GIFTED

Ch2

"MOTHER"

"His clan legacy lives on... in him more so than in myself"

Uzumaki, the name had been cursed and despised trough out the world, once they were powerful and nothing stood in there way and then the hidden villages began to form and the world changed. The unification of clans to one single side made them weak but even when they were few they were still feared, it took the might of all the known clans to eradicate them and even then some had managed to escape; sadly the were hunted down and one by one they fell until there was only her.

"History might have buried the truth but you son is a reminder of how powerful the uzumakis were"

"And just like his father he is rising from nothingness to greatness…"

Kakashi looked at the woman and frown when he saw the tears falling down her face; he couldn't even begin to imagine what she was going trough. Right before her eyes stood a proud young man, who is life had been a hard one and yet he had thrived upon that harshness and had become one of the strongest ninjas in the history of the village.

"What will you do now?"

She shakes her head, what could she do, Go to him and tell him she was sorry, that she had a good reason for leaving him?

"I don't know…"

"You don't know?"

Kushina looked at the copy nin with a small glare, that question was un-called for. he knew better than any one else on the village what it meant to put every thing aside in order to fulfill a mission, he had no right to judge her. However, looking closely at Kakashi she could see that he was not happy with her response and if he had reacted so badly to her response imagine what Naruto would be like. That boy, her son…he had suffered and she was un able to do any thing but watch. She had enemies her husband had enemies both within and outside of konoha, it was easier this way, that is what they had said and she had believed it, she had to believe it because if she didn't…there would be no excuse for what she had put her son through.

"What do I tell him?"

"You're asking me? The hell should I know!"

"Tell what who?"

Both Kakashi and Kushina froze at the sound of naruto is voice, it was not coming from the field, looking over towards the training field all they saw was Sasuke and Sakura walking away from it, it seem that while they were in there little chat Naruto had dismissed the meeting with his new team. Kakashi managed to compose himself sooner than she had; the man simply gave the blond boy one of his classic grinds and opened his perverted book.

"Not polite to spy on others Naruto"

"Same applies to you Kakashi and to your friend"

Kakashi looked at kushina and saw her frozen, this was going to be harder than he thought, and if the woman didn't snap out of her stupor soon he was going to have to drag her away from Naruto.

"My team Naruto, I wanted to see how they react towards you"

"Right. But speaking of said team, what is the matter with you? Tree walking?"

Naruto looked from the red haired woman towards kakashi and gave him a small glare.

Kakashi chuckled and scratched the back of his head, he knew that he wasn't training his team as he should but what could he teach them? Sasuke was from an elite clan and the Haruno girl had no intention of training, hell every time he tried to teach her something she simply rolled her eyes and walked away. Naruto frowned when he saw how lightly Kakashi was taking the situation with his student; this was a serious matter. Looking from the silver hair man to the red headed woman, he could see that something was very wrong, she had not move or said any thing from her spot, glancing back at Kakashi he raised an eyebrow and nodded towards the woman.

"She ok?"

Kakashi looked at Kushina and frowned, she was taking deep steadying breaths, she was trying to compose herself and say or do something but she was in to much of a shock to do any thing, frowning slightly he turned towards Naruto and shock his head.

"No, I think I'll take her home"

"I-I'm fine…I was just startled"

"Startled?"

Kakashi blurted out and Kushina flinched, Naruto shock his head, of course, she was startled, he had just appeared behind them and he was the demon fox. Even now after every thing he had accomplished as a ninja he was still reminded that no matter what he did, no matter how much he accomplished he would always be the demon to others, ninjas and civilians alike, there was just not changing how some people viewed him. Taking a deep breath, he nodded towards Kakashi and took a deep breath.

"Naruto…it's not that"

Kakashi saw the change in the blond is face and immediately recognized the sings of realization; he knew what the blond thought when she had said she had been startled. He wanted to control the situation but it was too late, Naruto had been already turning around getting ready to leave.

"Its not you!"

Naruto stopped and turned towards the red haired woman and eyebrow raised in wonder, she had sounded desperate, and now that she had turned around to face him he could see her pleading gaze locked on him, something was very wrong with this picture, she was either really polite or she was one of those eccentric Jounin, like Gai.

"Oh?"

"I…it's just…"

"She just got back from a mission, a long mission"

Naruto looked at kakashi and saw the seriousness in him, there was no way he was lying. He had placed his book back on his vest pocket, while his demeanor had done a complete reversal, instead of being laid back and carefree like he usually was, he was tense and serious, what ever this woman had done or whatever mission she had come back must have been one hell of an assignment. turning towards the woman he could see something in her, she had a pained expression on her face all right, but what surprised him the most was the way she kept looking at him, it was a sight filled with sadness and pain. The woman pried her eyes away from him and took a deep breath. He was just like his father, every single cell in her body was telling her to just rush over towards him and give him a hug, to tell him how sorry she was and that she was his mother, she wanted to plead for his forgiveness, but she couldn't.

Her mission might have ended but she still didn't know how to tell him, how to approach him, hell, she didn't even know were to begin, what could she say to make him understand. after all she was the one who had had left him behind and despite having so many reasons for doing what she did she knew he would never understand her, none of those reasons would matter to him, because the bottom line was that she had abandoned him. She had left him behind.

"I see…"

He looked at the woman and smiled slightly, he knew how difficult missions could be and that some times the ninjas assigned to long term missions were affected mentally but seeing it right before his eyes he was beginning to realize that as he grew older and missions got harder he could end up just like this woman. The woman nodded at his words and continues to advert her gaze, she couldn't allow herself to look at him again, and if she did, there was no telling what she would do or say.

"I meant no disrespect…I was just startled…"

"Damn, that must have been one hell of a mission"

"It was the hardest….thing I had to do…."

"Oh?"

The blond smiled and raised and eye brown willing to listen to her story but she couldn't reveal to him the truth, kakashi nodded towards her as if signaling her to continue, telling her silently that this was as good a chance as any for her to reveal who she was. Kushina closer her eyes and shock her head, she couldn't do this not right now. She was prepared she believed that she was but seeing him right in front of her, she couldn't tell him any thing, she had to get away, making a few hand signs she vanished before there eyes and Kakashi frowned, she still had a long ways to go. Turning towards Naruto he just shrugged and took a deep breath shacking his head, Naruto smirked and took a deep breath, it seem that the woman was not completely there any more, that mission had done something to her.

"You should get her some help Kakashi"

"Yeah I should"

Naruto waved and left the clearing.

Kushina rushed away from the forest clearing and away from the training grounds, she continue to mentally curse herself, she had the perfect chance, would he care about what she had to say? Would he be willing to listen to her story? Taking a deep breath she stopped half way trough and turned back towards the spot were naruto is chakra signature was fading away.

"…..Naruto…."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Uchiha Clan Compound~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sasuke Uchiha entered his home and frowned when his mother rushed towards him, he had been home later than usual so she had a right to be concern, more so when she saw the state her son was in, he was covered in bruises from head to toes. Itachi appeared moment's later trough the same door sasuke had come trough and stopped when he saw the scene before him, there was his mother hugging and crying a very worried sasuke. Looking at his little bother he could see why his mother was acting the way she was. Clothes torn, scrapes all over his body, it appeared that sasuke had been trough a hard fight. Sasuke looked at his brother and pleaded with him silently; the elder uchiha smiled and pried away his mother from his younger brother.

"He is fine mother"

The woman turned from her youngest son to her oldest and frowned, pushing sasuke towards her brother she began to point at all of sasuke is injuries while itachi raised an eye brow in surprised, this was the first time he had seen his little brother so beaten up.

"Itachi! I am glad your home, look what happened to your little brother! Oh, who could have done this?! Was it the hyuuga!?"

Itachi frowned and send his mother away to get the family is healer, turning his gaze back at sasuke he gave him a small smirk and sasuke frowned.

"Got beaten didn't you"

"Shut up! The guy was way weird! Stupid blond!"

"Blond?"

"Yeah as in yellow hair! Duh brother!"

Itachi chuckle and smiled, it was weird, in all his life Sasuke had never seen his brother smile like that, besides that his brother never smiled, but then it dawned on him why he was smiling.

"You know him!!"

"I know him all right, you are lucky to have him on your squad"

"Why?"

"He is the only one in the village who can stand up to me in a fight"

Sasuke froze, Itachi was the best in all the village second only to the hokage and still the blond he had meet earlier was a match for him!?

"Don't be ridiculous itachi you are the strongest in the village!"

Itachi is smile vanished and turned towards his father, both of them shared a look that made sasuke tremble in fear; both of them were glaring at one another with such hate and resentment, almost as if they were bitter enemies. Fugaku looked at his eldest son and sent chakra to his eyes; he needed to remind his son just who was the one In charge of the clan. Itachi frowned and unveiled his own sharingan sasuke could see that itachi only obeyed his father because he was the clan head, and because as much as itachi wanted to unleash all of his hate towards the man he couldn't, he was still his father. Sasuke looked at the stern gaze on his father is face and wondered what was so bad about itachi admitting that there was some one out there as strong as he, wasn't it good for the village to have powerful ninja?

"I am not, Uzumaki will surpass my skills, it will only be a matter of time"

"Do not speak of that filth within these walls! Do you hear me!"

Itachi smirked and looked defiantly at his father.

"Very well father, I shall take my leave"

"Were are you going big brother?"

Sasuke looked at itachi while fugaku simply glared at his eldest son, he knew were he was going.

"I am going to meet with a friend of mine"

"With that little whore no doubt"

Itachi saw red and just as he was about to attack his old man a blur appeared in front of him and touched his right shoulder as soon as that happened itachi was gone. Sasuke frowned and turned towards his father, but when he saw his stern face, he knew that he was not going to get any answers from him. His father despised him because he was so different from itachi. While itachi was the strong and smart, he was a mere uchiha.

"Shouldn't you be training?"

"Y-yes…f-father"

Outside the house itachi pushed the figure away from him and the figure smirked, it was times like this that he liked being Itachi is friend, there was always certain benefits to it, like saving his butt from getting in trouble with his dad whom also was the uchiha clan leader. Looking at his best friend he could see the glare sent his way, it seem that itachi was finally fed up with his father and the way he was ruling the clan. As next in line for the position of leader of the clan, Itachi always stood up to his father in matters that would affect the clan as a whole. However, the elder always found a way to over rule itachi is decision and suggestions; claiming that itachi is lack of inexperience might lead the clan down a path to self-destruction.

"Obito"

"If you are going to challenge the old man you should do it formally"

"Why don't you?"

"I am not his son, you however are"

The one eye man looked as itachi is mood change, despite being one of the strongest ninjas in the village and the next in line to lead the uchiha clan he was one depressed young man. Itachi frowned at the one eyes man and took a deep breath, he was right, the only one who had the right to challenge fugaku for the position of clan leader was the first born son, him.

"It is easier to say than do…you know what is happening"

"Civil War looms over us, I know but I also know that you father is being manipulated just as the council is"

"We should talk in private then"

"Meet me at the forest of death in an hour itachi, maybe we can work something out"

"Perhaps"

Obito the one eye fool who is sacrificed had made him the scorn of all the uchiha clan, the man had willing given his sharingan eye to Kakashi in order to save there teammate's life. Looking at his fading form he closed his eyes and wondered what his options were, he couldn't stop the up coming civil war that his father was planning and the council was going to reach a decision on what to do, one that he would not like one bit. Closing his eyes he remembered what another one eye man had told him, about the power he would require to prevent it all, a power so great that even the great demon fox bowed down too, the magenkyo sharingan and all he had to do was kill his best friend.

The forest of death, in an hour the sun would have set and he would have the perfect opportunity to acquire his power and stop this disaster from happening, but could he do it? Could he kill his best friend just so he could save the village and his clan? A small sacrifice for the greater good, the decision was clear.

"I am sorry Kurenai…I wont be able to meet you tonight"

Obito rushed away from the uchiha compound and smiled, things were working out well, he managed to get itachi to his side and with any luck, he might just avoid an all around tragedy, if itachi became the uchiha clan head he could stop all of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~W/NARUTO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nighttime had come and with it, naruto is favorite time, there was just something about the night sky and the way the village fell into darkness, most villagers had gone home already and those who were out were usually the kind of crowd that didn't mind who he was. It was the only time he felt normal; or at least had some sense of normalcy. Walking towards his favorite ramen place, he smiled when the old man had a bowl of ramen waiting for him.

"Hey naruto how was your day?"

"Hey old man, no big, same old same old"

"Good to hear, but that isn't for you"

"What?!"

The old man pulled the bowl of ramen and slides it over towards the same red haired woman whom kakashi had been with; he smiled at her and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that, but me and ramen"

"He is an addict, just like minato used to be"

Naruto raised an eye brow, and the old man continued to chuckle with out even noticing the surprised on the red haired woman is face, quickly the old man handed naruto his own bowl of ramen, the woman just stared at him and at how fast he was inhaling the food.

"Surprised? You should have seen my face when he did that the first time"

Kushina looked at the old man and smiled; she nodded and turned towards naruto.

"You were right he is quite addicted to it, just like minato…"

Naruto stopped slurping his meal and turned towards them, that was twice now he had been compared to this Minato guy.

"Who is Minato?"

"I now you didn't like school naruto but even you should know the forth is name"

Kushina frowned at the old man, she knew that he couldn't possibly know what he was doing to her but still it was hard to process all of this.

"You knew the forth?"

The incredulous look naruto gave the old man made the woman smile; he had so many mannerisms that reminded her of Minato. she chuckled at the way the old man is outrage exploded onto the blond who was equally outrage at the fact that the old man had kept the fact that he knew the forth from him, as the discussion with him and the old man escalated she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckled. The two arguing men turned towards her with frown on there faces, the old man is frown how ever quickly changed into a huge grin and pointed at her.

"She was his wife!"

"WHAT?!"

Naruto looked at the woman who suddenly froze at the accusing finger and at the incredulous look the blond was giving her; naruto chuckled and shock his head.

"Yeah right"

Her eye twitched and she frowned, it seems that minato is habit of annoying her was passed down to the blond.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well if you were the forth is wife shouldn't you be like super famous or something?"

"I was on a mission, highly classified so I had to remain incognito!"

"Oh right, sorry about that…so ah you feeling better?"

She smiled and nodded, there was no need to bring up her little incident, it was better to dismiss it and forget about it all together. Naruto smiled in understanding and continue to eat his ramen in peace, much to the surprised of the old man, but then again this was naruto, the boy had read the woman is expression when they had talked about the forth and had figured out that it was an uncomfortable matter for her to discuss so he simply dropped it. Over the years, the old man had seen how much naruto had grown and had matured and despite being proud that he was like this he couldn't help but feel sorry for him, the kid had lost his childhood way too soon.

"So naruto heard you got paired up with a genin team is that right?"

Naruto nodded at the old man, it seem that the rumor was spreading faster than he had first believe to spread, it was not a demotion by any means but there was always those who would seek this chance to ridicule him and mock him.

"Heard about that did ya?"

"You know how people and ninja are naruto"

"Yeah well I did, I can't always be a genin now can I?"

"Huh?"

"I just got assigned to them because I need to pass a chunnin exam to become a chunnin and since you need 3 man teams to participate I got stuck with a two man team, that way we are not left out"

"Oh, here I thought they were finally giving you some time off"

Naruto smirked and shock his head, there was no way that this was easy, the assignment he had been given was of the out most importance, protect two spoiled little kids and maybe die in the process, yeah time off all right.

"You are not a Chunnin?"

The two males turned towards the woman who just sat in confusion staring at the blond, naruto shock his head in the negative.

"My skills are beyond that of a chunnin but I am still ranked as Genin"

Kushina could see the frown and hear the bitterness in his voice, looking at the old man she cold see the same exact frown was placed on his face.

"Fools don't know what they are missing; this here boy is one of the best ninjas the village has seen in a long time"

She raised an eyebrow at that and naruto simply chuckled at the old man is words; she knew that she was missing something but she couldn't quite place her finger on it, there was something to there words and expression, a hidden meaning that only the two of them knew.

"Shouldn't you have been tested by the hokage or elders? If your skills are"

"That is what I been telling him!"

Naruto looked at the woman and smiled, at first glance he had believe her to be another one of those ignorant villagers, but now that he took a closer look and saw the confusion on her face he saw that she was nothing like them. She was genuinely confused about his ninja status and if he could take a wild guess, she was also concerned.

"Not in my case, I am a nobody"

Her eyes widen and then she nearly jumped out of her seat when the old man slammed his hand on the counter's top, his eyes were glaring at the blond boy and naruto was smiling nervously at him.

"What did I tell you about that brat?"

"Sorry old man…I…."

"N-nobody?"

Teuchi closed his eyes, crossed his arms in front of him, and grunted in annoyance.

"Stupid boy can't get it in his head that despite not having any one out there for him he is somebody, it don't matter if you have a clan, a father or mother, all that matters is that you know who you are and that you can prove them wrong by doing things they thought you couldn't do"

She clenched her first and closed her eyes, a nobody, some one with out a clan, some one who had no family; he had no one that is why they never took noticed of him and why he was still a gennin. Despite that Sarutobi should have done something, the man should not have just sat idly by and watched as naruto was being ignored.

"Besides that you damn brat what are we? Huh?!"

This time naruto showed some sings of embarrassment.

"Sorry old man…I know I have you and ayame but…"

"No buts brat we might be civilians but we are still with you 100% ya heard!"

"Yes sir!"

Naruto smiled and gave him a sloppy salute, the man behind the counter smiled and nodded; it seems that this was not the first time something like this had happened. Excusing herself, she got out of the small shop and immediately teleported herself over to the hokage is tower, she had been given nothing but half-truths. if naruto was so well off then why did he look so bitter and frustrated, why did that old man cared so much about him and why did naruto relied so much on that old man to keep himself from thinking such dark thoughts. There was something very wrong with her son and the old man was hiding something from her.

The hokage looked up from his paper work and saw her standing before him, something was clearly bothering her and he knew that his little story had ran its course. He had tried to ease her worry for her son by telling her all the positive things he could about naruto and his ninja career, what he neglected to mention was how the villagers and every single member of the villager saw him as nothing more than a wolf in sheep is clothing.

"You neglected to tell me something didn't you old man"

Letting out a small breath he didn't even know was holding he simply nodded at her, this could have gone worse, a lot worse, he had seen this confrontation in his mind a 100 times since she returned and not one of them showed her like this, calm cooled down and composed. Oh no all of the time he had imagined her had been with her holding a Kunai and demanding things from him, that or she killing every single one of them for the things they had done to her son, he had lucked out. What ever she knew it was bad but not bad enough to turn her into a ball of rage and anger, so he still had a shoot at this.

"What do you know?"

Her eyes harden and the room dropped a few degrees in temperature.

"Why does naruto think he is a nobody?"

"He is an orphan"

"My husband is last wish was for him to be seen as a hero not as another orphan of war! Or have you forgotten what he carries within him!? What we had to sacrifice in order to save this village!"

The hokage closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he had not forgotten, he remembered all too well what Minato had done for them and what the woman had sacrificed in order to keep the village safe.

"It was for his…"

"BULLSHIT! Don't feed me that line! You know damn well why I left the village and why we left him here, he was to be seen as a hero so you lot could guide him and prepare him to deal with the consequences of being what he is!"

None of that had happened, she could see it reflected in his demeanor and in the way he avoided her gaze, neglect was not the only thing that her son had endured.

"What are you hiding from me old man? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM!?"

The hokage simply took a deep breath placed his hands on his head and shock it, he couldn't lie to her he couldn't keep this from her, the hell with the consequences.

"nothing…"

Her eyes widen and she shock her head, that couldn't be true, some one had to have aided him, some one had to have been there for him, he was to mature he was too strong, if no one was there for him then how did he…

"Then…."

"We have done nothing for him, nothing but blame him for something he never did, hate him for something he was not responsible for, he is the village is escape goat and the focus of all there hate and anger"

Before any more words could be uttered or he could take another breath of air Sarutobi found himself pinned down on the back wall of his desk with a kunai on his throat, the two anbu guards that appeared were soon being battling two of kushina is clones.

"How bad"

The words were spoken in a hiss and the hokage closed his eyes.

"I am sorry…."

She closed her eyes and shock her head, no words to describe it….damn them.

"I want his file now!"

He tilted his head and she saw a small box on the side of the old man is desk, dropping the old man she turned towards it and opened it. Inside was a thick stack of papers all labeled with her son is name on them, she gave the hokage one last glare and jumped towards the window, but she didn't leave taking a small pause she turned towards the old man and closed her eyes.

"We are Uzumaki old man remember that well"

With that, she dispelled her clones and rushed off, the two anbus were poised to follow but a single sing from the old man made them stop.

"Sir?"

"If we anger her any further we might not survive"

"Who is that woman?"

"Her name is Kushina Namikase the forth is wife….but before she was Namikase she…she was Uzumaki Kushina the red death"

15 Years it had been that long, and now her little boy was all grown up, he was a ninja in the proud service of his village, but looking at him now all she could see was a life that she had long abandoned, he had raised himself and become quite the accomplished young man. Did he need her? Would be welcome her back or accept her? Could she be forgiven for her past mistake and for leaving him behind? So many questions and no answers to give, how could she face him when she knew the kind of life he had lead. Isolated from the rest, growing up hated and scorn by the village he protects from the most powerful demon to ever walk the lands, he was not a young man, he was not a child any more and according to his file he had never been one, he was always to mature for his age. He had grown up fast so fast that he had sacrifice his childhood in order for him to survive.

Her son had survive every thing the village had thrown at him and even now, when the council members, when the ones who wanted him dead sent him on what should be suicide missions he came back alive. He succeeded in every mission, to prove to every one that no matter what the odds were he would always come up on top. Countless time he had come back alive from missions he should have never been given, and had proven that Naruto Uzumaki was some one to be feared and respected.

But what he had gone trough as a child had been a living hell.

CONTINUED…..