Authors Notes:
Here's the next chapter, i hope that you enjoy cause this is the last chapter before a time skip. I am amazed by the fact that this story already has more than double the amount of followers than my first story has, probably got something to do with this one actually having Naruto in it but oh well.
Anyway, i want to remind everyone to please leave a review on what you think so far and leave any suggestions you might have. 10 points to whoever can guess who Kana really is, it's pretty easy so i'm expecting most of you guys to figure it out quickly.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but i did purchase a square metre block of land on the moon which i happen to be rather proud of.
Izo had a headache. It wasn't one of those every day ones either, no, this was one of those skull splitting, vision blurring, ear ringing, queasy feeling kinda headaches. He wished that it had been the results of a hangover caused by an awesome night of many sinful activities, the likes of which he had heard and read a lot about, but unfortunately, it was not to be.
Instead of the almost fatal hangover that he longed for, Izo's headache was the result of both a lack of sleep, and having to deal with quite possibly the loudest kid in the world. The lack of sleep was something he had to deal with unless he wanted to freeze Naruto's apartment solid, with the boy inside; but the overly loud volume of his new brother was not something he wanted to have to deal, nor should he be forced to.
Things had gone rather smoothly after they had left the Hokage tower, although Naruto kept looking at Izo with what seemed like worry. They had gone to Ichiraku's, and almost received another beating from Ayame due to Izo's comments; thankfully, she agreed to serve them and even removed Naruto's week long ban, something that had the blonde haired boy screaming in joy about for at least an hour.
It didn't take very long for Naruto to think over everything that had been said in the Hokage's office, which in turn raised some questions about Izo. Said boy had to spend the rest of the night explaining to Naruto what he was, where he came from, along with the definitions for several big words he had used in his explanation. It was agonising to talk to a seven year old when you yourself thought on a completely different level, Izo wasn't sure how the Hokage coped with it.
Anyway, after several hours of explaining things to Naruto, Izo awaited some form of negative reaction from his adopted sibling; what he got was not what he expected. Without so much as a shocked look, Naruto simply said 'cool' and cooked himself some ramen, completely ignoring Izo's gob smacked expression. Needless to say, Naruto didn't ask too many more questions after that.
So now here he was, waiting patiently for Naruto to finally wake up so they could go and visit the Hokage again and find out who was now their legal guardian. Izo didn't know anyone in the village, and he wasn't sure if Naruto had any idea's on who it might be, but one things was for certain; if this person wasn't right for the job, or did anything against Naruto, they would die a very slow and very painful death by being frozen alive.
'I wonder what it feels like to get frozen' he thought to himself.
Due to his condition, Izo couldn't feel the cold, or be effected by the cold either, meaning he couldn't freeze. It would have been very helpful had he been required to fight someone from the Yuki clan, but that clan had long since died out. His condition also gave him a high immunity to heat as well, since his core body temperature was so drastically low that it would take some extreme heat to actually cause him any harm, but without further training, a strong fire jutsu would probably do the trick.
Unfortunately, this also made sleeping rather challenging, since as soon as he was unconscious he would lose control over his chakra and it would freeze everything around him. Naruto may have been annoying as hell, but that didn't mean he wanted to freeze the kids apartment. An irritated sigh escaped Izo as he wondered if he would have to wake his brother up himself, he made a note to sort that problem out quickly, more so if Naruto wanted to become a ninja.
A loud knock on the door distracted him from his evil plans on how to wake up Naruto, and whilst muttering some choice curses, Izo go up and walked to the door. During his short little walk through the apartment, he was once again reminded of the true extent of how much of a shithole the place really was. He doubted that it was because Naruto was messy, and more likely had something to do with the glares and disgusted looks the blonde was receiving from the general population.
Izo wasn't stupid, far from it in fact; if he was stupid Orochimaru would have killed him long ago. But with intelligence came realisation, and most of what he realised about Naruto's situation wasn't all too pleasing. He knew it was safe to assume that the people of Konoha hated the boy for being the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, despite the fact that most of them should know better.
This realisation however, raised a very important question for Izo. If the village hated Naruto, an easily likable little boy, simply because he was a jinchuuriki, then what the hell would they do once they found out that he was a force grown experiment created by the villages most notorious traitor. Izo wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to find out, but he was also confident in his ability to look after himself should problems arise; the main issue was looking after Naruto.
He opened the door sharply, noting that whoever it was took a cautious step back as he did so. He also heard the almost inaudible gasp from the person, likely a reaction from seeing a boy covered in bandages; Izo wasn't entirely sure whether or not it would be wise to let people know that he could literally smell the difference between male and female, particularly the woman standing at the door, since it might get him beaten again.
Izo wasn't an impatient person, most of the time, but after a few seconds of silence, he was beginning to get annoyed by whoever the hell was standing in front of him. He could already get a good read of her chakra, which was somewhat small compared to both himself and Naruto, and he could clearly tell that she had no ill intentions by being here; if anything, she was overly nervous for reasons he wasn't sure of.
"Um, hello, are you Naruto Uzumaki?" she asked meekly.
Izo quirked an eyebrow at that question, something that went completely unseen thanks to the bandages around his eyes and forehead. "Shouldn't a member of ANBU know what Naruto looks like, you know, considering his unique circumstances?" he asked back.
The woman took another small step back from the door, making sure to observe the boy in front of her more closely. From what she could see, he was a simple civilian boy that was covered in bandages, something that had shocked her at first since whatever injuries he had must have been severe to warrant such excessive use of the material. The fact that his eyes were completely covered by the bandages was also a noteworthy fact, since she knew that there was no way he could see her unless he was a Hyuuga.
"How do you know I'm an ANBU?" she asked with much more confidence than before. "And who are you, or more importantly, how much do you know about Uzumaki's…condition?"
"I am Izo Uzumaki, Naruto's older brother, meaning that I am privileged to any and all information about my family. As for how I know you're an ANBU, well let's just say that those masks you all wear kinda give it away," Izo answered casually.
"Where is Uzumaki?" she asked calmly, although she was keeping a close eye on the 'blind' kid.
"He…is still asleep. Would you like me to wake him up?" he asked hopefully.
"No, that's ok, ill will just come back another time" she replied.
The woman turned to walk away, only to find a dome of solid ice surrounding her, blocking her in the door way. 'What the hell, how did I not notice this?' she thought in slight panic. Ice was, for a lack of better words, a very fucking rare element to be seen used; it was also notorious for being highly deadly even in the hands of a novice.
"I haven't been in this village too long, but even I know that a member of ANBU does not simply drop by people's houses without some kind of message from the Hokage; even more so when the owner of said residence is the local jinchuuriki" Izo stated calmly. "So tell me, why are you looking for my brother?" he asked.
Izo was more than prepared to wait patiently for a reply, he did have her cornered after all, so long as he maintained the ice dome, she wouldn't be going anywhere. That said, he wasn't in any way ready for her to release a surprisingly powerful pulse of chakra that not only threw him off his feet, but also shattered his ice dome. He didn't need to check to know that she was long gone by the time he hit the floor.
'Note to self: do not try to bluff ANBU' he though with a mental groan. Although the ice dome he had made looked solid and sturdy, it was nothing more than a thin sheet; a simple punch would have been enough to break it. Of course, the ANBU didn't know that, hence the overkill of a chakra pulse. Let it not need be said that Izo had learnt a valuable, and painful lesson.
"Izo, what happened?" Naruto asked tiredly as he stumbled out of his room.
"Naruto, do you know any ANBU?" Izo asked calmly.
"Um, not really; there used to be one with a dog mask and another with a weasel mask, they were both nice and they actually guarded me like they were supposed to" the blonde answered.
"Hmm, interesting" Izo muttered, still laying on the floor where he was thrown. "Well, that settles that then; hurry up and get ready, we still need to go meet the Hokage" he said, finally getting back to his feet and dusting himself off.
"Don't worry about the old man, he usually has so much paperwork that he loses track of time. We could show up tomorrow and he wouldn't notice" Naruto replied.
Izo gave Naruto a blank stare. "If we are late, I will personally get you banned from Ichiraku's for a month," he said, his calm tone not once betraying his growing amusement.
Naruto's eyes snapped open from their half lidded state as he stared at his brother in horror. Normally he would have called such a statement an obvious bluff, but since he couldn't read Izo's expressions, and he honestly didn't know the older boy all too well, it simply wasn't worth the risk. Within seconds, Naruto was dressed and ready to go, even going so far as to literally drag Izo out of the apartment and towards the Hokage tower.
'Hehe, thank Kami I found his kryptonite' Izo cheered mentally. If Naruto was this easy to manipulate then the future was going to be a cake walk.
Hiruzen glared at the piles of paperwork on his desk, Danzō watching on from the side with barely concealed amusement. They were both awaiting the eventual arrival of Naruto and Izo, whom would be meeting their new legal guardian. He hoped that the boys would take a liking to her, for all of their sakes. The old Hokage glanced over at his friend, taking notice of the amusement in the man's eye and felt the need to drag the smug bastard down with him.
"You know Danzō, now that we are working together to better the village, perhaps we should divide the paperwork evenly, you know, to help you keep track of what's happening throughout the village" the old Sarutobi suggested with a smirk.
"I already receive copies of all the paperwork you get, aside from the more important documents of course" Danzō replied calmly.
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes dangerously. "And how exactly do you have the time to not only look over all the paperwork I get, but also give orders to ROOT and complete all the paperwork that comes with that?" he asked seriously.
"You mean you don't know the secret?" Danzō asked in mock disbelief.
"What the secret?"
"Why the secret of paperwork of course?"
"What secret of paperwork?" Sarutobi yelled in frustration.
Danzō smirked victoriously. "I'm not sure if I should tell you, after all, it is a forbidden technique passed down from the second Hokage, our own sensei," he said smugly.
"That's impossible; if such a technique existed I would know about it, I know almost every single jutsu of our sensei. That aside, why wasn't I told of this technique, and how did Minato conquer his paperwork?" Hiruzen asked in confusion.
"You were not told because by the time you were instated as Hokage, sensei had sacrificed himself and therefore could not tell you of the technique himself. As for Minato, he used the exact same technique that Tobirama did" the old war hawk explained casually.
"Then how do you know of it?" the Hokage asked.
"Please Sarutobi, have more faith in my abilities; you might keep it locked up, but the forbidden scroll of seals is still not out of my reach, and I have read over its contents many times" Danzō answered, hinting quite clearly to the secret.
'Wait a minute. Secret technique, passed down from Tobirama sensei, written in the scroll of seals; but only one technique in that scroll could be used for…oh Kami I'm an idiot' Hiruzen thought with a depressed sigh. "It's shadow clones, isn't it?" he asked in a defeated tone.
Danzō chuckled lightly. "Yes, it is. I'm amazed it took you so long to figure it out, considering your title as the god of shinobi," he answered.
Hiruzen grunted unintelligibly before quickly forming a single hand sign, three solid clones quickly appearing in his office as he did so. With a content smile on his wrinkled face, Hiruzen lent back into his soft chair, lighting up his smoking pipe as he did.
"Isn't smoking in your office setting a bad example for anyone who might walk in, such as two young boys that we just so happen to be expecting?" Danzō asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't worry, Naruto is oblivious to anything that doesn't involve becoming a ninja or Hokage, and I'm sure Izo is mature enough to overlook it" Hiruzen said casually.
"Are you sure about that? During his time in the ROOT medical facility I saw that boy make it snow in his room; it took us an entire day to dig him out" the crippled elder said with a small laugh.
"Hmm, that is odd, but I'm sure he had his reasons" the Hokage said.
"He said it was because he wanted to kill the dull mood," Danzō said emotionlessly.
"Well…on the bright side, at least we know him and Naruto will get along, eventually" Sarutobi said quietly.
The door, which had been replaced due to damages, was thrown open harshly, a mop of spiky blonde hair quickly rushing into the room shortly after. Hiruzen shook his head and sighed as Naruto unceremoniously dropped Izo, who he had been dragging, onto the floor. The orange clad boy crossed his arms and grinned triumphantly before being viciously kicked across the room and into the wall.
Even the normally emotionless Danzō watched on with a wide eye as Izo staggered to his feet, glaring at the blonde haired boy he had just kicked.
"Old man, I am going to kill him," Izo growled through gritted teeth.
"You bastard, that hurt!" Naruto yelled as he stomped back to Izo.
"Maybe you should have stopped dragging me when I yell at you to stop dragging me!" Izo exclaimed.
"You weren't walking fast enough," the young jinchuuriki muttered.
"How am I supposed to walk when I'm being dragged?" the ash haired boy yelled in frustration.
"Ahem!" Danzō cleared his throat loudly, maintaining a stern look at the boys.
Izo and Naruto quickly turned away from each other with a huff, crossing their arms and pouting childishly. Hiruzen observed the reaction with great interest before turning a curious gaze to his old rival.
"How did you do that?" he asked.
"You know Hiruzen, the fact that you keep asking me how to do things is making me question your reliability as Hokage," Danzō said with mock concern.
"Hey old guys, aren't we missing someone?" Izo asked, still maintaining a slight pout.
"I don't think so, you and Naruto are here, so am I and Danzō" Hiruzen replied, gesturing to those in the room as he named them.
"Yes, yes, and so are the four ANBU. What about that one somewhat important person who we are actually here to meet?" Izo asked pointedly.
"Oh that person" the Hokage said in realisation. "Hmm, I was expecting her to be here by now but I'm sure she has her reasons. It shouldn't be much longer before she arrives" he assured.
Almost on cue, a gentle knock was heard from the door, which had somehow closed itself after being thrown open by Naruto. It opened, and from behind it, a woman dressed in standard ANBU attire, complete with white porcelain mask, walked in hurriedly. Unlike standard ANBU however, her mask didn't represent an animal, instead only being decorated by two purple marking going diagonally down her cheeks. She quickly walked past Naruto and Izo, before bowing to the Hokage and Danzō.
"Lord Hokage, lord Danzō, forgive me for being late," she said quietly, trying to hide her already masked face behind her long black hair.
"It's fine, but might I ask what kept you?" Danzō inquired curiously.
"Of course lord Danzō, I seem to have…misplaced my sword," she answered meekly.
"You mean this sword?" Izo asked cheekily, holding out a long katana with a dull red sheath that he had pulled out from…somewhere.
The ANBU woman spun on her heels and pointed accusing at Izo, who in turn pointed back at her.
"YOU!" they both yelled angrily.
"Give me back my sword you little brat!" the woman yelled, lunging at the weapon.
Izo ducked under her, watching as she masterfully twisted herself in the air to land back on her feet. "No way in hell, not until you apologise for throwing me seven Kami damn feet through the air!" he exclaimed.
"I take it you two have met before?" Hiruzen asked with a light chuckle.
"Sure we have, we're good pals actually. She showed up at the apartment this morning asking for Naruto, and when I asked why, she tried to simply walk away; apparently blocking her off with ice was a mistake on my part cause she knocked me off my feet and disappeared" Izo explained.
"You stole my sword, be grateful you're still alive!" the woman screamed.
"Kana" Danzō said calmly, making the woman instantly stop glaring at Izo and bow her head.
"Sorry lord Danzō" she apologised.
"Kana?" the Hokage asked curiously.
Danzō gave his friend a pointed look that instantly answered his question. He would have preferred it if "Kana" had of arrived before the boys did so he could explain some things to Hiruzen and make a general plan of how to go about the introductions, but that had been simple wishful thinking at the time and he would just have to make do as it was.
"Oh right, Kana. Sorry for that, I'm starting to get forgetful in my old age you see" Hiruzen said jokingly, trying to play off his previous question.
Naruto bought it, like the dense moron he always acted as, but Izo was far more observant. He could easily tell that 'Kana' was not her real name, not that he was expecting to learn her actual name anytime soon; he understood ones need for secrecy, especially as a member of ANBU, but it wouldn't stop him from being cautious of this woman.
"Izo" the Hokage began in a slightly serious manner. "Would you please give Kana back her sword?" he asked kindly.
"I don't know, do I get an apology?" Izo asked, still maintaining a death grip on the katana.
Hiruzen looked at Kana questioningly, smirking when the woman crossed her arms and turned to the blindfolded boy with an annoyed huff.
"I'm sorry for knocking you to the ground," Kana muttered irritably. "Now do I get an apology for you blocking me in the doorway with ice?" she asked harshly.
"Do you want the sword back?" Izo asked quickly, receiving a nod from the woman. "Then no" he answered simply.
Kana growled at Izo, completely ignoring the fact that he had acknowledged her nod despite not being able to see it. "You aren't making a good first impression, boy," she said through gritted teeth.
"Neither are you. Seriously, how rude must you be to still wear that mask in front of the children you are practically going to be the mother of. I'm offended." Izo countered in mock hurt, going so far as to dramatically clutch at his chest.
"Actually, you do make a point. But I'm afraid that due to specific…circumstances, Kana's identity must still remain a secret, even to you boys; for now anyway" the Hokage said sadly.
"Aww" Naruto whined pitifully.
Kana's agitated posture quickly changed to a gentler one as she walked over and ruffled the blonde's spiky hair. "Don't worry Naruto, you don't need to know who I am for us to get along," she said cheerfully.
"I suppose" Naruto said with a small smile as he leaned into her hand.
Kana had to stop herself from crushing the boy in a hug. It was bad enough that the small blonde had, in her own opinion, completely adorable whisker marks on his cheeks, but the fact that he reminded her so much of an old friend of hers made not squealing "cute" quite difficult. Luckily, she would not humiliate herself like that in front of the Hokage or Danzō, nor would she let down her guard while around the 'blind' thief.
"Anyway, as you have already guessed, this is Kana, your official legal guardian. She will look after you, teach you, and be there for you when either I or Danzō are not available," the old Sarutobi explained.
"Does that mean she's gunna come live with us?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"No. Your apartment is not suited to house three people, even if two are only children; therefor, you will be moving into a much larger apartment that is located closer to the Hokage tower. Should you need anything, you can simply come and ask me. You will have a week to get accustomed with your new living space before starting your training," Hiruzen explained.
"You will spend the first year learning under Danzō, while Kana here fills in any and all blanks. Then you will spend the next year learning from me, while Kana once again fills in any blanks. After that, you will each pick which one of us you prefer to train under for the following three years; any training you choose to do in your free time is completely up to you, as is any training you wish to continue after the five years you are committing to. Do you agree with these terms?" the aged Hokage asked seriously.
"Yes!" exclaimed Naruto, who was now grinning like an idiot.
"I don't have anything better to do" Izo said with a shrug.
"I'll just take that as an enthusiastic yes," Hiruzen mumbled. "Anyway, you boys should go and pack all of your things, well Naruto's things, and wait for Kana here to take you to your new home" he said.
Naruto yelled out excitedly and ran out of the office, making Danzō, Hiruzen, and Izo all shake their heads at his antics; Kana giggled quietly but otherwise didn't react. Izo quickly began walking after his brother, choosing to keep any questions to himself for now.
"Oh Izo" Kana said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Can I have my sword back now please?" she asked just as sweetly.
Izo grumbled but tossed the bladed weapon to her without complaint before walking out. Kana made sure to do a quick inspection of her sword before strapping it to her back and turning to address the Hokage.
"Kana, why were you at Uzumaki's apartment earlier?" Danzō asked curiously.
"I was hoping to meet the boy before I was introduced to him as his guardian. I wasn't sure how he would react to a complete stranger being given authority over him, and I was impressed by his acceptance of it," Kana answered.
"A risky move since Naruto has learnt not to trust my ANBU anymore, even in spite of that emotional mask he always wears. I suggest you don't hold it against him should he choose to not open up to you, but I wouldn't put anything past him at the moment; growing up without any family in a village that hates you could breed any number of personality issues. For all we know, he might be quick to accept you as a mother figure in the same way he was quick to accept Izo as a brother" Sarutobi said.
"Speaking of which. Although he did spend a few weeks under observation in the ROOT medical facility, and even though I would like to trust him, we will need you to keep an eye on Izo. Having spent his entire life as a test experiment I can't imagine how he would react should anyone become aggressive; so far he seems fine, but we simply cannot risk him going on a rampage, not with his abilities," Danzō said seriously.
"Is there anything I should know about him, perhaps something about his abilities; I have already witnessed his manipulation of ice, which although weak was quite impressive" Kana said.
Hiruzen pulled a file out from under his desk and passed to her. After a few moments of giving its contents a brief read over, Kana gave the elderly men what they assumed was a disbelieving stare; it was nearly impossible to know exactly what kind of expression she was wearing while she still had her mask on.
"Is this…serious?" she asked hesitantly.
"Yes, or at least that's all the information we could gather from the facility we found him in. The validity of that file has yet to be proven, but until we can safely test his abilities, we will simply have to take precautions," Danzō explained.
"I understand your uncertainty, but I still find some of these things very hard to believe. Could Orochimaru really create such a…monster?" Kana asked.
"I would advise you to not call him that, ever" the Hokage said with a light glare. "His presumed abilities might very well be unnatural, but Izo is still just a boy. A slightly violent and perverted boy at that, but still a boy. Should his origins become known to the civilians, he could suffer the same, if not worse treatment from them than Naruto does, and will need people to trust" he explained, a sour look forming on his face as he mentioned the civilians.
"That's why we adopted him into the Uzumaki family. Naruto, although slightly dense and annoying, is not one to refuse a potential friend, and we desperately need for them to build ties to this village. As it stands, we should have no problem keeping them loyal; but should something happen before we can instil changes to this village, then we could lose both of them" the old war hawk stated.
"And I assume that I am also a part of this plan, acting as a mother and all?" the ANBU woman asked calmly.
"We can understand you apprehension for such a request, but with your prior experience and current circumstances, we couldn't find anyone more suited to the job," Hiruzen answered.
"No, it's fine. I have had enough time to recover from that incident; I should not let it interfere with fulfilling my duties to this village. But I must ask, is this mission temporary, or should I prepare to be adopted into Naruto's family as well?" she asked with a hint of amusement.
The aged Hokage gave a glance to his old rival before turning to Kana with a serious expression. "If you find yourself getting truly attached to the boys then I will have no problem making it official, but considering your lineage it might cause some uprise with the council," he said.
"I understand. I will go and take the boys to the apartment, see you in a week" Kana said happily, waving lazily as she walked to the door.
"One more thing" the Hokage said, making her stop and turn back around. "I am leaving your identity up to you. Should you choose to make yourself known, whether to the public or individuals, I will not stop you," he said with a smile.
"Thank you, lord Hokage" Kana said quietly before walking out of the office and towards Naruto's apartment.
'Kushina, Minato, it seems I will be able to keep my promise after all" she thought to herself. 'I just hope it will make a difference'
