A/N:Alright, so this is chapter 1...duh. Anyway i own nothing in the Naruto series, however i do like to play around with the characters. Let me know what you guys think of this...if i should continue this. Thanks. Also let me know who i should pair Naruto up with. Whether it be male/male or male/female, oh and sorry about the many grammar errors and choppy sentences. I am writing this at 6:14 AM with only two hours of sleep within the last two days. I will come back at a later date and fix things, only if the story is liked so far.
Summary: Let us say Naruto is adopted by the Nara's, how would his life have turned out? What all would change?
Chapter 1
A large group of clan heads, the Hokage and his past teammates and another older man all sat solemnly in the Hokage's large office. The battle with Kyuubi, that cost them the life of many civilians and shinobi alike...as well as their beloved fourth Hokage, had ended just hours before and people had begun to look through the derbies to find the deceased.
"Hokage-Sama...what is it you called us all here for?" An elderly man wrapped in bandages asks as he eyes his old rival, displeasure written across his features.
"Two things actually. The first I wish to bring to your attention is that I will be taking back the title of Hokage since Minato's passing happened so suddenly." Hiruzen stated, the group, minus Danzo the two elders and the Uchiha's, voiced their approval.
"Second is the fate of Naruto...born between Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki." The group fell silent, of course they had known the two were together...were planning a child. How could they not? The two displayed their love openly all over town. Usually they wouldn't have hesitated to take in the son of their great ruler...it's just in this case the child held within him the very thing that tried to eradicate the town.
"That child is a monster!" Mikoto yelled out as she stood, tears gathering in her dark eyes. How could that child come from and kill her closest friend? How could her Hokage expect to keep this disgrace alive?
"Incorrect, he houses a monster. The two are entirely separate. Naruto is...the jailer to the Kyuubi, he is what will keep us safe." Shikaku Nara spoke up, his wife, Yoshino Nara, smiled at him as they all ignored Mikoto who sat back and sobbed silently, Fugaku looked at his wife with slight annoyance written across his aging features.
"I would like to hear opinions on what should be done with the boy." Hiruzen pressed as he clasps his hands together in front of his face, eyeing the group. He may have asked their opinions, however if any displeased him he would brush them aside and defend the child.
"Kill it! Who knows when the beast will get out!" Mikoto exclaimed once more, Fugaku sighed and pulled her back into her seat and sent her a scolding look that shut her up immediately.
"That is enough Mikoto. I say we let him live, send him to an orphanage and strip away any rights he might have as a shinobi." Fugaku stated, his dark eyes looking closely at everybody in the room, a few people nodded in approval.
Shikaku and Yoshino whispered quietly amongst themselves then looked to their Hokage, "The Nara clan is willing to adopt the child. We will protect him, teach him and be a family to him." Shikaku stated with a firm voice, Hiruzen smiled then frowned when his old teammate Koharu voiced her opinion.
"Why would you want that, Shikaku Nara? Your clan will be looked down on for housing that child...are you willing to put your only son, Shikamaru, into a life of scorn because you adopted a beast?" Koharu quizzed, Shikaku sighed in irritation and Yoshino rubbed his back soothingly. Hiruzen glared at his former teammate and let his displeasure to her words shown on his face, she shrugged it off in favor of staring at the Nara's.
"We are willing to take the boy in. As it is, if the civilians are to find out Naruto is the jailer to the Kyuubi they will either kill or outcast him. On top of that, if a child grows up being treated as a monster... He could retaliate. The Nara clan is already mostly looked down on, what difference will this make? As for my recently born son, Shikamaru will be fine. He is a Nara after all, we do not let the scorn of others bother us." Shikaku stated as he grabbed onto his wife's hand, he spotted a few clan heads nodding in agreement.
"Any other ideas? No? Then as of today Naruto is now a Nara. Shikaku, Yoshino please follow me to my office to discuss things. Meeting Dismissed." Hiruzen called as he stood and left the room, the two Nara's following him.
As the trio stepped into the Hokage's office they spotted an ANBU holding the quiet child, probably preparing to lay his fate in the hands of the Nara's.
"Sign these papers, what they are saying is that you will be taking full responsibility of Naruto...adopting him into your clan." Hiruzen stated, for the next hour the Nara's signed papers to adopt the quiet child in the ANBU's arms.
"Also...I would like to hide the fact that Naruto is a Jinchuuriki and who his biological parent are." Hiruzen stated, Shikaku muttered under his breath and shook his head side to side obviously not agreeing with the idea.
"Hokage-Sama, is that such a good idea? I can understand hiding who is FATHER is, seeing as he would be in danger. However I do not see why we must hide the fact his mother was Kushina Uzumaki. Also, I don't see why we would hide the face he is a Jinchuuriki. The civilians and other ninja will probably treat him as though he is a monster...my wife and I can only do so much to help but...I think it would be beneficial for him to know why people treat him the way they do. If we can tell him at a young age what he houses then we can teach him to come to terms with this dilemma." Shikaku explained as his eyes trailed to the now fussy child, Shikaku could see the look of longing in his wife's eyes...hell he wanted to hold the child himself seeing as the ANBU was doing nothing to sooth the baby.
"You raise a valid point... Fine, you two may explain to him what he houses once he reaches an age where he can understand what it means. You may also tell him of his mother, but not of his father." Hiruzen exceeded and motioned for the ANBU to give the wailing child to Yoshino, Hiruzen frowned in displeasure when the ANBU practically tossed the child to Yoshino who instantly began to rock the baby in her arms and started cooing at him until he quieted.
"This child will bring a heavy burden unto you...you must be ready to stand strong and protect him or I fear he may turn on the village." Hiruzen sighed and glanced at the now slumbering child being held by a smiling Yoshino and having his chubby cheeks poked by Shikaku.
"We will do everything in our power to give this child a happy life, Hokage-sama. We will raise him like we will Shikamaru...they will be brothers in every sense but blood." Yoshino stated as she placed a kiss to the child's forehead then cuddled him to her chest, Hiruzen spotted the happy smiles on the Nara's faces and he felt a smile form on his own as he glanced at the slumbering child.
"I know you will." Hiruzen sighed, he then watched the two leave with the child and he glanced at the picture of Minato and Kushina embracing on his desk, a sad smile gracing his features.
"Your son will be protected...i have no doubt he will be brought up as an excellent child." a wrinkled and boney finger traced the two grinning faces in the picture then placed it in an open jour on his desk.
(5 years later)
A young blonde boy with shoulder length softly spiked hair can be seen sitting underneath a tree, his big blue eyes looking up into the sky. Beside him sat a boy with his dark hair pulled into a ponytail and a lazy expression on his young face as he looked at the clouds.
"Nii-san, why do you think almost everybody in this village seems to hate me?" Naruto asked as he raised a hand to run it through his silky blonde locks, Shikamaru looked at his younger brother then raised a hand and flicked him on the nose.
"Who cares, Naruto? You are you, and your my family. It's as father says, 'It's to troublesome to care about the opinion of others.'". the two brothers quoted their father together on the last part of Shikamaru's speech and the blond laughed quietly as his elder brother smirked.
"Yeah, your right. It is just a bit...unnerving. Anyway, are you ready for classes tomorrow?" Naruto asked as he turned his attention to a fluffy cloud, he thought he could see the profile of a kitten in it and he giggled. Shikamaru sighed and closed his eyes, having grown tired from even the thought of being cramped in a room with a bunch of people and paperwork.
"No, not really. At least you and Choji will be there." Shikamaru yawned, Naruto looked down at his older brother and shook his head.
"Nii-san...you're so lazy!" Naruto exclaimed, Shikamaru grumbled and blocked out his younger brothers taunts in favor of taking a nap. Naruto laughed and leaned his head back against the tree he was leaning on and closed his eyes for a light nap as well.
Two men, obviously Shinobi, passed by the two sleeping forms and a look of disgust crossed their features when they saw one was a sleeping Kyuubi container. The man with brown hair picked a rather large rock off the side of the road and infused it with his chakra before throwing it at the sleeping blonde, hitting him in the head and causing him to wake with a pained yell. Shikamaru awoke as well and after looking at his younger brothers bleeding forehead turned a glare to the two laughing shinobi who called Naruto a monster and continued on their way.
Shikamaru sat up and pushed his younger brothers blonde bangs back from his forehead to look at the rather large and deep gash leaking blood and once again glared after the two shinobi's back, disdain clear on his features till he heard a slight sniffle from Naruto. Shikamaru stood and helped Naruto up before they walked down the street to get to their home where they knew their mother would be.
"Mom…" SHikamaru called as they spotted their mother in the kitchen, Yoshino turned to her sons with a smile that instantly faded when she looked into Naruto's teray blue eyes and saw his blood soaked blonde bangs. The plant that was in Yoshino's hand was hastily placed on the counter before she ran to kneel down in front of Naruto who was biting his lip to suppress his sobs, Shikamaru still held on to his brothers hand as he looked into his mothers worried and sad face.
"Two SHinobi threw a rock at him and called him a monster." Shikamaru informed his mom as she pulled Naruto's bloody bangs back and swallowed as she looked at the gash in her youngest son's forehead. She nodded and held back some of her own tears as she lead Naruto into the bathroom, her oldest son obviously followed to keep an eye on his younger brother.
Yoshino placed Naruto on the closed toilet seat then pulled open the cabinet doors under the sink and pulled out some alcohol swabs and a large square band-aid. She turned to Naruto and began to clean his wound, Shikamaru watched this and felt his anger take a hold of him.
"Why do they do this to my Otouto? What gives them the right to abuse him?" Shikamaru's quiet voice seemed to echo in the tiled bathroom, Yoshino looked to her oldest to see his face red , teary eyes and his body and fists shaking with repressed anger. She also looked at Naruto who was hiding his now bandaged face with poorly suppressed sobs breaking through.
"I knew the day would come where i had to explain things to the two of you… when your father gets home...we will continue this talk. Do not leave the house for the rest of the day… i'll...be in the kitchen." the two watched their teary eyed mother walk out of the bathroom, then Shikamaru walked to his younger brother and the two walked to the living room and sat there, the elder hugging his younger sibling.
It was hours later that Shikaku walked through the front door to see his two sons asleep, he smiled but it faded when he spotted large chunks of dried blood in his youngest sons hair and tear tracks on both faces, he turned to Yoshino who was standing in the doorway with red puffy eyes as well.
"Naruto was attacked by Shinobi...they threw what i assume to be a chakra infused rock considering how deep the gash was. Shikaku...i think it's is time we tell them." Shikaku nodded with a solemn look on his face as he kneeled down and gently pat his two sons cheeks softly, smiling when their dazed eyes reached his.
"Your mother and i would like to talk to the two of you...have you already eaten dinner?" Shikaku smiled when the two nodded then he sat on the coffee table in front of them, Yoshino instantly sat on the couch with the boys and kept her eyes glued to her husband.
"6 years ago, the village was attacked by the 9 tailed fox demon...Kyuubi. He took out a large number of shinobi and civilians alike, including our fourth Hokage, but not before our Hokage could defeat the fox. Do you know how the Hokage defeated the demon?" Shikaku asked, the two told him the story they had heard briefly and shook his head no.
"No...that is the story told to the younger generation but...what really happened is cruel and something not most children can understand. The fourth Hokage...it was impossible to kill the Kyuubi...no weapons made by mankind could kill it. So the fourth decided on something else, to kill the Kyuubi he needed a newborn child. A child born on that day...October 10th." Shikaku looked at Naruto who's eyes widened in shock, Shikamaru seemed confused but seemed eager to learn more.
"This child, being a newborn, had no say in what was to happen. It could not fight back or even say no...it had to deal with what was to happen. The Hokage...he sealed the Kyuubi within the child, making it the jailer to the Kyuubi. Many people think of this child AS the Kyuubi but that is incorrect, the two are entirely separate." Shikaku stared at his two children, one pair of eyes, the brown ones, held shock and understanding...no judgement as he looked at his younger brother with a sad expression. The blue ones however, held shock understanding and horror, his tiny body shaking and his face pale.
"I'm...the… child?" Naruto stuttered out, at his fathers nod Naruto's eyes glazed over and he passed out causing the three to gasp and call out his name in shock. Shikamaru looked at his unconscious brother and wiped away the few tears leaking out and looked to his parents, "That is why the villagers and Shinobi hate him…" Shikamaru swallowed back his bile as he remembered every time a villager would harm his younger brother and he felt tears spring into his eyes.
"You do not dislike your brother now, do you Shikamaru?" Yoshino asked as she looked into her oldest sons eyes, she felt her heart quiver in her chest at the disgust she spotted in the lovely brown orbs but felt tears stream down her face in happiness when Shikamaru pulled his unconscious brother to him and glared at his mom.
"No! Naruto had no choice in this, and it's not like he is the Kyuubi. There is no way he could be!" Shikamaru exclaimed, his body shaking in anger, "What i am disgusted of is how the villagers treat him." Shikaku nodded his agreement with his eldest son as he reached forward to pick his youngest one up, he took him to the boy's shared room and lay him on one of the beds and covered him up. Shikamaru lay down with him as well and hugged his younger brother to him as if to protect him from any looming threat.
"Shikamaru...Naruto won't know how to deal with this news. We could see that just moment ago. He might even view himself as the monster...he might lash out at all of us. What we have to do is stay calm and remind him that he is NOT the monster and that we love him. very much." Yoshino stated as she sat on the bed and stroked back naruto's bangs, Shikamaru nodded his head in understanding as he looked to his younger brother.
"Ill protect him." Shikamaru stated, his brown eyes holding determination. Shikaku and Yoshino nodded with smiles on their faces, all three new that hard times loomed ahead but they knew as a family they could take anything thrown at them.