I do not own Naruto in any format, this is a fan fiction.
Arturia was not happy, not happy one bit. First Naruto had send her no messages regarding how was he doing? Did he arrive safe? Where there any complications regarding his cover story? Had people found out he could use magic and needed to be transported out of a cell? Then their was her relationship with Merlin to say that she was a little bit more distant than usual was clearly an understatement. She practically refused to eat her dinner she Naruto left. She simply looked herserlf in her room and cried herself to sleep.
Arturia continued with her training with Rayudo, but it was more emotional torture than anything else. The man continued to sing praises about Naruto being the best student he ever had. Often comparing him with his other students. After a rather long session, Arturia was often seen beating a tree with her fists alone. The poor tree had many broken branches and look a few inches away from the grave. "Doesn't he know how I miss my beloved? What in all the burning hells is wrong with him!?" As she finished punching the tree she looked up and a few tears ran down her face. "How I miss you, my dearly beloved Naruto."
As soon as she finished, Naruto felt a great deal of sadness from the ring. 'Arturia, my love duty is a bitter pill that we must swallow for the good of all, but I also miss you greatly.. How I wish I could be in your arms, and be able to taste your sweet lips.' Naruto seemed a but distracted as he followed Kushina to her home. "Is something the matter?" Yugao asked him because he was a little quieter than before. "It's none of your concern. I am fine."
Kushina opened the door and invited him inside her home. It was a modest place with a rose guarden in the front, and a small exercise and training space in the backyard. The furniture to the people of the town must be rather nice, specially on a teacher's salary. To Naruto they looked like something a dog would use as a toillet. Kushina told him where to drop the bags. 'What did you expect, a thank you?' Kyuubi was certaintly right, he did not expect anything nice from her.
After a few hours of her making excuses about why she treated him like she did, and her eventual acceptance of his more than likely death, she told him how she met and eventually married a ninja from Kumo. The place was not that good for her, since earlier in her life she had been almost kidnapped for the tail beast she had in her at the time. But since she did not have it anymore, her husband told her that she was in no danger. To make her even more secure he decided to live in Konoha, this only made the relationship between the two villages improve.
As he was listening he heard a young girl yell that she was home. Karui went to the living room to see Naruto armor and all seated in her living room. She was not happy about it. "What in the hell is he doing here!?" Naruto was about to tell her, but Kushina answered her first. "Your brother was out relaxing in the park and when he saw me he offered to help me with my groceries. I was just explaining to him what was knew in our lives." Karui told her mother that she had no brothers and that she did not want him in her house.
"Actually I was just leaving. You had your say and now I trust that you have nothing more to say to me. You managed to live without me so far, I trust you will not find it so hard for you to continue." Naruto got up and was ready to leave. When he was where Karui was standing, still looking rather angry. "As for you, don't worry. You can keep her all to yourself, but if you really don't want me near both of you, you need to make it quite clear that I want to be left in peace, if she counted me among the dead, well please tell her to continue thinking that."
Karui was not sure what to tell him as he walked out of the house with the other person following closely behind him. She knew that she was not being fair, she knew that he was not at fault. Deep down, in places she did not want to look at, she wanted all her mother's for herself. She wanted life to continue as it was, her mother smiling at her achievements and laughing at her mistakes. She wanted to think that the only family she ever had, was with her and her dad. But if anything was true we don't always get what we want.
Yugao continued to watch the armored young man, and began to wonder why did he return at all? It was clear that he wanted nothing to do with his parents, so why bother staying? She had a wonderful family, a mother that thanks to what she just heard, she was going to go and see and hug and kiss for being the most wonderful mother in the world, and visit her father's grave and thank him for being there for her. She truly began to see the damage that bad parents did to their kids, when she saw how cold he was towards others.
Kushina had her moment, she had her chance to explain things as they happened, at least from her perspective. In the end it did not have the desired effect. She hoped that seeing her side he would be a little more understanding, a little more willing to forgive. "He is as cold and hard as the armor he wears, and it is all my fault. If there was some way for me to go back and slap myself some sense before I did any of this I would,but that is never or could ever happen. My ploy of getting Yugao interested in him also failed. Is she blind? Naruto is a handsome, skilled and honorable young man, why didn't she find him attractive enough to try and seduce him. She is a kunoichi, she could have him tied around her little finger."
Minato was doing what he always did,listened to client problems, listen to reports and doing reading and signing hundreds of pieces of paperwork. Hinayo had been quite verbal about the need to make the first move. She told her three sons that she met their long lost half brother, unlike Karui they were excited to hear that they had an older brother,and one with an air of mystery around him.
Romrun being the oldest of the three, had an idea what their older brother was like, he pictured him being much like his father. Skilled, tough, and with a focus as sharp as sword's edge. Ron pictured him being this moody, emotional teenager that threw tantrums, that was the reason he believed for him not coming home with their parents. Rozo was the youngest and the idea his brother could use magic, only meant one thing, his big brother was a lot of fun to be around. Guess he had a very different view in magic that what it actually was.
Naruto walked right back to the plaza, always touching his left hand. It was covered but he always touched where the ring was. Arturia was the love of his life, the only solace he had was that by being where he was,be was going to make things safer for her. As soon as he finished he asked his guard if she was going to chase him when he was out of the town. She did not answer, so he figured that she would. "Well, I am going to go and get some exercise, do some hunting, in all honesty you should stay here and be safe." Again the lady guard said nothing. "It's your funeral."
He began walking outside the gates and began to extend his hands. The second he did an image of a large circule appeared and in the center an image that looked like a map. There were several brinking dots on the map with weird text next to them. Naruto was not surprised that his sonar spell picked up four sermons, what he found surprising was that they were relatively close to each other almost like a hunting party. Well this was one party he was glad to crash.
Yugao was not sure where he was going but the fact he had his sword on his back, it was probably not to go picking flowers and enjoying the smell. While he was wondering she saw Naruto take off like bullet in the direction he was going, she began to wonder what was the hurry? She actually had to use chakra in her legs to keep up with him, 'and the guy us wearing metal armor.' They reached a burned down segment of the forest,and that is when she saw it.
A big flaming mass of darkness in the shape of a massive bear. The thing looking a thousand times more terrifying that anything in the forest of death, but Naruto was not faced at all, he was actually smiling. He took his weapon in hand and jumped at the horrible being. The thing evaded him and tried to claw his head off. The two began to fight each other in full blown combat after that, 'What the hell!? Was the first attack a greeting or what?"
Naruto's eyes glowed and showed him what the demon really looked like, it was an iffrit, clever one at that, trying to look like a bear of all things. He knew he had to finish this fight soon, and just as the demon charged at him, he stabbed him in the stomach and his downward strike cut off his right leg. When the demon was down he cast a freezing spell and killed him. Picking his sword he went towards the next place.
By the end of the day Yugao had a very good understanding of several things, first Naruto was not someone she ever want as an enemy. The way he beat his enemies was brutal, heartless and efficient. 'If he was an ANBU ninja, he would be the youngest Captain ever. And his team would see hell in their lifetime.' The other thing she understood was that he was not an enemy of Konoha, it was clear as day, that if he wanted Konoha would be a smoking ruin if he seriously wanted to destroy it.
He began his long trek back to the village, taking his time and not rushing back towards the village. Killed a dear and a rabbit. He made a few dozen dhadow clones to gather herbs and wood. The fact he knew that jitsu did not escape Yugao's notice. He prepared s meal and he invited her to join him. When shen was eating she asked him why was he touching his hand so many times, as he had done so during sincr he left his room.
Naruto put down his food and took off his left gauntlet. He showed herd his left hand, there was a beautiful ring on his hand. "I was touching this. I miss my beloved very much, and if I could I would be with her, but duty prevents me from being with her." Yugao was surprised to hear him talk with such warmth and sadness in his voice. "So you been married long?" Yugao clearly wanted to know the answer, "Only a few years. I was so looking forward to having a few kids with her, and growing old with her, but fate had other plans."
"But you could visit her anytime, right?" Naruto picked up his food and told her that he could not,she was very,very far way, almost felt like she was in another world, she told him that she was still single, her one time lover had cheated on her and they broke up after that. She also told him he died a few months later fighting some criminals. He would have died eventually anyways he was a habitual smoker after all.
They finished their dinner and they both began to walk towards Konoha, to her it was returning home, but she looked at Naruto and she felt lime he was a man walking towards his prison cell. So she decided to ask him some questions about his wife. 'Wife, my foot how can he be married and be younger than me?' Naruto was very happy to answer her questions about her, according to him she was a vision of beauty, strength and willpower, she noted that she also had a quick temper and could not cook anything at all. 'If it's true I sort of see where he got the need to learn to cook.'
"So besides soups and meaty dishes can you cook anything else?" Naruto told her he simply did not have access to a full kitchen. He knew how to prepare salads, dressings, a few dozen bread and juice recipes. "There is only so much I can cook, with what I carry with me." Yugao started to laugh picturing that his wife must be as fat as a cow, if he cooked as good as he did their dinner.
Kyuubi was not happy at all. Ever since he saw how Kushina treated Naruto he began to dislike her, seeing how Merlin and Arturia, complet strangers at first, trest him with such care, made him down right hate her guts. Now she wanted to get in good with his little boy!? 'Next thing you know the heartless bitch will try to use him for her advantage. I don't know who is worse, the demons we killed today or her.' Kyuubi might not like to see Naruto in his current situation, but he would not make the situation worse by complaining about it.
As he walked into the village he had someone that he did not expect waiting for him, or rather had to wait for him. Minato looked like he had just finish work, and the last meeting he attended really made him angry. It sure didn't take the council long to find about Naruto's living arrangements. The ninja council complained that if he was not a ninja and not a member of the ANBU forces, then he had no right to live there, so much for wanting to give his son some space to get used to the village in a safe location.
Naruto could tell that he was probably not going to like the conversation, from how the Hokage was behaving. "Can I help you with something?" Minato was surprised at what he heard, he was willing to listen, at least that was something. "Naruto, I have some bad news. The ninja side of the council objected on your current living arrangements. They said since you are not a ninja and a member of the ANBU forces, then you can't live there, sorry son but as of 3 hours ago, you are officially homeless."
Naruto was actually taking the news rather well, "So I guess this means I have to leave town too." Minato had not counted on that. That he would actually look at it as a possible excuse to leave Konoha. Naruto thanked Yugao for her company and wished her a happy life. But as soon as be was ready to leave he heard Minato to wait one moment. "Look there is no need to go that far. I told you once already, you are welcome to come and live at my home." Naruto told him about the warm reception his half sister just gave him.
Minato knew that something like that would happen. Like mother, like daughter. Kushina had once appeared nice and caring, seeing how she initially treated Naruto spoke differently. Her lose of her village had left her feeling insecure, and so she craved a stable home, to secure her nest as it were. But since her son did not help make him a more active participant in their home she considered him a failed attempt and thus her ignoring him. Her daughter probably feels the same, here was the long lost sibling to add more instability to an already unstable home. There was no way for her to welcome him with open arms.
"Before you say anythjng, your three brothers actually are looking forward to meet you. So trust me they will not be like Karui was at all. Hinayo even went ahead and got your room ready…" seeing that he was going to be forced to tho there anyways, he decided to take a chance and accept his "offer." Naruto had a very sneaky suspicion that if he had rented wanted to rent a hotel room, the manager was going to tell him they were all booked.
Naruto had to say one thing as he came upon the house, that was a mansion not a house. The front yard had a nice garden where several patches of flowers were growing, the house itself looked spacious and easy to move around, the atmosphere he expected to be not so warm, or welcoming. His father practically lived for his work, so how did this place feel so welcoming?
The answer came from Hinayo ringing the dinner bell, and telling her sons to wash up. For once in his life he felt bad for cooking after a hunt. "Sir, sorry to appear ungrateful but I already ate dinner." Minato told him he could still get acquainted with his half brothers or help Hinayo clean the table after they got done eating. He had no objection to that. Once he was gone, he called for Yugao to follow him.
As they were in a place where they were sure to be able to talk without being overheard, "Very well, Cat. Give me your report." Yugao told him everything that had happened since he got out of his room, the way he helped Kushina and how he was nice enough to listen to everything she had to say, she went further in telling him how Karui reacted, and how Kushina had not even bothered to thank him for his help. Clearly her daughters behavior distracted her somewhat.
As for the combat proficiency she told him he dispatched several tough looking demons with a mixture of a strange form of kenjutsu and a strange way of elemental manipulation. She told him he was an expert in the shadow clone jutsu and he was effective, vicious and cruel to the enemy he fought, he was happily married and he appeared to think if her quite a few times as the day progressed. He had shown her that he actually was not an enemy of the village as he picked the demons that were closest to he village and probably saved it by doing so.
Minato was quite happy to hear that he had caused such a good impression, he thanked her for her work, and told her to have a pleasant evening. She did the same. Well at least be had been right about something, all the negativity was his way to shield himself from possible abuse, cconsidering what he expected from Kushina, it was no wonder that he was a little hard to get him to open up. A little tender loving care and maybe they could start to earn his trust.