Hello everyone, KMackyD with another Naruto Fanfiction here. Now before I get to explaining a little, if anyone is here from Naruto: The Storm, I know I haven't updated in a long time and I hope to get the next chapter out here this coming week!
Now onto this story, I came up with this idea actually while talking to my awesome beta TheRazgrizDragon. I had these ideas for two separate stories that I would run by him, throw a work in progress chapter and he'd tell me what he'd think, what didn't feel right. And after some thinking and merging of these two ideas I had this came out.
Naruto here will be a much more well trained Naruto, he will not be that hyperactive IDIOT he is in canon. He's a big brother and former ANBU/Root and for fucks sake he will act like it! This story won't be a purely ANBU Naruto story, while it will have some elements of it happening later in the story which will be a long time coming if I can pace this out correctly.
I hope everyone enjoys this pilot chapter I have and will review with what you think about it.
Song(s) of the Chapter: Tom Day Chill Out Mix Vol. 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any capacity.
Chapter 1: Home
Alone on top of the Hokage Monument, stood a tall imposing figure that was covered in a beige cloak that surrounded his entire body, covering the face of the person was a porcelain white mask that was shaped into the face of a viciously snarling wolf, gray streaks of color helped add a terrifyingly feral look to the mask, surrounding the snarling lips, pulling them back to show carved out fangs, the streaks of gray continued up the sides of the mask surrounding the black eye holes.
"I'd thought you would've gone straight home Naruto-kun." A female voice entered the masked man's ears, bringing the smallest of smiles to his hidden face. Turning, the agents imposing mask was met with the face of one of his old teammates, Uzuki Yugao.
"I wanted to take in the surroundings." Naruto's calm voice replied as he turned his face to once again look over Konoha. Small, street lights littered Konoha as the sun continued to set, filling the sky with a gentle glow of orange and pink. He took notice of the many balloons and decorations that littered the full streets as people continued to celebrate the defeat of the Kyūbi.
Yugao nodded, it sounded like Naruto. He always was one for the peace and calming of nature. "I hope I'm not intruding?" She asked, not wanting to bother her former Captain when he had just gotten back into the village.
She was enjoying the festivities of the Kyūbi Festival and was spending time with the Uzumaki-Namikaze family before she felt her Captain's familiar chakra enter the village and instantly take place upon the top of the Yondaime's head amongst the Hokage monument. She left the Namikaze household to meet up with her captain.
Naruto shook his head before moving his hand out of his cloak and over the wolf mask covering his face and took it off, clipping it to his belt that was hidden underneath his black cloak, "Not at all Yugao-san".
Yugao took a look at Naruto's face, taking note of all the changes since she had last seen it 3 years ago when he was 15, now he was 18 and he was paler, as if he hadn't gotten much sun, but if he wore that Anbu mask all the time, she wouldn't be surprised. His face was angular, it always had been, his skin was still flawless as ever, and she almost got lost in those stormy blue eyes of his. His eyes radiated with experience and strength, but also a sense of safety, that was essentially who Naruto was to Yugao, a powerful prodigy always willing to put his life on the line for anyone of his comrades.
He was still willing to give more to the village, even after Root. It was what she hated the most about her Captain. Sometimes she wondered how he was still sane.
"My little Captain is all grown up" Yugao teased, easing her mind from her depressing memories of her Captain. She moved forward, raising her hand to caress his cheek lovingly, almost like a mother. Here, she finally noticed the height difference between the two, separated by a good few inches, Naruto obviously stood at a solid 6'0", herself standing at a respectable 5'5".
Naruto gave a small smile at the reminder of his old nickname; it had been awhile since anyone had even called him Captain.
He took hold of her hand with his own, savoring the physical contact, it had been three years since he had seen a human being and he was glad to be able to have something that anchored the truth that he was finally home.
Yugao was surprised by the seemingly simple action; it was hard to remember a time Naruto ever seemed to accept physical contact in any intimate manner. It was good to see him moving forward, it brought a smile to her face.
Deciding to break the comfortable silence that had settled between the two, Yugao began speaking, "Mito-chan, she's grown a lot. She's about to be a Genin now, always talks about her awesome ANBU brother." She spoke affectionately, watching the ranging emotions that crossed Naruto's face, "My Onii-chan made Genin at 5 and joined ANBU at 7!" Yugao attempted to imitate a thirteen year old girl's voice, her free hand waving in the air wildly.
Naruto couldn't hold back the chuckle that escaped his throat at the imitation of his little sister, "Sounds like Mito-chan, always bragging about me." He reminisced, there were very few memories he had of his sister, only small tidbits of him being in her life but he seemed to have made an impact on the girl. He was always busy with the ANBU Black Ops and never had time to even go home and sleep; he ate, slept, and lived in the ANBU barracks.
"I can't wait to see her face when she sees you, for me it's been three years, but when was the last time you saw her?" Yugao questioned sadly, already knowing how little Naruto was involved with his family, but not because he didn't want to, it was something that never came to mind. The village came first in his mind. The periodic breaks he would be forced into by the Hokage and the ANBU Commander were the only breaks he would take to spend with his family. And they couldn't exactly force him to take a break after every mission.
Naruto looked away in guilt, he left three years ago to train with his summons, and before that he was in Kiri for one, painfully long year, "Four almost five..." He muttered shamefully, the number had taken him by surprise, he hadn't seen his sister since she was 9. He could honestly say he was a worse sibling than Itachi ever was, at least Itachi joked with his little brother and took him out to train every once in a while.
Yugao pitied her Captain, he was such a good kid, always smiling and being loud like he should've been, but that was short lived. She watched first hand, alongside her Sensei and Naruto's mother, Kushina Uzumaki, as he became a Genin at 5, unprecedented in times of peace, something not even Itachi Uchiha could've hoped to accomplish. Then she watched as he turned 7, made Chūnin, and made the decision to sacrifice his humanity to join Root, the hidden branch of the ANBUBlack Ops. It was his lone efforts that helped topple Danzo and his branch of brainless drones, but it was at the cost of the Hokage's son's emotions and humanity.
Naruto was strong, beyond strong, and Danzo helped make him stronger, but when he trained Naruto he helped implant ideals into his psych, making him almost as emotionless as one of Danzo's drones. However Naruto always had a powerful sense of duty to the village and his family. He wouldn't be Danzo's tool.
He would never lose himself; there would always be some small shred of him left till he was dead.
But after Danzo was killed when Naruto was 10, Naruto made use of his strength and sense of duty and served Konoha well, completing a series of S and A-Ranked missions that almost put Hatake Kakashi's mission record to shame, with breaks few and far between.
All before he was even 14.
With the help of Kakashi, herself, and the remaining members of Team Ro, they were able to help Naruto, and during their covert and painful time in Kiri, were able to change who he was for the better. But they had never seen him more animated than when he was talking with his little sister, Mito, before he left on that year long deployment to Kiri, it was almost as if he was never in ANBU, like he never became a ninja.
Almost. He had his quirks that he wouldn't be able to kick. But It was what they strived to bring out of him in Kiri.
Yugao gave a loud sigh, using her hand that was still on Naruto's cheek to move her hand to look at her, "You're not a bad brother Naruto." She said, trying to soothe his mind, already knowing where his train of thought would be going, always going to blame himself.
Naruto gave a tired sigh, "If only I could believe that myself." He muttered sadly, but still loud enough for the keen ears of the ANBU agent to hear. Before she could retort though Naruto continued, "Let's go to the party, I should start making up now." He told her, pulling her hand away from his face before allowing his chakra to cover both of them, and performing a seal-less Body Flicker, disappearing in an instant, leaving no trace of himself or his friend behind.
A perfect Body Flicker.
Inside the small, two story house that was the Uzumaki-Namikaze household that housed three individuals, a multitude of people were currently standing in the living room of the house that was connected with a medium sized kitchen.
In the middle of the group stood Mito Uzumaki-Namikaze chatting with a small group of female friends. She was a carbon copy of her mother, her round face, and beautiful red hair that flowed behind her and down to the middle of her back.
The house was full of the up and coming graduating class of Genin which mostly consisted of the well-known clan heirs. Standing around the walls stood the older generation of ninja that happened to know Mito, her brother, or her parents in a friendly way. They watched the now thirteen year old girl and her group of friends as they talked; ignoring the loud behavior of a Kiba Inuzuka as he himself was talking with his male group of friends that attended the party.
Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze stood in the kitchen, in each other's arms as they watched their daughter happily, proud of the girl that stood there happily talking away.
"If only Naruto-kun was here" a sad Kushina muttered to Minato, her eyes dimming slightly as she realized her only son still hadn't returned.
Minato nodded silently, he missed his son, it had been so long since he had last seen him, and when he did it was a request to be on leave for three years to train. It wasn't exactly a pleasant talk, Minato being a father that didn't want to see his son leave for three years after just returning from a year long deployment in Kiri. He had fought to keep his son, but Naruto was stubborn on the matter, something that surprised him greatly.
"He'll be back; he said he was going to train somewhere safe. I trust him." Minato told her, giving his wife's shoulder a reassuring squeeze to ease the tension that seemed to flood her body.
"I hope you're right Min-" Kushina was cut off when in the middle of the room, behind Mito, appeared two figures out of thin air.
"Naruto! You jerk! At least tell me before you use the Body Flicker!"
"Ah, sorry Yugao-san."
Taking a look around, Yugao blushed in embarrassment as all eyes seemed to be on them, "And only you would body flicker into the middle of everything!" She berated once again, doing what she could to hide the tint of red that formed on her cheeks.
Naruto himself used that as his cue to look around the room, "Ah, sorry everyone." Naruto apologized, bowing to the general crowd, his voice as monotone as ever seemed to bounce off the walls as the room had fallen silent at the appearance of the two members of ANBU. Naruto himself dressed in the normal cloak of an ANBU agent while Yugao was wearing the standard armor, with a short sleeved black undershirt revealing her spiral ANBU tattoo on her right shoulder.
"Onii-chan…?" The voice was but a whisper but everyone could hear it in the room, everyone could hear the raw emotion that flowed with the voice and the trembling, everyone could tell the person was already on the verge of tears.
Responding on instinct, Naruto turned to the new voice and looked down into the wide purple eyes of his sister, he could see the tears building up as she stared into his stormy blues. "Hey Mito-chan." Naruto replied lamely, emotion beginning to flood his voice as he got down on one knee, lowering himself just below his sisters 4'10" frame.
The red-headed teen jumped forward, arms outstretched, and latched onto her older brother desperately; just hoping he wouldn't disappear from her grasp. When Mito was able to get a solid grab on her brother she couldn't hold back the sobs that began to wrack her body as she cried freely into her brother's cloak.
In response, Naruto freed his arms from under his sister's grasp and out of his cloak, allowing his pale skin to show as he wrapped his sister in a tight hug.
"Onii-chan… Onii-chan…" Mito repeated the mantra as she sobbed happily into the nape of her brothers neck, overwhelmed with joy that he was home, even if it was only for a minute, she was able to hold her brother.
"I'm back Mito-chan." Naruto whispered to her, one of his hands rubbed her back soothingly, allowing some of his special chakra to enter her body, helping her calm down, he didn't exactly want her to hyperventilate.
After a few seconds of allowing his sister to calm down, Naruto pulled back and got a good look at her, she had grown so much from the last time he had seen her, "Look who's grown." He joked as he ruffled the girl's hair, getting a cute pout from her, "And it's your birthday, you're growing up so much." He said before reaching into his cloak and unclipping his ANBU mask from his belt, as well as reaching into one of his kunai pouches and pulling out his very first headband from when he became a Genin 13 years ago.
When he pulled his hand out of his cloak, his mask was held towards his sister, his headband draped over the snout, the black cloth that the metal plating was attached to hung loosely from his hand.
Naruto's smile only grew as he watched his sisters eyes widened as she looked at the items in awe.
"I know you've always wanted to wear my mask and Genin headband…" He trailed off, leaving the rest for his sister to interpret.
Mito looked at her brother in surprise, but if he was giving her his mask that meant… "You're leaving the ANBU?" She asked, surprised that her brother would leave the branch of the military that he basically grew up in. Mito understood the rules of the ninja world, being the daughter of the Hokage made sure that she knew everything. And when an ANBU was giving up his mask, he was giving up his life within the covert branch of soldiers.
Naruto nodded, allowing the girl to take the items before he stood, looking to his father and standing up to his full height, "With your permission Hokage-sama, I request to be relieved of duty within the ANBU Black Ops and rejoin the ranks of the conventional shinobi." Naruto asked professionally, adding in a bow as he stood stock still, his feet together at the heel and hands in fists to his side, hidden beneath his cloak.
Minato looked at his son surprised, he never thought his son would ever volunteer to leave the ANBU services, though inwardly he was smiling brightly, his son was finally getting out of the hellhole that was the ANBU Black Ops, yes the ANBU was needed but they sacrificed so much to do what they did for the village. And Minato wouldn't lie; he was being selfish in the fact that he had always wished his son never would've joined the Black Ops.
Minato felt a crushing pain in his hand and looked down to see his wife looking at him, a smile that was all too sweet as she squeezed his hand painfully, "Minato-kun," She whispered dangerously, "You better accept that or else…" She trailed off, allowing Minato's imagination to do its work.
Minato gulped, why was his wife so scary?! Didn't she already know he was going to accept that his son be filtered into the conventional Shinobi? He missed his son too! He coughed into his free hand and smiled at his son, "Just Tou-san here Naruto," He said with a warm smile on his face, "But as Hokage, I accept your request to join the conventional ranks of shinobi within the village as the rank of Elite Jōnin based off of your previous evaluations." He said before moving forward, pulling his wife with him till they stood in the middle of all their guests and in front of Naruto.
Both parents stretched out their arms and embraced both their son and daughter in a family hug, savoring in the feeling of their family finally being together as one after so long. Kushina was balling hysterically as she squeezed her entire family together, she was beyond happy that her son was out of the shadows within the Black Ops, she would be able to see him more often and wouldn't have to worry too much about the missions he would receive.
Around the room warm smiles and watery eyes looked onto the family of their Hokage, understanding what it was like when a family member or loved one was gone for so long, the feelings that flooded forward when finally being rewarded with their return was one of the greatest feeling that almost everyone had felt when someone was within any branch of the Shinobi forces.
As the family broke apart from the hug, Naruto had a soft smile adorning his face as he couldn't help but feel the happiness radiate off his family. It made him feel so much more at home, something he couldn't say about the mountains of his training ground within the land of his summons. This felt so right to him and he couldn't have possibly been happier. He watched as his little sister stared in awe at the mask in her hand, a large smile plastered on her face as she instantly turned around and began to rub it in her friend's faces.
Naruto couldn't help but sigh, the same old Mito-chan.
He turned to his mother as she wrapped her arms around his torso; on instinct he wrapped his around her body, allowing her to dig her face into his cloak. "Our baby is back Minato." Naruto could hear his mother whisper the words into his chest, just loud enough for his father to hear and give a lop-sided teary-eyed smile to his son.
"Welcome home, Son."
During the duration of the party Naruto was doing his best to make small talk with the few people he remembered that showed up to his little sister's birthday party. It wasn't his strongest suit and after spending three years away from human contact, it seemed to get even worse. For the most part he answered questions about what he was doing. During the night his voice wasn't as dull as most were used to, not even Naruto could get rid of the emotions that were flooding his mind at the feeling of being home.
Throughout his conversations though he noticed one person he wanted to speak to the most aside from his family was actively avoiding him every chance he was able to get close. However, now that most people had filtered off for the night he decided to see what was going on. Looking at his sleeping sister on the couch and then to his parents, he motioned his head towards the door and they clearly got the message. They gave him small encouraging smiles as he moved outside, knowing where the chakra signature was standing and three smaller ones accompanied around the larger Jōnin level signature.
As Naruto stepped out into the starry skied night, his skin tingled from the cold breeze that covered his body, his skin no longer covered by his ANBU issued cloak. Without his cloak it revealed the normal ANBU style armor that all Black Ops agents wore. His right shoulder proudly displayed his spiral ANBU tattoo and showed off his obviously strong, yet toned build.
He looked around and noticed the person he was looking for, standing up, surrounded by three wolf-looking dogs, all laying down with their heads resting on their paws.
"So you're actually leaving ANBU?" A soft feminine voice questioned the person Naruto was observing turned around showing the face of Hana Inuzuka. Her brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and left two brown strands to frame her face. Her cheeks were covered in the normal Inuzuka clan fang tattoos, her black eyes stared at Naruto, taking in his physical changes since he had left four years ago.
Naruto himself stared at her, looking at how much she had changed from when he had last seen her. He smiled at the pocket less form fitting Chūnin vest she now wore, the zipper pulled down to reveal a small amount of cleavage. Her legs covered in form fitting shorts that were cut just above her knee and bandages adorned her right arm that was just under a tattoo on her shoulder, it seemed to resemble a flower, he smiled at the pun to her name.
Without answering he moved forward to embrace her, wrapping his arms around her and digging his head into her shoulder. The action took the Inuzuka by surprise but she couldn't hold back the smile that engulfed her as she wrapped her arms around Naruto, her nin-dogs that rested next to her didn't react to the sudden interaction between the two, already showing their trust in Naruto.
"According to Tou-san, I'm out of the Black Ops." By now he had pulled back from the hug and was looking into Hana's eyes. They watched each other's eyes, communicating silently between their eyes, and all of a sudden their faces moved forward towards each other, their lips coming in contact between the two. Instantly Naruto deepened the kiss, an action that surprised Hana, however it wasn't rejected as she held the kiss, moving her hands to his short blonde spiky locks and slowly running her fingers through them.
Naruto himself was surprised as he followed his instincts on this intimate action. He had kissed Hana many times before, but this… this one he could feel his own emotions rolling off of himself. As he pulled back from the kiss he stared into Hana's eyes and could see the longing in them as she stared at him, a large smile on her face.
"You're different." Hana said happily as she held onto Naruto's golden locks, her eyes examining all of his features closely.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "I'd hope so." He told her his smile having grown in size, "I missed you." He said after a beat, his voice low and the tone of his voice growing in sadness, "I'm so sorry for leaving so unexpectedly, we got called on a mission." His voice had grown in darkness as he remembered his time in Kiri, "After that mission," He heaved a heavy sigh; he didn't want to talk about this now. He had just got back and wanted to enjoy his time with the people he cared about not re-live his life in the past and give reasons as to why he just disappeared, but in his mind he owed it to Hana to tell her what exactly caused him to leave for so long, he never even got the chance to tell her he had a mission unlike with his father, "I had to get away Hana-chan, I had to… I left to the lands of my summons to get away, to learn, to just understand everything that happened!" Naruto whispered desperately to Hana, he wanted her to understand however he couldn't tell her the full story.
Nothing about Kiri could be known by the public. It would ruin the image of Konoha.
"You baka." Naruto had his head turned, looking away from Hana, and was surprised when he felt her hands move to his cheeks and pull him into another passionate kiss. When she pulled away, before Naruto could ask a question she began speaking, "It doesn't matter why or where Naruto. You sound like you needed the time away and it seems like it's done you good, it was hard, and I was sad that you were gone for so long and… and I was angry when I saw Yugao or Kakashi walking around but I never saw you. It first felt like you were avoiding me, but they eventually told me you were gone, you left the village to train for a while. It would've been nice to have been told before you left, but I understand Naruto, there's no need to worry about it."
Hana drove the sentiment home by moving her arms from his face to wrap around his body and squeezing tightly, "You're home and okay, that's all that matters right now Naruto-kun."
"Thank you Hana-chan." Naruto's voice was barely audible to her, even with her keen hearing and his head being right next to hers. Hana just rubbed his back soothingly, easing his overly tense body.
Kushina and Minato stood in the frame of their open door, watching their only son interact closely with the heiress of the Inuzuka clan, both smiling softly seeing their son being so… human, with her.
Kushina leaned the side of her husband, his hand wrapped around her shoulder, "She's good for him." The fiery red head admitted softly, her eyes staring at the form of her son being hugged by Hana.
Minato nodded, "He's gotten better." He said, he was happy for his son's change. It was a complete improvement from when he had seen him three years ago. Before he had sent him on the mission to Kiri, he was obedient and emotionless. When he came back from Kiri, he was broken; he had never once seen his son cry. It killed him to know that it was his fault that his son was exposed to those sorts of horrors of war, it was even worse to know that his son had committed them for the sake of the village.
"Maybe he'll be able to interact with the other Jōnin better now. Maybe give him a Genin team?" Kushina suggested, in all honesty she just wanted her son to teach her daughter. Mito looked up to Naruto like a hero, more so than Minato or herself, and she could already see the benefits of her son teaching a Genin team. It would allow him to interact with the other Jōnin sensei and Genin hopefuls, hopefully opening him up.
However, she wanted her daughter to be strong, and Kushina knew that her son was stronger than herself before he left, already having full control over three chakra elements, Kakashi's Lightning Blade, a firm grasp of fuinjutsu and the fundamentals of Hiraishin, a skilled user of a bastardized version of the Strong Fist taijutsu style, as well as a well versed user of the Crescent Moon Dance kenjutsu style, he would be the perfect sensei for her daughter.
And the best part, she would be able to see her two kids interact more often than what was common for her.
Minato nodded at the idea, Kakashi never really wanted a team, and now that his son was out of ANBU he would be able to give him a team when graduation was finished in a few days. He was able to understand that Kushina wanted their daughter to be taught by their son, and that wouldn't be hard to arrange. He could put Sasuke Uchiha on the team as well; Sasuke looked up to Naruto almost as much as he did his own brother Itachi. Now he just needed to think of a third member but that could wait for graduation day.
"I'll talk to Kakashi, knowing him he'll just fail his Genin team." Minato sighed; there was no changing good ole' Kakashi.
Kushina nodded her earlier, "That baka." She muttered, she loved Kakashi like her own son. Minato's old Genin team and she had been through so much together that they couldn't help but feel like a family. However Kakashi had some odd quirks as a ninja that he used to help deal with his past regrets, she didn't fault him on it, though some of the habits were obnoxious, that idiot was always late! None of it matter to Kushina though, she would always be there for the white haired Cyclops, even if he did piss her off all the time, damn pervert…
Naruto and Hana separated and had moved to enter the Namikaze household when they noticed Naruto's parents standing in the doorway; they didn't seem to notice that Hana and he had moved from their earlier position. Naruto coughed into his hand to garner both his parents' attention, when they looked at him both their smiled seemed to grow in size at the two eighteen year olds in front of them.
"Otou-san, Okaa-san, I wanted to ask permission for Hana-chan to stay the night, if that is alright with you." Naruto asked politely, adding a bow to the end of his request out of habit.
"Of course she can Sochi." Kushina moved from her place next to Minato and moved forward, taking her sons face in her hands and laying a gentle kiss on his cheek, "No need to be so stiff around us Naruto-kun, we're family." Kushina admonished lightheartedly before moving back to stand next to her husband.
"Just don't make too much noise Naruto-kun, your sisters sleeping," Minato said with a smile, completely unaware of how his words sounded to everyone around him until the feeling of a terrible power washed over him.
"Minato, you pervert!" Kushina yelled, her hair waving behind her in nine separate tails of menacing horror, her face red in anger, and her fists clenched angrily.
Minato looked at her in fear, his hands up in a gesture of surrender as he stepped away from his terrifying wife, "Wha-? Huh?" He questioned incoherently before he thought over his previous words, "Wait Kushina-chan! That's not what I mea-"Before he could finish, his ear was grabbed violently by the angry red head, eliciting a very feminine scream from the blonde Hokage.
"I'm going to kill you and that pervert Jiraiya!" She yelled before the two disappeared in a messy body flicker, leaving a blushing Hana and Naruto standing in the open doorway.
When Naruto looked to Hana, he couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face when he watched her look away hurriedly, avoiding eye contact. She looked cute when she was embarrassed.
"Let's go inside Hana-chan." He said, getting a quick nod of affirmation he allowed her to enter first, followed by her three ninja hounds, and himself entering last. When the group made their way into the living room they noticed that Mito was fast asleep on the couch. "I'll meet you in my room Hana-chan, just give me a minute to clean up quickly."
Hana nodded, walking up to him and giving him a quick peck on the cheek, she sauntered off and towards the stairs on the far end of the room. With a quick wink towards her boyfriend she disappeared up the stairs, surprised by her own seductive behavior. Stupid blonde Hokage's giving her perverted ideas.
Naruto had a raised eyebrow from his girlfriend's actions. "That was… odd." He muttered to himself. Hana was very forward in their relationship before he had deployed to Kiri, while he was more cautious. The idea of a relationship had honestly scared him; it wasn't something he was taught about during his training.
The only reason he had gotten himself into a relationship was his close friendship to Hana before he had entered the academy and a mission he had saved her while he was in ANBU. She was a persistent person that he couldn't shake and he had somehow garnered enough attention for her to seek him down between missions for him to take her on a date. It was an odd start that he couldn't help but smile at.
While he reminisced he retrieved a blanket that was within a closet close to the front door and covered his sleeping sister. Naruto knelt down in front of his sleeping sister, "Good night Mito-chan, I'm glad to be back," He said quietly to her sleeping form, "We'll catch up tomorrow and I'll even help you prepare for the Genin exam coming up soon. I'll do my best to start making up for me being gone so much when I was in the ANBU. I know I have no excuse for being gone so much seeing as Itachi was around more than I was." Naruto gave a hollow laugh at that, "I'm surprised you don't look up to him more than you do me, he helped you and Sasuke so much more than I have." He used his hand to move stray strands of Mito's fiery red hair that had fallen over her face, "I promise to make it up to you Mito-chan, somehow, I promise." He leaned in and kissed her bare forehead and stood up, taking one last second to make sure the blanket covered her, he left the room, turning off the lights in the process and blanketing the room in a comfortable darkness.
Naruto walked along a hallway that had multiple wooden doors spread along it. Pictures of the inhabitants hung on the wall; he took notice that he himself was scarcely a part of the family pictures.
Ignoring his depressing thoughts he moved to the wooden door farthest along the hallway and entered the room. Not to his surprise he noticed the room was blank except for the two pieces of furniture that made it even seem like a room. A single bed was pushed along the wall, a Hana Inuzuka hidden beneath the covers, on the left of the bed a single night stand stood with a candle stand, strewn on the floor next to the night stand were the clothes of the female in his bed, he took note that no underwear was among the pile and hopes that his girlfriend wore underwear.
"This is very forward of you." His voice filled with amusement as he moved to sit down on the left side of the bed.
Hana scooted to the opposite side, giving room for Naruto to sit, "Take it as you will Naruto-kun." She said silkily as she watched Naruto undress himself from his ANBU armor. The loud clanks of his flak jacket and arm guards hitting the floor, for a second he hesitated before removing his Anbu pants, tool belt and sandals, he then slid himself underneath the covers with Hana, leaving him dressed in his black boxers and his black short sleeved ANBU t-shirt.
With a sigh he took off his black ANBU t-shirt, revealing his back to the Inuzuka watching from behind. He could hear her surprised gasp and the rustling of the sheets as she sat up and moved closer to him, "What happened?" Her voice was a whisper, full of surprise. He felt her soft, delicate hands rest on his back, tracing the hundreds of scars that ran horizontally up and down his back.
"Training." Naruto said stupidly, turning his head to meet the concerned visage of his girlfriend that looked at him, his eyes roamed down and silently thanked that she was wearing plain black under wear.
"Naruto… training you get bruises and a few cuts… this is torture." Hana said, her eyes moving from between the cuts and his blank face.
"Emotional conditioning." Naruto's voice was blank and quiet as he spoke, "This isn't something many people know about, but I had joined a separate branch of ANBU once I made Chūnin. Root or the Foundation as some people called it. These were ANBU whose training was personally overseen by Shimura Danzo, we were the ones who worked from the shadows within Konoha." Hana rested one of her hands on his shoulder, and Naruto reached for it and took hold of it, smiling inwardly as he felt her squeeze his hand, "We did what Konoha didn't want to officially get involved in, and Danzo made sure we were the best. Weapons don't need emotions so he did what he could to make that happen. To the regular Root soldier they would kill their best friend." Hana's eyes widened at that, how could someone do that? But before she could question it, Naruto continued, "But since I was the son of the Yondaime, Danzo couldn't let me go through that in fear of me telling the Hokage, so I went through a different form of emotional conditioning. I was beaten till I could feel nothing; to resist torture, that's what those scars are, lash marks. I would be sent on missions to kill till I felt nothing but apathy towards my targets; I would watch innocents be killed by the people I would have to protect. A show of emotion would only encourage more punishment from Danzo-sama" He finished, his hand was being gripped painfully by Hana, but he made no move to make her let go.
Hana was filled with rage, how could someone force people to go through that form of training? And how had the Hokage not known?! But most of all, why did Naruto getting beaten and sent on missions to kill till he felt only apathy, not garner attention from the Hokage? "Why didn't Hokage-sama stop him from doing those things to you?" She questioned fiercely, her hand unconsciously tightening its grip on Naruto's.
"It is commonplace for ninja within the ANBU force to go through some form of interrogation training, nowhere near as intense as mine but it wouldn't be enough to garner attention from the Hokage, unless it was me. I wanted to be stronger, that's one of the reasons why I wanted to join Root, and having my Otou-san step in to stop the training because it was too harsh would be pointless and nothing but what a child or coward would do. I told my father what happened, but I asked for him not to step in." He said, surprising Hana as she looked at him disbelieving at what he was willing to go through to get stronger, "We were trying to bring down Root at the same time while Danzo trained me, and that wouldn't have been enough evidence to stop Danzo, but at this point we hadn't known Danzo had his shinobi kill each other for training till after Danzo was stopped." Naruto gave Hana a small smile, trying to help reassure her, "It was nothing I couldn't handle Hana-chan, they're just scars, we all have them."
Hana shook her head; Naruto was always willing to go through hell to get stronger, but not for his own sake, but for the sake of the village and his loved ones. It was one of the reasons why she cared about him so much, his selflessness was astonishing to her. A question ran through her mind, if killing their friends hadn't brought Danzo down, then what did? "What did Danzo do to finally get Hokage-sama to stop him?" She questioned hesitantly, dreading that answer to come.
At this, Naruto turned his body, allowing his hand to stay connected with Hana's as he turned. When his entire front was facing Hana, she looked down and stared, confused, and disgusted at the same time.
Over Naruto's heart, covering his left pectoral his healthy pale skin turned into a deathly white and flaky patch of flesh. Emerging from the patch of deathly white skin was a face that looked eerily familiar to the Shodaime Hokage, Senju Hashirama. His face was stuck in a visage of pain, eyelids squeezed together, and mouth slightly agape.
"W-what is that?" Hana asked, her free hand slowly tracing the outline where Naruto's normally healthy pale skin met with the deathly white.
"To make me stronger and control me better, Danzo-sama implanted the cells of Senju Hashirama the Shodaime Hokage, into my body. With his cells successfully merging with mine, I am able to use the Shodaime's kekkei genkai, the Wood Release, though my usage of the Wood Release is much weaker than that of the Shodaime's." Naruto couldn't help the small smile that came to his face as Hana looked at him in awe.
"That ability of the Shodaime Hokage, that's incredible… but how did he control you?" Hana asked.
"In order to control me, during the operation Danzo-sama had placed a forbidden seal on my body, which if activated would render me paralyzed or if he wanted, could kill me. I wasn't able to tell anyone about the transplanting of Hashirama's cells into me, or about the seal. What Danzo-sama didn't know is that I had already located the seal and was able to make contact with Jiraiya-sama to get it removed. It was a risk Danzo-sama was willing to make, and a risk we were prepared for. We eventually found out he had placed the seal on most of his soldiers and it was enough to bring him down."
Hana almost laughed, Naruto made everything sound so simple to a situation that would possibly have a normal ninja like her quivering in her pants. The slightest mistake and he would've died. Though it showed just how much of a good shinobi Naruto was, keeping his calm in a stressful situation and just going with the flow of things that happened to him.
"You're an idiot." Hana muttered, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arms around his body. She pulled him down onto the bed with her, their faces inches from touching and their legs tangled together as they moved their bodies to get comfortable in each other's embrace.
They laid in each other's arms, enjoying the comfortable silence that settled between them. They each silently thanked Kami that each of them was alive and able to be with each other. Hana thankful that Naruto had made it through everything he had done as a pre-teen to help the village. She could only imagine what else Naruto had done, the amount of missions he had completed let her imagination roam.
Her arms unknowingly gripped Naruto tighter, not wanting to let go of him. Her worry showing on her face, she felt Naruto's hand rest against her cheek and his calm voice break the silence,
"No need to worry Hana-chan, I'm here."
A/N: Just an FYI for everyone, I will probably get one or two more chapters out for this story and my other one Naruto: The Storm, before posts stop for 4-6 months. I'm currently in my Future Soldier training before I get shipped off to Basic Combat Training in 2 months.
Also the pairing for this story is a bit undecided, obviously right now its Naruto/Hana and I hate harems (3+ girls). But later, and just maybe I'll be adding Yugao or Anko into the mix but that's a big if. Some opinions would be nice about this as well as having some reasoning behind your opinion/idea. I won't be putting girls in just for Naruto to have a major orgy, I absolutely hate stories that do that.