There are many things in the world that people will kill for, not in the figurative sense. People will kill for money, greed, spite, anger, jealousy and countless other reasons. But the most common reason that people kill is for revenge.
Revenge for taking something, or someone, from them. Revenge because they think that it will ease the pain in their heart. The pain that they have suffered for years and the one that caused it is walking around free in front of them laughing and happy.
It was one of these times that nearly spelt the end for one young blonde boy.
He hadn't done anything wrong. He was just born. He was born loved, cherished and wanted. But as soon as some people started talking he was hated, despised and discarded. Everyone in the village, everyone not from his generation, hated him with a passion. They all knew why they hated him but because of a law they were unable to tell their children why they hated him, at least not directly.
Over the years this young boy grew up, he did his best to hide his pain behind a mask of smiles and pranks. But the thing with masks…they can be removed just as easily as they can be put on and they can also be ripped off.
Naruto Uzumaki felt the sun on his face, heard the birds outside his room and smelt the smoke filling his room before he woke up. He went to rub the sleep out of his eyes and felt a hand stop him from touching his face.
"Don't rub your eyes." Came a voice.
He knew that voice. But where did he hear it?
"Jiji? Is that you?" He asked.
He could hear a sad sigh "Yeah Naruto. I'm here, I'm so sorry."
"Why are you sorry Jiji?"
He felt the old man's hand touch his leg "I'm sorry that I couldn't protect you."
Naruto screwed up his face, normally the elderly Hokage would chuckle when he saw Naruto's 'thinking face' but this time all he could see was a confused and scared child.
"Jiji…who else is in the room?" Naruto asked.
The Hokage raised an eyebrow "What do you mean Naruto?"
"I don't know but there are other people in the room with us and they haven't said anything, so I was wondering who else is here." Naruto said.
"How many people, other than me, are here?" The Hokage was starting to get curious.
Naruto thought for a moment there were other people here, he wasn't sure how far away they were but there were other people close to him.
"There's five people, including you and me." Naruto said "Help me sit up."
The Hokage softly lifted him up so he was somewhat sitting, Naruto pulled his legs in so he was sitting in a basic Lotus position, without having his hands on his knees. He pointed to roughly where he felt the people.
"There's someone there" Pointing to the corner of the room, away from the door.
"There" Pointing to the other corner beside the door and a wardrobe.
Naruto seemed to be thinking before he pointed behind him "There" Pointing outside the window, that he could feel the sun through.
"That's three." The Hokage said, amazed at what he witnessed. "That's amazing Naruto, they are my Anbu guard."
Naruto cocked his head to the side, something he did when he was thinking about something deeply. "Don't you normally have four people?"
"One of them is running an errand for me, he left just before you woke up." The Hokage said.
Naruto nodded slowly and felt the remaining Anbu return "Here he is." He stated, just before the Anbu arrived, with a guest.
They didn't appear in the room. The Anbu knocked on the door to Naruto's room. He could feel someone moving around in his room, one of the Anbu moved to the door and opened it allowing the unaccounted Anbu and the guest to enter the room.
"I have brought her Lord Hokage." The Anbu said.
Before the Hokage said anything Naruto spoke.
"I know that voice."
Naruto's voice was filled with sudden joy that it was surprising. His sudden statement caused all heads to snap towards him.
The Hokage raised his hand, to stop anyone else from talking "Where do you know this voice from?"
"Th…Three weeks ago I was looking for food and I heard someone talking, I didn't see where they were but I could hear them." Naruto pointed to roughly where he heard the Anbu speak "You burnt some food and a lady yelled at you, calling you an idiot."
Naruto's trade mark cheesy grin appeared. No one could see under the mask but the Anbu was bright red with embarrassment.
"Don't worry I know why you burnt the food."
Everyone in the room was curious. The Anbu even more so than anyone else in the room.
"I'm not sure what you were trying to make but I found it in a burnt pot in the alley. You used too much pepper in the stew you made, I've been meaning to find you and thank you for the meal."
Naruto's statement raised some eyebrows, but none more than the Hokage.
"Owl?"
The Anbu didn't need to be told anymore, he explained himself.
"I saw Naruto-kun walking through the alleyways looking for food one day while I was off duty, I was going to report it to you right away. It was around the time that the Kurama clan incident occurred." Owl said.
Everyone in the room recalled that incident, everyone other than the guest in the room, who was not present in the village at that time.
"I forgot about it until I saw him scavenging for food that night. I knew that I had to do something and so…" he didn't need to finish since Naruto had told them already.
The Hokage was fuming at this point, not just because his Anbu hadn't reported it to him but because Naruto was looking through the trash for food.
"Owl, why did you not report this to me the night you gave him the food?" He attempted to remain calm but some of his anger escaped through his words.
Owl cringed when he felt the Killing intent "My apologies Lord Hokage. I cannot recall why I did not report it, I am fully aware of how you feel towards Naruto-kun. I am sorry that I failed you, both." After he finished speaking he didn't dare move, lest The Hokage punish him.
"Why were you looking for food those nights Naruto?" The Hokage asked, determined to get answers.
"I ran out of ramen and no one in the village would let me buy anything, Ichiraku's was closed for repairs and maintenance the first time. The second time all the food in my apartment was spread out on the floor and someone had pissed all over everything. It took hours to clean it up, someone had broken in and destroyed most of my things." Naruto said, sadly the Hokage could tell that Naruto was telling the truth.
"When I finished I went to buy some food from the store but I didn't have enough money to buy instant ramen."
This time the Hokage screwed up his face, which was a strange sight for everyone present, that could see anyway.
"I remember you the instant ramen you buy only costs 100 Ryo a cup, how could you not have enough?" he asked.
Naruto turned his face away and played with his hands. He only did that when he knew he was going to get in trouble or was guilty of something, which was common.
The elderly Hokage heard Naruto mumble something.
"What was that?" The Hokage asked, his voice stern and commanding.
"I said…The store makes me pay 500." Naruto refused to turn and show his face to the Hokage. Even though he couldn't see anything he still didn't want the Hokage to see his face, see the cracks in his mask appear.
The room was suddenly flooded with Killing intent. It was bad enough that the Anbu that were hidden in the room collapsed from their respective hiding place and fell on the floor, unconscious.
"I think that's enough Sensei." Came a, mildly drunk, female voice.
"I don't know you." Naruto stated.
This was a surprise to everyone still conscious. The only two people that should at least be conscious was the Hokage, who was radiating Killing intent and the lady that was in the room. But Naruto was sitting on the bed, the crack in his mask vanished and forgotten.
After hearing the women's voice Naruto attempted to 'feel' what she looked like. All he could tell was she stood about the same height as the Hokage and gave off a strange feeling. It wasn't a bad feeling but it was different to anything Naruto had felt.
"Jiji, who is this? She feels strange."
"How so Naruto?"
It was hard to find the words to describe the lady in the room, but he did the best that he could. "She gives off a strange energy, similar to you, but not as strong but at the same time it's not much of a difference, it's a strange warm feeling that you both have."
Without knowing Naruto had just told the Hokage and the lady in the room the difference in their chakra levels.
"There's something else. There's like a pressure coming from her, it's strong but at the same time it's almost like its being held back by something." Naruto told the Hokage.
He heard the burst out laughing.
"What's so funny Jiji?" The joke obvious to Naruto.
"The person that you were just describing is Lady Tsunade, the last known member of the Senju clan here in Konoha, she is also one of the three Sannin and my student." He told Naruto.
He turned towards where he felt the pressure "It's a pleasure to meet you Lady Senju."
This time Tsunade was shocked at Naruto's formal greeting, the Hokage hid his shock quite well in comparison.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too heir Uzumaki." She greeted Naruto in the same formal manner he had used "Please call me Tsunade, there is no need for formalities with me."
"I thank you, Tsunade-sama. Please call me Naruto, I don't have a clan so there's no need to use my last name." Naruto said. Tsunade couldn't tell if he was serious or not. After all he had the same last name as her old friend Kushina Uzumaki.
"Hey Old man, how can he have a clan name and not be a clan member? There are only a handful of Uzumaki in the world after the war, so it's not like there's no clan. Who are your parent's kid?" She asked
"No idea, I'm an orphan." Naruto said, not knowing that Tsunade was looking at the Hokage in disbelief.
"You're an orphan and you were attacked?" Shock once again appearing in the room. "What'd you do? Burn down a clan house or something?"
Naruto shrugged "I pull some pranks but I normally do that after people beat me, chase me or make me pay more than other people." Still ashamed that he hadn't told the Hokage about being overcharged by almost every store in Konoha.
Before either Naruto or Tsunade could speak, Hiruzen spoke "I have been aware of some of the actions taken against you Naruto, but I do not know all of them. For that there is no excuse, all I can give you are my apologies and assist in your training once you are let out of the hospital."
Naruto turned, roughly facing where the Hokage was sitting 'He's getting better at that' The Hokage noted.
"What kind of incidents have been happening?" Tsunade asked sitting on the end of Naruto's bed.
Naruto shook his head "It's nothing that I can't handle."
He gave her a kind smile, it almost broke the grown women's heart to see a child wearing such a complete mask that she was used to seeing on veteran shinobi.
"How about I take a look at your eyes." Tsunade said, changing the subject before she broke down.
Naruto felt her move on the bed and place her hands on his face. It was then that he asked the question that bothered him.
"What happened to me anyway Jiji?"
Tsunade and the Hokage were taken back, this was starting to become a habit with them.
"You don't remember?" Tsunade asked, as she started to unwrap the bandages around Naruto's eyes.
"No, I don't really remember much of what happened. All I can remember is leaving the academy, training at ground 12 and then eating at Ichiraku's. After that I don't remember a thing. Jiji do you know what happened?"
Hiruzen sighed deeply. Of course he knew what happened, he knew exactly what happened and who were involved, but to punish the people involved would result in Naruto's heritage being revealed to the village and that was something he couldn't risk.
"Why don't we talk about it when you leave the hospital Naruto? Somethings are better said behind closed doors." He said in his grandfatherly tone.
Tsunade was never fooled by her sensei's grandfatherly voice and she wasn't fooled by it now. She knew that there was something he wasn't telling them both and she wanted- needed, to know what it was and she wouldn't rest until she had wrung it and any other secrets he had out of him.
Tsunade pulled the last of the bandages off Naruto's head leaving only two round pads covering his eyes.
"Ok Naruto, I'm going to take the pads off, I want you to keep your eyes closed until I tell you ok." Tsunade instructed.
Naruto gave a small nod and Tsunade carefully removed the pads that were covering Naruto's eyes. She sucked air through her teeth when she saw the injuries around Naruto's eyes, she could immediately tell that they were from a Kunai or ninja tool. The looked like they had been deep, and following them with her finger she saw that it followed across Naruto's eyes. Her eyes widened in shock and fear she spun around to look at her sensei.
He gave her a knowing, but sad, nod.
She was right someone had attacked Naruto and used a kunai or blade, they had cut his eyes, blinding him. There was no way to grow back eyes, it was something that no one knew how to do. The best that they would be able to do was remove Naruto's eyes and attempt to give him new ones then pray that he would be able to see again.
When she looked back at Naruto she was taken back. There was, what looked like, mist flowing from the wounds around Naruto's eyes. Tsunade just watched as the mist flowed and Naruto's wounds vanished.
She looked at her sensei who just shook his head slowly, it was something that they would talk about later, just like everything else that she had seen during the short amount of time that she has been in the room with Naruto and him.
"OK Naruto I want you to carefully open your eyes, do it slowly, they might be a bit sensitive." Tsunade said.
"OK." Naruto said as he slowly opened his eyes.
As he opened his eyes Naruto had to blink several times and turn his head away from the window.
"It's too bright." He groaned, Tsunade and Hiruzen laughed at the boy.
"Why are you too laughing?" he asked as he kept blinking allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. For some reason his eyes were more sensitive to the light then they were before.
Once his eyes had adjusted to the light away from the window Naruto turned back to look at The Hokage and Tsunade. When he looked at them he was confused. Their mouths were open and their eyes were wide.
"What's wrong Jiji?" Naruto asked.
He closed his mouth and swallowed, he attempted to say something but was unable to form any words.
Tsunade was the same, she was just staring at Naruto's eyes. His no longer cerulean blue eyes.
"What clan is he from sensei?" Tsunade asked.
This snapped Hiruzen out of his shock, he shot to his feet.
"ANBU SEAL THIS ROOM, NO ONE SEES OR HEARS ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS INSIDE UNTIL SUCH TIME THAT I ALLOW IT!" he roared.
Naruto watched as the room started to glow blue and symbols spread out across the walls, floor and roof of his room. He looked at the window and saw that it had disappeared and was replaced by another pale white wall with symbols all over it.
"What's happening Jiji?" Naruto asked.
He held up a finger, the same way he did when he was telling someone to wait, it always annoyed Naruto but he knew that there was something going on and it was important.
"Just wait Naruto." Tsunade told him as they waited for the room to seal.
It took a few moments before the room was completely sealed and the Anbu were outside of the room, now that no one was able to hear or see what was happening in the room Naruto was even more curious about the room than he was in why he was there. Naruto's eyes darted around the room. He was drawn to the symbols around the room, he could understand them, not their purpose individually but as a whole.
"Jiji…" Naruto said mesmerized "You have to teach me how to do this."
Hiruzen chuckled "I'm not good enough at Fuinjutsu to teach you how to do something like this."
"Fuinjutsu?"
"Sealing techniques." He replied "It's the same thing that's used to keep the nine tailed fox contained within you."
"Sensei!" Tsunade snapped, he said that he wasn't going to tell Naruto about his 'tenant' until he was older.
He gave Tsunade a small smile and looked at Naruto.
"So that's what happened." Naruto said, as if it explained everything to Tsunade.
She looked at Naruto, then at Hiruzen, then back at Naruto "You knew?" She asked.
Naruto nodded "Yeah, after we unlocked our Chakra at the academy I was chased by some people during a festival and when I was exhausted and fell asleep I met him, he was really grumpy and rude."
The way that Naruto spoke of the fox and the fact he had been chased around by the villagers was as though it was nothing, something like a game that they played.
"But that's not why I sealed the room Naruto." The elderly Hokage said, using his Hokage voice, as Naruto had called it.
Tearing his eyes away from the strange symbols that he was seeing he looked at the elderly Hokage, his eyes staring back at the Hokage's.
"Naruto do you know why I sealed the room?" He asked.
He shook his head.
"Take a look in the mirror Naruto." Tsunade said handing him a small mirror that she kept in her pocket.
"Why do you have a mirror?" Naruto asked.
"Old habit, just look at your eyes." She instructed.
Looking into the mirror Naruto saw why his surrogate grandfather and newly identified aunt, were talking about. His cerulean blue eyes that had caused many young girls to blush when they saw them, until they were pulled away by their parents, had been replaced with two amazingly stunning ruby red eyes. Although he had never seen a real ruby Naruto could tell that his eyes were the same colour. The deep richness of the colour, the power that the colour seemed to promise was intriguing. After looking at the colour for so long Naruto noticed that there was a strange symbol in his eyes. Inside his eyes, replacing the black pupil was a sapphire blue slit, similar to ones that would be found on a wolf, or fox.
Surrounding the blue slit was a swirl, similar to the swirl that was present on the back of all flak jackets worn by Chuunin or Jonin shinobi of Konoha. The only difference being that the swirl in his eye looped around the slit and looked like a whirlpool within the eye.
"What happened to my eyes?" he asked.
Hiruzen puffed on his pipe for a moment before he spoke.
"You know about the night that the village was attacked, some years ago correct?" He asked.
Naruto nodded. They had covered this in the academy recently.
"Iruka-sensei told the class that during the attack on the village by the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the nine tailed fox, lord fourth was responsible for defeating it, but he was unable to stop it from causing massive damage to the village itself. Also when he finally defeated the fox he had suffered heavy injuries and he was unable to be healed before he succumbed to them." Naruto recalled.
Hiruzen nodded, it was the cover story that he had told the village. The truth was only known by Himself and the elders that were his former teammates. Although he regretted telling them anything since they were no better than the villagers that attacked Naruto, besides Danzo that was.
He was forced to admit that while Danzo had done great things for the village he was also a great threat should he attempt to take over the village himself. Himself and his unknown amount of shinobi within his personal army that he kept hidden in the shadows. On the best of days he was manageable, when he wasn't attempting to go behind his back and recruit Naruto into his 'Root' organization.
After taking a long draw on his pipe Hiruzen proceeded to tell Naruto the truth of what happened that night, Tsunade would also need to know about it, since it involved her as well, or her closest friend.
After explaining what happened to the fourth and telling Naruto about how the Biju was contained within him he readied himself for the various reactions that had occurred to him over the years, he had thought of many different reactions that Naruto could have had. From going into a blind rage and somehow releasing the Kyuubi to simply smiling and shrugging it off, although he simply shrugging it off was something that he had highly doubted, he was ready for anything, or so he thought. It was Naruto after all. He also wanted to tell Naruto who his parents were, it might mitigate some of the damage that he could cause.
"Have you ever looked at a picture of the 4th and yourself at the same time?"
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "I have and I can admit there are…some…"
Naruto looked at Tsunade's face. She seemed to be thinking about something, he could see her eyes moving as she pieced things together and then she looked at Naruto dead on.
"You're her son." She whispered.
"Sorry?" Naruto asked, now completely confused.
Tsunade's arms shot forward and wrapped around Naruto bringing him into a bone crushingly tight hug. He was about to fight his way out of it when he felt a drop of water touch his cheek, he looked up to see Tsunade was sobbing and trying to hold back her tears.
"You're her son." She whispered quietly as she hugged him close.
Not knowing what to do Naruto wrapped his small arms around Tsunade and enjoyed the hug, it's been so long since he has felt someone hug him like she was. So why not enjoy it himself?
The elderly Hokage looked at his student and the young boy in front of him, somewhat missing the times that his children loved him like Tsunade love Naruto's mother, and evidently Naruto because of it.
"Tsunade, I think we better talk about his eyes and the reason why you're holding him like that." Hiruzen said.
Tsunade let go of Naruto and wiped her eyes.
Naruto let out a groan "Jiji! That was comfortable."
"You can hug your aunt later." He said, dropping a bomb on Naruto and confirming the truth for Tsunade.
"Aunt?" Naruto questioned.
Hiruzen nodded and started to explain who Naruto's family was.
"Your mother was Kushina Uzumaki, Princess of Uzushiogakure. It was the home of the Uzumaki clan. They were a very powerful clan and one of the Konoha's greatest allies during the great wars, unfortunately they were all but wiped out by Iwagakure and Amegakure villages.
"They attacked your home village while most of their shinobi were fighting alongside the shinobi of Konoha. It was a three day journey, for ninja that is, but once word arrived that Uzushiogakure was under attack and Konoha was able to handle itself the Uzumaki clan covered the distance between the villages overnight."
Naruto was amazed at what he was being told.
'Who knew I was part of such an amazing clan!' He thought.
"There were over 5,000 Shinobi from both the Iwagakure and Amegakure villages, totalling 10,000 shinobi armed and willing to kill a clan with less than 200 shinobi. By time Konoha was able to get itself back together and assist our ally we were too late. We fought the remaining 1,000 shinobi and lost one of the greatest allies we have ever had and they were sorely missed by the shinobi during the war. Their sealing arts and ability in Kenjutsu was something that we had relied on, more than we had realized during that war.
"Some time later we found out that a small amount of Uzumaki clansmen, roughly a few thousand were able to escape and spread out amongst the nations. The village did its best to find them all and bring them back here or get them somewhere safe, but we didn't have much luck. Your mother was brought here to the village along with a small group of 100 civilians and shinobi, we offered them a chance to stay, and some took it but most turned it down and vanished throughout the nations. But, as you could probably tell, your mother stayed in the village.
"Tsunade is related to you through her grandmother, Mito Uzumaki. She was the wife of the first Hokage, Hashirama senju. You are related to her through Mito's brother in law, my sensei Tobirama Senju." The Hokage said.
This was surprising to Tsunade and Naruto.
Tsunade knew that she was distantly related to Kushina, Naruto's mother, but neither women knew just how they were related, she also didn't know how her sensei knew it either. But before she could say anything Naruto spoke first.
"That's amazing and all Jiji, but that doesn't explain how I have these strange eyes."
"I don't know much about the Uzumaki clan, they kept many things a secret, even from the village." Hiruzen said.
"Well they were masters at Fuinjutsu, it's not like they were going to tell people everything that they had learnt or developed because of it. Naruto awakening a clan Dojutsu, from either his mother or father, though I think it could be Kushina, could explain the clan's sealing prowess." Tsunade said.
Hiruzen thought for a moment.
"It would be Kushina, out of the two of them she had the better sealing abilities. Though it's not like Minato lacked in any skill, he created more than half of the seals that we use every day in the village."
Naruto, who had finally wrapped his mind around who his parents were, spoke "So my dad was the 4th Hokage and my Mother was a Princess."
Naruto stated that more than questioned the old man.
"Correct" Hiruzen nodded.
"Then what does that make me?" he asked.
Tsunade and Hiruzen looked at each other, Tsunade looked at her sensei for an answer, because she truly didn't know. Hiruzen looked at his former student because he wasn't sure of himself, but seeing the fact that he wasn't going to get any support from her he did the only thing that he could do to save face.
"I think that your Parent's had planned enough to answer that question for you Naruto. They left, in my possession, some scrolls for you. They never told me why the scrolls contained but they told me that you were to get them should you awaken any strange abilities from either clan, or achieved chuunin or turned 15. Whichever comes first."
"So because of these eyes I can learn everything about them?" Naruto asked.
'He's smarter than he looks' Tsunade noted.
Hiruzen just puffed on his pipe before speaking again.
"It's called a Dojutsu Naruto."
"Isn't there another clan that has strange eyes- I mean a Dojutsu?" Naruto asked.
Hiruzen smiled at how Naruto was reacting to the sudden amount of information that he was being given, though it was strange, he would have thought Naruto would be bouncing around the room after hearing who his family was.
"The Uchiha clan, is who you're thinking of Naruto." Tsunade said.
Naruto shook his head "Not them, the people with the white eyes. The ones who have a stick up their butts and act like we should be grateful that they walk amongst us."
Tsunade looked at Naruto, she was surprised that he could say that in regards to one of the strongest clans in the village.
The Hokage looked at Naruto checking to see how serious he was. Seeing that he was extremely serious, He burst out laughing. It was a deep rich laughter that Tsunade hadn't heard in many years, the last time she heard it was when her sensei's daughter gave birth to her first son, Konohamaru. It was one of the last times that the elderly man had truly been happy.
"The two Dojutsu that we have in the village are the Sharingan, of the Uchiha clan, and the Byakugan, of the Hyuga clan. Both are extremely powerful in their own right. Though the Sharingan trumps the Byakugan with its various abilities, some which are unique to its owner. The main abilities of the Sharingan allow the shinobi to use powerful genjutsu and also allows the owner to analyse and copy various Jutsu, outside of clan specific Jutsu." Hiruzen told Naruto, after he had stopped laughing.
Without missing a beat Naruto's eyes seemed filled with confidence and determination.
"When can I leave the hospital Jiji? I want to learn all that I can about my clan and start training as soon as possible. I need to show them that the Uzumaki clan's Dojutsu is something that they won't be able to ignore."
Thinking for a moment, and looking at Naruto's injuries, or what he had a short while ago, he came to a decision.
"Tsunade, heal the last of Naruto's injuries and then when he's released from the hospital he can come to my office and we can see if there are any new places for him to stay, or if his parent's home is still in one piece." He said 'Hopefully none of those bastards have been living in Minato's house, or Kami help them.'
Tsunade nodded and was about to start healing Naruto but then he asked.
"What about my eyes Jiji? Will they go back to normal?"
Hiruzen kicked himself, mentally. Sure the academy has begun teaching them about chakra but they wouldn't have started to teach them about how to control the flow of it through their bodies.
"Focus on the chakra flowing through your body." He instructed.
Naruto closed his eyes and focused on feeling the chakra flowing through his body. After a moment he could feel the chakra, he could feel where the seal was on his stomach, feel where it stopped at the tips of his fingers and toes, and felt it flowing towards his eyes. He gave the Hokage a small nod, showing that he could feel it.
"Now focus on stopping the flow of chakra to your eyes, just enough to deactivate your Dojutsu" Hiruzen instructed "Do it slowly at first and then go a bit faster until you feel it deactivate."
Giving another small nod Naruto did as the Hokage instructed.
It took him a total of two minutes to completely deactivate the Dojutsu and when he did he felt weaker and stronger at the same time. He mentioned it to the Hokage and Tsunade, they told him that it was common after using Dojutsu. Since the body feels stronger when using the Dojutsu, even though it's using up strength, but since he had noticeably larger Chakra reserves, because of the Kyuubi, it would take some time to adapt to the difference in feeling, but he wouldn't have to deal with the drain on his chakra like many did.
Naruto looked around the room, in order to see what he could and figure out the most noticeable difference between his activated Dojutsu and his normal range of vision. At first there was no immediate difference although he was unable to see the sealing symbols around the room, but that was nothing special according to Jiji and Tsunade. Once they had released the seal the differences were noticeable.
He was unable to sense people as he had before, although he could feel that they were around he was unable to feel them as deeply as he did before. He told Tsunade and Hiruzen the difference and Tsunade made a note of it, as did the elderly Hokage.
Tsunade was finding it hard to now look at the young boy and not think of Kushina, even when she finished healing him she was taking note of everything that he had inherited from her. He mostly had the same facial features as his mother, but in a less feminine way, after spending a few moments with him and not talking about anything relating to shinobi or the ninja life it was clear that he had also inherited her addiction, Kushina had called it love, of Ramen. He was so full of energy that unless you were looking at him five minutes ago you wouldn't have known he was sleeping in the hospital days ago.
As Naruto walked happily in front of herself and the Hokage, Tsunade took the chance to ask her sensei something that had been toying with her.
"Sensei, since he is related could I-"was as far as she got before he spoke.
"I wasn't going to give you a choice in the matter anyway." He stated, which was strange to Tsunade.
"What do you mean?"
"He knows you are related, he has always wanted family and I was unable to give him that because of the council. But now that he has physical ties he can have the family he has wanted." Hiruzen stated "There is also something else that you should see, Naruto as well."
She gave a small nod and told Naruto that they were heading for the Hokage's office as he turned to walk towards Ichiraku's.
"OK!" He grinned.
His happy smile faded away as soon as he turned to walk towards their destination and looked at the road that lead to Hokage tower. Tsunade didn't know why but he waited for them to catch up before walking sombrely beside her. She was about to ask why Naruto was walking beside her with a sad face when she heard a civilian mumble something as they walked past.
It was only because of her training that she was able to hear exactly what the civilian had said, and then everything fell into place for her. She knew why Naruto had stopped being so happy and why he had waited for her and sensei.
To confirm what she was thinking she took an active look around, the same way she did when she was on missions. She started observing the people around her and started to analyse them, from the way that they walked to what she could hear them say.
Parents with children were putting themselves between their children. She could hear a child ask what was happening, only to be shushed by a parent and hidden from Naruto's view. Some of the shop owners were giving Naruto dark looks, until they noticed Tsunade and the Hokage, then they hid them behind fake smiles and half-hearted pleasantries. It disgusted her. She suddenly felt ashamed to be walking amongst the civilians of Konoha.
"I'm getting Naruto out of here" Tsunade said as she Shunshin'd Naruto off the street and into the reception area in front of the Hokage's office. They were joined by the Hokage a few minutes later, he had decided to walk instead of Shunshin to the office.
As soon as he Hokage saw Naruto he understood exactly why she acted the way she did then he had thought. She was attempting to protect Naruto from the stares and verbal abuse he got from the villagers as he walked passed them. Even though he had made a law preventing people from doing such a thing they were technically still within their rights as many had said when they were told to stop doing so. Even with that law in place he had thought, originally, that people wouldn't act as they did when he was walking down the streets. But sadly he was wrong, and he could only hope that he'd find some way to make it up to his surrogate grandson.
"Come inside Naruto, I will give you the scrolls that your parents left in my care, hopefully there will be something in one of them that will cheer you up." He said warmly.
Naruto grinned at the Hokage.
'He put the mask back on' Hiruzen noticed, he had hoped that Naruto would stop using his mask when they were together but he found it hard to get the young boy to open up.
As Hiruzen walked over to one of the several safes that were located in his office he spoke again.
"I won't ask you to drop your mask Naruto, but I don't like it when you supress your emotions and use false ones. You are a young child and you have no need to do such a thing."
This surprised Tsunade, something that she was really starting to get annoyed at, she hadn't noticed that Naruto slipped on a mask, metaphorically speaking, while she was around. Every emotion that he showed seemed so natural, so fitting to the situation.
People looking at you with cold eyes. Emotion: Happy and uncaring to the way that they were treating him, but noticing and ready for anything.
Information about parents and clan Jutsu. Emotion: Happy and curious, but suspicious of everything.
Naruto had all the makings of an infiltration specialist and he was only in his first year at the academy. Even though he probably had to develop the mask naturally to avoid the villager's attacks and such, it was upsetting and concerning that he had created a mask so perfectly that it fooled her, one of the Sannin. The only way, that she saw, her sensei had detected it was because he spent a lot of time around Naruto.
"Sorry Jiji." He mumbled "But it's easier wearing the mask."
"It might be easier but at the same time a mask can only be worn so long, before it is removed one way or another." There was a mild burst of Killing intent within the elderly Hokage's final two words, he did so to prove his point to Naruto.
"OK I'll try not to use it when I am near you." He mumbled.
'It's a start.' He thought as Naruto willingly dropped the mask he had hid behind.
From his mildly slouched posture he shifted his foot slightly, evening the spread of weight that his body held, rose to his full height, straightened his back and looked right ahead at the Hokage.
Seeing that Naruto dropped the mask and changed his posture Hiruzen felt more pain strike him than he ever thought possible. His surrogate grandson had used such a complete mask when he was around him that even he, the Kami no shinobi, had been unable to detect it. Naruto had previously stood roughly at three foot twelve inches, he now stood at four foot one inch, and he was tall for his age.
Looking into Naruto's eyes hit his aged heart the hardest. Moments ago where there had been a twinkle of joy and intrigue about the Jutsu and various other things that his parents left him was replaced. Now all that he could see in his surrogate grandson's eyes was a cold still sky reflected by his cerulean blue eyes, there was no hint of the warmth that he had been accustomed to seeing.
"This is you without your mask Naruto?" he asked, fearing there would be something else he had hidden from him.
"Yeah Jiji, it is." Naruto replied.
Instead of the cheery energetic response he normally got Naruto had answered him with a slightly worried and careful tone that he normally received from shinobi that had just come from dangerous encounters with enemy shinobi and had lost their entire units. It pained his heart to hear him answer like that.
'At least he still calls me that' He took shallow comfort at the thought.
Hey guys, Shadow here.
Let me know what you think of my newest story. I played around with this idea a little while i was throwing ideas around and this was the result.
There is still another chapter being written for both my stories and i am still looking for someone to help me with all the gamer stats for Naruto: second chance. If you have the skills PLEASE let me know via pm or review.
Thanks guys.
Let me know what you think of this new story.