They spent one day at the port (mostly so Harry and Sirius could get acclimated to the area and for the translation charm to fully set in) before heading back to Konoha. Once Harry got over his shyness at meeting new people, he and Sasuke chatted like old friends.
It helped Harry get out of his shell, so Sirius didn't mind keeping half an eye on the two. Though to be honest it was like seeing two of them, since they looked so damn similar it was someone surprising.
Itachi, on the other hand, decided to talk to Sirius.
"How did you know to contact us?" he asked. That was one thing that bugged him. How had Sirius known to contact the Uchiha clan? According to all reports, the child who had come of the union of their families hadn't had any children. Or at the very least had the kekkei genkai to begin with.
To answer Itachi's question, Sirius activated his eyes. Itachi's eyes widened in absolute shock.
"Got these when I was eighteen. Didn't know what the hell they were, only that they made fighting a hell of a lot easier. They shifted to another form six years later. Never even knew what they were called until recently."
Once Itachi got his bearings back (he had stumbled for good reason once he saw the Sharingan in all it's glory in Sirius' sapphire blue eyes) he immediately asked what the other form looked like. Sirius had long since figured out how to shift between the forms, so Itachi was naturally interested in the Mangekyo Sharingan.
At least Sirius had a name for the damn thing.
Itachi was hyperventilating, and for damn good reason. The day after he left, someone had wiped out his entire clan, down to the last child. They had no idea who the hell did it, only that they had struck in a single night and the ANBU hadn't gotten there in time to stop the massacre.
The only reason Itachi and Sasuke had been spared was because they had been picking up Sirius and Harry.
Once the ensuing chaos of finding out an entire clan of skilled shinobi was wiped out to three people started, Sirius was beginning to wonder if bringing Harry there was such a good idea.
On the plus side, he did get on Itachi's good side by silencing most of the idiots trying to adopt the boys simply because Itachi wasn't even old enough by civilian standards and it would be rough to take care of his brother who was still an Academy student.
Once that was done, Sirius got everyone to shut up and listen to Itachi.
It took relatively little time to get things settled with Sirius hexing anyone who tried to split the brothers up into shutting up.
(Sarutobi would later instate him as Uchiha head, solely so Sirius could repeat that trick during council meetings. Itachi only agreed to it because it meant that his cousin from outside the barrier would have to deal with the paperwork that was sure to follow.)
Sirius grew to like Konoha. It was so much more interesting than England. Even if the paperwork was hellish.
And today there was some special festival about to go on. According to Itachi it was the celebration of the defeat of a massive Demon Fox who killed the Fourth Hokage, though no one had any clue to what happened to the body itself.
Sirius had been curious enough to look at the area where the Fourth bought it, and aside from a lot of still present malevolent chakra, he didn't sense anything out of the ordinary.
And that struck Sirius as strange, as even purely magical beings that were killed left behind some evidence.
So Sirius kept all eyes open as he knew for a fact there was something that no one was telling him. Even Itachi became tight lipped about the subject. And if there was one thing that gave Remus more gray hairs than his affliction, it was a curious Sirius Black.
Last time it had involved what Lily Evans looked like under her robe, and the payback was not pleasant.
So, as Sirius walked around the festival (leaving Harry in Itachi's more than capable hands, to the teen's horror of dealing with two children) he noticed the the adults seemed...tense for lack of a better word.
Alerted to the fact that something was up, Sirius went into a back alley and turned into Padfoot. As far as the ANBU and shinobi were concerned, the black dog was Sirius' nin hound, and he had never bothered to correct that assumption.
Though he did have fun learning that thanks to the Sharingan he could learn how to talk. It was a pain in the ass, but he could do it.
It was because of his canine form that he ran headfirst into the resident prankster of the village. Literally, in fact.
Sirius took one look at the mob, grabbed the kid's collar, and ran like the girl's dorms were after his ass after a prank gone wrong. The kid wisely didn't say anything and instead waited for the dog to stop.
Sirius dropped the kid on the couch (Itachi and the boys were out at the moment) and turned back.
"Geez, kid! What the hell did you do to piss that many people off? Drop frogs in the hot springs or something?" he asked panting.
The blond stared at him in shock...then awe. Then he remembered the this dog-turned-human just saved him a nasty beating.
"Nah, they always do that this time of year. No idea why, but they hate me," said the boy.
Then his frown turned into a grin.
"But the frogs in the hot spring is a good idea. For some reason the girl's side sticks a dead frog outside their bath house with a kunai at least once a year."
Sirius chuckled. He had noticed that, which was why he said it.
The kid's stomach growled loudly.
"How long had it been since you ate kid?"
"...About three days."
Sirius frowned, then went into the kitchen and whipped up some instant ramen.
Itachi didn't trust him with more than that after Sirius proved a little too well Uchiha blood ran true in his when he set the stove on fire...for the fifth time...in a week. After that he had been banned from making anything other than the simplest of meals and that was a small selection that included among other things instant ramen.
Only Harry was allowed to be near the stove and never around the sharp knives until he mastered the kunai. Like Sasuke, Harry had decided to join the Academy since he found shinobi fascinating. Well, that and Sirius knew for a fact it would make teaching magic a hell of a lot easier in the long run.
Itachi was still baffled as to how the hell Sirius could activate both forms of the Sharingan when the man's chakra coils were nonexistent! Let alone how he managed to reproduce a proper Grand Fireball without a single handsign and using only a polished stick!
The kid's eyes light up when he smelled the ramen.
"Here kid. I know what it's like to go without for days on end. How much do you think you can eat?" he asked.
"I can eat up to ten..." he mumbled.
Sirius chuckled and made a few more cups. By the time Itachi returned with two tired but very happy boys, Naruto had fallen asleep on the couch. He raised an eyebrow at the blond but thankfully the other two were too tired to notice his presence at the moment.
"Why is Naruto here?" he asked.
"That the kid's name? I rescued him from a mob that looked pretty pissed about something. Being that I know exactly what retribution from mobs like that (usually justified) I figured the kid could use a break. Poor guy said he hadn't eaten in three days," said Sirius, covering Naruto up with a blanket.
"...The Hokage will probably thank you. The birthday mobs are generally more vindictive than the usual ones," said Itachi tonelessly.
Sirius paused in cleaning up the ramen cups.
"Wait, birthday mobs? As in this happens every year on the kid's...?" he said in horror.
"Naruto... He was born on the day the Kyuubi attacked and because he resembles a fox he isn't very well liked at all. Most adults won't even give him the time of day, and he is overcharged almost everywhere in the village. Every year during the festival, the ANBU have to work overtime keeping drunken morons trying to kill him or at least maim him away. Thankfully this is one of the few places they won't enter."
"Damn...talk about bad luck. If his situation really is that bad, I'll go with him when he goes home. Though depending on where he's living, we might have another addition to the house..." said Sirius.
Itachi said nothing, but he had the feeling that the Hokage might approve of the adoption since Sirius had no issues with the fox and genuinely liked children. Occasionally Itachi saw him playing with the orphans and bringing them treats.
Sometimes he would even spar with one child, barely an Academy student, who had the most ridiculous eyebrows Itachi had ever seen. They were on par with Might Gai, the rival of his sempai Kakashi Hatake.
That thought brought to mind the idea of a clone, and he shuddered. One Gai was far too many.
Sasuke was the first to notice the addition at the breakfast table.
"What the hell is the class clown doing here?" he said in shock. Itachi slapped him upside the head with a frown. Doubtless he picked up that language from the Inuzuka kid in his class.
Harry, however grinned.
"Hey Naruto!" he said.
"Hari-kun?" said Naruto in surprise.
Harry was the only kid who would share his lunch with Naruto or even help him with homework.
"Fox Boy is here because somehow he managed to piss off fifty people last night and as a fellow prankster I wasn't about to let an aspiring terrorist get caught," winked Sirius.
Naruto paused in his devouring of the eggs (Itachi cooked when Harry didn't wake up to do so) to give Sirius a wide-eyed stare.
Sirius patted him on the head, noting with some anger that Naruto had the same reaction Harry had...which meant he was an attention deprived child as well, only instead of his family hating him for existing and the neighbors watching with passive dismissal it was an entire village who hated him for reasons he had no knowledge of. Sirius even followed Naruto after classes as Padfoot, and he saw the looks they gave him.
That wasn't annoyance, it was outright hate and anger. All of directed at an eight-year-old kid who according to Itachi was an orphan. The only real friend Naruto could claim was Harry, and that was because Sirius didn't discourage him from becoming friends with the kid.
And out of all the looks Naruto got, the only ones remotely friendly came from a small stand that belonged to a father/daughter duo that sold almost nothing but ramen. It was clear that even if the world hated the kid, these two at least gave a damn if he were to suddenly dropped dead.
It was when he saw the state of Naruto's apartment that he saw red. Blood red.
It was a complete wreck...his cell in Azkaban was more welcoming and that was saying something.
Every wall was painted on, all variations of the word demon, die, or some profanity. Inside wasn't much better. The house was nearly demolished and barely standing. Every dish destroyed, every book in shreds, every scrap of cloth ripped and torn.
The kid shrugged off the damage with practiced ease and started to clean up. Sirius didn't need to see the boy's face to know he was crying.
It was more than enough for Sirius to head to the Hokage. No way in hell was he letting this slide...and it wasn't like they didn't have enough room for another kid.
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Black-san," said Sarutobi tiredly. Sirius had come into his office and all but demanded that he be allowed to adopt the boy.
And Sarutobi didn't know the man well enough to trust him with the village pariah.
"Bullshit. Have you seen what that boy goes through everyday? Or what his house looks like?"
"I have seen more than you would ever know Black," said the Hokage angrily.
"I thought you would at least be more reasonable than him. Here's my only warning Hokage-sama. I don't give a flying fuck what the council says about the boy or what that fool Danzo wants. There is no way I'm letting an innocent child live in those conditions. Even if you don't give me guardianship of the boy, he is staying with us regardless. I'll turn anyone who tries to stop me into frogs, just see if I don't," snarled Sirius.
"My hands are tied. Even if I wanted to let you take him in, the council would have my ass."
"Like I said before, let them try. I will turn anyone who tries to stop me into frogs and chuck them in the women's hot springs. I know for a fact you don't have anything that will stop me, wards or no and I've been mastering how to use my powers without a wand. Let them pin the blame on me, but there is no way in hell I'm letting that kid suffer any more."
Sarutobi sighed.
"I'll do what I can. I suppose it's a mixed blessing Fugaku was killed before you came... he would have put up a real fight to keep Naruto out of his clan's home. At the very least, Naruto will be safer with you than alone."
Sirius backed down, fully aware the ANBU was a half step away from killing him for challenging the Hokage like that. He just didn't give a damn. He once faced down a pissed off time-of-the-month Moony when the wolf had been in the wrong about something, and he had been about to shit his pants that time.
But if there was one thing Sirius wasn't about to back down about, it was child abuse. Even pure bloods like his mother had never descended to that level. Verbal abuse, yes, but never physical or mental abuse like the amount he had seen while watching Naruto Uzumaki.
Harry was given a mission by Sirius. He had to get Naruto to come back to the Uchiha estate without letting his watchers know about it.
Not exactly difficult, considering Harry didn't mind helping Naruto with homework. And Sirius was giving Harry enough cash to let Naruto fill himself with Ichiraku's ramen.
He had even gone to the man himself and explained what he was going to do and why, and Teuchi had promised to back him up however he could.
Naruto didn't suspect a thing, and it wasn't until he found himself in the same house the dog-man brought him with Sasuke-teme that he realized he had been tricked.
But for once, he didn't mind being tricked at all.
