A/N: Holy moly! This story has gotten a far bigger response than I ever expected. Here's another chapter for you guys! Schedule might be a bit wonky with updates for a bit, though. Lot of info this chapter, to start showing out the AU more. *make sure to read the whole chapter, it isn't what you might expect*


Sunlight crept through the windows into the rafters of the building where Sakura sat, crouched. This is it. After all their hard work and planning, their first mission together would be a success. Time spent analyzing the target's schedule and habits, creating the most effective course of action. Now, their whole mission's success hinges on me.

Sakura took a deep breath, and waited. The target came into sight.

Just a little bit closer...come on...come on... The target walked below her. It just as he'd done the previous days. Sakura clutched her hand around her weapon. This was it, he was about to walk in the right spot. Perfect! Sakura smiled brightly, and pulled hard. A quiet clicking sound, then a swoosh. A liquid pours down, and finally, a storekeeper's scream. Rapid footsteps and the sound of fans activating spread through the room, in addition to more furious shouts by the man below her. Sakura smiled. It was time for the last step.

She grabbed the bags next to her and dumped them out onto the storekeeper as she ran along the rafters toward her exit window. Even more angry screaming sounded as she climbed out the window, shimmied along the ledge, and slid down the makeshift ladder Naruto had made beforehand. Hitting the ground, she ran around to the front door right as Naruto burst out of it in a blur of red and orange.

"That's for overcharging me on my ramen, dattebayo!" he yelled. Sakura ran alongside him as a neon orange figure covered in feathers burst out of the shop and started chasing them up the road, screaming obscenities that would have made a sailor blush.

"You just had to open your mouth, didn't you, Naruto-kun? He would have taken way longer to see it was us if you didn't, and we could've gotten away easier!" she yelled.

"Not like we can change that now, keep running, dattebayo!" he laughed, clearly embarrassed.

Zigzagging through alleyways and hidden alcoves to avoid their pursuer, they eventually arrived at a small park, where most of the children were shuffled away at their parents' sight of the redhead. Naruto frowned and looked down, clearly upset, and Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder in response. "Don't worry, Naruto-kun, I won't leave you. Don't focus on them, focus on me." He nodded and looked at her, a bit more focused, his frown eventually dissipating.

"I can't feel happiness, or anything like that… I can only feel worry, or hate, or sadness, or other bad feelings," he explained. Sakura nodded, he'd explained his ability to sense emotions, but hadn't gone into much detail. Worrying that he might get really sad again, she decided to try and get his mind off of it.

"Come on then, Naruto-kun. There's no one here now, let's practice those kata Umino-sensei gave us yesterday!" she said.

The boy immediately perked up and smiled. They went to opposite sides of the park and ran at each other, practicing the kata in the same way as the spars that had seen Inuzuka Kiba getting his butt handed to him by the younger son of the Uchiha clan head, whatever his name was— Naruto probably knew, those two were in the same class.

While they had started with the kata, the two of them soon began deviating from them, until it devolved into a wrestling/tickling match with both of them tussling in the dirt. After some time of this, both of them sat up and Naruto was about to speak, when a silver-haired ANBU in a dog mask suddenly appeared with flicker and tapped his shoulder.

"Time to go already, Inu-nii-chan?" Naruto whined.

The ANBU simply nodded before again disappearing in a gust of wind and leaves. The redhead simply sat up and brushed off his shorts, before breaking into a run, while also waving to her.

"Bye, Sakura-chan! See you tomorrow!" he called.

She waved to him in return with a smile.

Once he was out of sight, Sakura climbed to her feet and took off up the street, back towards her home. It was late, and her parents would probably be a bit annoyed at her being later than usual, but they wouldn't mind too much as long as she was home before dinner. After some time, she arrived at the arch that marked the entrance to the Special District.

Her grandparents on her mother's side had been shinobi from another village, and her mother was born there; and like most of the surviving population, they had fled to Konoha when it fell during the opening salvos of the Second Shinobi World War. Those survivors banded together and founded an entirely new section of the village, where much of the dead village's culture still remained alive.

Her father, on the other hand, was born in Tetsu no Kuni, where most of their family still resided. His mother, though, was apparently a foreign princess, having eloped with her grandfather and been disowned for it. Though, in an odd turn of events, her father had been practically ostracized by the rest of the Haruno family for marrying her mother and staying in Konoha.

As she contemplated her family's legacy, she found her thoughts wandering to where Naruto-kun came from. He had said his name was 'Uzumaki,' but could he really be from the same family that had once led that old village? He certainly had the right hair color and attitude. As she began to wonder, a thick hand grabbed her shoulder.

Sakura looked up, and saw a civilian gate guard standing there.

"Sorry, girly. No entrance to this part of the city at this hour without a residency or business pass, you know that," he explained.

Right, and they still had issues with others, even those from Konoha— you typically needed to be escorted into the district by a resident. They had special permission from the Hokage to use that system for a time. But her mother always escorted her in, and she didn't have a pass yet.

"I'm Haruno Sakura, I've lived here all my life, but I haven't gotten a resident's pass yet— I'm only an academy student," she attempted, but the guard just shook his head.

"Likely story, bubblegum," he said, making Sakura blush in annoyance, "look, I get it, you probably have some friends at the academy that live here and want to go see them— but you need an escort for that. Now, it's getting late, why don't you scurry on home."

"But my home is in there!" she exclaimed in exasperation, pointing into the gate.

The guard continued shaking his head. This went on back and forth for what felt like hours. The sun certainly had gone down, and the streetlamps had turned on, before an old lady that Sakura recognized as her neighbour walked down and stopped at the gate, before looking down.

"Haruno-chan? What are you doing out here at this time?" she asked.

"I've been trying to get in, but this guy won't let me in!" Sakura yelled. The old lady shook her head, and looked at the guard.

"Her parents will be furious if you don't let her in— her parents are Haruno Mebuki and Kizashi," the guard turned deathly pale at the second name, "and I hope you don't object to me walking the girl home."

The guard quickly stammered an apology and stepped aside, as the lady walked Sakura through the gate. The two walked the darkened streets in silence as they strolled to the area where Sakura's house was located. When they reached the door, the old lady pat her on the head.

"Thanks for walking me home, obā-sama," Sakura said.

The old lady smiled and saved as she walked back to her own home. Sakura looked at her front door and took a deep breath. Time to face the music… she opened her door and walked in, carefully taking off her shoes and placing them with the others. Her slippers were upstairs, so she crept along in her socks, hoping her parents were upstairs.

As it turns out, they weren't— they were in the family room talking. When she walked in, her parents— her father was home this week— looked up at her, both worry and annoyance on their faces.

"Sakura," her mother began, "where were you?"

Sakura's eye twitched. "I was helping a friend," she said, "some man was being cruel to him, so we got revenge."

Her parents shook their heads, "Sakura… just… be careful about the time, next time," her father said, "now go upstairs, wash up and change, and we'll have dinner."

She nodded and did as her father said; washing all the dirt off of herself, and changing into a nice dress, with her matching slippers.

After a rather quiet dinner with her family, her mother grabbed the dishes to wash, and her father pulled out a book.

"So, Sakura, who exactly is your friend? Last we talked, you didn't have any friends," he asked.

Sakura blushed and looked down at her lap. She really wished that she could have just brought Naruto here, his negative emotions sensing would have helped quite a bit here. She muttered something under her breath as a response.

"What was that?" her father asked, "I can't hear you."

Sakura clenched her fist and shook her head to clear it. It was better to just tell them, than risk them finding out by accident.

"Uzumaki Naruto, he's-" she began, but stopped as her mother dropped a plate and it shattered.

Sakura's heart sank, were her parents just like all those other adults that ushered their children away the moment they saw him? Her father looked extremely worried, but not mad. Her mother was just pale, and run up to her, clutching her hands.

"Sakura… what did he look like?" her mother asked, her eyes wide.

Sakura blinked, extremely confused. She thought everyone knew what he looked like.

"Round face, three birthmarks that look like whiskers on each cheek, rather short, bright blue eyes, and the brightest red hair that you'll ever see," she answered, as diligently as she could.

Her mother's face had color return to it… before turning red in what seemed like anger.

"He lied to us..." her mother growled out. She stood up. "Kizashi-kun, finish the dishes, I have to go speak to someone, now."

Her mother marched up to her room, before rushing back down in travelling clothes, "I'll be back later!"

Her father immediately stood up and began cleaning the other dishes from dinner.

"Sakura, go and finish your homework— your mother is on the warpath, and woe to anyone who gets in her way."

-D&D-

"And finally, the last of the bandits has been executed— we got all the info we could out of him," the woman in the cat mask reported.

After taking a deep inhale from his pipe to calm his nerves, Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a sigh. That interrogation had garnered far less information than he'd wanted— he still had no answers as to Kirigakure's current situation. The most detailed he'd gotten was from Inu's team, and they'd had to leave quickly after dispatching three pursuing Kiri ANBU.

He knew there was unrest there, but that was all he knew. Maybe it was time for him to ask Danzō to send some Root infiltrators over— distasteful as his methods were, they certainly could get the job done if there was no one else that could. And in this case, it really seemed like there was no one that could. Sarutobi shook his head. No, don't ask Danzō just yet, there's still a few more options before we need to use that one.

"Thank you, Neko-kun. Dismissed," he said.

The ANBU saluted before disappearing in a shunshin. After Neko had left, Sarutobi felt his shoulders relax. Danzo's right, I'm too old for this. I was too old for this when Minato took over, and I'm far too old now. An ANBU in a bear mask chose to shunshin in next to him while he was lost in his thoughts.

"Hokage-sama," he said, "you have one final meeting request for the day."

"Indeed? Who is it?"

"One of our inactive kunoichi, Haruno Mebuki."

"Very well, send her in, this is my last meeting today. Dismissed, Kuma-kun."

The ANBU nodded and faded into the corner. The door opened and blonde woman walked into the room with a slight bow.

"Hokage-sama. It's been some time," she said.

"Indeed, Hasu-kun," the Hokage replied with a smile.

He knew that she'd changed her name since her marriage, but he still remembered her as Hasu Mebuki, the resident kunoichi of her team, always energetic and ready to help.

"Why have you come here this evening? I thought that you didn't wish to reenter active service until your daughter graduated the academy."

"No, no, that is still the plan. I came here to discuss a different matter, one very important," she said,

"Remembrance Day is in two days-"

"I already spoke with the representative, all the active shinobi not on missions from the district will be allowed off to attend the celebrations," Sarutobi explained.

"It's not that. It's about a person," she said.

"And who would that be?" he asked.

He desperately hoped it wasn't who he thought it may be.

"Uzumaki Naruto," she confirmed, her face changing to one of anger.

Nope, it was exactly who he thought. Sarutobi shook his head.

"I see," he sighed, "Naruto-kun has a very strict curfew, though. I doubt the orphanage would let him out after sundown."

Mebuki smiled, that terrifying grin that she once had when she helped Uchiha Mikoto put itching powder in all of the Military Police uniforms after one errant officer said the wrong thing to the kunoichi,

"Oh trust me," she said, "they'll let us have him."

-D&D-

The day after was completely normal on the surface. However, things had been done in secret. Discreetly, word was spread around the network that Uzumaki Naruto was a student at the Shinobi Academy. Aside from a few dissenting voices that were quickly quashed, many of those she had spoken to were angry, and were willing to act. It had to be kept under for now, though. There would be time tomorrow.

Mebuki started the day early, walking her daughter to the academy, then went to the small restaurant many of the district bigwigs attended, where the entire network made plans, including her.

"So, he's at the orphanage near the academy then?" one man asked.

"Hai. And apparently his curfew is at sundown, so he's always back by then," another answered.

"So, how many should head up to… collect the goods?" the first man asked.

Mebuki answered this time, "All of them." The entire table turned to look at her.

"Um… are you sure about that, Haruno-san? If things go wrong-" the second man said.

"Things won't. No one will stop us with those numbers, and even if someone would, we'll be back in the district before anyone can think to," she replied.

"Since we're bringing everyone, you plan on bringing little Sakura-chan, too? She's never been with us for Remembrance Day," the older lady that had walked her home the previous day said.

"Of course. She's in the academy now, she needs to see how things are handled now that she's older," Mebuki replied with a smile, "we also should thank her for bringing this matter to our attention, it's thanks to her that things can be set right."

"Well," another young woman said, "here's to making things right!"

"Here, here!" the group called out as a whole.

-D&D-

Mebuki arrived a few minutes early to get her daughter from the academy. When she arrived, she saw her daughter sparring with a small red headed boy, both laughing all the while, clearly having fun.

So that's Uzumaki Naruto? The name certainly fits.

Instead of calling out to her like she usually did, she simply walked up to them carefully.

When her daughter next turned around, Mebuki was standing there, waiting for her. She smiled at her daughter, telling her to say goodbye to her friend, they needed to do something. Nervous, Sakura said goodbye to Naruto, and walked on behind her.

She's familiar enough to call him '-kun?' This may be harder than we thought for her if she can't keep quiet.

The two walked in silence to the Uzu District Administrative Building, where Sakura simply had to sign her name on something, and looked very confused. Well, she'll get a present for good behavior if she does well tonight. Mebuki was handed a package containing two envelopes. She nodded to the receptionist, they'd planned this out the previous day.

The last step was picking up her daughter's outfit for that night. A colored haori with the old village's crest, and a black cloak to wear over it during before the final event of the night. When the sun went down, it was finally time to begin. Tightly holding her daughter's hand, the family stepped out of the house, walking carefully as more and more people poured out of their houses in identical outfits.

The group poured out in a large crowd through the gates, walking up the centre of the village in the near darkness, as unlit torches were passed out amongst all members of the group. Little Sakura looked so confused, but also a bit scared; she was clutching her father's hand tightly as they walked with the crowd. After a long time of walking, the procession arrived outside of the orphanage that the boy apparently lived at.

With a nod, one of the men in the front went to knock on the door, while one in the back used a Katon jutsu to light his torch, each person touching the torches to the next person's, until all the torches were lit. Once all were lit, the man at the front rapped on the door, hard.

Within moments, one of the matrons opened the door. Then she smiled. A wicked smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I thought it was too good to be true," the matron said, "you said you'd get rid of him, we gathered his few personal items," she threw a bag out onto the front steps, "burn them, trash them, smash them, not my problem anymore.

"Oi, Suzuki-kun! Bring Akuma-gaki down here!" the matron called.

The crowd stood stone faced, as they waited. A few minutes later, a woman in her late-twenties to early thirties walked to the door with her hand wrapped around the back of the neck of a short red-haired boy. The boy's eyes widened at the site of the torch-wielding crowd, and he tried to rush back inside, only to be grabbed harshly by the matron.

"Oh no you don't!" she growled at the boy, "we're finally gonna be rid of you, you are not ruining this for us!"

"Please, please don't give me to them! I'll be good, I swear, please!" the boy cried, sobbing loudly.

Mebuki looked over to her husband, who had gripped Sakura's shoulder tightly; she'd gone as white as a sheet, and was trembling. The boy continued crying until he received a smack in the face from the matron, before promptly shoving him out the door while he was in shock, into the man waiting outside the door.

Before he could run anywhere, the man standing in front of him grabbed the boy's shoulder and pushed him along to the rest of the crowd. The boy looked terrified, and the tears continued to fall, while the crowd still remained stone-faced. Despite his struggling, he was unable to escape as the crowd moved back along the path they came.

After passing through the arch that marked the entrance to the Uzu District, the crowd turned off the main road. Soon, they came to a run-down looking building with large doors and windows all over. The group filed in methodically, spreading out in a large central room. Up on a dias in the back was a man in the same outfit as the group, seeming to be setting up what looked like a small slab. The boy struggled harder but still couldn't get free.

The one escorting him walked him up to the altar and the slab atop it, as the others walking spread out around the room in a semicircle around the dias. The boy's escort stopped in front of the slab, waiting for the man who had been there already. He nodded and from his pocket produced a box cutter. The redheaded boy's eyes went wide, before tears started to fall again. The man with the box cutter frowned, before reaching down under the altar, and pulling out a box. Then the man cut the box open, withdrawing the contents: a simple leather book.

The man with the book looked out at the crowd, "Where the hell is the lectern?! It was supposed to be here!" he called. A rush of activity to the side, and a minute later, a stone lectern was carried up to the dias.

-D&D-

So much hate was around him. That was one emotion Naruto could feel without any confusion; hate was the most powerful thing he had ever felt, that didn't come from himself, anyway. After the big scary man— who Naruto thought was gonna sacrifice him on the altar, like in one of those scary stories— called for some kind of podium, Naruto was sure he was dreaming.

Then it got even weirder. The man grabbed his hand and pulled him over to the podium, placing the big book on it, open. The man then stood next to him.

"Uzumaki-sama," he asked kindly, "can you read?"

Naruto gulped, also blushing at the '-sama,' but chose to answer.

"I can read my hiragana and katakana, but Ir... I mean, sensei tells me I'm behind with kanji. I can't read many of them," he said. The man frowned, but nodded.

"If you wouldn't mind, I could stand next to you and translate it," the man offered.

Naruto stood, unanswering. He didn't want to have this man he didn't know standing next to him and whispering in his ear. As he moved to shake his head, a commotion in the crowd caught his attention. Several people were shoved out of the way, as a familiar bubblegum head rushed to him.

Naruto felt himself crushed into a tight hug. "Naruto-kun! Are you okay? I'm so sorry! You looked so scared, all I wanted to do was come and help, but I couldn't," Sakura said, chattering on.

"Ne, Sakura-chan," he said, returning the hug, "I'm okay, I promise."

The girl pulled back and looked at him, still teary. After looking at him, she let go, wiping away the tears. The man with the book looked down at the rosette.

"Can you read, girl?" he asked.

Sakura nodded, "I can read the same amount of kanji as most final year academy students." The man with the book shrugged.

"That works," he turned back to Naruto, "would you be okay with her reading it to you?" Naruto nodded, without hesitation. Sakura-chan was his friend, he could trust her.

"Very well then," the man said, placing the book on the lectern. He then stepped back, and walked behind the altar. Naruto looked down at the book, and sighed. He couldn't much of it at all. Motioning for Sakura to come over, he stepped back a bit to let her see. Sakura looked down at the page, scanning rapidly. She then began to whisper it into his ear. Naruto recited her words as best he could.

"Thirty-one years ago, tonight, the shinobi village of Uzushiogakure no Sato was destroyed, as the opening shot of the Second Shinobi World War. The enemy attacked without warning, and the city had few defenses. While the enemy attacked, many of the shinobi that had remained at home abandoned their positions to evacuate as many civilians as they could.

"Those that survived made their way here to Konohagakure no Sato, our ancient ally and most treasured friend. We rallied here behind the last surviving member of our leaders— Uzumaki Kushina. Tonight, we remember those that did not survive the passage, those whose souls still rest on the island, waiting for us to put them at peace." As Naruto finished the last sentence on that page, a hand touched his shoulder. Then, one by one, each person in the hall blew out their torch.

Once the last torch blew out, the lamps on the walls of the room lit up. All present in the room dropped their black cloaks at once. Underneath, they wore white haori with a blue spiral displayed prominently. Before Naruto could question it, another was tossed over his own shoulders. Looking down, his also had a spiral. However, his was red, with a white outline.

"The symbol of the Uzumaki Clan," book-man explained, "you represent the Clan for us now." Another man stepped forward respectfully. Naruto recognized him as the man who escorted him here from the orphanage.

"On behalf of us all, Uzumaki-sama," Naruto blushed once again at the '-sama,' "I must apologize for being so rough bringing you here. I feared we would not have been able to get you away from the orphanage otherwise. You needn't worry about that kind of thing here." Naruto nodded rapidly while tying the haori.

Much of the rest of the night was spent singing traditional songs of the old village. Some tried to teach Naruto the songs, but he only picked up a few of them. Throughout the night, Sakura never left his side. By the time it was over, Naruto was sure he had memorized at least thirty names; perhaps even more. One of the women there promised to teach him the names of the members of the clan; more names to memorize.

Eventually, the night came to an end, and people began to leave. Slowly filing out and chatting, people went every which way. Naruto simply followed behind Sakura— her parents had offered to let him stay at their home for a few days until they could get a place for him to live.

As they approached the house, a short ANBU in a raccoon-dog mask just happened to shunshin in front of the small group.

Naruto smiled as he knew this one, and he knew Sakura did, too. "Tanuki-san!" he called, waving, "I thought you were gonna be with your otōto tonight, since Inu-nii-san walked me home!"

"Naruto-kun," Sakura said with a small glare, "quiet voice. It's nearly 2:00 AM." Tanuki simply shook his head.

"As Sakura-chan kindly stated, it's almost 2:00 AM. I did spend all night off with my otōto, but got called in to make sure you were okay," Tanuki said, "after all, you broke your curfew unexpectedly."

Naruto took a deep breath. "I'm not gonna go back to the orphanage. They threw me out to people they thought were gonna hurt me!" he said. Tanuki stood there, his body not shifting.

"I thought as much. Tonakai-kun was supposed to be watching you at nights, but he wasn't to be trusted, apparently," Tanuki explained, "Kuma-shushō will probably watch you at night from now on."

"Kuma-sama is awesome!" Sakura cheered, "the flowers dance when he watches Naruto-kun." Her parents and Tanuki shook their heads.,

"I'll disappear now. Keep safe, Naruto-kun," Tanuki said, before disappearing in a shunshin. Naruto smiled and looked at Sakura.

"He's so much nicer than his otōto," Naruto said. Sakura turned to him. Naruto chuckled, knowing she would,

"You know his brother?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah. He's in my class," Naruto said, "but I'd get in trouble if I told you who." While Sakura tried to pry more info from him, she was unsuccessful. He wasn't gonna tell them what Tanuki's real name was, that would be mean. And Jiji wouldn't buy him ramen if he was mean. When they got into the house, Sakura's mother gave him a futon to sleep on. She also gave him a blanket and pillow. He did still have to go to the academy in the morning, after all.

-D&D-

Peaking out at the small child asleep on the bed, Mebuki smiled as she left to get some sleep herself. While it had taken some work, the boy was finally in the District. He could be safe here. Sensei couldn't be here to take care of him, but at least she could do right by her dead teammate. I'm sorry for taking so long to get him, Minato-kun. At least now I can make sure your son is happy.


A/N: Consider this chapter my jab at one of my most hated Naruto tropes: the angry mob attacking Naruto. Not much Japanese needed here, thankfully. *Note, using -kun for Mebuki was not a mistake, she's his subordinate, and -kun is the suffix to use.*

Obā-sama - mean 'grandma' or 'old woman', but in highly formal and respectful way.

Inu - dog

Neko - cat

Kuma - bear

Tanuki - racoon dog. Anyone that played Mario as a kid should know this one.

Tonakai - reindeer/caribou

Thanks to GarnetMonstrosity for beta reading this! Follow, Favourite, and of course, Review. See you all next time!