Disclaimer: My name isn't Kishimoto. Therefore, I don't own Naruto.
Chapter One: Homecoming
Two figures stared at the break in the treeline before them. One was tall, easily near seven feet tall. The other was around a foot and a half shorter. Both wore covering clothes, the shorter wearing a long coat with a hood that was pulled up, the other wearing a stark white trench coat with a black low brimmed hat. The shorter one's head twitched slightly as he thought about what laid beyond the trees.
"Nii-san… we're really back here aren't we?" The shorter of the duo spoke quietly. The hat on the taller shifted as he looked over at the younger one. He opened his mouth to say that they didn't have to return, but as soon as he finished speaking, his shoulder flared in pain. He subsided with a small scowl as he rubbed the spot under his trench coat. He pulled the brim of his hat down further and sighed.
"Yeah otouto, you're home." At those words, the younger one looked up nervously. Is Aniki leaving me? The shorter figure was now worried. His fears were assuaged when then other continued speaking. "And I guess we'll have to find some place big enough for the both of us. Right?" The trench coat clad one had caught the worry emanating from his companion and knew what it was about. Still, he knew that for worrying his traveling partner, he would be in a bit of trouble. He didn't know what it was until the boy glared at him before shifting behind and climbing up his shoulders and pulling his own hood down and plopping the hat on his sunkissed hair. The boy then grabbed the dark brown hair that had spilled out when the hat was removed, getting two heavy hanks, one in each hand. These he used as reins to guide the other towards the gate. He paused and concentrated for a second, before two soft pops echoed around them.
The taller figure winced as his hair was tugged and yanked. He resisted the strong urge to reach up and swat the boy off, instead heading for the break in the trees and the gate that lay beyond them. He winced again when one of the smaller figure's legs slammed down on the sore spot from earlier. He repressed another groan, knowing that what had caused the pain would be dealt with soon enough.
At the gates, two men stood half asleep, leaning against the metal-sheathed wood. One had a senbon rolling back and forth between his lips as he chewed on it. He sent a scowl at the other person, the reason he was back on gate-guard duty. Kotetsu sighed when Izumo snored lightly, showing that he was more than half-asleep. Nothing ever friggin happens at the gates. Everyone who wants to cause trouble avoids them and gets detected breaking in. The senbon chewing man ranted on in this vein for several minutes, before he noticed that someone, no, two people, were approaching. The reason the Chuunin had been confused was that one of the people was sitting on the shoulders of the other.
Kotetsu smacked Izumo awake as the two travelers arrived at the gate. The lower, taller figure raised one hand, showing a small piece of paper with the Hokage's Permit Seal on it. Kotetsu blinked and looked at Izumo, who took the paper and checked it with a few techniques. Finally, he nodded and handed the paper back.
"It's legit. They can enter. Welcome to Konoha travelers." The Eternal Chuunin Gate Guards turned and pushed the gates open enough for the figures to enter. After the two had entered, the guards pulled the doors shut. Izumo immediately leaned back against the door, settling down to return to sleep now that the momentary excitement had passed. Kotetsu rolled his eyes and went back to scanning the forest trail.
Izumo's nap was interrupted when something small poked his leg. He cracked his eyes open and looked down, and blinked in confusion when he saw a fox sitting at his feet. He decided to ignore it and leaned back to return to sleep. If he had kept his eyes open a moment longer, he would have seen a human grin stretch the fox's lips before it growled quietly. There was a loud report.
Kotetsu leapt to his feet, senbon gripped between his fingers as he looked around in shock. "Izumo, what on earth happened? Did you hear that explosion?" There was a snarl to his side, causing the senbon chewing Chuunin to look at his partner. His eyes widened comically when he saw that Izumo was covered in Haruno-pink paint, with some dripping down from his nose to stain his vest. The unpainted Chuunin did a double-take, then began laughing.
"Hahaha! Looks like Naruto's back! Bet he was the one riding the other's shoulders. But who was that guy?" Kotetsu kept laughing, knowing the only person who would be brazen enough to prank a Chuunin. There was a small chirp at his ear, causing the man to nearly swallow his senbon in startlement. He looked to his shoulder, and grimaced. A small jay was sitting there, with a definitely unjayish smirk stretching its beak. The Chuunin barely had time to close his eyes and lips before the bird exploded, covering his face, hair, and torso in bright sky blue paint.
Izumo reached up and wiped paint off his face. He opened his eyes and blinked the paint out of them, glad that Naruto had used non-irritating paint. He looked over at the senbon chewer, and doubled over laughing when he saw a blue stick sticking out from blue lips.
"Oh yeah, definitely Naruto's work. Things just got interesting again. By the way Kotetsu, you owe me fifty ryo. You lost, he pranked us first out of everyone." Kotetsu reached up and flicked the senbon out of his mouth, and wiped the excess paint off his face. He scowled and pulled out his money-purse, and forked over the money. Then he slipped his pouch away, and placed another senbon into his mouth. The two men leaned back against the gate, now more alert due to the boy's prank. Wonder if he does that on purpose… oh man Naruto, we've missed ya. Kotetsu resumed watching the trail, with his partner actually awake.
Office of the Sandaime Hokage
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked back and forth between the two people standing in front of him. Tanned hands were laced behind blonde hair as the shorter person stood silent while the taller, darker-haired person told him some of what he had taught the younger. When the boy began miming a mouth moving up and down pointlessly, the young man reached out and smacked him upside the back of his head.
"Otouto, get out of here. I need to talk to the old man alone for a bit. I know you're eager to go visit the Ichiraku's, so go." The boy jumped up and down in place before rushing out. The two men sighed and grinned almost simultaneously. Then the younger man looked at the older man. "Alright, now that the brat's gone, we need to talk about this." He reached up and pulled down his trench coat and his shirt, revealing a seal inscribed on his neck. "I brought otouto back in time to rejoin with the last year of his age group, so it's time to pull this thing off." Sarutobi sighed and rubbed his head. He had known this would eventually come up, but Jiraiya had avoided all of his messengers. As it was…
"I'm sorry Rei-kun. The person who could remove it is missing in action. At best, I can alter it to where it only serves as a warning device in case Naruto is in danger." Ronnel blinked and nearly slammed his palms down on the desk. He forcibly restrained himself.
"Will it have the distance clause?" Seeing the Hokage's nugatory headshake, the younger man sighed deeply, then nodded. "Fine, alter it. Then we'll talk about otouto's skills, and a few other things that have come up that you need to be aware of." Sarutobi stood up and moved around his desk, opening up a small cabinet and pulling out a quill and some ink. He motioned for Ronnel to continue speaking. The young man launched into the full story as Sarutobi set to work.
With Naruto, Ichiraku's Ramen Shop
Naruto slipped into the shop quietly, a large grin on his face as he surveyed the menu they had on the wall. He paused in shock when he saw the largest size available. They named a size after me… and it's twice the size of the large? Yatta! He shook his head, the goofy grin widening as he kept reading. He blinked again when he saw that they had also named a dish after him. He grinned and sat down at the small bar and waited for Ayame to take his order. As he waited, he slipped his hood further over his face, hiding his blonde hair and the whisker marks on his cheeks.
Ayame came out of the back, hastily snatching a pencil out from behind her ear as she went to take the newest customer's order.
"I'll take two Uzumaki sized Naruto specials please." Something about the customer's voice was familiar to Ayame, but she couldn't quite place it. However, she did know that this man had just ordered sixty ounces of ramen!
"Uh sir, you do know that an Uzumaki sized bowl is thirty ounces, so two would be sixty? Do you want me to bring one out in a take-home container?" Naruto, hidden under his hood, shook his head.
"I'll eat it all, you know that." The waitress tilted her head confusedly. She didn't think she knew this person, but there was still that niggling sense of familiarity about his voice. Then she nearly fell over in shock when the person flipped his hood up to reveal sunkissed hair, cerulean blue eyes shot with tints of red, and six streaks, three on each cheek. She stared for several moments, unbelieving. Then, without saying a word, she walked over to a calendar and checked something on it. She spun on her heel and walked into the back.
"Father… Naruto-kun's back!" After this statement, two things happened. From the back there was a loud clatter. The other was that Ayame launched herself from where she was standing, wrapping Naruto into a tight hug, smashing his face against her chest. A tall, rotund man in chef's garb pushed aside the flap to check for himself what his daughter had said. When he saw the blonde Jinchuruuki gasping for air from his daughter's grasp, he laughed aloud, a deep bellowing sound.
Naruto let the man laugh happily for several minutes, but he had a problem. He knew that he didn't have the money to pay for his order, considering that Ronnel kept all their money with him to prevent Naruto from spending it all on ramen. The boy scowled at this but accepted it. Now however, it hurt since he couldn't buy his ramen from the Ichiraku's.
A sudden grin split Naruto's cheeks as he came up with a solution. The sympathy card would work perfectly as both of the Ichiraku's cared about him, and would let him get away with things that say others, say his adopted older brother, would not. He pouted, catching Ayame's attention as she watched her father laugh.
"Naruto-kun, what's wrong?" The boy's lower lip quivered.
"Ronnel-aniki wouldn't let me have ramen…" The lie rolled off his tongue easily, probably because Ronnel hadn't let him have ramen, or rather, wouldn't let him have the amount of ramen he wanted. Still, he didn't have to clarify, as Ichiraku immediately declared that as his first day back, this would be a celebration, and the boy wouldn't pay for his food. As Naruto cackled in his mind, he prepared an apology for what he had just gotten his brother in to.
Office of the Sandaime Hokage
Ronnel sneezed just before feeling a cold shiver run down his spine. Sarutobi, who had finished modifying the seal and was stepping back, looked worried. Catching the look, Ronnel took a guess.
"Relax old man. I figure 'Ruto was talking with someone about me. Probably made up something for the Ichiraku's." Hiruzen watched him for a moment, then nodded, satisfied that nothing had gone wrong with the sealing. He walked back over to his desk and sat down, watching Ronnel quietly. Finally, he steepled his fingers together and leaned forward.
"Ronnel, there is one more thing I would like to speak to you about." At the man's inquisitive look, Sarutobi continued. "I want you to join the forces of Konoha." He missed Ronnel's eyes tightening. "I can either instate you as a Chuunin without trouble, or if you care to take an examination, I can probably get you instated as a Jounin." He looked up and saw that Ronnel was standing up, pacing.
"Look old man. There's a reason I am a wandering shinobi. My village was wiped out because of a traitor. The few of us who survived have all scattered to the winds. I wander to find the man who betrayed us and slaughtered my village. I can't… I can't have that happen again." Sarutobi watched as the traveling shinobi paced back and forth, clenching his hands until his knuckles turned white.
"Rei-Uzumaki Ronnel, like it or not, you're a true role model now. If you don't join Konoha, Naruto's one role model, the only person who hasn't left him in years, will be someone who doesn't find connections to a village important, someone who is shiftless." Ronnel froze in his tracks, turning a cold eye towards Sarutobi. "Don't look at me, that's the way it is. You are his role model. Do you really want to show him that it's fine not to belong to a village? That--" Ronnel brought his hand up, cutting off the Sandaime's words.
"I'll do it, I'll do it. But I'm not joining the ranks until Naruto does. Until then, I'll just help train him and his friends some." The man stood up slowly, stretching out. "I have one more condition. I want all information you have on the Cult of Jashin, and more specifically, Hidan. And I want first crack at any mission that involves Hidan." Sarutobi looked troubled by that. Before he could protest, Ronnel explained something that had the Hokage's eyes widen in shock. He gave a half nod, before letting Ronnel leave. The wanderer walked out of the building and raised one hand to his head.
"I need dango." He looked around sniffing the air then set off in a random direction.
Ichiraku's Ramen Shop
Naruto, Teuchi and Ayame were talking and laughing together when Ronnel showed up. Naruto blinked looking at his sensei. His hair was scruffy and patchy like someone had been messing with it. He had a line of blood trailing down one cheek from a slice just under his eye socket. The eyes were looking definitely harried as they scanned back and forth nervously.
"Old man, you don't serve dango here do you?" Teuchi blinked. Of all the things that they had been expecting the frantic looking Ronnel to say, that was not on the list. He looked over at the menu list on the wall.
"Only basic sweet dango, why?" Ronnel seemed to deflate and sank into the seat next to Naruto. The boy looked at his adoptive brother worriedly.
"I'll have two orders of that, and two to go. And no, I'm not going to explain." Naruto blinked as he sat up and looked at the slumped over form of his teacher curiously. He'd have to get whatever had happened out of the older shinobi later. For now, he settled for watching as Teuchi moved back to the back of the restaurant and began frying up the dango. Ayame looked at them, also curious, but shrugged and went to take the order of another person who had entered the shop just after Ronnel. Teuchi returned with the dango a few minutes later, taking the money from Ronnel, who immediately ate the first two orders and stood up, grabbing the to-go order. A look to Naruto, and they stepped out into the street.
"Ok, we need a place to stay Naruto. Got any ideas?" The boy thought to himself while Ronnel calmed down, regrouping from whatever had freaked him out. His first warning that Naruto had an idea was when he felt the boy swarm up his shoulders again. The blond boy grinned down at the older male's upturned face.
"I know a place! It's at the end of this road, but it's a long way down…" Ronnel's lips quirked. He knew what the boy wanted. He shook his head and began walking, only to stop when his head began to be used as a drum.
"You're going to do that the whole way there aren't you."
"Yup."
"Longer I take, the more you do it?"
"Yup." Naruto grinned cheekily as Ronnel's left hand came up and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"Fine fine. Hold on tight brat." Naruto braced himself as he felt his brother charge up chakra into his legs. He nearly squealed in joy when he heard his brother utter the name of the jutsu softly. "Shunpo." The duo vanished in a trail of dust.
Half a mile distant, Apartment Complex
A casual observer standing near the abandoned apartment complex would note a long streak of dust rushing towards the dilapidated building suddenly. Such an observer would also note a joy filled scream echoing down the street. Then they would see a pair of people skid to a halt in front of the building, throwing up a huge cloud of dust as the person actually moving twisted his feet at an angle, reminiscent of a skater braking on ice.
Naruto clapped his hands happily from Ronnel's shoulders before plopping his hands on the older male's head and vaulting off of him. The two strode to the front door, with the white-clad man sighing heavily when he saw the massive chain across the door.
"Well, it's a fixer-upper, that's for sure. Hang here a bit Naruto, I'll go get the key to this thing from the Hokage." He turned and was about to leave when his young companion grabbed his hand and began dragging him around to the side, following the wall, towards a small alcove built into the building. Ronnel watched in amusement as Naruto began tapping the wall, wondering why the boy was hitting stones in a pattern that reminded him of the swirled leaf that was Konoha's symbol. His eyes widened when the wall faded around the last brick, which Naruto caught in one hand and made sure to bring low.
"The old owner would lock me out sometimes, changing the locks whenever he found out that I had a key. Jiji got tired of me coming to him for a new key, so he showed me this. He said that this place was a really old building, like his teacher old! It was built so that people would be able to sneak out in case someone attacked the building. The wall reforms when this brick–" here in his explanation the Jinchuruuki wagged the brick that he had caught, "is placed back approximately where it was. Come on." Naruto stepped inside, looking at his brother expectantly, watching as said man followed him inside. The boy then held the stone in midair, letting Ronnel watch as the rest of the wall that had faded slowly came back into view, with the blonde boy barely snatching his hand out of the way in time to avoid having it caught there.
"Impressive Naruto. How many times did the old man have to explain that before you could remember what he was saying?" Ronnel's tone was light as he looked at his adopted little brother. Naruto scowled at him, but held up both hands, showing eight fingers. After Ronnel finished laughing at his brother's sheepish look, he managed to gasp out another question. "And how many times did your hand get caught in the wall as the Fuuinjutsu reactivated?" This time, Naruto growled at the older male, but relented and held up five fingers. That had Ronnel hit the ground, clutching his stomach laughing.
A few minutes later, after Ronnel could breathe again, he leaned against the wall and looked around. The place was coated in a thick layer of dust, indicating that it had not been cleaned in a long time. Cobwebs hung in the corners, thick with spiders and insect husks. He sighed gently when he saw that the stairs leading upstairs were literally falling apart, with large stretches simply missing. He rubbed his brow as he fought off the impending headache.
"Otouto, you lived here. How many floors are there?" The boy thought for a moment, tapping his chin.
"I think… there's this floor, and three floors up. And a really big basement. Why?"
"Trying to figure out living accommodations. Let's see, that basement is going to be our training center. This can be our cooking and dining floor. I'll take top floor, and you can have the floor under it." Naruto nodded to this, happy that he would be able to have a floor to himself. It would probably seem empty to the boy, but in time he would get used to it. "For tonight, we're going to focus on cleaning this place up, repairs will come later. I checked the schedule while I was heading up to the Hokage's office, the Academy starts in about a week."
Naruto nodded again, then took Ronnel's outstretched hand and helped him to his feet. "Come on Aniki, we can spend tonight in my old room. It's on the second floor." That was when Naruto turned around and saw the condition of the stairs. He blanched slightly, until he felt his brother tap his shoulder and point to his feet, which were glowing a faint blue. The blonde Jinchuruuki nearly slapped his forehead, irritated that he had forgotten that simple shinobi ability. He focused his chakra to his feet, and led his brother along the wall to the upper floor.
When they arrived in Naruto's room, the two found a place that had been utterly stripped of everything. There was nothing but dust in the room, not even any debris, or remnants of any furniture. Naruto wiped at his face, telling his brother that dust had gotten in his eyes. Ronnel laid one hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly, hiding his anger at whoever had stripped the boy's room.
"Get the bedding scrolls out and bunk down for the night Naruto. I'll cook breakfast tomorrow, so don't worry about it." The younger male nodded numbly and grabbed a pair of scrolls out from one of his pockets. He stopped when Ronnel squeezed his shoulder again. "Relax some. I know it hurts little brother, but just remember this – You've got better stuff now, and they aren't getting anywhere near it." This made the boy smile slightly, before he nodded and unsealed the scrolls and laid out a pair of small cots and two sleeping bags. With a last look around his bare room, he burrowed into one of the bags and tried to put himself to sleep.
Ronnel stepped over and brushed his adopted brother's hair out of his face, sighing when the boy opened his eyes. He reached down slightly and squeezed the boy's neck carefully, nodding to himself when Naruto drifted into sleep after the pressure point was pressed.
"Sorry Otouto, but you need sleep, and right now you're too upset to get it normally. And I meant what I said on the road Naruto, we'll find out who your father was." He said it softly, swearing it once more to the boy. Unable to sleep himself, he walked over to the windowsill in the room and sank down onto it, staring out at the village. That was one of their biggest reasons for actually returning, well, Naruto's at least. He felt that it was here in Konoha that he would solve the mystery of who his parents were, starting with his father. The man's eyes traveled back to his adopted brother and he sighed softly, remembering the one clue he had as to who Naruto's father was.
Despicable Author Style: Flashback Technique!
Naruto was curled up in his sleeping bag, having just finished his shift. Ronnel was perched up in a tree, scanning the area lazily while slowly carving a branch into nothing. His eyes snapped up at a small popping sound, but he relaxed when he realized it was the fire crackling. He settled back down back down, but froze when he detected another faint sound, one that had been masked by the noises from the fire.
Dark eyes shot around the small clearing, latching onto a glint of metal that was rising above Naruto. The wanderer narrowed his eyes and sank his hands into the branch under him and swung down and around, launching himself towards the glint. His feet slammed into a hard chest, kicking a shadowy assailant, shoving him out of the clearing and against a tree. Ronnel landed on his feet in a crouch, straightening up and bringing a short sword out. He threw the blade without hesitation, piercing the attacker through the chest, pinning him to the tree he had landed against.
The shinobi dashed over to the pinned attacker, thrusting two fingers into the man's throat, temporarily paralyzing him from the neck down. A kunai spun out from his pouch and pressed against the man's neck, the tip cutting into one of the folds of skin there.
"Tell me who you are and why you just tried killing my ward, or so help me I will make you bleed like a stuck pig from every part of your body. And then I will slit your throat. Talk." The man Ronnel had pinned to the tree spat on the wanderer's boot. He looked down at his boot and looked back up at the pinned man with disgust written across his features. Ronnel focused his will for a moment, with water soon flowing up from a bottle on his hip, wrapping around his arm then down to the blade. The water created a spike that dug through the skin on the man's throat, curving into a hook that pierced the flesh. The water hook tore back, ripping a strip of flesh away.
A second kunai pressed against his stomach, and the man's eyes widened in fear when he saw water spiraling around his tormentor's arm.
"I'll talk I'll talk! You fucking Leaf Yaru! Of course I'd want to kill him! He looks just like his Kami-forsaken father! When the Iwakage hears that the Rock Destroyer has a son, Stone will not rest until his spawn is dead!" There was rustling behind the two as the Rock ninja's yelling woke Naruto up from his slumber. Ronnel looked back through the trees to see his young ward sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. Kuso. Gotta end this now. Normally I'd leave him alive but..he not only tried to kill Naruto, he's ready to get an insane tyrant on my ward's trail! I cannot let that happen, and not only because of this stupid seal. Ronnel sliced through the man's artery, catching the bloodspray with the water around his arm. He blasted the bloody water out into a bolt that flew through the trees. After removing his shortsword from the man's shoulder, he sheathed it and strode back to the campsite.
"Ronnel-sensei? Where'd you go?" The boy looked worried, as if he was afraid that Ronnel had been about to leave. The shinobi rested his hand on the messy mass of blonde hair and ruffled it lightly.
"Relax kid, I had to take care of a little business. Nothing big." Naruto looked worried for a moment longer, then nodded slightly and settled back into his sleeping bag. Ronnel leaned against the tree, staring at the boy in thought. Just who is your father Naruto? And why on earth is he called the Rock Destroyer? The name made him picture someone large and brawny who shattered giant boulders with his fingers. Shaking that image out of his head, he sighed and looked up to the stars.
Flashback Technique: Release!
Ronnel shook his head slightly while staring up at those stars from the window in the apartment. He had been able to talk to an acquaintance of his, and all he had found out was that the "Rock Destroyer" had a different cover name and hailed from Konohagakure. The wanderer turned away from the window, pausing as something that he could see at the edge of the window caught his eye. He leaned against the wall and looked out the window further, looking at the Hokage Monument.
"Huh. Sarutobi looks a lot younger up there…" He turned away and was laying down on his own cot when a thought occurred to him as he drifted into sleep. Another of those faces seemed familiar, but from where? Ah, I'll worry about it some other time. After checking to make sure that Naruto was asleep, the older man settled down into his own cot and drifted to sleep.
