A/N: hello again people of the fanfiction world, for those of you who read my two previous stories, I am sorry I never finished them but I got completely stuck on how to continue them and in all honesty I didn't particularly like how they were going so far so I've decided to start over again with a new story that I hope you will enjoy, it's a Naruto x Fairytail story and I'm hoping it will go well, I will be using Japanese honorifics in this and hope that I get them right, please enjoy this story and please remember to review :)
The Titan of Three Kings
Summary
When Naruto Uzumaki is saved one night by a sword wielding stranger his whole life is turned upside down. New powers, new friends and new possibilities await young Naruto, but not necessarily in his own world. Read on as he goes from orphan to titan among men.
Chapter 1
Times must change
Within the dark recesses of the village known as Konohagakure, a small blond haired, blue eyed child with distinctive whisker like marks on his cheeks, was racing through the alley ways and empty lots of Konohas residential district. Behind him, a mob of angry civilian men, all drunk from a night of partying, were giving chase shouting things like "kill the demon brat" and "finish what the fourth started". All the while the boy could only run as fast as his little legs could carry him, tears dripping onto his ragged and dirty clothes. 'why?' he thought to himself 'what did I ever do to them?'
Turning a corner, the boy never saw the older man in front of him who was currently emptying a sack of house hold rubbish into one of the alleys large rubbish bins and so proceeded into running headlong into the man's left leg, falling to the ground in the process.
The man barely even felt the contact through his blue and white traditional robes and so turned towards the young child with a questioning gaze before lifting his head to glare at the drunk mob who had just rounded the corner and come to a sudden hault upon seeing the man before them. The leader of the group, a man in his early twenties with long brown hair that reached his shoulders and a broken sake bottle in his hands, stepped towards the pair and addressed the man before him.
"thanks for stopping the demon for us, I was beginning to think we'd never catch up"
The sickening look the man gave in the direction of the child, who was currently crawling backwards towards the alley wall trying to find any space possible to escape, disturbed the older man to no end as did the term he used for the child himself.
"may I ask what you intend to do with the child?" he asked, his voice giving of an aura of power only attained by the most hardened of warriors.
The leader of the group looked at him as if the answer was obvious before saying with a chuckle "why we intend to get rid of it, the mere fact that it is alive is an insult to all those it killed six years ago" he face hardened into a look of pure disgust as he finished his sentence.
The older man's stoic face didn't betray any emotion, although on the inside a river of rage flooded through his veins.
'how could they do this to a child?' he took a few steps forward placing himself between the men and the child taking on a defensive stance with his right hand resting on the hilt of a katana strapped to his left hip alongside its shorter partner blade, a wakizashi.
"have you no honor?" he said, his voice even and without emotion.
The group of men looked at him confused before the leader let out a full blown laugh that was soon echoed by the rest of the men behind him.
"I don't think you realize just who your protecting old man"
The older man slowly drew his sword out in front of him, its blade pointed skyward with both hands on its hilt, the left hands behind the right.
"I know exactly who this child is, I owed his father a life debt before he passed on, until now I thought he too had passed away"
"pah! We all know a demon has no parents, he's just a creation sent from hell to pillage and destroy the innocent lives of the people of this world!"
The leader and his group began taking steps towards the pair, each member brandishing some kind of makeshift weapon in their hands.
"now I'm only gonna say this once old man, give us the brat!"
His stance only stood more assured at the task he would have to complete.
"I'm afraid I can't do that; it would go against everything I stand for"
With nothing more to say, the group of men charged the old man, intent on ending his life as well as the child in his protection. The first man to attack was the leader of the group, he brought his broken bottle into the air above his head before bringing it down in a downward slash aimed at the older man's head. Side stepping the attack the man brought the hilt of his sword down onto the back of the thug's head knocking him to the ground unconscious. The older man flipped his sword into a reverse grip in his right hand before two more men got within striking distance but were also knocked away be a few quick jabs of the man's hilt, connecting to one man's gut and the other man's chin sending them both spiraling into the only two thugs left standing leaving them in a groaning heap.
While all this happened the young blonde boy sat in awe of the swordsman's grace and finesse while he dodged and maneuvered around each attack like a dancer on a stage. Not one attack hit him and not one man was left standing whenever he chose to strike.
'that old guys amazing!'
Once the fighting was done and the dust had cleared only the older man was left standing. Sheathing his blade, he bent down and proceeded to check the drunken men for a pulse before nodding his head in confirmation, they were alive… for now.
Turning his attention away from the group he made his way over to the young blond who sat shivering against the wall, eyes wide and filled with fear. A look of deep regret and understanding swept across the older man's features. He now realized just what kind of life the boy had lead. One filled with fear and abuse of such heartbreaking proportion that it left a boiling mass of hatred and pure rage aimed towards the men and even some women of the village, although fewer than men as most women could not bring themselves to harm a child no matter their beliefs.
The young boy, who could see the mass of rage hidden behind the man's deep green eyes, began to cower even further away, believing that such a hatred was aimed towards him and that he would be the next to receive a beating from the older man.
The man, seeing this, kneeled before the boy before gently placing a hand on his right shoulder, giving him a calm, disarming smile that settled the boy down, if only slightly.
"what is your name child?" he asked, although he already knew his name as he had been informed by the boy's father of it before he passed, he wanted to first earn his trust before revealing to him the friendship between himself and his father.
"I… I'm Naruto Uzumaki" the boy paused for a second, first taking in the older man's appearance. The man wore a blue Haori top and white Hakama bottoms. His hair was long and dark brown tide into a knot at the back of his head. Deep green eyes stared back at him curiously but with a warm sense of compassion and years of experience and painful memories. Two swords were strapped to his side, a long katana sheathed inside a black and gold trimmed sheath, its handle strapped in a black leather and the guard a deep blue metal. Its companion blade was a shorter wakizashi, designed in the same way as the katana. Finally, a long scar was present on the right hand side of his face, running from his forehead down to his jaw, though thin and aged it was still noticeable. With steadily growing confidence, Naruto asked his name.
"who are you?"
The older man smiled slightly, leaving Naruto with a sense of comfort before replying.
"my name is Arata Akiyama, I am a samurai from the land of iron, visiting the grave of an old friend whilst staying in one the Hokages guest houses"
'a samurai? What's a samurai? Old man Hokage never mentioned one before'
"umm Arata-san… what's a samurai?"
The now identified Arata chuckled slightly before standing and offering his hand to the young boy.
"why don't we go inside where its warm and maybe I can tell you all about us"
Although still unsure if he could trust the man, like any child his age he was beyond curious at the thought of learning something new.
"but what about them?" he said, waving his hand towards the groaning pile of men.
"oh I'm sure the Anbu who have been watching us can deal with it" and sure enough a squad of Anbu flashed into existence. A dog masked Anbu with gravity defying silver hair stepped forward and bowed slightly to Arata.
"thank-you for your assistance in dealing with the mob samurai-san, we were on our way to deal with the problem but were unfortunately delayed"
Arata's eyebrow quirked slightly but that was the only sign of his skepticism, he had numerous dealings with Anbu and new just how good they were at their job, so the idea of a full squad being delayed when a child's life was in danger raised a few questions.
"and prey tell what could be so important that a full squad of professional Anbu were delayed long enough that a mob of angry drunks almost murdered an innocent child?"
The Anbu immediately straightened and if not for his mask one would see that his only uncovered eye was literally glaring at the samurai and in a curt manner, answered.
"if you are suggesting that we purposely delayed ourselves in order for the men to get a chance at the child then you are surely mistaken, I have personally done my best over the years to protect him and while I am captain of my squad we will never turn our backs on him"
Although most of the Anbu squad flinched slightly at the killer intent that leaked into his words, the samurai never moved an inch, instead, he smiled slightly and nodded his head.
"I'm glad to hear it Anbu-san, it's good to know that there are people out there that can tell the difference between a scroll and a kunai"
The Anbu's posture relaxed again and he turned towards the blond child hiding behind Arata's legs.
"are you ok Naruto? They didn't hurt you did they?"
Naruto stepped from behind Arata's legs with a smile gracing his face that they had all come to love.
"yeah I'm fine Inu-san, Arata-san saved me and beat those guys up real good" the group of men smiled at his exuberance and proceeded to hog-tie the unconscious men before disappearing into the night.
Before the silver haired Anbu left he turned towards Arata and in a serious voice said,
"I believe you should go to the Hokage with Naruto, he will want to see that the boy is unharmed, if you like I can escort you?"
"I believe that would be a good idea, I have much to discuss with the Hokage concerning our blond friend here"
The Anbu nodded before placing both his hands on Naruto's and Arata's shoulders before they disappeared in a gust of wind and leafs.
Hokages office, same time.
Within the office of Konohas most powerful shinobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the man himself, sat behind his desk, his pipe lit and an angry scowl upon his face. He had sent his top Anbu team to check in on his surrogate grandson almost ten minutes ago and they had yet to arrive with a report. Just before he decided to check on him himself, three figures appeared in his room in a cloud of white smoke. One was the captain of the team he had sent and one was the very boy he had been worried about, however, it was the third figure that intrigued the Hokage the most. He knew the man only for a couple of days as he had arrived under the pretext of visiting a friends grave that resided within Konoha itself. So why was he here with Naruto? Hiruzen pushed aside his thoughts in favor of checking on the status of one of his most important people. With a smile the old man centered his gaze on the child.
"ah Naruto, how are you tonight?"
Once Naruto realized where he was and who he was in front of, he smiled brightly before bounding over to the Hokage and leapt into his arms causing the old man to grunt in surprise.
"Jii-san!"
The men in the room let out an amused chuckle whist the Hokage set Naruto down on his lap.
"how are you Naruto?"
The brightness in the boys eyes almost instantly vanished before it was replaced again with what was obviously, at least to the others in the room, a fake smile.
"I'm ok Jii-san, never better!"
The Hokage let out a sigh, no matter what happened to the boy he would always think of others first and slap on that annoyingly well used fake smile. No matter the harm that was done to him, no matter the pain he would always think of others first and it took all the old man had not to break apart whenever he saw it. when life would crash down on him, when people would shun and glare at him, when the world itself would turn against him… he would fight through it. subconsciously the old man's arms tightened around the young boy, almost out of fear of him disappearing forever. Why did such an amazing young boy have to deal with such a burden that he wasn't even aware of? That's when it hit him… he didn't have to deal with it… not alone anyway, after all what's the use in being the most powerful man in the village if he couldn't even protect one young child with the burden that no man could ever cope with? With that thought in mind the Hokage of the hidden leaf village turned a serious and powerful gaze upon the two men in front of him which caused the two to flinch slightly. Upon seeing the gaze of the old man only one thought went through the minds of the samurai and Anbu, 'the god of shinobi is back'.
"alright Inu-san, what's your report?" his tone was firm and powerful with a hint of another emotion that said 'and don't bullshit me either'.
"er…erm, Hokage-sama, on our way to check up on young Naruto, we were side tracked by a member of the civilian council who told us that there had been a sighting of an intruder by the western gate, we believed that it would be more important to check on the claim before making our way to Naruto"
"and was the claim confirmed?"
The Anbu seemed hesitant to tell him but the dangerous glint in the Hokage's eyes told him it wouldn't end well if he didn't.
"w-well, upon arrival at the gate we checked in with the current Chunin guards that were there and when asked about the claim, both men stated to have never made such a report and that they had no idea what we were talking about"
"do you believe they were telling the truth?"
"y-yes Hokage-sama"
The Hokage looked deep in thought for a moment before gesturing for the Anbu to continue.
"after we dealt with that we made our way to Naruto's apartment only to find he wasn't there, fearing the worst, I ordered my team to search the immediate area for any sign of him. Eventually we found him being pursued by a group of drunken civilian men armed with various makeshift weapons"
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees as a thick killer intent seeped out of the old man.
"W-when the boy was chased into an alleyway he stumbled upon Arata-san here who came to the boy's defense by incapacitating the men. They are being interrogated by Ibiki-san as we speak"
The killer intent seemed to decrease slightly as the old man settled into his chair with a sleepy Naruto nodding off in his lap.
"very well, at least Naruto-kun was not harmed, however I want the council member that distracted you brought before me at once, I have a feeling it was no coincidence that they distracted you as you were making your way to Naruto-kun"
"at once Hokage-sama!"
The Anbu disappeared in a flurry of leaves and left the Hokage with his two guests.
"well Arata-san, it would seem I owe you my thanks" he said with a small smile
"not at all Hokage-san, I owe it to the boy's father to keep him safe"
Within the blink of an eye the Hokage disappeared and reappeared behind the samurai having set Naruto down on the sofa that resided in the office and placed a hidden kunai to the man's throat, a deathly glare that could make men such as Orochimaru weep across his face.
"and just how do you know about the boy's father?"
If the samurai was impressed with the mans speed he didn't show it, instead, he merely kept a straight face and replied in an even, unaffected tone.
"I knew his father long before he ever became Hokage, he saved my life once when I was cast out of my home and in doing so earned my undying respect and loyalty even to this day"
"if that is so then where have you been all this time? Why did you never come to care for his only child?"
Much to the shock of the Hokage, the samurai seemed to blur out of vision before coming back into sight again in front of him, his katana drawn and an angry scowl on his face.
"because I was told by a member of your council that the boy had died along with his parents, it was not until he bumped into me earlier that I even knew he was still alive!"a killer intent that seemed to match the Hokages own seemed to fill the air while the two men glared pure disgust at each other, before relenting and sheathing their weapons.
"it would seem my council has been sticking their noses where they don't belong"
"I believe you are right"
The Hokage made his way back towards his desk where he sat down with his hands steepled under his chin, a look of deep thought upon his face.
"tell me Arata-san, now that you know he is alive, what do you intend to do?"
Arata pulled a small blue scroll from his clothing before handing it to the Hokage who accepted it with a curious look.
"what is this?"
"that, Hokage-san, is a scroll I received from the boy's father a month before his death, it is a request to train his only child in my people's ways and to take care of him should anything happen to him and if his god parents were unable to"
A silence crept across the room, its thickness almost suffocating for anyone else should they enter the room. The silence was broken when the Hokage all but ripped the seal off the scroll, its contents now displayed before him… it was a letter from Minato or more specifically, a will.
I, Minato Namikaze, fourth Hokage, being of sound mind, hereby declare one Arata Akiyama as the sole guardian of my son should anything prevent myself, my wife or his godparents from doing so. He has my full permission to teach my son in his people's lifestyle and warrior like teachings. He also has my permission, should it be necessary, to take my son away from the village of Konoha to provide a better, healthier environment. Regarding my son's inheritance, should he stay in the village then all finances and property, that was previously owned by myself and my wife, are to be given to him once he reaches the age of sixteen. However, if he is to leave the village under Mr Akiyamas care, then all property and finances are to be kept on hold until Mr Akiyama decides that Naruto is ready for them, once Naruto does receive his inheritance, then he has complete control over what is to be done with it and under no circumstances are the councils of Konoha allowed to have any say at all in how the inheritance is spent or used, to further inforce this point, all property and finances are protected by a blood seal that can only be access by a person who's blood is a combination of both myself and my wife, the soul person with this type of blood being my son.
Signed
Minato Namikaze, Fourth Hokage and father to Naruto Namikaze
Co-signed
Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze, mother to Naruto Namikaze
If someone had told Hiruzen this morning that he'd be receiving a letter from his long dead predecessor and friend, then he'd of backhanded said person out of the window and called them a liar. However, sitting in his office then and there, with said letter in his hand, he couldn't help but wonder at the surrealism of it all. But this also brought up new questions for the old man, for example, who is Arata Akiyama? And why does Minato trust him with something that was so precious to him that he willingly laid down his life to protect it? These questions had to be answered and Naruto wasn't going anywhere until they were.
"to be honest with you Arata-san, right this very second I feel like calling you a liar and having you publicly executed for trying to impersonate my long dead friend and trying to take away my surrogate grandson… however, this is Minato-kuns handwriting, and it is definitely his seal and signature, so I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt"
"but I take it you wish for further proof and information about myself before you'll entrust Naruto into my care?"
The third Hokage lit his pipe and preceded to lean back into his chair, a visual confirmation that he would stand by his point and that neither of them were leaving the room until he was satisfied.
"very well Hokage-san, I shall start with how I met Minato-san"
The Hokage pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk, a signal for Arata to make himself comfortable which Arata kindly accepted.
"ten years ago, I was a member of a prestigious clan of samurai that belonged to the land of Iron, life was good and my skills in the samurai arts where second to only my father, who at the time was also the leader of the clan. But one day my father became ill, he was bedridden and unable to lead the clan, in his absence it was my job as his heir to take control and rule until he was well enough to regain his position"
Arata's face seemed to contort into a vision of pure disgust and rage and he practically spat his next words out.
"but one day my father's brother, my uncle Kenshin Akiyama, staged a coup as a way of gaining my father's position. He had managed to persuade a large number of our clans forces into standing by him with promises of power and fortune. The battle was bloody and very few of my father's loyal men were still alive. Eventually my uncle managed to force his way into my father's home that we were using as our main base of operations and slaughtered anyone in his way until eventually he found my father's ill and broken body lying in his bed and proceeded to run his sword through my father's heart while he lay there defenseless"
Arata shook with visible rage, his hand tightened into fists sending his knuckles white. The Hokage himself was disgusted with the acts of such a coward, but his rage was a hundred times less visible.
"eventually I managed to escape with a few loyal men and what was left of my family, being my mother and not long born younger brother Gildarts. The rest of the clan was either submitted to my uncle's rule or executed"
"what did you do after you escaped?"
"well, we travelled from town to town, finding small time work to keep us going whilst searching for a place to live. Eventually we found a small settlement in Rock Country. We lived for many months on a small plot of land under the guise of small time wheat farmers, no one really bothered us and in return we kept to ourselves"
A sudden feeling of dread crept up the spine of the old man, he'd heard of many clans that had been sent spiraling into civil war when a member sought more power that couldn't be obtain in an otherwise peaceful way. This story sounded no different to him.
"I take it this time of peace didn't last long?"
"…no, it turned out that my uncle had been keeping track of our movements ever since we escaped and was just waiting for us to let our guard down before striking. One night after we'd retired for the night, an army of bandits hired by my uncle attacked the farm. They burnt down any and all buildings in their path, slaughtered any man who stood against them until they eventually trapped myself, my brother and my mother inside the main house… and set it alight"
"I'm sorry to hear it, though I take it you escaped seeing as though you're here"
A small reminiscent smile managed to edge its way onto Arata's face, an image of a blonde haired man in shinobi armor flashed through his mind. He would forever owe his life to that man and even though he wasn't alive today to repay him, Arata would do everything he could to protect his friends only son and heir.
"we were trapped in one of the upstairs rooms unable to escape, the fumes had begun to creep under the door and it was becoming harder to breath. I thought for sure we would die there and then. But just when we'd given up hope, a bright yellow flash filled the room and the next thing we know we're outside safe and sound and the bandits were all dead"
"I take it your savior was our mutual friend?"
"indeed, he was in the area on a mission when he stumbled across the attack, he saved all of us and brought us right here in Konoha"
That surprised Hiruzen, he'd never heard of any refuges at the time from Minato and he'd certainly never recollected a mission to Rock country, had the Fourth kept secrets from him?
"why did I never hear of your stay here? And more importantly I don't recollect any mission to Rock country five years ago, not one organized by me anyway"
"that's mostly my fault, I asked Minato-san to keep my presence here a secret as to not alert my uncle to our whereabouts. As for his mission, I believe it was of a personal nature, something to do with a new seal he was working on that later became quite useful in saving my family"
"how so?"
"that, is difficult to explain, especially without Minato-san here"
"try me, I'm no master when it comes to seals but I'm certainly no amateur either"
Arata seemed to consider it for a minute before finally relenting and explaining in the best way that either of them could understand. It wasn't an easy subject to discuss and he wasn't exactly an expert on the subject, as a matter of fact he hadn't even used any seals before until he met Minato. But he had a duty to convince the Hokage that he was capable of taking care of Naruto and in order to do that he needed to reveal as much as he could about his friendship with Minato.
"before Minato-san met me, he had been working on a new form of transportation seal that worked a lot like his Hiraishin jutsu, the only difference being that it used a lot less chakra and it could transport more people than his original jutsu ever could. He wanted to incorporate it into Konohas emergency defense system, it would allow multiple civilians to be transported to shelters in half the time it usually takes, it would also allow for Shinobi to be transported to key defense areas in an instant without using their own chakra"
"I see, but what's the difference between this new seal and a normal shunshin?"
"well instead of depending on the user's own chakra, a second seal acts as a large storage seal that's filled with the chakra of one or many users and is kept sealed until its needed to be used, that way it has no effect on the chakra levels of the users at the time, that's how I understand it anyway, Minato-san had a much more in depth explanation than that"
"that does indeed sound like a massive benefit to the defense of the village, so why wasn't it used? And how did it help your family?"
"well although it was ideal and simple enough, to Minato-san anyway, in theory. It was incredibly difficult in practice to create. He kept running into different problems when it came to the main seal. Eventually he thought he had it and just to make sure it's safe he used it himself"
"I take it didn't go so well"
"haha no, and Kushina-chan wasn't all that impressed when she found out the next day"
"well I imagine not, she never did agree with his behavior when it came to his use of seals"
"indeed, however, the seal was a bust, he never arrived at the original destination and was gone for hours"
"obviously he came back, so what happened?"
Now this was the tricky part, the rest of this conversation could go one of two ways, one he could reveal all he knows, get called insane and sent to an insane asylum for the rest of his life. Or the Hokage might believe him and he finally gets a chance at training his friends soul child, at least he hoped he could.
"this is where things get a little unbelievable Hokage-san"
"well I've heard a lot of things in my time, I doubt this is any different to those"
"well I guess we'll have to see then. After he disappeared we waited for hours for him to return, eventually we almost lost all hope that he would ever return. But then out of nowhere there was a bright light and he reappeared, he was a little battered and bruised but no worse for wear"
"what did he tell you?"
"he… he said something went wrong and instead of him ending up at the designated destination he ended up in another place entirely, he said that it wasn't just that he ended up in another town or even another country… he ended up in another world"
The Hokage chuckled slightly, he was right, this is unbelievable.
"surely you jest Arata-san, a seal of that magnitude would need a massive amount of chakra, rivaling even that of the nine tailed beasts"
When he was met with silence the old Hokage new that this was no joke, his friend and most loyal ally had indeed travelled to another world and the mere thought of it left you with head rush. Another world? If it was anyone else he would have thought it impossible, but Minato Namikaze was a genius, un-matched in his field and a deadly enemy un-rivaled on the battlefield. He could decimate armies, bring down empires and tame the most savage of beasts. If anyone could do it, it was him.
"what did he say of this new world?"
"he said it was one like no other, from what he gathered the people there didn't use chakra, but instead used another form of energy called magic. They had a great many abilities that we don't have and vice-versa, he said he even witnessed a teenager, no older than fourteen, create fire without hand seals and a man travel a great distance on a vehicle they call a magic-mobile, it requires no animal to pull it, only the energy they call magic and it can travel faster than even a skilled Jounin"
"it sounds like a wondrous place, but I still don't get how it helped your family"
"when Minato-san told me of this place I realized it brought new possibilities for my family. Here was a place that had no war, no severe poverty, just a peaceful kingdom looking towards the future together and with my uncle still after us I knew I had to find a way to send my family there, so after weeks of work perfecting the seal we were finally able to send multiple people safely to this other world"
"and I take it you did exactly that"
It was a statement really, more than a question. Hiruzen had to admit that the idea of sending people to another, more peaceful world was certainly worth his interest, but more importantly it presented a way out for a certain blond haired young boy he knew and cherished.
"yes I did, my mother and brother were sent there immediately, where I hope to this day that they are safe and well"
"but why did you not go with them?"
"well as you know, with great power comes great risks, it turned out that in transporting to another world we were affecting our world in return, the area around us for miles was drained of it natural energy and was left a complete wasteland"
"but I thought it only used a small amount of chakra to power it?"
"it did, but what we didn't realize was that was because it wasn't just accessing our chakra, but the natural chakra all around us, we never considered that the reason it used so little human chakra was because it was drawing on the non-human chakra all around it"
"I can see that being a problem, so that's why you didn't go, you didn't want to risk permanently damaging this world"
Arata nodded with a sigh, he knew he couldn't risk damaging this world any further and to be honest he was surprised they hadn't done damage when Minato had first used it, even if it was by accident.
"it's true, in order to use the seal again we would have to wait until the area around it was restored, we would have moved it but the seal had become bonded with the earth and creating another one could have been disastrous"
"I believe that I understand, how long would it take for the seal to be ready to use again?"
Arata seemed to consider something for a minute and Hiruzen couldn't help but notice the discreet glances he would throw towards Naruto which sent him on edge slightly. If this man was planning what he thought he was planning, then Arata would need a bloody good argument for it before he went along with it.
"from this day? Around nine years"
"that's quite a long time Arata-san, what do you intend to do in the mean time?"
"well Hokage-san, I was hoping you would allow me to take young Naruto under my wing, to train him to the point where he could easily defend himself"
Now that didn't sound so bad to the old man, Naruto would be taken care of and as an added bonus he would be trained in, what he assumed, would be the use of a very powerful fighting style. The only problem was, what happens when the nine years are up? What would be in store for young Naruto when he reaches an age where he is capable of going out for himself without the support of a guardian?
"let's say I agree to this for arguments sake, what happens when the training is over and you are ready to use the seal? Will you take Naruto with you or will you leave him behind?"
"I can understand your worry, but when the time comes it will be completely up to Naruto, I will not push him to make any decisions that aren't his own"
That was certainly a reassurance, but there was still one problem…
"what of our furry friend?"
"ah yes, not to worry, with the training I have in mind Naruto will be able to control his power and even incorporate it into his fighting style, he will be a force to be reckoned with"
If that was true, then there really wasn't any reason to refuse, Naruto would be safe and if he decided to stay in the village, the village would have a powerful shinobi in its ranks. As far as he could tell it was a win-win situation for all parties involved.
"very well, I will officially state you as Narutos guardian and personal trainer and will entrust you with his safety, though I must make it clear that if any harm should come to my grandson either by your hand or someone else under your command, I will hunt you down and you will realize why they call me the god of shinobi"
"I understand Hokage-san; I will protect the boy with my life, you have my word on that"
Both men stood from their chairs and made their way over to the door, the Hokage opened it for his visitor and offered him a hand that was gladly excepted.
"Naruto-kun will stay here with me tonight, you may talk with him in the morning but first I wish to speak with him myself Arata-san, if he is to be busy training then this might be my only chance of very few to see him, I wish to make the most of it"
"very well Hokage-san, then I shall see you in the morning"
"indeed, good night Arata-san"
"goodnight Hokage-san"
And with a final farewell, the samurai left for the night, his thoughts on how well his new apprentice would take to his training regime. Meanwhile Hiruzen sat at the other end of the couch that was currently being used by his surrogate grandson, the weight of the world seemed to of been lifted of his shoulders and a happy smile was etched on his face. He had tried for years to find a more permanent solution to Narutos problem and one had just seemingly appeared out of thin air.
While the old man contemplated on how he could help his grandson even further he was interrupted by a flash of smoke and the appearance of two figures. One was the Anbu from earlier and the other was a young woman, around twenty-three years old with long pink hair that trailed in a ponytail down to the center of her back. This woman was Karen Haruno, second wife to Kizashi Haruno and step mother to Sakura Haruno, although the resemblance could have you believe otherwise. After Kizashi's first wife, Mebuki Haruno, had died during the nine-tails attack six years ago, Kizashi had sought after a new wife to be a mother for his young daughter and had ended up marrying the daughter of a merchant in Konoha. Kizashi himself was a well-known merchant with a large chain of shops throughout the shinobi nations and had money to spare despite his young age, many believed this was the reason that Karen had married him in the first place and her constant spending didn't help the accusations. Just to top it all off, she was the loudest voice in the civilian council to demand the death of Naruto when his identity as the Jinchuriki of the nine-tails was revealed. Though he never had any proof, Hiruzen always suspected that she was involved in some way with the constant attacks on Narutos life, now however, he was sure he had her in a position more likeable than before.
"Hokage-sama, I have brought lady Haruno as you requested"
"thankyou Inu-san, please stay for a while, I may have another mission for you"
"as you wish Hokage-sama"
That was when he noticed it, if only for a brief second, one so brief he almost thought he imagined it, a look of complete disappointment and anger skimmed across the council woman's face when she noticed the young boy asleep on the sofa. If not for the current presence of his grandson, he might have forcefully wiped the look off her face in the most painful way he could. However, he would not risk waking Naruto up after such an eventful night only to witness the man he trusted more than anything beating a woman, if you could call her that after her recent activities regarding him, to a bloody pulp.
"ah Haruno-san, I'm glad you could join us"
His voice seemed friendly, but the underlying message was clear 'you dared not refuse for your own sake'.
"it's a pleasure to be invited into your office Hokage-sama" her voice was professional and calm, but the air of over confidence and supposed superiority was very much apparent.
"I'm sure it is"
The Hokage moved over to his desk and with a brief glance between his Anbu and his grandson, the Anbu member moved over to sit with the sleeping child intent on protecting him incase anything went wrong. All this went unnoticed by the council woman who just seemed to continue staring straight ahead.
"Haruno-san earlier tonight I sent my best and most loyal team of Anbu to check in on one of our village orphans, one Naruto Uzumaki. However, upon returning I was informed that the team was distracted by a member of the civilian council, who falsely informed them of an intruder entering one of our gates. Any ideas who this council member might be?"
"I don't think that's really necessary do you Hokage-sama?"
"no I don't"
The Hokage knew she had to be punished, though he knew it wouldn't be easy, she was one of the more popular members of the civilian council and any punishment would be viewed as the Hokages way of disrupting the civilians power flow. But right then and there he didn't care, he ran a shinobi village, not a civilian one and if they didn't like the way he ran things then they were more than welcome to leave.
Clearing his throat, he straightened his posture and set his gaze upon the woman in front of him and in all honesty it unnerved her. She knew she'd get caught, she knew from the start and in all honesty she wasn't really expecting much of a punishment. Everyone knew the Hokage had grown lax in his elderly years, there were many a time where the civilians would push the boundaries of their power and get away with it, why would this time be any different? But looking into that steely gaze she knew that this wasn't one of those times.
"Karen Haruno, you are hereby placed under arrest for meddling in the affairs of the Hokages personal Anbu, you are also under arrest on suspicion of conspiring to cause the death of a child of the village. You will be given a trial where you will be judged by your peers, during that time you may resent a defense for your case. If found guilty your punishment will be decided by myself and the rest of the shinobi council as your crimes directly affected members of Konohas shinobi forces. Have I made myself clear?"
He was really going to do it! he was actually going to punish her! What right did he have? Without the civilians, where would the shinobi get their money from? They depended on them! Well if she was going to go down it wouldn't be quietly.
"you can't do that Hokage-sama"
"and whys that?"
"you depend on the civilian population and its council far more than you are willing to admit, if you take this to trial it would appear as if the Hokage and his shinobi forces are trying to improve their political standing, which in turn would damage public relations"
That was true, relations would likely decline and arguments would take over most of the council meetings. However, he knew that would happen and he was more than prepared.
"well Haruno-san, if my actions will damage relations so terribly, I might as well take it one step further, Inu-san please reassemble your team and have them round up both the shinobi and civilian councils, I want them in the meeting hall straight away I'm calling a meeting"
"right away Hokage-sama"
The Anbu disappeared yet again in a cloud of smoke leaving a still sleeping Naruto, a now visually furious Karen and a rather calm and collective Hokage filling out seemingly unimportant paperwork. Unknown to anybody else was the fact that the old man was in fact filling out the paperwork needed to hand over Naruto to his new guardian as well as a few other things that were sure to rattle a few feathers amongst the civilian council.
"Hokage-sama I don't know what you're planning but surely the trouble it will cause isn't worth the life of that thing you have sleeping in your office as if it were even human"
The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and right there and then she knew she should have stayed quiet. His voice was calm and collective, but the hint of anger in his words only hinted at the boiling inferno of rage that was hidden inside.
"let me make something perfectly clear Haruno, you may be free to insult Naruto as much as you want when in the presence of your fellow civilian council members, but when you stand in front of me you will keep such disgusting remarks to yourself because I will not put up with it!"
His voice seemed to raise to almost a shout towards the end of his sentence, his anger barely contained. Situations like this only proved to back up his decision on Narutos future, if Naruto was to have any sort of life then he would have to spend it far away from people like this.
"now, I have a council session to attend, you will follow me but not as a council woman but as a woman on trial"
She didn't say anything in reply, there was nothing to say, she'd been caught and now she would pay the price. But she was a woman of power and position, even if it was about to be stripped away from her she would still hold her head up high and contrary to popular belief, she truly did love her husband and she adored her step daughter to the point where she thought of her as her own. So for their sake, she would hold her head up high and show no weakness, she would not damage the Haruno name any more than she already had. Both the Hokage and Karen made their way through the corridors of the Hokage tower on their way to the council room. Upon entry through a set of large double doors the two entered a room that for all intents and purposes was rather large for a council room. Opposite the doors on the far side of the room sat a raised platform with a long rectangular table stretching from the left hand side to the right. Behind it were various chairs with one larger than the rest sitting at the center. The Hokage took the center chair whilst Karen took a single chair in the middle of the room facing the council. On the Hokages left sat the members of the civilian council and his advisers including Danzo, his estranged friend and political rival and the head of the Haruno civilian clan Kizashi Haruno, who was more surprised than anyone that he had been called as his wife normally dealt with these meetings. On his right sat the shinobi council consisting of the Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuga, Nara and Akimichi clan heads all ready and willing to serve there Hokage. Silence reigned supreme until Danzo decided he had enough and in a way that showed no respect for his Hokage at all, spoke.
"Hiruzen, why have you called this meeting at such an hour?"
"it's Hokage-sama to you Danzo and don't forget it"
The death glare he sent at his rival left no room for argument and with such a sentence the rest of the room realized that this was going to be a no nonsense meeting from the start. That was when Kizashi noticed his wife in the center of the room and his eyes widened in concern and panic.
"Hokage-sama, why is my wife sat before us instead of sitting as a member of this council?"
That was when the rest of the council noticed her presence as well and threw curious glances her way. It was noo secret that the shinobi council members held no liking for such a woman as Karen Haruno. She was a loud mouth and a conniving wretch who constantly tried to undermine the Hokages authority and it was no secret that she greatly disliked young Naruto and the amount of hatred for him greatly disturbed the shinobi. They held no ill will to the Jinchuriki and in fact respected him for his ability to keep such a beast in check, even if it was unknowingly. The fact that such a woman was sat before them now meant one could assume that the proverbial 'shit' was about to go down.
"Karen Haruno is sat before us on trial for conspiracy to commit murder and interfering with shinobi activities"
The room was silent for all of two seconds before the civilians shouted out in uproar and disbelief, demanding to know where the proof for such an accusation was and how ridiculous it was to even suggest it. The situation on the opposite side of the room was incredibly different, no one made a sound and just sat with an almost amused expression on their faces while their civilian counterparts were descending into further madness. The civilians continued to shout but the loudest of them all was Kizashi who couldn't believe that the Hokage would even consider accusing his beloved wife of such a thing, he'd already lost one wife he certainly wouldn't lose another without the fight of his life.
The chaos ensued until the Hokage slammed his fist onto the table, an angry scowl on his face that quickly silenced the angry mob before him.
"do not forget whose council chambers you sit in councilors, if I make such an accusation you can guarantee I have the evidence to back it up"
The last of the mob seemed to resign themselves to the fact that in this situation they had no power, although there were still a few with angry scowls. Danzo for one knew that his old friend and rival certainly wouldn't make such an accusation without proof, it was one of his many qualities and so in this situation he would back him up, just this once anyway.
"I agree with Hokage-sama, he would never make such an accusation without having the ability to back up his words, we should listen and decide upon our own opinions once we've heard what he has to say"
Hiruzen nodded a reluctant thanks to his rival before clearing his throat and raising his hand in a wave towards the door.
"come on in Inu-san"
From the doors came Inu and his Anbu team, they all knew the seriousness of the situation and were deathly loyal to their Hokage. To accuse a council member of such a crime was no light accusation and to do so without a shred of decent proof was a death wish all on its own.
The Anbu came to a stop in front of the platform, straight backed with their masks in place.
"you called for us Hokage-sama?"
The civilian members of the council seemed to eye the special forces members curiously, wondering internally as to what they could be here for.
"yes Inu-san, thank you for coming"
The Hokage reached into his robe and produced a few small scrolls he had prepared beforehand and laid them onto the table in front of him.
"now to get to the point, earlier tonight I sent this very team of Anbu to check in on one Naruto Uzumaki as to ensure his safety, after what seemed like too long of a wait for such a simple checkup, Inu-san returned with some rather disturbing news. If you'd like to elaborate Inu-san?"
Inu took a few steps towards the council members as to identify him from the group for those of the council who had few dealings with the Anbu and found it hard to identify them.
"of course Hokage-sama, on our way to check in on Naruto, we were stopped by a member of the council, one Karen Haruno, who informed us of an intruder break in at one of our village gates and requested that we go in search of the intruder and to bring them in for questioning"
The shinobi councilors looked at each other with questioning gazes, they hadn't heard of a break in and being members of the most powerful clans in Konoha, clan heads no less, they should have been informed straight away of an enemy incursion. Something told them there was more to this than there seemed.
"when my team and myself arrived at the gate we questioned the current gate guards about the incident but found no report of any intruder had been made and was met by confused and uncertain questions that clearly pointed out that the report was in fact false"
All eyes were now on Karen who sat straight with her eyes straight ahead, making no effort to refute the claim. For the shinobi this was a confirmation of guilt already but before they could pass judgement they were required to hear the whole story. Tsume Inuzuka was more convinced than anyone, if one was to say that Karen was the leader of the anti-Naruto movement, then one could also say that Tsume was her greatest nemesis, she had been a starch believer in protecting Naruto and had even attempted to adopt the boy into her clan, however this was met with much resistance by the civilians and even the Hyuga clan who had claimed that adopting a Jinchuriki into one clan would give said clan an unfair advantage in both political and military power, although that's not how she saw it, she just wanted to care for the young pup but knew that any further insistence would just lead to placing the Inuzuka in a bad light amongst people of Konoha.
"please continue Anbu-san"
"yes Inuzuka-sama, with the claim proven wrong we continued with our previous objective. Finally we made it to Narutos apartment but found that there was no sign of him and that there had in fact been a struggle of some sorts, fearing the worse, we left in search of him and eventually found him being pursued by a group of angry drunks armed with various makeshift weapons through the residential district. When we finally caught up to them however, Naruto was no longer in need of saving as an, at the time, unidentified individual dressed in traditional samurai clothing had come to his rescue and had incapacitated the drunken mob before any physical damage could be done to the boy"
Tsume smiled slightly at that, the boy was safe yet again and no harm had come of him. That was however until she noticed the disappointed and angry looks coming from her civilian counterparts and her smile turned into and angry frown that was mirrored by her fellow shinobi clan heads apart from of course, the Hyuga clan head Hiashi, who sat with the same stoic expression as always.
"after detaining the mob I brought Naruto and the man back to the Hokages office where I gave in my report before being sent off to detain Karen-san"
With his report finished the Anbu member stood back in place with his fellow members and awaited the continuation of the last minute trial. The Hokage himself gave an approving nod before addressing the rest of the team.
"and does the rest of Inu-sans team approve of Inu-sans account of the events?"
"Hai Hokage-sama!" was there combined reply.
"very well, then I shall fill in with my own account of things from after Karen was brought to me, after Karen was brought before me I questioned her on her actions and was disappointed to hear that she had no argument against the accusation and even went on to say, and I quote, 'surely the trouble it will cause isn't worth the life of that thing you have sleeping in your office as if it were even human', such a thing to say about one so young and innocent sends a sickening feeling right through my body"
With his piece said the Hokage turned his attention to his shinobi commanders and addressed them directly.
"ladies and gentleman of the shinobi council, this is obviously a shinobi matter as her actions directly affected the mission parameters of a team of Anbu special forces, therefore I leave the judgement of her guilt up to you, however, if she is found guilty then I myself will decide her punishment, I already have one in mind"
This drew out the enraged comment from one of the more pompous members of the civilian council, a short, fat bellied man who practically reeked of false superiority.
"you can't do that Hokage-san, miss Haruno is a member of the civilian council and is in fact a civilian herself, therefore she should be dealt with by us, besides what does it really matter if some demon child's life was in danger? He has no worth when compared to any normal human"
His comment was met with a large variety of killer intent, the largest two coming from the Hokage and Tsume Inuzuka who would gladly rip of his head if the Hokage asked her too, luckily for her the councilman had made a mistake that had already sealed his fate.
"need I remind you councilman that I am Hokage here and you will refer to me as 'Hokage-sama' and secondly I believe that I said that her actions directly affected a team of shinobi which makes this a shinobi matter and lastly, but definitely my favorite part, you just broke the law I put in place by referring to young Naruto as 'demon child' therefore the appropriate punishment shall be enforced"
Knowing where the second source of killer intent came from the Hokage gestured for Tsume to carry out the appropriate sentencing who nodded in thanks with a sadistic smile that made the other people in the room, save for the Hokage, cringe in fear.
Within a flash Tsume was behind the standing councilman and in one quick, almost unseeable, movement brought her kunai to his throat and proceeded to end his life there and then, coating the table in front of them in a layer of blood. She was back in her chair again, not a single speck of blood on her as if nothing had ever happened, the only evidence of her attack being the self-satisfied smirk she wore proudly. Two Anbu appeared next to the now dead councilman and in a flurry of movements cleaned up and disappeared with the body leaving no evidence behind of the previous events.
"well, now that that's out of the way we may continue. Shinobi councilors, what is your decision?"
Hiashi was the first to stand and in a stoic voice, devoid of no emotion gave his decision.
"I, Hiashi Hyuga, find Karen Haruno guilty of interference and innocent of conspiracy to commit murder as there is no evidence to suggest she knew of the Anbu team's intention of going in search of Naruto-san"
Sitting back down it was now Shibi Aburames turn to stand.
"I agree with Hiashi-sans verdict"
And so it continued with the others.
"I, Choza Akimichi, also agree"
"troublesome, the Nara clan agrees also"
That is until it reached one Tsume Inuzuka.
"the Inuzuka clan finds Karen Haruno guilty of interference and conspiracy to commit the murder of a minor and request the death sentence"
She said this whilst twirling a kunai in her hand with an almost sadistic pleasure, the intent to kill clear in her eyes. The other clan heads looked at her with questioning gazes whilst the civilians looked on in shock and worry. Karen herself seemed to be completely unfazed by the request and just continued staring straight ahead. She knew that she would likely die, but to show fear now would only taint the Haruno name further.
"very well then, with all parties agreeing on her guilt, I find Karen Haruno guilty of interference, however, with a four to one argument in favor of being innocent, I find her innocent of conspiracy to commit murder" the rest of the room could see that he was unhappy with the decision, but he knew that he couldn't argue any further, he would instead make lemonade with lemons, or so the saying goes.
"now I will decide the punishment"
The rest of the civilians waited with baited breath as they awaited their fellow council member's punishment, no more so than Kizashi who had turned a sickly green color and had traces of tears welling up in his eyes.
"I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, third Hokage of Konoha, sentence one Karen Haruno to lif- "
His sentence was interrupted when the doors to the room were flung open and a familiar head of blond hair appeared in front of Karen, his arms spread wide as if he was protecting her from an imminent attack.
"please don't hurt her Jii-san!"
The people in the room looked on in surprise at the young boy, none more so than Karen who for the first time during the entire time showed an emotion other than stoic refinement. No one could quite comprehend what had just happened and it would take some time before they would fully regain their thoughts.
"I can't let you hurt her!"
Chapter end