. The clan heads of Konoha were entering the council chambers inside the Hokage tower. When the Hokage entered the room, he scanned it from left to right. He saw Aburame Shibi, Akiminchi Chōza, Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, Hyuuga Hiashi, Inuzuka Tsume and then past his chair he sees his old team-mates Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, finally he sees his old bandaged up rival Shimura Danzō. In the back, he sees the ANBU commander minding his own business. He takes his place in the centre of the room and two ANBU guards closed the doors.

"Now that everybody is here let us get this council meeting started," The Hokage announced, taking off his hat and putting it in front of him.

"And what is this meeting about Hiruzen?" Koharu asked the obvious question that was on everybody's mind.

"Well, I was getting to that! If you would just have a bit of patience I would have gotten to it already!" the Hokage gruffly said, hating when this happens, as it always happened in these meetings. "The reason on why we are gathered here today is to talk about the addition of a new ninja into our Village."

Murmurs were heard throughout the room, the only ones silent were Inoichi and the Hokage. A "troublesome," was heard from the Nara clan head.

"Well Hiruzen are you going to tell us who it is?" Homura asked.

"His name is Uzumaki Kotero," the Hokage said. While looking around him, he couldn't help but notice there was an eerie silence in the room.

"Troublesome clan, they refuse to die, even after all they've been through," Shikaku said while scratching his chin with his knuckles.

"Is he a spy?" Homura inquired.

A frown appeared on the Hokage's face. "Well it would be stupid if I let him in if he was a spy. No, he's far from it. Inoichi and Ibiki did their jobs and they determined he's as clean as a whistle. Also, if he was a spy, he would be doing a terrible job, he's only been in my office, his hotel room, training grounds seven where he was with me and according to the ANBU watching him the local sushi bar getting a takeaway. This is the report that Inoichi wrote up on Kotero's interrogation," the Hokage said.

He then got up and passed the report to the elder council, who skimmed through before Koharu gave the report to Shibi, who read through the report as well. Giving it to the next clan head, this process repeated until the report got back to the Hokage.

Chōza was the first to speak, "From the report it seems young Kotero had some rough encounters with Iwa and Kumo nin. At least we know he's not affiliated with them," he said.

"And we are allies to Suna so they don't need an outsider to spy on us. Kiri is out of the question as they are still going through a civil war. So far this man has nothing against him," Hiashi added his piece after reading the report.

"Well as long he doesn't fuck Konoha over, I see no problem with him in the village," Tsume barked out.

"Tsume-san Language! This is a meeting not a social call!" the Hokage quipped.

"Well as troublesome as it is, how skilled is Kotero-san, he must be impressive if he's already a ninja here," Shikaku said with a bored expression.

"Well, earlier today, I had two Jōnin test him out. Gekko Hayate tested Kotero in his kenjutsu and I had Hatake Kakashi battle with him afterwards. It was honestly, quite the spectacle," the Hokage admitted.

To everyone's surprise, it was the usually stoic Hiashi who spoke up, "How so Hokage-sama? I would assume everyone in this room will definitely want to know how well he performed!" he said.

"Fine I'll tell you what happened today, and Kakashi will tell all of you about his fight when I send him in," the aged Hokage said with his hands laced together.

Everyone shifted in their seats to get in a more comfortable position, waiting patiently for the Hokage to begin the story. Hiruzen cleared his throat to gather the attention to him. "Myself and Kotero went to training ground seven to evaluate his skills. He himself and from Inoichi's report stated that he was skilled with a sword so I had Hayate come down so they could fight. Kotero told me before, that his sword style was an evolved Uzumaki style with two swords but he only drew out one at the start of the match.

They both battled hard and Hayate used one of his sword techniques, making his sword shine like a beacon of light. He blinded Kotero but it didn't do anything for Hayate's advantage. Kotero told me he used his sensory ability to see where he was coming from and enhanced his hearing so he can hear his footsteps. He then dodged Hayate's strike, beautify countered it, kicked him in the torso and got some distance between them still blinded. Then Hayate used his famous technique with his shadow clones.

By at that time, Kotero drew out his other sword, and waited for Hayate to strike him. Then in a flurry of flashes, he appeared behind him with his blade at Hayate's throat. Cuts appeared all over his body and his uniform was turned to rags. He had to be brought to hospital to get bandaged up. I honestly didn't expect him to beat our Kenjutsu expert so… quickly after he took out his other sword. It was a good fight to watch from the side-lines," the Hokage told the council.

The council were silent throughout the story, soaking in every detail. After the story was finished, all the clan heads were now very interested and were keen on finding out more about the unknown Uzumaki.

"Neko! Send in Kakashi in now," The Hokage said to his ANBU guards. The doors opened and the silver-haired Jōnin came into the room. Kakashi walked towards the others but stopped in the centre. He looked tired and his face's expression showed that he was quite bored.

"Kakashi, thank you for coming, please give a quick report on your fight. It's late and I still need to do some office work," the Hokage said with a hint of urgency to his voice.

"Evening esteemed council," Kakashi bowed after. "Today, Hokage-sama requested for me to test out the skills of our newest ninja Uzumaki Kotero. We started out the fight in taijutsu. I had difficulty with his fighting style which I can only assume is his clan style. This went on for a while until he pulled a move to throw me off, he then grappled me and proceeded to knee-strike.

Thankfully I used a substitution and a log was in my place, because the log was completely shredded from his attack. I then used my sharingan to put him under a B-rank genjutsu but his reaction time and genjutsu counter was fantastic as he got out of it quickly. I was going to attack him from behind but he knew of the attack. He parried my attack and we both put distance between ourselves.

Because I was by the lake I used a heavy-duty water jutsu. The water came at him at great speed but he substituted himself with a shadow clone that he created when he broke out of the genjutsu. It was an intelligent move because I went into the site of attack to investigate but was ambushed by two Shadow clone Koteros and the real one. I destroyed the shadow clones, then Kotero and I returned our Taijutsu bout. With my sharingan in play, it was easier to fight him but his style was still very fluid and hard to predict. I was getting hits in and I could tell he was starting to get annoyed by it. He then progressed to using a super chakra enhanced punch to the ground disturb the pace of the battle.

The damage was immense and I had to jump away. I was trying to find Kotero in the air but there were dust clouds everywhere obscuring my view. When I landed, I was frozen solid, couldn't move a muscle. Kotero used four shadow clones to put down four of his immobilizing seal tags around the instant I had hit the ground. And a fifth Kotero puffed out of a henged rock to put a blade to my throat. I shouldn't have underestimated him, he won fair and square. We both admitted I was rusty and because neither of us could go a hundred percent the match could have gone differently. That is all I have to report Hokage-sama," Kakashi with a deep sigh, his mouth was dry from all the talking.

The Clan heads and council were again thinking in silence. This man just defeated two of their Jōnin in two separate fights. They would have to be a fool not to take him in into the village.

Shibi broke the silence, something that rarely happens. "It would be very illogical to not let in Uzumaki-san. Hatake-san, how would you describe him and how would you rate his skills," he asked.

Kakashi pondered for a moment before answering in a cheerful voice, "Honestly so far, Kotero is a cool guy, care-free and funny when being normal but deadly serious in a fight. If I had to rate him… he would easily be Jōnin in skill. His taijutsu is fantastic for someone not specialising in it. We know of his exploits in Kenjutsu. He is most likely a seal-master to use such advanced sealing tags and the other aspects of being a ninja is there. The only thing I say he lacks is a ninjutsu arsenal as he didn't use any jutsu apart from shadow clones and transformation techniques, it's clear he's never had experience with working in a team as he never had the chance because he was never part of a hidden village," he told the council.

The members of the council were agreeing with the copy-nin's assessment. Hiruzen then spoke up. "I already gave the rank of Chūnin to Kotero. When he gains more experience, we'll see if he earns the rank of Jōnin. I said it would most likely be a year but from what I saw and heard from you Kakashi, it could be even six months instead. As protocol, we need to have Kotero under probation before he can participate in any ranking mission. So, I am declaring a one-month probation watch over Kotero with one squad of ANBU following him. Do we agree?" he asked.

"Of course, Hokage-sama," all but one said one said.

"Something the matter Danzō?" The Hokage asked the bandaged man.

"No, it matters little how long he stays in the village. As far as I can see he is a useful tool for the village and he is too much of a benefit to let go," Danzō replied sternly.

The Hokage just sighed when he heard this, he has always hated Danzō's views and philosophies with the ninja body and how the village should be run. However, there was the praise for his new redheaded ninja so it would be the best he got out of the man.

"He has already done the papers for a new property in the village but he's staying in the hotel for tonight. That's it for this meeting. You all can be dismissed!"

---

The Next Day

"Jiji, when will he be here, I want to see him!" Kotero ranted as he paced up and down the Hokage's office.

"Kotero, don't worry he should be at any moment, Iruka got the message and sent Naruto on his way here," Hiruzen said for the second time in five minutes.

Kotero was getting restless and went over to the Hokage's desk, resting his hip on it, slouching with his arms crossed over his chest. He glanced into the mirror to check himself out. He was wearing his usual outfit. He sewn a new black cloth on his forehead protecter, the man was quite picky with his clothes and he didn't like the fact that the cloths didn't match, so he had to make amends.

"Anyway, remember what I said about what happened with you and Gero Onsen. I don't want to hear something like that from you any time near the future," Hiruzen warned.

Kotero sighed and rubbed his temples. "I was hoping you wouldn't hear or know about that. I'll do my best Jiji," he said.

All of a sudden, the door of the office slammed open and a short blond kid walks into the room like he owned the place. He was wearing blue sandals and shorts. He also wore a white t-shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol under an orange hoodie with short blue sleeves on them. On top of his head were a pair of black-tinted googles.

Closing the door behind him. "YO JIJI! Why am I in your office I haven't done a prank all week like ya asked dattebayo! Unless you want to give your hat away, I want to know why I'm here!" he blurted out.

Hiruzen began to laugh, the audacity of the kid was something that always made the old man smile. "Naruto, there is someone here I would like you meet," he said, pointing at Kotero.

Naruto saw the much taller man and waltz upped to him. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Future Hokage of Konoha. Who are you?" he asked.

Kotero was studying intently at Naruto's appearance. He had to say it was quite… unique. He then noticed, six whisker marks, three on each cheek. 'Must be an effect from the Kyūbi,' Kotero thought.

He then put his hip off the desk and crouched down to Naruto. Meeting Naruto's eyes with his own. "Nice to meet you Naruto," he put his fist in front of him, ready for a fist bump, "My name is Uzumaki Kotero," Kotero said with a smile.

Naruto was visibly shocked when he heard his own family name. "Uzumaki? Why do you have my name?" he asked.

"Why do you think? We're cousins, you know what that means, we're family!" Kotero told him.

Naruto's thought process was running a mile a second. He declared to himself long ago that he had no real family, no family whatsoever. It made it easier to deal with his suffering that he experienced through his short life. Now his world is flipped upside down, out of nowhere, a real person was claiming to be his family. It was too much for him to bear and he broke down in an uncontrollable state of crying.

Kotero immediately hugged Naruto fiercely, picking him up from the floor, he started to rub his back to try to calm him down. Kotero couldn't blame his little cousin, he has been suffering for a decade, it was too intense for the blond. After five minutes and a soaked shoulder, Naruto calmed himself down so it was just a few sniffles.

He looked up at Kotero with watery oceanic blue eyes. "Where have you been? I've been alone for so long, I suffered so much pain and hatred. Being called a demon or monster for no reason. It hurts so much! WHERE WERE YOU!?" he shouted at end.

Kotero was getting watery eyed now. The state that his little cousin in was causing his heart so much pain, it felt similar to getting stabbed by a million hot senbon needles in the heart. He looked into Naruto's eyes, his own eyes trying to conjure up as much love and affection as possible. "Naruto, I only just found out about you. Don't worry though, because you are never going to be alone again. Today we're going to be brothers, who always look after each other. Do you think you can do that? Good. From now on, the pain that you suffer, we suffer together. We're going to eat together, hang out with each other, train and do lots of crazy shit! I'm going to be there for you."

Kotero took a breath and then poked Naruto's heart. "All I want is for you to be there for me too," he softly spoke with pure emotion lacing his words.

Both Uzumaki boys hugged each other with such passion and love that their respective backs were cracked.

Hiruzen was in the back of the room, he knew he had no part in this family reunion. All he could do was smile and dry one up some of the escaped tears that came from his eyes. 'I think everything will be alright from now on,' he thought with happiness.

---

~ 0 ~