I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Also, I forgot to mention to readers who's alerted when this first came out that this fic will be Naruto going to Kumo, as his sister was Karui. And Sasuke will be a good guy, and not going down the DARKNESS DERPITY DERP path. After all, there's no Madara to push him off of the slippery slope he's on.
Now on with the show then.
2 years later. Land of Hotsprings. Tokimine Town.
Within a dark bedroom a person stirred, underneath the blankets on his bed. The suns rays peered from the window blinds hitting a mop of sun-kissed blonde hair laying on the pillows. The figure groaned as he turned away from the light revealing his whiskered cheeks, messy blond bed hair, and groggy eyes, containing sky blue pupils. He looked up towards the light filtering in through the blinds glaring at the innanimate object for its lack of effectiveness.
"Go away sun…" he murmured as he got back under the covers. The boy heard some footsteps and he heard the door open.
The blond groaned, knowing now that his sleep was to be denied. He sat up, glaring at the figure in the door with annoyed look on his face.
Standing there arms crossed was an older girl, around 11 or so. She had dark skin and amber eyes in addition to fiery spiky red hair. She stood by the door with an amused smirk.
"Would you rather have dad tear off the sheets? Come on, rise and shine sleepy-head," playfully said the girl as she walked over to his window and opened the blinds, revealing the light of day to the boy. The boy closed his eyes of sudden influx of brightness.
"Karui what the heck…and what time is it…"
"It's only 9 am Naru-chan. You should be grateful to your big sis for letting you sleep in a half-hour," smirked Karui.
"Don't call me chan. I'm not a girl," Naruto narrowed his eyes at his older sister. Karui chuckled.
"Well I'm your big sis. I got powers over you you don't have." The blonde got out of bed and walked over to his closet, revealing his clothes that are hung upon hangers. He gave sigh as he started to change.
"Oh come on!" the tanned girl said, exasperated. "You cant be so tired and stuff today of all days!"
"Why? What day is it today?" Karui gave a snort.
"You mean you've forgotten?" He turned his head.
"Forgotten what?"
"Your birthday you dim-wit." Naruto's eyes went up.
"Oh man I didn't know! How come dad never reminded me!"
"Uh, anyone is supposed to know their own birthdays bro. Did you hit your head with a sack of stupid or something?" Naruto slipped onto a shirt and jeans.
"No! It's just that I've been busy doing chores ya know, and I've been helping mom at work too.!"
"You mean we have, I've been helping out too you know. I know how you feel." Naruto walked by Karui.
"Is the shower open?"
"I used it first. Better use it before mom wakes up."
"And dad?"
"He's up." Naruto grimaced as his sister followed him to the bathroom.
"So…"
"He knows you slept in. It's your birthday after all Naru-chan. He's being lenient for today."
"Don't call me chan. Karu-kun."
"Maybe if you stop calling me with a guys suffix I'd stop."
"You first." Karui simply stuck her tongue out, and Naruto returned it in turn. The redhead giggled and ran out of his sight and into the living room.
Naruto got into the shower in the bathroom and started to undress.
This is Kazama Naruto, age 9, citizen of Hotsprings Country and Tokimine Town. He has lived with his family for all of his life as an adopted child, and his life was, so to say, hard but well worth it, but he would never admit it out loud.
For starters, his big sister, Kazama Karui, always calls him Naru-chan, and she knows it aggravates him. Then again, to pay back the favor, he calls her Karu-kun. It's more like verbal aggressive diplomacy when they hang out. They call each other by their pet names, tell the other to stop, and so on. They tend to do many things with other children their own age as well; that is, of course, if they had the time to play with other children.
His mother, Kazama-Hirano Marina. Was simply a beautiful and kind woman, looking more like a princess version of what his older sister may grow up to be. Her hair was long but tamed, her eyes and skin color the same as his sister. She was always kind and had a smile on her face. Not to mention she ran a small noodle stand and made great food! In fact, it attracted a lot of customers due to the cold weather. The steaming broth and noodles were more than appealing when the chill wind had seeped through the skin and into the marrow.
And so in order to keep up, both Naruto and Karui helped out with busing tables and delivering food. They'd both asked for their places in their business began a year or so ago, probably due to their mutual insistence. It helped bring business and save money, not having to hire an employee that would charge more than enough money to buy a candy or two every lunch hour, but work away from home left work to pile up at home.
Following up was Uncle Jiraiya, the man whom daddy would call "sensei" from time to time. He always stopped by once a month to visit, and Naruto liked the jovial old man. The white haired man even gave presents every now and then, giving Naruto what appeared to be a small book called Icha Icha Preschool. From what little time Naruto had read it, he knew that it was about a pre-school teacher liking a very lonely mother. He hasn't had a chance to progress beyond the part when the teacher was invited into the home of the mother. He'd gotten bored at that point, and the book now lay forgotten somewhere out of his bed. He'd thought of giving it to his dad, since he always did like to read, but then remembered how Jiraiya told him not to tell anyone. "It'll be our little secret." Said the sage with a wink. Naruto kept up on that promise.
It was a shame to the boy's eyes that uncle Jiraiya didn't come all the time, but he must have been busy.
And then came the taskmasker, Kazama Arashi. The day Naruto learned to walk, Arashi had him do a chore. Naturally, this brought on many complaints from the young Naruto, but Arashi merely retorted with a "You'll thank me later in life. Trust me." He does...the man is his father afterall. But he always had to do something, whether it was helping with dishes or some other task. Arashi always had Naruto do something. And the complements on his efforts were few and far between, and were usually followed by a "Okay, here's what's next" or "Double check to see if you cleaned up right."
At his young age, Naruto doesn't know what a perfectionist is, but he will learn one day that Kazama Arashi fits the bill perfectly.
But then again, the rewards were worth it. One time, about a year or two ago, he asked his mother…
Naruto stood by in the kitchen at Hirano's Noodle Place, their place of work, as he saw Marina wash some dishes, Karui helping alongside her. He bit his lip as he prepared to ask his mother a question.
"Hey mommy?" the kind Marina turned her head.
"Yes Naru-chan?" For whatever reason, he didn't mind her calling her chan.
"Can I talk to you about something?"he looked a bit downtrodden. Marina nodded, as if in understanding. She looked down at Karui.
"Karui-chan, will you keep on washing the dishes for me and place them in the washer? I need to talk to your brother."
"Okay mommy." And Marina dried her hands off on the apron she wore and she and Naruto walked out of the kitchen and into the small stand. Fortunately,the family was on a break as there was no customers in their tiny restaurant.
"So," she kneeled down to his level. "What's up?"
"Why does daddy make me do a lot of work? All the other kids get to go out and play. All he makes me do is just work and work and its never done right he just... The boy trailed off watching as his mothers lips curled into a gentle, warm smile
"Oh...well...it's complicated sweetie. Despite how your father acts, he truly loves you you know."
"Well he doesn't act like it.…" He said reluctantly, petulantly, trying to make his mother see where he was coming from. Marina chuckled.
"That's because your father has a hard time showing what he feels sweetie. Not to mention, he wants what's best for you, he knows that with hard work, you can overcome anything. He wants you to know that too." She looked around then, as thoug making sure no one was around. "Plus, when we are alone" she gave a chuckle at the boy's suddenly eager eyes. "He always tells me how proud he is of you." Naruto's face opened up, touched about what his mother said.
"Really?"
"All the time," she gave a funny face imitating her husband's gruff voice "Naruto will become a strong man one day. He did all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. He'll be a good, strong man, I know it. With enough character in him, Naruto will be getting girls all over the place. That boy will be a good honest man when he gets older, you'll see,"
"Really? He's proud of me?"
"Of course he is. He's your father after all. He just has a hard time showing it. Don't ever think otherwise. Do you have any more questions?"
"No mommy. Let's help sis clean up. There maybe more people wanting to come in soon," Marina chuckled.
"Sure thing Naru-chan." And Mother and son returned to kitchen.
As he stepped out of the shower and began drying himself off, Naruto paused, catching sight of himself in the mirror. At the sight of his reflection, his mind began to wander, back to about a month or two ago He'd had a question that had been scratching at the back of his mind for a long while then:
He'd always noticed his stark blond hair, blue eyes, and strange, whisker-like marks on his cheeks. From what his Uncle Jiraiya had told Naruto when the young boy asked, the old sage told him it was just a special birth mark. The boy passed it off, but that question nagged at his small brain.
Why didn't he look like his parents? Karui was a spitting image of mommy, and even though his father had blue eyes, he had a different tone. Daddy's eyes were platinum blue, while his were as blue as a clear sky. As he dressed up, he walked down the hall of their apartment and into the living room. Karui was still playing with ball against the wall, which had evident indents in it for years of constant playing. Mommy was out working and he saw his dad cleaning dishes. Arashi was a stay at home dad most of the time, but he did some work with construction of new homes from time to time for friends and new residents that came into the village. His dad said it was better to be on good terms with as many people as one could get.
When the former Konoha nin turned, he caught sight of his youngest son.
"Ah, Naruto. Help me out please. Can you load the dishes?" The mentioned boy nodded.
"Okay," and he walked towards his dad and was given dishes and inserted them into the right spots in the washer.
Naruto's gut churned with some unease, it would be so much easier to ask his mother than his father, but the need to know was simply clawing at the back of his skull, demanding to be voiced wether it be to his mother or his stricter father.
Finally, after several minutes in the man's presence the blond decided to bite the bullet.
"Hey dad?" Naruto's hair covered his eyes, which were looking at the ground. Arashi kept on scrubbing a plate for any hard muck.
"Yea?"
"Why don't I look like you or mommy?" Arashi looked down at him, face neutral. The only sound being the running water and Karui's ball.
"Karui-chan?"
"Yeah dad?"
"Can you go outside for a bit?"
"But it's cold out~"
"Take a jacket. I don't want that wall any more damaged than it already is." Karui got up and grabbed her jacket and went outside the apartment. The thunks of the ball can be heard. Arashi dried his hands.
"Come with me," he placed his hand on his shoulder and Naruto felt his heart lurch down to his feet with the weight of that limb as they walked towards the couch. And the sat down together.
"now what would make you say that sort of question Naruto?" The boy looked downtrodded.
"Well…I mean…look at me dad. The only thing I have what you have is your eyes, but they are a different tune-"
"Tone. Tone of color." Arashi decided not to reprimand on the boy's lack of attention on his vocabulary studies just now.
"Tone than my eyes. So why dad. Why don't I look like you or mommy?" he looked up at him with pleading his eyes, his voice soft.
Arashi's face was hard, staring down at his son, who he had worked hard since he was 6. He let out a big sigh and grabbed his son's shoulder.
"Naruto, despite what you may think, you're special. To me, and to your mother, and to your sister."
"But I don't look like you. Could it...am I..." The words were choking in his throat, and when he finally said them they emerged in a rush. "Am I adopted dad?"
He looked up to his father's stony face and Naruto's gut churned with nervous fear.
Then, Naruto felt his eyes widen, and his father's arms were wrapped around him in a warm, hug, Naruto's eyes widened. He'd heard his father praised him behind his back from his mom but...an open display of afection, even to Karui was a rare thing and every time it'd happened before was a moment that always made either of them freeze with surprise…
This was no exception.
"You're very special Naruto, and you're my son and my family. Don't let anyone say otherwise. So what if you're a little different? You're still Mari-chan's son and Karui-chan's little brother. And you're my son, and I couldn't have had it any other way." Naruto was speechless. Despite his hard tone of voice, the fact that he's saying this while hugging him…
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"I hear a lot of kids say that their daddies and mommies call their sons the best son in the world. Am I the best the son in the world? Better than any of them?"
"You know I hate stupid questions Naruto." He answered in a stern voice, causing him to deflate…
"You're the best son a father could have." And he reinflated instantly and began to tear up, and he hugged his dad even more tightly. Arashi held him, and each moment felt like a year before Arashi cancelled the hug.
"Now then…Karui-chan must be freezing. Let's bring her back in," he walked towards door to let her in, Naruto feeling fuzzy inside as he did.
They'd talked a little more later, when Marina had gotten back and they confirmed that, yes, he was adopted. Naruto thought he should feel worse than he did, considering he felt little, but the truth was that his suspicions had been brewing about this for some time, perhaps that had lessened the blow, and the fact that both Arashi and Marina had both been very firm in expressing that they didnt love him any less than they did Karui. It appeased him.
Maybe one day he'd try to find out a little more about who his other mother and father were. But as far as he was concerned, he was happy here; Arashi and Marina are his real mommy and daddy.
Finishing getting dressed the boy shook off the last vestiges of sleep as he left his room.
He walked into the kitchen, seeing Arashi on the couch reading a book. He looked up and saw his blonde son and gave a small smile.
"Guess who's day is it?" he said as Naruto smiled.
"My birthday!" Arashi ruffled his mop of yellow hair, Marina was also standing by in the kitchen with a wide smile.
"It's your ninth birthday Naru-chan! You're becoming a big boy," cooed the dark-skinned woman as she kneeled down and gave the boy a kiss. Karui also ran in and hugged Naruto.
"Your getting bigger lil bro, but I'll always be taller than you~"
"No your not! One day I'll be taller than you! Just you wait!"
"That'll be the day," smirked the redhead as she gave Naruto a headlock and gave him a noogie. The boy whined as Arashi chuckled.
"Ah your bawling over a little rubbing on your noggin, by a girl no less," teased Arashi.
"Daddy!"
"Unhand the pure boy, uncouth evil-doer!" booned a great voice, causing everyone to turn towards the now open window near the kitchen. Standing on the sink as if he just arrived was none other than Uncle Jiraiya, with a great smile on his face.
"For it is I, The Gallant Jiraiya-sama, who has come for a special occasion!" The children's face's beamed.
"Uncle Jiraiya!" cheered the kids as they ran over to the sage and hugged him.
"Close the window you old bas-magnificent man you. Your wasting heat," said Arashi, amending his words as he caught his wife's glare about cursing infront of the kids
"I'm not old! I'm only 47!"
"Well your starting to show gray."
"I can't show gray because my hair is naturally white!"
"So you say, you could be lying about that." Arashi laughed. Jiraiya let a grin come up at the dry humor.
"Oh right! Now, which special birthday boy wants a present?" Naruto beamed.
"Me! Me! Me!"
And so the day began.
Outside, down the road, looking out a window another building, a tiny sliver of light reflected off of curved glass.
A man took a non flashing camera of the open window Jiraiya of the Sannin climbed into. Winding the film again as he shot off another picture.
He clicked a few more times, catching Jiraiya giving the blonde child a piggy back ride, and observing the family for the rest of the day. The uninvited voyeur took several more pictures.
He wrote down something onto a scrap of paper and collected a bunch of photos and notes into a small bag and left the apartment dressed as a normal civilian.
Nearly two years of undercover and track work had finally born fruit.
Theres chapter 3 for ya. Next one has Sasuke and Tenten in it. Hope yall enjoyed.
Beta'ed and edited by Ld 1449
