New Beginnings

Naruto and Ishi walked on the dirt road side by side. The man tried at first to pick up a conversation, but Naruto kept quiet, not reacting to any stimuli. Ishi sagely let it go, leaving them in a comfortable silence as both walked towards the near town of Krimichi, a small settlement where Ishi's family stayed.

The man was fairly nervous. He had gone to Konoha to make an express delivery to one of his suppliers only to find the whole village shut down. He had been questioned by the guards at the entrance, but they quickly let him go when it was apparent he had no idea what happened. He overheard that someone important had been killed straight in the middle of the village and that the whole city was in uproar. He left quickly, not wanting any part of that. He wasn't someone that was prone to follow drama everywhere. He preferred his quiet life.

The guards had been clear on one thing without saying it: everyone was probably best to stay clear of Konoha for the time being.

Now, he was coming back to his wife and daughter with another kid. He could already see the disapprovement in his wife's eyes, the tightening of her lips and her curt tone. She would absolutely not agree to welcome this random child into their home. Ishi couldn't exactly fault her. He wasn't always home and she had to raise 3 kids by herself. Now this one was obviously damaged goods and Ishi didn't even know his last name!

It didn't really matter, he told himself, shrugging away the image of the stern woman he loved. She would eventually see that he was right to bring the kid home. After all, what could he do? Let the kid rot on the side of the road to get killed by looters or worse? He couldn't condemn a poor child to such a life of misery.

He had pondered the option of getting him to Konoha, as they would welcome orphans pretty often as part of their policy of equal chances in their ninja corps, but with the current climate it wasn't the obvious choice.

Even then, something told him that the boy wouldn't have gone with it. The way the boy moved when walking, the jerky motions he made, the way he was watching carefully the barely visible underbrush of the surrounding forest; all of it told Ishi that he wasn't some lonely lost child. This was someone who didn't act his age. This wasn't a five or six year old child, this was a five or six year old adult.

Ishi had trained at the Iwa academy when he had been a boy, as per his father's wishes. He had passed the Genin Exam with flying colors, but had failed the corps evaluation. He hadn't been able to kill the man, even if it was an abject prisoner that had killed and raped people. He simply wasn't this type of guy. All of his friends had managed to complete the task. He had seen them change in a short time. The innocence was quickly lost to a sense of realism. The child in them had died because of the necessity of becoming an adult.

This child was everything but one. His innocence was gone, he could see it in his dull eyes and his red, puffy cheeks. Naruto had seen ugly things, uglier than what most people would be able to deal with at his young age. Only time would tell if he would be broken by the experience and become a senseless creature or a good man.

Ishi had seen the boy and understood something crucial in that moment; he could make a difference. Ishi had lost all of his friends to the war a long time ago, and even before then, they weren't his old friends, the schism between trained killers and a simple boy too big to connect truly.

In the distance, a light caught Ishi's eyes. Quickly, the spot of light transformed into a couple of lights, guiding the travelers toward them. He could already see the outline of the village in the dark. He shot Naruto a sideways look, evaluating the boy's feelings.

Naruto had the senseless face he had since they had met.

Ishi furrowed his brows. "This is the village where my family is staying. Only a small distance away before the sweet embrace of a bed!"

The boy didn't acknowledged the sentence, causing Ishi to sigh out loud. This was going to be harder than expected.


Naruto opened his tired eyes to the rays of sunshine lighting the room up in a yellow hue. He blinked rapidly, adapting to the new light in the room. When Ishi and him had reached the town, they had made it straight to the local hotel, a shitty building with creaky floorboards. Even the walls seemed shoddy and as if they would fall down at any time.

Not that he particularly minded at the moment.

Ishi had ushered him to bed, telling him that he would come get him in the morning to meet the rest of the family. Naruto had simply nodded before going to bed. He had assumed he wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but he had fallen asleep before even putting his head on the bed. Apparently the whole ordeal he had went through the day before had tired him so much he had simply passed out.

That was a good thing too, he would need all the energy he could get to meet Ishi's family. Naruto's relationship with people was always something of a weakness for the boy. Most of Konoha had either spent their time hating him or straight up ignoring him. The only ones that gave him any attention besides the Hokage were mostly the crooks in his neighborhood, and they were not exactly the nicest company to have around.

He was a bit nervous to meet new people. After all, he had no idea how to act with normal people. The only sort of normal guy he had any contact with was his super, and he was the bitterest man he had ever met. Especially since he was drunk most of the time.

Soft knocks on his door pulled him out of his thoughts. For a brief second, he imagined it was going to be Konoha ninjas, coming to take him back to the Village he had left. He chased the idea out of his head, knowing the probability was small that they were even aware that he had disappeared from the Village. Anyway, he couldn't really escape their grasp if they wanted to capture him, so it didn't matter if he answered the door or not.

He opened the door, letting a smiling Ishi through. The man looked like he hadn't slept one bit since they had arrived yesterday. However, his smile was genuine, and with a ping of pain, he was reminded of the warmth of the Hokage's smile.

"Sleep well?" Ishi asked, looking around the room and noticing the used bed.

Naruto yawned before nodding. Ishi gave Naruto another smile, apparently happy that the boy interacted with him, even as little as that was.

"I'm glad you're already up, we have to get downstairs for breakfast before starting to head back home in the caravan. Come, you'll meet Yomiko and Masako there."

Ishi turned around and left Naruto in the hallway, not waiting for him to follow. The blond boy quickly followed the man down the creaky stairs, nervousness becoming even more present each second. What if the wife didn't like him? Would he still be allowed in their house? And if the girl, Yomiko, hated him? Would Ishi abandon him here?

This wouldn't be the worst thing; it was still a better situation than in the middle of the wild. He would have to find someone else to learn from however, and that would take some pure luck.

His damning thoughts stopped as they reached the dining area, a place as cheaply built as the rest of the inn. Sitting at the furthest table was a couple of rough looking men, their grossly shaven faces showing scars that related of past fights.

The only other table used was in the front, where a woman of a certain age and a young girl were sitting. The youngest one talking happily and munching on food, while the oldest was listening, only offering non-committing answers. She was too distracted by watching the stairs like a hawk.

As soon as she saw Naruto and Ishi coming down the stairs, she looked down on Naruto's form. Her eyes narrowed and her face took a cold look. Naruto had seen that look many times in Konoha.

He would have frozen in the stairs or even fled under the icy stare if it hadn't been for Ishi's hand resting on his shoulder, like a warm reminder that he wasn't in Konoha anymore, and that he had the chance to make an impression, something he was never offered in Konoha.

He looked up to Ishi's face and saw the man's warm smile, "Don't worry, she's a bit stern, but she's a nice person, you'll see."

The encouragement was all Naruto needed to continue forward, a warm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach. He needed to be courageous, not only for his sake, but for Ishi's as well. The man had obviously taken a risk bringing him to his family. He couldn't let him down, not if the man counted on him. Just like he couldn't let the Hokage down. It simply wouldn't do.

He approached the table, a small audible gulp leaving his throat. The girl, who couldn't older than 9, finally stopped talking, seeing that her mother wasn't even pretending to listen to her anymore. She turned her head to the small boy that was approaching the table, her father behind him.

When Naruto reached the table, he hesitated, not knowing how to present himself. Fortunately, Ishi took the lead as he grasped Naruto's shoulder once more.

"Hey guys! Let me introduce you to the new member of our family, Naruto!"

The girl's eyebrows furrowed as she looked intently at Naruto, "New member of the family? Is he some cousin I don't know anything about?"

Ishi laughed, shaking his head, "Nah, he's going to train with you and he'll be our security chief."

The girl couldn't be more surprised if she had tried. Her eyebrows shot up her face, her mouth forming a silent O. She looked between Naruto and Ishi for a while, before starting to laugh really loud.

"This is really funny dad! How could a kid like him become our security chief? He looks like he would fall over if a gust of wind passed through here."

Now Naruto was determined to make a good impression, but he wasn't one to take insults lying down, "Hey there! I wouldn't talk if I was you, you look like you haven't eaten in a week!"

If there was one thing he had learned in the streets of Konoha, it was the art of trash-talking.

Yomiko's face became red as she sputtered an answer to Naruto. Ishi looked mortified that the children hadn't even taken a moment to know each other before insulting each other. However, dominating the table, the mother was almost crying in her laughter.

"I like this kid," she said as she wiped away a tear. Naruto heard that and smiled with warmth to the lady wearing a fully black robe. He took a seat at the table, and looked around. Ishi was looking a bit confused as to why his wife had already taken a liking to Naruto, and Yomiko was glaring daggers into him.

"So," said Ishi as they dug into the food, "tell us a bit about yourself Naruto."

Naruto froze for a second, before forcing himself to relax. It was pretty evident that questions were sure to come up eventually. It wasn't even like he had to lie about anything, just leave out the story about the Hokage dying. He was not even doing anything criminal.

"Huh…sure, I guess," he said. "What do you want to know?"

"Where are you from?" asked Ishi, secretly studying Naruto.

The boy shrugged. "I was born in Konoha, lived there my whole life."

Ishi nodded, it made sense. The only other town that was linked by the road he had found him on was Konoha. He must have gotten out before the whole Village had been shut down.

"Do you still have any family there?" asked Masako. Ishi could see that his wife had already taken a liking to the blond boy in front of them. He was pretty surprised about it, but the boy did have a small flame in him that was endearing and made him believe in him since they had met.

Naruto shook his head as he continued to eat, "I'm an orphan since I'm born, and my grand dad recently…passed." Naruto's face took an incredibly sad turn before it turned back to his normal self. Ishi was pretty impressed by the boy, he had a grip on his emotions better than some adults. He was obviously still shaken up and sad from the death of his grand-father.

"Then why aren't you in Konoha anymore?" asked Yomiko, not understanding that he didn't have anyone there anymore.

Naruto's face turned fierce, as determination became apparent in his eyes. A fire burning inside his being showed in his voice, "The old man told me to do something before he…yeah. He told me to become strong and that when I'd become one of the best, that I'd be strong enough to come back to Konoha and lead her towards the light. I can't betray his memory and his will. I will become the Hokage of that village one day."

A small smile appeared on Ishi's lips. This was what he had seen in Naruto. Konoha's famed will of fire. The boy would go far. He was confident he would be someone great. He discreetly looked to his wife who had an impressed look on her face. He had just convinced her that Naruto was worth it. If there was one thing she always liked, it was seeing drive in someone. It was the reason she had married Ishi, and the reason she was going to put Yomiko in a training regimen by her father. She wanted everyone to have this kind of drive.

Yomiko, unsurprisingly, was not impressed by the blond boy's declaration. She started to laugh once more. "How would a runt like you become Hokage?"

The boy narrowed his eyes at her. "I will become Hokage, you best believe it!"

She waved her hand in a dismissive manner. "I'll believe it when I see it runt." It was obvious Naruto was starting to get ticked by the dismissive remarks.

It took all of two seconds before Naruto and Yomiko entered a duel of wits with insults as complex as "just a baby" or "pretty like a pig". Ishi groaned internally; he hadn't thought about it. It was going to be a painful ride back home with both of them in the same carriage.

A/N: Hey guys! Here with another chapter of Yuyami! We are entering our first real arc and some action is going to happen soon, I promise! This story takes a while to set up, but once everything falls in place, I'm pretty sure you'll like what you'll see. As always, I want to give the biggest of shout out to my awesome Beta, AuthorOfTheUniverse2401, his help is always greatly appreciated!