A/N: Well, I don't really have an excuse for not updating for almost half a year, except that school kept me from doing so. But good news: I have graduated and now have to do a year of social service, so I'll have more time to write. This is only a short chapter, but I'll try my best to update as soon as possible. Once again, sorry for being absent so long!
Chapter 4
„Naruto-sama! Is it true that you joined our clan?! That is so awesome!!"
The excited voice of Kiba Inuzuka rang through the cloudless night of Konoha, waking everybody in the near vicinity. The boy came to a halt right in front of the absentminded Naruto, scaring him shitless.
Instead of an answer he received a smack on the head, courtesy of the shocked blond.
"Kiba you baka! I told you to not call me that! And tone it down; you woke up half of the village with your voice. And yes, I am joining your family, another reason for you to stop the "sama"-crap!"
The brunet adopted a thoughtful look, shared by his partner Akamaru who had greeted Naruto with a few barks from his perch on top of his master's head. Kiba grinned and came to a conclusion:
"Since you are part of the family I will call you Naruto-taichou! That way I can still give you respect without degrading myself."
Naruto sighed and muttered "Kami, if they called me an idiot while wearing my mask, what does that make him? The god of idiots?"
Before Kiba was able to give him a good comeback, he was lying flat on his back, sporting a large lump on his head. Behind him stood two woman with scowls adorning their faces.
"What do you think you are doing waking up the neighborhood runt? There are people sleeping around here you know? Or at least they were sleeping…"
Naruto recognized the speaking female as Tsume. But the other one was unknown to him, so he took a closer look. She stood at about 155cm and had a slender, already matured figure. Like Kiba and Tsume she had brown hair and the Inuzuka Clan Markings on her cheeks. But when Naruto noticed a flower tattoo on her upper right arm he instantly knew who she was.
"Hana! Long time no see! How are you?"
Hana who was berating her younger brother together with her mother paused in her actions and turned with a smile towards the fox-hanyou.
"Naruto, I am happy you are joining the family. Maybe you are able to succeed where we have failed and keep the runt in line. God, I sometimes wonder if we really are related. Oh and I love your knew look, it brings out your feral side!"
Naruto, not being used to receiving compliments on his appearance felt heat rising to his cheeks. This of course was rewarded with a sly remark from his obaa-chan.
"Why Naruto, not even an hour in the family and already getting the attention of the women? Are you turning in a ladys-man now, are you?"
This sent both Hana and Naruto into a series of sputtering and blushing, much to the amusement of the Hokage and the two remaining Inuzukas.
"Yeah Naruto-taichou! That would be so cool if you'd date my sister! Then she would finally be off my back!"
One moment later Kiba was sent flying via the fist-express by the now extremely embarrassed Hana. She had never been attracted to Naruto up until know but his new look stirred something primal inside her. But she didn't ponder on that, because she had vowed to choose a mate not for his appearance but his personality. But she couldn't deny that Naruto did look good as a hanyou. Though her annoying little brother didn't have to know that.
A small cough from Tsume brought everybody to attention.
"Now when the teasing of Naruto-kun is over, I'd like to get to work before the sun starts rising again. We all need some sleep."
Tsunade nodded in agreement.
"I will leave this in your hands Tsume, he is your responsibility now. As I said before Naruto-kun, your mother's sword will be delivered by tomorrow-morning. If you excuse me, I still have some leftover paperwork to do. And please stay out of trouble for a while, okay gaki?"
"Urusai obaa-chan! You'd better stay away from the sake while you're working or I'll tell Shizune-nee-chan!"
"Grrrrr, we will see about that gaki. Anyway, see you tomorrow."
With the departure of the Hokage Tsume assumed control of the situation. When Kiba had recovered from his "flight" she asked Naruto to lead them to his apartment to collect his belongings.
Surprisingly though, he started to lead them into the opposite direction of where his home was.
Noticing the questioning glances, Naruto explained.
"As you noticed today Tsume-chan, there are a lot of things people don't know about me. One of them is that I don't really live in the apartment Sarutobi-jiji gave me after I was kicked out of the orphanage when I was three. It would have been to troublesome to live there, since the villagers destroyed the whole interior two or three times a week. So I proposed Jiji something different. You'll see in a moment what I am talking about. While were travelling, could you please explain Hana the whole deal about Kyuubi? I don't want to keep secrets from my family."
Tsume nodded and smiled in approval. As an Inuzuka, loyalty towards the pack was very important to her so she was pleased to see that Naruto thought the same. A short explanation later, Hana was giving Naruto's "scarf" a curious look until Kyuubi gave an annoyed snort.
"Yes I really am the Kyuubi. And now stop staring at me, I need my beauty sleep."
This caused a major sweatdrop amongst the group.
After travelling in silence for a while, they arrived at their destination. Though none of the Inuzukas understood why they were stopping in a clearing in a middle of the forest.
Naruto had a smirk on his face, which caused the fox hanyou to look even more like a real fox.
He made the ram-seal and gave a loud shout: "Kai!"
Before the eyes of his stunned audience the clearing was suddenly filled with a small cottage and to their shock with an orchard. Dozens of trees and plants of all kinds were scattered around. The moon tinted everything in a slight silver glow, giving it an otherworldly appearance.
"Jiji made the genjutsu strong enough so that only I could despell it. As you can see I love gardening a lot so he also gave me seeds for all of these plants."
"But Naruto-kun, how in the world did you take care of this place? This is bigger than the plantation of the Yamanaka and that is saying something! And how are you planning on moving this to the Inuzuka-compound?"
"Well the answer to both of your questions is the same. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Several hundred Naruto's appeared in cloud of smoke, stunning Tsume and Hana who had never seen anyone creating such a great amount of clones before. Kiba had already witnessed something like this before, so he wasn't surprised.
"Okay guys, start plan "evacuation". But you don't have to hurry since nobody is attacking, so be careful! I don't want something happening to my precious plants!"
With a salute the clones got to work. Under the thunderstruck eyes of Tsume and Hana, they started to carefully dig up the trees and plants and creating small groups to transport them.
"Although Jiji's genjutsu was strong, I always had to be prepared for someone finding this place in case someone found it, so I created a plan to get everything away from here as fast as possible. Now let's get my other stuff and we can leave."
His new family only nodded dumbly and followed him inside the cottage. It wasn't very big and had only one room but that was better than nothing. It didn't take very long for them to pack everything since Naruto didn't own very much. His possessions consisted of several jumpsuits, which Tsume swore to burn the first chance she got, his ninja gear, which Tsume also planned to replace since the villagers had only provided him with low quality gear and some sentimental items such as photos of the Sandaime, Team Seven, Iruka and Tsunade. He also had a large chest, but he refused to tell them what it contained. He only explained that there were several personal items in it, which he would like to keep private.
They left the house and together with Naruto's "wandering forest" and made way to the Inuzuka-compound.
Their arrival was greeted by the dog-companions of Tsume, Hana and Kiba with several barks and whines. Tsume showed Naruto and his clones a clearing behind the compound where he could plant his orchard. Naruto gave his clones some orders and the shinobi then entered the main building of the compound together with the dogs. It was designed like most of the clan-compounds in Konoha: A vast mansion in traditional design with several smaller buildings surrounding it. But there was one big difference: All the buildings had doors with an extra flap door for the dogs. Tsume decided that the introduction to the rest of the clan could wait until the next day, so she just showed Naruto to his new room. She explained that the main building was only inhabited by the leading family, which included her, Hana, Kiba and now Naruto. Because of that, everybody had an array of rooms to live in. Naruto's quarters were located between Hana's and the kitchen. The latter was reason enough for Naruto to immediately fall in love with his new home. But he loved it even more when he laid eyes on his rooms. Each room was as big as the cottage Naruto had stayed in. He had a living room, a dressing room, a bed room, a huge bath and to his surprise a study. Tsume noticed his surprise and explained:
"These are the rooms originally reserved for the clan head. But after the death of my husband during the Kyuubi-attack I moved to some other rooms because I couldn't bear with the memories this place held for me."
"B-But w-why are you giving me these rooms then?"
"Because without you, I would have died along with my husband and my children would have been orphans. If he were still alive, I am sure he would agree with me. And you'll need a study anyway if you really planning on becoming Hokage. Even as a chunnin or a jonnin you have to do mission reports. I'll leave you to explore your rooms now, but don't stay up to long. You have another long day ahead of you tomorrow."
With that they left Naruto alone and went to bed.
The blonde decided to take a closer look at his new home before doing the same.
The bedroom was pretty basic, containing a double bed (he assumed it was because two persons normally lived here) a nightstand and several shelves to put personal items.
His dressing room was nothing special either, with several dressers and mirrors.
In the study he found a large desk and several shelves of books. Further inspection revealed that they contained the whole library of the Inuzuka-clan and several other scrolls about history, medicine and even some jutsus from other clans.
His living room included two couches, a flat screen TV, a sound system, a fireside and two his great surprise a small bar. He was really going to enjoy this!
But all of that was forgotten when he inspected the bath. All of his life he had to wash himself in the cold river, since his "apartment" didn't have running water and the cottage no plumping at all. And now he had a real shower, a bath and even a whirlpool! Again he noticed the special circumstances of the Inuzuka clan because he furthermore found a small tub, obviously constructed for the use of a dog. He chuckled slightly at the thought of giving Kyuubi a bath.
"Oh no you won't! I'd be the laughing stock of the whole demon world!"
Muttering something about damn mindreading Kitsunes Naruto went back to his bed room and went to sleep with Kyuubi curled in a small ball on top of his stomach. Yes life was looking good for a change for him.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next chapter Naruto will get a new look, meet the family and Tsunade changes the Teams a bit. And what about Sakura? Wait and see! Please review, I'd appreciate it a great deal. Oh and I am also searching for a beta reader, but don't have a clue how you get one ^^'' So any information given in that regard woulf also be very appreciated.