The Boy in the Park
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Village was in tatters after the invasion. The Third Hokage was dead. The majority of the buildings crumbled or turned to rubble.
The attack had come from both Suna and Oto, led by Orochimaru. Naruko had apparently stopped the bulk of the invasion herself, by battling against the Sunagakure Jinchuuriki.
Yet he couldn't help but feel there was something behind it, because every time he asked her to tell him how it had gone by…she blushed and looked elsewhere.
He was currently carrying a bucket of water to the workers, as well as a backpack filled with provisions —the fact he still had a hand in the cast meant he couldn't do much work, and until the Academy was rebuilt, there wasn't much of a purpose at him dilly-dallying around the house.
He gasped for breath halfway through, but trudged on. It still was exercise, of some sorts. He was glad his apartment hadn't been hit —then again, it was in the low side of Konoha, and that had been largely left unscathed.
"Do you need a hand?" he turned his gaze to the side, where a burly looking mason was currently looking back at him.
"Ah…Yes?"
The man grabbed his bucket of water, and he exhaled in relief as he began to trudge along.
"Food for the workers?"
"Yeah," he exhaled between ragged breaths. "You big guys sure eat a lot."
The man chuckled. "That we do! Then again, Konoha will be up in no-time thanks to us!"
"Good. To. Hear." He muttered, wheezing. "How far…is it, still?"
"Not far, not far at all!" the worker laughed as he began to whistle. How could some people just stave off the sweat and the heat and everything else…
He was half-destroyed by the time he reached the workers' main 'camp'. The unloading took little less than a minute and then he dropped dead on a bench.
The Hokage's tower had been slightly damaged, and the library was…
He shook his head.
It wasn't as if…
He stood up and sighed. Well, it never hurt to try again —and the archives were bound to be cooler than the outside beneath the sun.
There was actually no one inside. He supposed that, since he wasn't stopped, even his 'Anbu' guard had gone to help the others rather than stick to him.
He groaned as he watched the door to the archives bolted shut. There really wasn't a way through, was there?
The only things that remained scattered around were the books tied to the history of Konoha —which were public knowledge— the story of the Elemental Countries —again, public knowledge— and the story of the countries that surrounded the Land of Fire.
It wasn't as if he'd just have to flip open a history book and flip it through for Uzumaki in the index…it would be preposterous to find something…
He actually stilled.
Uzumaki Mito. See Page 131, Konoha History.
What.
He flipped the page. Uzumaki Mito, married to Hashirama Senju, first Hokage. He exhaled. Of course, that was the history of Konoha wasn't it? Hashirama, battling the Kyuubi controlled by Madara Uchiha and then founding…no.
Wait a moment.
The founding of the village came before.
Senju and Uchiha were allies. Senju married Uzumaki then Madara attacked with the Kyuubi.
Now, the Kyuubi was sealed into Naruko…and how exactly had the Sandaime put it? 'The girl's chakra is what keeps it at bay, because it's special'?
He was grasping at straws but…The Kyuubi was captured by Mito Uzumaki, wasn't it? It was written in the history book. Then…it had gone down the line.
Uzumaki…they came from Uzushiogakure.
He flipped through the pages…Uzushiogakure was destroyed in the third shinobi war.
If someone had been brought to Konoha beforehand…
He blinked and then carefully stood up. He walked leisurely towards the carton-boxes that held the Academy's rosters, which had been taken and brought in the library for safeguarding.
Slowly, he began to flip through the yearbooks.
He had all the day after all, and how difficult would it be to find…
There!
He stopped.
He blinked to make sure he was right.
A red haired girl with puffy cheeks stared back at him, with violet eyes. Scribbled beneath it was the name 'Uzumaki Kushina'. She was the only Uzumaki in the entire academy of the previous years and of the future ones.
However her name wasn't present on the written roster. But nobody had checked the class picture. The name had been removed.
There had to be a reason for it.
He began to sweat, and not from the heat. It couldn't be that easy, could it?
"Ah the Red Hot Habanero!" the old croon of a librarian snapped behind him, making him jump in fright. The old crone had a long nose and a pair of thick eyeglasses. "I remember her! She came in a fury over a hundred times!"
"Ah, really?" he said carefully, dropping the picture back in the middle of the others. "You wouldn't know if…if she had kids, or if she's still alive?"
"Afraid not," the librarian sighed. "She always went around with that blond kiddo over there," she pointed at another picture, one of a certain Minato Namikaze. "I think they were pretty much settled together, once I saw them leave with over a dozen books about baby care, so they probably tied the knot…if you know what I mean," the old crone said with a conspiratorial tone.
Minato Namikaze…
Wasn't that the name of the Yon…
He felt the spit in his throat choke as his eyes began to water. "I…I see."
"Good!" the old crone said with a smile that clearly didn't belong on an old lady's face. "Now, how about you go outside and help someone else, uh, Haruno-san?"
He nodded. He didn't even care to know how the old lady knew his surname, but he simply nodded and left in a hurry.
He didn't even turn around, because if he had…he'd have seen the old lady puff in smoke, to leave Jiraiya of the Sannin in place with a brief smirk plastered on his face.
He rubbed his hands together. "Very well…ahah…let's see him deal with this then! HE wants the guardianship? Let's see him face this!"