Author's Notes: I wrote this chapter pretty quick so sorry if there are some mistakes and stuff! Review!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Orphaned Legacy
Chapter 1
In the meantime, the village was repairing itself at an alarming rate and life was finally becoming normal again. The Yondaime spent a month in the hospital mostly due to his mood swings and instability. He was passed as stable after the first week but was forced to reside there to make sure that he was fine both mentally and physically.
At first, he refused to speak to anyone but a select few. Little by little, the blond opened up if only a bit until he released all the emotions that were bottled up inside, reaching the point of another breakdown.
He often drifted between the bridge of fantasy and reality, daydreaming of things nobody knew, but they can only imagine. They all knew that he didn't cry for just his son, though. His tears fell for his wife, as well as all the shinobi lost and the families who lost too much to be replaced; he even went as far as to cry for the nine-tailed demon fox.
Although he did this, he mostly cried for himself. He knew it was selfish, but he couldn't find it in himself to care anymore. He had lost everything that day.
"You can only truly lose something when you lose all hope." Arashi jumped, startled and snapping his head around so fast that he almost got backlash.
The Sandaime sighed heavily as he sat down in the unoccupied chair that rested next to the hospital bed.
"You've gone so deep, Arashi that you fail to see all the things that you have gained, and that all the sacrifices that were made were for the people and this village."
The Fourth had long turned back to the window and made no acknowledgement that he had even heard a word.
In a hoarse voice, "What have I gained" turning and giving Sarutobi a bitter smile, "What have I gained that is truly important enough to lose my son?"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Yumi-chan, would you like to go on a date with me?" The nineteen year old blond asked.
The said girl looked up at him and replied, "No."
Arashi looked at her, hope fading him his eyes, "O-oh, sorry I bothered you then." He slumped his shoulders, turning swiftly and started to walk away at a fast pace but stopped when he heard someone running and calling out to him.
"Arashi-kun!"
"Huh?" He turned to see his crush running up to him, panting lightly, "Why did you leave so fast?"
Arashi just gave her a look that said, 'Are you stupid?' causing her to scowl up at him. "You never let me finish." She spoke.
"Let you finish?"
She gave a small nod. "I wouldn't like to go on a date with you," Arashi shoulders slumped even more and bowed his head at the rejection, "I'd love to."
Arashi's head snapped up and stared at her in confusion. "W-what did you say?"
Yumi's eyes glinted in amusement and she outright laughed at him. "I said that I'd love to unless to changed your mind already."
His eyes widened, "No! I mean no, of course not." He brought his arms up and started to wave them defensively in front of his face.
"Good." She smiled in satisfaction.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I-I'm so sorry Yumi-chan!!"
"It's okay Arashi, but why are you so nervous today. You're acting like you did on our first date." She laughed at the memory while Arashi blushed in humiliation.
"Aww...are you blushing?" Teasing the blond was so fun. 'He's such a macho-man.' (Hahaha...that sounds soo weird!)
"No!"
"Okay, okay! No need to get all defensive about it." Since the day Arashi asked Yumi out, they have been dating for a bit over two years.
"I'm sorry, Yumi-chan. I just wanted tonight to be perfect that's all." He spoke as he recalled the ruined dinner plans because the reservations were somehow not there, the rain storm as they were leaving, making Yumi cook them dinner at his house, the lights going out, the candles causing a fire-"
"ARASHI!!!" His thought process was interrupted as he looked at his annoyed girlfriend, "I said why did you want tonight to be perfect?" She huffed out.
"I-I just wanted to ask you something, that's all."
"What?"
"Huh?"
She sighed in exasperation, "What did you want to ask me? Honestly, how did I ever end up with a man as dense as you?"
"It's alright. I'll ask you another time. It wasn't that important anyway." The blond waved his hand dismissively as to prove a point.
Yumi let out another sigh, "Just to tell you, you shouldn't be surprised if I left you one of these days." She teased, laughing lightly. "You wouldn't." He spoke in a serious voice.
She looked at Arashi questionably but said nothing. He then turned to her and she was surprised to see his eyes burning with intensity.
Taking a deep breath, 'It's now or never.' Arashi took a small jewelry box out of his pocket and kneeled down in front of her.
"I've been trying to make tonight perfect for you, Yumi-chan, so that I could ask you." Her eyes widened, not expecting something like this. "Will you marry me?"
She just stared at him speechless and realized that he was still waiting for her answer, jumped up and hugged him. "Yes, yes!"
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Arashi let out a small smile as he remembered those days. They were the happiest days of his life. He had long realized that his wife's could not be prevented no matter how much he mourned. It didn't mean that it didn't hurt though. Oh no, because the pain suffocated him, but his son, his beautiful baby boy's death just killed him and sent him to a living hell that made him feel numb inside. His baby didn't even live longer than a day because of him.
"You've forgotten what is truly important. As a leader, it is disappointing," The blond hung his head in shame and humiliation. "But as a father, it is commendable."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Arashi" A soft voice called out as Yumi hugged her husband once he came home.
"Hmm?" The Yondaime buried his head into his wife's hair and closed his eyes.
"I h-have s-something to t-tell you." She stuttered as the blond opened his eyes and voiced his confusion. "What is it, love?"
"I'm pregnant."
Two seconds later there was an awed yell and then a thud.
Yumi rolled her eyes at the sight of her husband on the floor.
"So much for being a macho-man, of all the ways he could have taken the news, he just had to faint." She mumbled, kneeling beside him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I've decided on a name."
Arashi looked up to see Yumi standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "Have you?" He questioned as he pulled her into his lap as he sat down and wrapped his arms around her. She was three months pregnant but one could barely tell. They were already told that they were going to have a son when Tsunade checked up on her.
He picked up a cup of tea, drinking from it, "Yup! I decided to name him Tori."(1) Arashi sputtered in his tea, causing Yumi to look at him in worry.
"I'm okay, I'm okay. Tori? You want to name our son a bird? All the shinobi in the village are going to laugh at him!"
"Shinobi? Who said that I was going to let our child become a shinobi? I'm not a one, so why should our son be one?"
Arashi just looked at her with a dumbfounded expression, quickly changing the subject.
"Why that name?" He asked hastily.
"Why? Is there something wrong with that name?" She whispered threateningly.
"No! No, no, of course not!" Yumi just gave him an accusing glare, causing him to wince inwardly.
"Umm..." Her glare just intensified, making him sweat. "Okay, okay! I don't like the name because it just doesn't fit. When I pictured having a son, I would never-and I mean never name him something like that!! I want my legacy t-"
"Arashi!"
"Alright," The blond sighed, "Well, there was a name that I keep on forgetting to mention." He said as he put his tea down and wrapped his arms around Yumi once again.
"Oh? And what's that?" She leaned back into him.
"Naruto."
"Naruto?" She spoke, trying the name out.
"Mm-hmm," He murmured as he rested his chin on top of her head. "Kazama Naruto."
"Naruto...I like it."
"Better than bird." Arashi whispered into her hair.
"What was that?"
"Nothing, love."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Arashi looked down at his hands and took a shuddering breath. "I see blood on my hands." Sarutobi looked down at his hands that were spotless and then back up at him.
Jiraiya walked in quietly, "You have no blood." He stood at the edge of the bed. "Such is the life of a shinobi."
Jiraiya may be a pervert, no scratch that, a super pervert, and he may be loud and brash and constantly doing his research, but he knew his student. He understood what his student meant because he was there throughout Arashi's childhood, leading him through the trials of being a shinobi and all the risks and sacrifices that are taken to protect the village at all costs. The Sannin walked up to the window, staring out onto the village.
"Free yourself, Arashi."
"Free myself? Free myself?! How can I free myself when all I see in these hands are blood! I have the blood of many, but I don't see their blood on me!"
Both Sarutobi and Jiraiya heard the unspoken statement behind it like it was ringing over and over again.
'I see my son's blood'
The white-haired Sannin glanced at his student in disappointment, "Can you not see that you are the one making yourself suffer?" He then whispered, "It will fade with time." and walked out of the room with the Sandaime behind him.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama!" A chuunin ran toward Konoha's Yellow Flash. "The demon is at the border! We are trying to hold it off for as long as possible, but it isn't doing much!"
"Gather all the chuunin and jounin you can find and tell them to protect the border!!"
"Hai, Hokage-sama!"
Arashi turned to another chuunin, "Gather all the villagers and genin you can find and lead them to the underground passageways." Yelling above the panic and destruction around him.
"Hai!"
There is no way to completely kill a demon. The only way to 'destroy' the demon is to seal it in something. A vessel of some sort. A living vessel-"
"Yondaime-sama!"
"What now!" He roared at the jounin who appeared in front of him.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Yumi-sama is in labor!"
"What?!" His eyes widened in surprise. 'Why now of all times?'
Nodding to the jounin, he ordered him to Konoha's border and then took off to find his wife.
"Yumi!"
"Arashi-kun..." She whispered, feeling weak as the medic-nin handed her her son. "He looks just like you."
"Is that?" He didn't bother finishing the question as Yumi nodded her head weakly. Naruto was sleeping soundly in his mother's arms as Arashi brushed his cheeks, which caused him to wake up revealing cerulean orbs identical to that of Arashi's.
"Why didn't you send for me sooner?" Arashi turned his concerned eyes over to her.
"I didn't...want to worry you...even more...than I have to. You've been...so busy with studying and...focusing on destroying the...demon these past few weeks that...I thought I shouldn't bother...you, especially at a time...as crucial as this."
Arashi then noticed how pale she was and her breathing was abnormally high. She started to tremble and the medic-nin had to take the baby from her arms.
"What's wrong? What's wrong with her?!" He yelled at the medic-nins.
"There were birth complications, Hokage-sama. It was a choice between her life or her son's and she chose his. I'm sorry, but she's lost too much blood. There is nothing we can do."
"Yumi! Yumi!! Stay with me, love. I-I need you, please!"
"Take care...of Naruto, Arashi-kun. Promise...me..." Tears started to roll down her face.
"Don't do this! Don't leave me!" Arashi wiped her tears away, trying to hold back his own.
"P-promise me...that you'll...always be...there...to care for him...and l-love him...please..."
"I-I promise."
"Yumi, I-I found a way to rid the demon." Her eyes widened a bit and then she smiled. "I k-knew... you would." She whispered as she closed her eyes.
"Yumi! YUMI!!!"
She slowly opened her eyes and whispered, "I...l-love...you...s-so much..."
"I love you, too." He whispered back as he kissed her eyelids that he knew would never open again.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A knock resounded on the door and Tsunade stepped in.
"Arashi?"
He snapped out of his daze, only to realize that the morning was gone. When did Sarutobi leave?
As if reading his mind, Tsunade responded, "Sarutobi left long ago when you drifted off." She pointed to the clock that hung on the wall.
Arashi's jaw dropped. Had he been thinking about their conversion that long? Hours had passed, but only seemed like mere moments as he was reliving his memories. It then dawned on him that maybe that's why the hours passed effortlessly. He welcomed and relished the memories closest to his heart, playing them over and over again.
"Arashi..."
The Yondaime turned to the Slug Sannin, looking at her questionably.
"Today is your last day. You are released from the hospital. That is unless you want to stay longer." She teased him playfully with a glint in her eye. She knew Arashi hated the hospital right now and would do anything to get out.
"Are you ready?" That question alone had so many hidden meanings in it. Tsunade watched him carefully through narrowed eyes to see how he would take it.
Arashi nodded, "I'm ready." He gave her a genuine smile that lit his face up and she could see the old Arashi resurfacing. She caught his meaning and couldn't help but smile back.
'I'm ready to heal.'
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I hope it was okay!!
Plz Review!!
Much Love!!
xxFrozenSn0wxx
