Chapter 2
It took 3 more days before the man and son made it back to their home village of Sunagakure. In that time they made sure the blond boy drank some water, but it was hard due to the fact he hadn't woken up. It had been a real chore taking care of him as their was no way to clean him up when he messed on himself out in the desert and keeping him cool and watered was nearly impossible. Some how though they survived and after checking in and informing the guards of a need to speak with the Kazekage they both headed straight for the hospital where they now waited to see what the prognosis was for the little blond.
There had been no wait due to the believed seriousness of the blonde's condition and now just ten minutes later a doctor was approaching the father. The father jumped up and asked the doctor, "Will the boy be okay?" "He should be just fine. Actually we were quite surprised by the fact despite the holes in his clothes and the way you found him he's in near perfect health" The doctor says. "What do you mean by near perfect?" The man asks. "It seems Naruto has a slight case of malnutrition, but that should easily be fixed with a good diet. The only other anomaly we could find was he seems to be a heavy bleeder, which is something that's going to have to be monitored carefully. For now we've taken blood, hair, and tissue samples to begin running tests and I'd like to give him a full workup before he leaves Hitosu-san" The doctor says.
The father nods and asks, "That sounds good doctor. When will he be able to leave?" "We'd like to keep him until he wakes up. I'd say a few days of the IV's and a few good meals should have him feeling better then ever. I'd say 3 days and by then the tests should be done" The doctor says. Before any more could be said one of Suna's ANBU shunshined in. "Hitosu Hideki Kazekage-samma has accepted your request for a meeting. You are to appear before Lord Kazekage immediately" The ANBU says and shunshines away.
"Doctor I will leave Naruto in your care please inform me when he awakes. Sochi(1) go home and inform your mother of our soon to be guest" Hideki says. "Daifu(2) after I inform mother can I come back to watch over my new otouto(3)?" Takumi asks with puppy dog eyes. "Sure sochi, but stay out of the doctor's way okay and let the boy rest. I expect you home before it gets dark out" The father says and Takumi nods in agreement. Leaving the boy to his vigil Hideki looks back one last time. 'He looks so happy right now maybe Mina-chan and I should consider really giving him an otouto or maybe an imouto(4). I know Sumiko really wanted Takumi to be a girl' the man thinks as he heads towards the Kazekage's residence.
He arrives at the Kazekage's residence fifteen minutes later. He was stopped by the guards and after confirming his appointment was let in where he walked up the stairs until he reached the level the Kazekage's office was on. Walking up to the secretary he signed in and waited for the Kazekage to send for him. Hideki only ended up waiting fifteen minutes, which may not seem like it but was a very short wait. The Kazekage had a reputation for keeping people waiting all day only to send them away to return another day. If he didn't like you or deemed you unimportant the wait could be a week or more and he expected you to wait until he allowed you to be in his presence. 'Something must have caught his attention to send for me so soon' Hideki thought.
He walked up to the big heavy double doors that protected the Kazekage's office and knocked twice. "Enter" he heard then opened the doors, which was no small feat as they easily weighted 30 pounds and walked through them. He walked up to the Kazekage's desk and bowed; "Thank you for meeting with me so soon Kazekage-sama" Hideki greeted and took a seat in front of the man's desk.
"Hitosu-san what can I do for you?" The Kazekage asks. "I thought that I should inform you Kazekage-sama that on my way back from a business trip with the Leaf I found a boy almost buried in a sand dune. I decided to bring him with me and would like to adopt at a later date if things work out" Hideki says. "That sounds fine, but what about this requires my input?" The Kazekage asks as his eyes trained on the woodsman.
"W-well the t-thing is w-when I found the boy it looked like s-something kept him from b-being buried under the sand" Hideki starts nervously. It wasn't that he was afraid of the Kazekage … okay not terribly afraid, but of all the 4 Kage's the Yondiame was the worst. The only reason he was even made the Kazekage was due to the sudden disappearance of the Sandiame Kazekage a great man and the most powerful of the four by far. Many lamented the fact that his lone heir also died mysteriously and secretly felt it was the Yondiame's doing as many would be or potential rivals would suddenly disappear.
The man was a coward pure and simple and worse than that had terrible judgment. It was his fault Suna's economy had taken a big fall and the village was close to losing it's standing as one of the major five their alliance with Konoha being their only saving grace. There was also his spat with the Wind Daimyo, which is the stupidest thing any Kage could do as the countries Daimiyo is by far the biggest client of any hidden village. How did he do that? He used his daughter as a sacrifice to seal an already sealed and unstable demon into their newborn baby girl their third child, second daughter. Then when the girl didn't turn into the perfect blood thirsty soldier at the ripe old age of 3 he began sending assassins after her practically spitting on the sacrifice his daughter made. The only reason this didn't become the final nail in the man's reign as Kazekage is because in his rage at what happened to his daughter he gave the majority of his business to ally and rival Konohagakure thus losing a lot of support from the shinobi and citizens of Sunagakure who saw this as a major betrayal.
Shaking himself from his thoughts so as to avoid angering the volatile man he continued. "Well, when I went closer to check the boy a huge wolf leapt out of seemingly nowhere and guarded the boy …" Hideki says before being interrupted. "A wolf in the desert?" The Kazekage says disbelievingly. "It turned out to be some kind of summons" Hideki answers. "A summons?" the kage asks. "Yes Kazekage-sama it said it belonged to a clan of summons called the Blood Wolves" Hideki says. 'Hmmm … never heard of it I wonder how powerful they are?' The kage thought. "Never heard of them" The Kazekage says quickly covering his thoughts.
"It gave the impression of being an old contract that had few wielders as it said no ninja had ever summoned them" the woodsman says. 'Hmmm an ancient contract … that would put us closer to Konoha that likes to brag about those stupid Sannin and their summons even after two of them haven't been seen near that village in years and one has gone rogue' the Kazekage thought. "Why would a summon care about some boy lost in the desert? The Kazekage asks. "The wolf said it was sent by its clan elders to watch over the boy, because of some prophecy or something. It said the boy will be their next summoner due to some ability they believe he has and that he would bring their clan back to prominence" Hideki says.
'And Suna with them! The wolf must be referencing a Kekkai Genkai of some kind that's got to be powerful. Yes he must be what we need and can be the tool to bring Suna back to where we should be as the greatest of the five major villages. I thought it was Emi(5), but now destiny has truly smiled on me and sent me an even better weapon' the power mad kage thought. "The wolf also mentioned they wanted the boy to become a ninja" Hideki says remembering his promise. "Of course, of course the boy will get the best trainers" the Kazekage says breaking from his thoughts with a smile.
Hideki didn't like the look of that smile as it promised nothing good, but again there was little he could do. "Thank you Kazekage-sama, if I may I'd like to head home as I haven't gotten much sleep since finding the boy and it was a long journey" Hideki says. The Kazekage nods, "of course I understand, but as soon as he's able to leave the hospital I want you to bring the boy to see me okay no appointment necessary" The Kazekage says. "Yes, Kazekage-sama I'll make sure to do that" Hideki says and bows to the man before leaving.
*Hitosu Estate – 30 minutes later *
A little while later Hideki finally made it home and was ready to collapse from the physical and mental exhaustion he felt. Unlocking the door he walked in spotted his favorite rocking chair and just flopped down. Before he could shut his eyes to catch a little nap his wife came out of a backroom with a smile on her face. She was an attractive woman standing at 5 feet 2 inches with honey brown hair, brown eyes, and a cute face she still kept in shape with all her work around the house but was a little on the plump side.
"Honey where is Takumi?" His wife asked. "Takumi hasn't come back yet?" Hideki asked. "Not that I am aware of Hi-kun" She replied. "I guess I'll have to go collect him soon" Hideki answered.
"Later dear for now your home so tell me how was the trip?" Hideki's wife asked. "It was interesting" Hideki answered. "How so?" The woman asked as she stood awaiting her husbands answer. "Well, the price for wood went up again" he started gaining a frown from his wife. "Then on the way back me and Takumi stumbled upon a boy lying unconscious in a sand dune" he continued only to be stopped by her.
"WHAT? He was unconscious? A boy? In the dunes? For how long? Is he okay? Did you take him to the hospital? Was it bandits? Did Takumi get hurt and that's what your not telling me?" The frantic woman says in the span of 5 seconds. Hideki instantly gets up and grasps the woman from behind and whispers in her ear to settle her. Taking a seat and nuzzling into her neck he gave her a kiss as he calmly answered her questions.
"So Takumi is okay and you told the Kazekage that we will care for him?" She asked evenly leaving Hideki to wonder a little at how she was taking everything. "Yes, well I did make a promise even if it was to a pack of wolves" Hideki says softly. His wife merely chuckled as she knew how her husband felt about keeping his promise. If he made one then he would do everything he could to keep it.
"You know Sumiko-chan when I was watching Takumi at the hospital watching over the little boy I couldn't help but think maybe it's time we give him an imouto or otouto" Hideki says while nuzzling deeper into her inbetween other forms of affection that were starting to heat the normally cool housewife up. It wasn't long before the pair were off intent on using their time alone to it's fullest.
1) Sochi = son
2) Daifu = father
3) Otouto = little brother
4) Imouto = little sister
5) Emi = Gaara, I apologize for those who think the name should stay the same but I seriously couldn't bring myself to keep the name Gaara for his female counterpart that I will be using in this story.
Anyway I hope everyone enjoyed the long overdue second chapter of 'Blood Puppeteer' it isn't much, but think of it as my present to my fans. My plan is to release a new chapter for all of my stories during the next couple of weeks so be on the look out for more updates soon. In the next chapter of 'Blood Puppeteer' Naruto meets the Kazekage ... until next time dear reader Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!